I'm glad you enjoyed it. I truly believe still to this day that helping to create that school was one of the most revolutionary, magical, and beautiful things I have ever done. We really touched a lot of kids. Without question we transformed lives. There were kids who came to us in all kinds of states of challenge, and we were able to provide them a place to be. We had kids who were aggressive and defiant, but in the absence of a power struggle and with the space to find themselves completely changed into totally different kids. We had a student who was transgender who was being beaten up in the local high school regularly while the principal turned a blind eye. She was able to be exactly who she wanted to be and dress exactly as she wanted to dress without any harassment. I was so glad we were there for her. She was quite brilliant too, constantly learning about all kinds of interesting things. She was a blessing to us with the awesome bonus opportunity for our kids to learn what it meant to be transgender.
Oh, and I agree about responsibility. It really is everything. My son at 19 is way more responsible than most adults I know.