The weather was magnificent this noon hour so I decided to walk to Felipe’s for a burrito. As I was returning through Harvard Yard, I paused for this photo of a self service leaf raking station, something I have never encountered before and wondered if it would work in our backyard. Minutes later, police and SWAT officers began appearing everywhere and two helicopters could be seen hovering over the campus. Everyone in the yard and students in four adjacent buildings were asked to exit immediately as the area was cordoned off. I later learned that a bomb threat had been reported and the magnitude of the emergency response was not surprising in light of the recent attacks in Paris. Fortunately the threat was deemed to be unfounded after a 5-hour search of the buildings.

Temperatures dropped significantly by early evening when I drove to Lynn to watch as the Concord Carlisle Girl’s Soccer team won the D2 state title.

Maya had a busy day in Washington D.C. at her National Youth Leadership Mission conference. In the morning she heard from the ADL’s National Director, Jonathan Greenblatt, who discussed the importance of speaking up when you see injustice. The lunchtime speaker was Marion Ingram, a Holocaust survivor and civil rights activist, who talked about her experiences in Germany and the US. Workshops focused on the relevance of the speakers’ stories to the lives of the student delegates, to the delegates’ encounters with prejudice, and to their roles as leaders in actively promoting respect for all people. In the afternoon the New England contingent toured the Washington Mall before attending ADL’s National Concert Against Hate at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts later in the evening.