Hot town, summer in the city. Only the beer was cold.

Brother Fred and the Carpenter Ukulele Society

It's 4 p.m., another day of 90+ Chicago weather and I'm still trying to get my head straight after yesterday's festivities.

First Jesse Sharkey's C.O.R.E. BBQ Picnic with a few hundred union teachers (you could hear the strains of Solidarity Forever blocks away) and then on to my brother Fred's retirement party -- back-to-back and luckily within walking distance. Great music at both. Good food and open bar. Lots of CTU'ers came over from the picnic to the party where everyone signed in on a wall petition to save the Teachers Retirement System.

Steve, Matt & Jennifer

Things got raucous at  Mike James and Katy Hogan's Red Line Tap with rockers Matt Farmer and Steve Doyle jamming for 3 hours. Fred and fellow teachers in the Carpenter Ukulele Society opened with their best Van Morrison. Best night of the early summer. Omen of great things to come.

Blogger supreme Tim Furman at SchoolTech Connect, sums things up pretty well. Although he obviously couldn't hang with us oldies who closed the party out.

Anyway, what a tribute. The place was packed, and it was a virtual who's who of the people who elected Obama and were to one extent or another left behind by that particular President, whose campaign for the White House started at the Heartland Cafe, next door. There was more accumulated wisdom about teaching and learning and the purpose of public education than in all the new ed reform foundations in DC combined. Plus an open bar, which as far as I'm concerned is key. Key.