Starin' Up the Road, Pray to God I See Headlights

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's almost that time. Classes for the Fall Quarter begin tomorrow at Baylor Law. I can tell you this: it has been four, yes four, months since I sat in a law school class and tomorrow morning promises to be painful. Here's to the next step of the journey and positive thinking.


I saw a pretty interesting story tonight on "60 Minutes". (Yes, I watch "60 Minutes". I'm not sure if that allows me to connect with my elders, but I enjoy the program). One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC for short, is non-profit organization founded by M.I.T. professor Nicholas Negroponte and others. OLPC's goal is to develop a $100 laptop that can be given to each and every child around the globe regardless of whether that child lives in America, Switzerland, or Laos.

The "60 Minutes" story focused on a village in Cambodia that OLPC has used as its proving ground. The village is accessible by a four-hour journey on a dirt road and does not have running water or electricity, but each and every child at the village's school has a laptop thanks to the work of OLPC.

After reading Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat last Christmas, I believe now more than ever that in order for children around the world to raise their standard of living and escape the crippling poverty that still ensnares far too many in these prosperous times, the secret is a connection to the educational tools that are everywhere around us. Thanks to Nicholas Negroponte and OLPC, that dream is becoming a reality.