Betty Birney’s Blog

As I mentioned yesterday, I was at the Vail Mountain School on Friday and it was an exhilarating day for me.

There’s something about the air there, and the fall color , and the interested, inquisitive students that really got me revved up.

Surely, learning is easier in such a beautiful place and the school has a lot of community projects that take the students outside (weeding in the park the day I was there) … as well as SKIING!!!

I'm going back to school - where do I sign up?

with Lower School Head, Deb Deverell

I did a large presentation in VMS’ fabulous theater – my power point never looked better. VMS also invited the students from Red Sandstone Elementary, because both schools had read The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs over the summer. A large group but good listeners all. Then I did a couple of Humphrey presentations in a smaller setting, signed lots of books, had lunch in the beautiful cafeteria – good chili – and did a presentation to the sixth graders called From Story to Script where we had an energetic exchange of ideas on translating books to movies and the differences I’ve observed between writing scripts and writing narrative fiction. (There are advantages to both – and in my case, each kind of writing has helped the other.)

with Librarian - and hostess with the mostess- Lorraine Haslee

At the end of the day, a mom came in and said her second grader came running out to the car, saying, “Betty Birney was here and she talked a lot and she wasn’t boring!” The highest compliment a speaker can have!

And at lunch, a little girl asked me how old I was – a question I always manage to wiggle out of. I was trying to wiggle out of it when she said, “in your 20s?” I did not hesitate – I said “Yes!!”

It’s good to be back in school.

Thanks to Lorraine Haslee, Deb Deverell, and head of the Middle School, Adam Bude, for dinner and good conversation as well as a welcoming day.