"I stopped dreading
Sunday nights
the week I found this table."

Sofia Brennan
2nd-Year English Teacher · Lincoln High School
Sofia Brennan walked into Homeroom for the first time on a Wednesday in October, carrying a tote bag full of un-graded essays and the particular exhaustion that hits second-year teachers when the novelty has worn off but the skill hasn't fully arrived yet.
She didn't know anyone. She ordered a coffee, found a corner table, and opened her laptop. Within twenty minutes, the retired principal at the next table had asked her what she was working on.
"He didn't give me advice. He just asked questions until I figured out what I already knew. That's what good mentorship is, I think."
By November, Sofia was coming every Wednesday. By January, she had stopped using Sunday nights to dread Monday mornings and had started using them to prepare for them — at a table surrounded by people who understood the difference.
Wednesday afternoons
"The overhead fluorescents off, a single desk lamp on."


