Lastly, in the spirit of protecting the organizations involved, I won’t release more info about the meeting than what is here. I was certain the meeting would be canceled, but because it wasn’t funded by federal dollars it did take place. Nonetheless, there is palpable fear in DC right now.

In spite of it all, you can’t put that many smart people in a room and not see sparks fly. I loved being able to meet my heroes, hang with friends, and make good trouble. As always, I am returning home re-energized and ready to go.

Oh- we weren’t allowed to record or photograph anything. The meeting was supposed to be live streamed and that option was cancelled at the last minute. There were people circulating the room stopping people from using cameras.

It almost felt like the meeting organizers were given instructions that we should avoid problem solving and community coordination. I am sure that is not the case, but it was pretty frustrating.

Given the number of very esteemed guests in attendance, the amount of time we spent (a lot of time) sitting around waiting for something to happen was extremely unusual. Usually meetings like this are tightly organized to maximize time spent picking each other’s brains and problem solving.

We were instructed at the start of the meeting that we would NOT be discussing any of the issues related to the recent executive orders. If this content came up, the facilitators adeptly redirected the discussion.

There were sessions that appeared to be filler. They were enjoyable but not necessarily what I would have traveled across the country to attend.

The title of the meeting changed without notice. The meeting materials were scrubbed of the intent of the meeting and our group’s purpose.

So in summary: it's time to be patriotic, because just because. If you were ever made to feel guilty or ashamed, or anguish for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, this one's for you. Go Trump. Merit! Excellence! Hard Work! Rah!

There is a bunch of hogwash about the 1776 Commission. I just like that part because it has the word "semiquincentennial" in it. It's a good word. But let's not overlook that the 1776 Commission is told to serve without compensation, because that's the American Way.

And, especially thank heavens, they will enforce the law by going after people who exploit minors, practice medicine without licenses, or do other bad things. I guess talking about racism in classrooms would qualify as a Bad Thing?

Thank heavens, they plan to protect parent rights. because FERPA and PPRA.