This story comes from Lynne Greene: During the summer after our daughter's freshmen year in high school, she was still best friends with her lifelong Nueva friends. She invited her three best friends from Nueva to visit us on vacation. Each girl got off the plane with something creative and new to share with the others; a silk screening kit, a bag of recycled material from SCRAP in SF, and a sewing machine.

The four girls spent the week learning skills that none had ever tried before. They laid out the fabric, silk screened their own designs to create new fabric, figured out how to make an original pattern for clothing they designed themselves (yes, applied math was fully discussed), and then taught themselves to sew their own clothes. They were, and still are, simply amazing, talented can-do and will-do creative kids. Typically Nuevan!

As icing on the experiential cake, they sang in four part harmony while working together. They called a local restaurant that had an open mic night and asked if they could perform. They were told no, but decided to arrive in their new clothing and ask again. When they came up to the stage, the audience was clearly viewing them as young teens who had no business interrupting their evening entertainment. By the end of the first song, there was a hush over the crowd. They were awestruck at their talent and maturity. They sang several songs and left the stage to wild applause. The owner of the restaurant asked them to return again.

It is in juxtaposition to our next group of visiting friends that the Nueva influence on these girls was so clearly shown. A few weeks later, two new high school friends came to stay with us. As they came down the airport corridor to meet us, they were already plugged in to their iPods and texting on their cell phones. When asked about what to do during their stay, they wanted to go rent a video. They were both smart, nice girls, but the spark and gusto and creative life-force of the Nueva group was nowhere to be found.