“I stand against all forms of hate and violence — including antisemitism, anti-Palestinian hate, anti-Arab hate, anti-Muslim hate and all hate meant to divide us and cause harm rather than bring us together.

Every child, person and every family deserves to feel valued, loved and safe.

Let’s continue to model empathy, compassion and teach our children that we are all connected.”

– Rachel Accurso, popular YouTuber known as “Ms. Rachel”

Dear friends,

We are deep in the season of culminating end-of-year events, a time of heightened emotion and increased attentional demands. Even with all the highlight reels and wonderful recaps of learning and growth, there remains an element of weariness, a feeling that we just can’t keep up with everyone and everything we should be celebrating at this moment. That’s how I’m experiencing these final days of school, at any rate. After every big event – final tournament, awards ceremony, graduation – there’s the day that follows which for me is often the space for a little let down. An exhale that becomes a sigh. A return to normal on the heels of the exceptional.

Although, how exceptional can it all be, if we repeat these rituals year after year? I mean, it’s not like we don’t know what’s coming: exams, retirements, grades and comments, team and division parties. While the rituals offer us containers for many of these processes, what makes them exceptional are the people involved. I am moved at every single graduation I attend. Many of those kids I remember as kindergartners or 4th graders. To see them walk across that stage with pride never gets old. Every time I leave an ISST track and field tournament, I feel grateful for every opportunity I had to encourage an athlete approaching their final stretch or completing their best throw. Medals accumulated are not the point. It’s the spirit of shared achievement.

Shared achievement. Yes. None of us – students, faculty, parents – could do any of this on our own. Over the course of a year and years, we create webs of interdependence that enable us to support each other towards a variety of goals. Sometimes we are aware, other times we can forget how many other people are necessary to facilitate what may appear to be a singular success. As adults in these webs often wearing a few hats at one time, we are doing our share of pushing and pulling behind the scenes, frequently under tight timelines. While we may know what’s coming, we can never be entirely sure that the outcomes will hew to our original visions. That’s both the friction and the ultimate satisfaction. Nine times out of ten, we manage much of what we hoped for. Yet we also tend to get hung up on that one time something went south.

All this to say, THANK YOU and yes, we can be simultaneously joyful and exhausted. Just as no two students are the same, no two school years are the same. Working in education, we live in flux. Doesn’t mean that we love change (we might), but we must make our peace with the reality of it again and again and again. That takes fortitude and flexibility; sometimes a hard head or a soft heart. Whatever forces you have called upon to complete the fullness of this year, may they provide you with more of what you need to replenish your energies over the summer.

What happened?

Perhaps you noticed that a May edition of BTA never appeared and remember that April’s version barely made it within the month. There are reasons. Certainly a shift from assistant to head middle school track coach required a reallocation of my working bandwidth, in addition to other commitments both in and outside school. That said, as my schedule opened up again, I faced a different barrier to writing. It has taken me a while to figure out exactly what has been going on. I believe it’s the weight of grief.

How do we process this moment in history during which the things I was taught to revere about American democracy – the rule of law, freedom of speech, equal protection under the law – are literally being shredded before our very eyes? Activists have warned about the creeping conditions for American fascism for years. Now the world is witness to the swiftness of right wing elite capture of legacy media, technology, all 3 branches of government and significant institutions, how do we orient ourselves for resistance?

I would love to claim that the shock and awe mechanisms applied to dismantle huge portions of US government programs deemed “woke” or the desperately cruel manifestation of mass deportations have not influenced me but that is not at all true. I am morally and personally devastated. I am, in fact, shocked and grieving what has already been lost. While I have not fallen silent, I have been thrown back on myself to determine what it is I/we can do in this moment. Acknowledging my grief is one step I’m taking towards clarifying next steps.

Summer Recommendations

Given what I’ve just shared about grief and exhaustion, it feels odd to continue with a list of stuff to read or listen to, business as usual. So allow me to present an entirely eclectic mix of possibilities that expresses my own sense of fragmentation and which may speak to a range of needs between comfort and combat.

With that, there’s little left for me to do besides wish you the very best that summer has to offer. May rest and recovery be among the fruits of the coming weeks.

Take care of yourself,

Sherri