From The New York Times

In War Zone, Soldier Uses Blog to Teach


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 30, 2009
LA CENTER, Ky. (AP) — Sixth-grade social studies students at Ballard County Middle School know what time it is in Afghanistan and what the weather is like there on a given day.
The students have become acquainted with the country though Aaron Connor, a Ballard Memorial High School graduate now serving near Ghazni City, Afghanistan, with the Illinois National Guard. Mr. Connor answers the students’ questions through a blog.
Ashley Bodell, a teacher at the middle school who graduated with Mr. Connor in 2001, arranged the correspondence between him and Cathey Seaton’s social studies classes.
On the blog, Mr. Connor wrote: “I make mention about our little shootouts not to scare folks, but because I want people to know that this is a dangerous country. People hear about ‘safe’ parts of this country. There is no such thing. There are only places with more or less a degree of danger.”
Mr. Connor, 26, will most likely be overseas until fall.
A version of this article appeared in print on May 31, 2009, on page A16 of the New York edition.