dear friends a letter from our head of school

dear friends

a letter from our head of school

Dear Friends,

My experience of living through a pandemic, challenging in numerous ways, has not been without sources of satisfaction, inspiration, even joy. I hope the same holds for you.

I’ve experimented with time-restricted eating, for instance, and have lost 15 pounds. Weight loss wasn’t my goal, but I appreciate not needing a nap each afternoon. I’ve been writing, too, almost daily, a practice I’d tried to cultivate several times before but only over the course of the past eight months have been able to sustain and begin to enjoy. I’ve also found my way to more poetry that’s proven accessible, if not inspirational, and reconnected with music. I now have a few playlists I access on Spotify! And watching “The Last Dance” with my son Matt, even if we sat apart—across the country—was a blast!

However, what’s been most joyful, especially when joy has been hard to find, have been conversations of connection and reconnection. I’ve reconnected with Fr. Michael Boughton, S.J., a mentor from my college years and the priest who officiated my wife Sue’s and my wedding, and with teammates from Saymore Trophy, a Concord, NH, men’s basketball league team made up of colleagues and friends from the St. Paul’s School community. My Chicago-based high school friends, whom many of you have heard me refer to as The Celibate Seven, have kept each other thinking, laughing, and celebrating friendships of 40+ years, even if only through text messages and Zoom. And my daughter Kyle and I compare notes regularly on teaching, learning, leadership, human development, democracy, and social justice.

Even as I reflect on the words I’ve just typed and the moments to which they attest, I’m struck by

“However, what’s been most joyful, especially when joy has been hard to find, have been conversations of connection and reconnection. ”

how fortunate I have been to experience my heart so often full of joy fueled by so many.

thinking sffs,

Mike Hanas Head of School

MIKE’S FAVORITE QUARANTINE ROUTINES AND TRADITIONS:

15,000 + steps per day

Bike rides to and from school, through GG Park to the Pacific, and across the GG Bridge

Broken Record podcast interview with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, and Bruce Springsteen

Making coffee with my Bialetti

Zoom reunions with college friends, former colleagues, and extended family

“Just because” check-in calls from my daughter Kyle and son Matt