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From Sarah Ann Sanders Long

When I was in Third Grade at S.M Inman, I joined the elementary orchestra and then went on to play in the Grady Orchestra. The orchestra leader through all of this was Mr. Seitz. I played the violin and although I had private lessons during this period, I was never a very inspired player. Being in the orchestra meant I always had Third Period at Grady with Mr. Seitz. He was not a cozy man. In fact, I was really afraid of him. I was there the day he threw a Kleenex box, and when he threw a chair, and the day he snapped his baton in half in disgust. Mr. Seitz expected one to do ones best, and one did not want to disappoint him!

Part of what I learned from the orchestra was when the curtain goes up, you sat up straight, smiled, and did what needed to be done--all the way to the end no matter what happened. I also learned to show up on time, ready to play, no excuses. I was never on a sports team, but Mr. Seitz gave the experience of being on a team. We traveled some and won some awards. I learned a lot.

The other night I treated myself to a special movie theatre showing of the Last Night of the Proms, filmed by the BBC. It was a 3+ hour performance, ably conducted by Marin Alsop from Baltimore, MD. This was her second appearance as last night conductor. In 2013 she broke records as the first woman to conduct the event. Besides being very able, Alsop is very personable. The concert featured not only the BBC Orchestra and Chorus but also Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Danielle de Niese and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. I laughed and I cried; it was an extremely moving experience, in part because of the BBC's excellent filming including astounding close-ups. I loved seeing the orchestra members play. They were so good and so professional! It must not have been easy performing for 3+ hours! But as I was leaving the movie theatre, I thought of Mr. Seitz. It probably was not fun for him dealing with whiny kids and disruptive teens. But he did it ably and with convection. He never talked down to us and he challenged us with hard music. I felt so appreciative of this aspect of my education at Grady. The lessons I learned have helped me my whole life and I am grateful. I am sorry I never had the opportunity to thank Mr. Seitz. Maybe I just never took the opportunity. I think he passed away several years ago but I thought if I told you of my gratitude, it might mean something. After all, some of you were in the orchestra or the band, and you knew Mr. Seitz, too.

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I 100% agree that the name change of Henry Grady High school should be a topic of discussion. As I wrote to Demaris I have no place in my life for white supremacy, which was left out of his original bio. I loved my years in Atlanta but looking back I’m not proud of the fact that I went to segregated schools. This should definitely be up to the students and not the 76 year olds. Kudos to them for initiating this, and I’m happily watching from California!
Roni Hanson Melmed

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Hi All

I have a different recommendation than the one Demaris sent this week. I suggest we leave the name change discussion up to the current and more recent students. It seems selfish to me for a bunch of 76 year olds to insist the high school name we loved be maintained.


This reminds me of how my eyes were opened when the demands began to take down statues of Confederate generals. Those who have to daily pass a statue or attend a school with a hurtful name are the ones most affected, not you and I. We have lived our lives and have other schools in our history. This is their passion. In fact, I am proud that a bunch of teens researched this issue and took action with the school board.


The second sentence in Wikapedia following the one Demaris referenced states Henry Grady was a white supremacist who advocated keeping blacks under the social control of whites. That is probably more important to the current students than knowing he helped "reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union."


I imagine our reactions are many and varied, so let's not interject ourselves. Henry W Grady is probably the last person who would resist moving forward.


Thanks,

Jean Fike Ewing