Wolf Project

When I was in grade school, my mom registered me for the "gifted" program, and I wish I could remember more of it. A legally blind woman named Ms. Rogers with the thickest glasses I had ever seen was the teacher, or more supervisor I guess, since I don't remember having any actual lessons; she just sort of assigned us projects we could work on with each other or ourselves. My nerd friend Joey was in there with me, and Coleman was not pleased about being left out, but I played Cheetahs with him during recess, and everything was all right again.

I can only remember one project and one field trip for that class, which makes me sad because they were both excellent, so I wish I could remember more of what we did. I decided to make my project about wolves, and I can only assume Joey's was about Nascar or something. Basically he liked Nascar, pro-wrestling, and being a know-it-all.

I was obsessed with wolves as a kid; I'm not sure why, except maybe it was to do with the well-defined social structure. If there was anything I liked as a kid, it was a clear set of rules. (Later, when I read Ender's Game, the clearest thing I remember being impressed by was the many ranks with corresponding names and color codes.) I went to the local nature center and studied the Red Wolves they have there, and read loads of books on wolves and their relatives around the world, it was *great.* It's one of the few projects I can think of that I didn't stress out big time about. Or maybe I did, and just can't remember.

Anyway, I really enjoyed that class.