A skittery, erratic attempt at a weblog. Rambles will be indulged and depths will be plumbed. Who knows what I'll come up with?
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| Fragments A skittery, erratic attempt at a weblog. Rambles will be indulged and depths will be plumbed. Who knows what I'll come up with? |
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Thursday, May 22, 2003 I belong where??  Harvard You're the best -- you know it, as does everyone else (except for US News and World Report every few years). You might not be hip, you might not be pretty, but you're smart as a whip and you never need to do another impressive thing in your life. Which Ivy League University is right for YOU? brought to you by Quizilla posted by susan | 2:25 PM Monday, May 19, 2003 Weather: It was SO nice today...still a little chilly, but it's getting there Listening to: the buzz of anger in my ears Not doing: any kind of calm yoga breathing < rant > Dear Ms. Little: I just heard the news that Ms. Catherine Pfaff, sometime head of the BSS English department and excellent teacher, is joining her colleagues Mme. Robinson and Ms. Layard in their exodus from your sinking ship, towards St. Clements School. This comes on the tail of the news that Mr. Alan Hardy, another excellent English teacher, is also leaving your fine academic institution -- to be fair, I do not know his reasons. You can understand that as a former member of your school, I am slightly concerned by what seems to be an ongoing pattern of attrition. In fact, the majority of teachers and administrators that have made a major impression on me have left. I am less concerned by the seeming trend of moving to St. Clements -- from what I hear, St. Clements is an up-and-coming hotbed of academic excellence. I don't care for your tripe about 'educating the whole girl', because you're rapidly losing the people who can educate any PART of the girl. To be honest, I don't understand. You inherited a school as old as the country, with a stellar reputation for academic, artistic and athletic excellence and a proud tradition of achievement in education. Within -- what is it now, 7 years? -- you've managed to reduce it to rubble! You, and your lack of leadership, lack of vision, lack of eloquence...you and your fondness for bureaucracy and red tape. Tell me -- is there anything that truly inspires you? Besides dollar signs? Do you know what it means to learn, to be caught up in the process of learning, to be a lifelong learner? Do you know what it is to see the world in an elevated light? Have you any intellectual spirit within you at all? I understand that you have a responsibility to be a strategic business planner, but as the head of a school, I would think that you would need to be able to command qualities of inspiration and elevation in others. As it is, you bored us to the bone with your hesitant speeches and your empty platitudes ('Wellness Wedensdays' -- thank you SO much for caring) and your constant, self-congratulatory smugness. You inspire no one. Any spirit of creative excitement which might have been palpable 5 years ago has long been replaced by a sense of meaningless stress, tempered (for me) only by the influences of the strong educators now leaving at an alarming rate. You and your administration seem to care only for what seems 'cutting edge' and trendy -- your laptops and your renovations -- and have discarded the basic principles of a good education in your headlong hurtle after the crests of these waves. As far as I can see, The Bishop Strachan School is well on its way to becoming an exclusive health club and internet café, and not much more. You needed to be grand, Ms. Little, and strong -- but instead you lived down to your name. It seems BSS will do the same. < /rant > Whew. I feel better. Thank the gods I'm well and truly out of there. posted by susan | 12:11 AM Saturday, May 17, 2003 Okay. That was harsh. I actually am having a good time, and I did miss my parents, and I know they missed me. And I'm happy to be back, I really am. Sometimes I just didn't really realize how much I had grown to love being off on my own, that's all.... posted by susan | 11:45 PM Weather: not bad, but not quite warm enough yet...weather where you have to wear a sweater, but you deeply resent it. Listening to: 102.1 Not doing: birthday thank-yous, job search, driving lessons Sorry -- my net at home sucks royally and every time I have the inkling to come write, it refuses to work. So how am I doing? Right now, I'm really full -- Green Mango follwed by Demetre's. Unfortunately Jeannette wasn't feeling too well...it all started earlier, while we were out rollerblading and she started feeling dizzy. Hopefully she'll be ok. But rollerblading was fun! I didn't fall over or kill myself, and I actually might want to go do it again sometime, so they're not just going to be sitting in the closet wasting money and space. I also saw Something About Mary for the first time today (yes, I know, it's been awhile) and didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Although it's far from my favourite movie. All in all: today was one of the better days I've had in awhile. Fun from morning to night -- I miss my freedom to do that, and I miss the people I choose to do that with. Sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating here -- with my parents, and their increasing foibles and frailties, and the constant sense that I'm being an inconsiderate and ungrateful child for not being more helpful if I go ahead and do 'young' things. We were trying to plan a party today, and I realized just how much we depend on the proximity we all live in at Mac. The school year ends and we all scatter, and suddenly there are people to check with, and rides to organize, and times at which to be home. So it was nice just to spend all day out again, and not worry too much about telling my parents where I am.... The best night I've had in a long time, by contrast, was Thursday night -- when I went over to Julie's, and we watched some episodes of Buffy and X-Files, and then abandoned TV for conversation that ran till about 3 am. Thank you Jules (or Jutlie, I guess :) ), it was one of those nights that remind you that it's all worth it. So I'm having a good summer, by and large. I'm having the expected hard time readjusting to being home again and accountable to my parents, and I don't have a job yet, and I really miss my Brazil-bound boyfriend. But other than that, and the crappy internet, and the lack of cable, I'm having a blast....:) posted by susan | 11:15 PM |
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