Cool Ways to learn - away from home & tradition

- Go to the zoo. If that sounds perfectly nutty, all the better. Have you ever just sat and observed an animal? Quietly, and over time? Try it. Then, read Edward Albee's play, Zoo Story (preferably if you're over seventeen; it's pretty edgy). That will truly shift your perspective. 

- Visit the SF MOMA, or another MOMA. Modern Art, as a genre, is provocative. It may provoke annoyance, perturbation, awe, disgust, delight, embarrassment (or all simultaneously). You can be sure it will provoke thought. I can't recommend it highly enough. 

- Do the same, but with a classical or special interest slant; in other words, pick a museum that piques your interest. The San Carlos Hiller Aviation Museum on the Peninsula is A-MA-ZING. This from someone who is truly not an 'airplane person.' Even so, you'll get that sense of wonder. And you'll discover something if you even stay five minutes. 

- Go to an author's homestead locally. Have you checked out Steinbeck territory? (Think Salinas, Monterey, similar.) You can dine at "The Steinbeck House," walk Cannery Row and then sit and read Cannery Row itself, or, if you prefer the epic tomes as I do, pick up The Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. Both are wild rides, 100% environmentally responsible and wholly sustainable. 

- Go to Yosemite, if you haven't done so yet. Sit by a brook. Listen. Stare at a rock, channelling Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. Then, while you're there, read Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. May I suggest "Song of Myself" to start? It pairs beautifully with a bunch of red grapes and the sight of grazing fawns you'll love seeing in the Valley until they eat your bagged lunch. 

- Visit RandomKid.org, which is simply incredible. No spoilers here, but it's basically proof that teens can do anything. And they can do big time GOOD. So can you. 

-On that note, look up the 2014 CNBC story called "8 Kids Turned Big-Time Philanthropists," and read about them all. Then try it. Anything. Help someone. You never know. It could get huge. And if it doesn't, you still helped one person, who is better off because of you. And in taking part in that magic, you learn.  

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Anne takes part in frequent field trips, philanthropy that ranges from LPIE work to supporting Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay, Wardrobe.org, Water.Org, Doctors without Borders, KARA, Make-A-Wish Foundation and LLS, engagement with the arts and writing absurdly laughable poetry that's meant to be serious.  

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