Lise's Lens: April 23, 2026
This week I am immersing myself in poetry for National Poetry Month, thinking about yesterday’s amazing Earth Day performance at assembly, and re-watching a fantastic interview with a CSW alumna.
WHAT I'M READING
"Literary Theory" by Ada Limón
April is National Poetry Month! I am not sure why I wasn’t previously familiar with our country’s 24th Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, but I have recently enjoyed discovering her work. This is one of the poems that I offer you for your consideration. Click here to listen to it.
"Literary Theory" by Ada Limón (The Atlantic, March 2026)
Somehow the word
allow is in the word
swallow and in swallow
Two wholly different meanings:
One to take in through
The mouth and another
What we call the common
Winged gnat hunter who
Is, in all probability,
Somewhere near us now.
Once, I thought if I knew all the words
I would say the right thing
In the right way,
Instead language becomes
More brutish: blink twice
For the bird, blink once
For tender annihilation. Who
Knows what we are doing as
We go about our days lazily
Choosing our languages. Some
Days my life is held together
By definitions, some days
I read the word swallow
And all my feathers show.
WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT
Earth Day at CSW
CSW celebrated Earth Day yesterday. As a bit of background, our Sustainability Committee is composed of students, faculty, and staff, who dedicate their time to promoting sustainable living at CSW. They regularly set high goals for us as an institution and put in ample hard work to help us get to where we want to be. They also take the lead in coordinating Earth Day programming each year. The day starts with an all-school assembly followed by a multitude of workshops led by students, faculty/staff, and outside partners.
This year, I was particularly struck by the opening assembly. The program was led by David Ibbett who is the composer for the Multiverse Concert Series. It’s hard for me to narrow down the range of feelings and revelations that happened in just one hour. James Monroe, creative director, strategic programming, at the Museum of Science describes the series as “changing the landscape of science communication.” Yesterday, I was struck not only by their innovative approach to communicating scientific discovery, but also by the beauty and hope they conveyed. Their message was more than just the doom, gloom, and condemnation we often hear related to issues of environmental sustainability. They introduced us to the marvels of creatures and organisms we don’t know well, have never seen, and have likely never heard.
Have you heard what a coral reef sounds like? I never had! And what they do is take these sounds of nature and layer them with live music (like amazing cellist Johnny Mok) and video. They went further by interspersing the “concert” with three different presentations from scientists from Boston University researching reef life, specifically Clown Fish and Sea Anemones. One of the performances even featured recordings of our students sharing their own mantras about Earth and the environment today. It was incredible. Ask your student about it! I could go on and on, but just know that it was brilliant.
Thank you to the organizers of our event and thank you to the folks at Multiverse for their positive inspiration to preserve our earth and pursue science at every level.
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
A Video Interview with Tyche Hendricks ’82
As she was unable to join us in person on SJD, CSW alum Tyche Hendricks ’82 sat for a video interview with us to share her thoughts on her time at CSW, the meaning and impact of Social Justice Day, and her work as a journalist and storyteller. One thing she spoke about that resonated with me was this idea that migration is actually a universal experience. People are regularly moving, either because they are being pushed away or pulled by something better. Sadly, we live in a time when migrants are being unfairly demonized, but this is really a universal experience. Tyche is but one example of many CSW who have found ways to follow their passions while also engaging in meaningful and consequential work. Can we ask for anything more? I am so proud to call her an alum. Give the video a watch!
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
I love this photo of our students in Panama venturing into the misty mountains of the Santa Clara coffee farm, just south of the Costa Rican border. While there, the students got to plant their own coffee trees, which will start producing in about three years.
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.