This may not come as a huge surprise, but I am a planner. If you’ve ever had access to my Google calendar (sorry, SAA staff!), you likely have seen that I have most parts of the day planned out—my schedule is fairly consistent, and I drive my partner insane with my need for routine. With all the planning I do, I wish I could say that my life and my path have been exactly what I planned for, but, of course, that’s just not what life is. For those of us pursuing our best artistic selves, and for those of us in the practice of teaching, the best discoveries are not in the journeys we’ve planned, but instead with the journeys that present themselves to us.

I’m struck in this journal issue by our members who followed their curiosities, their itches, and the questions that were posed to them as they followed their paths. We have stories about journeys to Oaxaca, interweaving psychology and the Suzuki Method, and a commitment to embracing Suzuki’s ever-famous concept of the “new idea.” Each of these writers offers us an example of how following our own curiosities could leave us with something richer than where we started, or where we planned to go.

My most recent creative endeavor, of course, is my journey with all of you. As I found myself in Matsumoto listening to the critical issues that our work faces, I was reminded of the many paths people take to get to the same place. We’ll be offering further information and context about the conference and our learnings in our next issue (spoiler alert!). In the meantime, I wish you, and your students, many unplanned discoveries.

Best,

Angelica Cortez
Executive Director
Suzuki Association of the Americas