The horizon pinched shut, only a thin, gray-blue haze seeped out. Slush idled at the curbs. The intense cold came and went, with the snowfalls relatively light and widely spaced. In some ways, though, a harsh winter is preferable to a mild one, to one that always seems to be pulling its punches. With a mild winter, you have to stay on your toes, wondering what could happen next.
Winter is the season when, studies prove, TV viewership peaks.
In early February, on a day when snow flurries hurried past the windows of Room 11, Kelly and the other pupils in Laura Erwin's class were asked what they had learned from television. On National Geographic I learned that the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. I learned not to play with matches because you can get burnt. I learned that anything is possible on Power Rangers . Never pick up guns and never use drugs and don't play with matches and never get in a stranger's car and always talk with your mom and ask her whose car you can get into.