Thousands of saplings are needed to build one of Patrick Dougherty's internationally acclaimed stickwork sculptures. Hundreds of hours go into collecting the wild materials, visualizing its form and developing its structure.

Sometimes finding locally owned places can be a problem, but not in this part of North Carolina. The area was filled with local, healthy options to try.

If teaching were just a pathway to wealth and respect, no apology could compensate for the insults and the damage that Arne Duncan has helped inflict on teachers. Teaching, however, is an act of love.