Tom Harvey’s Blog

It is said that America has had a number of love affairs over time, including the automobile, the rural ideal, baseball and the endless summer. Well, the endless summer does end. We can tell because we get restless as we approach the end. Until then, it can be lovely.

We spend our summers on Cape Cod where our days are given to predictable pursuits. Gabriela is intently committed to her gardens and to the challenges of maintaining a cottage that is approaching 100 years of age. My major avocations are golf and preparing our nightly dinner. I grill almost every night with charcoal, usually fish and veggies. Somehow the heat of coal feels hotter, and I enjoy the daily ritual of preparing the grill. My daily trip to the fish pier is a pleasure as well.

There are a nunber of fresh fishes available in Cape waters, as there are up and down the east coast. Bluefish seem the most abundant and certainly the best value at $7.99 per lb. It is an interesting fish. Many people cannot eat it. The color is unattractive, a dark blue/gray, the eyes bug out and the flesh is oily with a pungent smell. The taste is so strong that many people settle for Bluefish pate with cream cheese.

A recent article in the WSJ even challenged the Bluefish’s personality. The author referred to the Blues as the Butchers of the Sea. They eat so voraciously that they must occasionally vomit in order to continue (eating). How unattractive! Some restaurants on the Cape & Islands refuse to serve Bluefish, others serve it only to the hired hands. We do enjoy it, but not frequently.

A far more noble fish, of course, is the perennial favorite-lobster. On the Cape we prepare lobbies by steaming them with seawater and seaweed. We think it adds to the taste. Maybe not, but a hot dog always tastes better at the ballpark.  Of course the epicenter of lobsters is the coast of Maine.There, it is not unusual to find restaurants that serve lobster exclusively and keep them in tanks flowing with seawater.

So, here is the reality of school life. When the school year begins to wane, we yearn for summer.
When we get restless, we know it is time to get back, and we return happily.  

Opening Day is behind us!
Friday as always!
Perfect as always!
Best opening ever! Again!
We’re back!
And we’re good!!!

We are in the last days of instruction for the ‘07-’08 academic year. No more pencils no more books, except for Summer reading. Here is how the former Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky sees his ABCs. Try this at home.

                                             A B C
                                                   by Robert Pinsky

Any body can die, evidently. Few
Go happily, irradiating joy.

Knowledge, love. Many
Need oblivion, painkillers,
Quickest respite.

Sweet time unafflicted,
Various world:

X = your zenith.

The 2008 Prom was great. It always is! It was my 6th and it might have been the nicest. The most pleasant surprise was the weather, mild, clear and breezy. This Prom came later on this year’s calendar, closer to graduation by a few weeks, so we had better luck with the weather. As a result, kids were outside more than ever. That led to much talk and laughter. It also afforded them the chance to move easily between the upper deck and the dance floor. At several points during dinner, there was spontaneous singing, girls I think. What a lovely sound.

After the Prom (what else?) the After-Prom–also terrific. A spiffy new setting, the best food ever, lots of great raffle prizes, it was truly a stentorian effort by an army of good natured and good humored parents. There was energy everywhere! What generosity of spirit!

These are good times!

Waiting for spring, if the rain ever stops. This might help, a sonnet by Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J. entitled Spring. Read it aloud, especially if you are not a fan of poetry. You will be pleasantly surprised by its song/sound. It is written in the form of an Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet. Thus the rhyme scheme:
a b b a a b b a
c d c d c d

Hopkins was a well-regarded Victorian poet, a convert to Catholicism and a devout Jesuit priest.
Enjoy!

                                   Spring

Nothing is so beautiful as spring–
   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely, and lush;
   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
   The descending blue: that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden–Have, get, before it cloy,
   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
   

Prefaces 2008 opened last week at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center (Pfac). It is a juried art show for high school students. Out of 411 entries from 17 schools, only 97 were chosen for display, including 11 from HRA! Livia Erwin and Lexi Glagola took a 2nd and a 3rd place respectively, the strongest showing for a school in the competition. Congratulations to all the HRA artists and their teachers, Jennifer Tarbox, Christine Contakes and Hadas Tal. 

Thursday was a signature day on the campus. We dedicated MICG Park, our sleek, sparkling new baseball field. The M in MICG stands for Martinovich, and the field is named for Jeff’s investment counseling group. It was a perfect day for a ballgame. The sun was warm and the breeze was cool. The Navigators were sharp and delivered a decisive victory over Walsingham.

Just prior to the game, Jeff Martinovich delivered some finely crafted remarks and then threw out the first pitch to catcher Winston Davis. After Jeff autographed the ball for Winston, the MICG staff gave a gift to each player on the field, both teams. It was a thoughtful gesture imbued with a generosity of spirit that we have come to identify with Jeff.

Bruce Cooke, President of the Navigator Club, also took a turn to thank and honor a number of pioneer parents who inspired and initiated the effort to bring this wonderful addition to the HRA athletic facilities.

Throughout the afternoon the MICG group provided and served (what else?) hot dogs at the ballpark. They brought energy and enthusiasm in their striking black and white outfits and similarly striking smiles.     

It was grand.
Play ball!

Tomorrow is Founders Day, one of the most important days of the year. We celebrate much on this day. At least three thoughts come to mind.

First, we celebrate the founding of our school. As a still young organization, we have the advantage of memory. Some of our Founders are still active and eager to recount their story. We find these memories rich and valuable.

Second, we celebrate the phenomenon of founding.It is not just an event. It is a process, organic and fascinating. The school is founded over and over by everyone who comes to the campus every day. This includes faculty, students, parents and grandparents, alumni et al. We try not to celebrate being a great school because it is more important to become greater. Greater is the enemy of great. Thus, the becoming is more important than the being. We all have a stake in the becoming. We are all Founders, as we are transients. Our role is to hand over a better version of HRA, as our predecessors did for us.

Third, we celebrate specific faculty and staff by years of tenure, as well as special person in our history. This year we will honor ten staffers for five years of service, six more for ten years and one each for 15, 20 and 25! A tribute to their commitment and an acknowledgement of the stability they bring to our mission.

In addition, we will induct Mr. Jake Thomas to the Wall of Honor. This is the jewel of the Founders Day program. We owe much to all of those on the Wall and tomorrow Mr. Thomas will assume his rightful place alongside them. It is a fitting tribute to him that he will be inducted by his long-time friend and former colleague, Mr. Charles Spencer, himself a part of the wall of Honor.

The Lassen Auditorium will be jammed, but we can always find a few more places for guests. Come on over. It will be grand!

      
Spring blossoms are out
Canon Road is blooming still
But soon they will pass

We held a very successful Open House on Sunday. Among our many guests were Major Joe and Mrs. Amber Price, parents of Saskia (7) and Schuyler. The Major presented us with an American flag that had flown over Headquarters in Iraq in honor of our school. I was moved by his thoughtful gift and his generosity of spirit.

The flag was accompanied by a citation that read, in part:

This certifies that the accompanying flag was flown over the Headquarters of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq in honor of HRA during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  

Thank you, Major. We will fly our new flag with pride.