The mailman stopped by and told Jen that some guy in the neighborhood walked out into the street and killed himself with a shotgun a morning or two ago. I can't help thinking about the kids who would have been walking to school at about this time. One of the only things more antisocial than killing yourself is killing yourself in the middle of a quiet, suburban street. Sad.

Speaking of sad, I found out in a round-about way that one of the kids in my field class this week lost his dad three weeks ago. I never would have known it. This kid is involved with the lessons, even if sometimes his language is a little inappropriate. He cracks jokes. He gets in minor amounts of trouble, just like most of the other fifth and sixth grade kids who come through. The information really made me pay closer attention to him today. He was genuinely interested in the lessons I taught this morning, and told me as much. Later, he exclaimed in delight as a large millipede crawled across his hands. I keep thinking that he's got a world of hurt to go back home to though. Once the distraction of science camp is over, he goes home to a life that is emptier than it was three weeks ago. It probably hasn't fully hit him yet. Kids sometimes have to deal with so much...

On a more light-hearted note, our class counted fifty California Newts on the hike today.