The Deerfield Scroll: February 25, 2015

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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 8

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deerfield academy, deerfield, ma

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February 25, 2015

GLOBAL STUDIES, COMMUNITY SERVICE AND SUSTAINABILITY UNITE AS ONE //EMILY MAHAN ‘15 Senior Writer

Rachel Yao

Social Media redeems itself //CAROLINE COPPINGER ‘15 Senior Writer Throughout the nation, various social media outlets influence the way people communicate with each other.

Deerfield is no exception.

As members of a close-knit community, Deerfield students are obliged to ask the question: How do increased social media outlets affect the ways we connect with and treat each other?

In many ways, social media allows students to stay in touch with each other throughout the day and stay connected.

However, such effortless accessibility can be harmful when used without discretion.

Yik Yak, an app which allows users in a certain geographic location to anonymously post comments on an open forum, came to Deerfield last spring.

After some people exchanged hurtful comments on the app, the Administration discouraged its use and later shut it down.

Blake O’Neal ’15 noted, “Oftentimes, the effects of social media at Deerfield can be negative because kids really don’t know what to put [up] and where to put it, or that anything they communicate with their friends could very likely haunt them later.”

The ability to post anything without identification allowed students the opportunity to hide behind a screen and avoid responsibility for their words.

“The difference between communication on Facebook and Yik Yak is not the forum,” said Samantha Chai ’15, “but being accountable for what we say. We saw how quickly the anonymous Deerfield Compliments became inappropriate on Facebook, yet we can question each other and voice our opinions respectfully on our class pages.”

However, there are also positive outlets on campus, including the Deerfield Student Forum Facebook Page, which has accumulated 487 student members since its formation in early January.

The page serves as an open discussion board that addresses issues on campus and allows students to speak casually with one another about topics ranging from fan buses for athletic contests to the controversy of the recent drug searches using dogs in dormitories. The team’s mission statement reads, “To bring the Deerfield Academy community together through positive discussion of school issues and current events, as well as to provide a logistical platform for those interested in addressing the student body at large.”

Jared Armes ’15 and Nicky Conzelman ‘16 founded the Deerfield Student Forum. “So far,” Armes commented, “I think it has been going well, but we would really love to see more student input. We’ve had a few great posts that have generated meaningful conversation, but the more posts the better.”

Molly Murphy ’15 said, “I think that integrating social media into culture-based discussions is good. It makes it easier for students to participate, because they don’t need to take time out of their day to go to a 45-minute Greer chat. I think that projecting them over social media weakens the statements, however, because nothing can simulate the courage that a face-to-face iteration of your opinion in front of your community members takes.”

In addition, Deerfield’s literary magazine, Albany Road, recently created an Instagram account that features student work and recently held a competition for the best photography submission of those who posted Instagrams with the handle @albanyroad.

Since its induction at the beginning of the school year, the Center for Service and Global Citizenship, formerly the separate Global Studies, Community Service and Sustainability departments, has been involved in numerous projects on campus.

Director of Global Studies David Miller explained that the Center’s purpose is “to bring together three different programs that were competing for resources and student time, and connect them for efficiency while creating a more coherent and compelling narrative of what it means to be a global citizen in the 21st century.”

Mr. Miller cited the last line of Deerfield’s mission statement, to “[prepare] students for leadership in a rapidly changing world that requires global understanding environmental stewardship, and dedication to service,” as the basis of the Center’s foundation.

With this as the overarching goal, the Center has joined the three departments into one cohesive unit.

“Our focus this year has been laying the groundwork for

a more integrated vision,” Mr. Miller continued. “It is something that takes time in a school. I think that next year we will have a little bit more coordination with our calendar in terms of what the arc of the whole year looks like. We will be moving to a new space in the Library that has been designed for what we are hoping to have, and we will have a more clear vision. We have been pretty quiet this year, with the faculty on our side figuring out how to work together to reach this.”

Science teacher and codirector of the Sustainability sector Ivory Hills highlighted several projects that the Center has been working on: “There have been ‘Student-facing’ and ‘Adult-facing initiatives.’

The ‘Student-facing initiatives’ were three projects [in the Sustainability division of the Center] that have been student led projects. The first project, which came to a successful conclusion, was the repurposing of hundreds of glass vases, left in the basements of dorms from birthday and Valentine’s flowers. Students donated them to the Salvation Army. The two

other projects are titled ‘The Paper Project’ and the ‘Light Bulb Project,’ the first being an attempt to switch all paper on campus to recycled paper. The latter is an attempt to switch all light bulbs to LED bulbs given for free by the local utility company.”

According to Dr. Hills and Mr. Miller, future projects, such as field trips as well as alternative and independent studies, will also attempt to “expand learning opportunities, establish partnerships with local and international organizations and incorporate global, sustainability, inclusion and civic engagement issues in the classroom.”

Margaret McGraw ‘15, a member of the Center’s Community Service Board, reported, “With the new Center, the Community Service Board has continued its involvement in yearly projects such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Special Olympics, and Second Helpings. I am excited to see all of the great things the Board will achieve next year in collaboration with Sustainability and Global Studies.”

Deerfield’s first snow day in decades

Henry Cobbs

Snow piles up in front of the Main School Building after a winter storm.

//NINA MCGOWAN ‘16 Staff Writer

Each year, Deerfield, Massachusetts gets an average of 43 inches of snow. Despite this formidable annual snowfall, this year marked the first snow day in recent Academy history.

When Director of Security David Gendron expects a storm, he closely tracks it and consistently updates Head of School Margarita Curtis with details. Dr. Curtis explained how she approaches the situation: “I usually make the decision on how to deal with a snow storm, but always in consultation with a few members of senior staff.”

This year, three large snowstorms have already hit campus, and snow banks are growing quickly. The Daily Bulletin has posted blizzard warnings and updates twice over the past month. When another few feet of snow was predicted for after Long Winter Weekend, Dean of Students Amie Creagh announced the cancellation of school “to allow for travel in safer conditions.”

Some students and faculty speculated that Head of School Day doubled as a snow day this year, as it coincided with a blizzard. In response, Dr. Curtis commented, “I wanted the day

to be a surprise. . . I picked the date when I realized that the Patriots would play in the Super Bowl. The storm was not the determining factor, but I’m glad the day off coincided with the storm.”

Curtis also emphasized that the safety of the community is her top priority; she would consider a snow day in the case of a severe blizzard with dangerous conditions.

Ms. Creagh’s explanation for the snow day in February reflected this concern.

Along with the administration’s concerns, the Physical Plant’s hard work ensures the safety of the Deerfield campus. During the winter months, the Grounds Crew works especially hard to salt, sand and plow the snow and ice that burden campus.

In order to provide safe conditions, the Grounds Crew begins its work long before students and faculty start the day.

Manager of Grounds and Infrastructure Construction Brett Gewanter, who has worked at Deerfield since 1997, reiterated Dr. Curtis’s main concern for the community’s safety: “We usually start plowing around 4 in the morning in a sequence,” Gewanter explained.

“At 5, we start with the Dining Hall so that area is open for the Dining Hall staff. Around 6 a.m., we clean up the Physical Plant area for parking. Finally we open up the sidewalks for school to start.”

The Grounds Crew faces various challenges, such as the length and timing of the storm, as well as the fluctuating temperatures.

Jodi Tanguay, who has worked as a member of Grounds Crew since 2000, recounted the worst storm in her time at Deerfield: “The head of the grounds department had to walk from his house a mile and a half away just to get the school’s large bucket-loader, so he could clear his road and driveway in order to get his 4X4 truck with a plow to campus. [It was] 3 a.m., [with] two to three feet of snow, he has only slept for a few hours, and it was still snowing.”

Both Mr. Gewanter and Ms. Tanguay noted their appreciation for student efforts to help clean up after a storm.

Finally, Ms. Tanguay commented that students are not the only ones who dream of snow days: “For me, the hardest thing about cleaning up after a storm is not being able to just stay home and play.”

“Let the heart hold memory bright...”

This year, The Scroll has featured many illustrations, as opposed to photographs. We decided to include this photo page, so posterity can see and understand our Deerfield. Indeed, we love to look through old issues and see archived images, which connect our school’s different generations. Years from now, these images will be the ones that stick with us and invoke our memories. Also, for alumni and parents, we think these photos exemplify Deerfield today. We hope this spread and other photographs will link past, present and future community members and highlight our proud heritage.

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Photos provided by Genevieve Gresser, Chloe So, Henry Cobbs, Elizabeth Tiemann, Anna Berger, Rachel Yao, Margo Downes, Michelle Kelly and Ballard Brown.

The Deerfield Scroll – 25 February 2015

POSTING THE

Freedom of Speech

at Deerfield

//Margo Downes ‘16 Associate Editor At times, Deerfield Academy may feel like a bubble, isolated from the rest of the world and all of today’s current events.

Due to our tight-knit community and rural location, Deerfield students may occasionally forget to check the news, or not realize the gravity of a certain event when too wrapped up in a research paper or Deerfield gossip.

But some current events affect our small community. For example, the fatal shootings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner hit many students personally as they watched our country struggle with racial tensions.

More recently, the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, France, sparked controversy. Following the attack, several students posted a series of Charlie Hebdo posters on the Amnesty Board and around the Main School Building. One poster read in French, “All is forgiven” with a cartoon figure of Muhammad crying holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie.”

The conflict lies mainly with the depiction of Muhammad: the prophet

COVERS @ DA

with a provocatively-shaped head and a tear down his cheek. Some people became infuriated, believing the poster mocked the Islamic religion, the terrorists being radical Muslims. Should these types of images be displayed in a close community like Deerfield Academy? Is it morally permissible for offensive yet important messages to be on exhibition for all people to see? These types of questions floated around our community as people reacted differently to these posters.

English teacher Joel Thomas Adams said, “I think this incident brought out the best and worst in our community. There are a lot of people who fear controversy and confrontation, and there are also people who are eager to engage in issues even when it is hard. This issue was never about a cartoon. This issue was about religious fanatics who murdered people for drawing cartoons.”

He continued, “Putting up a poster is not an endorsement of Charlie Hebdo or the content of Charlie Hebdo. It is a defiant response to this murder, and it is in solidarity with its victims. It was a defiant image that we will not be silenced. One of the great sacred values

of democratic society is to speak your mind, but of course that means we are all going to be offended sometimes, since we all have different opinions.“ He believes that situations like the poster incident are key to a purposeful education. According to ThomasAdams, as Deerfield students, we should experience conflict and controversy to develop a stronger understanding of the world and our future. Our world is not perfect. We live in a place full of criticism and free speech. Obstructing certain images only undermines our experiences as well-rounded students; instead, we should embrace these images as learning tools.

In retrospect, Dean of Spiritual and Ethical Life Jan Flaska said, “The magazine covers were provocative; they were intended to be. Out of context, they’re quite shocking to people who don’t understand what kind of emotion those images of the prophet Muhammad cause for people of the Muslim faith.”

At lunch, Flaska reminded the community, “Don’t forget how frequently we put the concerns of others ahead of the freedoms to which we are entitled. ” He continued, “Deerfield provides us

a lot and we give up a lot to be here. There are freedoms provided by Deerfield Academy, and it is up to us to affirm those freedoms. It is not about the self, but about the community. Often, we must align with giving up some of our freedoms for the benefit of the community. We are not forced to be here. We chose to be part of the community’s values, to be ahead of the needs of the individual. And because we chose that, we serve as an obligation to act with respect to others.”

According to Flaska, we should not spark hate, only respectful conversation.

Although both Thomas-Adams and Flaska differed on point of view, they agreed on one point: we need to find more time for discussion about current events.

Following the controversial Charlie Hebdo incident, many members of our community have expressed interest in making change, and putting more emphasis on current events. For example, Martin Luther King Day was a success; the committee held workshops and discussions to bring the community together. In the future, we may see change in our school dynamic—as long as our community keeps working for it.

Right: The Amnesty bulletin board in the MSB covers the Charlie Hebdo incident.

LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE

//Kiana rawji ‘18 Contributing Writer

The Charlie Hebdo cartoon that was posted in the Dining Hall recently and the talk around campus has affected me on a personal level, and I know that it has also affected other Muslim students at Deerfield.

It’s one thing for Charlie Hebdo to publish a cartoon, which arose out of ignorance and hit at the very core of religious belief. But it is another thing for my own school to flaunt the same cartoon in the lobby of the Dining Hall.

Everyone knows that the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the cartoon is offensive to Muslims but not everyone may know why. The Prophet himself prohibited any portrayal of himself or of God because Islam was revealed at a time when there was wide spread practice of idolatry. In Islam, the notion of God or other sacred figures like Prophet Muhammad is beyond any depiction.

So soon after we applauded Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—a man who exercised his freedom of speech to promote the rights and protections of other human beings, peacefully—we defended Charlie Hebdo’s use of the same freedom to incite hate.

Let me be clear—I do not condone the acts of the terrorists. In fact, to me they are not Muslims: they are terrorists and that is all. These are severely deranged and cruel people who seek political gain and power through violence, and there are over a billion people who are living proof that that is not what it means to be a Muslim. So how can we defend people for exercising a right when it is detrimental to the beliefs and values of an entire religion—one that, in my perspective, does not even include the “Islamist” extremists, who are the only ones deserving of this

humiliation?

While I believe strongly in the freedom of speech, I also believe it must be balanced with responsibility and a social conscience.

As Mr. Flaska asserted at a sit-down lunch, “At Deerfield Academy. . . every single day we deny ourselves the rights to which we are entitled simply out of consideration for others in this community.” And he indicated, the fact that we do not say whatever we want, whenever we want, is what makes Deerfield such a great community.

Deerfield students are encouraged to build strong moral character through thoughtfulness, tolerance and respect. I think that the majority of students here understand that with freedom of speech comes responsibility. Just because we have the right to say things about and to others does not make it right to say those things.

In 2006, sacrilegious Danish cartoons were published that had a very similar effect on the global Muslim community as the Charlie Hebdo cartoons did.

In a speech addressing this issue, the Aga Khan explained, “Perhaps. . .it is ignorance which has allowed so many participants in this discussion to confuse liberty with license–implying that the sheer absence of restraint on human impulse can constitute a sufficient moral framework. This is not to say that governments should censor offensive speech. Nor does the answer lie in violent words or violent actions. But I am suggesting that freedom of expression is an incomplete value unless it is used honorably, and that the obligations of citizenship in any society should include a commitment to informed and responsible expression.”

DEFENSE OF POSTERS

//Josh Tebeau ‘16 Staff Writer

Recently, I posted the Charlie Hebdo cover as part of an Amnesty International campaign, in solidarity with the victims of the massacre. At Deerfield, the cover stirred controversy among some in the student body, raising the question of the relationship between free speech and individual feelings of community members who found the image offensive.

Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine, and its jokes can make us wince and shake our heads in equal measure to the truths they expose. Its cartoons often go beyond typical satire and contain elements of blasphemy or humor of the lowest common denominator. In fact, even the staunchest supporters of freedom of speech can sometimes be offended by their images.

Yet freedom of speech is at its most valuable precisely when it protects minority views (especially when those views are offensive). This is because, in protecting uncomfortable speech, freedom of speech serves as a pillar of democracy, protecting the voice of minorities as well as the voices of the unsanctioned or unpopular. It is not an accident that at some point, much of the Western literary canon has been on a banned book list somewhere. One thing that elevates all literary masterpieces is their authenticity, and in that authenticity there comes a willingness to offend.

In secular Western democracies, and among leading educational institutions, the tension between freedom of speech and community can be palpable. Yet we must remember, freedom to speak one's mind is only limited by personal views and willingness, not by public command.

This leads us to the most pertinent question of the expression of personal views and a willingness to express them:

as members of a close community, should we restrict our right to speech in recognition of the sensitivity of members of the community? The answer is twofold. A social tax accompanies whatever action or speech we decide to engage in. Therefore, we must act with an understanding of the precedents we set through either accepting overt external censorship or our own self-censorship.

If we are to restrict the posting of potentially incendiary material, where are the lines in the sand? If a person who follows vegan beliefs, and is very much part of that movement, is deeply offended anytime someone cuts into meat, what do we do to assuage their discomfort with the majority? If a person who follows atheist beliefs, and is very much part of that movement, is deeply offended anytime someone marches to religious dogma, or expresses a view based on what they consider to be superstition, what do we do to avoid offending their sensibilities?

It is easy to see, when we substitute other religious and personal ideologies for the words “vegan” or “atheist,” that we begin down a dangerous road. Whose “feelings” are to be “respected” and whose not? If we begin to discuss this, we may end with oppression from the majority.

It is through sharing the Charlie Hebdo image that we have started a dialogue. If we engage in self-censorship we lose the opportunity to ask ourselves essential questions as well as the opportunity to engage in what is a global discussion.

Our community has been enriched by the range of reactions to the image.

Most importantly, empathy and respect cannot be taught or learned in the absence of free speech, because then there are neither opportunities to see why empathy and respect are necessary nor opprotunities to learn how to act in real life with empathy and respect.

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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 8

OPINION

25 february 2015 editor-in-chief HENRY COBBS

managing editor MARGARET CHAPPELL

online editor CHARLIE UGHETTA

front page editor KATHERINE CHEN

online associate editor WILLIAM UGHETTA

opinion & editorial editor GARAM NOH

graphics associate editor RACHEL YAO

features editor GORDON XIANG arts & entertainment editor MICHELLE KELLY sports editor COLE FAULKNER video editor EMILY YUE distribution manager YONG-HUN KIM layout & graphics editor CHLOE SO

associate editors DAVID DARLING JULIA DIXON MARGO DOWNES CAROLINE FETT BROOKE HOROWITCH BELLA HUTCHINS RYAN KOLA MADDIE MOON FELIX schliemann ELIZABETH TIEMANN senior writers LUCY BALDWIN CAROLINE COPPINGER OLIVIA DAVIS Dorie Magowan EMILY MAHAN LIAM MORRIS

photography editor JISOO RYU advisors JULIANNE SCHLOAT & ADA FAN The Deerfield Scroll, established in 1925, is the official student newspaper of Deerfield Academy. The Scroll encourages informed discussion of pertinent issues that concern the Academy and the world. Signed letters to the editor that express legitimate opinions are welcomed. We hold the right to edit for brevity. The Scroll is published eight times yearly and is uncensored.

Opinion articles with contributors’ names attached represent the views of the respective writers.

Opinion articles without names represent the consensus views of the editorial staff.

tick-tock goes the deerfield clock In the thick of the winter it may seem like the school year is never going to end. Of all the students who long for the summer, as well as the freedom that comes with it, no one hopes for the warm weather and freedom more than the senior class.

This makes sense. After 4 years of high school, 33 final exams, at least 20 courses and countless homework assignments, projects and tests, it makes sense that seniors are looking to the future.

However, sometimes students can become so wrapped up in the desire to get to the end of the race, they forget to live in the present.

Already at this point in our year, seniors will have only one more term to defeat Choate or participate on a sports team, hike to the Rock, go to a Greer dance, take a trip down the river, go to the Sugar Shack, visit a teacher’s apartment for extra help or enjoy a delicious brunch in the Dining Hall. The alumni even admit to missing sit-down meals and formal class dress. As the current seniors count down every minute till the end of the year, they should take a moment to look around and savor Deerfield one last time.

On February 22, Deerfield was excited to present its first TEDx talk. The topic-appropriately so-was time. The Scroll Board commends this community event for taking on a theme that is so relevant to all our lives. It brought a valuable topic to the front of our minds and we hope that it helped all students, not just the seniors, to remember that we will not be here forever, and our moments at Deerfield are precious.

It’s rare to find a Deerfield graduate who doesn’t miss the Academy despite the occasional snowstorm and the constant subzero temperatures in the winter. In the upcoming weeks, let’s remember how little time we truly have left.

the rumor mill goes round and round Rumors frequently pervade Deerfield’s campus. Isolated from the outside world, students become preoccupied with each other’s business. Yes, gossip is a natural phenomenon, as people are eager to share stories. Recently, however, speculation and drama have undermined relationships and community spirit.

One Friday evening, a hypothetical couple X and Y exits the Greer together.

“Oh my God! Did you hear who X got with?” a witness asks a friend the next day.

That friend asks another, “Did you know X got parietals with Y? They’re together now.”

Suddenly, an uncomfortable X faces a barrage of questions and preconceived judgments. She and Y did not even kiss, but almost the entire school asks about their alleged hookup. Evidently, Deerfield students jump to often-injurious conclusions. While The Scroll recognizes the appeal of rumors as a conversation-starter, we encourage students to verify stories and evaluate consequences before spreading them.

Many resort to gossip to create drama for drama’s sake. Often bored, we capitalize on others’ shortcomings to feel good about ourselves and provoke discussion. Sometimes chatting about other people makes us feel connected. In actuality, however, we damage a close community by targeting others.

Let’s support each other with sincere, empathetic conversation.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader, This marks the final issue for the 2014-15 Scroll Board.

Firstly, I would like to thank Charlotte Allen for giving me this incredible opportunity. The challenges that I faced in this position tested my capacity for resilience and creativity and ultimately helped me to mature.

I am pleased to announce that the 2015-16 Scroll Board will be led by Editor-in-Chief Bella Hutchins and Managing Editor Brooke Horowitch. Bella, Brooke, and the rest of the 1516 editorial board have been working incredibly hard at The Scroll for the past several years.

I am confident that Bella and her team will find great success as they carry on The Scroll’s mission and further update the organization for an increasingly

technology-centric world.

I am proud of the wide range of meaningful topics we covered this past year. We shed light on many controversial issues such as the renaming of the Academy’s renovated arts building, a wealthy lifetime trustee’s influence over the school, a neighboring town’s heroin addiction problem, and racial conflict and human rights. But we also took time to pause and highlight the teachers, coaches, athletes, artists and innovators that are a crucial part of our community.

Moving forward, I encourage continued dialogue about all of the aforementioned topics. I believe that respectful debates and forums are fundamental to improving Deerfield.

We also made great strides overhauling The Scroll’s

appearance and the way in which our content is consumed.

Over the past year, I have worked with Communications and the administration to purchase newspaper racks for increased readership, to offer mail-subscriptions for parents and alumni, to refresh the look of the paper, and to expand The Scroll’s online presence through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

Thank you to Ms. Fan, Mrs. Schloat, Margaret Chappell, Katherine Chen, Garam Noh, Gordon Xiang, Michelle Kelly, Cole Faulkner, Chloe So, Jisoo Ryu and Charlie Ughetta for your loyalty and initiative. I certainly would not have been able to realize my vision for the paper without all of your enthusiasm and work.

All the best, Henry

punishment vs. consequence //KEVIN KELLY Assistant Dean of Students Since joining the Dean’s Office three years ago, I have had many conversations with students, faculty and parents surrounding the subject of discipline at Deerfield.

As expected, there is a wide range of perspectives and opinions pertaining to the topic and purpose of discipline. What struck me early on was hearing students, faculty and parents using the word “punishment” to discuss discipline issues on campus. “As a punishment you will” or “My punishment was” or “Students should be punished for”...

Let’s first agree on a few fundamental facts of school life. Every school in America, public or private, has a student handbook, and every school has someone who handles discipline issues. Deerfield is no different.

All of us would agree it would be impossible to run our school without rules and guidelines. The question is, is it really important for us to think of our disciplinary model as one of consequences and learning as opposed to one of punishment and shame?

My entire Catholic school experience from K-12 used a punitive model of disciplinary action. Sister Mary Beatrice would yank you out of your chair by your ears, whack your knuckles with a ruler, stick a bar

of soap in your mouth, or put you in a dark closet, and that was first grade! At Don Bosco High School, Brother Julius smacked kids on a regular basis.

As I watched a coach stuff my teammate into a locker one day, I just put my head down and said to myself, “Good luck, pal, see you at practice.” I look back on these days with not only a level of amusement, but also a level of disbelief.

We’ve come a long way since the 60s and 70s. Our model of consequence and restorative practices here at Deerfield is different from past models of punishment and shame.

Punishment is more in line with paying your dues, feeling bad and then moving on. The experience is best summed up in the sentiment, “I got caught doing this, so I must pay a price.” A system of consequence and restorative practices, in contrast, asks students to learn from their mistakes with the hope that they will stop, think, and reflect upon their decisionmaking in the future.

Whether it is a letter of reprimand or being expelled from school, all consequences are conceived as a result of an administrative philosophy that aims to lead students to self-reflection. We use the expression “building character” often, but building true character takes place when you are free to break a rule or do something inappropriate but

you choose not to. The growth comes from making a conscious choice, not because you are afraid of getting caught, but because you know the wrong choice is inappropriate and potentially hurtful to yourself and others. This is the mindset that is truly reflective of growth and maturity.

They say, “The truth is in the pudding,” and I can say with pride that at Deerfield our numbers do not lie: 97 percent of Deerfield students who appear in front of a D.C do so only once.

This statistic tells us that our model of consequences and restorative practices outweighs one of punishment and shame by a large margin.

As a student body, Deerfield is second to none. I have tremendous respect and admiration for every student and adult who works at this beautiful and historic school.

Making mistakes in life is human: learning and benefiting from those mistakes is a valuable gift that will hopefully last a lifetime.

B e Worthy!

Mikaela Wellner

THE HYPNOTIST, 1949

SCROLL ARCHIVES

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The Deerfield Scroll

shelton rogers talks slut-shaming //SHELTON ROGERS ‘15 Contributing Writer As a new sophomore in the Greer, I was left wondering whether I’d been dropped into some kind of sick social experiment. I’d been briefed, of course, on the basic terminology: Leaving The Greer, Clapping People Out, The Senior Table. I’d been instructed not to leave with anyone, duh, because I was new and everyone would think I was a “slut.”

That particular golden nugget of advice didn’t turn out to matter in the slightest, though; I interacted with so few guys that night (and for the rest of sophomore year) that I started to wonder whether I’d made some unforgivable prep school fashion faux pas, or if maybe brunettes were considered demons on the east coast (there was an awful lot of blonde). This was my awkward and confusing introduction to Deerfield’s infamous Gender Divide.

Given the amount of kvetching we do about Deerfield’s culture, it seems strange that no one has sat down and thoroughly analyzed our social abnormalities. My objective in doing this isn’t to assign blame or burn any teachers at the stake.

I’m also not trying to suggest that the gender divide is solely the fault of faculty and girls; I just haven’t experienced firsthand the thoughts that boys express about girls behind closed doors. Because I’m not a part of that culture, I don’t feel qualified to write about it. I just want to use my thoughts and experiences as a Deerfield girl to try to take a chip out of the enigmatic barrier that separates the sexes.

This task began as a protest against a completely inappropriate comment made to me by a faculty member. I’d heard some pretty outrageous stories of “slut-shaming” (shaming girls for keeping male company of any kind) by adults from my female classmates and I’d weathered several unpleasant run-ins of my own with Security. But receiving this treatment from a member of the faculty was the last straw.

It was a dark and stormy night on the Deerfield tundra. Boy X and I passed through the Athletic Center to avoid the subfreezing temperatures outside.

My phone started protesting as soon as we walked out of the Greer. “……????” inquired one text.

“Um, what?” prodded another.

Luckily, we were able to check into parietals without running into any more of my friends in the dorm, managing to avoid further scrutiny. “Uhhh…Shel?” someone asked through the door. “Who is that? Who’s in there with you? There’s a shoe in the door! Hello? Who’s there?”

We made it out of parietals still undetected.

When I returned to sign in for curfew, no one besides the faculty member on duty and my concerned, interrupting neighbor knew I’d gotten parietals that night. One of the texters yelled across the common room, “Are you guys together?” Heads swiveled and eyes focused on me, studying, sizing up.

“No,” I told my shoelaces.

The faculty member looked up from his clipboard, smirking. “Just for the night,” he announced to the entire room, igniting a wave of laughter.

In the moment, I was too shocked to conjure up any

kind of reaction. Later, I fumed alone in my room, exposed and humiliated by a faculty member whom I barely knew. I replayed the encounter over and over in my head. I felt powerless to confront him, but I had to do something. So I reached out to the senior girls, asking for their stories.

One night, Melanie Graciani and two of her friends decided to hang out in group parietals.

When they arrived at the boys’ dorm, however, they were thrown for a loop. “The teacher on duty had the nerve to ask, ‘Who does she belong to, exactly?’” Melanie recounts. “Why do I have to belong to someone? We asked for group parietals for a reason.

Not everyone who gets parietals is in a relationship or hooking up.”

Melanie felt degraded and humiliated (and rightfully so). A teacher, an adult who

“slut-shames” a student, that student feels unable to address him or her directly about it.

As a result, the adult faces no repercussions. In all likelihood, said faculty member probably never even realizes the effect that his or her words had on the student.

A common complaint among the girls I spoke to was that school rules and the personal beliefs of individual faculty members make it extremely difficult to have normal, healthy relationships at Deerfield.

Parietals are considered not a right but a privilege, one that can be adjusted or revoked at any time and for any reason.

“Some teachers find cuddling too intimate,” said Madi Lyford, who has noticed in her own relationships that time spent with a significant other off campus is far more enjoyable than time oncampus. “I have a friend who was

over students. As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Students will likely not feel comfortable letting teachers know when they’ve overstepped, so it’s up to teachers to be aware of the impact of their comments.

A more insidious source of “slut-shaming” and, by extension, the gender divide, is the selfimposed female social hierarchy at Deerfield. A Deerfield girl’s value among other girls is too often determined not by who she is but by how she’s perceived by boys. She is frequently judged by her peers based on superficial traits such as her looks, clothes, socioeconomic status, and the (often resulting) level of interest boys take in her.

Essentially, she’s

Tia Jonsson

is supposed to help students like Melanie learn, grow and feel empowered, implied that her company was only good for one reason: hooking up with one of the boys. He referred to Melanie as a possession and didn’t even address her directly.

This interaction turned a fun, casual night of friends hanging out into a distinctly unpleasant experience. But, like me, Melanie didn’t feel as if confronting the teacher was an option. “I just brushed it off,” she explained. “I figured he was joking. But the joke made me uncomfortable, and my friends too.”

This fear of confrontation is a thread that runs through all the stories I’ve received from the girls in my class. A member of the faculty is, by definition, in a position of power over a student, especially if the student happens to be in that teacher’s class. When it is also taken into account that this is an older, professional adult talking to a teenager, that power is amplified. The result is that when a faculty member

told to leave parietals because she and her boyfriend were cuddling when a teacher walked in. Their hands were even visible!”

How are guys and girls supposed to interact normally when something as harmless as cuddling is hypersexualized? No one seems to have a problem with students cuddling with dogs or friends of the same sex. Yet if a teacher finds a girl cuddling with a guy, she is liable to be kicked out of the dorm for her scandalous antics. It’s no wonder we have a gender divide; Melanie, Madi’s friend and I all faced shame and humiliation for attempting to carry on normal friendships and relationships with members of the opposite sex.

I don’t believe that any faculty member would deliberately objectify a girl. However, I think that it’s important for any teachers reading this to remember that adults at Deerfield wield a tremendous amount of power and influence

evaluated as the sum of the guys she’s hooked up with. “For us, any hookup can improve or worsen our reputation,” one veteran of the system sums it up.

Because of this phenomenon, many girls only give their attention to boys who they consider to be level with or above them socially, which contributes to our gender divide by decimating potential boygirl friendships and creating resentment between the sexes.

It’s this cultural quirk that causes guys to perceive certain girls as thinking they’re better than everyone else. In reality, I think the girls who are most unwilling to interact with boys they consider “uncool” are actually the ones that are most insecure and therefore most desperately seek the admiration of other girls.

And what about the girls who don’t get with guys? When we base so much of each other’s social value on the opinions of

25 February 2015 boys, these girls are “othered.”

A brilliant, creative and talented senior girl shared with me, “People talk about how Susie has hooked up with X, Y, and Z over the last three months, while Betty sits there and wonders if anyone will EVER want to hook up with her, which makes her feel insignificant, not pretty, lonely, etc.”

Are girls really marginalizing each other because they don’t hook up? And then calling each other sluts if they hook up with too many people? And in using sex to determine social status, we also push some girls to the other extreme of hooking up for attention. To some, it’s better to be notorious than a nobody.

And then there’s the player vs. slut predicament. “When a guy gets with a lot of girls, he’s often congratulated or praised,” Amelia Sawyers observed. “But a double standard occurs when girls are called sluts for getting with a lot of guys.” And males aren’t even the primary culprits; we females viciously perpetuate this double standard. Why do we hold our female classmates to a stricter standard than we expect from the boys?

Here’s my theory as to the psychology behind this: as a group, girls feel enormous pressure to adhere to social rules. When one girl breaks away and chooses to entirely disregard that pressure, she is dangerous to the group as a whole. We feel the need to gossip about her and shun her because if her behavior goes unpunished, our world will be turned upside down.

Imagine a world in which girls encourage each other to openly pursue whomever they want, whenever they want, simply because that’s what they want. Suddenly, all the years you spent being perfect are rendered completely pointless.

That stellar reputation you built was a waste of time. That sweet and slightly nerdy guy from class? You know, the one you never talked to because, even though you harbored a secret thing for him, he wasn’t cool enough for you to be associated with? Yeah, now you realize that you missed out on getting to know someone really great for no reason at all. Because in this strange hypothetical world, girls don’t tear each other apart for the choices they make in their private lives.

Yes, ladies, our cage is safe. It’s familiar. We’ve spent our lives exploring it and memorizing it, and maybe sometimes nudging at the bars. And after living inside of it for as long as we have, freedom looks pretty scary.

But when it comes down to it, we are our own imprisoners.

No one person has the power to transform a culture overnight: no matter the choices you make today, tomorrow will still hold a couple of bigots. But each of us has the ability to take control of our own actions.

Each of us can improve the position of girls at Deerfield and take a stab at the gender divide by simply deciding not to value each other based on the boys we let near us. Instead of viewing boys as social capital, we can choose to see them as people.

After all, Sweet Nerdy Guy has a dad who played catch with him and a mom who packed his Spiderman lunchbox. I’m sure they would argue that their life’s work deserves to be seen as the multidimensional human being that he is.

5

The Deerfield Scroll

FEATURES

25 February 2015

Deerfield Foods extends its reach //Bella Hutchins ‘16 Associate Editor Dear Margo, Rita & Curtis, My parents said I am going to have to take the charter bus back home for spring break. Is it as bad as everyone says?

Sincerely, Bus Distrust Dearest Distrust, Seeing as I am a veteran charter bus rider, you’ve come to the right place. The charter buses and I aren’t on very good terms right now, largely because they are the sole reason I came back to school the day I was supposed to after Long Winter Weekend, while everyone else enjoyed the snow day at home.

Forty minutes into the three-hour ride back to school, we found out we didn’t have classes the next day. I had a momentary urge to scream, “Turn around!!!!,” but I suppressed it—and here I am sitting in my room on my empty hall.

This story tells you two things: one, that the charter buses are annoyingly dependable and almost never get canceled; and two, that my parents put me on a bus without seatbelts in a snowstorm and therefore don’t love me.

But to answer your question, the charter buses are fine as long as you know how to handle them. Here are some of the things I have learned over the years. . .

There are three types of kids at Deerfield: 1. The first type is the kids whose parents drive them back and forth to Deerfield always. They have never seen a charter bus, never entered a charter bus and never will. You can identify these kids because they are also the ones whose parents send them care packages every week “just because,” and you’d better believe they’ll get roses from their father on Valentine’s Day. This is the gold standard, and this is what you should strive for.

2. Not everyone can be a gold-standard child. In all honesty, gold standard is really for the only children of the worldwhich I am not—and if your parents are putting you on a charter bus, neither are you. The second type of Deerfield kid, however, is perfectly acceptable as well.

This is the child whose parents put them on a charter bus only occasionally. Get a seat to yourself, put on your Beats by Dre, and you’ll be fine.

3. The third type of Deerfield studenta category into which I unfortunately fallis the category I fondly refer to as “the orphans.” The orphans are the kids who always take the charter bus. . . always. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, driving children to school seems laughable to the orphans’ parents. DO NOT allow yourself to fall into this category. Charter buses are great (I’m required to say this, but really they are[n’t]!), but you don’t want to find yourself taking them every time.

You are in danger of becoming an orphan if your parents have ever said one of the following things: “When I was your age, I had to hike up a hill in the freezing rain to get to school after my 10-mile paper route, which was also uphill, don’t complain!”

“I tried to sign you up for steerage but coach was the lowest class they had available.”

If your parents are big proponents of trains—the adult world’s version of charter buses—you are also in peril.

You’ve been warned.

Much love, Margo, Rita & Curtis

Welcome, oliver eco nilsson!

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Nilsson on the birth of their son on 1.24.15.

Correction: Last issue, Lucy Baldwin, not Winston Rossetter, wrote “Ellie and Judie: Dynamic Duo.” We regret the misattribution.

6

Last spring, Conor Kennedy ’14 introduced a non-profit organization called Deerfield Foods. This year, the student-run, non-profit business has expanded, and its presence is growing on campus and around Franklin County.

The organization seeks to fight food insecurity in Franklin County by providing affordable boxed foods to families. Each box contains 19 pounds of food and is sold at 50 percent off supermarket prices. Once a month, Deerfield Foods staff members deliver the boxes to the Center for Self-Reliance Food Pantry in Greenfield, where area families can pick them up. Each box also includes recipes that are specially designed to require little time to learn and complete.

One phone call with a woman who had received such a box particularly resonated with Kennedy. He explained that this woman had been an “upwardly mobile, hard-working mom with a graduate-level education,” but after becoming disabled, was constantly worried. After she found Deerfield Foods, she told Kennedy and the rest of the staff, “I will worry a whole lot less as I order from you today.”

In starting Deerfield Foods, Kennedy wanted to “start a business that does good.” He wanted to make a difference

Provided by Olivia Pivirotto and Gordon Xiang

without using the traditional tactics involved in non-profit work, such as fundraising and bake sales.

“Looking at a spreadsheet and seeing that we made 100 families happier and healthier,” he said, “felt a lot better than saying I had raised awareness.”

Because Deerfield Foods is entirely student-run, the staff members “are all ultimately responsible for making Deerfield Foods succeed or fail,” new head of the organization Gordon Xiang ’15 explained. “I think it’s this idea that empowers us to make it better.”

This year, the Deerfield Foods staff has made many improvements and changes in the organization, such as streamlining

the packaging process, reforming the order-taking/calling process, diversifying the box contents, adding a vegetarian box, and opening a business-checking account.

Some goals that Deerfield Foods is working to accomplish include establishing a new host site, getting The Greenfield Recorder to write an article about the organization, and making a public radio announcement.

As Deerfield Foods continues to expand, Xiang hopes that it “becomes an organization that ultimately transcends grades at Deerfield so that it can continue to grow, fight food insecurity, and provide a great learning opportunity for Deerfield Students.”

Famous ancestors //Brooke Horowitch ‘16 Associate Editor South Carolina politician John C. Calhoun and General Joseph Hooker played critical roles in 19th-century America. In addition, both are Deerfield community members’ distant uncles.

Science teacher Rich Calhoun and Serena Ainslie ’16 reflected on their ancestors’ work.

Born in 1782, John Caldwell Calhoun long served as a South Carolina senator.

Over the course of his career, he became increasingly preoccupied with states’ rights and maintaining slavery.

Calhoun served as vice president from 1824 to 1832, under both James Monroe and Andrew Jackson. His extreme views and dissenting actions isolated him in the White House.

Notably, in 1828, he composed the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, which asserted states’ rights to veto or nullify federal laws and paved the way for future secessionist arguments. Mr. Calhoun noted that John Calhoun’s work “shaped modern conservative thought.”

Mr. Calhoun commented, “John C. defended slavery, even at the cost of breaking the U.S., which I strongly disagree with.”

One trait did endure across

generations, however. Mr. Calhoun added, “John C. was a great orator, and ranting is a family characteristic.” He then quipped, “As the Deerfield Young Republicans’ advisor, I am very proud of John C.’s work, but when I lead the Young Democrats, I am ashamed.”

Rachel Yao

Joseph Hooker, born in 1814, fought during the Seminole and MexicanAmerican Wars after graduating from West Point. He is best known for serving as a major general during the Civil War. He commanded units under George McClellan, rallying the Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Williamsburg and Seven Days Battles.

Simultaneously, however, he drank, gambled, and even popularized the term

“hooker.”

Ainslie elucidated, “Even though Hooker was a great soldier, he did have a ‘dark side.’ He was known for having prostitutes at his parties; and when he and his men would conquer southern towns, the southern belles would follow him and his men from one camp to another. Apparently, the term ‘hooker’ had already been created because prostitutes would hang out around ports, where fish were ‘hooked,’ but Hooker was the one who made the term popular.”

In January 1863, President Lincoln promoted Hooker to Army of the Potomac Commander. Appreciated by his subordinates, the general developed medical aid systems, rations, and furlough lengths. He also established an amnesty policy for deserters. But after a stunning defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Hooker resigned, then assisted in the Western theater and Atlanta campaigns.

Ainslie remarked upon her great, great, great uncle’s career, “Hooker played a crucial role in American history because of his contributions to the Army of the Potomac. He improved the medical care and food supply. He didn’t just win battles, but he helped to improve the lives of soldiers who were fighting for a worthy cause. Hooker also led Lincoln’s funeral procession.”

Dr. c: Aikido aficionado

//Elizabeth Tiemann ‘16 Associate Editor

We have a practicing Aikido ni dan, which translates to second-degree black belt, on campus—Dr. Dennis Cullinane.

Aikido is a type of Japanese martial art.

“I love Aikido because of its philosophy, raw power, and beauty. In Aikido we try to bring the world into harmony,” Dr. Cullinane described.

Dr. Cullinane’s first brush with the martial art occurred in graduate school.

He reminisced, “My first real sensei was a tiny little Japanese woman who was amazing and could take on five attackers at a time. That was 23 years ago. I have studied with a number of senseis since then, including a direct student of the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.”

While practicing, Dr. Cullinane has broken parts of his ribs twice. When asked if these injuries occurred during a competition, he replied, “We don’t compete. We do real-life scenarios with bare hands, knives, swords, or sticks. It can be very kinetic.”

Perhaps hinting at how he sustained his injuries, Dr. Cullinane enthusiastically shared that his favorite attacks and

techniques are “being attacked by a sword or baseball bat, or having multiple attackers.”

Addressing his use of weapons in Aikido, Dr. Cullinane said, “I have a katana, or Japanese sword, and lots of wooden weapons, like bokkens (wooden swords), tantos (wooden knives), and the jo, which is a shaft-like weapon about the length of a broomstick. I’ve been in one bar fight in my life and used Aikido then, b u t with bare hands.”

As a form of physical martial art, Aikido is idiosyncratic. Dr. Cullinane explained, “Aikido emphasizes no offensive techniques, but uses the attackers’ energy and momentum against them by redirecting their attack to a harmonious c o n c l u s i o n — u s u a l ly meaning the attacker is on the ground and pinned with a joint lock.”

When asked about the possibility of Aikido spreading on campus Gwyneth students, Dr. Hochhausler among

Cullinane responded, “I would love for it to be! If people are interested, I’m onboard giving lessons. The great thing about Aikido is that you don’t have to be big and strong. You can be tiny like my old sensei and yet still very effective.”

Even if the art does not take hold on campus, we can learn from Aikido in a more abstract sense. Dr. Cullinane concluded, “[Aikido] can be extended into our daily lives by welcoming and harmonizing with the energy of the universe, rather than fighting against it.”

THE GOGUENS CREATE JOYRIDE

Katherine Goguen is working with her brother Terry to create an app called JoyRide, designed to minimize texting and driving incidents by locking users’ phones. The app will provide a reward for each mile traveled without phone usage in order to create healthy habits. Read more online by scanning this QR Code.

The Deerfield Scroll – 25 February 2015

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Deerfield Theater Picks up [ms.] speed

Deerfield’s secret art scene

//Lucy Binswanger ‘17 Staff Writer

and controlled is something that they don’t normally get to do.”

Last year, she worked at Wellesley High School New Teaching Fellow Katie and directed the freshmanSpeed is not only teaching sophomore production called acting, but also directing the Museum, an ensemble show in spring production. which all of the actors play many “As soon as I was finished different characters. touring Deerfield, I knew I Ms. Speed is also performing could see myself working here,” in I Love You, You’re Perfect, reflected Ms. Speed. “While Now Change, which moves interacting through the with the cycle of adult students, life in terms I noticed of dating, immediately falling in love, how kind and marriage, helpful they and possibly were. It was d i v o r c e nice to see and death. students (Show dates: so eager to February learn and 13-March 1) loving [of] In addition, their school.” she may work In Katie Speed engages with students in on Radio addition to Show with her Acting II class. teaching an one of her Acting II class and fulfilling her old classmates from Emerson duties as a dorm resident, Ms. College. Speed would play the Speed is also working toward female protagonist, a resident University of Pennsylvania’s physicist at MIT working on a Master’s of Science in Teaching. time machine that accidentally She also has an M.A. in Applied takes her back in time onto a Theater and a bachelor’s in German war ship.

Theater Education with an Acting When questioned on her next Concentration from Emerson project, the spring term show, College. The idea of applied Ms. Speed said, “Generally we theater is based on performing like to use the spring term to drama in a non-theater setting. have a larger cast and have Her applied theater program students play multiple roles. It’s focused mostly on education an interesting opportunity in and working with communities theater to be able to transform on the “fringes of society,” yourself so distinctly on stage including inmates in prisons and without completely changing people with mental disabilities. the way you look. I’m very “The thing that is so great excited to direct. Teaching all about theater,” said Speed, “is the these kids who can’t wait to power it has to help people work show what they’ve done is an through things. Giving them a amazing opportunity.” voice and a chance to express themselves in a way that is safe

Phillip Chung

The Fire This Time, curated by Angel Abreu ‘92, will close on February 27.

//Maggie Yin ‘16 Staff Writer

“Did you even know where the old art gallery was?” Art History teacher and Gallery Curator Lydia Hemphill asked. A large number of students, both then and now, would reply, “No.” When the Charles P. Russell Gallery in the old Memorial Building basement, Ms. Hemphill said that during openings “people would often swing by the hallway and grab some cheese and crackers and not come into the gallery.”

The new von Auersperg Gallery sits visibly in the west end of the Hess Center, its glass walls allowing even the people outside to catch a glimpse of the art on display.

“I’m excited that people are aware of the gallery, have been there, know where it is, walked by it and are interested to see what’s in there next,” Ms. Hemphill said.

Although The Fire This Time was an immensely successful exhibition this year, attracting Deerfield’s attention and sparking dialogue related to MLK Day, many students don’t know about Deerfield’s own art collection, some of which was displayed in the gallery earlier.

Named the Charles P. Russell Collection, it was given to Deerfield in 1960 by the Russell sisters, who lived in Greenfield.

Since they collected for their own homes, the collection included smaller pieces. Thus, many pieces were brought into the Manse, which now holds the works of some notable artists including Childe Hassam, an American Impressionist painter; and Robert Henri, leading figure of the Ashcan School of American realism.

The rest of the Russell Collection consists mainly of portraits, including famous artist John Singleton Copley.

“They’re not amazing examples of the famous artists’ works,” Ms. Hemphill admitted.

“They’re very nice, but it’s not artwork that says ‘let’s have an exhibit of portraits every year.’”

Deerfield occasionally has lent its artwork to institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in Spain for particular exhibitions. Currently the rest of the collection is stored in an alarmed space under the Blackbox Theatre.

Ms. Hemphill said that the next shows in the gallery will be a contemporary tapestry exhibit,

followed by an exhibition of both current and former Deerfield art teachers’ works.

In the spring of 2016, Deerfield will host an invitational show for peer schools on the theme of “unconventional beauty,” featuring both student and professional work, organized by visual arts teacher Tim Trelease.

With the tremendous improvements in both visibility and awareness of the art gallery, the goal now is to have as much integration with Deerfield as possible.

Ms. Hemphill said, “The pressure is on—in a really good way—to design and have shows that really draw students’ attention.”

She continued, “You can’t get obsessive about it, though, because it takes a lot of work to integrate. But if we can have one big show a year that has a real community educational tiein, and then other interesting shows throughout the year, it’s really exciting.”

Kento3

tomas milmo ‘15 works his “magic”

his Rubik’s Cubes from Rubik’s Official website, where he signed a form stating that he was an official Rubik’s Artist.

As of now, Yamamoto has designed eight of pieces.

His inspiration for “Rubik’s Cubism” is the famous Pete Fecteau, who created an MLK tribute mural that used to hold the Guinness World Record.

Maddie Blake Having Skyped with Fecteau twice, Recently, Kento Yamamoto ‘16 has been exploring a new Yamamoto exclaimed, “He’s art form known as Rubik’s Cube been a great mentor for me.”

Since Yamamoto’s first art. These modern pieces entail twisting Rubik’s Cubes into mosaic, he has come a long way.

He recently made a deal with a elaborate works of art.

Yamamoto currently has music school, which asked him one of his projects displayed to create a mosaic of a famous in the Hess Center. The mosaic musician. After much thought, features Frank Boyden, he decided upon Beethoven. As Deerfield’s most famous this is his first commissioned work, he is very excited. headmaster.

The Beethoven piece is the Describing this distinctive piece, Yamamoto said, “I decided first of a four—part Rubik’s to choose Boyden, because I Cube series on people who have wanted people who saw the changed the world, including piece at Deerfield to remember Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Barak how important it is to cherish Obama.

“I want to continue making your time here, since it goes by pieces on people that have so quickly.”

Yamamoto has always been made an impact on the world," fascinated by Rubik’s Cubes; explained Yamamoto, Yamamoto has recently therefore, when required to make a project inspired by an finished editing his website, Asian art form using a modern colorubiks.com, which includes medium for his Asia in World photos of his unique artwork. He History class freshman year, he encourages everyone to check decided to produce a Rubik’s it out.

Cube mosaic. He purchased

and they did it.”

Milmo got a chance to record the vocals during the final days of the process. A vocal coach At School Meeting a few was brought in, and they spent weeks ago, the Deerfield hours recording different community heard Tomás Milmo parts of each song. Then a ’15 perform “Magic,” an original technician synthesized the song from his upcoming album. best vocals with the recorded Milmo started playing instrumentals. classical piano at age six. He had “And then the best part was a teacher for as long as he lived at the end,” Milmo said, “when in Mexico, but when he moved everything was in, and to Vail at age I would just sit at the 13, he went microphone and try to further with come up with little ad his music. libs or voice licks that “When I would sound good.” moved to Vail, Milmo recorded I didn’t have a total of five original a teacher songs: “Magic,” “Your anymore, but Song,” “Polli,” “Gimme I had a piano, Love” and “I Won’t and a lot of Stop,” all of which are free time. So on his SoundCloud.

I started to When asked why c o m p o s e ,” he loves music, Milmo Milmo said. reflected, “I think I But before love music because coming to it’s a getaway. Not Deerfield, he necessarily from felt. a lot of people, but for the his music was Elliot Gillbert mind. It’s meditative.” incomplete: Milmo hopes to “I never really Tomas tickles the ivories while practicing his pursue music over the had anything new hit single, “Magic.” course of his life. This tangible, like coming summer, he’s a finished song—it was always just ideas, what he wanted him to do for going to record another five each song. Then they went songs with his production team, melodies that I thought of.”

And then he met performing through the same process with and next year he will continue to a drummer, some string players work on his music as a student arts teacher John Van Eps. at New York University.

As a new junior, Milmo took Mr. and background singers.

Milmo explained, “I got a Van Eps’s class, Fundamentals of Music Theory. Milmo started chance to make decisions. I told to show Mr. Van Eps his work, the musicians what I wanted,

//winston rossetter ‘17 Staff Writer

//Caroline Fett ‘16 Associate Editor

and the latter took an interest.

Mr. Van Eps was key in Milmo’s development as a musician. Mr. Van Eps helped set him up with a producer, and this summer, Milmo spent three weeks in New York City working with a production team.

The first thing the team did was to bring a guitar player into the studio. He and Milmo sat together, and Milmo explained

7

The Deerfield Scroll - 25 February 2015

SPORTS

Spring Sports Preview

are Specialized Coaches an advantage?

//DANE SCOTT ‘16 Staff Writer

Although campus is currently deep in New England’s bitter winter, the majority of Deerfield’s varsity teams have something warmer to look forward to—preseason trips to the sunshine state as they rev up for their challenging seasons ahead.

Coming off last season, when girls crew won Nationals, captain Victoria Castellano–Wood ‘16 is filled with optimism for spring a n d the upcoming trip to Jacksonville: “Girls crew has never gone before—we normally go to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.”

“Coach Washburn came from Princeton,” said varsity rower Lucas Tupinamba ‘16, “and he knows what he’s doing.’

“He’s been giving us weekly workouts, and the guys that have exemptions are going hard every day—we’re just getting fitter and fitter. I feel like as soon as spring starts we’ll be on top of our game, probably more prepared than we were last season. We’re looking good.”

Boys lacrosse will be attending IMG Academy for preseason—a “strictly sports academy” with a $10 million lighted lacrosse stadium as well as dozens of other state–of–the–art facilities for its attendees.

“We won the New England Championship last year—returning to that level is obviously our goal,” said Emerson Logie ‘16, optimistically. ‘In addition to returners, we also have some really good new guys.”

Meanwhile, girls lacrosse is going to a camp in Orlando. Caroline Fett ‘16 reported how the team is preparing: “There are a few girls on the team who did exemptions this winter to prepare for the season, and a lot of girls I know

have done tournaments throughout the fall.”

Additionally, Fitness Center Manager Emma Mitchell will be running agility workouts for the grils leading up to spring break.

“It’s expected that you’ll show up to preseason in shape,” Fett emphasized.

Dana Marrocco ‘15 is also hopeful about the baseball season: “We should h a v e a good all—around team.”

Chad Cramer ‘16 took a baseball exemption this term and is very positive: “I am looking forward to this upcoming season, especially because we have a great new coach in Ryan Tatreau.”

The team will Rachel Yao also be starting off with a preseason trip to Fort Pierce, Florida.

Softball coach Rebecca Sherburne is anticipating a strong team: “We have several pitchers coming back and they showed a lot of promise last year, which will always help keep us in the game. We got a couple of new players as well, so I’m excited about their talent. And we also have three players who are spending the winter training, and we’ve never had that before, so there’s more commitment than there has been.”

Softball is “taking this year off” from Florida. While Coach Sherburne has doubts about how necessary such trips are, she does believe that they help “because anytime you have an extra week of practice it is useful,” not to mention “great for team bonding.”

DEERFIELD ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION //LIAM MORRIS ‘15 Senior Writer

Lucy Baldwin Founder Charlie Carpenter ’16 (center) with the association board

GO TO DEERFIELD.EDU/SCROLL TO READ THE ARTICLE.

Rachel Yao

//RYAN KOLA ‘16 Associate Editor A study produced by the Athletic Administration is providing important information about the high-profile, mainstream varsity sports among 10 chosen prep schools. In particular, it emphasizes how certain varsity teams might be supported to meet the increased competition among prep schools. The boys and girls teams studied include soccer, football, field hockey, ice hockey, basketball and lacrosse.

According to the study, Deerfield, St. Paul’s, and Lawrenceville are the top three schools with the most head varsity coaches who teach, with eight of the ten coaches being part-time teachers.

While Deerfield is starting to slip in terms of competitive performance, Athletic Director Charles “Chip” Davis emphasizes the importance of the education of young people, particularly that all sports, irrespective of level, should be a positive learning experience for both the player and the coach: the Deerfield mission.

Mr. Davis explained, “Deerfield has always subscribed to the triple-threat model. The first skill set being sought after when hiring faculty members is the teaching or administrative skill; second, coaching; and third, whether the person can play a residential role, full-time or as an associate.”

It is notable that Deerfield is very successful in sports not included in the study, like water polo, skiing, golf, and crew which don’t use outside coaching. At the head coaching level, the only teams with outside coaches at Deerfield are diving, skiing and baseball.

Justin Xiang ’16, a varsity swimmer, pointed out, “While many students think of Deerfield teams as [always having] the teacher-coach model, I think outside trainers can be useful for a team’s performance. There is no harm in having extra experience.”

Varsity hockey player Andrew Hadley ’16 responded, “I won’t say I have less respect for outside trainers, but they don’t seem as connected and involved in the program. A coach who also teaches here would care more about each individual player on a level more than just the person’s athletic abilities and more than just the overall record.”

Mr. Davis explains that records are not wholly the result of faculty coaching experience. Records depend on time coaches can give, as well as Deerfield’s ability to attract talented student athletes. Correspondingly, success rates are natural outcomes based on applicants and the student body at the time. However, the study also indicated that many of the successful seasons various schools enjoyed invovled the help of outside coaches.

“Other schools are perhaps more inclined to hire coaches strategically, either as outside specialists, or as a ‘first threat,’” Mr. Davis said. “DA pursues this strategy very infrequently.”

Despite other schools’ statistics, the Athletic Department is choosing not to depend fully on outside coaches.

While other schools that do prioritize sports experience good seasons, the Athletic Department believes that there are limits in trying to improve many sports at once. Based on a wellrounded student and faculty body, the Deerfield mission tries to balance the competitive edge in sports with the Deerfield triple-threat tradition.

Under the Lights: Friday Night paddle Tennis //KATHERINE HEANEY ‘16 Staff Writer This winter, Danny Finnegan ’17 introduced Deerfield to the joy of paddle tennis. The Friday Night Paddle League has put the two courts near the Lower Levels to more frequent use.

While talking with faculty and friends about how Deerfield weekends could be more exciting, Finnegan presented the idea of paddle tennis. Curious to see if anyone else shared his passion, he sent an email to the school to see how many people would be interested. Within the next few days he received more than 50 emails from students eager to play.

Paddle tennis was adapted from tennis and is played on a smaller court inside a cage.

Unlike tennis, paddle tennis is played with a solid “paddle” instead of a strung racquet

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The league has attracted and uses depressurized balls signed up because I used made for frigid weather. to play at home and I didn’t a range of students from Originating in New England, realize until Danny started those with previous paddle paddle tennis uses the same the league that so many other experience to those who scoring system and logistics people played as well. I was want to try it for the first as tennis with one twist: if so happy when he sent out time. After various skill-level a ball is hit hard enough to that email because I realized teams were created, each team received seeds bounce once in the for the tournament, court and then off which was scheduled the back “chicken for the following wire,” a player can weekend.

After the return the ball before seeds were announced, it hits the ground for the paddle leaguers a second time. This began the tournament adds another element with the round of 32. of finesse and skill to These matches will an already fast-paced continue until the and reaction-based Hae June Lee winner is announced on game. the final Friday of the The first Friday Paddle tennis players meet under the lights. tournament. night started with The league provides about 25 students who how many other people play partnered up to just hit or want to learn, even though students with an opportunity around. before this the courts were to try something different every Friday night and is open Molly Murphy ’15 said, “I barely used!” to anyone.

C.J. York ’15 said, “I used to play a lot when I was younger but hadn’t played much in the last couple years, so I was really excited to get back into it. It’s a ton of fun to be able to play a casual match with friends on Friday, when not much is going on at school, and it’s nice to be able to get outside during a time of year where you’re spending so much time indoors.”

Finnegan and other players hope to have a buy-in for tournaments in the future. The winners of the contest would receive a prize, ranging from a new racquet to customized apparel.

When asked if he plans to continue this league, Finnegan said, “I think this Paddle Tennis League will finish strong this winter and will continue to be a success in future winters.”