RattleBag and Rhubarb

Seniors on their way

Seniors are on their way off to a final month of internships before they return to PDS for the Senior Week and commencement in June. Today was the farewell lunch on the front porch of Kenyon House. Seniors were welcomed into the Alumni Association. The sun shone, the breezes blew and the senior class were in fine form following, and…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Life after the Holocaust

PDS marked Holocaust Remembrance Day last week with an assembly planned and led by the students of the Genocide central studies elective with the help of their teachers Bernadette Condessa and librarian Sarah Feldman. This assembly, Life after the Holocaust – part of a PDS Equity and Justice series – came eight days after Yom Hashoah and one day after…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Choreolab North

Last Friday’s Choreolab concert of ten original dances was the culmination of a central studies (CS) elective. Choreolab started at The Walden School in the 1980’s and was further developed as a student-led and directed experience by the work of Laurie Roth and Kirstin Been Spielman at Trevor Day School in New York City where the annual dance extravaganza is…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Eagle Nation

The title and content of this entry have changed. The original title – A Challenge to Stephen Colbert – referred to the Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report where the grippy and relentless megamerican Stephen Colbert holds court. The show opens with dramatic graphics of eagles, waving flags and the swooping adjectives that Colbert proclaims for himself. Lincolnish and flagaphile have…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

“Life on Earth” – an amazing multi-media musical

I had the great pleasure of attending Life on Earth – a student written, multi-media and very original musical by the students in a central studies elective. The script was impressive – witty, pointed and poignant. The modern day Olympians – from Dr. Freud and Robin Hood to Miss America, from Wonder Woman and Bacchus to Ben Franklin and all…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

From kindergarten to high school

Robbie sent me this picture of a high school student with members of her kindergarten class. As you can see from the background lights – this was taken the all-school winter festival event. A cheering picture for a gray day as we dry out from the deluge. It was taken by Alexandra.

RattleBag and Rhubarb

Everything’s Cool

It was a great day in the James Earl Jones theater at PDS yesterday. Dan Gold – a member of the PDS class of 1978 – was there for the first public screening in the Hudson valley of the film he co-directed: Everything’s Cool – a hot documentary about global warming. This is a film that informs and entertains. It…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Age of Industry

The Age of Industry – that is what Mary Ellen calls kindergarten and this industry was certainly on display in the playground today. There was a potentially poisonous bug to be investigated in the playhouse, milk crates and logs to be hauled uphill in defiance of gravity and surface friction on the snow, and tree displays to be created on…

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Art, Film, Photography, Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Spring

Last weekend we lost an hour and gained the Spring. This particular  Spring is by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Flemish (ca. 1564 – ca. 1638) It hangs in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College Look at that activity! Those raised beds! This picture is about to be the focus of an exciting interdisciplinary Lower School project. Take…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Press Interview

In a recent interview with the PDS media I was asked for my opinion of some of the pressing issues of the day. The journalists arrived well prepared with questions and then posed for my camera.

RattleBag and Rhubarb

Thesis papers, exams, end of semester reports

It’s the end of semester – a time for thesis papers, exams, tests, reports and etc. The demands on high school students are relentless. Clearly it is time for some serious fun: the Annual High School Talent Show aka Poise, Noise and Joys. Some corny jokes, lots of music, and even a Shakespeare sonnet. This was an event produced by…

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