Emma Everywhere

From the octopus to the peak

heademma — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:44:39 +0000

Here we all are on the steps of the Dynasty Club in Hong Kong, smiling after a dinner that included baked stuffed sea whelk, deep fried cuttlefish, jelly fish, shark’s fin soup, diced octopus in abalone sauce and…of course, fried chicken. More than 30 alums, prospective students and parents, current students and parents strong. Just try to tell me that Emma is not an international school! Also had a chance to have lunch with Emma’s first Asian student, a woman who took the Pan Am Clipper to America to attend Emma and has fabulous stories about Miss Wellington and Miss Lay. And dessert? A hike on the Peak followed by a stroll through SoHo with an Emma grad from ’78. Heading home today with Asia on my mind…and in my stomach!

Blending more than cultures

heademma — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:43:08 +0000

Onward to Taiwan, where it was our privilege to have a private tour of the country’s first privately-owned whiskey distillery. We met Ian, the professional blender, who taught us much about the food chemistry process of creating this award-winning scotch. Don’t worry, we didn’t let the Emma students along on the tour imbibe! If you ever wanted a reason to pay attention in chemistry, Ian certainly provided it. As I type this I am overlooking the harbor in Hong Kong and the day is just getting started. I am off to visit Emma’s first Asian alumna, Class of ’54!

Small things and warm winds in Taipei

heademma — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:52:33 +0000

Imagine how delighted I was to pick up yesterday’s copy of the Joong Ang Daly, a Korean news partner of the International Herald Tribune, and find an article on the front page written by Ser Myo-ja ’94, with whom I had enjoyed dinner just a day before. She reminded me that she had been a former writer for Emma’s CLOCK! Guess that training came in handy as she is now an award winning international reporter. Off to Taipei, where Emma families treated us to a hilltop wander around the Jientiengang Grasslands and a tour of one of the world’s largest miniature museums, where I enjoyed the company of several Emma freshman girls. Life is good–both small and grand–on this side of the world.

Time is standing still, and it is altogether a good thing

heademma — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:50:37 +0000

My watch stopped on the day spring break started. It stopped precisely at 10:10. It took me about a day to realize that 10:10 is the perfect time of day. It is not a meal time; it is too early for bed; it is too late to wake up; it is right in the middle of everything–whether it is p.m. or a.m. it just so happens that I was heading off to Asia for spring break, with a quick trip in Los Angeles on the way to Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong on the day time stood still in my world. I chose to see that as a sign from some heavenly place that I should become blissfully unaware of what time it was where in the world. It is working quite well, thank you. In fact, I may never get my watch fixed.

After four days in rainy, cold–honest–Southern California, I landed in snowy, cold–honest–Seoul. As I type this, I am looking out over the vast expanse of Seoul, the fourth largest city in the world, feeling gently warmed by the gracious welcome of our current Korean students and their parents, as well as by a number of Emma alums who make their home in Seoul. One day this week–who knows which day it was where as remember time is standing still for me–we gathered prospective students, current students, prospective parents, current parents and even some alumnae at the Grand Hyatt. I included a picture of our current students who were at the affair as it reminds me of one of the things I like best about Emma. Whenever and wherever in the world two or more Emma students are gathered there is always, always a good time to be found.

Tomorrow I head off to Taipei, where I know a trip to the night market awaits, among other delights. Hmm…10:10 seems just the right time for a visit to Taiwan, or to anywhere Emma girls are gathered over spring break.

Would love to hear from anyone who has found an Emma grad unexpectedly in some corner of the world.

What gives feminism a bad name?

heademma — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:27:49 +0000

Had my first interview by a CLOCK reporter today, and I was expecting a routine query about some unpopular rule. Instead, it was my pleasure to engage in a serious dialogue in which there were more questions than answers. See what you would have done with the following:

As the head of an all-girls school, what do you think of when you hear the word “feminist”?

Do you think it is generational that girls today have a negative connotation about the term “feminist”?

Do you feel that at the end of a girl’s four years at Emma, she will be more comfortable using the term “feminist” to describe herself?

By the end of the interview, we had made little headway, but Helen, the fearless reporter, and I agreed that this is one of the best mysteries of all time. How could such an innocuous term become so loaded? Who benefits from feminism being laden with all manner of baggage? Thought I would reach out to see if any of you have insights.

Pink Power: Do You Have It?

heademma — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:20:41 +0000

There are many privileges that come with leading a community of and for smart women who are forever intellectually curious. Near the top of that list is that I am the fortunate recipient of great book suggestions. One alumna introduced me to the intrepid and tireless Maisie Dobbs, who accompanied me on vacation to the Outer Banks. Several others sent me Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, and those of you who pay attention to our web site know where that led our entire school community last year. The recommendations come in all categories from spiritual reading to educational innovation, from inspirational tales to leadership lessons.

Two alumnae, each from a different generation and a different coast, recommended Womenomics, by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, on the same day, and that felt enough like karma to me that I downloaded it immediately on to my ever ready Kindle. Glad I did. Claire and Katty have introduced me to the term “pink power.” Their well researched premise is that the business arena has come to realize the criticality of having women in the workplace to achieve bottom line results. They offer compelling statistics supporting their claim that Fortune 500 companies with more women in senior positions outperform those companies who can’t point to gender equity.

They build a case that women’s worth is so well recognized that working women have bargaining power heretofore unimagined. In brief, women can use their “pink power” to negotiate for different hours or alternative working arrangements permitting them to enjoy new ways of “having it all,” or balancing work, family and play. Shipman and Kay, who have both re-engineered their own careers with applications of “pink power,” claim that this is more than a trend; this just might be a new horizon. I won’t waste blog space sharing chapter and verse of a book you can read for yourself, but I am curious to know: is this your reality?

You are all making lives for yourselves around the world. Are you finding work environments that are women-friendly? Have you discovered places of business that encourage life balance, or, at the very least, support your creative plans to fill your lives in ways that fill you? Even better, are you an executive that has created such options for other women in your employ?

Let me hear from you. Is “pink power” a new reality for us working women or a privilege reserved for a fortunate few?

heademma — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:58:32 +0000

: A Tony nominee with her “Emmies”

What an afternoon. What a privilege. What a delight. On May 3rd, I attended a Broadway performance of 33 Variations, starring Jane Fonda ’55, with a group of Emma alums and current students. The students, pictured in this photo taken by Michael Rudd, are currently Fonda Scholars at Emma Willard. Our entire party was graciously welcomed up on the stage by Jane, after her superb performance as a terminally ill musicologist. (Fun to note that the very next morning, news of the Tony nominees broke, and 33 Variations picked up five nominations, including one for Jane.) If you want to see our entire party, go explore Jane’s blog, www.janefonda.com, which she is keeping to record her experience in the show. As you scroll through the entries, you will find a number of Emma Willard connections!

Principal’s Play Day

heademma — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:11:28 +0000

The most frequently asked question in any academic year is always–and forever will be: when is Principal’s Play Day? Do you have an opinion?View This Poll

If this is Tuesday, it must be Taiwan

heademma — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:08:22 +0000

Molly Price, Emma’s top notch director of alumnae relations, and I just returned from our second annual trip to Asia. So many highlights made the list this year. There was a special “splendor feast of Taiwan” with forty-six items that required tasting from Wanluan pork knuckles to Tamsui iron eggs to Budai shark fin meatballs to Donggang salted mullet roe. The entire event taught us much about the role food plays in the Taiwanese culture and provided a serious lesson in the etiquette of a formal Chinese dinner. In Korea we discovered Changdeokgung, the hidden gardens of the king and queen, and soaked up some Korean history in the process. In Hong Kong there was the ride up the world’s largest outdoor pedestrian escalator. Of course it only goes up, so the walk down was quite interesting. Any successful visit to Asia includes amazing gastronomic adventures, historic sites, and just plain marvelous adventures, but this trip included important lessons as well.

Our travels took us to the Sook Myung Girls School, the oldest girls school in Korea, much younger than Emma of course—a mere 100 years; the Stella Matutina Girls School, one of the best Catholic schools in Taiwan; and the Affiliated Senior High School of the National Taiwan Normal University, one of the largest co-ed high schools in the country. My tour guides for each were current Emma students who had transferred from these superb schools to travel around the globe to attend Emma Willard. It was a busman’s holiday to share tales of parental concerns, faculty priorities, pedagogy and more with the principals to whom I was introduced. While these were all fine, important schools, the differences could not have been more stunning. Each offered new lessons in alumnae involvement, teaching personal responsibility to adolescents, and implementing experimental curriculum. I am still processing all that I saw, grateful for the time these educators devoted to showing me “school” as they “do” it. And here is an unusual tidbit: several years prior to our visit, the teachers of the Stella Matutina Girls School gathered around to view The Emperor’s Club and discuss the moral questions it raised. Who knew?

It was my privilege in Korea to assist Molly in hosting the first ever young alumnae function in Korea. Did you know we now have over twenty Emma grads living there, including a captain in the U.S. Army? This is clearly a growing chapter!

It was my honor in Taiwan to experience an evening of Emma excellence during which our current students hosted our Taiwanese prospective students, demonstrating their musical talent between the many courses of a formal Chinese dinner. The surprise there? When our girls were asked by a prospective mother why they chose Emma, the number one answer way…drumroll…because it is all girls! And to think it is often suggested that being a single sex school is a liability in America….Perhaps there is much to be learned about marketing our school on the other side of the world.

It was a proud moment in Hong Kong when current students and parents and alums from 1978 to 2005 gathered around to see the view from the Peak and talk about the enduring strengths of the Emma Willard experience. I could feel the traditions of Emma binding us together even as the challenges we discussed rallied us to think creatively about the future of our school.

Of all the sights we saw, all the incredible food we tasted, and all the amazing people we met, do you know what stands out for me? The Emma Willard experience is a known entity in these corners of the world—known for intellectual rigor, superb faculty, extraordinary extracurricular opportunities and lifelong friendships.

Where in the world were you recently where you discovered an Emma Willard connection? Perhaps you were wearing your ring and someone noticed. Perhaps you were on a trip and you discovered the connection. Perhaps you bumped into someone who knew someone who knew of Emma Willard. Is there a story you can share that connects Emma to another corner of the world?

heademma — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:54:18 +0000

Did you happen to see the article in the New York Times entitled “As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in the Job Force?” Fascinating. Apparently 82 percent of recent layoffs have befallen men in manufacturing, construction and other blue collar industries. Health care and educational institutions, more typically employing women, are less likely to be impacted in a recession. So what does this mean? According to the article, as of November, women held 49.1 percent of the nation’s jobs. Given January’s continuing bad news about budget slashing, women may dominate the American work force for the first time in our country’s history. The implications of this trend are formidable. Child care, gendered roles on the home front, the role of women as the primary breadwinners for the family—all of these elements of our society may be up for an overhaul. Makes me wonder what the world will look like coming out the other end of this historic recession.

The economy has been on my mind a lot—for obvious reasons. After she read my recent letter to alumnae (please see http://emmawillard.org/economy/), one alumna who attended EW during World War II wrote to advise me that I should cancel spring break, as the headmistresses had done in 1944 in their effort to support the war effort by saving fuel. While this alumna noted, “it wasn’t the worst thing that happened to us,” I have a feeling that I might have a harder time getting away with it in 2009. Would love to hear your thoughts about ways we can use the headlines to provide life lessons for our students.