On the Way Home: King Coconut

One of the things we always promote at Champlain is the pragmatic and real life nature of our educational mission. Of course, any one who knows me will assure you that I fail at this, and with tremendous pride. I walked on to a college campus for the first time in the fall of 1978 and never left, and suspect I won't until they carry me dead out of the classroom, felled, tragically but appropriately, mid-rant. The real world seems like a scary place, and, well, seriously, who would want to spend time there? Nevertheless, I will lead students all over the planet, and the more exotic the locale the better, because to me that is the real world that will truly transform them. Michael Manfredi, one of the students who traveled with us to Zanzibar, was clearly impacted by the trip and he brought it back to his gaming courses. Here are five screen shots that he sent me, which I think our beautiful. He's clearly quite talented, and I'm glad that Steve and I could play a small role in inspiring him. Mike especially wanted me to see this because he quietly slid a picture of me wearing a crown made of coconut fronds on to the wall (it was taken during our spice tour, which I'll get around to writing up eventually - although I don't have a copy of the now infamous King Coconut picture, other than this Platonic copy of a copy of a copy). The thought of envisioning and carrying out the creation of an entire world is astonishing to me. I am very impressed.