DEERFIELD Magazine Winter 2015 by Deerfield Academy

DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

T H E E X P E R I M E N T O RY / 6 ยกCUESTIร NENLO TOD O! / 18 THE WRITE LIFE / 30

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As one half of the “timing team” for Deerfield swimming and diving, I have a perfect perch from which to see the action unfold. Unfortunately, I know nothing about swimming or diving—indeed, I can barely stay afloat myself. But I can tell you one thing for certain: Matt Hrabchak is a fish. And from what I can tell, he comes from a long line of ichthyosapiens. At a meet a couple weeks ago, word was traveling around the deck that Matt (who usually swims the longer races like the 200m or 500m freestyle) was going to swim in every individual event. Just for fun. To see how it would go. Matt is widely known as affable, kind, and considerate. His actions here were not fueled by hubris, but rather by an inner desire. He was curious. And it’s understandable: fish gotta swim. But this story isn’t about Matt. It’s about Hugo. Hugo is a swimmer. He has the perfect V body-style of aquatic athleticism—and a tan so even-toned that one can only assume that his dorm room lacks a ceiling. To say that Hugo has presence is an understatement, rather, when he enters the room he doesn’t just occupy space, he provides a centerpiece. He’s like a flag on a hill. He’s a tall landmark of a person. Hugo swims the 100m and 200m freestyle—and he’s fast in the water, nearly always winning his races.

David Thiel

Fish Gotta Swim . . . Matt had finished four out of eight events in the pool, winning some and coming in a close second in others. Onlookers were amazed and unsurprised at the same time. Still, eight races is a tall order— quadruple Matt’s usual workload—and we all began to imagine that he was starting to tire. It was time for the 100m freestyle, Hugo’s event. Climbing out of the pool, exhausted from the race, Hugo looked up at the race results—the times—and saw that Matt had bested him by a fraction of a second. One can imagine all sorts of emotions going through Hugo’s mind, but what I saw left little doubt at what he was feeling. “Are you kidding me?!!” Hugo said, a little loud, as he pushed himself up to stand. But Hugo wasn’t angry. He was impressed—and proud. He walked up to Matt and shook his hand—Matt’s face showing a shadow of concern, which blossomed into delight at Hugo’s outreach. Apparently, for a swimmer, being beaten by a fish isn’t so bad. The real victory, of course, happened on the deck. It wasn’t about the race. The real victory was in the humanity and character—the shared sense that each boy—man, really—was lifting the other to a new level. It was a perfect Deerfield moment. //

—David Thiel ’91

| VOLUME 72, NUMBER 2

D E PA R T M E N T S

Albany Road

COMMENTS /

The Common Room

First Person: Allie Chesky ’14

Word Search

In Memoriam

Managing Editor Jessica Day Multimedia Specialist JR Delaney eCommunications Specialist Danaë DiNicola Art Director Brent M. Hale Archivist Anne Lozier

I was so very impressed with the content, layout, new features and diversity in the new Deerﬁeld Magazine, I was compelled to write. Awesome. I am so proud! Paula Edgar ’95 Brooklyn, New York

#TBTdeer JOIN US FOR

eerfield D y a d s r u h T k c a Throwb c from your time

Editorial Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu

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Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright © The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

Headmaster Frank Boyden inspired me with the title (of my book, Finish Up Strong, see page 44). Recently, I heard my youngest son, Paul, at age 43 tell his Uncle Paul, for whom he is named, that he has passed that message on to his boys. Jim Doherty ’51 Richmond, Virginia

< < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< < ﬁeld

Director of Communications David Thiel

Deerfield Magazine is published in the fall, winter, and spring.

Thanks for the informative memorial article about Bob Merriam and his life’s works. It made me think about his positive inﬂuence on me. He helped convert me from a skinny, naïve, recreational 13-year-old boy to a young athlete with a keen desire to compete . . . and to enjoy competition. He promoted the advantages of developing a personal competitive spirit. John Marsellus ’56 Fayetteville, New York

eerfieldacademy

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COVER PHOTOGRAPH David Thiel / INSIDE PHOTOGRAPH Brent M. Hale

facebook.com/d

Process in Prog ress

4 | ALBANY ROAD

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

JR DELANEY

EDUCA+ION A+ +HE IN+ERSEC+ION Remember when the threat of summer school struck fear into the most apathetic student’s heart? Well, times have changed, and applications for The Experimentory, Deerfield’s version of “summer school” for seventh and eighth graders, are steadily rolling in. It probably has something to do with the fact that in addition to topnotch educators, this program offers students the chance to be in charge of their intellectual destiny, and have fun along the way. The first question perspective Experimentory students must ask themselves is: Am I curious?

BY JESSICA DAY / PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT HALE

“We’re looking for kids who are independent, empathetic, resilient, creative…” Academic Dean Peter Warsaw pauses and smiles as he ticks off a long list of ideal characteristics. “I absolutely believe that creativity is essential,” he says. “The easy answers have been found; we’re looking for students who want to go further—we’re looking for students who are curious—who think learning is fun.” “Experiencing the joy of inquiry and discovery at this early age will empower students to approach novel situations and the unknown with confidence and skill,” adds Head of School Margarita Curtis. Dr. Curtis believes The Experimentory is good for Deerfield, too: “It will provide a platform for curricular innovation, experimentation, and professional development for Academy faculty,” she says. “Our decision to launch a summer program was inspired in part by these areas, and from a broader institutional commitment to remain relevant in an educational environment defined by constant change, disruption, and increasing global competition.”

“We’ll provide them with constructive feedback, but in the end, the student who pushes that boulder of knowledge over the hill is the one who succeeds. It’s up to us to define the hill and point out the path, but then it’s up to the kids.”

It’s a lofty goal, no doubt, to solidify curiosity

You could call what Dr. Hills will teach “coding,”

and intrinsic motivation by inviting kids into

but he prefers to think of it as bridging the digital

a dynamic, experimental, and collaborative

reality divide. “Coding is interactive in that it allows

environment

continuous

you to collaborate with other people,” he says. “It’s

questioning, imagining, and learning, but

that

demands

a form of communication; it’s learning how to

Warsaw and his fellow “experi-MENTORS,”

operate a computer in such a way that you move

Ivory Hills of the Academy’s Science Department

forward; it’s the ability to build a digital community

and Rebecca Sherburne of the History

such as a website; it’s also a form of communication

Department, along with Experimentory Director

—much like music or an essay.”

Jill Schaffer, have developed three key areas

The skills students hone to successfully bridge

of study to fit the bill. Students will collabo-

that digital reality divide will benefit them in other

rate to create final projects that synthesize

classrooms and in life, as well—skills such as attention

what they’ve learned; if Experimentory was

to detail, iteration and systematic trouble-shooting,

a Venn diagram, those final projects would

and the mastery of simple functions so that more

be the overlap, and what they look like isn’t

elaborate structures can be achieved.

up to the adults guiding the process—it’s all

Dr. Hills is kind and soft-spoken, so it seems odd

in the kids’ hands—but one thing is for sure:

when he says he loves it when his students fail.

every idea is potentially precious.

Then he explains: “Failure invariably leads to learning,

CODE “We want students to pursue topics that are personally interesting and satisfying,” explains Dr. Hills. “We’ll provide them with constructive feedback, but in the end, the student who pushes that boulder of knowledge over the hill is the one who succeeds. It’s up to us to define the hill and point out the path, but then it’s up to the kids.” It’s not just about pointing out the path, however; it’s a matter of helping students create the passport they need to cross intellectual boundaries.

and learning leads to a better final product. When students progress through project iterations, they learn to see the possibilities that exist.” And then he suggests materializing something from the digital world: “Imagine having students create a fantasy country that can be described with digitally-created media—maps, a governmental website, a video to promote tourism,” says Dr. Hills. “Or we could fabricate an archeological dig somewhere on the Deerfield campus that can be studied with satellite imagery and is filled with 3-D printed artifacts . . . ” Or what about building robots that dance to music composed by students? Peter Warsaw loves this idea.

COMPOSE “We’re going to analyze compositions to discover why certain ones hold our attention,” Mr. Warsaw says. “What is it that makes some music so beguiling? Why does a certain tune stick in your head? And then we’ll see what original compositions we can come up with.” Unlocking music’s secret code, which is directly connected to the rules that govern thought and perception in human beings, is the key to other discoveries, too. “Even if we just scratch the surface,” says Mr. Warsaw, “There’s great magic to

be discovered, and the further you get, the more there is to know. If you can analyze music,” he adds, “then you’re set up to understand other things; if you’re in that innovative mind-set, and willing to observe, hypothesize, experiment, and develop evidence, the opportunities are endless.” Discovering intersections of music and science sets the stage to get to the heart of innovation, and puts creative minds in motion. Some possible projects include assembling real life sounds into music, juxtaposing a single image with different sounds and writing a narrative based on personal responses, or discovering just what does make a song a hit by exploring musical hooks, motifs, and those “earworms” that just won’t get out of your head!

“I think of myself as the director of PB&J—the basics— I want to help kids become effective team players and help them to figure out what makes a good leader,” and that includes teamwork and leadership in the classroom, on fieldtrips, and on the playing field.

how to have a meaningful discussion, how to listen, how to interview someone, how to write, and how to present.” By the time final projects are completed, students will be ready to give a presentation and field questions from the audience. “Generally speaking, middle schools kids have fewer inhibitions than teenagers do,” she says. “They’re more playful, and keep in mind that it’s still their summer, so it should be fun.” Outside of the classroom students can choose from a variety of co-curricular activities: soccer, tennis, swimming, theater, dance, and photography are just a few of the options. “I think of myself as the director of PB&J—the basics—I want to help kids become effective team players and help them to figure out what makes a good leader,” and that includes teamwork and leadership in the classroom, on fieldtrips, and on the playing field. “Classes are an important place to learn, create, and play,” says Jill Schaffer, “but we think what goes on outside of Experimentory classrooms is equally as important, especially since we want to encourage kids to experience activities they may not be familiar with, visit places they’ve never been, and build character through leadership, teamwork, and exploration.” To that end, some afternoons will be devoted to challenges that students will work on together. These could include ropes courses or problem-solving games or a delightfully difficult scavenger hunt around Historic Deerfield. “There will also be

COMMUNICATE

a weekly fieldtrip,” Ms. Schaffer says. “Some trips will be local, and for others we’ll venture further afield—think Boston.”

Rebecca Sherburne says the sky’s the

And time will also be set aside for moments of self-reflection

limit when it comes to what kids might

—opportunities for students to internalize what they’ve

accomplish during their four weeks on

learned and to think about their next move.

campus. “That’s the exciting part—work-

Positive psychology defines “flow” as complete immersion

ing with students as they figure things out.”

in an activity—where the concept of time slips away, and all

Ms. Sherburne will serve as students’

that matters is the task at hand. It’s a joyful state, and one that

guide on the side as they explore various

Peter Warsaw hopes Experimentory students experience. “I want

communication formats. “Effective com-

them to lose themselves in their projects,” he says. “I want

munication is not often taught,” she says,

them to realize they’re part of something vast and engaging;

“but it is a critical skill in life. When inno-

and to remember that feeling throughout their lives. For me,

vating, forming ideas is only the beginning;

it’s not about teaching, it’s about inspiring.”

you need to be able to share your ideas,”

Ultimately, the hope is that students will leave The Experimentory

which may be an intimidating prospect

confident in their ability to use digital tools to solve problems

for some kids. “An essential part of The

and express themselves creatively, and inspired by the benefits

Experimentory is finding new comfort

of interdisciplinary study. “The successful student will boldly

and freedom in communicating with oth-

explore new technology,” Ms. Schaffer says, “while remembering

ers,” she says. “That may not come naturally

that these tools are no replacement for keen observation,

to everyone, but we’re going to work on

clear communication, and personal resilience.” //

experimentory.com for more information or to apply.

Initiatives and Opportunities The beginning of a new school year is always marked by high energy and great expectations. This fall, our first School Meeting was electrifying as students gathered and celebrated the Hess Center for the Arts, which opened after a year of renovation and additions; all the disruption to class schedules, campus traffic patterns, classrooms, performance and meeting spaces was suddenly worthwhile in the joy of that moment. Imagine Deerfield enabled the Academy to invest in the physical structure of the Hess Center, but it’s translating into an investment in so much more: The Hess Center has raised interest in the arts to a new level on campus, and it’s attracting prospective students who wish to learn and perform in a world-class facility. The Hess Center isn’t the only campus initiative enabled by the campaign, but it has directly inspired thoughtful consideration of the integration of spaces and learning in new ways. For example, over the past year, a committee convened to study our 50-year-old library through this lens. They visited a wide array of libraries at other private schools and colleges, and worked with architects to design a renovation plan with spaces that will encourage creative thinking and stimulate collaboration among the students and the faculty. The Center for Service and Global Citizenship, also an Imagine Deerfield initiative, is now located in the library and engaging

12 | ALBANY ROAD

students in thinking about the challenges their generation is facing on a local and global level, educating themselves and others on these challenges, and taking action to find solutions to these problems. Eventually, the offices of College Advising and the Academic Dean will join the “innovation space” already in existence, creating a dynamic academic hub for the campus. The opportunities we can offer our students depend on our donors, and once again donations to Imagine Deerfield were very generous. Those donations, along with our investment returns for the 2013-14 fiscal year, resulted in another solid fiscal year for the Academy. Operating budget expenditures for the year (net of financial aid) were $47.6 million, an increase of only $100,000 over the prior year’s spending of $47.5 million; savings came from a reduction of $1.1 million of one-time general institutional expenses, while support for instruction and students increased by $725,000 or almost five percent. Thanks to another year of strong donor support for the annual fund and disciplined spending, once again the operating budget needed less support from the endowment than anticipated.

Brent M. Hale

A Report by Associate Head of School for Operations and Chief Financial Officer Keith Finan

$47.6

$766.8

million

Operating budget expenditures for the year

16.4

percent

Total return on the investment pool

million

Improvements...

Total assets of the Academy, as of June 30, 2014

$503.6

COMPLETED THE INSTALLATION OF SPRINKLER SYSTEMS IN ALL DORMITORIES million

Investments and perpetual trusts market value

Total assets of the Academy, as of June 30, 2014, grew to $766.8 million from $672.5 million at June 30, 2013. Net assets grew by $80.8 million to $697.4 million as of June 30, 2014. Through the careful guidance of the Endowment Committee, led by Robin Grossman P’03,’06, the Academy’s total return on the investment pool was 16.4 percent for the year. This was a top decile endowment return performance, and exceeded our benchmarks while maintaining a conservative risk profile. The investments and perpetual trusts ended the year with a market value of $503.6 million, an increase of $73.2 million from 2012-13. This is a new high for the Deerfield Academy endowment, and yet we still trail our closest peer schools in endowment per student. In addition to making financial improvements during 2013-14, the physical plant continued to be upgraded through intentional efforts funded by the campaign and increased funds for the on-going maintenance of its buildings. The Hess Center was our foremost project, but additional work included the completion of the installation of sprinkler systems in all dormitories, replacing the steam lines on the east side of campus with new, more efficient boilers, installing backup generators for the library and Koch Center,

and retiring the Freon gas-chilled salad bars in the Dining Hall with new, environmentally friendly ones. We continued to renovate our stand-alone faculty houses with the complete renovation of two homes, one of which was converted to a duplex. And, using the Campus Master Plan, which was completed and unanimously approved by the trustees last year as a blue print for future projects, two homes with large tracts of land contiguous to other Academy -owned houses and land were purchased. With the economy improving but yet continuing to vacillate, Imagine Deerfield has allowed the Academy to move forward programmatically in important ways while being ever vigilant of the need for caution. We continue to support our students, faculty, and staff with financial, capital, and programmatic improvements while fulfilling our obligation to position the Academy to support future generations, too. It is an exciting and vibrant time to be on campus and part of the Deerfield community! Being part of the process of opening up the world of possibilities and responsibilities to our students is a privilege and a pleasure, and only possible thanks to the support of Deerfield’s alumni, parents, and friends. For that support I am most grateful, and I thank you. //

REPLACED THE STEAM LINES ON THE EAST SIDE OF CAMPUS WITH NEW, MORE EFFICIENT BOILERS INSTALLED BACKUP GENERATORS FOR THE LIBRARY AND KOCH CENTER RETIRED THE FREON GAS-CHILLED SALAD BARS IN THE DINING HALL WITH NEW, ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ONES RENOVATED OUR STAND-ALONE FACULTY HOUSES ONE OF WHICH WAS CONVERTED TO A DUPLEX TWO HOMES WITH LARGE TRACTS OF LAND CONTIGUOUS TO OTHER ACADEMY-OWNED HOUSES AND LAND WERE PURCHASED.

Trustees of Deerfield Academy Statement of Financial Position Assets

2014

June 30, 2014; With comparative totals as of June 30, 2013

2013

Cash and cash equivalents $22,521,711 $24,946,690 Restricted cash 683,502 491,502 Receivables: Student loans and accounts receivable, net of allowance of $336,319 in 2014 and $300,716 in 2013 426,097 323,058 Investment interest and dividends 117,017 148,485 Due from brokers 431,288 - Other receivables 543,106 125,404 Contributions receivable, net 52,840,410 51,018,495 Charitable remainder unitrusts and other deferred gifts 5,298,434 5,226,358 Inventories 380,040 382,248 Prepaid expenses 859,409 1,032,411 Investments 484,858,268 413,819,693 Beneficial interest in perpetual trust 18,695,585 16,543,226 Land, buildings and equipment, net 178,511,004 157,846,661 Deferred expenses 612,011 639,623 Total Assets $766,777,882 $672,543,854

Liabilities and Net Assets Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities Due to brokers Life income obligations Bonds payable Bond interest payable Deferred income Total Liabilities Net Assets Unrestricted Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted Total Net Assets

$8,074,844 528,279 4,045,654 53,455,401 453,137 2,859,910 69,417,225

6,624,642 262,181 3,404,350 42,752,201 453,137 2,492,547 55,989,058

263,050,923 236,542,857 197,766,877 697,360,657

237,158,892 203,945,858 175,450,046 616,554,796

Total Liabilities and Net Assets $766,777,882 $672,543,854

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Trustees of Deerfield Academy Statement of Activities Revenues, Gains, and Other Support Student income: Tuition and fees Less financial aid Net tuition and fees School stores Net student income Interest and dividends Net realized and unrealized gains Other income Gifts and bequests Total revenues, gains, and other support

For the year ended June 30, 2014; With comparative totals for the year ended June 30, 2013

2014

2013

$31,978,272 (8,004,725) 23,973,547 1,052,208 25,025,755 3,524,271 67,965,154 1,066,858 30,835,396 128,417,434

$29,669,376 (7,404,230) 22,265,146 994,996 23,260,142 3,909,578 48,753,843 1,193,435 39,199,974 116,316,972

Expenditures Instruction Student support Summer programs Operation and maintenance of physical plant General administration General institutional Depreciation and amortization Total expenditures

Change in Net Assets Net Assets â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Beginning of Year Net Assets â&#x20AC;&#x201C; End of Year

10,738,975 5,264,553 519,553 7,472,135 11,467,175 6,704,419 5,444,763 47,611,573

10,266,407 5,014,489 489,902 7,755,006 10,969,205 7,834,380 5,173,583 47,502,972

80,805,861

68,814,000

616,554,796

547,740,796

$697,360,657 $616,554,796

The Class: AP BIOLOGY / Mark Teutsch The Assignment:

Show Your Work

In the early 1950s, Linus Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research into the nature of chemical bonds and its application to the understanding of protein structure. Pauling's work was largely based from studies of the alpha helix, a common secondary structure of protein that is right-hand coiled. Today, alpha helixes are some of the most regular protein structures and most predictable from their amino acid sequences. In alpha helixes, the amino acid backbone structure finds N-H groups forming hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid four residues earlier in sequence. Based on this information, use a right-hand coiled segment of 2" diameter PVC pipe and the primary sequence of hemoglobin to construct a 3D model illustrating the hydrogen bonds in a hemoglobin alpha helix. //

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“Sixty years ago, no one would have been asked to speak to you at Deerfield Academy about the arts,” said Hugh Hardy ’50 from behind the podium in the Hess Center for the Arts. While on campus, Mr. Hardy was recognized for his many achievements in the field of architecture, and presented with the Heritage Award. Following his graduation from Deerfield in 1950, Mr. Hardy attended Princeton, graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Fine Arts. He served with the Navy’s engineering corps, and then worked as architectural assistant to Jo Mielziner—who has been called the most successful set designer of the “Golden Era of Broadway”—in New York City. Working with Mielziner not only shaped Mr. Hardy’s aesthetic, it provided him with a practicum for future endeavors. In 1962 Mr. Hardy founded the first of three architecture firms: Hugh Hardy & Associates. Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer was founded in 1967, and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture in 2004. Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer received the American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award in 1981, and Mr. Hardy has personally won several awards, including the Architectural League of New York’s President’s Medal. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an academician in the National Academy of Design, and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Some of Mr. Hardy’s most famous projects include the restoration of Radio City Music Hall and the New Victory and New Amsterdam theaters, which were crucial to the reemergence of Theater Row as one of New York City’s premier places of entertainment. Mr. Hardy expressed some surprise at receiving the Heritage Award, which is presented annually to an alumnus whose professional and personal achievements have contributed to the betterment of society— someone whose life exemplifies the Academy’s motto: “Be worthy of your heritage.” He commented, “I have not played by the rules. I have not sought to achieve status by creating a brand whose name holds recognition for the production of high-style products. My name contains no inherent value that gives my clients particular status. What it does, at its best, is to insure them an appropriate and distinctive building or project directly suited to their needs. For me, the importance of architecture lies in the public experience it offers, not in its ability to make innovative shapes. I have pursued diversity and the idea that architecture is primarily based upon activities its buildings contain, the context where they are built, and the resources required to realize them. Their environment and site, their neighboring structures, their access and landscape, as well as any historical importance or social context should all influence their architectural design… I believe contemporary design must come from the different ways both old and new can be brought together. In the pursuit of that, I am clearly linked to Deerfield.” //

Hugh G. Hardy ’50 Heritage Award Recipient BY

JESSICA DAY

隆Cuesti贸nenlo todo! {Question Everything!}

ST O RY A N D P H O T O G R A P H S BY DAV I D T H I E L

xpecting something foreign, we ﬁnd something familiar. Arriving in Bogota, our guide talks about the stereotypes: that one half of town is wealthy and safe and beautiful, and that the other is poor and uneducated—dangerous and dirty. It’s not true, he says, but the perception persists. Bogota is a mountain city—above 8000 feet —and for a long time remained undiscovered to outsiders because of its isolation. Today, it’s pushing past the assumptions of its history and ﬁnding its way into the modern world. And so it is with Colombia. The uninitiated think of drugs and violence—and perhaps of Juan Valdez. But beyond those assumptions about crime and coffee farmers, the reality is quite different. The Colombian people are warm and engaging, interested, and smart. The landscape is astonishingly beautiful and diverse. Travel is easy and safe. Colombia today is vibrant and modern and multifaceted —with each of its regions hosting a distinct culture.

What are the secrets of survival in such a difficult environment?

THE RAINFOREST

Afloat in a lagoon on the Amazon, thirteen students listen intently to jungle sounds that are louder than any cityscape. They have paddled out in total darkness, with the goal of seeing caiman and a certain orchid that only blooms at night. But so far, it’s the sounds that have been illuminating. With a stunning Milky Way overhead, they listen. The guide intones advice that benefits from years of living in this borderless expanse. Escuchen. “The jungle is like a house. If you respect it and behave in it, it will do the same for you. Treat the jungle well and it will do the same for you.” He identifies the sounds of the place, from the bugs to the frogs to the birds and the monkeys, helping the students distinguish each one. Despite the temperature, the darkness, and the astonishing haze, it is rapture. But when the guide reaches down and pulls a young gator from the water—it’s eyes aflame with our reflected headlamps—the danger of this place becomes apparent. What are the secrets of survival in such a difficult environment?

“Heads turned and excited whispers could be heard between our group of two boats as we approached the still ﬁgure on the surface of the water.” —Andrew Hollander ’16

THE MOUNTAINTOP

We started our hike in a rainforest, but now, at 13,000 feet, the temperature has dropped and the air is thin. A steady wind is gusting at 40mph, with pelting rain. Exposed on the steep, treeless, rocky landscape, the group huddles for a few minutes, deciding whether to press on to a sacred lagoon or turn back to the forest below. Despite the youth and vigor of the students, it has been a difficult climb; some have already turned around. One student, determined, climbs just a couple steps at a time, pausing to rest with every few feet gained. Estamos cansados. Is the difficulty of this climb part of why the lagoon is so sacred? Is the suffering part of the ritual?

Is the difficulty of this climb part of why the lagoon is so sacred? Is the suffering part of the ritual?

“Not much time had passed before my body was letting me know through cramping and sweating that the hike would be the most challenging experience of my life…both mentally and physically.” —Bri’ana Odom ’15

“The walls were incredible; lamps surrounded them, basking the buildings on the edge with a warm yellow light that contrasted with the black night. Just a street away was the ocean.” —Helena Tebeau ’17

THE WALLED CITY

Walking in Cartagena, the city is vibrant with nightlife. This Caribbean tourist spot remains mostly undiscovered —and, so, unspoiled—by foreigners. Instead, here is a mix of Colombian cultures on holiday. People of every color and from every environment mix: the people and the cityscape manifest the vitality of Colombia and its readiness to emerge as a leading nation in South America. Still, this modern landscape is ensconced within a Spanish colonial city. The walls and parapets that now attract tourists are themselves a symbol of unwelcome visitors, of exploitation, and of oppression. How do Colombians reconcile the colonial past with the opportunities of their future?

How do Colombians reconcile the colonial past with the opportunities of their future?

THE PLANTATION

In the coffee region, the students are provided a carefully orchestrated tasting and a tour—complete with games, prizes, and demonstrations of “authentic” handicrafts. The farm is beautiful, and the owners are eager to show it. The espresso is delicious at first, but it leaves a bitter taste: the workers at this plantation receive less than $2 for eight hours of harvesting. Es mucho trabajo. One of them, cycling to work two weeks ago, was killed in a traffic accident; without insurance or any safety net from his employer, his wife and children will have to ﬁnd a way to survive. How does Colombia’s coffee prestige contribute to a system of exploitation, driven through the plantation system? And does “fair trade” really do anything to help?

How does Colombia’s coffee prestige contribute to a system of exploitation, driven through the plantation system? And does “fair trade” really do anything to help?

THE PORT OF HAPPINESS

The people of Puerto Alegría used to survive by hunting jungle animals to feed their families—a practice now outlawed. Instead, they capture the animals and keep them for tourist photography, earning a few pesos for each pose. This practice is legal. Birds with clipped wings. Caiman with jaws strapped shut. Monkeys tied to tree stumps. A tree sloth, cuddled like a teddy in the arms of an elderly woman. And—horrifyingly— a manatee, endlessly circling the muddy water of a kiddie pool. When asked about the manatee, the local guide provides a story about it being saved, injured, from a ﬁsherman’s net. Es verdad. A second question—not particularly probing—yields a slightly different story. A third question prompts an entirely new set of facts. The students wonder if their Spanish skills are at fault, but the adults in the group conﬁrm that the story is shifting with each telling: the guide is telling us what he thinks we want to hear. Why? What’s the real story and how could we uncover it?

What’s the real story and how could we uncover it?

“When I was speaking to Mario or Nixon in the Amazon, or to the man sitting on the steps of the Villa de Leyva church, I did not feel as if I were a foreigner interviewing a stranger.” —Megan Retana ’15

THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

Throughout our trip, our experiences have been wide ranging. We’ve learned about the culture of Colombia. We’ve been to a gold museum, and one about indigenous living in the Amazon, and one featuring a famous Colombian painter, and one about paleontology. We’ve visited the battleground where Colombia won its independence. We’ve hiked the mountains, picked coffee, woven baskets, and thrown pottery. We’ve learned “Leave No Trace” principles, how to fish, how to canoe, and how to stay healthy and hydrated along the way. This trip is, ostensibly, a language trip, and students are expected to communicate primarily—and for some activities, exclusively—in Spanish. Hungry or thirsty, shopping or seeking directions, students’ language skills improve dramatically because they are saturated with context. The imperatives of navigating an unfamiliar landscape provide an urgency that simply doesn’t exist in a classroom. This trip is also an environmental trip. Colombia is the second most bio-diverse country in the world (just behind Brazil, which is seven times larger), and its diversity of life comes from its diversity of environments. Colombia offers Caribbean coastline, cloud forest, rain forest, plantations, and farms; the center of the country hosts tall mountains, yet it has feet in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Every meal includes an unidentifiable fruit or vegetable. Even the array of animals we’ve encountered outstrips most American zoos. Add our experiences in the Amazon, conversations with the indigenous people, and lessons on how to handle and move about in indigenous canoes, and the effect is significant. In two weeks, we have visited so much of Colombia—and we have learned so much of its history and place in the world—that we are final ready to learn the most important lessons of all. And that brings us to Palomino. (continued on page 24)

COLOMBIAN PARADOX by Jaime Correa Colombia is a paradoxical country: famous for coffee and emeralds, but also for cocaine; well-known for the superior literary works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but also for the infamy of Pablo Escobar, arguably one of the worst criminals the world has ever known. It is renowned for its passion for soccer, but also for an interminable succession of armed conflicts, the last of which has pitted the State against communist guerrilla groups for fifty years now. Colombia has spent an enormous amount of energy striving to find stability and to build its own identity—attempting to come to terms with its own idiosyncrasies through a long and painful process of trial and error. Located in the northernmost corner of South America, the territory occupied by modern-day Colombia has always had strategic importance on the continent. In ancient times, it was a passageway for people and goods circulating across the Americas. By the time the Europeans arrived, many indigenous peoples inhabited vast areas of Colombia. Their social, economic, and political organization was rather complex, even though none of them had yet attained the technological sophistication of the Aztecs, the Mayas or the Incas. The geography of Colombia has greatly determined its destiny. The Andes Mountains, the backbone of South America, split into three massive cordilleras when they get to Colombia. This particularity, due to cataclysmic geological events, fragmented the territory and isolated Colombians from each other, and from the rest of the world for most of the nation’s history. Travel within the country used to be so difficult that most areas developed independently and ended up building strong regional identities, as well as inter-regional rivalries, which have always made Colombia a difficult nation to govern. The history of modern-day Colombia starts with the arrival of Spanish Conquistadors at the end of the 15th century. At first, the Spaniards were more interested in plundering than in settling the New World. After eight hundred years of continuous warfare against the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish mind-set of the time was rather bellicose. Right from the start, the Conquistadors treated the indigenous people as infidels to be either converted to Catholicism or eradicated. In addition to that, Spain became in the 16th century the spearhead of the Counter -Reformation, a movement that sought to stop the spread of the Protestant Reformation. As a result, the conquest and colonization of Colombia, as well as that of other Latin American countries, was a process marked by gruesome violence but also by extreme religious zeal. The Spaniards exported to their colonies their stratified social system. At first, the Crown and the Catholic Church opposed marriages between Spaniards and Native American women. However, since the first settlers

were mostly men, the “pure blood” of the Spaniards got mixed with indigenous blood very early on. With the import of scores of African slaves during colonial times, Colombia became a melting pot where Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans blended not only their genes but also their cultures to give birth to a country of mestizos. In spite of this, the Spanish Crown put into effect a stern caste system that privileged the Spaniards, a minority, and was detrimental to mestizos, sambos and mulattos. Overall, the colonial caste system created a racist and elitist society, a type of inequitable social organization that still afflicts Colombia to this day. Colombia became independent from Spain in the first two decades of the 19th century. The ruling classes were somewhat ill-prepared to govern the new nation. They weren’t able to agree on how to rule the country, either. Two opposing political views emerged: centralism and federalism. Over the years, centralists and federalists became the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, respectively. Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries these two political parties opposed each other, not only at democratic elections but also through a series of grisly civil wars. The last of these wars, known as La Violencia (1946-1958), claimed the lives of at least 200,000 people. The extreme polarization between conservatives and liberals persisted and, in the context of the Cold War, became a central feature of the fierce fighting that broke out between the State and Communist Guerrilla Groups after the 1960s. Rampant inequality and social injustice, as well as widespread corruption, were a catalyst for the emergence of several rebellious groups in the second half of the 20th century. The growth of the illegal drug business, which permeated Colombian society, and the involvement of paramilitary groups in the armed conflict, generated a very tense public order situation during the 1990s. However, Colombians reacted to this predicament and devised political ways to resolve some of their problems. For instance, there was a National Constituent Assembly in 1991 that created a new Constitution that was more modern, effective, and inclusive than the previous one. Colombia has made significant progress in the first decades of the 21st century. Its economy has been growing steadily, and the government and the rebels are currently conducting peace talks that may end the armed conflict for good. However, there are still formidable challenges ahead. Post-conflict, Colombia will require nationwide forgiveness and reconciliation. It’ll also provide an opportunity for the country to undertake much needed social reforms. Colombians ought to seize this favorable occasion to face their demons and to come to terms with the wrongs of their own history. Only by fully embracing its mestizo heritage, with all its complexities, riches, and contradictions, will Colombia be ready to write the new history the country so desperately desires. //

Mr. Correa studied film and television in Colombia, and then pursued master’s degrees in Film Studies and Cultural Studies in Paris, where he remained for several more years as an English, French, and Spanish instructor. He came to Deerfield after returning to Bogota for five years to teach Spanish Literature and Cinema. Mr. Correa was one of the faculty members who accompanied Deerfield students to Colombia this past summer.

WATCH THE VIDEO: deerfield.edu/colombia 23

PALOMINO Palomino is isolated. Far from other population The main road is busy, but the residential area is quiet. centers in Colombia, it is on the coast, past miles of The houses are connected in long rows, with plaster banana plantations, close to the border of Venezuela. exteriors and corrugated roofs; they are suspended Maria, one of our Colombian guides, shares that between the gravity of the main road and a town square. she’s been doing service projects in this town as part Things are tidy, but there’s little decoration; tropical of her studies in architecture: she’s designed and plants and trees provide a bit of ﬂowering shade. Most built public toilets, rainwater catchment systems, houses secret vibrant colors that have been dulled by the and a community center. These structures are built sun and wind-borne dust. Some are beyond repair, but from bamboo and thatch, with corrugated steel roofs. some are freshly painted. The town has perhaps a few The community center was burnt down, so her group thousand residents. rebuilt it. Mr. Miller holds court in the bus before sending us out There is a gas station here, and extending from it in the village. He reminds the students again of what he along the roadway is an array of stores that constitute has been telling them all along: “Most of the questions you complete amenities: stands selling prepared food and ask are terrible,” he deadpans in his unique blend of ingredients, a church, a pharmacy, some repair shops, wacky earnestness. Miller explains, for the umpteenth and a tavern. ¡Naranjas! ¡guanábana! ¡tomate de árbol! time, that asking “how are you?” is a great way to get a Trucks and motorcycles streak by, sometimes slowing one-word answer. “That’s a terrible question.” as riders and pedestrians share a few words of greeting “What do you do?” Terrible. “Did you like it here?” Also or commerce. You can just barely smell the sea. terrible. “Do you like soccer?” That’s the worst one yet.

“What do you do?” Terrible. “Did you like it here?” Also terrible. “Do you like soccer?” That’s the worst one yet.

“At some point the experience shifted from a stiff interview to an informal, comfortable conversation. Maria shared with me stories about her three children, her husband, and her home in the next town over.” —Serena Ainslie ’16 24

“If you want to know something real, you have to ask a real question. You have to care about the answer. Most people—tourists, yes, but also in daily life—ask questions when they really don’t care about the answers. I urge you to do better.” So, he keeps the students sequestered inside the bus, practicing real “I needed to dig deeper, ask better questions, questions. Questions that demonstrate empathy. Questions that will and make connections with people.” —Kofi Adu ’16 generate unexpected and unpredictable responses. Questions that show that the students care about the answers. He forces them to literally rehearse their questions with each other—perfecting the complex language of genuine inquiry, so they don’t fall back on the drudgery of easy questions asked in rudimentary Spanish. After twenty minutes or so, Mr. Miller allows the students to escape the bus. They wander in groups of four along the dusty streets, hesitantly seeking out locals for conversation. Small children approach and recede, testing the waters, and following them leads the students to open doors. Peeking in and knocking on the casement, residents respond with the astonishing warmth we all recognize as a hallmark of Colombians. ¡Hola! Come inside. Siéntese usted. Watch soccer with us. ¿Agua? This couldn’t have happened previously on the trip. The students didn’t know enough Spanish—and they weren’t fluent enough to understand the replies. But most important, they weren’t comfortable enough being uncomfortable with their surroundings. They didn’t know enough about Colombia and Colombians. The students are relieved to have rehearsed their questions on the bus just minutes ago, but they also suddenly realize that they have been rehearsing for this moment for two weeks. Their travels around Colombia have given them the gift of context. When they were on a scavenger hunt in Villa de Levya, and when they were listening to the docents at the museum, they were gathering the information—and the linguistic confidence—to allow them to converse here, in a Palomino sitting room. When they were listening to the ranger at Puente Boyacá telling tallish tales of Simòn Bolivar’s great battles, and when they detected the lack of candor in Porto Allegria, they were tuning their senses to detect candor—and deflection. And when students spent two days with Colombian kids their own age they discovered that each had made assumptions about how the other—but neither group had anticipated the many things they share. The bus is filled with sound of kids singing pop music, pero, en español. Now, suddenly, back in Palomino, the questions the students ask are not so terrible: How do most people make their living in Palomino? What role does the government play? Can you tell me how this part of Colombia is different from the other parts? Have you ever been to the jungle? What do you think is going to happen now that the President wants to make peace with the FARC? Do you think more tourists would be good for Palomino? As the students get more comfortable, they run out of rehearsed questions. “Tell me about your family,” says one. “What do you hope for your children?” asks another student. “What frightens you the most?” “What do you dream about?” After two weeks, easy conversation—and meaningful questions—have become natural to the students. Time flies. The conversation ends when the Deerfield students realize they are running late. In those final moments of goodbye, a nod, gracias, de nada, nos vemos. //

How do most people make their living in Palomino? What role does the government play? Can you tell me how this part of Colombia is different from the other parts? Have you ever been to the jungle? What do you think is going to happen now that the President wants to make peace with the FARC? Do you think more tourists would be good for Palomino?

Darnel Barnes: More Than the Mean, Median, and Mode Lawrence M. Boyle Schoolmaster's Chair

ROB MORGAN / PHOTO JOE GAYLOR

“Privilege is a debt to be paid,” says Darnel Barnes, who arrived at Deerfield seven years ago to teach math. In that time, he has often pondered the school’s motto: Be Worthy of Your Heritage. “To me, it means going out and earning what you’ve been given here. Students and teachers should give back and then some, because somebody somewhere sacrificed so that we can be a part of this special place.” In September, when faculty chairs were announced, Darnel was named the inaugural recipient of the Lawrence M. Boyle Schoolmaster’s Chair, established with gifts from Mr. Boyle’s family and friends. For John Taylor, Dean of Faculty, the choice was easy. “Darnel embodies the best qualities of a Deerfield teacher. He is generous, caring, thoughtful, and inspiring. In his classes, he artfully balances playfulness and structure, support and challenge.” “I had heard of Mr. Boyle,” says Darnel. “I’ve seen the swimming records, but I didn’t really know who he was or realize the impact he had on the school. When I did, I felt the weight of the position and knew it really meant something to be seen in the same light.” Raised in Camden, New Jersey, Darnel knew he wanted to be a teacher when he was a junior in high school. But he wasn’t sure he’d make ends meet, so he pursued another path, earning two bachelor’s degrees (general science and industrial engineering) and two master’s degrees (city planning and operations research). He worked in real estate and urban planning in Atlanta, where he attended college and met his wife, Riché. Although successful, Darnel was unfulfilled with buying and selling properties, so he reconsidered his goals, prompted by a question Riché asked: “If money were not an issue,” she said, “what would you do with your life?” The answer came fast: “I would teach.”

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Darnel received his certification and jumped into the academic life, leading students through nearly every level of secondary mathematics, at Frederick Douglass High School. When Riché, who holds a PhD in anthropology, was offered a faculty position at Smith College, Darnel looked at Deerfield. “I was intrigued by what a teacher could accomplish in a 24/7 boarding school environment. I was hired and soon fell in love with the place.” For forty-five years, Larry Boyle was the personification of a Deerfield schoolmaster—an all-around educator, mentor, and friend. As a coach, he led the swim team to 17 straight New England Championships. Boyle’s legacy is reflected in the example Darnel has set in his time on campus—and in the words of his students: “Mr. Barnes is the most approachable teacher I have ever had.” “He has not only taught me math, but also taught me so many life lessons.” “He fills the role of parent figure in the dorms, he's an amazing coach, and he works hard to improve his teaching methods so students can learn to the best of their ability. He's without a doubt one of my favorite teachers at Deerfield.” Darnel teaches Algebra II and AP Statistics. But it’s not really about numbers for him. “Through math, I try to prepare them, to make life easier to navigate, and to make it more meaningful. I want them to be able to think critically about, say, a statistic they read in the news. Well, who used the statistic and for what purpose? Question the data. What kind of bias might be at play? I’m trying to lay a foundation, give them tools that they’ll use later on. I tell them, ‘trust me, bear with me, you’ll need to know this next year and long after that.’” Darnel’s lessons are crafted with Deerfield’s motto in mind. And in each class, as equations are solved and statistics are analyzed, debts are accumulating—and they are also being paid. //

The Fire This Time BY

JESSICA DAY / PHOTO DAVID THIEL

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. When Angel Abreu ’92 was invited to curate the first outside exhibit in Deerfield’s new von Rollins and the “at-risk” inner city youth he Auersperg Gallery, he was thrilled to come to taught produced a body of work that set the art campus. Almost thirty years ago, when he was world abuzz; from New York City to Switzerland invited to become a member of the Class of 1992, the collaborative’s allegorical works were in demand, and as part of the collaborative, Mr. he wasn’t nearly as excited. “To be honest, I had no intention of going Abreu had the opportunity to create, to travel, here,” Mr. Abreu said. “I was already involved and to become well-versed in being able to with Tim Rollins’ K.O.S. (Kids of Survival), the “straddle different worlds that I didn’t belong art collaborative from the Bronx, so my to, or that I felt I didn’t belong to,” as he recalls. It was when K.O.S. had a project at the Smithintention was to go to LaGuardia High School—a specialized art school—the one they based the sonian, and Mr. Abreu appeared in the photo movie Fame on.” Accepted to both LaGuardia that accompanied a front-page article in The and Deerfield, in the end, it was Mr. Abreu’s Washington Post, that the jig was up. “I got a call father who settled it when he said: “Look. from Tim Engelland; it was July. He said, ‘What’s this?’ He was upset—I think he was hurt. He You’re going to Deerfield.” K.O.S. was still a large part of Mr. Abreu’s life asked why I’d never told him about what I was while he was at the Academy—although he kept doing . . . I didn’t know what the answer was. I it quiet, even from the teachers he was perhaps just told him, ‘I don’t know . . . ’ I felt shy about closest to—Caleb Bock, David Dickinson, and it, and I didn’t want to boast. I just wanted to be the late Tim Engelland. “Those three people one of the guys at Deerfield.” Which is part of the reason Mr. Abreu was so were instrumental in continuing the education I started with Tim and K.O.S.,” Mr. Abreu says. happy to accept the invitation to come back to “The funny thing is, I never really told anyone at Deerfield and curate an exhibit to accompany Deerfield about what I was doing . . . I don’t the Academy’s Martin Luther King Day activities. know if it was necessarily a conscious decision. It was one of those things where I didn’t quite (Continued on page 72) understand how extraordinary it was.”

Tim Rollins and K.O.S, Invisible Man (After Ralph Ellison, For Eric Garner), 2014-15, Acrylic, book pages on wood panel, 36"x 36"

Ever since capturing a New England championship back in 2011, Big Green Girls Squash has been trying to revisit that Cinderella finish and knock off perennial powerhouse Greenwich Academy. Despite the fact reaching that particular goal has proved to be elusive, these girls certainly haven’t spent their time sitting on the bench: Since bumping the Gators from the top rung of the medals podium for the first and only time since 2003, the Big Green has continued to meet with success—chalking up a 37-4 record in regular season play. Hopes are high as the 2014-15 season begins. “I feel confident that we will be one of the top teams once again this year,” said veteran Big Green mentor Karinne Heise, whose clubs have lost those three straight New England crowns to the Gators by a combined total of just 17 points. “We have outstanding senior leadership this season with Samantha (Chai) as captain. She has been a part of a program that has always stressed great team chemistry as well as an amazing work ethic, and I’m confident both of these team trademarks will continue to flourish under her captaincy. I also feel very fortunate to know that we have some young and talented players who, fortunately, continue to make their way up the pipeline.” Chai, who saw her team drop a 5-2 decision to Greenwich during the finals of last winter’s National Championship, then finish second at the New England tournament by a scant two-point margin, 106-104, is hoping her goodbye tour might bring an end to her three years of frustration—and put a smiley face on Big Green Nation. “Whenever you play Greenwich, you have to make sure you bring your A game along with you,” Samantha says. “The reason Greenwich is always so tough to beat is that they not only have outstanding players at the top three or four seeds . . . they have outstanding players at the fifth, sixth, and seventh seeds, too.” Nevertheless, Deerfield holds the distinction of being the top boarding school when it comes to ranking girls squash teams, thanks in part to Samantha’s game as the Big Green’s No. 1 seed; it’s a good thing she will be on hand to share her expertise. “Having three starters graduate in the same year is a bit more than we normally lose,” says Heise. “Due to that fact, we’ll be a little more inexperienced than usual . . . I’m confident that we’ll fill those holes, though. In addition to our five experienced players returning, we also had some talented players move up to the varsity from last year’s JV program.” In addition to Chai, the list of returning starters includes Cameron Munn ’17, who was last season’s fifth seed, Annie Blasberg ’16, and Chai’s younger sister, Maddie ’17, who were positioned at the sixth and seventh seeds respectively. All will undoubtedly move up in the seedings this season, as they annihilated their opponents last year. Combined, they produced a daunting mark of 50-1. Both Blasberg and Maddie Chai went 9-0 through the regular season, then posted 8-0 marks through two tournaments to chalk up both National and New England titles in their respective brackets. Munn, meanwhile, finished at 16-1, with her lone blemish coming in the finals of the National tourney.

28 | ALBANY ROAD

“We’re really looking forward to the upcoming season,” said Blasberg, who has suffered just one defeat during two years of varsity action. “Although we’re probably not going to be as deep as usual, and that’s always been one of our greatest strengths, we’re still really confident we can make it a great season.” “As for Greenwich, they always seem to be our toughest opponent and are definitely our biggest rival and it’s always exciting whenever we meet,” added Blasberg. “They always bring out the best in us and I’m sure we bring out the best in them. We came up with a big effort last year and beat them during the regular season, 5-2, which, I understand, was our first head-to-head victory over them in at least a decade. Hopefully this is the year we break the spell as far as the tournaments are concerned.” //

GIRLS SQUASH BY

BOB YORK / PHOTO GRAPH BY JOE GAYLO R

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HAI

’17

The Write Life JULIA ELLIOTT BY

Courtesy of Hannah Pittard

Hannah Pittard ‘97 is the author of three novels: The Fates Will Find Their Way, Reunion, which was published this past October, and the forthcoming Listen to Me. She has also written numerous short stories that have appeared in publications such as The American Scholar and McSweeney’s, she teaches the art of writing fiction at the University of Kentucky, and serves as a consulting editor for Narrative Magazine. Ms. Pittard recently sat down with Deerfield Magazine’s Julia Elliott to talk about Reunion, writing, and why fiction is often so much more than “just” a story.

30 | THE COMMON ROOM

DM: Congratulations on Reunion! I read it and I loved it. It’s a great book— you must be so proud! HP: I am proud, and I’m relieved to have what they refer to in the industry as the ‘sophomore effort’ under my belt. I just feel like this is really my career now. So yeah, I’m very happy. DM: I hadn’t really thought about that. It’s just such a good book, it hadn’t occurred to me, but is that a big hurdle to get over—there’s all this anticipation for your sophomore effort? Or do people just assume that it’s not going to be as good as your first book? HP: I think that, yes, it’s a serious hurdle that every writer faces once they are on the other side of that initial excitement, they—and obviously I’m grossly generalizing here—but my feeling is—and I’ve talked with other people who have experienced it—is that, yeah, there’s this incredible pressure that you start to feel once you’re through that debut. And I felt pressure—probably we’re all putting it on ourselves more than anyone else—but there’s that desire to prove to the literary community that you deserve to be a part of it and you’re not just a one-hit wonder, for lack of a better phrase. I certainly wanted to get that second novel out there to prove to myself, but then also to prove to everyone else, that I meant business . . . You do have to be ambitious in this world, and you have to be willing to get beaten up a little bit. My ego took a beating, certainly, that first year of sending out stories and getting rejection after rejection after rejection. And fortunately, every rejection made me want to try harder and made me want to be in this world even more. So having a thick skin certainly is a useful thing, if you’re a writer. DM: Well, you did it! Congratulations. I want to talk about the book more, but let’s go back first . . . You graduated from Deerfield in 1997. How would you characterize your Deerfield experience?

HP: I think that I got the education of my life at Deerfield. I still tell people that I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a more rigorous or demanding class than I did junior year; taking US History was epic and wonderful and insane . . . It was a class that prepared me in almost every way for my college experience. I went to two different undergraduate colleges: St. John’s and the University of Chicago. People told me that University of Chicago would just kill me—that it’s difficult to survive there academically—and I’ve got to say, Deerfield made the University of Chicago feel like a breeze. Obviously, I struggled —in the right way—education should be a struggle, I believe; it should be a constant push and pull. DM: It’s interesting that you mentioned a history class; I thought you were going to jump right into English classes. Did you already know you were interested in being a writer when you came to Deerfield? HP: At Deerfield, yes, I was already very much invested in my identity as a writer. Probably to a silly degree. DM: What do you mean by that? HP: If you’re coming to Deerfield as a freshman, just the year before you were in eighth grade, so it’s sort of silly to think of yourself as identifying as anything other than a lunatic thirteen-year-old. But I think I already had some baby aspirations to be a writer, or think of it, or wonder if it was possible. I got to Deerfield and my writing was taken so seriously that really gave me the confidence to pursue this . . . what do I want to call it? To pursue this art. Frank Henry and Peter Fallon were instrumental in my development as a writer and a reader. If they hadn’t taken me so seriously, I don’t know that once I finished college I would have had the gumption to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to try to do this . . . ’ They planted the seeds. I wrote all the time. I cannot believe how many bad stories my teachers were willing to read and give me feedback on . . . And I had a couple of wonderful peers— Evelyn Hinkley and Tom Bowman—who were also terrific writers and readers. It was neat having a little community that probably took itself too seriously, but we had a lot of fun taking ourselves too seriously. Tom had his debut novel come out recently; it’s beautiful. It’s a lot of fun to see how far we’ve both come . . .

DM: So your friends at Deerfield were just as important as your teachers . . .? HP: Deerfield was a struggle for me socially. I had my little unit of friends, but socially it was difficult. I was a wallflower. I was an introvert. I was just so self-conscious . . . In that way, you know, Deerfield can be a difficult place, even though the faculty is so open; if you have any social stage fright, Deerfield can be an intimidating place. And I definitely had that social stage fright, which is a funny expression for me to be using, because the other part of Deerfield that was so important to me was the acting world. I was in the advanced acting tutorial, just had the best time, and found a real home for myself there, as well. DM: What books influenced you as a writer? HP: The English Department had a shelf of books that anyone could borrow; I remember discovering Harry Crews on that bookshelf. The book that I pulled out was called Car, and I think that it had some of Frank Henry’s notes in it. It blew my mind. It was Southern fiction; I loved Southern fiction, but this was Southern fiction like I’d never experienced before. DM: What about it blew your mind? HP: It’s a pretty risqué novel. It’s about a man who decides to eats a car, piece by piece. It’s completely ridiculous, but it’s also 100 percent rooted in realism. It’s absurd, and it’s sexy, and it’s raunchy, and it pushes limits in every way possible, and yet it never—in my mind— risks becoming pornographic. It is art. It is art and it is messing with the reader. It’s asking the reader to become engaged; it’s asking the reader to become uncomfortable. It does everything that I think good fiction should do. Every single page I would read, and I would stop, and I would think, ‘Oh my gosh, what does that mean about my understanding of beauty? What does this mean about my understanding of family, of relationships?’ It forced me to have a conversation with myself that I had never had before. I think that’s what blew my mind. >>>

I think that I got the education of my life at Deerfield. I still tell people that I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a more rigorous or demanding class than I did junior year; taking US History was epic and wonderful and insane . . . It was a class that prepared me in almost every way for my college experience.

DM: You earned a Master of Fine Arts in 2007. Did you enjoy the experience? I know there is often a debate about getting an MFA—what’s more beneficial: the school of the MFA or the school of life . . .

successful teachers who do . . . successful writers, too. So I think, you know, pick your poison. But if you’re a writer and you want to write then you are going to do it and it shouldn’t matter which route you take.

HP: I think getting the MFA was a terrific experience, and I think this debate between MFA versus NYC is a conversation that doesn’t need to be had as often as it is. What’s great about getting an MFA is it gives you time and money to write, and if you’re lucky, you’ll meet a mentor, as I did. I met Ann Beattie. I think she picked up where Peter Fallon left off, and whipped me into shape. You know, if you can write, you can write. What’s neat about being in school, and being with people who have already made it in this world, is that there’s advice to be had. This idea of MFA versus NYC would suggest that if you’re in an MFA program then you’re not also living your life. I take huge issue with that; while I was in graduate school, my adoptive father died, and I watched him die. Many things happened to me. I waited tables fulltime. I struggled to pay bills. Many, many things were happening to me that influenced my writing and influenced the person that I became. I think it’s terrific if people can go to New York and become a successful writers, and there are so many teachers, successful teachers, who don’t have MFAs, and there are

DM: That is interesting. Let’s get back to Reunion. When you meet people who haven’t read the book, how do you describe it?

32 | THE COMMON ROOM

HP: So, part of what interests me as a writer is the use of time in narrative. The Fates followed a group of boys over essentially forty years; it was very important to me for my second novel to do something completely different. In this case that meant changing genders, changing person from first person plural to first person singular, changing tense from past to present, and it also meant condensing time; Reunion takes place over four days. That collapsing of time meant that I would be looking at much different aspects of a personality and a character; what I wanted to do with Reunion was distill a human being into as few scenes as possible in order to create the largest picture possible. But I guess the sound bite is I wanted to write a book that was funny, and I ended up writing a book about suicide, and debt, and infidelity. My paternal grandfather committed suicide just about on the eve that I was sitting

down to work on this novel that I had wanted to be so hilariously funny . . . If you are at all familiar with suicide, then you understand that it’s difficult to block out of your brain. And so every time I sat down to write, it was there. I was still determined to write the truth, and the truth was that there was a sort of ridiculousness to it. I would call it a dark comedy. DM: Why was it so important to you to do something completely different with your second novel? HP: Part of why I love writing is that it is a challenge. It’s important that I not do the same thing more than once—for some reason that challenge is what keeps the whole enterprise interesting to me. Which is funny, because some of my favorite writers—Roth, Graham Greene—are known for, perhaps mistakenly, but are often accused of writing the same book over and over and over again, and I could read those books over and over and over again . . . And I guess I tackle similar themes as well; it’s neat to be able to try to tell as many different stories as possible, to address as many different worlds and hearts as possible, while still ultimately trying to work through and closer to a better understanding of certain issues.

CAR photo courtesy of zoomstreet.wordpress.com

DM: You’ve mentioned that it was partly your grandfather’s suicide, but also the days that followed—when your family all gathered together—that were inspirational . . . What was it about this time that was so influential? HP: I think it was less their specific reaction and more seeing these people return to this place—Atlanta—where they had all known each other several decades earlier. It wasn’t just my mother and father, it was the friends that they had had when they were in their early 20s and 30s—when they were raising my brother, sister, and me. When my parents split up . . . you know, there’s a faction that goes with the mother and a faction that goes with the father; I think my mom lost a lot of truly great friends, so for her to be back there, and for them to be seeing one another, but now they aren’t just grownups—they are grandparents—some of them are great-grandparents, and here they are— being instantly transported back in time just by virtue of being close to one another. That was really provocative to me. And I wanted so much to be able to write a memoir or a piece of non-fiction about that experience, but I just couldn’t do it—it wasn’t my story. It was their story. I didn’t know a way in. So, I stole their story. And I completely broke it down and broke it apart. And made it into something that has nothing to do with their lives. But that moment was necessary for me as a storywriter—the storywriter in me immediately turned on, and I was just observing all weekend, which is what fiction writers do—that’s why we’re often awful to be in a room with— we tend to stay against the walls and watch. DM: Was there anything else about this book that was drawn from your own experience? HP: I’ve said this before and I do think it’s the truth: that this is the most autobiographical novel that I’ve written to date and that I plan on writing. I am very, very happily married and I’m also very, very happily faithful, as is my husband. But I have experienced extreme credit card debt. So that aspect of the story is very true to life. In fact, there’s a chapter that outlines specific numbers, and those specific numbers for a while were my numbers—

Hannah’s Bookshelf

C A R / B Y H A R RY C R E W S

It blew my mind . . . It’s completely ridiculous, but it’s also 100 percent rooted in realism. It’s absurd, and it’s sexy, and it’s raunchy, and it pushes limits in every way possible, and it never—in my mind—risks becoming pornographic. It is art.

WA L K S W I T H M E N / B Y A N N B E AT T I E

A triumph of a novella that is about a young woman who is being taught how to be a human being . . . but she’s also teaching the reader how to read a story, and how to interpret a life.

T H E W O M A N U P S TA I R S / BY C L A I R E M E S S U D

I was working on Reunion when the debate was taking place about The Woman Upstairs, and would you want to be friends with this character? And she said, ‘That’s a ridiculous question,’ and there was so much backlash. A really interesting conversation came out of that . . . I am definitely and firmly in Messud’s camp. I am not writing fiction to supply my reader with a possible coffee date. I am writing fiction in order to get to know the human heart better.

O N G R A H A M G R E E N E A N D P H I L I P ROT H —

Part of why I love writing is that it is a challenge. I don’t have children, and I have no plans of having children. But I very much think of these books that I produce as, quote unquote, ‘babies’ in many ways. It’s important that I not do the same thing more than once. For some reason, that challenge is what keeps the whole enterprise interesting to me. Which is funny, because some of my favorite writers—Roth, Graham Greene—are known for, perhaps mistakenly, but are often accused of writing the same book over, and over, and over again, and I could read those same books over, and over, and over again.

Kate’s numbers were my numbers. But I’m out of debt now. I mean, I have a mortgage, but I feel like that’s an okay kind of debt. Writing this book—I would say it was a cathartic experience. It was also a way to begin a conversation with my family; I kept my debt completely to myself. My husband knew about it, but nobody else did. So in writing this book, I think part of me was looking for a way to confess a sin that had already happened and that I had already taken care of— if you can take care of a sin. It was a wrong that I had righted, and I was ready to start talking about. DM: Was there anything else that felt autobiographical? HP: I have a really strong relationship with my siblings. But they are nothing like the people in Reunion, and at the end of the day, I’m nothing like Kate, either. As I said, I don’t have any firsthand experience with infidelity, but being a grownup now, and being married, I’ve started looking at the world in different terms— possibly less idealistic, dogmatic terms. When I was younger, it was definitely: ‘Adultery is the worst thing in the world, and nobody can ever forgive anybody anything.’ But, you know, I have friends who have gone through it. It’s not ideal and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but I think it’s an interesting topic. I think a lot more people have experience with it than we think. And that’s another thing: the minute I see potential—you know—something that maybe the majority of the world understands but isn’t going to talk about, that’s again when the writer brain kicks in. DM: So how do you go about understanding something that you haven’t experienced yourself? HP: That’s what being a sort of conduit for other people’s stories is . . . I don’t think I have to be man to write from the male perspective. I think I just have to be a human being that is paying attention. Faulkner famously declared that fiction should show the human heart at conflict with itself, and I think if you have a heart ‘at conflict with itself,’ then you understand a heart in somebody else in conflict with itself. I think that’s at the core of all fiction— or it should be.

34 | THE COMMON ROOM

DM: One of the things I loved about Reunion, which was so smart and kept me on my toes, was how Kate was always saying, ‘If this was a screenplay the dialogue would go this way, or this is where I would have my epiphany . . . ’ It felt like you were writing a novel that was very reflective about how stories are constructed, and was in some ways going along with those typical constructions, while simultaneously turning that construction on its head. How deliberate was that? HP: It was deliberate, and I’m glad you noticed! I love fiction that talks about the process of storytelling and story-making— I’m attracted to that type of quasi, meta narrative. Anytime I’m sitting down to write a story, I’m thinking of the storytelling; I’m thinking about the relationship between the author and the narrator, and the author and the narrator and the reader. I always want there to be some sort of question of the storyteller, and the storytelling experience. I’m very interested in working through my own beliefs and understanding of narratives through my writing. DM: What’s your process for writing? Can you write anywhere? When do you write? HP: I really don’t have a process; I can write pretty much anywhere and anytime. If a room is overly quiet, I get uncomfortable—it’s nice if there is ambient noise somewhere near me. About the one place that I have not yet been able to write fiction is in my office on campus. It’s a place where my brain goes straight to the academic side of things and my students’ work. I love to write by hand but when I’m writing with a pen, the pen can’t keep up with my thoughts, so I tend to write on the computer. Sometimes I will go months without writing, and when I’m not writing, I’m reading. I’m just devouring books, and I’m waiting. I’m waiting for a sort of feeling to take over, or an idea to come through that I wasn’t expecting. And one morning—literally I will wake up one morning—and I will have to sit down and write. And then I go into a sort of frenzy of writing that can last anywhere from a week to several months. Sometimes I can get a full draft, just non-stop writing. Once I have a

The author in her studio,

from her website: hannahpittard.com

I love spending time with sentences. draft, I find that there is this sort of lull, this wonderful calm lull that comes over me, where I am just content with everything, because I know that I have a draft, and soon I’ll get to go through it, and look at lines, and look at the words, and do that wonderful thing called revising, which is my favorite part. I love spending time with sentences. DM: You mentioned your campus job; you are part of creating a new MFA program at the University of Kentucky—tell me about it. HP: Being a professor is a dream job for me, and the University of Kentucky happens to be a really wonderful place to have a job. I have amazing colleagues. I love teaching. I think almost every professor can point to a moment in their education, and point to a teacher and talk endlessly about the things that we learned from that person or from several people. For me those teachers were at Deerfield and St. John’s. One thing that I try to impress upon young writers is that it is so easy to look outside, to look out your window, to walk down the street and say, ‘That’s ugly. That’s bad. I didn’t like that shirt. I think that building is too short.’ But it’s so much more difficult and for that reason, I believe, so much more gratifying to walk down the street and to try to see everything from a different angle.

The beauty of fiction, as far as I’m concerned, is that it provides a little window into how other people live, and the minute you’re able to see how other people live and you are able to understand why other people might make decisions that are contrary to the decisions that you might make, or just different than the decisions that you might have made—the minute you give a student that sort of resource, you’ve created empathy. The minute you’ve created empathy, you’ve created—I think—a better person. There’s very much a social contract. I think fiction helps that social contract to be maintained. DM: Do you have any advice for Deerfield students who are interested in writing? HP: Read. Read as much as you can. Read everything you can get your hands on. Once you’ve read everything you can get your hands on, ask your teachers what you should be reading or find somebody who is older than you are who you look up to and ask them what their favorite book is. And don’t just read the last five years—read books from 50 years ago; read books from 150 years ago; look for the older books, not just the newer ones. The writing will come. If you’re going to be a writer, you will write. It’s reading that we need to encourage more than ever. //

Curtain Call After 29 Years, Sam Skillings Retires When you’ve been at a school for 29 years, you’re bound to have a day or two when things don’t go quite as you planned. For instance, one evening early in Sam Skillings’ Deerfield career was particularly memorable. It was back in the days before coeducation. “We set up for a performance by the McLain Family Bluegrass Band in the Memorial Building,” says Mr. Skillings. “It was raining its brains out!” The lights flickered. The building lost power, and the boys were sent back to their dorm rooms for flashlights. The show went on. More recently, the power went out during a dance performance in the White Church last winter. Students helped out again, this time by illuminating the stage with light from their cellphones.

36 | ALBANY ROAD

BY LYNN HOROWITCH | PHOTOGRAPHS BRENT M. HALE

In his work with the Academy Events Committee, Mr. Skillings has provided tech support for many illustrious artists: dance companies including Alvin Ailey, Ballet Chicago, David Parson’s, Momix, Anna Wyman; the African American ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock; and actors from The Reduced Shakespeare Company, among many, many others over the years. Mr. Skillings came to Deerfield in 1985. A native of nearby Amherst, MA, he started his career supporting educational audio/visual needs in a local junior high school, and then there was a seven year stint with the Ice Capades—starting as a truck driver, moving on to lighting director, and finally stage manager. In that job, he traveled for nine months of each year, and eventually, he was ready for something other than life on the road. While his role at Deerfield has involved far less travel, it has nevertheless presented some logistical challenges and required an evolving set of skills. He and his colleague, Nancy Smiroski, were originally based out of the Boyden Library and responsible for renting, delivering, and returning 16mm movies to classrooms. Setting up slides and slide projectors was also a big part of the job. Then, VCRs came into vogue. Most recently, laptops, smart boards, wireless networks, data projectors, document cameras, and more have made their way into the classroom. Reflecting the increasingly technological nature of his role, Mr. Skillings joined the Information Technology department in the early 2000s. In addition to supporting educational needs, Mr. Skillings has played a big part in many student and visitor performances. In his first years at Deerfield, he worked with then Theater Director John Reese to provide light

and sound for dramatic performances. When Deerfield went coed, Mr. Skillings began supporting dance performances, working with visual and performing arts teacher Jen Whitcomb. He estimates that they have worked on “70-80 performances together,” and notes that lighting dance shows is different from lighting theatrical productions. “In theater, when something happens, it tends to stay for a while,” he says. “It’s day, or it’s night. In dance, the mood changes all the time!” In his work with the Academy Events Committee, Mr. Skillings has provided tech support for many illustrious artists: dance companies including Alvin Ailey, Ballet Chicago, David Parson’s, Momix, Anna Wyman; the African American ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock; and actors from The Reduced Shakespeare Company, among many, many others. But even so, it was working with student talent that Mr. Skillings enjoyed the most. “One of our biggest successes was putting on the off-Broadway production of The Buddy Holly Story,” Mr. Skillings recalls. “It was a great show that Dave Howell, then Academy Events director, was able to bring to Deerfield. We had a rotating crew of about 70 kids who helped put it together.” He also mentored several students over the years; they worked intensively on tech crews for shows and learned the secrets to lighting, to setting up a

soundboard, and to pulling all the elements together to create a successful performance. During Reunion Weekend 2014, Mr. Skillings was honored as the recipient of the inaugural Morsman Award—“Presented each year to that individual, either member of the alumni body or Academy staff member, who has distinguished him/herself through extraordinary effort and service on behalf of the Deerfield Academy alumni body. In the tradition of Mimi Morsman, 1999-2013 Director of Alumni Relations, who transformed the Alumni Association through her tireless devotion to all things Deerfield.” It was an “exciting and unexpected” moment for Mr. Skillings. Deerfield had Mr. Skillings for one more semester this past fall—he retired at the end of the fall term—and felt the timing was right, with the Hess Center for the Arts opening its doors. “It's a totally new slate,” he says, “and I thought, let someone else write all over it.” In this next phase, Mr. Skillings won’t be idle. He plans to do some freelance stage work for shows and sporting events; maybe some rock climbing, and definitely “more time with grandkids and family.” As for his 29 years at Deerfield, he says, “It went unbelievably fast! I’ve spent most of my adult life in educational settings, and I am one of the few people lucky enough to feel that my life is my work and my work is my life. It’s been fun, overall. Really fun.” //

M O O R N O M M

O C E TH 1935 1934 961 1 0 6 9 1 1987 1986 012 2 2011

1937 1936 963 1 2 6 9 1 1989 1988 014 2 2013

1959 1958 1957 985 1 6 5 4 9 8 1 1955 82 1983 19 9 2010 4 5 9 53 1 1 19 200 52 19 0 198 2008 951 19 8 1979 198 006 2007 1 0 5 49 19 7 197 04 2005 2 6 197 48 19 5 197 2 2003 20 47 1 9 7 9 1 9 1 6 4 4 45 19 2 1973 197 0 2001 200 44 19 43 19 0 1971 197 1999 200 9 1 2 1 194 1969 197 1997 1998 0 194 9 194 1967 1968 1995 1996 3 9 1 1938 965 1966 994 993 1 1 1964 991 1992 1 1 1 9 9 0 o n Ye a r s i *Reun

FROM THE ARCHIVES

’94

38 | THE COMMON ROOM

Sanford Treat ’42 Written up by the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum Hall of Fame. http://bit.ly/1yMVyEo

The Class of 1949 at their 65th Reunion: back, l to r: George and Lynne Rapp, Ann and Scrib Fauver, Don Dwight, Bob Palmer, George Bass, John Beard, Harvey Loomis, Fran and Bruce Walker; front, l to r: Herrick Littlefield, Barbara Toole, Harriet and Bob Dewey, John McKay, Elizabeth Howe Verrill, John McPhee Missing: Nancy Dwight, Peter Leighton

1941 “As most of you turn 90 this year, let me pass on to you the dear affection my father, John Patrick, had for Deerfield. Dad passed away in 1999, but he spoke highly of the Academy as it held a dear place in his heart. I teach at Tabor Academy, but I swing through Deerfield whenever I travel to Kingston, NY—my father’s former residence. He used to tell the stories of the legendary Frank Boyden, and the days of shipping his laundry home to his parents in Cornwall, NY! As I recently sold Lamont Landing Farm, a place also dear to my father, I came across annuals, letters, and pictures of his days at the Academy. The names I read in the class notes are familiar. As he put it to me, attending Deerfield made him successful and taught him how to be a true gentleman.” —Ian Patrick, son of John Patrick ’41

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

1954

Rolf Margenau ’52 Published the third book in his Wylie Cypher series: High Andes. Available from booksellers, Amazon.com, and Frogworks Publishing. Dusty Miller ’58 Celebrating 50 years at Bowditch and Dewey—the sum of his career as a lawyer.

40 | THE COMMON ROOM

“I am sorry I could not make it to our 60th, only because it fell on the same date as my wife’s 50th at Cornell. The lively, occasionally irreverent, always balanced summary assembled by Peter, Zeke, and Sam made clear what we missed. Indeed, it added up to one of the best accounts of modern Deerfield I have seen anywhere. It reassured me that the school is doing well, no longer in Mr. Boyden’s shadow but pursuing goals he would have understood and heartily endorsed. I particularly missed hearing Eric Widmer’s account of King’s Academy (Barbara and I drove by it on a visit to Petra some years ago), the frank assessment of challenges facing Deerfield, the note on Deerfield’s declining athletic competitiveness—nothing to be worried about once what you understand what it means—and the very interesting comments by students and faculty. Those who put the Reunion program together deserve our sincere thanks, even if we could not be there. And bravo to Peter, Zeke, and Sam.” —Bob Pringle

1955

“You’ll recognize the photos that were taken at our 55 th Reunion: There’s Mike Grant with his son, Andrew ’85, with his wife Emily and son, Andrew (Class of ’25?), Jerry Rood wrestling with a lobster, Bruce McEwan with a matching umbrella, and an alum savoring a moment in time on the magnificent Lower Level. —Tom L’Esperance / Carl Hedden ’55, third row from the top, second from the left, was proud to be part of a church choir sing at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York—the fourth largest cathedral in the Western world.

“Our Grand 60th Reunion will be happening in just four months! Let’s all re-visit the Pocumtuck Valley, look to the hills, relax, reminisce, and regale in the spectacular Deerfield setting with our classmates. We’ll have a contest to see how mellow we’ve become—an oxymoron for sure! The dates to set aside on your calendar are June 4-7. Our featured agenda will be for you to show up, enjoy the occasion, and bring a friend!”—Tom L’Esperance More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Remembering Merriam “The number of spontaneous responses to the announcement of Mr. Merriam’s passing reveal the pervasiveness of his stature in all of us during our formative Deerﬁeld Days. Here are a few ’55-ers’ recollections of our devoted mentor:” Tom L’Esperance

Always encouraging and positive. I often suspected he was trying to lure me into the lacrosse program, although in retrospect, I cannot imagine why. No classroom connection either, but I could count on him for wise advice junior year in the Old Dorm. I have often wished he could have had a shot at the Headmaster’s chair during his illustrious career in education. If the success of a school is the quality of its faculty (and it is), Bobby Merriam was at the top of a sterling collection of teachers, coaches, and administrators.” Frank King

“Bobby was one of a kind—a big inﬂuence and mentor to many of us. Never have I heard of a teacher, coach, headmaster, or president of an academic institution eliciting the volume of unsolicited responses from one class almost 60 years after graduation!” Bill Morton

“It was said that Bobby Merriam and Rocky Marciano were New England’s greatest athletes of the era.” Tom Nuzum

“No question a memorable inﬂuence on every DA boy he worked with. Over the years I heard classmates speak of his lasting impact in English class, and many of us will remember him from soccer, hockey, or lacrosse.” Erik Esselstyn “Seems to me there’s a yearbook picture of Mr. Merriam debating us as sophomores on the topic, ‘Resolved: That the US should attack Russia immediately.’ Students had the affirmative and were spoiling for a pre-emptive strike on them before they tried one on us. Bobby Merriam recalled his visit to Hiroshima after the war, with outline shadows of nuclear victims still visible on the walls. I thought he was very vivid and eloquent, especially as the toughest guy in the room, and the strongest voice on the faculty team, but I can’t guarantee that he and the faculty won the day with the crowd. The yearbook pictures of the students and him are entitled, respectively, ‘Smilers never lose, frowners never win.’ I was

“He was a great man.” Jack Collins “I’m saddened by the passing of Bob Merriam. He was an outstanding leader, teacher, and coach.” Jerry Rood way too low in the sports hierarchy to have had Merriam as a coach, but not too low to remember him as a legend, miss him when he’s gone, and admit that his side was right in the debate. A nuclear assault on Russia—and I think it was Russia in the prompt, not the Soviet Union—might not have been such a smart move after all. But maybe I would have to check that ﬁrst with Ellery Stone. Sorry he’s not here either, or Jim Stanley or Floyd Moloy. They were the best. I’ve got a remembrance book of Jim with pictures and reminiscences and some of his cartoons from the Harvard Lampoon.” Ward Elliott

“What a fantastic leader and coach. In a lifetime of coaching and being coached, he was absolutely special.” Al Hobart “A true character among the Deerﬁeld legends! Hope all are planning on 60th! Hope we all live as long.” Dick Cadigan “Most coaches tell you how to perform; Bob was out there doing it. A winner.” Brady Coleman “I did not play the Merriam sports, so I did not beneﬁt from Bob’s day-to-day coaching skill, but I remember him welcoming my shaky skill to the Sunday afternoon lacrosse pick-up games.

“I feel, as so many of our era do, that Bob Merriam had a significant impact on us during our tenure at Deerfield. I had the good fortune to be on his JV lacrosse team in spring 1954. It changed my athletic experience for years to come. What a leader, teacher, coach, mentor. I feel it a honor to have shared those experiences.” Jim Scott “Stern as he was, I always liked him. He was raised in Greenfield, around the corner and up the hill from my parents’ home. I shall keep him in my prayers.” John Moran

FROM THE ARCHIVES circa

’47

42 | THE COMMON ROOM

R E C E N T LY PUBLISHED

JIM DOHERTY

’51

FINISH UP STRONG Elam & Funsten, LLC / 2014

One of Headmaster Frank Boyden’s most famous sayings provided the inspiration for the title of Jim Doherty’s most recent book: Finish Up Strong. Mr. Doherty set out to interview men and women “in the last stage of their life,” which in this case was defined as having reached 70 years of age. The purpose of the interviews, and the goal of writing Finish Up Strong, was to fulfill Mr. Doherty’s personal quest to give “meaning and purpose” to the remaining years of his life, and to help others do the same. Mr. Doherty compiled a list of questions and sent them to men and women whom he respects and admires, with the directive to answer as many or as few of his questions as they liked. In some cases, Mr. Doherty’s questions inspired his interviewees to talk about subjects entirely unrelated to those he broached. Among the questions he asked were: The headmaster at the boarding school I attended used to exhort students, “Finish up strong.” Does that resonate with you? What constitutes a good death? A good life? If someone asks you about the condition of your soul, what comes to mind? What sources have helped you describe what the soul is about? What does it mean to die at peace? Any stories or jokes about the soul that stir you? Yes, to paraphrase, you can’t take it (cash) with you, but you can’t go anywhere without it . . . Over seventy women and men responded to Mr. Doherty, including fellow Deerfield alumnus Bob Hetherington ’59; the result is a collection of thoughtful and often quite intimate reflections compiled by Mr. Doherty that offer inspiration and wisdom to people of all ages. //

A BO U T T H E AU T H O R . . .

Jim Doherty lives in Richmond, VA, with his wife of 53 years, Mary Lou. He and Mary Lou have four children and 11 grandchildren. In addition to Finish Up Strong, Mr. Doherty has written five other books, beginning in 1972 with Race and Education in Richmond.

44 | THE COMMON ROOM

1958

“The years fly by. But at 72 and 74 my wife Margi and I still lead engaged lives. We enjoy our five grandchildren, ages three to 17, all of whom live in Worcester (MA) and whose mother is our eldest daughter, Emilie. Since our other two daughters, Betsy (married to Jonathan, a builder of wooden boats) and Sarah, both live a few hours drive away in Maine we are able to easily gather for birthday and holiday celebrations. As a principal responsibility at Bowditch and Dewey, I am director of Community Involvement, tasked with helping younger lawyers find and join non-profit organization boards. Margi has retired from her job as library assistant at the Bancroft School but keeps active with the Girl Scouts as an area Service Team member and Brownie leader. She also continues singing with the Worcester Chorus and First Baptist Church Choir. I also continue community activities, currently serving as president of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, chair of the Massachusetts Area Council of The Boys and Girls Clubs, and member of the National Area Council of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, where I represent the Massachusetts and Northern New England Area Councils. And we are still travelling. Our two most recent trips were to Palestine (West Bank) where Margi and other members of the Worcester Chorus participated in a Baroque Music Festival under the auspices of the Al Kamandjati Music School in Ramallah. Concerts were held there as well as Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We also visited Nablus. In August we spent two weeks touring Myanmar with a small group under the auspices of Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). Visiting Yangon, the temple complex of Bagan, Mandalay, Kalaw in the hill country, and Inle Lake, OAT focused on introducing us to Burmese life as we visited (in addition to major tourist sites) villages, farms, several homes for shared meals, festivals, a school and a nunnery, markets, and a variety of artisans at work. Despite media coverage of unrest in both the West Bank and Myanmar, we were graciously received by the people we met, and except for the need to pass through checkpoints in the West Bank, at no time felt uncomfortable travelling about.” —Dusty Miller

1962 “Doug Abercrombie and I took our tenth annual motorcycle journey this past August. This year we rode from Doug’s house on the Gulf Coast in Lillian, AL, to my house in Oldwick, NJ. The trip was 1700 miles, and the highlight was riding the entire 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Highway from Cherokee, NC, to Waynesboro, VA. It is truly one of the most beautiful roads in America. With the completion of this ride, we have now traveled over 25,000 miles through 33 states and three Canadian provinces; we look forward to adding to those numbers in the future. Dave Phillips came up with the saying, ‘Yea Bo,’ and we have named each of our ten rides Yea Bo, One through Ten. If Dave or any of our other classmates knows what Yea Bo means, please let me know at tedzeller@comcast.net. Also, let’s hear from more of you so our ’62 section in the magazine doesn’t look so anemic!” —Ted Zeller

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

2305

meters

“I hiked Mount Fuji (Fujisan) and parts of the Kumano Kodo. Last May did the Camino de Santiago from France to northern Spain with my 21-year-old son. All in all, feel most fortunate and treat every day as a gift. Here are two photos; the ﬁrst one was taken on a hill outside of Pamplona, Spain, after walking through a downpour. We only have 400+ miles left to walk. The second one is self-explanatory. The two fellows on the right were our hiking partners.”—John Moran ’55 55 62

1700

miles /

Lillian, AL, to my house in Oldwick, NJ

CHRISTOPHER MONKHOUSE’65 The Art-full Life BY

GRACE FRIARY

Christopher Monkhouse (far right) with the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins, his wife, Sabina Coyne, and Douglas Druick, President and Director, The Art Institute of Chicago.

On a chilly January day in Chicago, Christopher Monkhouse ’65 is doing exactly what he was doing fifty years ago at Deerfield—putting the final touches on an art exhibition. Mr. Monkhouse, the internationally respected Eloise W. Martin Curator and Chair of European Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, will open the much anticipated Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840 on St. Patrick’s Day. The result of over five years of research and planning, and with 300 objects from 85 lenders, it is the largest exhibition ever undertaken of works from that period in Ireland’s history. “I had the good fortune,” says Mr. Monkhouse, “to know what I wanted to do professionally very early in life. I curated my first art exhibition at Deerfield, and I have not deviated from that career track. 1965 classmates may remember my working in the Hilson Gallery on an exhibition and catalogue of the paintings of 19th century Deerfield resident James Wells Champney.” After studying art history at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Monkhouse spent seven years in London at the Courtauld Institute, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as a founding lecturer in the Arts in London—Florence Program for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. From London he returned to the United States to spend fifteen years in Providence as curator of both European and American decorative arts at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. After curating RISD’s Buildings on Paper: Rhode Island Architectural Drawings, 1820-1945, he was tapped to become founding curator of Pittsburgh’s Heinze Architectural Center, within the Carnegie Museum complex. “As I’d grown up on the East Coast—in Portland, Maine—and architectural history had always been my great passion; Providence was a natural location for launching my American curatorial career. But Pittsburgh—lying well beyond the Hudson River—was terra incognita.” In Pittsburgh, Mr. Monkhouse built from scratch a collection and hired a staff for a new department to be housed within the Carnegie complex. The Heinz Architectural Center is, today, an acclaimed collection of nearly 6000 objects including drawings, models, and photographs, ranging from the late 18th century to the present.

46 | THE COMMON ROOM

“It was while building the collections for the Heinz Center,” says Mr. Monkhouse, “that I had the opportunity to cross paths with a Deerﬁeld classmate, Richard Gluckman, who had been appointed architect of the Carnegie’s Andy Wharhol Museum. The world is indeed small.” From the Heinz Center, Mr. Monkhouse was lured further west when the Minneapolis Institute of Arts appointed him as the James Ford Bell Curator and for four years served as chief curator. He settled happily into the Twin Cities where he purchased a house designed by the Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer, Marcel Breuer. During Mr. Monkhouse’s Minneapolis years, strengthening donor relations in preparation for a major building campaign was a good use of his skills as both a fundraiser and a curator. An active exhibitions program brought both existing donors and new ones closer to the museum. “At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, I was the James Ford Bell Curator of Architecture, Design, Decorative Arts, Craft, and Sculpture,” recalls Mr. Monkhouse. “The unwieldy title—with the acronym ADDICS—reﬂected the breadth of the collection, which had grown to embrace 500 objects from the Norwest Bank Collection of Modern Design after it merged with Wells Fargo.” In 2007, Christopher Monkhouse moved to the Art Institute of Chicago; an appointment he envisions as the capstone of his extraordinary career. While he will retain a pied a terre in Chicago, in “retirement,” he also looks forward to going home. “Many years ago, I realized I needed to secure a toehold in my natal state of Maine. As my hometown Portland has become almost a suburb of Boston, I decided to go ‘way down East.’ Always working around exhibition, lecture, travel, and publication schedules, I’ve spent parts of thirty summers in Machiasport in Washington County. Once I make a year-round addition to the existing 18th century house . . . who knows?. . . it could well become my primary residence at the end of a very fruitful and satisfying journey.” //

Visit: artic.edu for more information on Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840

Bill Espinosa ’63 Featured along with his recently published eco-thriller, WARMING!, at a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities panel on climate change and literature during a graduate seminar at American University on Global Politics and Spirituality.

1963 Pictured are members of the Deerfield Class of 1963 and their spouses /guests standing on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, PA, on June 14, 2014. For two days the group was hosted by Ted McPherson and his wife Sally. Friendship and fun abounded while dining in the historic McPherson family home, seeing the film A New Birth of Freedom and a massive Cyclorama painting in the new visitor center and museum, taking a guided tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and a visiting a scenic local winery. In addition, several of the group joined in walking the site of Pickett’s Charge; others enjoyed a music festival, going to local shops, and relaxing on the porches and in the yard at the McPherson home. This gathering took place one year after the Class of 1963’s fabulous 50th Reunion at Deerfield. “In short, everyone had a great weekend extending relationships formed years ago in Deerfield classrooms, dormitories, and playing fields, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Boyden and outstanding faculty, administrators, and staff who had such positive impact on our lives,” —Ted McPherson

1964 “In my capacity as vice chair of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, I delivered a speech Santa Barbara, CA, concerning the lawsuits that the Republic of the Marshall Islands recently filed against the nine nations currently in possession of nuclear weapons. A transcript of the speech, entitled ‘A Small Republic with Big Principles,’ appears on the Foundation’s website at napf.org.”—Robert Laney

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

l to r, back row: Larry Langford, Luke Terry, Rick Ackerly, Ted McPherson, Tim Balch, Linda Sicher, David Sicher; l to r,

middle row: Linda Balch (head is between Christine Marshall and Emilie Hinman), Sally McPherson (head is between JoMarie Halsey and Ruwe Halsey in center of photo), George Hinman (far right); l to r, front row: Candy Langan (far left, holding wrist), Christine Marshall, Emilie Hinman, Jo Marie Halsey, Ruwe Halsey, Peter Acky (with binoculars), Ellen Robinson (not pictured: Fran Murphy, Rob Wood, Lucy Wood, Ralph Penny, and Ann Penny)

James Burns ’67 Recent work: “Square World,” acrylic on paper.

Bob Segal ’67 Joined the dermatology faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Bob earned his BA from Cornell, an MD from SUNY Upstate Medical School in Syracuse, NY, and served as resident and chief resident in dermatology at Stanford. He was on the clinical faculty at Stanford and St. Louis University before joining the faculty at the University of Arizonia.

1965

“Classmates and members of greater Deerfield Family: I had a chance to return to the Deerfield campus for the Bobby Merriam memorial service held in the Brick Church. The main floor was entirely filled with family and friends. Reverend Peter Ives ’61 (our own Bobby Ives’s older brother) conducted the wonderful and touching service. Our class was well represented by Andy Steele, Billy Burns, Alec Megibow, Peter Montori, and me. A reception was held in the Browsing Library immediately following the service. Key participants included Bobby’s granddaughters, reading one of his poems written especially for them, former Headmaster Eric Widmer and his wife, along with Rev Ives. Andy, Alec, and I had a conversation with Mary Merriam, and we invited her to our up-coming 50th Reunion in June and informed her that our 50th Reunion Yearbook will be appropriately dedicated to Bobby. As you’ll remember, our 1965 Pocumtuck was also dedicated to Mr. Merriam. We also had a chance to speak with Coach Jim and Carol Smith, Bob Hammond, and Chuck Demers, among others. It was truly an uplifting afternoon. Karen and I had spent Friday evening with Billy Burns and his lovely wife Ronnie. Billy is going to be very active in stimulating interest to attend our 50th among football, basketball, and baseball jocks from in our class and former day students. Thanks, Billy! I also had a nice visit with Head of School Margarita Curtis, who is beginning her ninth year at Deerfield. The school remains in very good hands. See you at our 50th, now less than five months away!”—Flick Flickinger (photos)

Celebrating 60th birthdays on the Appalachian Trail in VT, all Class of ’71: Jon Rosen, Chris Hall, Steve Prokesch, Doug Wilson, Michael Bernhard, and Bob Lawson. Photo by Mark Fagan

“ Madagascar with Baobabs.” —George Sibley ’74

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1966 “We seem to be doing a lot more moving around in retirement than I ever expected. Headed down to Bogota in June for the wedding of our older son, Jedidiah, to Ana Albir Sarmiento, pictured herewith. The picture may be staid, but the boda was quite the blowout. They met at MIT and now live in San Francisco. A year prior I was in Tokyo and, yes, Fukushima, to make a documentary for Japanese TV about the tsunami and nuclear meltdown. (I faintly glow in the dark these days.) Otherwise, Jane and I divide our time between Patzcuaro, in the cartel-ridden state of Michoacan, Mexico, and our snake-ridden farm an hour north of New Orleans. Enjoyed the month of April in NYC, a chance to catch up with some of the immortals of ’66. That’s Jane in the yellow dress. No idea who the geezer is on the right.” —Jed Horne (photo)

1971

After 29 years at Deerfield, Mike Bois enjoyed a bountiful retirement and continued his support of Deerfield students by establishing three charitable gift annuities.

Live on at Deerfield.

“After more than 30 years in New York City, I finally threw in the towel and moved to Charleston, SC. I plan to continue expanding my consulting work from there. Plentiful oysters and fine local brew influenced the relocation decision.”— Ian Devine More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden 49

Ed Schmults ’80 Joined a birthday celebration for Scott LaShelle with classmates on Nantucket. “All were in fine form and much hilarity ensued.” Jim Butz ’80 Enjoyed a nine-state, 6000-mile trip to play golf with a few friends at nine of the top 50 courses in the US. After playing Pine Valley, Sand Hills, Bandon Dunes, Crystal Downs, and five others, he returned to a great day of golf in DC with classmate Mark Albert.

“ Spent some time in Westport, MA, with Phil Collias and his son Nico. Phil was in fine form and taught my four-year-old son, Eddie, the fine art of spitting sunflower seeds. After a little fishing, Phil jumped into a nearby creek and pulled out a spawning herring and a turtle. Never a dull moment with Uncle Phil!”—Ed Schmults

David Ziccardi ’83 Had his picture snapped in front of JW while participating in the “D2R2” bike ride.

1980 “Here are some DA ’80s meeting up at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica during a visit by Gig Faux. Included in pic are Ned Morrison, Gig Faux, Phil Collias, Dwayne Gathers, and Greg Dobbs. We were later joined for dinner by Dan Offner and Chip Smith.”—Dwayne Gathers

80 50 | THE COMMON ROOM

R E C E N T LY PUBLISHED

MILES JENNINGS

’62

CHANGING HANDS IN CHINATOWN Miles Jennings ’62 set out to write a financial thriller, but somewhere along the creative line it became the story of Yan Song—a young woman from Hong Kong, on her own in New York City. In Mr. Jennings’ energetic and highly descriptive novel, Yan soon finds herself deeply enmeshed in the business of an Asian massage parlor; from discovering the brutal tactics of the manager of the so-called “spa” to questioning her heart’s desire, Yan’s journey has been described as an adventure of the heart and senses as well as of her will and wits. After Deerfield, Mr. Jennings attended Union College. Changing Hands in Chinatown is his first novel; his primary work has been in the field of investment research and management. //

E X C E R P T //

Mr. Song reached over and opened a small false desk panel, dramatically revealing two suede bags hidden inside the secret compartment. He pulled them out and slowly, very slowly, pushed the drawer back in and slid the panel so as not to cause any wear that would give away the false front. He never showed me that false panel before. “As you know, Yan, I have always admired your self-reliance and intellect, and I fully understand your decision to leave East-West Jewelry and start a business of your own in New York. It is very satisfying to build your own business from scratch. The larger bag contains ﬁnancial backing for your business venture from our friends. They want to be part of your Hong.” Yan thought, My Hong? What is he talking about?

“A great school rests on three things: the quality of those who teach, the quality of those who learn, and the quality of the resources that can be brought to bear on that work.” Michael Cary—English Teacher Thank you for your leadership support of Deerfield teachers and students.

1797 51

The Brand Manager BY

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LYNN HOROWITCH

Courtesy of Bill Eyre

BILL EYRE’82

When Bill Eyre ’82 did some writing for The Scroll and co-founded a student magazine, The Deerfield Mirror, he might not have known that he was laying the groundwork for a job he would love. That first shot at shaping text and implementing a vision for a publication helped him develop skills that set him on a trajectory to his current role: director of Branding and Corporate Marketing for The Orvis Company. After Deerfield, Mr. Eyre enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a degree in journalism, specializing in editorial work and photography, and minored in advertising. His first job after graduation in 1986 was as a photo editor for a newspaper in Hilton Head, SC. From there, he moved back home to Connecticut to work with his father in real estate. That worked fine, “until the late 80s, when the market tanked,” Mr. Eyre explains. The slowdown in that market led Mr. Eyre to take a job in direct marketing at a small company where he handled “everything marketing” from list management to product development to creative execution. This latter function is what inspired him to apply his graphic, photographic, and writing skills to the direct marketing field. Next was a job in Boston as creative director at a mail order wine company.

fly: megastocker

Then, in 1998, Mr. Eyre joined Orvis in Manchester, VT, to run the creative department. As the oldest mail order company in the United States, founded in 1856, Orvis had a long tradition of catalog sales and was also expanding its physical presence through stores in the United States and United Kingdom. It was an exciting time for the creative side of the business, as the nascent Internet meant building a web presence, while maintaining and growing catalog sales. Four years ago, Mr. Eyre moved to his current position. “I switched gears, spun off day-to-day management of the creative department so I could focus on our brand strategy” he says. His role as head of Branding and Corporate Marketing is multi-faceted, with two main areas of focus. The first is defining and implementing brand strategies in multiple sales channels and across a diverse array of product categories. At its core, the company is the world leader in fly-fishing, but has evolved into a $350 million purveyor of high-quality sportswear, outdoor gear, gifts and accessories for the home and travel. Orvis was the first to introduce dog beds in America, and dog products are a mainstay. Orvis also offers experiences, including fly-fishing and shooting schools, endorsed guides and lodges across North America, and sporting excursions and eco-tours throughout the world. Mr. Eyre also focuses on leading and administering Orvis’s philanthropic efforts. The company, which is privately owned, contributes five percent of its pretax profits to protect nature every year. With its customers, Orvis has raised and donated more than $18 million in the last 25 years. Leading the company’s philanthropy is in essence like running a small foundation; Mr. Eyre is head liaison to the organizations that Orvis supports, and he is in charge of vetting groups and working with them to maximize the conservation outcomes of grants. Frequently, Orvis structures their grants as matching gifts, bolstering donations from its customers dollar-for-dollar to select initiatives. Chief among the organizations that Orvis supports are those that preserve fish and wildlife habitat throughout the world. The company raised $100,000 for Trout Unlimited’s campaign to stop the building of the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, AK, providing a dollar-for-dollar match to donors to raise the total. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is another organization that Orvis supports, matching customer donations to raise $60,000 to build oyster reefs in the Bay for each of the past three years. This year Orvis surpassed $1 million in funds raised to help Morris Animal Foundation battle canine cancer through its innovative Orvis Cover Dog photo contest. Orvis also funds The Petfinder Foundation, helping dog rescue shelters match dogs with families. Perhaps as a result of adorable puppies featured in promotions for the program, fundraising for The Petfinder Foundation is “by far our most popular,” says Mr. Eyre.

“The best part is helping our customers and associates make such a big difference in protecting nature,” he says. “As outdoorsmen and women, we have a responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it. That’s a core value and call to action that we try to inspire every day.” Mr. Eyre has picked up fly-fishing while at Orvis, although he notes that enjoying the outdoors is not a prerequisite to working at the company. While he does not hunt, he was raised camping, hiking, skiing, and canoeing, and continues to pursue outdoor activities with his family when his schedule permits. But his favorite part of the job stems from the philanthropic aspect. “The best part is helping our customers and associates make such a big difference in protecting nature,” he says. “As outdoorsmen and women, we have a responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it. That’s a core value and call to action that we try to inspire every day.” //

“ Visiting in Colorado. Send in your get-together photos, fellas.”

“We have a big playground up here. And it sure beats standing in lift lines!”

“My son Cole, 15, and I are pictured here after I landed our ski plane at the top of Mt. Susitna near Anchorage for a little spring skiing. The mountain behind us in the close-up walking photo is Mt. Spur, an active volcano that last erupted in 1992, covering Anchorage in ash. My friend who took the photos also flew his ski plane in so that we could leave one plane at the bottom and ferry back to the airplane on the top of the mountain after skiing down. We have a big playground up here. And it sure beats standing in lift lines!”— Win Faulkner ’81

—John Knight ’83

John Knight ’83 Attended an event hosted by the Halftime Institute. He heard classmate Jeff Spadafora speak, and even met Jeff’s mom. Jeff is director of Global Coaching at Halftime, an organization that guides those who are looking for more joy in the second half of their lives.

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1985 “As director of Student Life at the YK Pao School, I have spent the past three-and-a-half years working in conjunction with a private foundation and the Chinese government to help design, organize, and run a traditional US/UK model boarding school in Shanghai. We opened the doors in 2011 with 78 boys and girls in the seventh grade and now have over 375 students in grades six through nine, and have been planning our senior addition of tenth, 11th and 12th grades. This has been an exciting and rewarding experience that I have cherished and enjoyed. I even was able to play some hockey in the International League of Shanghai! However, more importantly, I have married a colleague from China and we now have a baby girl named Anjolina May Elias (aka AME). We decided to move back to Deerfield, where I head the Math Department at Eaglebrook School. Looking forward to seeing classmates for our 30th in June!”—Joey Elias

“2014 has been a banner year for me. In February, I was promoted to chair, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This now means I am in charge of a team of eight curators and support staff and one of the finest collections of European paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts in North America—some 30,000 works total, including 38 paintings by Monet. In May, I finally received my PhD in Art History from Columbia University (I recommend not taking seventeen years to write a dissertation, even on an artist as interesting as Jacopo Tintoretto!). And in October I opened a large exhibition of the work of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. I feel as if the many discussions about art back in the early 1980s with Mr. Engelland and George Knight have come to fruition. I stay in touch with Terry Murray, Stephen Higgins, and a few others in our class, but I would like to see more of my classmates.”—Frederick Ilchman (For more on Frederick, see page 56.)

1988

“Truly mystified that an entire year has passed since our 25th Reunion last summer. All well here in Raleigh, though. I have a financial research business that keeps me in contact with some Deerfield cronies, and I have also enjoyed collaborating with some DA friends on a documentary I have been working on. Please get in touch if you are ever in the neighborhood.”—Burke Koonce

Jay Flemma caught up with Jeff Downing this past summer at the

grand re-opening of the Philly Cricket Club. “The course may make a run for a US Open in the future; the renovation was that good. Jeff bought new clubs and he’s having a ball playing—more so because he’s making everything he looks at on the greens lately with his new putter,” Jay commented. / “Eight or nine years ago I promised my wife Elizabeth that we would go to Paris for our tenth wedding anniversary, and she remembered! That April day was cool and rainy, but I am happy to report that my Deerfield sweatshirt kept me warm as we took a wonderful bike tour of Versailles.”—Marc Cram

Tim Smith ’85 “Took a beating” from Teddy U and his partner in the final round of the Burlingame CC Invitational but had a great time reconnecting.

a h C , r o t a Cur

e s s i o n n o r, a n d C

FREDERICK ILCHMAN’85 BY

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GRACE FRIARY

Thirty years ago Frederick Ilchman wondered if his college major—as interesting as it was—was durable. The Princeton undergraduate had chosen to concentrate in art history with a focus on the Italian Renaissance. So, wondered Mr. Ilchman, could studying Italian art actually become one’s career?

Today there is no doubt Frederick Ilchman, a highly respected scholar of the Italian Renaissance and the chair, Art of Europe and Curator of Paintings at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, found a way to turn his passion into a profession! A Fulbright fellowship and grants from the Metropolitan Museum of Art allowed Mr. Ilchman to take up residence in Italy, where he began several years of research on a dissertation about the 16th century Venetian painter, Jacopo Tintoretto. Working with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice exposed him to extraordinary collections of Italian art. He also became involved with the international preservation effort, Save Venice, on whose executive committee he currently serves. “I so enjoy working with Save Venice, have been on the board since 2005, and was on the search committee that appointed Amy Gross, the current executive director. I have led tours for Save Venice since 2007 to places such as Madrid, Turin, and to the painter Titian’s birthplace in the Dolomite Mountains. I have also co-chaired several of the Boston chapter’s fundraising galas.” But it was at Deerfield in the 1980s, when the arts were slowly emerging as an institutional priority, that Frederick had his first conversations about the path he might travel professionally. “Classical music was my passion at Deerfield, and classmates might remember that Tim Roven ’86 and I staged Bach Around the Clock—a 24-hour festival on WGAJ complete with t-shirts—one of which I’ve still got somewhere. But, while I never took a class with him, it was my dorm master, art teacher Timothy Engelland, who had a huge influence on my career choice. Many evenings we had discussions about music and the visual arts and once, when I gave him the tired line, ‘I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like’ he replied, ‘A cow knows what it likes.’ I realized I had to become more engaged with art to gain the knowledge needed to formulate opinions. My years at Princeton helped me do that. To honor Mr. Engelland for his guidance, one of my earliest museum acquisitions when I came to Boston were some of his woodcuts and linocuts.” When, in 2001, the Museum of Fine Arts asked Frederick Ilchman to become Assistant Curator of Paintings, he leapt at the opportunity. “As difficult as it was to leave Venice—the city in which I’d hoped to spend my life—I could not turn down the MFA. In my fourteen years in Boston I have curated major exhibitions both at the MFA and abroad. Included among them is one of which I am particularly proud—Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice—which was on view in 2009. It went on to the Louvre and, more than five years later, it is very gratifying to hear people say it was one of the most beautiful and intellectually engaging exhibitions they had ever seen.”

“Classical music was my passion at Deerﬁeld, and classmates might remember that Tim Roven ’86 and I staged Bach Around the Clock–a 24-hour festival on WGAJ complete with t-shirts— one of which I’ve still got somewhere. But, while I never took a class with him, it was my dorm master, art teacher Timothy Engelland, who had a huge inﬂuence on my career choice.”

Mr. Ilchman’s most recent exhibition was Goya: Order and Disorder the largest exhibition in North America in a quarter century devoted to the Spanish artist, Francesco Goya. Featuring 170 works of art including drawings, prints, paintings, and even tapestries, it was the first time there had been a fully thematic, rather than a chronological, treatment of the artist’s work. In early 2014 Frederick Ilchman was appointed chair of the European art department at the MFA. He describes it as a dream job. “It is an academic and administrative job and I grew up around professors, deans, and students. Both my parents were college administrators. My mother, Alice Ilchman (then president of Sarah Lawrence College) gave the address at my Deerfield Commencement. I’ve long been interested in being a manager of scholars, and as chair of a department of eight professionals I oversee one of the finest collections of European art in the world.” When asked how he escapes from a day of meetings, emails, writing, and lecturing Mr. Ilchman says, “I make a point to stroll through the European galleries each day. What could be better than standing in front of the glorious view of Venice painted by Canaletto?”//

With 218 years of shared history, a weatherhardened Door, the Evensong, and the Seal, who needs a mascot? These enduring symbols connect us to this exceptional schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and to each other. Thank you for keeping Deerfield strong with your gift to the Green and White.

deerfield.edu /give or use the envelope in the back of this magazine. Thank you for your support!

58 | THE COMMON ROOM

Jeb Armstrong ’90 Engaged to Alix Connor, wedding date “tbd.”

90 “Robin, our four children, and I visited Geordy Richards, his wife, Corinthia, and their young twins this past summer in Vermont. Highlights included inspecting the herd of Belted Galloways at Geordy’s family farm: Floodwoods. In the picture we appear with the newest member of the herd! l to r: Corinthia, Bronte, Geordy and James Richards, Cecily, Andrew, Grace, Harry, Robin and Jack Stone.”—Andrew Stone Robin Postman Benson ’91 Welcomed Sage Irene Benson on August 12, 2014. “She is happy, healthy, and growing like a weed!”

1989

“After an amazing 25th Reunion, my Shane, our daughter Addie, and I embarked on a new adventure in NYC. In a short three months, we moved house, started two new jobs, and began a new school year in a new school. We settled in nicely, and have already connected with classmates Gus Lipman, Tom Montgomery, and Shawn Donnan for dinner. I’m looking forward to seeing more DA alums in the NYC area soon!”—James Williams-Ness

1990 “Hello! Thought I’d finally drop a note and say hello. I will never forget the amazing education I received at Deerfield, and the lifelong lessons along the way. After Deerfield, I graduated from Emory with a Computer Science, math, and biology degree. I headed west to the University of Oregon, where I received my master’s in Computer Science in ’97. I moved out to California to work at Intuit, where I was a software engineer and staff security engineer for many years. I’m now at Twitter as a security engineer. I’ve been married for over ten years to my beautiful wife, Mary Ann. She is currently at LinkedIn and, in her own words, a spreadsheet jockey. We have two beautiful children. Connor, eight, loves baseball, soccer, swimming, and Minecraft. Kayleigh Paige, four-and-a-half, loves golf, My Little Ponies, bunnies, and ballet. We live in Los Altos, CA—living the Silicon Valley dream. First world problems abound. All kidding aside, we feel extremely fortunate for our family, health, and life here in California. Hope to you see folks at the next Bay Area get-together!” —Christopher Choi Chung (right)

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;93

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

recently published:

JONATHAN BARDZIK’91

DISHING WITH

Jonathan Bardzik ’91 recently quit his day job, and he couldn’t be busier. So far, 2015 has included a marathon cooking demo at the National Geographic Museum, an appearance at a tradeshow to promote a line of herb and vegetable plants, and a photo shoot in the snow for his second cookbook. And he is, of course, planning for a new season of cooking demonstrations at the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. It’s a little difficult to pin down exactly when Mr. Bardzik’s culinary adventures began, but 1996 is a decent place to start. That’s when he graduated from college and returned to Pelham, MA, to live with his parents for a while. He was soon helping out by cooking for them, and those forays into the kitchen ignited a latent passion for all things culinary. In 2003 Mr. Bardzik moved to Washington, DC, to take a job in marketing at the American Nursery and Landscaping Association, and in 2009 he and his boyfriend Jason were married. “Life was good,” Mr. Bardzik says, and yet . . . Family and friends noticed that Mr. Bardzik seemed happiest at the Eastern Market, shopping for the freshest ingredients he could find and then coming home and creating original dishes to share. Finally, his brother sat him down and asked: “Why aren’t you cooking for a living?” Ironically, around the same time, Mr. Bardzik met a professional coach through the Nursery and Landscaping Association, and soon they were cooking up some new goals for Mr. Bardzik. In July of 2011 Mr. Bardzik held his first cooking demo at the Eastern Market. “It was kind of like boot camp,” he laughs. “At first I had no tent, so it was incredibly hot; no electricity, no oven, no fan. I was cooking on a gas burner—in fact, I still do.” What Mr. Bardzik did have, however, were the freshest ingredients available, thanks to the farmers and vendors all around him.

62 | THE COMMON ROOM

JESSICA DAY

That first season Mr. Bardzik bought all his supplies, but little by little, as the crowds gathered to watch him slice and dice, sauté and simmer, and stayed to listen to his stories and have a taste when all was said and done, the Eastern Market vendors realized Mr. Bardzik was a walking, talking, cooking advertisement for their products. These days they send him home with supplies with which to experiment, and Mr. Bardzik says he has hit the break-even point in his culinary adventures. It may be the tantalizing smells wafting out of Mr. Bardzik’s tent that initially draw crowds, but the thing that makes them stick around while he cooks are the stories he tells. “I think of myself as a culinary entertainer. It’s a teaching method, really,” he adds. “One that I learned at Deerfield . . . Mr. Danielski, Mr. Bois—they used amazing storytelling to connect us to the material . . . to help us hold the information in our minds.” Some of Mr. Bardzik’s stories have been committed to paper, along with a selection of his favorite original recipes, in his first cookbook, Simple Summer—A Recipe for Cooking and Entertaining with Ease. “I love summer,” Mr. Bardzik says. “It always makes me think of Western MA and the wonderful, easy quality of life . . . that includes spring term at Deerfield and the River . . . all that great stuff.” Filled with mouth-watering menus, helpful culinary hints, and beautiful photography, Simple Summer explodes with ideas for everything from burgers to stir-fried Thai eggplant. There are even suggested playlists for entertaining. Western MA locals and Deerfield alumni will also appreciate references to familiar places such as the Bement School, Atkins Farms, and Tarnow Nursery—Mr. Bardzik’s family’s business. Those who go to jonathanbardzik.com will find a link to order Simple Summer, recipes, instructional videos, a schedule of Mr. Bardzik’s cooking demonstrations, and more. “At Deerfield I was taught that learning is fun and should continue throughout your life; it’s my joy—I am learning every day—there’s always a new challenge. I have so much fun finding the context, making it accessible, and sharing it with others.” //

“I THINK OF MYSELF AS A CULINARY ENTERTAINER. IT’S A TEACHING METHOD, REALLY,” HE ADDS. “ONE THAT I LEARNED AT DEERFIELD . . .

. . . MR. DANIELSKI, MR. BOIS—THEY USED AMAZING STORYTELLING TO CONNECT US TO THE MATERIAL . . . TO HELP US HOLD THE INFORMATION IN OUR MINDS.”

“ Can’t believe I’m a mother of three! Katherine joined Madeleine and Owen this past March. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the whole crew up to DA for the next reunion.” —Samantha Wolfe ’93

above: Les Yeransian ’96 and Thomas Dolsak celebrated the birth of their youngest son, Roman Edward, and two-year-old brother Jack Calvin, in a double baptism for the boys. l to r: Jen Ward ’92, Leslie Yeransian ’96, Annie (Lynch) Lukowski ’97, and MP Reed ’97 at the Weston Golf Club, Weston, MA, following the ceremony.

1994 “My partner, Brian, is the farm manager of Greenvale Farm and Vineyards; we reside on the property (in Portsmouth, RI) with our two sons, Eamon (six) and James (four). The farm is owned by Nancy Parker, grandmother of two recent DA grads, Charlotte ’08 and Ellie ’11 Parker. Small world. I am happy to spend as much time as I can with our two beautiful children! I do take on work part time. In May I completed a two-and-a-half year restoration of six 18th century Chinese lacquer panels for the Elm’s breakfast room (one of Newport’s historical mansions owned by the Preservation Society). We were a small team of four, led by the chief conservator and a specialist from Portugal. Such enjoyable work to contrast home life: Everything I did stayed just as I left it! How satisfactory. I currently spend my mornings as a caregiver in a Waldorf-inspired childcare center. My day is like a living meditation: meeting the children where they are and holding space for them as they awaken to their bodies. Both of my boys have attended the school. I teach yoga, lead guided journeys, and I’m a Reiki Level II practitioner.”—Aynsley (Reycroft) Schopfer

Venessa Moss ’93 Spent “a perfect three days” in Cannes with Tamiko Khalid-Khan and her husband, Chris, this past spring. “Here is one of our more scenic shots (from a teeny, tiny French elevator).”

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Brett Shapiro ’98 Finished his fellowship in cornea transplant surgery, married, and moved to Maui, HI. He now practices ophthalmology with Kaiser Permanente on the islands and “loves it.”

1995 “It gives me great pleasure to report that, after a long and arduous journey, my ﬁrst book, Mad Tuscans and their Families: A History of Mental Disorder in Early Modern Italy, was published by the University of Pennsylvania press in June of 2014. I was also awarded tenure at the University of New Hampshire, where I currently teach. Now I’m hoping for a little rest before embarking on the next book adventure.” —Elizabeth Mellyn

“At a beautiful wedding weekend in Squaw Valley in August, Keith Kirley ’99 wed Lizzie Bull. Fortunately, Keith was able to refrain from passing out at the alter long enough to say his vows (he was unable to do so at my wedding and Tye Korbl’s). Also in attendance from Deerﬁeld were Aaron Kirley ’95 and Rich Moriarty ’93.”—Trevor Byrne More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Page McClean ’98 Announces the release of her ﬁrst studio album—Departures. The CD and digital download are available for preview and purchase on cdbaby.com and other outlets for independent music.

Excerpted from an article by Outdoors Editor Dave Orrick ’89 of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. When this article, complete with photos by Mr. Orrick, found its way to Deerﬁeld Magazine, it featured too many members of the Class of ’89 to not reprint.

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Fish Tale

DAVE ORRICK’89 With bare legs blue from standing in mountain water, Derek Hutton gleefully splashed down the shore, skipping it seemed, and calling out in boyish singsong. “I caught a grayling. I caught a grayling!” The rest of us—Jacques Cattier, Andy Hough, and I—sloshed our way toward him in amazement. Hutton’s nine-foot fly rod trailed something just under the surface, and as he drew closer, the unmistakable iridescent pectoral and dorsal fins of an arctic grayling, some six inches long, glimmered in the alpine sun, which had just shown itself at the end of a late-September day. “I caught a grayling!” Hutton repeated. I should back up, because the notion that a six-inch grayling should prompt Hutton to so much as crack a smile needs explaining. He’s an Orvis-endorsed head guide for Jackson, WY-based WorldCast Anglers, and his fly fishing curriculum vitae ranges from cutthroat trout on the South Fork of the Snake River to giant hucho taimen in Mongolia. But even a top-notch guide can find himself in such straits that a six-inch anything can make him giddy. And this had been such a day. The grayling was caught during plan B, or perhaps it was plan C. Or D. It had gotten to the point where none of us remembered. In the morning, the four of us had hiked several miles into the backcountry, upstream along Slough Creek, a tributary of the Lamar River. Both are famed trout streams in this famed trout land, and we four—high school classmates reunited to fish these waters— were determined to wet a line in as many streams as we could. The day before had been a successful outing, though tempered by low numbers of trout, as the unsettled weather failed to prompt a hatch of flies, and perhaps played tricks with our minds. Despite the bite being off in the Lamar Valley, Hutton fished a single pool for several hours after briefly fighting, and losing, what

he termed “an enormous cutty,” a reference to the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout, the park’s marquee species. “I guess I can get stubborn,” he allowed later. “I just can’t believe that buffalo that walked right up on us,” Jacques Cattier responded. It was a theme we would each echo over the several days of the trip: Whether the trout are biting or not, it’s impossible not to be awed by this place, whether it’s the wildlife packed into the mega-caldera that forms Yellowstone National Park or big-sky open country of surrounding Montana and Wyoming. The hike to Slough Creek the next morning had not been without reservations. Storms had blasted in the prior afternoon, and we knew the Yellowstone River had turned turbid. “Everything could be blown out,” Hutton had warned, employing the term of art for a river whose fly angling prospects have been reduced to near zero by rain-induced murkiness. Hough and Cattier had never been to Yellowstone before, and in my travels there, I had never unsheathed my fly rod, leaving an itch that for years needed scratching. Thus, our trust in Hutton’s local knowledge was complete. So when he reasoned that one response to rainstorms is to climb higher and seek smaller and smaller drainages, hiking our way up Slough made sense. Soon, the Second Meadow, a bowl-shaped, low-gradient stretch of water bounded by mountainsides, stretched out before us. Its water remained clear enough to see one jumbo cutthroat lurking near an undercut bank. We ate lunch on a log at a gravelly bend. Then we strung our rods, and after Hutton had taken a few unsuccessful whacks at a half-submerged log that appeared impossible not to hold fish, he walked back to the lunch spot, where I was tying on a fresh leader. “I think it’s turning.” We watched in disbelief as the blue water turned creamy. We sat on the log, unsure what to do next. A lone bison grazed a hillside that was stroked by hues of late-summer grass and sagebrush and blotted with autumn aspen. “Just look at that,” Cattier said. Plan B had us huffing back downstream, hoping to beat the flow of turbidity. A sign announced that stretch was closed for “visitor safety.” A grizzly, most likely. Then Hutton laid out our options: Drive into Gardiner, MT, and drink, or . . . “We could fish a lake. It won’t be blown out; you could have a shot at some grayling,” he said. Our ears perked. >>>

Arctic grayling were once prolific in Yellowstone, along with the only other native trout, the cutthroat. But rainbow, brown and lake trout—introduced steadily for decades since the first days of European settlement—gradually pushed the fish back. These more familiar trout outcompete, eat, and hybridize with the natives. Many waters are now devoid of cutts and graylings, and park officials have employed a number of tactics to try to restore the native fish. Such methods have included chemically poisoning all fish in Grayling Creek and following it up with a stocking of grayling. When we were there, a commercial fishing outfit was netting lakers from the depths of Yellowstone Lake. Grayling remain in catchable numbers in a few corners of the park. One was a backcountry lake reached by a 3.5-mile hike, following a lengthy drive through the park’s roads, which frequently feature wildlife-induced traffic jams. We would have about an hour of fishing before needing to hike out before dark. Let’s do it, we said. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were greeted by a disheveled gentleman. “Whitecaps,” he said. “Couldn’t even cast. Fished for hours. Nothing.” It was about that time Hutton confessed to us he hadn’t actually caught a fish in this lake.

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“Oh,” the skunked fellow added, “and there’s a grizzly down the trail a ways.” The day had been hot, but by the time we reached the shore of the lake—a lovely expanse braced by alpine meadows and framed by hills on all sides—it was cloudy and windy and the air was nearly as cold as the water. We never saw the bear. We shivered through 30 fishless minutes casting nymphs, then Hutton and I ventured down the shoreline until we found the bottom change from muck to gravel. That’s where Hutton was inspired to song by that little fish. We all relocated to the gravelly stretch, and soon a phalanx of fiveweight rods bowed and danced with grayling and rainbow trout of up to 14 inches, their upper lips pierced with bead-head nymphs. The anglers danced and hollered, lastly Cattier. “I’ve never been so excited about an eight-inch rainbow in my life,” he said. The most memorable fish are earned, whether from an otherwise lost day or set amid rekindled friendships. We hiked out. The next day, Hough, the Cattier brothers and I fished a branch of the Gallatin River, aided by guides. We caught more than 70 fish, thick rainbows and browns. It was a banner day, to be sure, but I don’t recall anyone skipping like a kid. //

FROM THE ARCHIVES

’67

“Mike Bois opened our eyes to different parts of history, the world, and the possibilities of life,” Benjamin Perez ’81

Photo by Miriam Singer from: Adventures in Dunhuang: China deerﬁeld.edu/notes-from-abroad/china/

To say thank you, Mr. Bois’ former students and friends established the Michael D. Bois Endowed Fund for Global Initiatives.

Live on at Deerﬁeld. Helen Boyden and son pose at the Taj Mahal, India, 1967

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden 69

Jonathan Miller ’01 Lives in Alexandria, VA. He and his wife, Ryan, are thrilled to announce the birth of their first child, Ann Lauren, on August 27, 2014. Ryan works as a prosecutor in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and Jonathan works for the US Department of Justice. Zoe Baldwin Schwam ’02 Announces the birth of a daughter, Caroline Elizabeth Banks Schwam, on May 24, 2014. Kate Patnode ’03 Celebrated Anna Edwin’s wedding in New Jersey this past July. Also in attendance were Tamera (Ferguson) Patten and Felix Ramirez.

01 “Drake ’00 and I welcomed our second son, George Laurence, on May 26. He joins us and two-year-old brother Draper in NYC, where Drake works for Wells Fargo and I am a pediatric nurse at NY Pres-Cornell. Life with two boys is fun and totally chaotic! Lots of love to DA!” —Sarah (Bush) Richey ’01

2000 2001 “I’ve been working for the last year at the NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University, supporting Hudson Valley community efforts to conserve important natural areas and wildlife through land use planning. It has been a fascinating opportunity to be involved with various conservation and climate resiliency planning initiatives in New York.”—Ingrid Haeckel

2002 “Former Deerfield hockey legends have reunited via the Chelsea Piers men’s hockey league. Wes Fox ’99, Adam Mantin ’99, Tyler Kolarik ’00, Chris Kempner ’03, Dan Shribman ’03, Joe Norman ’03, Will Boardman ’04, Adam Boardman ’07, Matt Rhone ’07, and the ring leader, yours truly, have come together via the Nanooks hockey organization. We look forward to submitting our Deerfield league championship photo for a future edition of Deerfield Magazine.” —James Canner

Sara Clark ’05 Living in the West Village and “doing well.” She will be a bridesmaid when Danny Tseng ’04 marries in June.

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Jill Merrigan ’05 Became a registered dietitian this past June. She then started a fulltime position at Boston Children’s Hospital as a LEAH fellow in adolescent medicine and eating disorders.

04 Hayley Hillman ’04 married Ian Rogers on August 16, 2014 at Skamania

Lodge, in the Columbia River Gorge. They were joined by friends and family from around the world for a beautiful three-day event. / Young alumni gathered in Washington, DC, this past fall. l to r: Erik Alferi ’13, Kevin Fleishman ’14, Nicky Rault ’13, Caroline Kjorlein ’13, Place Wilson ’14, Matthew Ching ’14, Alessia Moison ’14, Jules Kerbs ’13, Miranda McEvoy ’13, Ashley Yiu ’14, Lindsey Dewey ’14

2005 “In May of 2014 I graduated Mount Sinai medical school in NYC and began residency training in pediatrics at Columbia’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. It has been an incredibly exciting transition! I also got married on November 1 to Ben Slovis, an ER physician at Mount Sinai. It has been great to be in New York City, and we’re both so excited to stay, at least for my next phase in training!”—Julia Conway

2010 More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom Ali Berry ’05 Living in NYC and working for Amplify Education, a division of News Corps that develops K-12 educational products.

Annie Gibbons ’05 Moved to Denver at the beginning of 2014, and works for Bluewolf, a salesforce.com technology consulting firm.

Jackson Kern ’05 Is a visiting fellow at Cambridge University’s Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.

ANGEL ABREU’92 (Continued from Albany Road, page 27)

“Deerfield has a good way of insulating people, and keeping the socioeconomic piece away,” he said. You can be “one of the guys” while acknowledging that some differences still exist. “This is why I love coming back,” he said. “I’m disappointed it took me so long to do so, but I want to be a role model for these students. Going with the ethos of Dr. King, a role model for everyone, really—it doesn’t stop at whatever color you may be or where you come from.” In addition to curating The Fire This Time, which features social and restorative justice-themed works, Mr. Abreu and Mr. Rollins facilitated a master class for students based on a series that K.O.S. has worked on for several years; it was inspired by Dr. King’s final speech—“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” Mr. Abreu sat down with seniors Chloe So and Shaun Wang when he was back on campus. They discussed important topics such as the inspiration for the title of the Deerfield exhibit, (James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time), activism, and the essentiality of resisting complacency. Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Abreu said:

“You’re the leaders of tomorrow . . . in that spirit of activism and diversity, you can really lead . . . it’s incredibly important.” Then he smiled and added, “The competitive part of me sees Andover, with the Addison Gallery, that’s world-renowned . . . I think we can do it here, I think we really can.” The exhibit at Deerfield, on display through February 27, features world-renowned artists united in their didactic sensibilities. It includes part of a recent work by sculptor Danh Vo, who together with a foundry in China replicated a to-scale Statue of Liberty in copper, which he then distributed throughout the world. Deerfield’s exhibit features Lady Liberty’s massive ear. Also included is an iconic photograph of Martin Luther King on the Selma to Montgomery march by Steve Schapiro; prints by political artist John Heartfield; the work of Carrie Mae Weems; and pieces from from newcomer Jesse Krimes, which he created while in prison; as well as numerous other pieces, including works by K.O.S. and Mr. Abreu. // See the interview: deerfield.edu/fire-this-time/

Danh Vo, We The People (detail), 2011-14, copper, 50"x 36 ¼"x 11"

72 | THE COMMON ROOM

Jesse Krimes, Elizabeth, 2009, Federal prison bedsheet, newsprint image transfer, graphite 12"x 12" Jesse Krimes, Barack, 2009, Federal prison bedsheet, newsprint image transfer, graphite 17"x 15"

Steve Schapiro, Martin Luther King, Selma, Alabama, 1965 Gelatin silver print, 22"x 27"

Hodo and ﬁlm students.

P S A // High speed train service now runs along the tracks from Canada to Washington D.C.! Stay off the tracks everyone!

FROM THE ARCHIVES

’70’s

74 | THE COMMON ROOM

ALEXANDRA BLANEY’05 Change for the Better BY

JR DELANEY

When Alexandra Blaney ’05 graduated from Deerfield, she had no idea she’d one day make her living traveling the globe promoting social justice through documentary films. Ms. Blaney is director of Marketing and Production at Shine Global, a highly successful non-profit film company geared toward transforming children’s lives through film. Since joining Shine Global in 2009, Ms. Blaney has contributed to several hit projects, including Inocente, which won an Academy Award in 2013 for best documentary short. At this point, the only thing holding Ms. Blaney back is the number of hours in each day. “There are so many stories out there!” she says. “I get ten or fifteen every day that we could make a movie about; I’m looking for the ones that I feel I can spend the next five years of my life on . . . Finding that character that you can explore in some compelling way.” Producers also need to keep the lives and careers of their creative teams in mind. When a project is selected and the teams are assembled, they often spend years abroad—working, eating, and living together. “It’s not a one-person endeavor. Who else will you be working with? We’re all on the same page—working for five years together.” Very few documentaries carry through exactly as planned once shooting actually begins. Ms. Blaney’s latest project, Selling Our Daughters, explores the underground world of child trafficking in Thailand. “It’s been a crazy journey,” she says. “It started from the perspective of the children and parents, but over the course of filming as we got more into it, turns out nothing was as it originally seemed. It took this huge turn where the girls and their parents were not actually involved in anything. The organization was misrepresenting them and using fake stories to raise money.”

76 | THE COMMON ROOM

“ E V E RY B O DY S E E M S S O WORRIED ABOUT FIGURING O U T E X A C T LY W H AT H E O R SHE IS DOING WITH THEIR L I F E A N D H OW I T W I L L D E F I N E E V E RY T H I N G ,” S H E S AY S . “ I J U S T S T U M B L E D I N T O T H I S . I D I D N O T S T U DY F I L M . I D I D N ’ T K N OW T H I S WA S T H E PAT H I WA S G O I N G TO GO ON, AND I DON’T K N OW H OW I T ’ S G O I N G T O C O N T I N U E E V O LV I N G .” It’s twists like these that force filmmakers to constantly assess their own creative goals. Once shooting ends, and the film moves into the editing booth, documentarians face the daunting responsibility of portraying stories that remain as faithful to the source as possible. “All these layers are trying to tell the truth but you can only tell it as you see it,” Ms. Blaney explains. “We have to tell our story of their story. It’s difficult finding the balance.” Shine Global has a fantastic track record of gearing their stories toward positive social reform, and the subjects of their films aren’t the only ones that are ultimately changed by the projects; the filmmakers are just as malleable. “So many people helped me,” Ms. Blaney remarks. “All I’ve ever learned came from working on films.” Including the fact, she says, that we should embrace the twists and turns life throws our way. “Everybody seems so worried about figuring out exactly what he or she is doing with their life and how it will define everything,” she says. “I just stumbled into this. I did not study film. I didn’t know this was the path I was going to go on, and I don’t know how it’s going to continue evolving.”//

While many people experience some difficulties living with roommates, most don’t turn their frustration into a new business—unless they’re Zach DeWitt ’05. Living in San Francisco, Mr. DeWitt was tired of sending text and email reminders about mundane household matters, only to have his roommates forget by the time they arrived home. “I would send them messages to take the trash to the curb, but they were busy and naturally forgetful!” says Mr. DeWitt. “When they got home, they wouldn’t remember.” Out of his frustration came inspiration. Mr. DeWitt conceived of Drop Messages, a location-based messaging app that essentially allows a user to send a message that is delivered only when the intended recipient reaches a specified location. In early 2013, as he began his first year at Harvard Business School, Mr. DeWitt started developing the company with two partners, Eric Noeth and Matt Diepenbrock. He sees many possible opportunities for users to “drop” messages. “It’s a virtual sticky note,” he explains, that pops up on a phone screen as an orange parachute when the recipient nears a location designated by the sender. Users can set a radius of from 25 yards to 100 miles from their specified receipt location.

Now Mr. DeWitt’s days are filled with developing the Drop Messages product and strategy. While the product launch has been successful, his current challenge is to build usage, set direction, and potentially monetize applications. He describes five “buckets” that need attention: marketing, product, strategy, internal, and miscellaneous (investor relations, working with venture capitalists, etc.), and while Mr. DeWitt is not involved in coding, he plays an active role in all other aspects of the business. Drop Messages is not Mr. DeWitt’s first foray into entrepreneurship. While an undergraduate at Yale, he developed two ideas: a photo business and a website to help students choose their classes. Then after earning his undergraduate degree in economics in 2009, Mr. DeWitt joined the Technology Investment Banking Group at Goldman Sachs in New York. In that role, he helped advise technology companies on their strategies. But he was not content to serve as an advisor from the sidelines. “I realized that I wanted to do something like them,” says Mr. DeWitt. “Their passion was contagious.”

ZACH DeWITT’05 DROP-pin’ Like It’s Hot BY

LYNN HOROWITCH

Mr. DeWitt has used the app to let family members know that they are in his thoughts. “It was the day before my parents’ anniversary,” he recalls. “I knew they were going out the next night to celebrate at a restaurant in Boston, so I dropped them a message for when they arrived.” Or, users might drop messages for a sweetheart as they go through their day, or greet a teenager arriving home from school, or provide travel tips to a friend or colleague who is visiting a new city. Drop Messages has grown so quickly that Mr. DeWitt is now on leave from his MBA studies to devote himself full-time to the business. The app, which is available for free from the iTunes store, is now in use in over 70 countries. Last year, the company won a pitch-off—a competition between start-ups that required presenting a business proposition in 60 seconds—at TechCrunch in Boston. During summer 2014, Mr. DeWitt and his partners secured $1.25 million in funding from prominent investors.

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

After two years, he left Goldman Sachs and New York and, with a Yale friend, started a new company, a website that enabled companies to host competitions. Next was a move to San Francisco and a stint at TPG Capital, one of the largest private equity firms in the world. Again, he felt the entrepreneurial urge. After two years there, it was on to Harvard and the beginnings of Drop Messages. Mr. DeWitt believes strongly that he and his partners have hit on a successful idea. A press release announcing the seed funding for Drop Messages described the primary mission of the app: to make users’ worlds come alive by delivering pertinent, location -based content from friends. He says, “The ultimate thesis of my business is that you can sort your world by location, and make things relevant for people when they get there.”//

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;08

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

5’s& 0’s

June 4-7, 2015

deerﬁeld.edu/reunions 80 | THE COMMON ROOM

YIELD Eight 8-ounce servings INGREDIENTS 1 large onion, diced small 2 celery stalks, diced small Olive oil for sautéing 5 cloves of garlic, minced 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced 3 tablespoons butter for roux 3 tablespoons ﬂour for roux 1 quart of milk 2 cups of half and half 1½ pounds potatoes, cut in ½ inch cubes 1 15-ounce can of whole kernel corn 2 15-ounce cans of cream corn Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS Cook diced potatoes in salted water until tender but not mushy. Drain and set aside. Sauté the onions and celery in the olive oil until they are translucent. Add the garlic, thyme salt and pepper for the last minute. Add butter and allow to melt. Over low heat, add ﬂour and combine with melted butter (and veggies) to make roux. Cook roux for 3 minutes to cook out raw ﬂour taste. Add the cream and drained canned corn. Stir to combine with roux and veggies. Add milk and half and half before the mixture get too hot. Stir to dissolve roux and bring to a simmer on low heat, stirring often. Soup should come to a nice thick consistency. Add warm milk if you want it thinner. Add the par cooked potatoes and taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.

A perennial Dining Hall favorite, scaled down for your home kitchen.

JR Delaney

CORN CHOWDER

Instructional video: deerfield.edu/corn-chowder 81

Jenny Hammond

1 & 3 Young alumni and current students take advantage of our photo booth at Choate Day in Wallingford, CT 2 The Weymouth Family: Henry, Philip ’18, James, Elizabeth, P.B. Weymouth ’83 4 DCDC Kastles: (front row): Jessica York, Christina York, Jennifer York, Charles York ’78, Ross Sawtelle ’78; (back row): Katie Maloomian, Ted Lubin ’00, Tyra Kane P’17, David Evans ’73 5 & 6 At our annual event in Fairfield County, CT, alumni, parents, and friends listened to Dean of Admission&Financial Aid Pam Safford, Director of College Advising Mark Spencer, and Head of School Margarita Curtis at the Wee Burn Country Club. (5: Nancy Cleary P’15,’17, Belinda Terry, Patty Carpenter P’16, Adrienne Conzelman P’16) (6: Charlotte Felt P’81, Aryn Grossman, Matt Grossman ’94) 7 DCDC Navy Game: Leslie Yeransian ’98, Thomas Dolsak, and their family 8 Amy Peterson, Claire Peterson P’90 9 Doug Briller ’97 and guest.

W E E B U R N C C + ACA D E M Y EV E NT

D .C . + KAST L ES GA M E

REGIONAL + CLUB EVENTS

C H O AT E D AY

4 8

D . C . + N AV Y G A M E

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UPCOMING EVENTS

DEERFIELD.EDU/GO/EVENTS FEBRUARY 6–8 Deerfield Club of New England Sugarbush Weekend

24 Deerfield Club of New England “Leading Ladies” Theater Production

Academy Event in Los Angeles, CA

Academy Event in San Francisco, CA

MARCH 5

Academy Event in Palm Beach, FL

APRIL

NYC + NEW YORK METS GAME

6 8

Academy Event in Denver, CO

Global Day of Service

Academy Event in Chicago, IL

Academy Event in New York, NY

MAY 8–9 Parents Spring Weekend 19 Deerfield Club of New England Spring Theater Opening Night 24

Commencement

JUNE 4–7

Reunions (0’s and 5’s)

AUGUST 6–9 Look to the Hills

1 3 & 4 DCNY Mets: Young alumni gather at the Deerfield Club of New York Mets game in July 2014. 2 Paula Edgar ’95, Kate Morris 5 Anthony Jaramillo ’06, Marion Rich 6 Boston: Tom Morss ’77 P’15, Shelby Morss P’15, Rick Melvoin, David Foster 7 Jennie Natenshon ’08, Blake Witherington P’12,’13, Margo Witherington P’12,’13, Academic Dean Peter Warsaw 8 Nicole Murray, Terry Murray ’85 9 Jim Marshall ’61, Nancy Tooke P’94, Mike Tooke ’62 P’94 1� Karyn Wilson P’10,’13, Samantha Byrne ’10, Miles Byrne ’76 P’10,’13

7 1�

BOST O N + ACA D E M Y EV E NT

When I first learned that I was accepted to New York University, Shanghai, I thought, One acceptance offer in, hopefully a few more to come. After the last envelope arrived, I spread my acceptances across my bed and wondered . . . This was a mosaic of correspondence that could have a pretty major impact on my life. Even though each piece was different in style, paper stock, and graphics, the invitation from NYU Shanghai was the most unique—it was an invitation to go to China, and be based there for all four years of my college experience on a campus that was only a year old. My friends at home could not understand why I would want to travel to China or why I would want to abandon the classic American college experience. My family of teachers and classmates at Deerfield, on the other hand, understood.

adventure, stepping outside of my New England bubble, and leaving my comfort zone behind. The question was: Could I handle it? One of my most poignant reality checks occurred about four weeks after my arrival in China: I became homesick. It was then that realized something that had been staring me in the face at Deerfield—that there were students in my dorm who had gone through that exact experience every September. It became clear that I had failed to grasp the enormity of some of challenges my classmates faced as they joined me on campus. So to anyone who ever felt homesick at Deerfield, I would like to sincerely apologize for not even recognizing that as a possibility until only a few months ago. For me, homesickness was born of anxiety; silly little things became huge. For example,

Freshman Year After 19 hours at 35,000 feet, my plane landed on a massive runway just outside one of the largest cities in the world: Shanghai. I was literally on the other side of the Earth, and entering an environment light years away from the quiet New England town in which I had grown up. With an international student body and the emergence of the Center for Service and Global Citizenship, Deerfield has constructed a passageway for students like me to navigate our way onto the world stage. At Deerfield, not only did Mrs. Kelly teach me Chinese, she also delivered homemade Chinese food to our common room once a week for us to devour (I’ll admit it—those feeds may have played an instrumental part in my decision to come to Shanghai). Stoking our curiosity in the classroom, tantalizing our senses with food, discussions, and sharing in the dorm, and weaving together a support system that would allow us to take risks, the Deerfield community had prepared me to make a very interesting decision: I concluded that NYU Shanghai was where I needed to be. So I embarked on a global

84 | THE COMMON ROOM

at Deerfield, everyone knew who the Red Sox were, but in Shanghai, hardly anyone cared about the World Series. I was constantly surprised (and sometimes shocked) by daily life and how different this world was from my own. Everything I had accepted as “common knowledge” was suddenly unimportant. Finally, I came to the realization that this was exactly what getting out of my comfort zone and trying something new meant: feeling uncomfortable and upset sometimes. I overcame my homesickness by learning to look past the moments when I was upset to the moments where I was happy in Shanghai, and more confident and proud of myself than I had ever been before. It turned out that all of my exciting new experiences were worth the homesickness that sometimes accompanied them.

first person

Courtesy of Allie Chesky ’14

/ Allie Chesky ’14

top: Shanghai bottom: Pearl Tower, Shanghai right: NYU and Deerfield classmate, Jared Kubas ’14

Here is a sampling of what else I experienced in my first eight weeks: There are seventeen different ways to mispronounce my dorm’s address in Mandarin, so you can end up anywhere from two to twenty blocks away from the premises. I have learned that you can take the metro for two hours and not see a single other international person, and that my blonde-ish hair is practically a neon billboard with flashing letters screaming, “Stare at me!” While the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong was taking shape on the world stage, we watched curiously as the CNN International news feed would go dark for minutes at a time, then come back on; finally realizing that when CNN covered the protests the feed went dark, and when the coverage pivoted to focus on some of the negative impacts the protests were having, the feed went live. One of the phrases I most associated with China before

college was “Tiananmen Square,” and now I found myself facing questions from my Chinese roommate about the event. I was shocked that I knew more about such a huge event in her country’s history than she did; it just wasn’t part of her school’s curriculum. For me, Deerfield was perfect. Since leaving (even though it hasn’t even been a full year yet) I have realized that Deerfield is an incredibly complex community that accomplishes some astonishing things. I am thankful to have been part of a community that gave me the tools to chart my journey, and the courage to make a decision to try something new and different. Without the perspective I gained at Deerfield, I would not have been able to recognize what a special opportunity NYU Shanghai is for me, nor would I have had the will to board that plane. Simply put, I would have missed a lot. //

“ There are seventeen

different ways to mispronounce my dorm’s address in Mandarin, so you can end up anywhere from two to twenty blocks away from the premises.”

CLASS CAPTAINS & REUNION CHAIRS

1940 1946 1950 1951 1952 1952 1953 1953 1954 1955 1955 1956 1959 1961 1961 1962 1962 1963 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1965 1965 1966 1967 1967 1967 1969 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972 1972 1972 1973 1974 1974 1975 1975 1975

David H. Bradley Gerald Lauderdale R. Warren Breckenridge David Beals Findlay John Robin Allen Richard F. Boyden Renwick D. Dimond Hugh R. Smith Philip R. Chase Michael D. Grant Tom L’Esperance Joseph B. Twichell George Andrews Fonda Jon W. Barker Thomas M. Poor Peter W. Gonzalez Dwight E. Zeller Richard W. Ackerly Peter A. Acly Timothy J. Balch David D. Sicher Neal S. Garonzik Robert S. Lyle Edward G. Flickinger Andrew R. Steele David H. Bradley Douglas F. Allen John R. Bass George W. Lee John W. Kjorlien Douglas W. Squires G. Kent Kahle John L. Reed Bradford Warren Agry Joseph Frederick Anderson Michael C. Perry Robert Dell Vuyosevich Lawrence C. Jerome J. Christopher Callahan Geoffrey A. Gordon Dwight R. Hilson James L. Kempner Peter M. Schulte

86 | THE COMMON ROOM

Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Secretary Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Secretary Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair

1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1981 1982 1982 1983 1983 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1985 1986 1986 1987 1987 1988 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993

Marshall F. Campbell David R. DeCamp James Paul MacPherson J. H. Tucker Smith Wayne W. Wall Paul J. S. Haigney Stephen R. Quazzo Luis E. Bustamante Daniel F. Goss Augustus B. Field John B. Mattes Paul M. Nowak Andrew M. Blau Leonard J. Buck Kurt F. Ostergaard John H. Sangmeister Frank H. Reichel William Richard Ziglar John G. Knight J. Douglas Schmidt Gregory R. Greene B. Barrett Hinckley David W. Kinsley Christopher S. Miller David A. Rancourt Sydney M. Williams Henri R. Cattier Michael W. Chorske John D. Amorosi Andrew P. Bonanno Oscar K. Anderson Gustave K. Lipman Edward S. Williams Jeb S. Armstrong Justin G. Sautter Elizabeth B. Cooper Kristina I. Hess Jeffrey Morrison McDowell Clayton T. Sullivan Kimberly Ann Capello John T. Collura Christopher T. DeRosa Michelle Lin Greenip

Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain

1993 1993 1993 1994 1995 1997 1997 1998 1998 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2013

Charlotte York Matthews Class Captain Sarah D. Weihman Class Captain Marjorie Maxim Gibbons Widener Class Captain Daniel B. Garrison Annual Giving National Chair Daniel D. Meyer Reunion Chair Amy Sodha Harsch Class Captain Margot M. Pfohl Class Captain Thomas Dudley Bloomer Class Captain Ashley Muldoon Lavin Class Captain Alice Elizabeth Leiter Class Captain Vanessa Bazzocchi McCafferty Class Captain Okechukwu Ugwonali Class Captain Alexander Hooker Mejia Class Captain Christopher Colin Wallace Class Captain Michael P. Weissman Class Captain Lisa Rosemary Craig Reunion Chair Emily Jean Dawson Battle Reunion Chair James Dorr Dunning Class Captain William Malcolm Dorson Class Captain Robert Agee Gibbons Class Captain Terrence Paul O’Toole Class Captain Dorothy Elizabeth Reifenheiser Class Captain David Branson Smith Class Captain Serena Stanfill Tufo Class Captain Eric David Grossman Class Captain Tara Ann Tersigni Class Captain Nicholas Zachary Hammerschlag Class Captain Caroline C. Whitton Class Captain H. Jett Fein Reunion Chair Anne R. Gibbons Reunion Chair Bentley J. Rubinstein Reunion Chair Torey A. Van Oot Reunion Chair Kevin C. Meehan Class Captain Matthew McCormick Carney Class Captain Elizabeth Conover Cowan Class Captain Jennifer Ross Rowland Class Captain Sarah Helen Brim Class Captain Robert Haldane Swindell Class Captain Elizabeth Utley Schieffelin Class Captain Nicholas Warren Squires Class Captain Nicholas Morgan Rault Class Captain

Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

1934

1945

Henry Stimson Harvey June 15, 2014

Charles Lewis Abbe* May 24, 2014

1935

Henry Follett Hodgkins, Jr. September 7, 2014

Richard Fletcher Foss* December 11, 2013

1936

Eleanore Benedict Hoar September 27, 2014 William John Peloskey August 10, 2014

1938

Phyllis Collins LeBeau Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell January 13, 2013

1940

Willard Sands Boothby, Jr. March 22, 2014

1942

Francis Daniel Dibble June 5, 2014 John Atterbury Dugger October 22, 2014 Howard Pabst Wurlitzer January 15, 2014

1943

Robert Loring Merriam July 23, 2014

1946

William Murchie Riegel* July 20, 2014 Peter Torrey Taussig July 23, 2014

1949

Peter Johonnott Kellogg August 29, 2014

1965

Robert Hayward Frost August 28, 2014

1970

Steven Nelson Katz September 15, 2014 Mark Richardson Lovell November 7, 2014

John Phillips Grant, Jr. September 15, 2014 Frederic Bowditch Preston October 3, 2014

In Memoriam

1950

Alfons Joseph Korzan October 19, 2014

1951

Richard Wells Williams April 13, 2012

1956

1975

Jack Norwood Hodgson October 30, 2014

David Devlin FitzGerald August 13, 2014

1957

Frank Joseph Riccio, II July 20, 2014

Carleton Francis Rosenburgh July 7, 2014

1959

George Louis Vandermeulen* August 31, 2013

Peter Carl Lillie August 14, 2014

1944

1962

Arthur Cory Bardwell October 2, 2014

1964

Theodore Bame Steever November 14, 2014

1980

Gregory Lavon Kendall July 14, 2014

2001

Aki Nyasa Jones October 12, 2014 Patrick Mark Kinzle Risha September 17, 2014

In Memoriam as of November 21, 2014. Please go to deerfield.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

*Boyden Society Member

Find the *key words in the jumble below. The remaining letters, read row by row (left to right, starting at the top), will reveal a famous saying. Send the lines to communications@deerfield.edu or to Puzzle, Communications Office, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342, and you’ll be entered to win a Deerfield mug and teddy bear! (The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers received by March 2, 2015.) *Tips: Circle only the key words listed below, and do not circle backwards words. KEY WORDS

Backup BASIC Byte Cache Class COBOL

Code Cursor Disk Drive Email Guest Head

Host HTML Icon Linux Menu Modular Mouse

NNTP Node Operation Panel Pixel Port Queue

RISC Screen Scroll Seek Server SGML Spool

Stack Thread Track UNIX Windows Word

WIN THESE!

Congratulations to Tove Hellerud, whose answer was drawn at random from all the correct answers we received for the Fall ’14 puzzle: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” —Mark Twain

More gear at: store.deerfield.edu

Fill in the blanks to reveal the hidden phrase: “_ _ _ /_ _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ _ _ /_ _ /_ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ _ _ _ /_ _ _ /_ _ .” — _. _.

88 | THE COMMON ROOM

_______

BY Danaë DiNicola

OBJECT LESSON John “Johnny” Gunther Jr., Class of 1947, of Death Be Not Proud fame, writes to Albert Einstein regarding the Unified Field Theory.

DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

Deerfield Academy | Deerﬁeld, MA | 01342

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. Postage

PAID CPC

Change Service Requested

MAKING THE CONNECTION

Head of School Margarita Curtis (front row, fourth from the left) and her husband Manning traveled to Guatemala with Metairie Park Country Day School students in 1979. Leith Hill (front row, second from left) was part of that trip. Today, she’s a Deerﬁeld parent.