William Marvel: Intermittent Schooling

Even when droughts turn our dirt road desert-dry, and inconsiderate motorists race by, raising 15-foot clouds of dust, we take most of our walks on Davis Hill. Sometimes we bring gloves and plastic bags, to pick up after the pigs in our society. If we or our neighbors don't undertake litter duty for a while, the cans and bottles and plastic food containers accumulate so densely that we have to double back after half a mile and fetch more bags. It isn't a very Zen activity, but it can be thought-provoking: I wonder, for example, who drinks Jack Daniels and ginger ale from a can. He (I'll bet) can't live far away, given the tight pattern of jetsam.

I therefore paid attention at last week's school board meeting when the principal of Kennett High School spoke about getting his students out to help collect litter along Conway roadways. It's something called the annual "community day," he explained, intended to "remind our students that it's important for us to give back to the community that supports us."