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Leland Kennedy lives one hill over from me in East Calais, Vermont. I interviewed Leland last year when he was ten, and I’ve received some letters from listeners wondering what he’s up to and what he’s been thinking about since then. Leland’s pretty busy in the afternoons after school. You can usually find him biking up and down the road or working on survival techniques in the woods, or watching television. But he agreed to come over and talk with me about what’s on his mind these days. We talked about building fires, parachutes failing to deploy, and where he has his most interesting thoughts. Here’s an update from Leland.Music for this show by Noveller and Kai Engel, from the Free Music Archive.
I remember, as a kid, I regularly felt most adults were dismissive of my ideas and so I spent a lot of time in the woods. As an adult, I still feel that adults underestimate kids a lot. Though, I notice that on the internet young peoples ideas are generally given equal weight. Leland, what do you think about the internet and it’s potential?
It troubles me that Leland and his friends think of themselves as the “Unpopulars” because they are not the “Athletes” though they are surely not the first or the last in thinking it.
When he goes back to his 25th – or his 50th high school reunion, he will be surprised how often the people who did not think of themselves as “Cool” or popular because they were not especially athletic in their school years, find that their position in the hierarchy of “Coolness” and popularity have reversed. They will also will find that the shelf life of a HS football player’s skills are pretty short and that the kids that didn’t make it on the team sports scene and picked up tennis or running or some other life-long activity were the lucky ones after all.
Leland sounds like a great kid to me.
Leland, It was so cool to hear your ideas – all of them from cosmology to popularity. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I are old people in Missouri and we really did some good thinking after listening to your ideas. Best wishes on you elementary school graduation!
Leland, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you being a free thinker, having a strong connection with nature, and good friends and the many other interests and talents you have makes you (and your friends) really cool to the rest of the world. Remember -as you go forward – school is just a microcosm of your community and of the larger world.
I’m sorry Leland hasn’t replied yet, but I want to assure everyone that he is a pretty self-assured person. The unpopular group, in his mind, is not a bad thing. He likes being different, and he knows that his individuality is important. When he says that the sporty kids “think of themselves as popular” that is exactly what he means… and he and his friends accept that. He views it as funny and not as a reflection of how cool he really is, if that makes sense.
I’d also like to put out a disclaimer that Leland does not just go out and try to start fires randomly. He never does it when it’s dry and dangerous, and as the shredded rocks and tinder burning out communicate, he is usually unsuccessful.
I love this reply. Thank you Leland’s mom…
I hope we will continue to hear from Leland next year and beyond; can we do that?
I also love the fact that Leland’s estimation of self as being in the unpopular group is undiminished. This is wonderful.
Leland: would you come visit us with Henry at our camp in South HEro this summer? You could bring your bike, your whittling tools and bathing suit. You can start the beach fire for S’mores!
Erica introduced Leland to Shirley Temples, so that bond is strong, and Leland is always up for talking with her.
I’m sure he’d have a blast in So. Hero (with H’s approval).
Leland’s grandfather was taught by Henry’s. (Small, beautiful, Vermont world.)
Leland, I don’t know if you’ll see this, but my daughter Norah is in 7th grade at U-32 right now after several years at a school that had ZERO homework. I was pretty worried that she would be overwhelmed by homework in the afternoons too, but it has not been that bad. And now she has lots of new friends, mostly from Calais, believe it or not. I don’t know how she found them, but she did, and they all seem to love a lot of the same things (books mostly, in their case). Maybe that’s one advantage of a bigger school? I’ll tell her to look for you and say hi!