**Disclaimer: This post discusses some topics that may be sensitive to some people. I have tried to be as open-minded as possible when discussing these events.

There was a demonstration on campus this weekend. Students encircled part of the campus (through Rock Arch and then around through Pembroke Arch), holding hands and chanting. We did it to show solidarity, to show how strong our voices can be. It also showed how quickly campus can come to action.

But the thing that hit me most about the experience was the connection. From a biological perspective, the human hand has thousands of neurons packed under your skin. This means that your hand has an incredible capacity to make connections with the world around it and communicate all of those connections with your brain. This is why I think that showing solidarity by holding hands, sometimes with perfect strangers, can be so powerful. Your hand provides so much input about the person next to you, and tells the hand you’re holding so much about you.

One more thing that all those hands were doing was tweeting up a storm. Look for the hashtags #bmcbanter, #BecauseIAm #IfIWere and you will find more insight into the demonstration than I can put into this post.

This summer I worked with students with special needs at a vocational education center in my town. Since I live in a beach town, this meant that I got to take them to the beach every week.

Picture a relaxing day at the beach: laying on a beach towel, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and a good book in your hand (my picks this summer: some Oliver Sacks, The Casual Vacancy, and a few travel books), getting nice and toasty in the sun. This is what I did when I was not at work. When I was at work, I spent beach days giving a 7-year-old piggy back rides in the water while trying to keep her from drinking up the entire ocean. When it was time for us to go back for lunch, she would sprint, covered in sand, across the beach, not caring if she stepped on towels or sprayed sand on people. When I caught her she would be all giggles and hugs and it would be impossible to be anything but charmed. And a little tired.

My other favorite part of work was teaching social skills and cooking skills to kids with high-functioning ASD. I liked the social skills part because it was so rewarding to watch them start to use their People Files and refer to the Friendship Pyramid with ease. I liked the cooking skills part because we got to eat the final product.