A few weeks ago, during the last big storm, a towering dead pine snapped at its base and crashed toward one of our buildings. By some miracle, only the very tip brushed the structure—no damage, just a close call from something that could’ve been much worse. It was a massive tree, and for a while, it simply lay there while we focused on other pressing matters. But this morning, arriving at campus, I went to assess what it would take to clear it—and was met with something unexpected and beautiful. The tree had been cut into clean, even rounds ready for splitting. The limbs had been trimmed and stacked into tidy piles, ready to haul. This is what community looks like. Quiet help. No credit asked. Just kindness in action. To whoever did this—thank you. You showed up in the way we and the world need more of. We are deeply, humbly grateful. (fb)

Today, on World Art Day, we throw open the windows of the soul and let the light of creativity pour in. It’s not just about paint on canvas or notes on a staff—it’s a global exhale, a celebration of the imagination that binds us, challenges us, and teaches us how to be human. Born of the same wild genius who sketched flying machines and dissected cadavers with equal reverence, this day honors Leonardo da Vinci not only as a master of beauty and invention, but as a prophet of possibility. In a world that often forgets to look up, art reminds us to wonder, to weep, to laugh like fools at the absurd and still show up the next day with a brush, a chisel, a story, a dance. Art is the glue that holds the cracked vase of civilization together. So here’s your invitation: don’t just admire the gallery from the velvet rope—buy a ticket, pick up a brush, fund a dreamer, join the great human experiment of making meaning. Support the arts like the world depends on it—because it does. (fb)