As a kid, my first friends were the local children and we used to climb trees and run barefoot, dodging the odd scorpion.
It was easy to run around barefoot in oblivion in Costa Rica. But once I gave birth to my child, I didn't want to be oblivious to the obvious.
It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.
I lived an idyllic 'Huckleberry Finn' life in a tiny town. Climbing trees. Tagging after brothers. Happy. Barefoot on my pony. It was 'To Kill a Mockingbird'-esque.