Bird by Bird

Last night, as I lay in bed feeling tired, my mind was wide awake. Sometimes the mind needs a little quiet to come alive. I kept thinking about the Fullerton Art Walk and the recall election and the Gilbert Community Center and problems with higher education and unemployment and Fullerton's rocky history and protests and teaching. When I finally fell asleep, my dreams were about these things, and I kept waking up, with everything heavy on my mind. And in the morning I took a walk and bought a gatorade and wandered around my neighborhood, still feeling kind of overwhelmed, but then I thought of a book I once read where a little boy is overwhelmed by a science project on birds. He doesn't know where to begin. He asks his father for advice and his father says... "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."