Castaways, Revisited

Today I reread the preface to Castaways, Penikese founding director George Cadwalader’s account of school beginnings in 1973. Cadwalader can flat out write: pointed and colorful in reserved old-school fashion. Remarkably, George’s prose squares with the man himself, evoking his salty visage and piercing gaze that can spot and shoot down bullshit from a mile away.

Ever fascinating, Castaways is also somewhat pessimistic. Even George regrets penning certain words contributing to its occasional bleakness. In fairness, 1973 is a long time ago and today we understand more about the problematic behavior that puzzled him so then. Never a clinician (God forbid!), George nevertheless draws an uncannily prescient diagnostic picture of learning disability, emotional disorder and psychological trauma.

Then there are passages like these: “Whatever the verdict on that question [of success], I know of no inner-city kid who has taken the long boat ride to Penikese and there listened to the mysterious night calls of the petrels and watched the moon rising over Buzzards Bay is likely to ever forget those experiences.”

Here George captures Penikese’s immutable and unmistakable magic that works under the skin of staff and student alike, instilling a hope and longing for something better that keeps us coming back for more no matter what. That about Penikese will never change.