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Catharine Blaine K-8 School |
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Principal’s Page |
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Catharine Blaine K-8 School Principal: Heather Swanson heswanson@seattleschools.org 2550 34th Avenue West Seattle, Washington 98199 Office: 252-1920 Fax: 252-1921 24-hour Attendance Line: 252-1924 |
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August 28, 2008
Welcome Back Blaine Community!
I like the word renew. According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means “to make or become new, fresh, or strong again; to restore to existence: recreate, revive, to make or do again, to begin again.” The summer is the perfect time for renewal. I found renewal amidst the very old. This summer I spent three weeks in Turkey and Greece. Amazing sites, sounds, smells that I feel a lack of words to adequately describe. I wandered the sacred way, a worn marbled path that lead to the library of Celsus built in 114 in the ancient city of Ephesus, a path that St.Paul is believed to have walked. I climbed the steps of the hilltop sanctuary Asklepion a Greek temple dedicated to Apollo’s son Askelepios the god of healing. A sacred place where Hippocrates wrote his famous oath; still recited by doctor’s today dating from 444BC. I covered my head and entered the beautiful Blue Mosque, still used today for prayers. I wandered the busy urban streets of big cities like Ankara, Istanbul and Athens. I saw the small villages of Symie, Goreme and Chios. I saw the old and the new together side by side- a lit Parthenon guarding a modern city. It was amidst the ancient that I thought about renewal; this idea about restoration, to revive, to make new again. I imagine it is a question archaeologist’s ask themselves when excavating. I picture them standing around a brown, dry hole in the ground peering at a pile of stones. (I have seen enough piles of rocks that used to be something else to last a lifetime.) “These must be the pieces of the front columns” “Do we leave them?” “We could try to put the column back together so people know how big it was.” “But if we do that. . .” “I know, I know do we want to reconstruct the site?” “Maybe we just want to restore? Let people use their imaginations.” “How do we make old new again?” Last year we embarked on a journey filled with new work that is now old work; Writer’s workshop, Everyday Math, Data teams. The staff and I spent our first professional development days renewing our commitment to the work begun and planning for second year implementation. I continue to be excited about the progress we are making as a school and am looking forward to a stellar year!
Heather |
