Cover Story
We so love our Heaven and Earth that
we forever strive to make and gaze upon
their image. We make and remake the
world, populating it with pictures of itself
into which we gaze in hope of both losing
and then finding our true selves. We are
drawn to these images with a longing that
is the longing for our own origin.
Mary Zimmerman, Journey to the West: A Play
T
hese lines from the play of one of China’s best-known classics, A
Journey to the West, epitomize the essence and philosophy of
one of the keystones of the school – the Chinese Thread. It was apt as
Keystone’s first theatrical production because not only did it reflect a
voyage of learning that each student undergoes, but also signified the
need to immerse and get lost in the world to grasp the true nature of one’s
home and origin. Middle school Drama teacher, Chloe Keller, explains it
best, “…the depth of the story is the search for spiritual understanding…
10
The Keystone Magazine
about the personal journey to reach the next spiritual level, and then to
share this experience with those who share life with you. You cannot do
it alone. People try, but much of our reality comes through other people
through which we gain some spiritual insight, some spiritual knowledge
– some awakening.”
Yes, each of us is on our own road to discovery in an effort to find
ourselves, to find our place in this world, and to find our purpose. This
road to discovery has to begin with who each of us is, it has to begin with
a longing for our own origins. At Keystone, this longing is etched into
the core of what the school stands for. It is a local school catering to the
world as our Head of School, Malcolm McKenzie, often describes it, and
the Chinese Thread characterizes this localness. Keystone Academy has
both Chinese and expatriate students for whom this Thread is a map to
discovering home and host countries respectively, and it encourages a
sense of deep pride and appreciation within an overarching framework
of international curriculums. Keystone Academy has in many ways
successfully woven together the local and global, the here and the other.
Mapping the Journey
“I have woven the Chinese Thread into historical stories related to
Chinese idioms and fables that underscore key moral values, taking
my students on a succession of fascinating jou