Time to catch a frog

It's a whirlwind at the end of the school year.  Now as the perfect blue of the June sky beckons, it's time to go out and catch a frog.

There is something about the rhythm and pattern of our school lives that leads to a winding up at the end of the year - and then an inevitable winding down.  Could it be that Shows of Work, field trips, launching a student-made boat on the pond, graduation speeches, our 25th Anniversary Celebration, a ground-breaking ceremony, the Board of Trustees annual retreat...et al...leave us craving the relative simplicity of summer?  Would we feel such a sense of accomplishment and the sweet pleasure of an iced tea on the patio if the ending of the year were not so frenetic?!

On the radio the other day, I heard a song I fondly remember from childhood and our family's seemingly endless seven-hour drive to the beach every summer.  Now I'm dating myself -  it was Nat King Cole's Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer.  That song just sounds like summer to me.

I think that "lazy" is the key word.  It is great to be lazy in the summer - and it can be the impetus for flights of crazy imagination.  Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway's Hamilton expresses it beautifully in this interview in GQ about how the key to parenting might be less parenting.   He recalls a car ride as a kid where a friend entertained himself with a stick - just a stick - for three hours.

At Planet Parker camp, kids are often down at the pond catching frogs - and they develop a whole fantasy about even that.  "This frog can't afford us," I heard one girl say.  What funny story about frogs lead to that idea?!

So, it's officially summer - grab a soda, some pretzels and a beer - or a frog - and enjoy some lazy days.  You've earned it!

Obsession

I admit it - I'm obsessed.  With Hamilton.  The book, the musical and the soundtrack.  And interviews by Charlie Rose with Lin-Manuel Miranda.  And synopses in the New York Times.  And views on YouTube. I saw the play last September; read the book this winter; have been listening to the soundtrack in the car and on my morning walks.  I've been singing the songs in my sleep. (I actually had to stop listening because my head was swirling with the music night and day.)  And now I am reading the book all over again.

How fantastic to learn about a founding father whose story was obscured by the tellers of history. And that is one of the themes of the musical: who tells your story?

There are many wonderful universal themes and the multicultural cast and hip-hop music that give voice to the complex history and emotions of the time and the man reveal layer upon layer with each listening (or reading, or watching...).

Schools are finding ways to ignite middle and high school students' passion for history using Hamilton.  Our social studies teacher James Lizardo was introduced to the soundtrack by an exuberant 7th grader. "It's a story that talks about the ideals of American democracy and an initially impoverished immigrant and what he can achieve through grit and determination..." says Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation who has given $1.5 million to subsidize tickets for students.

Then, there's the Albany connection: Schuyler Mansion where Alexander Hamilton married Eliza Schuyler in 1780 and where they lived for two years and visited many times.  How cool is that?!

I invite you to join my obsession and call now for tickets to the Broadway show (although it's about $300 a ticket 8 months out) or read the book by Ron Chernow that inspired the play.  Listen to the soundtrack with your kids (warning: a bit of racy language).  They might not become history majors or musical theater writers, but as Lin-Manuel Miranda says, "If we can excite curiosity in students, there's no telling what might happen next!"