I made the short drive from my office in Corona, in Riverside County, to San Diego tonight so that I can capture the energy on the eve of our national conference. Wow! I found myself sharing conversations with a variety of conference-goers from all across America. While most were careful and intentional in pointing out that it's the conference, not sunny Southern California or escaping from today's East Coast snowfall that beckoned them, they were jazzed to be in San Diego to engage with their peers. It's the best conference for expanding beyond our normal parochial reach.

Schooling is local and it has the tendency to keep us local unless we make the effort to expand our horizons. Place matters and it's critical that education leaders consider place as they do context. It matters. Reach out to a fellow education leader from a place in a faraway land and see just how much you have in common.