Good morning, all! Hope you had a good weekend. We went to The Edward Hopper exhibit at the Whitney Museum this weekend.

The NAEP scores came out and were predictably horrible. Also, growing evidence that many young people are suffering from social anxiety and other mental health issues after the pandemic. Gee, who could have predicted this?

Now that Ian is in a good school from 8 to 2:35 every day, I’ve started researching local social groups and work opportunities to fill up his evening and weekends. All this research is giving me a window onto the extreme isolation of the disabled community and their families, and making me more interested in building community centers. In a couple of weeks, I’m hosting a group of parents at my house to share information about colleges that support people with disabilities, because nobody else is giving us this information.

Schools can't solve the problems from the pandemic alone. We need community centers that provide a place for people to congregate, offer social groups, provide job training, work with disabled people, help with math and reading, and have weekend group meals.

— Laura McKenna, PhD (@laura11D) October 24, 2022

I’m completely addicted to Spelling Bee.

Shopping: I’m looking for the best green sweater. A winter dress. Taking advantage of the sales on fall coats at J. Crew. I like the camel coat, but I got it a size larger to fit a sweater underneath. A fun jacket for running around town. A romance novel to read when I get insomnia. I’ve put new items at Amazon on the sidebar. If you need to make a purchase an item on Amazon, please use one of the sidebar links. Thanks!