Lise's Lens: June 8, 2023
Lise immerses herself in the latest novel from Abraham Verghese, reflects on the CSW tradition of Boat Dance, and enjoys the rhythmic drum beats of Nailah’s West African dance class.
WHAT I’M READING
- I’m halfway through The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. The author’s first book, Cutting for Stone, ranks up there as one of my all time favorite reads. I still think about it regularly and feel I can visualize all the places he described. The Covenant of Water is captivating, riveting and long, and I am enjoying every second of it! From love to medicine, tradition to breaking barriers, it’s all there. Vorghese loves descriptions. It’s a long book but I don’t mind it at all because his writing is rich and his characters are developed with great detail. I’m so happy he has published this new book. Plus I love to read anything that helps me immerse myself culturally and historically in specific eras of India’s history.
WHAT I’M THINKING/TALKING ABOUT
- Students celebrated the end of the school year with our annual Boat Dance last weekend. This is a longstanding tradition where students of all grades are invited to enjoy dinner and dancing on a Boston Harbor cruise. The weather this year was far from optimal — it was cold and rainy — but I heard our students and chaperones made the most of it and had a blast. I love that we are able to host this inclusive community event every spring.
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
- These past five weeks I’ve had the joy of listening to the drumming coming out of Nailah’s West African dance class or from the amphitheater where they can be found practicing a few days a week. These drum sounds take me right back to Haiti and bring me to an enchanting and happy place. Year after year, those taking this class talk about how special it is to dance in the presence of the drummers. There is so much respect and connection between the dancers and musicians. I hope that some of you were able to catch their live performance as part of the end-of-mod show yesterday morning.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
Wow. Our senior parents and guardians came together to create this beautiful installation of paper flowers in honor of the Class of 2023. This stunning mural features hand-made flowers and personalized leaves with special messages for each of our 81 seniors.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.