Room With A View

I have a great view from my office.

Green athletic fields.   An American flag in the distance.  A memorial tree to a treasured alumnus.  A pond with geese and ducks.  Trees.  Courts for play.  Not a fire ant in sight, though I know they're out there.  I don't like fire ants.

One of my favorite things to do is look out my window and see all the activity.  Just yesterday I watched the cross country team's interval training, the quarterbacks working on the "three-step drop," and the field hockey girls practicing their shooting drills.  The kids were sweaty, but they looked happy and resolute.  The coaches were focused and organized.  Trainer Ed taped an ankle.

Everything was exactly as as it should be.

Stop by sometime for a visit.  You're always welcome in the Upper School.  I'll give you a bottle of water or a cup of coffee.  Then we can visit about your children, Country Day, or whatever you want.  I'm really busy these days, but I try never to be too busy to get to know you.  The better we know one another, the better we will understand one another.  I suspect we have the same goal in mind - your children.

Then I'll show you the view from my window.

Dinner table question of the week:

Is it ever ethical to Wi-Fi piggyback?  If so, under what conditions?

A Vital Link

Last Saturday evening I spent time with the Upper School Link Crew at their annual retreat in Midlothian.

Twenty-seven great kids and two positive, dedicated, and caring adult leaders.  Lots of positive energy.  I found the entire experience very invigorating.  A fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Please take note of the the attached photo.  You will notice a box of snacks and a water bottle.  Beside them you see a binder marked "Lead by Example."  Lead by Example.  I really like that motto.

Energy food and a noble mission.  Think on that for a moment.  In a sense that's what we really need most.  Sustenance and a raison d'etre.

Much has changed since you and I left high school.  It is a different world in many ways.  The traditional ways of providing guidance to children - while still very sound - need augmentation from time to time.  We as parents need help sometimes.  (I know I do.)  One of the many ways FWCD helps families like ours negotiate the murky waters of parenthood is through our Link Crew program.  We believe that peer guidance is very effective if done correctly.  Our goal is to do it correctly.

Our Link Crew has a dual mission, both noble:

Develop and reinforce healthy habits in our 9th graders.  We want to help our newest members strengthen communication with their peers, teachers, and families.  We want to help them improve their ability to identify and solve problems.  We hope that they will appreciate people who are different from them.  And we want to increase their confidence in fulfilling their academic and social responsibilities at FWCD and beyond our gates.

Leadership development for our Link Crew leaders.  I like to think of the Link Crew as a "leadership laboratory" for our LC members.  They run the program with adult guidance and supervision, they learn to address and manage conflict, they explore cultural diversity issues, and they learn to serve as positive role models, mentors and facilitators.

Lead by Example.  That's what they do.  I like that.



Dinner table question of the week:

Have you ever heard of Aung San Suu Kyi?  Google her.  Extraordinary woman.  Inspiring.  Talk about her with your children.  We all need heroes.



Aung San Suu Kyi

The Academic Village

Relationships take time. They have to begin sometime, however.

Ours starts today.

This blog entry begins what I hope will be a weekly correspondence. My intent is to create the ongoing conversations that I believe are vital to any learning community.

Sometimes these blog entries will be commentaries on books I have read or news events that affect us all.  Sometimes they will be serious in nature. Other times they will be humorous.   I just believe that it’s very important for you to know who I am and what I stand for.  I hope that you will enjoy reading them and take advantage of the comment box if you wish.

Each Friday Musings will conclude with a Dinner table question of the week.  This is a single question that I hope you will generate meaningful discussions within your own family.

___________________________________________________________________________

Those of you who know me well understand that I have long admired Thomas Jefferson.  What has drawn me to him over the years is his active mind, breadth of interests, and spirit of optimism.  His home, Monticello, nestled upon a mountaintop in Albemarle County, Virginia, is one of my favorite places to visit.  It is beautiful, but what I like most is that it personifies the man and his many interests.  As you walk thought the entry hall to the parlor,  through the dining room and into the sitting room, you begin to get a sense of his passions.  But it’s his book room, cabinet, bedchamber and greenhouse that really tell his story. (More on that later. Jefferson will be a frequent subject of my Friday Musings. I plan to devote an entry to each of these rooms and what they mean to me.)

It was in these rooms – Jefferson’s sanctum sanctorum – that he envisioned and planned the “academical village” that would become America’s first secular public college, the University of Virginia.

I am no Jefferson scholar, but I like to think he envisioned his academical village to be a safe, beautiful place, bustling with inquisitive students who accept the responsibilities of service within our democracy and the trials of academic rigor.  These students are welcomed each morning by professional teachers, lifelong learners who embrace their role as mentors and scholars who welcome and encourage lively debate.  Administrators accept their roles as problem-solvers and are devoted to freeing students and teachers from the unnecessary distractions that keep them from their teaching and learning tasks.

Jefferson’s village is progressive without deviating from established core values, and it is committed to the ideal that the moral and ethical development of young people is a fundamental responsibility.

Sound like a place you would want to go to school?  Me too.

Can you envision this school in Fort Worth?

I can.

Let’s build it together.  Starting today.  Today.

Before we can do that, I want to explain what I believe are the three key components to the village.

1.  Our Physical Space.  It is safe and quiet.  Conducive to reflection.  Beautiful.  Lots of trees.  Its buildings are clean and comfortable.  The environment matters.  Learning spaces are well-equipped and pleasant. The fields and facilities are to be admired.  It makes you want to think and create.

2.  Our Students. They are selectively admitted.  They take full advantage of what we offer.  Need-based financial assistance is provided for deserving students.  Honorable conduct, energy, and service required.  They are committed to one another and their school. They see education as an exciting act of enchantment.  They believe they are in it together and the effort is worth it.

3.  Our Adults. We believe in the mission of the school and exhibit its core values.  We are genuinely interested in our students’ well-being.  We articulate and enforce clear expectations based on reasoned judgment. We are the village elders.  

Over the course of the year I'll visit with you, your children, and the Upper School faculty about ways we can create our academic village at Fort Worth Country Day.  This will be a theme this year.  If we all understand and embrace the roles we play in our village, we can ensure that our school - the place where we spend so many of our waking hours - remains one of the finest independent schools in the United States.

Dinner table question of the week:

"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities...because it is the quality which guarantees all others." (Winston  Churchill)

Do agree with this statement?  Why or why not?

Sacred Spaces

We all have sacred spaces.

A library.  A car.  A place of worship.  A garden.  A vacation spot.  A cemetery.  A baseball field.  A recital hall.  A golf course.

I find internal peace reading quietly in my office, walking alone in rural Normandy,  touring the battlefields of southern Pennsylvania, camping in Big Bend, visiting with loved ones on Cape Cod, and backpacking the southern Appalachian Trail.  These are places where I find refuge, where I do my best thinking, and where I feel safe.

Being there makes me a better person.

It seems these days that we have to work harder and harder to find time for our sacred spaces.  We complain of being busier, about all the demands on our time, about being tied to our smartphones and about the stresses of the modern world.  We worry about our weight, if we are wearing the latest fashions, and if we belong to the right club.  We obsess about our cars and about where our kids will go to college.

But that's no excuse.

We need to reorient the way we think about our sacred spaces. They are as necessary as air, water, and food.

Time spent in our sacred spaces refreshes us.  It is transformative.  We will be better people - and more at peace with ourselves - if we can visit our sacred spaces.  We will be kinder, more patient with others, more reflective, and more tolerant of one another's differences.  That makes us better parents, spouses, and teachers.

Where are your sacred spaces?

Can you get there sometime soon?

I hope so.

The Extended Hand

Have you ever heard of Tom Lee of Memphis?

I hadn't until I came upon his statue this summer while jogging along the banks of the Mississippi River.  What struck me was the simplistic beauty of the memorial and the resolute look on Tom's face.

In the early evening of May 8, 1925 Tom rowed his small skiff Zev into the muddy Mississippi to save 32 people from the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman.  What was most remarkable is that Tom didn't know how to swim.   And he didn't even know anyone on board the ship.  He must have been scared.  I would have been.

Looking at Tom's statue made me think how often I extend my hand to help others.  Not enough.  I plan to make this a goal this year.

If Tom Lee can extend his hand, can't we?

Recipe for a Wonderful Evening

It's quite simple really.

You take good friends...

Sameer and Claudia.  Lise and Tom.  Ana and Pete.  Debby and Bill.

Add good food...

Tenderloin.  Asparagus.  Twice-baked potatoes.  Milkshakes and cookies.  Cabernet.

Sprinkle with thoughtful, reasoned discussion...

Russians in Crimea.  International travel.  Race relations in America today.  Music.  Children.  The future of American education.

Voila!

The Beauty of Old E-Mails

I teach history at Fort Worth Country Day.  I love my job.

However, sometimes I worry that digital communication may make my job much more difficult in the future because we all routinely delete our e-mail.  Not like in the old days.  In the old days we wrote letters.  Then we saved them in a cedar chest.  Then grandkids found them and had at least some sense of what life was like in the old days.

I recently found an e-mail, which, by the way, was printed.  That's the point of this story.  Like an old letter, it was printed, saved, then discovered today.  I want to share it with you.

It is entitled "How I Fill My Days."

I sent it to Debby on January 2, 2005 at 6:59 AM.

Debby:

I love you!  I hope you had a fun time in Ada - it has always been one of my favorite places.  Lots of fun memories.

Described below is a "typical" day in an atypical place.  Please know that no two days are alike.  Also - please don't share this with anyone except (maybe) our immediate family.

When we are in the field we usually sound reveille at either 5:45 or 6:00am.  I sleep on a regulation cot in a sleeping bag, usually with a t-shirt, skivvies, and socks, and a fleece watchcap if it is really cold.  The sleeping bag has an outer gortex cover and a black winter-weight liner.  I have a hammock pillow that I bought in June from Backwoods.  It is a great pillow - small, rigid, though it is rather dirty right now.  When I climb in the bag at night, I usually listen to my iPod until I fade off to sleep (which is rarely longer than a song or two).

When reveille sounds, my routine starts.  I dress in the same order every morning.  I wear wool socks, silk running shorts, under armor t-shirt, a polypropylene long john top, as well as my combat utility uniform.  I have a dog tag laced into my left boot.  In my left pant pocket I carry a pocketknife, my room key, a book of matches, and the keys to our platoon office.  In my left outer cargo pocket I carry two maps, an extra pair of wool gloves, and the clear inserts to my ballistic sunglasses.  In my left breast pocket I carry an ID card, a roster, and a ziplock baggie containing four pictures.  (Debby, Taylor, Robert, and Allie, of course).  On my dog tag chain hangs the "We Love You" medal and a "Hope" medal given to me by one of my students.  I always wear my wedding ring and I wear my VMI ring when I'm on patrol.  On my right hip I carry a 9mm pistol and an extra magazine containing fifteen rounds.

I then put on my flak jacket.  On it hangs numerous things.  I carry nine M16 magazines (each containing 28 rounds), a first aid kit, three 9mm magazines, three Sharpie pens for my map (red, black, and blue), two fragmentation grenades, two D-rings, a radio, and a compass/thermometer.  I wear a kevlar helmet with night vision goggles attached, ballistic sunglasses, and a neck gaiter or scarf when it is cold.  My gloves are cottton with leather palms and padded knuckles.

When it is time to leave, I climb on the truck the same way.  I climb on the hood and step into the turret.  (In addition to commanding the platoon, I am also the gunner in my truck - which means that I ride in the turret and shoot the .50 caliber machine gun).  When I stand in the turret, I am exposed from the waist up. There are two turret shields.  The one in back is 1/2 inch steel plate and the one in front is 3/4 inch steel.  Resting on the turrret ring in front of me is a global positioning system (GPS), a map, goggles, a Sharpie pen, and a flashlight.  The gun itself is directly to my front and has a box of 200 rounds of ammunition.  My M16A4 rifle stays strapped to the turret or I carry it in my hands while we drive.  It is much quicker to use the M16 sometimes than traverse the heavy machine gun.                  

When we depart on a mission, the Colonel simply calls me on the radio with a destination - it is up to me to determine the best (quickest? safest?) route and method of movement.  I pick the route based on time available, enemy situation, route characteristics, weather, etc., and away we go.  The Colonel is a brave man.  During the battle he literally "rode to the sound of the guns." One day he wanted to watch an infantry company in the attack, and directed me to find a tall building (2-3 story) from which to watch the assault.  We found one, cleared it, and I posted several Marines for security before I returned to my truck.  A few moments later a Marine from an infantry platoon ran up to me frantically (there was much fighting going on around us) and asked if I could suppress a building with my machine guns while his Marines assaulted it with grenades.  I agreed.  I then took Sgt. Smith with me and we drove down an alley litttered with dead insurgent fighters.  The target house was about 50 meters to my left-front.  I gave a command over the radio, and we opened up.  Simultaneously the insurgents in the target building fired.  Several bullets pinged our truck and riddled a telephone pole in front of me.  About that time my machine gun jammed.  I grabbed my M16 and fired two magazines - 56 rounds - until I saw the Marines throw the grenades and enter the building.  At that point I ceased fire and moved back down the alley.  The report is that we killed five in the building, though it is hard to tell.  Chaos.  The whole thing lasted maybe 5 minutes.  Funny how you don't get scared until afterward.  My only concern was that my machine gun jammed.

After the firefight, the Colonel remounted the vehicles and we continued on...just a brief stop on our way around the battlefield.

When the day ends, we park the trucks, do maintenance, and clean the weapons and gear.  We go by the old cavalry saying: "First the horse, then the saddle, then the soldier."  Only after the gear is ready (never know when we could get called out) do we eat and sleep.  And boy do we sleep.

Well, sweetie, you wanted to know what I've been doing.  This is but one day of many.  Like I have said before, the Scouts do a great job of holding it together in tough situations.  So have I.  The day I described was one of the more dangerous - don't think they are all like that.  Many are mundane.  Many are boring.  But please know this - no matter what kind of day I have, my day begins and ends with the same image - your beautiful face.

I love and appreciate you more than you can ever know.

Bill    

I guess the moral of this story is PRINT OUT THE REALLY IMPORTANT EMAILS.  SOMEONE MIGHT BE REALLY EXCITED TO DISCOVER THEM SOME DAY.