9/6/06. 11:30 AM South Kortright School. S. Kortright, NY

Today was the first day at this K- 12 school in rural S. Kortright, NY and all the kids came out at recess to ring the bell. The High School students were way too cool to ring it. They hung around and pretended to ignore it. One boy finally came over to ring it, and it rang once and another boy came over and grabbed the wheel and stopped it.

The next group to come outside was the Junior High school students, and they were more enthusiastic. Both girls and boys were interested and tried it out. At some point, the boys turned it into a contest to see who could spin it end over end the most number of times. I don’t know who won, but the bell certainly lost. It creaked and scraped after that until Norman replaced the bearings and oiled it. When asked what he thought of the bell, one boy said it was the loudest thing he had ever heard.