From Mr. David’s Desk
At Torit, students are generally screen free all day long. Remember those blissful days? No buzzing in our pockets, no notifications, no temptations to scroll away our time. I’ve recently been trying to recapture attention and focus. I joined Ms. Alexia, Ms. Judy, and Mr. Dan, and the Elementary students this week at the Museum of Fine Arts as they explored the Art of the Americans Wing as part of their studies. Students were learning that looking is a cultivated practice. (Our Torit physicians likely had that experience, too, as medical students learn to carefully observe by looking at art.) I observed with satisfaction as PP2 moms and their children enjoyed the annual Mothers Tea this week. So much conversation filled the air! Without phones, they were looking at each other and talking. (Eureka! We can sustain a conversation with each other, not just self focused blathering.) And yesterday, I spent a half hour pushing Extended Day kids on the swings at the Myrtle Street playground. Learning to build height and speed on the swings is an immersion in physics, but for a three, four, or five year old, it’s just pure fun. As learning at this stage should be.
Fun changes as we mature, and my idea of fun at the moment is reading a long book. I’ve returned to Melville’s Moby-Dick, a book I first read more than 35 years ago. My Norton Critical Edition is 476 pages; I’m on page 312. A few pages a day is helping me recapture the ability to concentrate. It takes effort, and sometimes I have to reread a section if my attention wanders. (There’s only so much you can do to absorb the details of a flayed whale.) But it’s been worth it, even as an academic exercise. I’m relearning to block out distractions, dwell in language, and imagine a different world. I’m imagining epic travels.
Migratory birds make such travels, not by sea but through dark night skies. Early May heralds their arrival to New England and with it the chance to see tiny, colorful visitors in the Public Garden and elsewhere. I recommend you walk through on a morning in the next two weeks. The birds you’ll hear (and see, if you’re lucky) include neotropical migrants weighing less than an ounce, birds that have flown here from as far away as Peru and Venezuela on their way to breeding grounds north. They’re the ultimate endurance athletes and worthy of a sustained look.
Slow down and unplug with us this spring. There are music performances and the Swan Boat picnic in the coming weeks. I hope to see you there!
David Liebmann
Head of School