Vistamar - Final Morning Meeting 2019 - Walking Home

Final Morning Meeting - May 31, 2019

Greetings - Welcome to the last morning meeting of the year! And, the last day of classes. 

When I was a kid, I used to walk home from school some days. I loved it. The directions weren’t complicated: it was about a mile down Shartel and a left on 33rd a couple blocks to my house (with some great distractions along the way). I did this from third grade on - starting way back in 1974 when I was 7. 

Shartel is a slightly busy street in Oklahoma City, my home town (there aren’t many that are actually busy anywhere there) - it’s got a nicely mown grassy median, lined with trees and generally a pleasant and safe place to walk. On the East side of the street, the houses are generally nicer homes for the most part, but nothing really fancy until you get to 38th street where the Dolese Mansion stood.

It was our Boo Radley house. As kids, we told ourselves all sorts of stories about it - ghosts and trap doors and secret rooms and mysterious, maybe dangerous, and definitely unbelievable things. Some of those stories undoubtedly led me toward an event that day that I’m about to tell you about this morning.

Every walk home was an adventure, if not an odyssey. Along the way, there was an amazing creek where crawdads lived and hid under the rocks, a park where people flew kites and kids played on the jungle gym, but there was also a nerve-racking block’s worth of middle schoolers who would yell things from the yard in front of Harding Middle School right before my final turn home, and who would shout things out the windows of their yellow school buses.

The Dolese Mansion, about halfway between school and my house, was bordered by a tall wooden fence - hard to see what went on behind that fence, except through the gaps where the gate didn’t quite close all the way. Every day I walked past, I would approach the gap and peer inside, looking for the dogs who lived back there, or some evidence that the stories we told each other about that place were actually true. 

One day, out of a little curiosity and probably some boredom, I poked a stick through the fence, and almost immediately, those dogs became a pack. Barking, gnashing, growling dogs who bite by bite,  pulverized it until it was just a stub, barely long enough to reach them through the fence. 

This was exciting. 

Entertaining, even.

But I had to keep moving. 

After the Dolese Dogs, I’d trundle on down the road, until I got to 33rd street where I turned left, past the middle school, and walked the last couple blocks to my house. Then, straight to the kitchen where I’d peel and eat a banana, or peanut butter and honey sandwich, watch the Brady Bunch, then relax and play until bedtime.

The dogs became this new thing on my walk home. They were actors in my play - they were characters in my narrative. Whatever the Dolese Mansion was in reality wasn’t important. What was important was the story we told about it and how we were drawn to it. I don’t think I cared much about the other dogs along the way, but there was something about that specific fence and the power of the stories and what those particular dogs represented that was magnetic. Those dogs were players in the fiction my friends and I had created. Literary devices. There was power there. 

So when I think about the last day of school, I recall my walk home on the last day of school in 1974, when I had finished 3rd grade. On the way home from school that day, I carried a binder, some felt tip markers, a pencil case, and a lunchbox - not sure what else - and as I reached that fence, I did what I had done many many times before.

And even though they’d jump and push, fence buckling and swaying, it never faltered completely until that day late in May, 1974. I saw it buckle, the wood splintered, and the latch snapped open. I threw my books into the air, ran across the street and onto the median. Dogs were everywhere and everywhere fast. 

Chaos. 

Fear. 

Regret. 

I expected them to tear me to shreds and while they absolutely might have, they didn’t - they dispersed and I was ok. They were just dogs and they seemed more interested in smelling things and being free. I don’t recall much of the rest of the way home, but I was grateful to have made it, and happy to be safe.

My parents trusted that I would, and expected me to, explore the world and to learn from it. And they let me. And I believe that this built in me something that guides me today as I live my life, for my family, for myself, and for this school. We have to be open and eager to know more. But we also need to be prepared, because fences fail sometimes. We have to be aware of things and know when to stay on the path and when to veer. When to act. And when to not. 

A healthy community honors its members for who they are, wants the best for them, and is a place where equity matters. This is a journey each of us takes on our own, but among others who aspire to bring themselves to the world to make it a more just, honorable, and better place. Here in morning meeting we are reminded that the truth of our own journeys is a binding force and because this is a safe and brave space, we listen to each other with compassion and act with purpose.

I’ve learned that curiosity doesn’t usually equate to predictability. But the results you get as a result of paying attention and wanting to know more are the essential parts of any effort to make a difference in the world. And this absolutely contributes toward making a difference.

So embrace the world you’ll encounter when you finish your final final exam and walk with some purpose toward lazy unscheduled days that should be at least some of your summer. 

As you’re thinking about that journey, I’d like to take a moment now to say farewell to a few astounding individuals who have each in their own way shaped this school fundamentally. People who have given so much and so thoughtfully to so many current and former Vistamarians. Five staffulty this year will be leaving us at the end of this year. They’ll be taking new steps toward a journey of their own outside these walls. Their voices, their values, their wisdom, and their hopes have fundamentally shaped the way we think about education here and why it matters so much. 

Our essential question this year has been: How can I learn from you? 

Here’s how I’ve learned from them: 

Pati Goodenberger - our Director of Admission, you’ve taught me that heart should guide us in the face of a countless competing aims. You have built our community in the most important way - by bringing amazing students to Vistamar who align with, support, and extend our mission. You’re a calm and welcoming force for good and you always see the good in others. You understand Vistamar’s mission and you’ve been a tireless champion for students and for the school throughout your time here. I appreciate how patient you’ve been with me in my first year here and I’m grateful that every student who’s in this room is here partly because of you and the way you introduced each of them to Vistamar. I’m sure you will miss your morning and afternoon commutes with Dan, your husband, but being closer to home will be a welcome step for you as well. We wish you nothing but the best for you as you move into this new chapter.

Andrew Taylor: I’ve been reminded that an academic journey is improved with with a healthy dose of skepticism, and that writing is an astoundingly valuable way to develop an appreciation for ideas, and to clarify complexity. I’ve learned how important it is to be a strong voice in the pursuit of understanding and the value of criticism and dialogue in pursuit of a better way. I have appreciated your sense of humor, your quick wit and for introducing me to the word pachukucha. The care with which you’ve always approached your work with your students is not only inspiring, but necessary. As a former department chair, international admissions coordinator, and mostly importantly as a teacher, we thank you for all you’ve brought to Vistamar - I hope you’ll carry some of us with you as you continue your work with your incredibly fortunate new students in your new school.

Lindsay Drennen: your work at Vistamar has been instrumental in helping to deepen our understanding about how students learn and how we can help them to realize their potential. You’ve taught us why learning is such an endlessly complex and fascinating process, and you’ve helped us find ways to enhance that process, authentically, honestly, and practically. You are a tireless advocate for your students, you have a quick wit, and kids know that you have their backs. You advocate with intentionality for your students and you regularly go to the fullest extent possible for someone who needs help - late night phone calls, meetings on your own personal time, and on and on. I’ve appreciated the clear, strong, and principled way that you work and the depth of your insight. You’re an amazing advocate. In addition to all this, you’ve also built our health and wellness program, and through that, continued to remind us that health and wellness holds equal weight to other pursuits and that it’s important to remember to value the wholeness of each person. Thank you for all you’ve done for the hundreds of students you’ve served individually and in the enormous contributions you’ve made to your colleagues’ ability to reach those students as well. You’ve made a huge difference. Thank you.

Courtney Federle: It’s hard to imagine a teacher more committed to the idea that each student has within him/her the ability to pursue a deeper understanding of the evolution of thought, values and politics, and to know that it matters. You’ve shown us how that being educated means being aware of who we are and what we can do to change things. Your commitment to develop in your students a view of their place in history, and in the world, is a gift to all of us. Your attention to the craft of writing, arguing, thinking critically, models for each of us and your students a thirst for understanding and how to live a life of meaning. Your devotion to ideas and the power of intellectual rigor is an example toward which we should all aspire, and you and will leave a mark here for all who have worked with you, been taught by you, and all of us who have been inspired by you. You leave your students emboldened to think critically and to express their arguments with clarity and heft. Thank you.

Ms. Gumina - As one of Vistamar’s longest-serving teachers, you have achieved near legend status. Your deep commitment to growth and the power of the nudge is a remarkable quality for a teacher, and most especially, a human being. Because of the incredible depth with which you approach your work, and your ability to translate that depth to your colleagues, new and veteran, you became the inaugural Director of Teaching and Learning. Through that position you’ve inspired us to want to understand how learning happens best, and also how to live out the values that bind us together - relationships, pedagogy and content, having a growth mindset, and our understanding of school culture in pursuit of an excellent educational experience for all. Framed by thoughtful questions, facilitated carefully and respectfully, and a commitment to the process of being educated, you’ve taught me to stay close to the principles and to always think of students first. Your legacy here will endure through the way we use language, ‘and’ through the wonder you infuse in your work. 

This community is each of us. Here in morning meeting, and in so many ways throughout the day and throughout the year we, together, hold one another up, and as we learn from each other, we experience each other in ways that transcend and uplift us. When we celebrate, and when we’re vulnerable, when we need to join together in a common cause, and when we say goodbye. 

The mundane and the spiritual commingle here in just the right measure and touch on the essential things that make us human and those things that encourage us to connect with each other. This space provides safety and security for us as we navigate our lives and find our way back home. 

I wish you all well as we embark on our journeys on this last day of school, wherever they may take you.

Congratulations and bon voyage!

Commencement 2017 - Walking and Tying Shoes

Commencement 2017

Welcome to all. Parents, Students, Board, Relatives, friends, teachers, and the entire CHAMPS community. 

Welcome to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and to the Commencement ceremony for the CHAMPS class of 2017. I’m Chris Bright, Executive Director of CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts, Multimedia and Performing. 

About 16 years ago or so, each of you took a first, unaided, step and were suddenly thrust from a crawler to a walker. Those of us in the room today who witnessed that moment will likely recall it with great clarity and some emotion.

It was one of those big moments.

Now, you’re ready to take a few significant steps again, across this stage to pick up your diploma, shake a few hands, have your picture taken, and to try not to trip on the way back down the stairs to your seat. 

This is another one of those big moments. 

In between walking for the first time and walking today, you’ve done thousands and thousands of things: some significant, some insignificant, some memorable and some forgettable, some things that were worthy of high praise and some mistakes that were made and learned from.

But, when it comes right down to it, it really is the simple and basic things that matter, in the end. Things that we do and move on from quickly - things that in a universal sense don't seem to matter much, but actually do. Holding a door for someone, saying please, being happy for someone else’s success… 

At an even more basic level, there are things we do in life that are incredibly mundane and yet connect us to something great and transcendent. For instance, do you remember the last time you tied your shoes? Could’ve been this morning or maybe a week ago? How conscious of actually doing it were you when you tied them? Do you remember learning how to tie them the first time?

Take a deep breath, pause, and reflect on the moment when you picked up the laces, one in each hand, and moved through the process to end up with a snugly fit shoe and a knot that’s both attractive and functional. Take a minute to go through the steps in your mind. 

While you’re doing that,  I’ll try to describe what I do: 

I pick up both ends of the laces, one in each hand, lay the right lace over the left lace and tuck the end under and through, pull both ends out and tighten. Next I take the right lace, make a loop, holding it with forefinger and thumb, while picking up the left lace, circling around the right loop, and..

This is where I get a bit confused and cloudy. 

I’ve done it thousands and thousands of times. It is, literally, ‘in my hands’. But it’s really tough to describe it, step by step. 

Some 47 years ago, when my parents taught me (and you can ask them - they’re here today) I was not handed an instruction sheet, sent back to my room and left alone to just figure it out. I didn’t get a grade out of 10 and they didn’t circle anything with a red pen. 

They worked with me, guiding me, showing me, and letting me practice and fail many many times. They were patient, they took time to understand where I was doing well and where I needed redirection, always with the end goal in mind: to teach me to tie my own shoes.

They taught me so that I could do it myself. 

Tying a simple knot with a couple of loops in a way that will keep them tied is an incredibly important thing to know how to do. So are lots of other things, like learning a language, being numerically competent, reading, and writing - and especially becoming a good and decent human being who wants to make a difference in the world. 

We don’t learn any of those things in isolation from other people; in fact, the values we learn about how to be with others are only learned with others, through trial and error, success and failure, with feedback, correction, guidance, and the love of those who are rooting for us. 

The words you hear from this podium today are attempts to wrap up and define and then send you off on your way, and while your graduation is really just only another one of the moments that make us who we are, it’s an incredibly important end, and a beginning.

The end of the beginning, I suppose. 

Thankfully, you have ends and beginnings every single day, even without all the pomp and circumstance of today. 

Remember that those individuals who gave birth to you, helped raise you, taught you to ride a bike, tied your shoes, made your lunch, wiped your tears, celebrated your big successes, and loved you more than you will ever likely know, they are cheering you on today like it was the first time they laid eyes on you when you were brand new, and couldn’t walk.

But that’s what they do every single day, and although today is a great occasion to remember all those things and to pat you on the back and cry tears of joy for what you’ve accomplished, they and we are always there fighting for you, dreaming with you, and loving you.  There are a lot of very proud and happy people sitting behind and around you. You’ve earned every single ounce of that affection, and they will continue to surround you with love and acceptance and support throughout your lives, when things go well and when you may need a helping hand. 

We don’t grow up alone, we don’t parent alone, and we don’t teach alone. We join together in intentional and accidental ways, with the amazing idea that if we do it right, you will become happy, successful, and fulfilled with an appreciation for your community and the relationships you will cultivate. And, so that you will do the same when it’s your turn to sit behind or around someone you’re proud of and can celebrate, selflessly, as they take their big steps into the world. 

The experts say that we should all embrace the challenges of the new millennium in the following ways. Since you’ve lived your lives almost completely in the new millennium, and there’s so much thinking about what it will take to be successful ‘21st century’ people, the ‘experts’ have spoken and generally agreed about the following ways of being that may help you succeed and be happy in your lives. See if you’re in line with this… (This is where I give you some advice).

Strive to Grow - Lean In - Accept the challenge, overcome personal setbacks, persevere over time, seek out feedback, be inspired by the success of others (not jealous or thwarted).

Ask Questions - Be Critical - recognize bias, deep analysis, embrace plurality in the search for new perspectives

Learn from Doing - Step Up - things that drive our performance - initiative, be speculative, assess risk, fail better the next time

Have Conviction - Take Action - make a difference in the world. 

You’ve had the opportunity to learn in a place that values the whole person, creativity, inclusivity, and opportunity to become your unique and spectacular self. Education is a whole person journey within the embrace of a network of relationships that help and guide and support each of us and it lasts an entire lifetime. You have embraced the challenges in your time here and before you came to CHAMPS and you’ve helped build a community that honors the very things that make life worth living and elevates us all.

The relationships you have with people who are on this journey with you and the actions you take to make the world better are the things that create the world you want to live in.  I have tremendous confidence in each of you to carry on the work and to not only become the finest people possible but to create the finest and most caring world imaginable. 

So congratulations, all. This is a big deal, we are all proud of you and celebrate with you these giant steps you’ve taken toward a life lived well. 

Today - Commencement 2018

Today - Commencement 2018

Welcome Parents, Faculty, Staff, Board Members, and especially the CHAMPS graduating class of 2018.

By an almost unimaginable alignment of forces and circumstances, we’ve all somehow ended up here today in the same place at the same time: June 1, 2018, at the beautiful Pasadena Civic Auditorium to celebrate your journey. We’re here today to listen and learn from each other one more time, and to honor you during your last few minutes as a CHAMPS student before you step outside into the sunlight and into your future.

Our mission here at CHAMPS is simple: we educate, guide and inspire creative and critical thinking through artistic experience. CHAMPS is uniquely creative, funky, inspiring, challenging, hopeful, inclusive, accepting and out-of-the box, and so are you. And this ceremony is about you.  Your graduation from our school, today, is the exemplification of our school’s mission, And our mission doesn’t mean one thing on its own, without you. The core meaning and entire reason for our mission (and today) is you.

So, today we celebrate this point in your life, considering both what came before but also what’s going to happen next. Today, sandwiched between both past and future, we pause and breathe together. We look to our left and to our right, in front and behind us, and we (all of us) assess each of our own contributions to a greater purpose: to make a difference. I’d like for you to today to be attuned to this singular idea: that at CHAMPS over the past four years, all the work you’ve done and all the hopes we’ve all expressed in community with each other is simply an expression of our passion to make the world just a little bit better. And it’s this that I hope you carry with you.

Today, our dreams, our histories and our futures, successes and failures, hopes and regrets converge to mark the time in permanent ink where we recognize a sudden and new direction. In a few minutes, you’ll be at a singularity where your past and future collapse into one moment, where you reach out with your left hand to grasp your diploma and when you remember to shake hands with your right. Where you become immediately and symbolically open to an entirely new set of nearly limitless possibilities. 

Because of physics, we know that a singularity lies at the center of a black hole. It is infinitesimally small and has incredible power - so much so that light itself is sucked into it and cannot escape. It’s a place where the normal laws of physics collapse into something very foreign. 

Here, in Pasadena, today, however, light bursts forth. Your light fills this space and expands far beyond these walls. Today, just like all the other todays that have preceded us, we are illuminated by everything you’ve done and we glow in anticipation as you pursue your lives beyond CHAMPS and high school and begin to figure out not just what you want to be, but more importantly, how you want to be. 

Today we remind each other that all the past years have been filled to the top with encouragement, help, love, guidance, redirection, refocus, hope, fears, decisions, successes and failures. And today, as we fade into your memory you will embrace your new challenges and your new directions. Today we wish you well. 

But, although today is a really big deal, let’s not exaggerate the importance of just today, because tomorrow you’ll be faced another today, with a similar set of circumstances, the exception being that you’ll have a piece of paper that certifies that you’ve completed a defined set of tasks over a certain time period. And although that certification will open doors and put you on the same footing with millions of others who have preceded you, in the end, it’s just a box that you’ve checked. To make meaning, you must be relentless in your quest for fulfillment and to live a life worth living. 

We’ve tried to teach you how to think, not to fill you up with knowledge. More important, however, we’ve tried to teach you how to understand what your value is. Today, you should have a fairly good idea about those things that motivate you, and which things you want to do to make the world better.

A wise person told me once that pretty much most of our life choices are driven by one of two forces: Fear or Love. Fear definitely serves a purpose: it keeps us safe from lions out in the Serengeti, for instance, but its value is limited and its power should be kept in check. Love, on the other hand, is always powerful but it’s also essentially humbling; it takes us out of our selfish selves. 

We have a responsibility to create the kind of world the world needs, and so we must be fearful of forces that encourage selfishness and vanity. Considerable damage can be wrought by an unchecked ego; so do things that will help someone else, stand up for injustice, stop to listen to someone who is in pain or who simply needs a sympathetic ear. Be keenly aware of things that can harm you - be fearful of things that will limit your awareness or that will encourage you to make self-centered choices. Surround yourself instead with hope, but in everything, choose to do things that will bring peace and joy to others. There’s always someone who is in need of something you can offer; so reach out your hand and always aim to help those less fortunate than yourself. 

Choose love today.

Finally, I congratulate each of you not just for what you’ve done, but who you’ve become. And as I conclude my own time at CHAMPS, I want to thank each of you for making my life better, and for reminding me every day that I’m part of something miraculous and powerful. 

Dust Bowls and Diplomas - Commencement 2016

Welcome Graduates, Parents, Teachers, Friends, and members of the Board of Directors to the CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts Class of 2016 Commencement here in the beautiful Pasadena Civic Auditorium!

First and most important of all, I’m proud of you and I’m thrilled to be given time to talk with you and share a few nuggets of wisdom and advice as you contemplate your journey forward, diploma in hand…

Secondly, because I have the microphone and because I like to give people advice whether they want it or not, and because you’re a captive audience (my favorite kind), I’d like to tell you a story about the past; my grandparents’ past. It’s about adversity, creativity, and tenacity in the face of big challenges.

Dave and Marciel Barber (my mothers’ parents) were born in 1919 and 1922, respectively. They spent their entire lives in and around the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, in places like Morse, Texas, Dalhart, Texas, and Beaver, Oklahoma.

They told incredible stories about their lives - heavy with adversity, scarcity, the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. They wanted us to learn from their lives and their experience, especially that we shouldn’t take things for granted; that we should be grateful for opportunities that come our way. Life can be hard, it’s not a joke when it is, and it’s what we do for others each day that creates value in the world. They believed strongly that selfishness and greed should be overpowered by the importance of community, helping our fellows and striving to make the world better despite our immediate circumstances.

During the dust bowl, in the 1930s, thick dust piled high on the side of the houses there in Dalhart, Tx. Cabinets, floors, beds, plates and cups were coated with permanent dirt and was constantly in the air they breathed and in the food they ate. Their cattle died of ‘dust pneumonia’. Many of their friends and families lived through unbearable loss, fear and uncertainty. Some, like their family, stayed put and worked to make it through the worst of it, and some, like Tom Joad in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, decided to move West in hopes of a better life. Those were my ancestors; those were my grandparents.

I know the history of the 30’s fairly well, and if you’ve read Grapes of Wrath, you know that there were plenty of good reasons Okies packed up their stuff and headed out here to find work and a life for their families. Having journeyed here from Oklahoma myself some 80 years after the dust bowl, I believe that I’ve finally fulfilled my ancestral destiny and found my very own piece of Shangri-la on Van Nuys Boulevard. But, even though none of my ancestors had the good sense to leave, they did have certain qualities of character that helped them live through the worst of what the world could throw at them.

So, as they explained, and as I understand it now, dust particles that circulated during the big storms created a tremendous amount of friction and also a powerful static charge. This electrical charge made touching metal objects a hazard - so much so that people used to drag chains behind their cars to ground them to avoid being shocked. 

One day, a particularly awful dust storm rolled into their farm. My great grandfather, Arthur Womble, who was out at his barn at the time, was blinded by the storm as he tried to find his way back to the safety of his house - it was only a few hundred yards away, but he couldn’t see a thing in front of his face. 

He was disoriented, frightened, unable to see a clear path in front of him. But, suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a sparkling blue line. The barbed wire fence that connected where he was to where he needed to be had picked up a strong electrical charge to the point of becoming a literal guideline and beacon for him to follow. Just imagine that image for a moment: a blue sparkling line of barbed wire leading that man to safety and back home.

I hold onto this memory of theirs because it allows me to ‘see’ what they saw, to strengthen my connection to them, and, hopefully, to benefit from their experience. I share it with you today because I hope it’s an helpful example about how opportunities are embedded in challenging circumstances and that there’s hope to be found in the most unlikely places. 

Arthur Womble took time to put up fences and to establish boundaries and foundations to build a life for his family. He never intended that barbed wire to be an illuminated guideline, nor could he have ever imagined that, but without that foundation, there may not have been a way back home to security and family, and the results for him and those he loved would have been disastrous.

The foundations we’ve tried to provide for you are designed to help you become the finest and most inspiring and ethical people you can become as you strive to change your world for the better in good times and in times of struggle. The knowledge and skills we’ve worked to develop within you are the tools that you’ll use to build the lives you deserve. Over the past four years, you’ve made thousands upon thousands of choices. When you’ve made good ones, we’ve celebrated you, and when you’ve veered from the path, we’ve reminded you where the lines are and why it’s important to stay within them. 

Like my great grandfather, there will be times when the best approach will be to look at the world out of the corner of your eye. Answers are often found in the most unexpected places. If you trust in the process of living consciously and in all that you’ve built for yourselves here at CHAMPS, you’ll not only survive a 200 yard walk through a dust storm, you’ll do incredible things in your lives and for others. 

We’ve striven to help you create a way of living that will prepare you for a world that we can’t begin to imagine today. You’ve risen to the challenge and you’re on the precipice looking out. You look at the world differently than your peers. Your every day life is imbued with a creative and accepting and beautiful spirit. You have a responsibility to seek out and build a life filled with hope, love, and a never-ending struggle to make a difference.

We think you’re ready for the challenge…

Congratulations and well done!

Graduation 2013 - What to Build

Graduation 2013

Welcome parents, faculty, staff, Board of Trustees, friends, and students. Congratulations to you, the class of 2013.

As a class, you are thoughtful, kind, helpful, cohesive, bright, wise beyond your years, and excellent role models. You've already accomplished much, and you stand at the precipice of incredible things to come.

Graduation ceremonies are opportunities to reflect, assess, and for me to have just one last chance to point you as a group in the right direction, or at least for you to hear me as a cohesive whole, where you have to pay attention.

Graduation speeches are meant to inspire and guide, to chastise and advise, to speak in platitudes and to describe that which can't be described.

As you prepare for life outside of your family homes, and since I can't promise to deliver on each of those aims, I'll keep my message simple: build something solid, practical, and portable.

As a class, you are incredible consumers and sharers of information  - books, music, photographs, ideas, hopes, fears, and so on. In some sense, your entire universe. You most likely have at least one or two devices or tools to do that that:  iphone, ipad, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc. From cats playing pattycake to inspiring causes to do real good in the world, some of what you've shared or seen has ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, but it all contribute to you, your identity and how you construct your lives.

I could spend a great deal of time discussing the relative merits and drawbacks to our interconnectedness through social media, but instead, I think I’ll bring this back to what I believe to be a more essential point about our lives together, here.

You’ve built social networks, certainly, but what are they based on? Which of those networks promote truth and ethics, and, portability? In short, once those networks pass into obscurity due to advances in technology or the whims of trendiness and the latest newest thing, what persists and what is it that you take with you?

That which is essential to your identity can be carried with you and will be with you wherever you are. If it's built right, it can’t be modified and warped and mutated by forces that aren’t concerned with your undeniable singularity and value as a person in the world, and a force of change for the right things in life.

So build something strong and real.

A chair, for example.

A chair has a particular purpose. You sit in in. In its essential form, its purpose dictates its final shape – the correlation of both purpose and shape are essential in the construction of the most useful and portable items you will own and use. That being said, I would guess that each of you, were you to imagine a chair right now, would imagine an incredible variety of chairs, each of which shares an essential 'chair-ness' that gives it its purpose.

Your identity is no different. What you say about yourselves and how you present yourselves to others is, in its purest meaning, is a direct expression of your values and your lives as you want to live them. Not just for the next ten minutes, or for the next faddish cause, but in the core of what you are and what is important. How you build your own 'chair' depends directly on your ability to seek out and find the materials necessary to build something that you can take with you - something that is sturdy and whose form is a direct expression of its function.

As you begin your lives outside of your parents' homes, you'll need supplies beyond the simple chair. You'll need shelves, tables, blankets, plates, cutlery, glasses, a can opener maybe, and a laundry basket. You could, in fact, build each of these things, but you've got other things to do, so you'll probably want to buy some of them, pre-made or partially pre-made. You'll also need other things that can't be bought or sold, but that can only be created with practice, passion, and dedication. Those things are built over time and among those who care for and love you, but you can't see or hold those things, they are only there to be used and they are the things that bring goodness into the world.

In the next few weeks, months and years, some of you may find yourselves in a place like IKEA to prepare you for your first months and years of post-familial home life. For those of you who don't know what IKEA is, it's an enormous box store in which you are supposed to be able to buy all you need to live a modest, practical albeit bland life. In addition to chairs, at IKEA you can also purchase beds, bedding, shelves, plants, plates, candles, and even Swedish meatballs. Most of these items come in a flat-packed box with various dimensions of particle board, cheap wood, screws, fasteners, casters, handles, and laminate. Everything there, including the meatballs, is built to typically austere and eminently practical Northern European aesthetics.

And, each box includes picture-only instructions designed to be understood by anyone, no matter what language you speak - Esperanto for the pragmatic, I suppose.

The instructions might confuse you, as there are no words, only pictograms showing how to, in the end, make your life more efficient, organized, and responsible. But with patience and fortitude, even if you're all by yourself, you can eventually build the thing you've purchased and, hey presto, you've got yourself a furnished apartment!

If you follow the instructions.

If you're like me, following instructions isn't always the first impulse. But if I don't, i guarantee that I'll have a few screws loose at the end and the thing I tried to put together won't be sturdy, practical, or really very useful at all.

The thing about IKEA is that, even if you follow all the instructions, picture by picture, page by page, with your single hex key in hand, you still end up with a mediocre product, one that is fine as long as you don't plan to move it - its value is short-lived and site-specific. Not you-specific. IKEA promotes the idea that all you need is one tool, some time, and you can build anything you need all by yourself. And therein lies the problem.

God, in his infinite wisdom, has a plan and nothing happens by accident. Believing that and resigning ourselves to follow the right directions and to understand that we don't have all the answers is a sign of courage and a sign of faith. Our motto. Fideliter et Fortiter, Faithfully and Bravely, is our core belief and one which guides us to become part of the great and infinitely complex movement of our world to which we are charged with building to the best of our ability.

So, back to IKEA: the underlying assumption at IKEA is that it's possible to get everything we need in one place; that convenience and an all-things-to-all-people mentality is a desirable end; that we can do everything ourselves alone. They've  designed nearly everything to be constructed with only one small, multi-use tool. It performs every function one might need, and because the lowest common denominator is the aim within the design and functionality of these products, the inspired wisdom of the individual is eliminated and their products are inferior.

And, by the way, in case you haven't had them, the meatballs aren't all that great, either.

I strongly disagree with their underlying assumptions about the value of things and the value of work and creativity. The world is so much richer and more beautiful when the spirit of each individual can express and create and live and feel, in very particular, unique, non-standard ways, to the meaning we are here to create and the love we're here to build and share.

So, on what or whom can we rely?

The answer seems simple: we can and should be able to rely on each other.

In the wreckage of the storms recently, many will be rebuilding. They’ll need a multitude of tools, resources, and most important, they’ll need the willingness and generosity of others willing to help and to rebuild.

I read that the wreckage from the Moore tornadoes, if stacked on a basketball court, would reach more than a mile high. That’s a lot of wreckage. Looking at you and all those who have supported you up until this moment, I see its contrast: a shining tower of inspiration, enlightenment, and wonder, built over years and with a passion to make things better.

The destruction we cause and discover around us will dissipate and become subsumed only by tear-stained toil, the passage of time and the drive to build again something beautiful and right. The thing I hope you’ll carry with you on your journeys will be the light that has grown within you and within all of us here. That's what is lasting and powerful and essentially yours, wherever you decide to go.

The Rise of Academic Dishonesty and Why it Matters.

With all the news surrounding academic dishonesty in high schools and colleges recently, I thought it timely to address the issue to our community.

Below is my chapel talk delivered on 9/17/2012. 

In my 23 plus years of teaching,  I have consistently explored the essential question posed by Socrates over 2000 years ago: How should one live?

This question rests at the heart of why we do the things we do and why we don’t do other things. It points us toward not what we, or I should do in life, but rather what our responsibility to our community must be as we live our lives.

In answering, it requires us to name those ethical and moral standards that must be in place for each of us in order that each of us has the same chances to live a happy and fulfilling life.

We have freedom to become what we want to become, yet that freedom is only possible when we are free from obstacles that unfairly limit our ability to pursue our lives.

In The Social Contract, Rousseau, the French political philosopher, wrote: “Man is free, but everywhere is in chains.” His argument that political states tend to repress freedom and equality and that a new social contract should be created by which we aim to achieve the common good through enabling each individual to pursue lives of meaning while understanding and necessarily limiting certain activities that are bad for the community as a whole. 

So, let’s talk about freedom.

We're able to live meaningful lives when we are free from obstacles that unfairly limit our ability to act and do what is desirable and purposeful. That said, however, a life without challenges in and of itself is not desirable. So, we need the right kinds of challenges obstacles to strengthen us and to help us understand who we are and what we’re good at and what we need to work on so that we can flourish and be happy.

The right kinds of challenges provide the necessary skills and resources that allow us to pursue our lives. These things are things developed when we learn and accomplish the tasks our teachers assign to us. School, or more broadly, Education, is the thing that gives us the freedom to do those things we should do.

Now, in a free society, not everything is allowed. We aren’t allowed to kill one another, cheat on our taxes, or run red lights. Why not? Because those acts interfere with the lives of others and as such are generally discouraged.

Teachers teach the things they teach because it’s been agreed that those courses and experiences within the school are good for individuals, but also good for the community. We learn math and science, art and music, English and foreign languages, athletics and health, and we learn about the life of the spirit and how that can help us all understand ourselves and others in the context of doing good and making thoughtful decisions. We ask you to learn these things because we believe they matter not only for you as individuals, but for the community you’ll help to shape.

Which brings me to the topic of cheating.

It’s very clear that more and more people are cheating in school. From Stuyvesant High School in New York City, to Harvard, and even to our very own Casady School, more students are involved in cutting corners, plagiarizing, and whatever else to get the ‘right grade’.  Technology makes it easier than ever to find answers, copy text, and send pictures of tests to friends.

Is it laziness, poor upbringing, over-pressured expectations, or simply an inability to understand why not cheating is so important?

It’s probably a combination of all those things, but I think we as a school need to do better to help you all understand why it’s really not ok to cheat on your tests, papers, assignments, or anything else. We sometimes make it easy for you to make poor decisions because we believe that you know better and because you’ve  signed the honor code. We make the mistake of believing that that is and should be enough.

Thing is, when you cheat, you cheat yourself. When you cheat, you’ve decided to miss the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge you’ll need to make the best choices possible in your lives. Essentially, you’ve said to the School: “I don’t believe that what you’re trying to teach me is relevant, I don’t trust that you have my best interests in mind, and I don’t care about myself enough to do what’s necessary to live a meaningful life, at least in the short term.”

So, whether you believe the work to be relevant or not, the fact that you might not have approached it with a true honest effort handicaps you and it is disrespectful to those who have chosen to do their best and to act with honor. While this is only a small part of the answer to our Essential Question, at least in this, one should strive to live honestly and with integrity; simply put: don’t cheat.

On Walking - Commencement 2012

Commencement Address – 2012

Welcome students, families, faculty and staff and the Board of Trustees.

Each of you should be proud to have arrived here today. You’ve successfully navigated the challenges given to you at this highly rigorous and prestigious institution and you’ve done so with grace and with dignity. You have been and are surrounded by so many who love and care for you, all of whom are proud of you not because they have something to gain by your successes, but because we all do. By becoming the person you are, the world has become a better place to live.

And that, in the end, is the thing that matters beyond all else. Your paths will diverge but it is my hope that each of your walks through life is imbued with the intention to broaden understanding, develop a strong commitment to citizenship, and to bring people together toward a common good. As you saunter through life, embrace each success and failure -- learn from them – they make you who you are.

In his essay, “Walking”, Henry David Thoreau discusses the etymology of the word ‘saunter’. In the middle ages, he points out, pilgrims who were preparing to embark on a journey to the Holy Land (Sainte Terre) were called “Sainte Terrers”.

To saunter, then, is not to wander aimlessly, but to walk with a sense of purpose – to be a pilgrim on a journey of discovery and enlightenment. There were many pathways toward the Holy Land and many relics to encounter along the way, but no matter how the particular journeys varied, the central unifying motivation that these “Sainte Terrers” had was to become more holy and closer to God.

It took resources to make these journeys, so in order to prepare, communities provided support, monetarily and otherwise. Look around you. Countless individuals here and elsewhere have supported you in countless ways as you’ve prepared for this day. Be sure to thank them. And while you may not fully appreciate all that you’ve been given, I assure you, upon reflection in years hence, you’ll be overwhelmed with gratitude for their assistance.

Thoreau walked a great deal, mostly avoiding well-worn roads, rarely making the same journey twice. He believed that his own particular travels broadened and deepened his understanding of the world. Instead of only following roads created for practical purposes, his meanderings served a higher calling. He wrote:

"We saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn".

Take time to focus on where you put your feet and see what actually surrounds you; be present and awake in your journey. Moving through life in an illusion of someone else’s making makes you less of yourselves and less able to make the necessary choices to live full and complete lives.

So, become disillusioned. This is necessary in living a life of purpose and in truth. When you live your lives in pursuit of what is real rather than imagined you truly grow. When you act with faith and with courage that your own choices are good for you, your family, and your friends, you will indeed make a difference.

At Casady, the walk around the lake is a πmetaphor for your growth as human beings and since you’ve now completed that walk, you must continue it, although in brand new surroundings and with acquaintances unknown.

Walk with purpose, but be sure to take the opportunities to diverge and veer when they arise – with the right mindset, those divergences will reap great rewards for you. You have much to be proud of and I wish you well each and every day of your lives.

Congratulations!