While the winds of March have not let up, the winter term has passed. Spring break is a different sort of break altogether: it is less of a rest and more of a gearing up and getting ready to go. We are about to enter, perhaps, the busiest term of all. The largest challenge, I suspect, facing the school is finishing the business of the year while concurrently planning for the next. Many may not appreciate the fact, but at the very time everyone is hustling to complete various yearlong goals and put a cap on the year, a lot of folk are mapping out the significant goals and logistics for the upcoming academic year. There are also the growing pains to speak of--
Now that we are into the 21st century, it should surprise no one that Shakespeare remains relevant. Just recently, as my AP students and I probed Othello, Lear and Hamlet, the relevance struck me mightily. The first point I should makes stems from the fact that spending time with more than one play at a time truly enriches the experience enormously. One accrues a sense of repeated themes, preoccupations of the poet, and the ongoing skepticism with regard to language he possesses. In fact, Shakespeare, like his surrogate Hamlet, trusts little in the external world, because his gut tells him something is ill with it. And therein, we know that Shakespeare is, indeed, still relevant.
With five or so scooters viable on campus, I think it is time someone made some positive comments about them. While I would never contend with the idea that Mercersburg's campus is primarily pedestrian--for it is so and has been designed that way--I would say that the scooter is a delightful vehicle to use, when one is inclined to use a vehicle. First and foremost, in its green little way, the scooter can go about 80 miles to the gallon. When mine was brand new, I could score about 100 miles to the gallon. Cars, almost any car, is a guzzler in that light. Parking, of course, comes much easier with less need for space. Parking lots become less crucial.
Over the last several weeks of the first term, the students in Poetry, Fiction and Non-Fiction Writing have been focusing their efforts on the craft of poetry. As they have moved from poem to poem, they have been compiling enough pieces to comprise the semblance of a small manuscript. In fact, last evening they gave a poetry reading in the Hale Studio Theater where each student read three poems each from their manuscripts. It was a stunning performance to say the least. I wanted to share a few poems from one of the more quotable manuscripts.
It is also a time for teachers to begin thinking about colleges, too. Now the season of the college recommendation is upon us. Generally, it is a privilege and a pleasure to write these letters for students we've known for four years and watch grow up and excel. The difficulty lay in the format, really. I always tell students the hardest the thing to do is to write about yourself--I think that's what makes the college essay such a challenge for most of them. It is also difficult to write a letter of recommendation on a conceptual level, because usually one has much more to offer up than can fit in a letter.
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