The English 9 “Heart of the City” project is a collaborative effort involving history, literature, art, music, technology, and public speaking. Teachers from each discipline plan the project’s scope and the day to day assignments. But the inspiration for this initiative really comes from the mission statement of the school which refers to Newman’s location, both physically and philosophically, “in the heart of a great city.” The city is not only our campus and classroom; it is itself the image of our answer to the essential question: how do we live together?

The project begins with a review of three readings by Aristotle, Hobbes and Locke respectively with which we began the year in September. Each philosopher has a different anthropology which results in how his city is formed and governed. We then introduce a general overview of how cities are created and molded through our respective disciplines. For example: why are cities built where they are? What is the importance of topography for trade and defense? Why are laws necessary and to what degree? How does infrastructure develop? How has oratory and public speaking influenced the society? How essential are libraries, the arts, and green space? How important is harmony and beauty in urban design and architecture? What is the role of sport? Is leisure the basis of culture? Why has virtually every city had a religious foundation? Is religion essential for the continuity and development of a city? How would a secular city be any different? Under what conditions do class divisions, poverty, racism and crime arise? What symbols characterize a city?

We then look at aspects of our own great city of Boston in the light of these questions. Through historical writings, maps and photographs the city emerges as a many storied reality which we inhabit every day: a living palimpsest. Every sixth day we take a trip to some part of the city-- maybe a park, the waterfront, a neighborhood, a building site—where the students record in their journals notes and sketches of what they experience. This material is later incorporated into the various disciplines as a collage, a painting, a longer narrative or a movie. The naval historian, Samuel Eliot Morison, whose bronze statue on Commonwealth Avenue, near the school, has this quotation chiseled in the granite base: “Dream dreams, then write them—aye, but live them first!” This is an inspiration for student and teacher alike.

The next phase involves research. The students are divided into groups of three and each triad is assigned a great city at a specific moment in history. One group, for example, will investigate 14th century Prague, another 9th century Baghdad, yet another Dickens’ London, and so forth. They will gather material from a variety of sources and--using the overview questions and the model we have presented of Boston--imagine themselves as a citizen of that city. The culmination of this activity will be a written paper, a technology and art component, and a speech. The projects will be presented over a two week period to their peers and to a panel of teachers, administrators, and parents. Our aim is to look for an answer to the following overarching question: On the basis of the work you have done for this project, what “qualities” that you have experienced and studied about would you hope to find or want to create in your own environment or in an “ideal” City? As teachers we ask ourselves the same question.

The heart of each student and educator, the heart of every person, is not unlike the heart of a great city, except that it is infinitely more complex. But the city is the place where our longings and compulsions meet, and where, as John Henry Cardinal Newman once wrote, “…in the nature of things, excellence and unity go together: and excellence implies a center.”