In this episode of "Ojai: Talk of the Town" we check in with Dr. Morse about the Ojai Unified School District's mobilization in light of the school closure in March. We talk with her about the enormous social needs of the 2,400 students, including basic food and shelter, the district staff's heroic efforts to meet those needs, including providing 650 meals a day. The district is also struggling with technology gaps, getting thousands of students online, the challenges of learning while older students are caring for their younger siblings, the cancellation of such important events in the lives of students - and the community - such as sports games and graduation ceremonies.

She talks about the cooperation and collaboration between schools in the county as administrators and teachers share best practices and learn from each other during this crisis, and how to incorporate those lessons going forward.

We also talk about her PhD thesis on different approaches to teaching math to middle schoolers - managing that crucial transition between concrete and abstract thinking. She talks about her experiences as a young teacher, realizing that middle schoolers "are my people - I could really identify with them." We also talk about why school is for girls, not boys, and what she plans to do about it, which includes smashing up television sets and building hoverboards.

We also talk about Sebastian Junger Witts' "Tribes," and the documentary, "Identical Strangers," about a bizarre social experiment in the late 1950s in which a set of triplets was each placed with a family from three different socio-economic backgrounds, only to reunite accidentally as young adults.

We do not talk about Yankee clipper ships, ancient Egyptian monetary policy or Taylor Swift v. Kanye.