I’m a volunteer this week and next in a summer program for children in a section of my city called Normal Heights. How’s that for a name of a section of San Diego. Photography is the subject of my workshop. I have never before “taught” children as young as five, so I went into the first day with fear and trembling. I needn’t have worried. The children are beautiful and bright and earnest. They can’t wait to get their hands on a camera, but they sat quietly and listened intently as I talked with them about how to use a camera to “write with light.” Tomorrow they will take “serious” portraits of each other. The children will be paired and charged with getting a respectful, positive portrait of a partner. I hope they see some of what I see.

I see the future in these children, and the future is tea colored. Some Americans are having difficulty coming to terms with that reality. Of course, I was reassured when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States; but my relief didn’t last long. For reasons that I partly understand, the President has been outmaneuvered by the newly invigorated extreme wing of the Republican Party. I don’t know how he will fare in next year’s elections. I don’t know if the Tea Party crazies in the House of Representatives will be reelected. I can’t imagine that Grover Norquist will lose his influence. The children I will be seeing every day for the next two weeks will lift my spirits.