Christmas Letter 2014 Carissime, They say that war is hell, and so it is, but surely following close behind has to be moving! In a world of change with relocation and dislocation becoming something of the norm, De La Salle’s experience of being in the same place for thirty years ended this summer. Our experience was a throwback to simpler times where permanence was the norm. For many in the generations before, their entire working lives were spent in the same profession, working for the same employer, and in the same place. Traditional ethnic neighborhoods had a hold on families that made relocation difficult. The familiar faces and places were comforting. When I was a child, it seemed that everyone knew who I was. When Johnny McGrath and I went five blocks away to try our first cigarette, Mom knew by the time we got home! We felt safe and in awe of the number of spies the neighborhood Mom network had working for it. The first move I experienced was at the “behest” of Mr. Robert Moses, the “master builder” of New York City and State. Someday I hope you have the time and pleasure to read Robert Caro’s powerful opus titled The Power Broker, the biography of Robert Moses, and how he changed your life and the lives of all New Yorkers. His callous disregard for the effect of his projects on the lives of the people is legendary. I am a survivor of the Upper West Side diaspora. He was able to destroy an entire neighborhood from Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue and from 97th Street to 104th Street. Using his powers of “eminent domain,” vast tracts of property were confiscated and condemned. That neighborhood was our home. So, Mom took us from the West Side in April of 1954 up to the Highbridge section of the Bronx. This was my first experience with dislocation and how important the people and things were that we left behind. Yet the change, with its feelings of loss, really was the opening of new opportunities. Changing of schools is always traumatic for children you know that, but fresh starts can also be awesome. One of those great fortuitous consequences of the move was that the same order of Brothers who taught me at Ascension School also were the teachers at Sacred Heart School, my new parish school. The vocation that grew in me to become a Brother was forged in the impact those Brothers had on me. A move to any other place, and most certainly there would be no De La Salle Academy. Having moved back to the neighborhood of my youth after 30 years to open De La Salle in 1984, and now moving away again 30 years later, made the move this past summer to our new home on 43rd Street that much more challenging for me, emotionally and also physically. As we prepared for the move, many memories of our beginnings flooded in. The old lockers in the corridor, which we left behind, were from the old Power Memorial High School. In the summer of 1984 we carried them down six flights of stairs, loaded them into U-Haul trucks, and then up four flights of stairs to De La Salle. Desks, bookcases, lab tables, cabinets, and shelves came the same way. A bunch of volunteers, kids and families from the South Bronx, made up the many-hands brigade. We were still trying to get the place organized the day before school opened. We opened with 53 sixth and seventh graders in five classrooms on the top floor. One of those rooms served as the library and the office. Needless to say, we got to know each other well. These “founding 53” were the ones who planted the seeds of our community experience. The tradition of the De La Salle hug started with them. Now, I have a reputation for saving things. I am not a hoarder. I am just a sentimentalist. I treasure memories. I have saved the Christmas cards with notes and messages from the children over the years. I even saved some of the work they did for the classes which I taught. We uncovered a treasure trove of student snapshots taken over the years - their little cherubic faces as sixth graders turning into young men and women in the eighth. I couldn’t find the time to look through it all, let alone the heart to part with it. We didn’t throw them out. I kept all this stuff and it is now in storage. Someday…..someday. The move out of 97th Street was labor intensive. We cleared out three dumpster loads of “stuff”. Hundreds of file boxes were filled with books, supplies, files, instructional materials, science lab equipment, all labeled as to contents and locations. Older files were each marked for storage. All the while the operation of the school went on in preparation for the upcoming school year. The summer was when almost the entire De La Salle Community came and volunteered to do the heavy lifting. Current and recently graduated students and parents, older alumni, faculty, and friends made it happen. So many boxes and so much classroom furniture were brought down from the top floor and loaded into moving vans. It took us three days, but having the many hands made it happen. Getting it all to our new home on 43rd Street was only half the job. The other half was getting it into the school and up the stairs, some of it to the 6th floor. Somehow we did it and, as at our beginning 30 years earlier, with not a day to spare. This was truly a labor of love. What does all of this have to do with Christmas? Since we knew that we would be moving, we held a series of alumni meetings for the various classes to let them see the old place for the last time. The older ones came with spouses and children in tow. We set up two cameras in classrooms and asked them to share their memories of the time at the old place. We called it “The Confessional,” as we were sure that some funny and interesting stories would be told. We always seemed to remember the mischief we did and take some delight in getting away with things. Needless to say, there were plenty of laughs and tears. With everyone there was a focus on the experience of safety and love in the context of a living community. They admitted to having looked forward to coming to school each day because the school was the people. Community was what they called it. Everyone was known and greeted with a hug every morning. They were not anonymous. It really was family. One of the important elements and concerns for us in relocating was not to lose the ephemeral things, the spiritual elements, the sense of warmth and home. The tight quarters on the top floor forced us to create an environment of community. For the new space to work, it was essential for us to make sure that we created and fostered that community/family-like atmosphere again. Jean Li, a DLSA alum from 2002 and a graduate of MIT, works for one of our great Board members, Bob Fox, of CookFox Architects. Bob and his colleagues at CookFox, particularly Jean and Zach Craun, created a plan that powerfully enables all the ephemeral and spiritual elements to work the magic. In their design we brought the essential elements of De La Salle with us to the new building. In our common meeting area that we call Carson Commons, the words that capture all of what we are, “Let us remember that we are in the Holy Presence of God & each other,” dominate the space. Those words call us to prayer and community every day. All the good that De La Salle does comes from that. I often comment in my Christmas letters on the power of stories to connect us to the past, impact the present, and give us hope for the future. The stories of the alumni that were shared with us about how De La Salle has impacted their lives reinforced in us the commitment to continue to be a light shining to fellow educators about what is possible. School should be a place where not only is the intellect nurtured and challenged, but also the values and principles upon which to live one’s life are practiced. The quest for finding those things that give meaning to life begin in earnest in middle school. The seeds of your own vocations are being planted here. No matter where life takes you, you will always have your own De La Salle stories to tell. You are living examples of what is possible. That is the true gift of De La Salle: it lasts a lifetime. During this holy and joyful time of year let us continue to pray for each other and for the world as we do each day at De La Salle. May peace, both inner and outward, be our collective experience. In that peace comes the energy and the will to work for justice, which raises us all up to do and be our best. In that way we change the world one small step at a time. As always, our best wishes to you and your family during this holy time of the year. Love, Brother Brian
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:46:24 +0000