Summary: <br> This is the time of year when the green stalks of corn begin to brown and yellow, and the once moist kernels begin to harden into dry grain. <br> <br> <br> <br> Photo by Arne Hendriks – Creative Commons Attribution License https://www.flickr.com/photos/31774856@N00<br> <br> <br> <br> If you’ve ever shucked corn, you may know the difference between the sweet smell of corn-on-the-cob versus the drier, dusty smell of corn harvested in the fall. When I was a boy, my granddaddy would pull an ear of corn from a nearby stalk and peel down the feathery husks. Then he’d hand it to me and say, “Take a bite. When it’s young like this, it’s kind of sweet.” I’d take a bite and be surprised by the little bursts of flavor even in kernels that had not yet been cooked.<br> <br> <br> <br> Later in the fall, I’d climb into the cab of his John Deere combine tractor, and watch as the rows of stalk and corn were combed into the bowels of what I thought was a magic machine. With rumblings and racketing sounds, the combine would cut and thresh the grain, shooting clean piles of golden corn into an awaiting tank.<br> <br> <br> <br> Seasons help us keep time. And this time of the year, I not only miss memories of watching my grandad at work, but I’m also missing the normal rhythms of school. During normal times, buses run in lines down community streets. Family vehicles line up in front of schools to drop off children. Boys and girls wrangle thick backpacks, band instruments or sacks of lunches while weaving and stumbling their ways into buildings. <br> <br> <br> <br> During normal times, principals stand out front to wave at parents and say hello as they deposit these motley crews of treasured love and labor at the school house doors. Teachers stand proudly outside their classroom doors to greet them with high-fives or fist-bumps. Crossing guards move them across busy sidewalks, and cafeteria workers usher them through long lunch lines.<br> <br> <br> <br> Remember those times? When life seemed so normal with the rhythms of schools, work, business and activiites all intertwined into what we used to know as life in general? And during those past seasons, you saw lots of faces without masks or shields.<br> <br> <br> <br> Changes Rhythms<br> <br> <br> <br> But this year, our rhythms are not all the same. Some schools have opened for in-person instruction with a variety of protocols involving masks or disinfectants. Others are providing remote learning options. Some families have their children in full time virtual learning. Even schools that have started back in person are doing so with various levels of success and challenges. But whatever choices they have made, they cannot stop the arrival of the start of school – in whatever form they are experiencing.<br> <br> <br> <br> Some schools are cancelling band programs while others are moving forward with specialized bags over instruments that can be sanitized between classes. Many schools have set up lanes in hallways so traffic only moves one way. Others are concerned about safety protocols for outside activities. As more teachers want students in outside places, school officials wrestle with how to ensure adequate supervision. Some districts are cancelling extra-curricular activities all together while others are still on schedule for after school events. <br> <br> <br> <br> I’ve talked to high school principals whose lunchtimes mean students are staggering times so fewer kids eat together. Others in middle and elementary years have students eating in rooms with teachers and assigned classmates. Some schools are extending advisory periods so that the incremental time increases allow longer times for students to begin their days with just one teacher. <br> <br> <br> <br> Keeping the Enthusiasm<br> <br> <br> <br> In whatever ways schools are beginning,
