- SKOLE feels like a friend to me.
- It arrives in the mail
- I pick it up
- and always hold it in my hand
- and look at it.
- I usually don't open it,
- but
- just as the magpie stores those things
- of great value
- in a special place
- I will put it in that place... but later.
- First, it must just hang around the dining room table
- so I can see that it has arrived
- this product of devotion
- to freedom and to kids everywhere.
- I walk through the kitchen
- and glance at it.
- It is very good that this is in my house
- it affects the way I feel.
- You see, I know that it has distilled
- authenticity,
- heartfelt opinions from well meaning people,
- generosity of spirit
- and a purity I can't quite describe
- between the covers.
- It is bound with optimism, hope and love.
- These qualities just radiate from it
- as it sits on the table.
- Such is SKOLE for me.
- I have opened it
- and read it from cover to cover
- Otherwise I would not be able to say the things I have.
- But never have I found a journal
- filled with writing, as all journals are,
- which says more to me through its mere presence in my house
- than it does through the words it contains.
- Things come and go
- and I am very, very sad that
- there will not be new editions to grace my house
- But,
- the old ones feel like new.
SKOLE started its quarterly publication in the fall of 1985 as a vehicle for the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools, and when it proved too individualistic to be accepted any longer as their own publication, it became a general resource for alternative educational writers both adult and child. It finally has come to a full stop with a double issue for Fall, '97-Winter, '98, which you may order (or any of the back issues) by clicking here. There is also a complete index of articles, reviews, interviews, school profiles et al, which you may scan by clicking here.
Its successor was known as Paths of Learning. The first issue came out early in April, 1999, edited by Richard Prystowsky, a professor of literature and humanities at the Irvine campus of California's state university system. Paths was published by The Foundation for Educational Renewal. As of 2005, they have also closed their doors, alas!
or e-mail Charles Jakiela at CSJ@great-ideas.org. Click here for more information and a view of the current issue.
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