Weekly Email December 8, 2005

Dear all,

What a week at the High School! The start of the new trimester, with all of the excitement of new science classes for ninth and tenth graders, new arts classes in all grades, and new English and history electives for eleventh and twelfth graders, has coincided with an incredible array of speakers who have come in to delight and enlighten and challenge us as part of this year's Book Week (see attached flyer). At Tuesday's assembly, Diana Ossana, co-writer of the movie script of Brokeback Mountain (based on short story by Annie Proulx), showed a few clips of the film and gave an absolutely fabulous talk about reading and writing, the creative process, adaptation, and the trials and tribulations of putting on a movie that pushes the boundaries. Once again, here are the other authors who have come to speak this week (or are coming tomorrow):
+ Gini Alhadeff, author of The Sun at Midday, Tales of a Mediterranean Family
+ Holly Black, author of VALIANT: A Modern Tale of Faerie
+ Libba Bray, author of A Great and Terrible Beauty
+ Jim Knipfel, author of Slackjaw and Ruining It for Everybody
+ John Leland, New York Times Reporter and author of History of Hip
+ Eliot Schrefer, author of The Glamorous Disasters
+ John Patrick Shanley, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Doubt
+ Ed Sikov, author of Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers and Screwball
+ Diana Son, playwright, author of BOY and Stop Kiss
+ Martha Southgate, author of The Fall of Rome

Then, today. Led by eleventh grader Adriane Alicea, the Human Rights/Amnesty International Club led an emotional, thought-provoking day centered around a viewing of the movie Hotel Rwanda. As mentioned in last week's email, the discussion groups that followed were co-led by students and faculty who trained specifically for this day and will use materials developed by high school educators, including our own Spanish teacher Nick Sullivan, specifically for Amnesty International USA (for more information about this program, see Amnesty International USA's education website, or look at the "Hotel Rwanda Teacher's Guide"). In the best progressive tradition, this was a charged and challenging day, one that will have lasting positive effects; however, it was also a thoughtful and safe day, and all credit goes to Adriane and the other students who put an enormous amount of time and energy and care into its planning.

Finally, a personal word. When discussing my new role next year at LREI with both the High School faculty and with the parent reps on Tuesday, I emphasized that we are not in a place in the growth of the High School where we can afford to pause in our management of that growth or our planning for the future, and I intend to do neither over the next six months. Know also that, as always, my first priority will be the care of your children, and that I will continue to be here for whatever assistance I can provide. Do not hesitate to contact me for whatever reason.

Sincerely,

Tony

Announcements:

* LREI College Panel and Parent Reception
Join recent LREI graduates and hear them talk about their college experiences and how LREI influenced their transition to college.
Thursday, January 5, 6:30 PM
40 Charlton Street, Library
Panel discussion and questions, reception to follow.

Panelists:
Akim St. Omar '02 - Boston College
Shayna Jeffers '02 - Wesleyan
Thea Bardin '02 - University of Florida
Ian Patrick '03 - Vassar College
Brian Marmolejos '04 - Yale University
Michael Sokol '04 - Drexel University
Alison Wiggins '05 - Skidmore College

* The next meeting of the Parents of Children who Receive Academic Support will take place on Thursday, January 12th - NOTE THE DATE CHANGE - at 6:30 P.M.

* TONIGHT is Literary Evening! Please see attachment for details.

* Please see the following from the Community Service Committee:
1) A letter about an upcoming event this Saturday;
2) A list of December events;
3) Pictures from the recent Thanksgiving activity.

* The Food Committee will meet on 12/12 at 8:30AM in the 6th Avenue Cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.

* Please note that LREI will be closed on Monday, January 2 and that we will have a professional day on Tuesday, January 3. Classes will resume on Wednesday, January 4.

* There will also be no classes on Friday, January 13 to allow for Parent-Advisor conferences. More on that next week ...

* Our next Parent Reps meeting will be on Tuesday, January 17.

* An announcement from High School and Middle School Musical Director Julia Collura:

Dear all:

The Middle School is currently in production for "Arabian Nights", which goes up January 20th and 21st. If you have any of the following items that you are able to lend or donate for the production, I and the cast would be very grateful. Thanks so much and hope to see you at the show!

Theatrical regards,

Julia Collura
Middle School Drama Director

old cushions that can be re-covered.
oriental rugs
two or three divans
sari tops
wide turkish type pants
belly dancing outfits and/or accessories
pointed slippers
costume jewelry
very wide leather belts

* Finally, another reminder - please see the invitation to participate in VISIBILITY: Celebrating the Lesbian and Gay People We Love, coming February 13, 2006.

December
* Monday 5 Trimester II begins
* Monday 5 - Friday 9 Book week
* Tuesday 6 Parent Reps Meeting, 6:30 PM
* Tuesday 6 Book Week Assembly
* Thursday 8 Literary Evening, 7:00 PM
* Thursday 15 Winter Concert, 6:00 PM

January
* Monday 2 School closed - Legal Holiday
* Tuesday 3 School closed - Professional Development Day
* Wednesday 4 School reopens
* Thursday 5 LREI College Panel and Parent Reception
* Thursday 12 Parents of Children who Receive Academic Support meeting
* Friday 13 School closed (High School) - Parent-Advisor Conferences
* Monday 16 School closed - MLK, Jr. Day
* Tuesday 17 High School Parent Rep Meeting
* Saturday 21 Coffeehouse!

As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.