An Occasional Bowler’s Lament
by Vince Durnan
So last Friday our annual faculty tenpin outing ventured to hipster haven Pinewood Social. My modest contribution to the event cast a longer shadow than I can justify. But it’s a sign of the times.
The whole thing started pleasantly enough. Our math-teaching bowling coach Jason Shuster, really the godfather of our bowling program, had meticulously organized this year’s get together, and without a hint of irony. He’s a topnotch kegler and he prefers the game played well. Still, his tolerance for novices runs deep, and his invite drew dozens of colleagues to this high-profile venue launched by our high-profile alumni Ben and Max Goldberg. When I arrived from a River Campus lacrosse game, every lane was active, with 30 year+ veteran comptroller Norma Miller drawing most of the cheers.
Then someone took a call and needed to leave, opening a chance for me, sport coat and tie still in place, to try my luck. I got to roll maybe five balls total toward their vintage targets, over a total of maybe fifteen minutes. To call the performance unremarkable would be to overstate its significance. On at least one occasion, though, I noticed someone had captured the moment for posterity via cell phone camera. At least it was not a karaoke performance of "Wrecking Ball" being recorded. (Editor's note: this happened, per request of Class of 2004 alumni, the price they exacted for their Annual Fund gifts.)
Fast forward two days to Monday, and to the comments: “Hey, I saw you on Instagram,” “You looked good on the lanes,” “Were you wearing a suit?” Unable to resist asking, I found out that a five second excerpt of my exploits had already generated about 800 views on Facebook and another 400 on Instagram, both of which my millennial daughters have forsworn my using. Here I am thinking that our postmodern schedule treadmills permit no time for such mindless viewing, and once more I am in error. There’s a deeper realization in play too.
Not two weeks ago, in this very newsletter, my earnest, timely (to me anyway), and thoughtfully crafted essay on our Centennial campaign reached, as near as we can tell, fewer than 300 readers. And we don’t know how much they even read—just that they looked at the document. There was I, pouring every effort into getting the word out, and it functioned just slightly better than a note tied to a weather balloon or a bottle thrown in the Cumberland to be carried downstream. But the video of my hitting eight out of the available ten on that lane got to a thousand viewers.
What's a writer to do? My first instinct was abandon this bi-weekly column and go back to the video option full time, as was the case with my Construction Buddy series during the big renovation a couple years back. Or maybe I could switch to stained glass or interpretive dance or another non-written vehicle. Are we witnessing the transition to a post-literate culture, where recent estimates point to our fellow citizens watching 3-5 hours of screen pabulum daily? Not good news for a guy with a face for the keyboard and not the camera.
Maybe there’s another way—maybe the medium, if wisely chosen, can still support the message. Maybe this weekly digital print digest, itself once a great leap forward from our earlier version mailed monthly, is about to evolve again. And maybe its next incarnation, though potentially fragmented and multi-directional, could serve a unifying purpose. That, it strikes me, is the just in time, just for me, just when I want it, even if I didn’t know I wanted it challenge of contemporary media.
So my promise is to keep writing but to look harder for ways to better disseminate content—and not to dismiss the potential of visual images to also carry a deeper message. This one takes our best thinking—as does school reform itself—we need to keep doing what we know has worked without assuming that it will stay relevant and meet the definition of best practice.
Suggestions welcome. Thanks more than ever for actually reading this.
From the dinosaur desk,
Vince
vdurnan@usn.org
More USN News
List of 3 news stories.
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Spring sports season ends with podium finishes, trophies
The girls lacrosse team ended its season in overtime to become state runner-up. Tennis players Carter Kojetin '29 finished as a state quarterfinalist, Sophie Oliver '26 and Mary Kate Adler '28 finished as state semifinalists, and Veer Kodali '29 and Max Parker '29 finished as state champions. Meanwhile, eight runners competed at the state track and field meet in Knoxville, where Griffin Davidson '27, Caleb Freifeld '28, Drew Zwerner '28, and Jack Fruin '27, sprinted to first in the 4x800m relay and Jack also placed first in the 800m dash.Read More -
USN creates the Juliet Douglas Endowed Fund for Student Success
For the entire USN community: an invitation to give in gratitude, in celebration, and in honor of the woman who has given so much to our school. Make a gift at usn.org/giving to support students with needs beyond tuition and honor Interim Director Juliet Douglas.Read More -
Middle School Quiz Bowl competes at national championship
The Middle School Quiz Bowl finished off another successful season with a trip to the Middle School National Championship Tournament in Chicago. The team fought hard and ended the season as a top-100 program in the country, finishing 75th overall. Congratulations to the team on a great performance and to Lucas Lupu ’31, named an All Star for being the fifth-highest scorer nationwide.Read More
Contact
Edgehill Campus
2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.