The Green and Gray
Berkshire School’s Student Newspaper April 28, 2016. Sheffield, Mass. ________________________________________________________________________________________
WeWeek: Breaking the Berkshire Bubble By: Victor Li ’18 The third annual WeWeek, a week dedicated to celebrating diversity and inclusion began with the Mayhem Poets performance on Saturday, April 9,which included three theatretrained slam balladeers who deserve master’s degrees in engaging with audience, followed by the Privilege Project hosted by Silvana Gomez ’17 and Losseini Barry ’18. Dr. Mykee Flowlin on Monday gave perhaps the most mindboggling performance in Allen Theater; Kristin Russo, the cofounder of “Everyone is Gay” spoke about her work with LGBTQ teenagers, and the events peaked on Wednesday with the We Think Big student presentation and diversity workshops. Conversations on diversity are important to have with peers and with ourselves. WeWeek heeds the most imperative call of the American
society, that is, the call for acknowledging the minorities and accepting differences. Berkshire is after all a relatively diverse place with students from 29 states and 29 countries maybe not a precisely proportional miniature of the actual population, but certainly a place where inclusion must be taken seriously and actively. We need to keep in mind it matters what we do to break the “Berkshire bubble”. This work of ours, the construction of Berkshire as a welcoming community is the regional prototyping of future America; much the same way that America has the potential to be the inclusive exemplar of the world. Look at the news, it is evident that diversity is the zeitgeist of our time, and what we do in WeWeek is intimately relates to the things around us. To make the world a better place has to start small, and we might as well start right here in Berkshire.
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THE GREEN AND GRAY
April 28, 2016
Arts & Athletics Boys Baseball Looks To Keep Up Momentum
By: Ahria Simons Boys Varsity Baseball team have made an impressive 50 start to the season. The Bears won their first game against a tough Salisbury team, and still are yet to lose this season. On their way to a 50 record, along with Salisbury, they topped Millbrook, Suffield, Pomfret and Canterbury. Against Canterbury, the Bears played a total of eleven innings compared to the standard seven innings for high school baseball. It took a vigilant effort for the team but in the bottom of the eleventh inning Jack Scarafoni ‘17 scored after a line drive single off of the bat of Kyle Kopman ’17 to win the game by a score of 109. Alex Ross ’19, a catcher on the team, opted to describe his experience thus far. He explained: “The practices have always been very rigorous and since our win against Salisbury, the feeling of confidence has only spread among the team.” The team looks on to continue their good run of form as they play a Gunnery side on Wednesday, April 27th away from home. The upcoming home games include: Hotchkiss on Thursday, April 28th Wilbraham & Monson on Saturday, April 30th Salisbury on Wednesday May 4th Reporter’s note: Let’s get out there and support our Berkshire Boys Varsity Baseball team as they look to remain undefeated and keep up with their impressive season. GOOOOOOOO BEARRRRRSS!
From left to right: Alex Ross ’19, Jack Scarafoni ’17, Kyle Koopman ’17. 2
THE GREEN AND GRAY
April 28, 2016
A Cabaret to Remember By: Charlotte Childs ’18
Berkshire School’s annual Cabaret, which was held on Friday April 15th 2016 in Berkshire Hall, hosted an array of students who sang both individually and in pairs. Some songs were well known like 7 Years Old by Lucas Graham, sung by Isabelle Maher ’18 and Brady Wilson ’17 while others were from a much older generation, including Noah Faison’s ’16 attention to older Jazz music. Singers of all age brought forth a sort of musical talent that some students had not yet witnessed. Each song was well rehearsed and partnered with Dr. Wu’s playing beautifully on the piano. Every singer offered a wide breadth of range weather it be Maggie Zhu ’17 hitting beautiful high notes or Henry Thomas ’18 portraying a lower sort of tone. Overall, each singer was able to wonderfully captivate the audience’s attention with their talent for music through a wide range of song choice.
AllSchool Read 2016 By: Lucia Mulder This summer, the entire Berkshire community will come together to read the book that everyone talked about in 2015, TaNehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me . Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in October, Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic , where he writes about social issues and politics and is perhaps best known for his influential writing on race in America. Between the World and Me is Coates’s booklength essay told in the form of a letter to his teenage son. Powerful and thoughtprovoking, it is sure to create lots of great conversations on campus.
Photo from philimag.com 3
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April 28, 2016
More than Just Preps Feature: Xander Tillou ’18 By: Roman Panibratyuk I went into room 403 after Saturday checkin as usual, this time, telling Xander Tillou ’18 that I will be interviewing him for the first feature in The Green and Gray . Honored and giggling, he put on his club blazer over a Tshirt and athletic shorts. (R: Reporter, X: Xander) R: I hope you understand that I am not going to ask you if you go to Southampton or Nantucket during the summer, this column is more about your personality and your opportunity to open up to people that will read this. X: Of course, that is a great idea. R: Can you tell me about some of your interests? X: Mostly photography or videos, I like making something real. R: Why do you like photography so much? Photographs by Xander Tillou ’18 X: I like photography because you can have portrait a real sense and a real subject, unlike studio art where you have create something from your imagination. R: How do you interact with your peers? What type of person you do you think you are? X: I am more of a quiet guy. I am more open with people I feel comfortable with, usually not “prep boys.” R: Is there one thing you would change about Berkshire? X: You know, it is great that we talk about race and sexuality, but it is something that we are doing well and everyone is familiar with it. We need to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone. We need to encourage people to do what they want to do: instead of sticking with the sport, pick up something new. R: What would you want to explore in the future? X: May be Creative Writing. Next year I am doing an independent study on filmmaking , and I think I will focus more on creative writing during my senior year, it would be great to try something new.
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THE GREEN AND GRAY
Global News Clinton vs. Trump possibility looms, Sanders looks away from presidency By Jackson Brex Trump leads Cruz 845 delegates to 559 after the conclusion of New York’s April 19 primary,. Trump, who received 60% of New York’s vote last Tuesday, seems to be breaking away from the remaining candidates, arising concern among the rest of the party. Trump’s popularity has lead Cruz and Kasich into a lastditch alliance effort, where both candidates will campaign heavily in certain states while leaving others alone. “We're making a decision where to focus our time, energy and resources," said Cruz in a radio interview earlier this week. Meanwhile, Clinton leads Sanders by smaller margin of 1,428 delegates to 1,153. In an interview with NBC, Sanders stated that despite his campaign’s “narrow path to victory,” he hopes to clinch the Democratic nomination.
April 28, 2016
Worst earthquakes in seven decades, along Pacific Coast By: Holly Cao 7.8 magnitude earthquake broke out in Ecuador, 7.0 in Japan on April 16. There had been more than 700 aftershocks, 654 death, 16,600 injured and 58 missing along the coast of Pacific ocean in Ecuador, and 48 deaths and 3,000 injuries in Japan (Reuters). This earthquake in Ecuador damaged civilian lives and the country’s big oil industry. The government raised taxes and deferred personal use of credit card for three month in certain regions to recover 2 to 3 billion dollars of economic loss. Is the timing of the two earthquakes merely coincidental? There is supposedly a Ushaped geographic zone around the pacific ocean called “the Ring of Fire” which contains many volcanoes which cite of 90% of the earthquake (CNN).
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April 28, 2016
Mondays for Mountain Day By: Charlotte Childs ’18 The entirety of the Berkshire community had the privilege of cancelled classes and venturing up the mountain with friends on Monday, April18th. Ms. Maher presented the surprise of mountain day with a yoga pose during meeting and all faculty and students roared with excitement. The weather held up at 75 degrees, leading people to hike up to Guilder and jump in the pond or find solace in the stream right next to the football field. The entirety of campus transformed, strewn with students on blankets scattered throughout the turf or on bikes on their way back from Marketplace. Spring Mountain Day of 2016 came at a wonderful time after almost three weeks of hard work following Spring Break. It seemed as though the occasion was able to bring a bit more life to campus and prepare students for the next couple weeks ahead. Not only that, but Monday’s Mountain Day brought with it a whole week of wonderful weather where students followed similar habits of going out and enjoying the sun after classes.
Prom 2016
By: Maggie Zhu ’17 Prom 2016 took place last Sunday, April 24. The theme for the event was “Around the World.” Flik Dining served steak, chicken breast, ravioli, and berry salad for dinner. Let’s check out some glamorous styles from the event.
Photos from berkshireschool.smugmug.com Special Thanks to: Mr. Perkins, Ms. Woodworth, Mrs. Mulder, Ms. Plante, and Mr. Hayes.
Staffers: Maggie Zhu Jackson Brex Holly Cao Charlotte Childs Victor Li Roman Panibratyuk Ahria Simons 6
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