The GS production of The Importance of Being Earnest just wrapped up its weekend engagement. Three cheers for all of the actors and directors, crew, etc. I’m especially blown away by the performances of freshmen phenoms Elle C. and Jake M. Can you imagine what theater at GS is going to look like when they are seniors? Mo West is going to have an awful lot of talent at her disposal.
We took the IB art students to MoMA today for the latest installment of our museum trip series. It was cold and overcast in the city, but everyone had a great time nonetheless. We missed the de Kooning retrospective, but the Diego Rivera show was worth the visit, and I like what they have up in the photo galleries just now. I popped into Uniqlo, too, but I kept my credit card in my pocket. Very tempting …
Charlotte is giving me grief about not updating the ole Tumblr. Nice to know my audience is paying attention.
We’re back from Thanksgiving Break and in the midst of those three intense weeks before Winter Break. Last night in the dorm the sophs had to fill out their vacation cards for the upcoming holidays. It felt strange: one vacation just ended.
The Cougar Classic girls basketball tournament was this past weekend. I’m the team’s super-fan, but I missed the Saturday game due to my busy dorm-headin’ duties (and, to be completely honest, my oft-neglected social life).
My freshlings are reading The Catcher in the Rye, and that’s a highlight of the year for me (and them, I’d argue). It’s always a pleasure to walk around inside Holden’s head for a month and all. I wish this school wasn’t full of so many goddam phonies. Maybe I should leave for Winter Break a few days earlier? Maybe visit the Museum of Natural History? Check into a cheap hotel and chat up some perverts? Catch a good jazz pianist down in the Village? (I would do that last one.)
Collection on the magical date of 11/11/11. Because Collection doesn’t meet next week, we had a double birthday celebration for Brian and me. Thanks to friend-buddy-pal Gretchen for bringing extra food and forcing me to wear the princess tiara and pink feather boa. My look exactly.
Here’s a potpourri of recent photos. Poet Laureate Philip Levine’s visit to George School, our JV girls tennis team, the boys in dorm, my Collection, etc. It’s hard to believe that we are already a month into the school year. It is flying by faster than I can blog, so you’ll just have to accept this burnt offering.
With temperatures hitting 60 degrees in February, it was a great day to walk around campus and check out sports tryouts. The boys’ tennis squad is looking promising, and I had fun watching the equestrians do their thing. The softball girls were indoors, but I’ll be watching all of their home games as soon as we get back from spring break.
Tonight the GS girls varsity hoops squad defeated rival Westtown. It was a great win, and I was on the edge of my seat for the full 90 minutes. I often sneak out before the games are over, but this time I couldn’t imagine leaving. This year’s team is a talented bunch, and the style of play is much more entertaining. We are shooting a higher percentage and our defensive rebounding has been a strength.
Meanwhile, I finally finished stringing lights on Orton porch. White lights on one side; blue on the other. I inherited the white stuff when I took over as dorm head this year, and I bought the blue because I thought it would look nice. It creates an Israeli effect which is totally a coincidence, but it’s kind of funny.
Holiday weekend is rapidly approaching, then the kids ship out for vacation on Tuesday.
The Zaha Hadid show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was disappointing. I had been dying to go for ages, but it was scarcely worth the trip. All that is there is some furniture, home goods, and shoes. The show barely has any wall text explaining anything, and you can see everything there in about five minutes. Sure, there is a wall-projected presentation/film featuring all of her built and unbuilt work, but one could sit at home and watch it on one’s computer just as well. Actually, sitting in the Hadid-designed chairs to watch the presentation was the highlight of the trip. Skip it.
State Rep. Steve Santarsiero (D) hosted a forum on fracking in the Marcellus Shale at the GS meetinghouse this morning. Members of our environmental activism club, TERRA, read welcoming remarks.
I was impressed by the Rep’s thoughtfulness and balanced exposition of the issues. After his presentation, the citizens who came out to the event were invited to split off into discussion groups centered on related topics (water, taxes, economy, etc.). I attended the group that discussed jobs and the economy. It was dismaying to hear the locals place our Bucks County tourism industry ahead of all competing priorities. The students with whom I work do not dream of growing up to work a job selling commemorative keychains in a cute gift shop. Pennsylvania will need other industries besides leaf-peeping, and Vermont and New Hampshire have totally got us beat there anyway. Perhaps a responsible, carefully regulated natural gas industry could help, but I was in the very small minority who holds that opinion at this morning’s forum.
First dance of the year!
My freshman advisee says to me, “I can totally see you putting these photos on your blog.”
Yup.
