In recent weeks a good deal of my time has been spent engaged in conversations with members of our community who are suffering and in pain.  It may be parents with concerns about their child's relationships with other children.  Or faculty members struggling in their communication with colleagues.  Or students experiencing a sense of disconnect and isolation from their peers.  In all of these instances I, and the others around the table, are challenged to truly understand the feelings and experiences of someone else. This is perhaps the hardest work we do in our community, a place where human relationships are highly valued and inherently fragile.
 
I will be honest. I am troubled, and am wrestling with how it seems that emotions surge and patience wanes so quickly, my own included. The very values we strive to instill in our children - tolerance, compassion and forgiveness - are often the first we let go of in our own moments of discomfort and suffering.
 
Last evening I joined faculty and parents on the Three Cedars campus for a conversation titled, "The Healthy Social Life: Empathy, Sympathy and Antipathy in our Modern World."  We considered questions such as

• How does experiencing our reflection through community help, hinder, or color our awakening to self-awareness?
• What do we learn about ourselves through others?
• What roles do we play for each other in this process, such as the Bully, the Victim, the Bystander, or the Ally?

It was a rich conversation that left me with more questions than answers...

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We are planning a super fun party to celebrate 35 years worth of inspiration, dedication, wonder, joy, and reverence at SWS and hope you will join us at the Mountaineers!

All are welcome to join Tracy Bennett, Head of School, and Nettie Fabrie, Director of Pedagogy for tea and cookies in the Lavender classroom at Kinderhaus.

Fridays, from 9:15 -10:15 am: March 25, May 13

The twelfth grade curriculum includes a block on Civic Activism, and the students take up practical projects as part of their class work.

We have lots of coats, lunch boxes and assorted other items patiently waiting for you to retrieve them from the big basket by the main entrance.  Please look through the collection and retrieve all of your items.

Beautiful paintings grace the second grade classroom where the students are beginning to learn about time. Their experience began with a story about two sisters, the sun and the moon, and how they ended up in the sky.

SWS ED/Summer Program Coordinator, Annie Paladino will perform again with Akropolis Performance Lab: Ecce Faustus is a world premiere theatrical event inspired by Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus and the extraordinary chromatic compositions of Renaissance prince, murderer, and madman Carlo Gesualdo (with 5-part a cappella masterpieces sung live by the cast). A new take on the Faust myth for our time, Ecce Faustus plumbs personal and archetypal associations to investigate the possibilities of sacrifice, salvation, damnation, and the unfathomable mystery of death. Look forward to an exquisite artistic experience governed less by narrative than by the rules of music and poetry. Appropriate for ages 13 and up. February 5-27 at Northminster Presbyterian Church (7706 25th Ave NW). Learn more >