It was exactly two years ago today. I woke up to the light from the Florida sun peeking through the blinds of my Aunt’s home in Orlando where my family had traveled to spend Christmas. I picked my head up from the dining room table, took off my glasses, rubbed my eyes, and looked up to the eyes of my sister Monique staring down at me. She had seen me sleeping, had made me a cup of tea, and pulled the blinds to the side to let the sun in. There she stood, looking down at me with a cup of tea in her right hand, with her gleaming white gap toothed smile forming into a whisper. “Shhh be quiet, don’t wake everyone. I settled back into my seat as she gave me a pat on the back and walked out of the room and told me to keep working.

A while ago, I engaged in a written dialogue (metalogue) with two 11th grade students in a school where I conducted research. I got an opportunity to publish the piece as an addendum to an article I had written.

Unfortunately, the metalogue got lost in the initial document and did not get the space it deserved as a stand alone piece. I thought would be a great space to share a piece of my discussion with the students because it follows the theme of my first two entries and raises a lot of important issues that need to be addressed about urban science education.

On several occasions, I have been tempted to rush and respond to some of your posts. Each time, I sat in front of the computer screen poised to begin writing but decided against it because I would have been responding not because it was time to respond, but merely out of an obligation to do so. I looked beyond prompts from a dear friend who nudged me to respond but the time was not quite right so I waited. I felt like there needed to be more time for the questions you have posed to seep through my thoughts and those of other readers. After reading and re-reading your posts, and viewing the responses you have provided to each other, I am sure I made the right decision.

I am honored and humbled to be in the same space with all the great minds that are a part of this project. I look forward to sharing with, and learning from, all of you. May we bring light to the tunnels that lead to freedom of thought and lead generations to see the world as it should be and not as it has been shown to us.