One student ran to grab her saxophone while others picked up their violins and violas and two sat down at the piano.
When jazz musician Regina Carter stopped by the Reed Campus Center, she sidestepped the typical lecture format in favor of a workshop that was more like jazz music itself: collaborative, improvisational, and enthralling.
In front of a small audience of students and faculty, she invited the Upper School String and Wind Ensembles to stand up and play with. The group was joined by special guest Chris Brashear, on guitar, and by Fine and Performing Arts Department Head Ben Demerath, on bass.
George Howe Colt, who has written intimate tales of boyhood, sibling relationships, and family history, will speak about his work on Oct. 7 as part of Williston Northampton School’s annual speaker series.
Mr. Colt, the bestselling author of The Big House, will present the next lecture in the Writers’ Workshop Series—all of which are free and open to the public—at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center.
Along with The Big House (2004), which was a National Book Award finalist for nonfiction and a New York Times notable book of the year, Mr. Colt has written November of the Soul: The Enigma of Suicide (2006) and Brothers (Scribner 2012). He worked for Life magazine as a staff reporter and has also published pieces in The New York Times, Civilization, and Mother Jones.
In its “briefly noted” section, The New Yorker summed up The Big House this way: “Colt’s account, like the house that lies at its center, is full of surprises and contains more than seems humanly possible: a family memoir, a brief history of the Cape, an investigation of nostalgia, a catalogue of local fauna, a study of class, and a meditation on the privileges and burdens of the past.”
Following Mr. Colt, this year’s Writers’ Workshop Series will feature talks by novelist Jennifer DuBois ’02 on October 17 and Mr. Colt’s wife, essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman, on November 3. The series, now in its 17th year, was founded by Madeleine Blais P’00, ’04 and Elinor Lipman P’00 and, in addition to four lectures by prominent authors each fall, includes master classes for Williston students.
There was just one phrase that Andrew Watson wanted students to remember after Upper School assembly on Friday morning. He had the students write it down:
“I am not a turtle,” they wrote.
Mr. Watson, of Translate the Brain, had returned to the Williston Northampton School for his second year to talk about neurological studies and how those translated into studying more effectively.
While a baby turtle is born with all the neural pathways it will ever used, or ever need, human brains are constantly evolving, Mr. Watson explained.
“During the time we’ve been alive, the way we’ve studied the brain has very dramatically changed,” he said, adding that scientists now understood that memory was not static, but growing and changing.
An author who writes of heartbreak, regret, and unbidden intimacy will lead off Williston Northampton School’s long-running author lecture series, now in its 17th year.
Author and essayist Joan Wickersham will present the first in this year’s Writers’ Workshop Series on September 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center.
Ms. Wickersham is the acclaimed author of a book of fiction, The News from Spain: Seven Variations on a Love Story (Knopf 2012); a memoir, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order (Harcourt 2008); and a novel, The Paper Anniversary (Viking Adult, 1993).
A leading edge thinker, strategic consultant, and author will present the keynote for Williston Northampton School’s 174th Convocation ceremony on Friday, September 12, 2014.
Julius Pryor III ’73, general managing partner of JPryorGroup LLC and author of Thriving in a Disruptive World, will speak about the six concepts he developed to help navigate the 21st century.
Mr. Pryor has worked as the vice president of global diversity for Coca-Cola Enterprises and Johnson & Johnson, and as the director of diversity strategies for Russell Corporation. For 26 years, he served as a captain and surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, where he held operational leadership roles in Pacific and Atlantic Fleets at the shipboard and joint staff level. He graduated from Morehouse College.
One student ran to grab her saxophone while others picked up their violins and violas and two sat down at the piano.
