Lise's Lens: November 3, 2022
In this edition of Lise's Lens, Lise gets into the biography, "Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South by the late artist Winfred Rembert" as told to philosophy professor Erin I. Kelly, recommends you listen to Oumou Sangare's music, she dives deeper into her role as Head of School and encourages you to learn about Day of the Dead, which was celebrated this week by Sociedad Latinx.
WHAT I’M READING
- John Thompson P'05 and P'07 (and member of our Board of Trustees) highly recommended this year's Pulitzer Prize Winner in Biography—Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South by the late artist Winfred Rembert as told to philosophy professor Erin I. Kelly. John personally knew Winfred Rembert, which makes this recommendation extra special. I just started the book and already, between the introduction by Brian Stevenson and the first two chapters, I am hooked!
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO/WATCHING
- I am listening to music by Oumou Sangare, a Malian singer to whom I was introduced when I had the good fortune to hear her at the Apollo Theater in Harlem last weekend. Check her out!
WHAT I’M THINKING/TALKING ABOUT
- Although the role of Head of School has taken on more of the job of a Chief Operating Officer, I think it is important for heads of school to continue to center teaching and learning in their work, especially in a progressive school that should be responsive and attentive to what each generation of students needs best to learn. Luckily, I did not come to my current role through a mostly administrative background but more so through an academic and strategic one. Along the way, one of the most transformative teaching and learning tools I've found is from Harvard's Project Zero, in particular their work on protocols around what they call Visible Thinking. I’ve been thinking in particular about one of their protocols — the seemingly simple protocol called "I used to think…, now I think…". The idea is that after you have been introduced to a new concept, an idea, or a lesson of any sort, you take the time to process and articulate (at least mentally) how that changed your thinking. I find this practice particularly helpful, and I wonder how much better off we'd be as a society if we admitted to ourselves that there is room for our thinking to change…
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
This week, CSW’s Sociedad Latinx created an altar outside of the dining hall to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! This tradition is celebrated on November 1 and November 2, and acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between life and death. The spirits of the dead are believed to return home and spend time with their relatives on these two days. To welcome the spirits, each family builds an altar in their honor. These altars have different components that vary from one culture to another that mostly include yellow marigolds, candles, photos of the deceased ones, papel picado or cut tissue-paper designs, as well as food and beverages offerings for the dead. 
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.