nce 1 i s s
de st u nt
Vol. 84, Issue 6
av
e for
February 13, 2009
3
oic
Imua ‘Iolani
92
Honolulu, Hawaii
Keables Fortnight: Saccio’s words flow trippingly
Amelia Linsky Professor Peter Saccio drives a car bookended with the vanity license plate, “VERB.” “I used to have ‘IMOGEN’ (my favorite character from Cymbeline) but unfortunately
they changed the rules so you have to have fewer letters. Now it’s ‘VERB.’” The 2009 holder of the Keables Chair, author, editor, public speaker, actor and theatrical director, grins and shrugs. “I’m an English teacher and the car is my transitive part.” In addition to teaching at Dartmouth College, Wesleyan University, and University College in London, Professor Saccio authored Shakespeare’s English Kings and edited Thomas Middleton’s comedy A Mad World, My Masters for the Oxford Complete Works of Thomas Middleton. He is currently working on a “small book about Hamlet: five chapters, two in good shape and the other three in a shambles—but it’s my shambles even if it is a shambles. The sort of thing a gentleman of my sort, who has spent his career the way I have, would do with his retirement.” “To sit down and edit a play, examine it word by word—and write the notes, not on Shakespeare, which has been done over and over again—but where it hasn’t been done properly... It’s the nitty-gritty scholarship that underlies everything we say about Shakespeare. You have to
get the text right to understand what the words mean. It’s the hard, dry work of scholarship.” But the reward was not dry. Professor Saccio saw the full professional treatment of his version of the text performed at the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Despite Professor Saccio’s love of the stage, he praises Shakespeare films for making Shakespeare “accessible to students no matter where they live… It’s a wonderful thing, the change that has happened, because up until 1989 there were only a few Shakespeare movies.” While at ‘Iolani, Professor Saccio taught classes in Shakespeare, Theater, Women in Literature, English 9, English 10, and AP English. He held teacher workshops on The Tempest for eighth grade English and presented a public lecture and book signing on Wednesday, Feb. 4, “Going to War in Shakespeare.” He offers advice for seniors on facing college: “The real problem is choice. You don’t know the result when you’re making it. It takes courage to commit to this. You can review your choices and change them. You ought to commit. But it’s not like marriage in a country where there’s no divorce permitted. The dynamic of choice and courage and their reviewing what it is you’ve done—it is an essential triangle of the college experience.” Professor Saccio looked bemused and mildly offended to be asked what his favorite play is. “Whichever one I happen to be working on at the moment. Even if you’ve read and seen them as many times as I have, you forget how great they are.” Professor Saccio’s efforts have ensured that ‘Iolani School won’t forget—come what come may.
Inside: At the Inauguration - 4-5 Perspectives on Racism - 2 9th grader at Sony Open - 6 Horoscope - 7
Cordelia Xie | Imua ‘Iolani
Predicted high winds led to the closure of Oahu’s private and public schools and government offices on Jan. 16.
Wind blows finals schedule off course English, science exams postponed a week for storm that never came
By Amelia Linsky A high-winds warning issued by the National Weather Service prompted most schools, including ‘Iolani, to cancel school on Friday, Jan. 16. Although NWS forecast the possibility of winds up to 60 mph, winds peaked at only 50 mph and the anticipated storm caused only a few minor incidents, such as limited power outages and downed trees. The English, science, and make-up exams scheduled for Jan.16 were rescheduled to Friday, Jan. 23. Seventh and eighth graders attended classes as usual. High schoolers took exams monitored by a modifed lineup of proctoring teachers, enabling some to
continue teaching their middle school classes. The due date for teachers’ quarterly grades and comments was moved to Tuesday, Jan. 27 instead of Tuesday, Jan. 20.
“Generally speaking, everybody knew it’s out of our hands”
‘Iolani used an automated call system from Connect-Ed®, a program provided by Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard Connect, Inc., to alert students and
Up close with change - p. 4-5
parents. It allows ‘Iolani to send out telephone, email, and/or text messages to all phone numbers and emails uploaded into the service. When finished, the system shows which numbers it could or couldn’t reach, reasons why— such as a bad number or a busy line—and resend calls. Headmaster Dr. Val Iwashita made the final decision to cancel school based on print and online news reports, the advice issued by the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and because most other schools on Oahu were closed. “Generally speaking, everybody knew it’s out of our hands, so we have to make the best of it,” said Mr. Tate Brown, Dean of Students.
Index Editorials--2
Sports--6 A&E--3 Lower School--8 Inauguration--4-5 Lighter Side--7