NFF Winter 2012/2013

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NEWS FROM FRIENDS WINTER 2012 / 2013

Wylie Dufresne ’88

the

FOOD

issue

[ s p o t l i g h t o n a l u m n i a r t ] Un Bistro à Paris (2006), by Janie Samuels ’77 Janie painted Un Bistro à Paris from a photograph of her daughter in a bistro near the Sorbonne while in Paris. Since Friends, she has divided her time between New York City and France. After receiving her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1986, Janie worked with renowned sculptor Nancy Graves from 1988 to 1994 as her studio director, and then with Chuck Close until 1996, painting and exhibiting all the while. She now paints full-time, has had four solo exhibitions, been in more than 80 group exhibitions in the United States and southern France, and is represented in several private collections.  www.janiesamuels.com.

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9 | Class of 2012

features

Graduation • Faculty Commencement Address: Katherine Olson • College Destinations • By the Numbers 19 | FOOD at Friends and beyond Sam Fox ’08 • Wylie Dufresne ’88 • Barbara Michelson ’73 • The Cafeteria at Friends 29 | Reunion 2012

1 | Mission Statement

departments

2 | A Word from Bo 3 | Opening Shots 7 | Buzz on 16th Street 17 | Notes on Silence 34 | Class Notes 35 | Back in the Day

On the cover Wylie Dufresne ’88 in the kitchen of wd~50, his Lower East Side restaurant

News from Friends is published by the Development Office at Friends Seminary two times each year for alumni, parents, grandparents and friends of the School. The mission of News from Friends is to feature the accomplishments of alumni, while capturing the School’s remarkable history, values and culture.

Each issue will have an underlying theme, such as (but not limited to) the sciences, the arts, athletics, history, literature and service.

Additionally, the magazine gives insight into recent events at Friends Seminary.

Editor John Galayda Assistant Editor & Graphic Designer Anna Pipes Photographers John Galayda Johnathon Henninger Ned Gerard

Principal Robert “Bo” Lauder

Major Gifts Officer Patty Ziplow

Director of Development Katherine Precht

Director of Alumni Relations Katherine Farrell

Development & Special Events Assistant Kate Radlauer

Database Manager Valerie Delaine

Director of Annual Giving Jenny Nichols

Director of Communications John Galayda Graphic Designer & Communications Assistant Anna Pipes

our mission Friends Seminary educates students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, under the care of the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Through instruction and example, students follow their curiosity and exercise their imaginations as they develop as scholars, artists and athletes. In a community that cultivates the intellect through keen observation, critical thinking and coherent expression, we strive to respond to one another, valuing the single voice as well as the effort to reach consensus. The disciplines of silence, study and service provide the matrix for growth: silence opens us to change; study helps us to know the world; service challenges us to put our values into practice. At Friends Seminary, education occurs within the context of the Quaker belief in the Inner Light – that of God in every person. “Guided by the ideals of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity, and by our commitment to diversity, we do more than prepare students for the world that is: we help them bring about the world that ought to be.”*

* This last sentence is adapted from Faith and Practice: The Book of Discipline of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (1974).

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a word from Bo Dear Friends, What draws me to food most is its ability to bring people together— whether it is a simple meal, an elaborate dinner, or breaking bread with family, friends and even strangers. There can be intriguing conversation and fits of laughter; emotions fill the air.

To that end, I am happy to report that in September we unveiled our newly renovated dining room and kitchen, which you will read about in the following pages. Today’s students are not only eating in this modern cafeteria, but also cooking in the state-of-the-art kitchen under the guidance of instructors.

Bo and students at the new cafeteria opening on September 28, 2012

In this issue, you’ll also read the stories of three alumni whose lives revolve around the food industry. Their experiences are varied: a chef who uses liquid nitrogen to craft five-star meals; a young entrepreneur who is in the business of getting food from the farm to your table; and a grandmother who is managing to live off the land in New Hampshire, despite a very short growing season.

Here you’ll also learn about Friends students, alumni, faculty and staff members working hard to reach their fullest potential—and then surpassing that as they strive to make an impact on the world. I hope that you’re as proud as I am to be a member of the Friends community. We offer helping hands and a big heart, always striving to do better while reaching behind us to pull those less fortunate forward with us.

Cheers and happy dining,

Robert "Bo" Lauder Principal P.S. Please visit www.EveryDayatFriends.org, a site hosting an exciting multimedia art project documenting our daily progress and exploration at Friends throughout the 2012-2013 school year.

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opening shots

may 18

Charlie Blank is warmed by a round of applause from colleagues celebrating his induction as Faculty Emeritus at Reunion 2012. Read more about Charlie on page 33.

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opening shots

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november 10

Jake Lowenherz ’15 removes debris from a hurricane-ravaged home in New Dorp Beach in Staten Island, on November 10, 2012. Jake and more than 130 Friends students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff traveled to the area to help with the clean-up efforts and distribute donated goods and hot food to those affected by the storm.  www.friendsseminary.org/hurricanesandy f all 2 0 1 2 | 6

buzz on

16 TH STREE T

visited

april 11

april 16

Dr. Peter Rona ’52, a Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at Rutgers University, visited third graders to talk about ocean exploration and the making of his film, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea.

Faculty Emeritus Charlie Blank delivered the 2012 Art of Teaching lecture in which he discussed the two approaches to constitutional interpretation — a “Living Constitution” vs. a strict-construction interpretation.

october 24

october 24

october 25

Parent of alumna Jill Claster read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, to kindergartners in the Elizabeth Claster '79 Lower School Library, named in memory of her daughter.

Feminists at Friends, a student-organized outreach initiative, welcomed Theresa Rebeck to discuss her career as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She also spoke about her latest play, Dead Accounts, a dark comedy about a woman who moves back to her Midwestern hometown after a difficult breakup.

NPR’s Planet Money reporter Zoe Chace delivered a lively talk about surprises in the global economy, ranging from trends in the music industry to shifts in technology.

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may 23

Joe Gosler, Staff Emeritus and parent of alumnus Jacob Wolper-Gosler ’99, spoke to students about his life as a hidden child in Holland during World War II and growing up as an immigrant in post-war America.

alumni service day

april 28

Friends Seminary + Sidwell Friends october 18

Yu Jie, Chinese activist and winner of the 2012 Civil Courage Prize, visited Upper School Mandarin classes to discuss the manifesto he coauthored that calls on the Communist Party of China to enact legal and human rights reforms and the consequences he endured for speaking out.

Friends Seminary and Sidwell Friends teamed up to prepare meals for three different shelters in New York City. Special thanks to the chairs, Samantha Liebman ’94 and Schuyler Allen-Kalb ’86, for organizing the event.

Visit www.EveryDayAtFriends.org to get the Buzz on 16th Street each and every day of the school year.

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Congratulations, Class of

20 12

C O M M E N C E M E N T 6 .1 1 . 2 0 1 2

Lifers 1999-2012

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Student speakers Maggie Gibson, Peter Anchel, Amy Schulman, Patrick Smith, Tamar Davis, Jacob Perricone

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FACULTY COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

Katherine Olson

To read, Katherine Olson's Faculty Speech for the 2012 Commencement Ceremony, visit: https://www.friendsseminary.org/kolson-commencement2012

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class of 2012

Eliza Abramson Northwestern University

Rose Amer Northwestern University

Peter Anchel Bard College

Kenneth Armstrong University of Chicago

Conrad Brittenham Bard College

Rose Cartagena Mount Holyoke College

Susannah Church Tufts University

A.J. CincottaEichenfield Vassar College

college destinations

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Ben Farber Macalester College

Jessamine Fazli Barnard College

Rosa Cartagena Joseph Foti Mount Holyoke ColCase Western lege Reserve

Zoe Gaffney Colby College

Reed Gardner Goucher College

Maggie Gibson Trinity College

George Hewitt Rice University

Talia Hulkower Tufts University

Samantha Jacobs Johns Hopkins University

Bradley Kaufman University of Rochester

Shanice Kellman Emory University

William King Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jonathan Otcasek University of Chicago

Sarah Palatnik Evergreen State College

Jacob Perricone Princeton University

Nathaniel Phillips Oberlin College

Simon Pritchard Bowdoin College

Sally Rabinowitz Beloit College

Amy Schulman Franklin & Marshall College

Susannah Shaye Occidental College

Nicholas J. Smith Pitzer College

Nicholas K. Smith Yale University

Patrick Smith Bates College

Amani SteeleFerguson Rutgers University

Monica Bell Univ. of N. Carolina School of the Arts

Elizabeth Berg Mass. Institute of Technology

Anna Bernstein Macalester College

Lilly Berry LIM College

Joseph Biber Rhode Island School of Design

Mercer Borris Swarthmore College

Kieran Coyne Wesleyan University

Tamar Davis Wellesley College

Emilia DeRossi Boston University

Eliza Doyle University of Chicago

Gordon DuGan Muhlenberg College

Dennys Duran Colgate University

Roland Gillah Tufts University

Simon Gonzalez Reed College

Maya Gottesman Tufts University

Jack Harris Sophie Guiton George Washington Washington University - St. Louis University

Alexa Healey Bucknell University

Soon-Li Ivana Liang Eugene Lang College

Willa Lillien Bennington College

Adrienne Lofters Wesleyan University

Alex Lubars New York University

Eleonora Neil Wellesley College

William Noling Purchase College

Sara Rothman Skidmore College

Helen Rouner Yale University

Miranda Russell Pitzer College

Jakob SacksofskyBerck New York University

Benjamin Salom Muhlenberg College

Peter Samson Hamilton College

Elena StoeriD’Arrigo Brandeis University

Sakile Taylor Emory University

Sarah Tisch Skidmore College

Amadea Torres Barnard College

Elizabeth Weiss Middlebury College

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BY THE Class of 2012

students in the Class of 2012

NUMBERS

enrollment of the smallest school a student is attending Bennington College

% of students headed off to college with at least one peer

enrollment of the largest school a student is attending Rutgers University-New Brunswick

the average number of college applications per student % of the class applied early in some form

different colleges to which seniors were admitted

students attending college in New England

students attending college in California

students attending college in the Mid-Atlantic

different colleges to which seniors applied

highest number of acceptances at any one college Bard College highest number students enrolled in one college Tufts University

distance in miles from Friends to the nearest college a student is attending NYU

students attending women's colleges

students pursuing degrees in performing or visual arts

number of different schools students are attending

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distance in miles from Friends to the farthest college a student is attending Evergreen State College

% of the Class of 2012 received merit scholarships ranging from $500 to the total cost of tuition

% were accepted to their first-, second-, and thirdchoice college

Visit

www.EveryDayAtFriends.org to see how faculty, students & alumni are making every day count

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notes on silence

On Standing Up in Meeting for Worship A meetinghouse is a place of hard benches, musty smells and the loud click of a school clock — a place where many individuals are unified by the power of silent thought. It is a place of silence broken by many sounds—a truck’s horn, a small child’s cry or a smothered cough. And yet these noises seem to come and go without shattering the fragile line of thought that runs through one’s mind.

Elizabeth Lynes Hollander ’57

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Across the aisle an overworked senior is studying, or a seventh grader is engrossed in the sign language of a friend — but these do not register. My mind is concentrated on the germ of an idea. I cross my legs and uncross them again. I stare at the clock and do not notice the time, for the idea is pounding in my brain and crying for a resolve. My hands begin to sweat for the idea has taken shape and I feel the urge to say it.

Then doubt creeps in my mind and I clutch the edge of the bench in front of me for reassurance. I turn toward the girl beside me to see what she would think if I should speak. She scratches her nose and stares at the clock and I laugh inwardly at my loneliness. The doubt is not only because of what friends may say, for I remember what I have heard about the “inner light.” Is this the “inner light,” the word of God— whoever He may be—or just another everyday idea?

There is a major battle in my mind. Am I just a coward who fears the attitude of my friends? Have I a real so-called revelation that is worth expressing to a bunch of kids? Come to think of it, do they care? Will they ever think of it again? Have I anything to lose? Can I ever decide what is or isn’t the word of God? And so I decide to speak. I clutch the bench tighter until my knuckles turn white with pressure. I sit a minute, hesitating, and then I rise to my feet on legs that are weak and seem hardly able to hold me up. Heads turn and

my hands tremble. I begin to speak and the sound of my own voice frightens me, as it seems so loud in the overwhelming silence.

Strength comes as I speak, the words are more distinct and my voice drops in pitch. My hand steadies and I finish, assured that I have not failed to get across the idea. I sit down and everyone turns back again. Every muscle relaxes and I have an urge to scream with relief.

Is this the “inner light,” the word of God—whoever He may be —or just another everyday idea?

Again the room is filled only with the clicking of the clock and the sound of an occasional car going by. I stare at the others, unified by the power of silence.

Originally published in The Stove, the Friends student lit magazine, in 1957.

Elizabeth Lynes Hollander ’57 lives with her husband in Providence, Rhode Island and works part-time for the Tufts University Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. She retired in 1997 after an exciting career in city planning that included serving as the Commissioner of Planning for the City of Chicago under Mayor Harold Washington, heading an effort at the the Chicago Community Trust to help improve government management, and serving as the founding director of the John J. Egan Urban Center at DePaul University. Her spiritual journey has taken her to Judaism, and she credits Friends with opening the possibilities of a lifetime of devotion to making the world a better place and finding the space to reflect.

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“What’s for dinner?” .

is not such a mundane question these days Instead of hearing an answer purely based on gustatory preference, you’re just as likely to hear more questions about the origin of the ingredients. Is it local? How it will it be prepared? Are there trans-fats involved? Is the chicken free-range?

Just as food has evolved, so have the chefs who cook it.

Any good cook must have a grasp of basic chemistry, but many of the cutting-edge chefs today blur the line between the kitchen and the lab with formerly unthinkable tools and complex procedures.

Farming has been transformed too. It has stretched beyond profits-per-pound at the market place, maximizing crop yields or simply growing enough to get by. Today, more and more farmers try to be stewards of the earth as well as they experiment using organic and biodynamic methods in their farms, gardens and fields.

The national discourse on food has branched far from its roots into global politics, science and spirituality, perhaps because food itself it so integral to our existence. After all, without food, there are no people to enjoy it.

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SAM FOX

farm-to-table conduit

I

n 2007, when the American Oxford Dictionary named locavore — a person who endeavors to eat only locally produced foods — their Word of the Year, it was clear local food had broken into the mainstream.

Since then, it seems the presence of local food is unavoidable. The popularity of farmers markets has doubled over the past 10 years, and a smorgasbord of restaurants—from cutting edge, five-star affairs to the enterprising fast food chains—have made public efforts to incorporate local ingredients into their menus. It is tempting to dismiss catering to the locavore as another passing food fad, but a little research into the matter suggests it is anything but. Aside from boosting local agriculture, eating local food is a key way of reducing one’s carbon footprint.

Sam Fox ’08 is one of the co-founders of FarmersWeb—an Internet start-up that aims to broaden the availability and ease the distribution of local produce by offering farmers and restaurant owners in the tri-state area a simple platform to do business with each other — and so could be said to be on the vanguard of this important movement.

But Sam is an understated character, not prone to using grand words such as “movement” or “revolution.” Instead of dwelling on the existential importance of responsible agriculture, he is more inclined to stress its pragmatic advantages to the farmers and businesses with whom he works. “Once it becomes an obsession, it’s lost,” he said, “then you become militant.”

After graduating from Friends, Fox attended Stanford University to study computer science, eventually dropping out early to pair his technology skills with his long-standing interest in agriculture. FarmersWeb combines the ultra-modern efficiency of Internet communications with the slow, but irreplaceable process of working the land and driving the crops to town for sale.

However, Fox doesn’t deal in nostalgia. FarmersWeb, he emphasizes, isn’t merely about ensuring green practices, but also about making them profitable. “You’re not ever going to get restaurants and chefs and schools and people and businesses who have kitchens to do this and spend a little more for better food just because they think it’s the right thing.”

The service offered by FarmersWeb is particularly advantageous to farmers, who usually sell much of their produce to big distributors who buy cheaply and sell expensively. “Our system allows them to break into a new sort of wholesale market, to which many of them haven’t had access. Our site helps farmer’s to organize, collect payment, meet buyers, arrange deliveries, make their own

deliveries if they want, work with the logistics company if they want, and it also connects them to a network of buyers.”

Though Fox doesn’t try to come across as a missionary for a greater cause, much of his work in promoting his company has demanded that he travel and gently advocate like one — calling and visiting farmers throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to convince them to move at least some of their sales operation to the Internet. “I went up to talk to one farmer and explain what we did and he said, ‘That’s great, I can do my orders online as long as the customers call me.’ I said, no, it’s all online, and he said that he only knew how to use the Internet to check the weather.

So, we ended up working with his 14-year-old son to help him get onboard.” Other farmers, he said, have caught on more quickly, asking, “where’s the FarmersWeb app?”

On a day-to-day basis, Sam says that more than half of his job requires him to cold call restaurants and farmers in hopes that they will hear him out, understand his objective, and consider using his company's service. “The restaurant and the farmer,” he said, “ are both sort of creatures of comfort, so to get them to relax into changing the way they do a big chunk of their business has been a challenge, but it’s also been rewarding.” Aside from restaurants, FarmersWeb also provides its services to institutions and school cafeterias. The cafeteria at Friends has plans to use FarmersWeb beginning in spring 2013.

The project also has its more easily enjoyable aspects. Every once in a while, Fox’s restaurant clients invite him to enjoy the fruits of his labor. No small perk, Fox’s interest in food extends far past environmental and financial considerations and into the philosophical and artisanal. “I love the transformative nature of cooking. I love baking, candy making. I cure and smoke a lot of meats.”

He credits his uncle, Michael Pollan, the author of gamechanging books about food such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma, for inspiring his intimate connection to food, both in practice and theory. “I basically grew up in the garden with him.” Sam’s work has further deepened this relationship to the land, and he learns much from the farmers. “They tell me about the shortcuts they’ve figured out to prevent some pest from spreading. You sit with them staring at the soil for an hour while they describe the silt content of this area…and I sometimes have no idea what they’re talking about, but it is really rewarding to hear somebody speak about something with that level of passion."

 Visit www.farmersweb.com to learn more.

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1 9 8 8 O F C L A S S

WYLIE DUFRESNE

W

alk into the kitchen of visionary chef Wylie Dufresne ’88 and you might stumble upon an immersion circulator, a high-pressure processing machine, a cryovac, a container of liquid nitrogen, an industrial dehydrator or a laboratory-grade centrifuge. These are clearly not your grandmother’s cooking utensils, but just a few of the everyday tools of the trade Wylie uses to hone his culinary dexterities to perfection in his kitchen at wd~50, his restaurant located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In this culinary laboratory, he deconstructs foods that we're familiar with and then, using tools and ingredients that are rarely seen in kitchens, builds them back up in nearunrecognizable forms.

“He pushes hard against the envelope of possibility and the bounds of conformity to produce food that’s not only playful but also joyful and even exhilarating, at least when the mad science pays off,” wrote restaurant critic Frank Bruni in a high-praising review of wd~50 in The New York Times.

The “mad science” is a reference to molecular gastronomy, which focuses on physical and chemical reactions in food by utilizing science, research and technological advances in cooking equipment. In addition to the aforementioned high-tech tools, molecular gastronomy also uses various natural gums and hydrocolloids produced by the commercial food processing industry to alter the texture and appearance of food. Another common practice is the combination of unusual flavors, such as pairing savory items with sweet. It is also quite popular to present the finished creations on unusual or one-of-a-kind plates and bowls.

Prior to graduating from New York City’s French Culinary Institute and Maine’s Colby College with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Wylie attended Friends Seminary from sixth to twelfth grade. Wylie said he valued the open-minded atmosphere of the classroom at Friends and the faculty who encouraged free thinking — influential factors that may be somewhat responsible

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cooking through chemistry

for many of Wylie’s signature, and often beautifully bizarre and flavorful, dishes such as his eggs benedict. He blends egg yolks and cooks them in long plastic tubes. He then cuts them into small cylinders of what he calls “egg-yolk fudge.” Finally, he pairs these with cubes of deep-fried, English muffin crumb-coated cubes of hollandaise sauce (themselves made of egg and butter, with hydrocolloids to keep their shape while cooking), shards of super-thin, super-crispy bacon, and small chives.

Surprisingly, Wylie said that he wasn’t very interested in the sciences during his time at Friends. He was, however, interested in the food service industry at an early age.

Wylie recalls taking on chief cooking duties during a class trip to Governor’s Island and on another occasion, joining classmate Alex Kriney ’88 during the grilling for a tiki-themed party in the outer courtyard. He also recalls the cafeteria at Friends “being really good,” while a savory diner omelet could be ordered at the Friends studentfavorite Joe Jr’s Coffee Shop on Third Avenue—a place Wylie has patronized since the ninth grade.

Wylie and wd~50 have earned rave reviews from countless epicureans all over the world, including no less than six nominations for James Beard Awards: “Rising Star Chef of the Year” in 2000; “Best New Restaurant” for wd~50 in 2004; “Best Chef, New York City” in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Additionally, Dufresne was named a StarChefs.com New York Rising Star in 2005; the restaurant was included in the “S. Pellegrino World's Fifty Best Restaurants” list in 2005 and 2010; and has maintained its Michelin star for four consecutive years.

Coinciding with wd~50's ten-year anniversary this spring, Wylie is opening a 50-seat pub called Alder in the old Plum Pizzeria space on Second Avenue. The menu will include "modern casual food and well-crafted cocktails."

The name Alder is the Old English analog for Ellery, the name of Dufresne's second daughter.

wd~50 is located at 50 Clinton Street, between Rivington and Stanton, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The 65-seat restaurant occupies a former bodega and has a full bar.

Dinner is served seven days a week, from 6pm to 10pm.  More information and dinner menus can be found at www.wd-50.com. In early spring, Wylie will be opening his second restaurant, Alder, in the East Village.

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1 9 7 3 O F C L A S S

BARBARA MICHELSON living off the land

T

here is no question that Barbara Michelson ’73 is a country girl at heart.

Despite the confining pavement, the nearby vehicle exhaust and bustling foot traffic, the foraging city rats, and the ubiquitous shade cast by adjacent buildings, Barbara, as a student as Friends, attempted to grow potatoes in a small soil bed outside of the Fifteenth Street Meetinghouse.

“I can’t report that I was very successful,” Barbara said during an interview at her home in Peterborough, N.H. Since her time at Friends, Barbara has spent most of her life working with food—cooking it, growing it or selling it.

When the rural farmland of the North Fork of Long Island—a place Barbara and her family called home for nearly 30 years—became overdeveloped and overpopulated, Barbara and husband Jim began researching the prospect of buying land elsewhere with friends.

“We wanted rural living, but I am not very interested in aging in splendid isolation,” Barbara said.

So, it was during an exploratory trip to New Hampshire in the fall of 2008 that she came across the

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Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, the first eco-friendly cohousing community in New Hampshire and the perfect place to accommodate Barbara’s passion for farming and cooking and her love for rural, but social, living.

Nubanusit comprises 113 acres of farmland, fields and woodlands with trails, a pond and nearly a mile of riverfront. Just beyond the homes stand a wooden barn and other farm buildings housing horses, pigs and chickens. The manure, meanwhile, is composted and used as fertilizer.

A resident farm team manages the land and handles the land use agreements, such as a Community Supported Agriculture vegetable garden that sits on an acre of land near the community swimming hole. There is also a communal kitchen where neighbors gather to make yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, chutney, and beer, and to boil sap into maple syrup.

“We have an unofficial goal of growing 50 percent of our own food on-site,” Barbara said. This is ambitious because New Hampshire’s long, frigid winters and cool springs

can curtail an already short growing season. One solution has been to erect a hoop greenhouse to extend the season.

This form of cohousing and shared farmland began in Denmark in the late 1960s, and spread to North America in the late 1980s. Today, there are more than 100 cohousing communities completed or in development across the United States and Canada. Intriguingly, Barbara said that many of the objectives of cohousing are in-line with Quaker values. Consensus decision-making, similar to that which takes place in Quaker Meetings, is utilized. “It has a very Quaker feel,” Barbara said. “We have ad hoc and steering teams like the farm team and the community life team. We have a monthly meeting and make decisions by consensus.”

Furthermore, residents are guided by a Nubanusit Neighborhood mission, which includes being stewards of the earth—using organic and biodynamic methods in their farm, gardens and fields.

Community service is also important. The community donates

a portion of the food they grow to a service agency in Peterborough that distributes it to low-income families in the area. Nubanusit residents also provide opportunities for nonresidents to learn about farming.

“During our first visit to Nubanusit, we hiked the land with neighbors and saw a child supervising a group of neighborhood kids,” Barbara said.

“With kids this great, we knew good adults must live here too.”

In addition to farming, Barbara’s other passion, cooking, began in lower school when she took a cooking class at the 14th Street Y. She later attended Cornell University and also earned a Grande Diplome degree from Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris.

She has worked in catering in New York City and Long Island and then entered the business of growing and selling to restaurants in New York City at a time when buying local was nearly unheard of. “I’ve always bounced from cooking food to growing it,” she said.

“I got to a point where I didn’t want to keep shipping away all the pretty foods we were growing. I wanted to cook with them.”

With an English degree from Cornell, Barbara likes to write as well and authored a regular food column for a local newspaper in Long Island.

She also wrote an elaborate family cookbook for her children, which was eventually hardbound and published.

Today, her daughter, Sarah, who lives nearby in the town of Harrisville, raises animals and prepares food for sale at farmer’s markets. Barbara helps her cook at a newly-finished commercial kitchen on their farm.

"My love of cooking and growing differ," Barbara said. "In cooking, as a craft, you go to work each day striving to get better, and the unit is one day long. And I love that."

"With farming, the season is obviously the season, and you know you only have a very finite number of them to acquire the knowledge you need and also to get some luck. So every fall is truly bittersweet."

 To learn more about Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, visit: www.peterboroughcohousing.org.

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cafe

THE

TERIA  Visit bit.ly/cafe-opening for

photos and video of the new cafeteria.

Green certified The Green Restaurant Association has certified the Friends cafeteria for meeting seven major environmental standards: 1. Water efficiency 2. Waste reduction + recycling 3. Sustainable furnishings & building materials 4. Sustainable food 5. Energy 6. Disposables 7. Chemical & pollution reduction

A new layout After renovations this summer, the cafeteria has a new, more open layout, air-conditioning, a streamlined line flow, standing tables for meals on the go and up-to-date kitchen facilities.

The renovations were made possible by donations to Cash Call at Auction 2012.

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Friends Foodies In Friends Foodies, a new studentorganized club, aspiring chefs and experimental gourmands alike meet weekly to whip up different, often ambitious, dishes using the new cafeteria facilities.

Behind the line with the Friends cafeteria Executive Chef Mike Costello of Flik Catering

Green peppers from Densieski Farms, Long Island

Heirloom Bean Salad [Peruano beans + Scarlett Runner beans]

Where do you get cooking inspiration?

I read food magazines like Cooks

Illustrated, Food & Wine, Cooking Light—which is good for finding recipes with an emphasis on local ingredients and nutrition. I also check the Twitter and Facebook postings of chefs like Bobby Flay and Mario Batali.

Spaghetti squash from Harbes Family Farm, Long Island

What's cooking?

What is your favorite dish to make?

Anything that is slowly cooked for a long time. Meat, when braised slowly, always comes out very flavorful and tender. Perfect for the winter!

Has the new cafeteria changed how kids eat?

With our new ovens we are able to air fry. This means that we cook certain foods on a special setting that makes them look and taste like they are fried but are not.

It’s a lot healthier and really hard to tell the difference in the taste. Also, having an open kitchen invites students and faculty to ask questions about the lunch and see how their food is being prepared.

How have you cut down on waste?

With the new equipment, we are able to use leftover vegetable peels and scraps. We make a fresh vegetable stock daily that we use in our soups and sauces, with onion and carrot peels and ends of other vegetables. We never used to have the space to make this kitchen staple.

Range-free herb roasted lemon chicken from Winter Sun Farms, Hudson Valley

Polenta Cornmeal from Italy

In 2013, Wylie Dufresne ’88 [see page 24] will visit Friends as part of a Visiting Chef program.

Check the School website for updates!

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Come together! reunion 2012 5 .1 7 + 1 8 . 2 0 1 2 1. Oshon Temple ’97, faculty Ben Frisch, Amilca Palmer ’92 2. Orestes Benitez ’97 3. Tin Wai-Lee ’97, faculty Bob Rosen 4. Emeritus Barclay Palmer and wife Esther Palmer 5. Joanna Hunter ’02 6. Willie Bloomstein ’72 7. Class of ’77, clockwise from left: Susan Salzberg Rubin, Sarah Chinlund Spieldenner, David Greenbaum, Amy Wagner, Valerie Ramos-Ford, Deirdre Murphy Bader, Heidi Reavis, Lydia Herman Lazar.

8. Maya Ito ’07, Timothy Simonds ’07, faculty Daphne Taylor 9. Lucy Lydon ’07, Mariana Alexander ’07, Rachel Colberg Parseghian ’07, former faculty Dorothy Sandler Meyer ’94 10. Former faculty Lou Rowan and the Class of ’72 11. Kate Weil ’75, Jerry Weil ’73 12. Alumni and faculty have much to talk about after Meeting for Worship and the Emeritus ceremony

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 Visit www.friendsseminaryphotos.com/

alumni for more photos of Reunion weekend.

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reunion 2012

50 years for the Class of 1962!

The Class of 1962 celebrated their 50th reunion on May 18. After a private luncheon in the Alumni Room, they joined up with their fourth grade pen pals. As part of the Pen Pal Program, the Class of 1962 and Dot Cates’ fourth graders exchanged letters for three months. At their meeting, the students showed off their class projects and demonstrated Smartboard technology. In turn, the alumni showed students their yearbooks and chatted about what Friends was like in 1962.

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Pen Pal Connection

back row John Sebastian, Jay Westcott, Joseph Uris, Kathleen O'Reilly, Stephen Lipmann , Richard Carr,

Michael Deutsch, Lisa Broady Mathias, Anne Waldman, Carl Pike, Thomas Engelhart front row Rodi (Georgia Marodes) Weyer York, Gail Jackson, Abigail Kende, Jill Nareff Blauner, Sara Goldenheim Alperstein, Kathryn Emmett

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faculty & staff emeritus reunion 2012

Karen Jernigan Teacher of History · Chair of History Department Academic Dean · Acting Assistant Principal Service to Friends 1984−2012

Assistant Principal Tom Perry on Karen Jernigan:

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Karen has served the School in countless ways. She is the one who sees around the corner, anticipates the issue and paves the way forward. And she does it without fanfare, without reward and often without recognition.

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Charlie Blank

Teacher of History · Chair of History Department · Director of Student Activities Service to Friends 1977−2012

English teacher Maria Fahey on Charlie Blank:

“ TEACHER OF HISTORY · CHAIR OF HISTORY DEPARTMENT · DIRECTOR OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES · SERVICE TO FRIENDS 1977−2012

A learned teacher of U.S. History, Charlie makes it possible for students to grasp the very complicated story of our nation as he inspires them to use that understanding to become the best possible citizens. His teaching is deeply moral without being moralistic.

”

Charlie continues to teach an Upper School Law class in the 2012-2013 school year.

Emeritus Program The faculty and staff at Friends Seminary are the School’s single most valuable resource. Their influence is a continuing gift to the community, and is felt long after their departure. Each year, the Friends Seminary Emeritus Program recognizes the legacy of an individual who exemplifies the giving and passionate involvement of those who make this community so unique.

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class notes KNOW YOUR REPS

To protect the privacy of our alumni, Class Notes are only available in the printed version of News From Friends.

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back in the day

At their 50th reunion,

Kathryn Emmett ’62 and Anne Waldman ’62 reflected on the lasting influence of the Quaker values they absorbed while attending Friends.

The following is an excerpt from a recording created on May 19, 2012.

Kathryn: I certainly feel as though the Quaker aspect of Friends is very important in my life. Although I did not sense it directly, I just know that it’s the case. I am just curious, Anne — in what way did Friends play into your experience once you left?

Anne: Well it was the meditation

Founded by Dave Isay ’83, StoryCorps is a national oral history project whose mission is to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives through 40-minute conversations between two people.

StoryCorps has partnered with Friends to capture the life and history of the School through conversations among students, alumni, faculty and staff.

If you would like to participate in a StoryCorps interview with a classmate or faculty member during Reunion 2013, email the Alumni Office at kfarrell@friendsseminary.org or call 212.979.5035 ext. 106.

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component, the minutes of silence.

As I recall, there were three or four minutes of silence before classes would start and then we had the one-hour meeting monthly. I remember speaking up on a couple of occasions. I also appreciated that way of being with the mind independent of some kind of ritual that prescribed litany.

I was basically atheist, and still am, but I became quite connected to Buddhism and became a student of Buddhism. I helped found a Buddhist-inspired university, the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and within that, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodies Poetics (which I cofounded with Alan Ginsburg, who was also a Buddhist).

I think of that as some kind of connection—an experiential connection of meditation and silence where you actually are facing your own mind and you work through whatever comes up and start to see your patterns and start to see how you obsess or not.

I also appreciate the Quaker pacifism, which is something I know you probably shared. You always seemed like a very politically conscience and aware person.

I am very curious about that — how did pacifism relate to this sense of connection to Quakerism?

Kathryn: Well, as I see it, Quaker-

ism gave me that and I valued and have always carried it with me.

Here was the feeling that everyone has something of God or good in them. That is what religion ought to be about — that everyone is equal, there are no leaders, that each person has value and that value needs to be respected.

I became a lawyer later on after law school. The importance of protecting individual rights, and respecting defendants in criminal case’s rights, and working to have people’s humanities equally protected and respected is something that I feel that I very much grew from my experience here at Friends.

I grew up in a family with my dad being a lapsed and sort of antiCatholic Catholic and anti-religion person. The Friends ethos was an important touchstone for me given a lot of negativity that I grew up with toward religion. I consider myself an atheist or an agnostic or a non-religious person—but that I had some sort of ethical grounding that I could articulate was very important.

When it came time to establish my estate plan, I thought about the people and organizations who have meant the most to me,” Fred Buse ’59 said.

Fred vividly remembers participating in his seventh grade public speaking class, which prepared him to deliver lectures to large groups of people—a talent he utilizes today when teaching a graduate class at the University of Albany. He also remembers the stir he created when he attended the commencement of the Class of 1960 decked out in his dress whites; he had accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy in exchange for the costs associated with tuition, room and board.

Aside from practical instruction, Fred said he immensely valued the support of his teachers, especially after his father died when he was in the third grade.

“These memories came flooding back and it was my natural inclination to give back to the School that gave me so much,” Fred said.

Including Friends in his will was a simple, yet powerful indication of his attachment and devotion to Friends.

future friends for the

>> Fred Buse ’59 Fred graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Economics. He has worked in banking and insurance for both public and private organizations and is an active volunteer for his church, many civic associations and Friends. Fred lives in Loudonville, N.Y., with his wife, Susan.

They have three children and three grandchildren.

Friends for the Future, our Planned Giving Society, honors those members of our community who have arranged to support Friends Seminary through a planned or estate gift. These donors have helped provide for the School’s future through a variety of gift planning vehicles including bequest intentions, testamentary trusts, gifts of real estate, and other deferred gifts.

For more information on making a planned gift, please contact Patty Ziplow, Major Gifts Officer, at 212.979.5035 ext. 123 or pziplow@ friendsseminary.org. If you have made a provision for Friends in your estate plans, please share this information with us so that your generosity can be acknowledged.

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FRIENDS SEMINARY 222 EAST 16TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10003

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S AV E T H E S E DAT E S !

Alumni Basketball Game Jan. 11, 5:30 pm in Gym DC Alumni Gathering Jan. 14, details to follow Peace Week Speaker Feb. 7, 6 pm in Meetinghouse Alumni Service Day Feb. 9, 2 pm in Cafeteria Auction Mar. 7 at Pier 60 Alumni Admissions Panel Apr. 8, 5:30 pm in Library Spring Fair May 4

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REUNION WEEKEND M AY 1 7 -1 8

1963 50th Reunion Luncheon May 17, 11 am Latin Colloquium May 17, 3:30-5 pm in Library Professional Networking Reception for Alumni & Parents of Alumni May 17, 5:30-7 pm, off-campus Reunion May 18, all day

W W W . F R I E N D S S E M I N A R Y. O R G /A LU M N I - CO N N EC T I O N

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