Malcolm GauldIn June, I celebrated 40 years of working at Hyde (1977-82, 1985-2020). That’s cool, but I’m thinking I should get credit for a much earlier start date. I mean, what about…
- mowing lawns for b&g during the summer of 1966?… or,
- washing pots and pans the next summer?… or,
- that summer of ’72 on the paint crew with the unforgettable Gordon Murray, RIP… I mean,
- don’t those two summers (’73 & ’75) as a college intern count for anything?
Then again, if we’re going to get honest about this — After all, this is Hyde, right? — I guess I have to disclose what Gordon said to me and all assembled at the formal occasion of my induction as head of school in 1987: “Malcolm, I’m sure glad they named you head of school, because… you can’t paint worth a damn!”
Anyway…
Regardless of which date I might choose to select, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the Hyde thing came into my life. If you’ve been here for any of that time, I don’t need to tell you that daily life at Hyde promises no shortage of material for stories to tell. And given that I like to write, I started telling them during my head of school days in a newsletter called Malcolm’s Monthly.
I transitioned to Malcolm’s Blog in 2009. This summer, after giving it a 20,000-foot view, I noticed that it was looking a bit bloated and disorganized: 850 posts in no discernible order. So, I deleted over 300 posts and ordered the remainder in the following categories:
– Cultural Bias (music, books, etc.)
– Events & Issues
– How Hyde Works
– Hyde Ideas
– Hyde Life
– Hyde People
– Parenting
– Teaching
– The Rules (AKA, “Stuff I’m Pretty Sure Is True”)
– Top 40 – A “Best Of” List
There’s also a link you can click if you would like to subscribe.
I still miss Gordon. (I was deeply honored to serve as a pallbearer at his funeral back before “blog” was either a word or a thing.) I doubt he would be a reader of my blog, but I’d want him to know that I became a decent painter. Or, at least, I’m getting better… I think.
Onward, Malcolm Gauld ‘72
