Today the kids have to be roused early and move themselves through the morning with purpose because Spring Break is over.  It cuts many ways.  The weight of routine is lightened for them by a sunny green day with a crisp snap to it, as lively as we can expect in early April – but they’ll have to spend the day inside.    They’ll get to see their friends again and tell stories about what they’ve been up to, but there will also be work.  For all the different seasons mixing in their heads and around them what it always comes down to is that they really like to learn, they really like their school.

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The chairs were arranged around a central point at the coffee house.  In each of them sat a person more likely to keep their nose in a cup of steaming coffee in a kind of ritualistic way, as if to ward off the late March chill, than anything else.  If they knew each other, they’d be more likely to be chatty and bubbly, even this early in the morning, so it was obvious from the whole arrangement that something was up.  I couldn’t help but listen in when someone rose to speak.

When materials were handed out and the speechifying started, it became obvious.  These were Census workers, learning the details of their new trade.

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March is the big month for Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota.  It’s certainly not because of the dreary, drippy weather that gets everyone a bit down after a while.  It’s our month because it’s Tournament Time, the giddy sidewalks packed with people in town to see, in turn, the Boys High School Wrestling Tournament, the Boys Hockey Tournament, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Tournament, and sandwiched in there somewhere the bacchanal of Saint Patrick’s Day.  It’s a good time to see what works for our city because, after all, the place is bubbling with life and energy and a lot of cash being spent.

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