Hi everyone! So much has happened in the past two weeks, but I’ll make sure to cover the highlights! Reading period, our extended weekend after midterms, was a relaxing and well-needed break, and it was wonderful to be able to rejuvenate and catch up on everything. On Friday night of reading period, my friend Linnea hosted a documentary night for the clarinet studio, and those of us that attended watched a fascinating documentary called “The Paw Project,” which is about the fight to end the declawing of domestic cats. The central subject of the documentary was a veterinarian from Los Angeles, who fought tirelessly over several years to make declawing illegal in California and throughout the U.S., and she succeeded in banning the practice in many California cities. Most of the documentary was filmed in Los Angeles, and all of the shots of Los Angeles streets, freeways, and other sights made me a bit homesick! But the documentary night was wonderful, and it definitely suited me more than a movie night, or worse, a scary movie night (I much prefer documentaries to movies)!
Life at Lawrence since reading period has been very exciting but very hectic (they always seem to go together, don’t they?), and one of the highlights of this past week was our convocation! Convocations happen once or twice a term, and they feature a guest speaker, usually an author, thinker, or intellectual figure, who presents their ideas on a particular topic. This week’s convocation featured author and philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, whose presentation was titled “A Decent Respect: Honor and Citizenship at Home and Abroad.” His perspectives on what it means to be a citizen, and how we should treat major moral obligations in comparison to family and personal obligations (among many other topics), were very interesting to listen to, and I was struck by the connections he made to various world events and situations in illustrating his perspectives. Aside from the guest speaker, convocations at Lawrence have a few other components. The convocation, which is held in our chapel (not a religious chapel), begins with an organ prelude, performed by our university organist and organ professor, Kathrine Handford, and then a conservatory musical group performs a short piece. For this week’s convocation, the Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble (LUPE) performed a vivacious drumming piece with singing and dancing! Following the musical group, our university president, Mark Burstein, gives an introduction, and then a Lawrence faculty member introduces the guest speaker. Convocation is one of those timeless Lawrence traditions that I think really encapsulates the idea of a Lawrence education: intellectual engagement, a close-knit community, and, of course, music!
Another highlight of this past week was giving campus tours to prospective students and their families. I give tours throughout the year, but giving tours this week was extra special, because it was two years ago this past week that I had my clarinet audition and campus visit at Lawrence! I remember my Lawrence visit so vividly, and how everyone was so helpful and friendly during my very busy visit/audition day. It’s such an amazing experience to now be on the other side of the aisle—as a Lawrence student showing prospective students around campus—because the tour guides and student hosts (and everyone else) I interacted with during my Lawrence visit had such a profound impact on my decision to attend Lawrence. During the tours I gave this week, I could really see my younger self in the prospective students I was guiding, and it reminded me of how valuable and special the campus visit experience can be.
The final highlight of this past week was Lawrence’s annual opera production, which this year was Aaron Copland’s “The Tender Land.” It was such a sad story, but so beautifully done—onstage, in the orchestra, and behind the scenes. I’m a huge Copland fan, though not as much of an opera fan, but I was blown away by the incredible quality of the production. Below are a few pictures from the show!
Photos courtesy of Nathan Lawrence