Quiet Spring Break Monday

In this Issue:

• Ideas for activities for students staying on campus for Spring Break
• Congratulations to our Debaters!

• Article about “the tyranny of precise expectations”

Ideas for activities for students staying on campus for Spring Break

Students staying on campus may want to take advantage of some of our local gems in town (and nearby). Some thoughts for outings, from closest to campus to farthest away:

Do your own campus art tour. Did you know that notable artists as Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, Alex Katz, Robert Colescott, Glenn Ligon, Kiki Smith, and Shirin Neshat are represented in the Mark H. Reece Collection of Student-Acquired Contemporary Art? And that we have several other major art collections? Your Deac can talk a purposeful walk through the Benson University Center, Reynolda Hall, Farrell Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center, and more to see some of the gems they might be passing by every day, but hadn’t noticed.

Take the campus path behind Winston Hall to Reynolda Village. Once there, there is lots to do. Reynolda Village is full of shops, as well as some great dining venues (you know I am a May Way dumplings junkie!) Students can walk through the beautiful gardens and green spaces, and visit Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, for free with their student ID. Reynolda Village and Reynolda House are great places to spend a warm spring day, and this week the weather looks perfect for this sort of outing.

Spend time in downtown Winston-Salem. From March 6-10, the Wake Downtown shuttle will run on a loop from 7:25 a.m.–7:25 p.m. Hit the art galleries on Trade Street, find your favorite coffee shop (so many to choose from), see an indie movie at a/perture, enjoy the green space at Bailey Park, or go to the many restaurants downtown. The possibilities downtown are endless. Or go back in time by visiting Old Salem, just south of downtown.

Go on a hike. Within an easy drive is Pilot Mountain or Hanging Rock. Both are beautiful and within maybe a 30-45 minute drive.

If you have a car (or a Zipcar), consider a day trip. North Carolina boasts some amazing places: 

• Greensboro is 30-40 minutes away. It has the International Civil Rights Museum and some great international grocery stores.
• Asheboro is maybe 40-45 minutes away and has a large zoo. Mt Airy is about the same distance away and was the inspiration for Andy Griffith’s fictional hometown of Mayberry. If your Deac wants to feel like they stepped back in time, downtown Mt. Airy can give that feel.
• Seagrove, about an hour away, is known for its large concentration of working potters. 
• You can head to the mountains about 1.5 hours northwest of us, and visit Boone, hike in beautiful Blowing Rock, or drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.
• Asheville, a little over 2 hours southwest of Winston-Salem, has a fun, funky downtown, lots of live music, restaurants, and breweries, plus Biltmore House.

Congratulations to our Debaters

Congratulations to @wakedebate’s Ana Bittner (‘23) and Ari Davidson (‘23) on winning the 2023 American Debate Association National Championship! They went undefeated at the tournament and did not lose a single ballot. Go Deacs!

Article about “the tyranny of precise expectations”

A dear friend sent me a copy of an article that is (sadly) a subscriber-only feature of The New York Times (so I can’t link to it). It was an opinion column by Frank Bruni’s sister, Addele Kirk, entitled “Success for my children meant finding their own paths, not retracing mine.”

This was a reflection of how Kirk had tried to help steer her children to the same kinds of academic subjects, sports, extracurriculars that she did. And that in our minds, we all as parents have a sort of “template” for them that we think they should follow. If you happen to be a subscriber, I commend this message to you highly.

For copywrite reasons, I can’t share the full text of the article, but I will share this part from the end that especially resonated with me, now that I am looking at my soon-to-be high school graduate (who, praise be, finally made his college choice: he’ll be at NC State in the Honors College program this fall!)

“So what was the tug of war that I went through with them — and that so many of my friends go through with their children — all about? What was the point? The gift our children give us is their individuality, and they develop strength of character not by emulating or outdoing us but by finding their own ways once we finally let them. That destination may not be one we ever imagined. But in being a surprise, it can be a special delight.

I try to embrace different yardsticks for my children now: their contentment, their fulfillment. And I genuinely admire their decisions and their determination to live their lives on their own terms. Maybe I’m just mellowing in my advancing age, or maybe they’ve taught me something crucial about the tyranny of precise expectations and the liberty of sloughing those off.”

“The “tyranny of precise expectations.” Will admit that one struck at me. Now I am turning my mind to “the liberty of sloughing those off” as my kiddo starts college this fall 🙂