I met Vivian Connell when I was in North Carolina a few years ago. She was on a panel moderated by John Merrow, consisting of NC teachers who left teaching, usually for financial reasons. Vivian left teaching to go to law school. The audience consisted of legislators and policy makers. I recall Vivian as beautiful and vivacious. She became a devoted member of the Network for Public Education.
Sometime since then, this dynamic woman learned she had ALS, a fatal and degenerative disease. She faced with courage and dignity, determined to live her life as fully as possible.
This afternoon I received this, one of her last posts. She explains the disease, how she has coped, and the life lessons she has learned.
I share it with you because it is a story with special meaning on Christmas Eve. It is about living and dying and facing both with integrity, candor, and honor. Vivian is still teaching. She is teaching all of us.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Fine piece by Alfie Kohn would be appreciated by your readers. What ‘No Child Left Behind’ Left BehindBy Alfie Kohn
Andrea Lancer
Andrea Lancer: I second your recommendation.
😎
thank you, Diane. My sentiments exactly.
Words cannot adequately express my thanks to the owner of this blog for sharing this with us.
And to you, Ms. Vivian Connell, I proffer the eloquent words of someone that can (I hope) adequately pay tribute to your courageous and sagacious example—
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
wonderful poem. thank you.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2
When I met Vivian Connell at the NPE conference a year and a half ago, I felt an instant connection with her, and in my heart, I knew that she was an extremely special person. That was further reinforced as we sat together in an Austin beer garden, and she texted wholly inappropriate but wildly funny stuff to me. Though time and distance and age separate us, I felt an instant kinship, and I felt that we would become friends of the heart.
While I hate what Vivian is enduring, I am grateful that she is sharing it with the world at large. Without question, she is the embodiment of honesty and courage and grace.
Because of Vivian Connell, I am sure that I have entertained such an angel
Thank you for sharing this post. My brother, Aaron David Harris, died of ALS.
Four years ago, I also lost my brother to this dreadful disease.
a gifted choreographer I had known at National Music Camp at Interlochen MI also died from ALS. Here is a link about a foundation in his memory: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/in-memory-of-choreographer-eric-hampton-a-dance-tribute-and-a-new-foundation/2012/10/04/d192f91e-0c2a-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_story.html
A wonderful legacy…”She is still teaching all of us.”