Every year, I draw a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. I try to do this with one or both of my children and we talk about his dreams and then ours.

Today, I feel as I often do, that maybe I shouldn't dare or try to dream because I am not educated enough about politics, or how the world works. I am too idealistic. My ideals carry no weight. Maybe I am too liberal or too conservative so I don't deserve to work toward making my dreams come true. Maybe my dreams will be judged because I have or am too much or too little. But that's not quite right, and I wouldn't want any child in the world to feel this way.

Regardless, as with every single day since I-can't-remember-when, I have this thought whether recalling King's legacy or not:

My stone of hope for this nation and especially for red hills Georgians is that we might rise up (seriously! RISE UP!) and fix these durn schools.

I might go on about the things and events Americans will "rise up" for and I'd hazard that's not right either. If the schools don't work very, very well, I can not see a future of freedom for children or for us. And that is a heartache that haunts my dream.

kds + hambone, prismacolor and graphite, this morning