This is the beginning.
Almost anything can happen--
This is where you find
Presenters who share and inspire,
The creation of ideas, flittering through the mind…
The words of Collins, Dumas, and Lee,
Hirshfield, Masumoto, and Min.
With raindrops the size of raisins,
Wine tours with profound discussion
And Armenian dance, food, and folklore.

This is the time to make choices,
To celebrate our colleagues.
Lacking sleep and comfortable shoes,
We trudge back and forth
For out students and for ourselves.
This is fertile ground
For creativity and analysis.
This is the beginning.
Almost anything can happen—
CATE 2007.

by Maureen Rippee, CATE Past President