Principal's Blog

PRINCIPAL’S CORNER

Dear Parents,

I thought I’d go out on a limb this week and offer some advice, completely unsolicited, but hopefully received by you with a generous spirit. Summer is a time for doing things a bit differently than any other time of the year. The kids may sleep in a bit more, you may be traveling by plane or train, there are occasional days spent in leisure – all these suggest that you may have some time to do some recreational reading… one of my favorite hobbies. So, here are my summer reading picks, in no particular order.

1- Just Kids by Patti Smith. Published by Harper Collins, 2010. Patti Smith may be known to some of you as a poet and performer that came out of New York in the 1960’s and 70’s. Together with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti journeyed the era and became an influential contributor to the arts. This book explores her ascent during that famous and infamous time in counter-culture America.

2- Subverting Hatred, The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher. Published by Orbis Books, 2007. Smith-Christopher, a Quaker, is an Old Testament scholar, the director of the Peace Studies Program and a professor of Theological Studies at LMU. This edited book of essays challenges us to consider different world-views and religious positions on violence and nonviolence, and causes us to reflect on our own views that support a nonviolent approach to today’s pressing issues.

3- The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton. Published by New Directions Paperback, 1975. You probably know by now Merton is a personal favorite of mine. This collection of letters, essays, and lectures cover a short period of time between October and December 1968. Merton was a long time student of Eastern thought and religion, while maintaining and reaffirming his own Christian vocation. This volume chronicles his journey through Asia as he met with other religious leaders to advance the East-West dialogue on the monastic experience and mindfulness.

4 – After the Workshop by John McNally. Published by Counterpoint, 2010. McNally beautifully and hilariously captures the vanities of our day, the difficulties of meeting our own expectations, and explores what writers do when they’re not writing – all in the perfectly realized character that graduates from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop only to be confronted with life’s misadventures.

I hope you enjoy these picks, and I would love to hear from you what you’re reading. Send me an email at neil.quinly@stmonicaelem.com.

Happy reading and enjoy all the blessings of summer.

Peace -

Dr. Quinly
Principal

p.s: let me again invite you to join in conversation on the “principal’s blog” at: http://www.stmonicaelem.com/principal/