Edition I
October 2014
Friends Seminary
Friends Joins Call for Action Now on Climate Change
Welcome
Compiled by ASSOCIATED PRESS and SAMUEL ZIEVECOHEN
New York— On April 23, 1937, The New York Times published an article entitled, “Huge Rallies Mark Student Peace Day.” Among those participating in the anti-war demonstrations were students from Friends Seminary. Seventyseven years later, the school continues to demonstrate its activism in the Climate March on Sunday, September 21. In the spirit of justice and stewardship, 150 members of the community joined the hundreds of thousands of others in what many have called the largest march of its kind. “I was amazed at how many people showed up” exclaimed an exuberant Senior Kira Felsenfeld. “It seemed to be an intersection of families,
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The new Friends newspaper welcomes you Welcome to The Insight. Remaking something as important as the community’s newspaper can be no careless task, but we are striving to do it. The goals of this paper are to provide a space where every member can express his/her voice, give readers insight into events and culture at Friends, encourage open communication within our community, and act as a time-capsule for the student body. In the craziness of the world, The Insight attempts to objectively filter out the
24-Seven 7-Eleven p.2
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madness from the sanity and the falseness from the truth, and report what remains to the community. Why The Insight? We changed the name from The Oblivion because we felt it is more applicable to the mission of the newspaper. Accompanying the new name, there are now newspaper dispensers located in the main lobby, the library, the meetinghouse and the annex lobby, making it easier for everyone to pick up the paper and read it at his/her leisure. You can give your two cents on articles to be written for the newspaper, anonymously, through article suggestion boxes, which are located next to the newspaper stands. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us through this
medium. Lastly, the paper is planning to release six editions this year. However the content is up to you. Don’t hesitate to bring an idea to the paper, we will edit your article with you until it can be published. We have tried to make it as easy as possible to express your voice to the community. If you have a passion or feel strongly about an issue, or feel as though a topic has been forgotten or unfairly perceived in these pages, we invite you to write for The Insight. This is your paper, and we can all make our publication special.
Inside The Mark of the Mets
Growing Up
A Summer of Food
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News & Op-Eds
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24-Seven 7-Eleven
Teens and Back to School
By DANNY COOPER
By JACK LANZI
7-Eleven’s expansion into the East Village has angered many of those who live in the area. The main concern of those angered is the threat that large national corporations such as 7-Eleven pose to local mom-and-pop shops, perceived by local residents as the lifeblood of the community. Reuben Gordon, 18, is a participant in the local movement fighting against the influx of chain stores, “No 7-Eleven.” “Bodegas are a part of the character of the neighborhood,” said Gordon, “and 7-Eleven could swiftly put them out of business.” “No 7-Eleven” is, according a press release on the group’s website, a “grassroots campaign by New Yorkers taking a stand against the increasing flood of chain stores like 7-Eleven.” “No 7-Eleven” has asked local residents to refrain from getting their supplies at 7-Eleven or other chains. “Personally, I haven’t gone there,” said Gordon, “and I’ve urged my friends who aren’t from the neighborhood to not go there.” Despite protests prior to its opening, the East 11th Street location has been up and running since October 31st of last year. Members of the “No 7-Eleven” movement hope the Avenue A location suffers the same fate as the St. Marks Place 7-Eleven, which was shuttered at the end of last year after a similar community outcry.
7-Eleven representatives and franchisees remain hopeful that the chain can thrive in New York. “We want to make the lives of neighborhood residents better by offering a dependable and convenient environment with value-priced goods,” 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said in a 2013 email response to the New York Times.
“If we fulfill that mission, the community will support these stores as they have in other areas of New York City,” Chabris said. Both the company and its franchisors believe there is a future for 7-Elevens in New York and, specifically, in the East Village. “[7-Eleven] is for the person on the go; it’s for us,” said Charlie Massola, who opened two Manhattan locations in December, in a Crains New York Business article on the subject from January.
Many people see the displays, banners, and advertisements that are shown during the back to school season, but few think about who makes them. That’s where the retail design agency TPN comes in. TPN’s says its job is to “make the buy happen.” What that means is assembling campaigns full of signs to help you navigate stores, and tools to help you find the right products. Their work is not only seen in-store, though. Separate advertising companies help to push TPN’s campaigns onto television, into your Facebook newsfeeds, and across posters. Their yearly audit of the top back to school retailers was full of trends and new ideas to get high school students, just like those at Friends Seminary, to choose certain brands for all their back to school needs. So what are the ways retailers try to use to get high school students to purchase additional supplies, and are you falling for them? While back to school is a big deal, most sellers’ efforts are usually focused on elementary school and college. Why does high school get left out? College is important for retailers because there is just so much to sell. Best Buy can sell loads of technology, as Bed Bath & Beyond pushes students to buy everything they need for their dorms. On top of all of these products, retailers can win over confused freshmen with tools to help manage the transition to college, like pre-made checklists, school info, and shipping to universities. All of those tools along with the online and in-store campaigns are tactics used for “basket building,” which is when a retailer suggests products to try to get a consumer to buy as much stuff as possible. Elementary and middle school shopping is driven by a completely different force: moms. The key to selling the supplies and clothes that companies want to move lies in convincing mothers to go to their store. TPN’s insights and data show that the two big things that matter for moms are deals and simplicity.
That usually means stores advertise the ability to get everything you need, and that it’s all cheap. There are also some tools to help moms with shopping, like pre-made supply lists, pre-assembled outfits, and coupon apps. High school is a little more complicated. There isn’t as much to sell to a
high school student as there is for someone going to college, and standard supplies aren’t as expensive as things to outfit a dorm. At the same time, high school students are more opinionated than middle and elementary school students, so companies cannot just market to moms. This is where the weird ideas of advertising and retail companies come in to try to motivate teens to buy their products. The first move that almost all retailers try is to put seasonal items in the front and destination items in the back. Destination items are things for which people usually go to a store, like maternity wear or dishes, so they’ll walk to the back of the store to find them. The seasonal items, back to school clothes in this case, are things people just meander through without knowing whether or not they will buy something. That makes sure any teen in a store with their parents or casually window shopping will see back to school products and hopefully buy a few. There is also a lot of experimentation in the digital space for teens, ranging
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October 2014
News & Op-Eds
Continued from Teens and Back to School
Are You A Feminist?
from Instagram to YouTube. Macy’s tried their luck with #MACYSBTS, a campaign where youth can tag their post on Instagram to show friends what they got and search using the hashtag to see what people in their school are buying. Best Buy gave YouTube watchers an interactive video where they could purchase the items being advertised. While these may seem a little farfetched, companies use far more intrusive techniques than these ones to push products on you. Facebook is able to track your browsing history on your computer using plug-ins called cookies, and can custom tailor suggested pages and ads around what you look at. This means Forever 21 knows you have been looking at their tops and they will be sure to tell you that there is a back to school sale. Companies will also use your browsing history when they place ads on the side of websites and YouTube. Lastly, there are some things a retailer will try to do that consumers find interesting. Staples, for example, decided they could catch teen interest by doing a charity partnership with Katy Perry and having products designed by Teen Vogue. Overall, there are less campaigns and tools for high school students as stores try to just push their products both while you are shopping and online. TPN sees a strong future in social media and interactive in-store elements. For the former, that means your Facebook content will have even more targeted ads, Twitter is even working on incorporating a “buy now” button on promoted content. The latter is more touchscreens, cardboard displays, and apps to get teens to pay more attention when shopping. Youth can be more susceptible to marketing and that’s what companies are hoping for every year when students get their supply lists.
By MORGAN CARMEN
Two Senators walk into a gym, a man and a woman. The man turns to the woman and declares, “Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!”
The hilarious punch line to this offensive joke? There isn’t one. This actually happened to New York’s Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. As she explains in her recently released book, “Off the Sidelines,” Senator Gillibrand is burdened with countless degrading comments about her weight and appearance from her colleagues almost every day. Whereas Senator Gillibrand is treated as an object by other senators, male senators are regarded with more respect. Gillibrand’s numerous experiences in contrast to those of her male counterparts’ reflect what is known as the double standard, which is by definition “a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to
different people or groups.” Like Senator Gillibrand, Hillary Clinton is no stranger to the double standard. During the 2012 election, she was criticized for wearing glasses and neglecting to apply a sufficient amount of makeup. When Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s daughter, announced that she was expecting a child, numerous media outlets such as NBC questioned Hillary Clinton’s ability to be both a grandmother and a candidate for president in 2016. Yet Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate in 2012, had 23 grandchildren and no one doubted his ability to be a grandparent as well as be president. According to the Miller Center, at least 12 presidents had grandchildren when they were sworn into office, and none of the presidents’ ability to lead was ever questioned solely due to their grandparent status. Another drastic case of the double standard is unequal salary for women and men who have the same experience and title. According to Gillibrand, even in the White House, women and men holding the same jobs do not receive equal pay. On average, a woman is only paid 77% of the wages a man with the same occupation earns. The blatant polarities in the ways in which both sexes are treated demonstrate the great need for gender equality, normally referred to as feminism. However, according to Pat Robertson, a conservative media mogul, the “feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, [and] destroy capitalism.”
3 Interestingly, the Webster dictionary definition of feminism does not include any of Pat Robertson’s claims. Instead, feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” A movement for gender equality, contrary to popular belief, is not a crusade against men, peace, or capitalism. Yet Robertson’s statement exhibits the popularly held negative connotations that accompany the term “feminism.” But how can a cause so pure become so misconstrued? Some consider the rise of women as the fall of men, but this is not the case.
Feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities” Although the stereotypical feminist is a man-hating, devilish woman that will push her malevolent agenda on all, a feminist is merely someone who believes in gender equality. Feminism is not an elaborate plot constructed by women of the late 18th century to oust all men in power. Feminism advocates for an equal voice for women and men in all walks of life, and feminists can be of any gender. We as a society must overlook all of the negative, conservative images of feminism and start looking at it as it truly is: a movement for equal rights. True feminism is a simple concept of equality. Therefore, it is troubling that many in our society have struggled with the accurate meaning of feminism for so many centuries. It is essential for our generation to pass on the correct significance of feminism in order to create an environment in which men and women are finally equal. Now ask yourself: do you belief in equal rights for men and women? If yes, congratulations, you are a feminist!
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News & Op-Eds
Continued from Friends Joins even in wheelchairs. Many wore cosCall for Action Now on Climate tumes and marched to drumbeats or held Change banners and placards urging action while hippies, universities, and angry people.” Felsenfeld was part of the contingent that included Friends students, parents, faculty, as well as members from Quaker meetings, Brooklyn Friends, and the Mary McDowell Friends School.
For math teacher, Ben Frisch, this demonstration was similar to others in the past, “The last time that I remember seeing this many Friends Seminary community members in a demonstration, was during the lead up to the second Iraq war” Frisch said, adding “The antinuclear demonstration of June 12, 1982 here in New York City was also very big. I remember running into people from all over the country when we were gathered in Central Park.”
Service leaders Leitzel Schoen and Claire Brennan planned numerous events around the March, starting with banner making on Thursday afternoon. On Sunday, a total of 300 members from the three schools and other Quaker meetings gathered in a meeting for worship hosted by the 15th Street Meeting. Immediately afterwards, the group—which had been assigned to the march’s 5th contingent with the theme “the debate is over”— left for the start of the march. Beginning along Central Park West, most participants came on foot, others with bicycles and walkers, and some
using chants like, “What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? Now!” that have become popular at climate marches. At 12:58 in the afternoon, the crowd was quieted for a two minute moment of silence that even those experienced in silent meetings described as special. I don't think I've ever felt so empowered” Felsenfeld remarked, “usually in these marches I find that people are there for the photo-op, but here I actually felt like everyone was passionate about the issue of climate change.”
The importance of the issue gave the crowd an unmistakable energy rarely experienced in the City. While organizers had previously predicted 45,000 people to show up, an estimated 300,000 marchers were present Sunday. Urging immediate action on the climate change issue, community members carried signs with slogans proclaiming “This is the only earth we have” and “It is not our planet, we are borrowing it from our children” while calling for “Action not Words.” On Tuesday, September 23rd, more than 120 world leaders convened for the long anticipated United Nations Climate Summit aimed at galvanizing political will for a new global climate treaty by the end of 2015. “I believe that climate change is the great issue of our time. It is a human issue. I am not quite that this will help anything necessarily, but, something needs to be done.” said English teacher Josh Goren, “I really think we will look back at how we live now from the underground caves where we have been forced to live, and our grandchildren or greatgrandchildren will not be able to comprehend our behavior or how we could have been so blind.”
ISIS: A Brief Overview By MAX TEIRSTEIN
As a teenage boy with Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, and who knows how many other superficial technological time-fillers, I have found it easy enough to avoid spending time doing worthwhile activities—listening to the news, for instance. One day, however, I found myself stuck in the car with two adults and 0 bars of cell service, so I turned on NPR. What I heard was unnerving and gory to say the least, and the newscaster repeatedly mentioned “ISIS.” The story involved an American reporter who had been captured and beheaded by ISIS on a video later posted to Youtube. Shocked, I did some research about the group and discovered the following. Please note that the facts below are a mere fraction of the true history and complexity behind this topic, and this article is meant to merely spread awareness about the organization to students who, like me, haven’t been paying as much attention to the news as they would like.
What is ISIS? ISIS is an organization of militants that identifies with the Sunni sect of Islam. They were originally a part of terrorist group al-Qaeda, but have since divided completely from it to form the “Islamic State” they refer to themselves as today. ISIS claimed a large swath of land from Syria to Iraq (centered mainly around the Tigris-Euphrates region) in the months following the Syrian Civil War, which provided the climate for ISIS to rise to power. Led by Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the cities ISIS has under its control are forced to obey a number of strict laws drawn from the Sharia, the major Sunni legal text based on the Qur’an.
So what’s the difference between ISIS and ISIL? There has been some confusion among journalists over the name of this organization. It refers to itself as the Islamic State, but the UN and foreign nations have yet to agree on the name. ISIS is an acronym for the “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,” with “Sham” translating to the Levant (Greater Syria). ISIL is an acronym for the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.” President Obama only refers to them as ISIL.
What distinguishes ISIS from other Islamic militant groups? ISIS presents itself as a an individual state with its own administrative buildings and government. When it began in Aleppo, Syria, other militant rebel groups greeted ISIS warmly, but they quickly changed their views when it became clear that ISIS held no interest in overthrowing the Syrian government and would kill rebels as easily as soldiers. ISIS is cruel and brutal—public amputations, beheadings, and even crucifixions are all measures ISIS takes in its cities. In their expansion, ISIS has slaughtered without second thought and even boasted about their murders. One of the unique
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October 2014
News & Op-Eds
Continued from ISIS: A Brief Overview
Got Raw Milk?
characteristics of ISIS has been its aptitude for social media and networking. Via Facebook, ISIS has been able to send out death threats. Through JustPaste, a text-sharing app, it publicized extensive rants. Youtube and Twitter provided the perfect media through which to display disturbing videos and photos. ISIS is also particularly resourceful with regard to recruiting—for example, in a recent prison break, hundreds of convicted, maximumsecurity felons have been adopted into the ISIS militia.
By CATHERINE LUCEY
The Beheadings? Between 2012 and 2013, dozens of American journalists in Syria were abducted—among them was 40-year-old James Foley. After not being seen for two years, James Foley appeared in a Youtube video uploaded by ISIS under the title “A Message to America” on August 19th. In the video, Foley appears dressed in an orange jumpsuit (a reference to the outfits of the prisoners of the American military detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba) beside an ISIS militant clad in black who states that his execution is in retaliation to the air strikes Obama ordered on the organization. Foley is then gruesomely beheaded with a knife. In the conclusion of the video, a second journalist, Steven Sotloff, appears in the same outfit, and the militant states, “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.” On September 2nd, a second video was released, this time displaying the murder of 31-year-old Sotloff, who stated that he was “paying the price” for Obama’s actions. While ISIS has abducted many others in the last few years, most Western countries pay the large ransoms ISIS demands for the return of the citizens. In fact, despite international agreements not to negotiate with terrorists, only the United States and England consistently refuse to pay ISIS and other groups in the area for the return of their citizens. For many terrorist groups, ransoms are a major source of revenue to fund their other operations. The only known beheadings by ISIS have been of American and British citizens.
On a summer trip to West Marin, California, which is famously free-thinking and health-conscious, I found myself in a supermarket called “Good Earth”, where I saw a display touting the virtues of unpasteurized, or “raw,” milk. This display claimed that raw milk was nature’s perfect food and that it was essential to living a healthy life. There was nothing but criticism for the typical, lacking-in-dangerous-bacteria variety of pasteurized milk that the vast majority of us Americans drink. I was taken aback: how could pasteurization be so repellent that it’s worth risking the safety of such a staple food? Pasteurization was invented by Louis Pasteur, a French scientist whose work with immunization and vaccination supported germ theory and helped establish the field of microbiology. Despite its discovery in the late 1800s, the process of pasteurization didn’t become important in America until the rapid urbanization of the 1910s. Here’s why Pasteur’s discovery didn’t take off sooner: for centuries, city-dwellers kept their own milk cows in their backyards and used the cows to produce butter, cheese, and milk for the household. Because cities were small and less densely inhabited at the time and because milk was produced and consumed within a short time frame, there was much less of a chance that dangerous pathogens would be present in the milk. However, urbanization brought with it horrendous sanitation and less space per household; as we have painfully learned from the American beef industry, extreme filth and cramped quarters lead to sick cows and tainted milk. Despite this, people still kept their milk cows out of necessity and habit, and milk-borne diseases spread like wildfire. So, when thousands of people were dying of tuberculosis, pasteurization was a godsend. The next couple of decades were dedicated to popularizing pasteurization and ensuring safe milk. The safe milk campaign of the first half of the twentieth century was hugely successful; because of it, few people die from salmonella, E. Coli, and
tuberculosis nowadays. I had in mind the threat of these diseases and the clear success of pasteurization in combatting them when I saw the advertisement for raw milk. It’s what the FDA is thinking about too: unpasteurized milk is pretty much illegal in the United States and can only be obtained from small farmers via loophole-style state legislation. The raw milk crowd isn’t deterred by a long history of milk-related epidemics, though, or even by present outbreaks. Supporters of the unpasteurized
stuff point out that the quick scalding and cooling of the milk destroys important and potentially beneficial enzymes and vitamins, and they argue that pasteurization is just another way Americans harmfully over-process food. The French have argued that raw milk is just more tastyan argument that successfully prevented a ban on unpasteurized milk and cheeseand provide an example of a fairly successful pasteurization-free system. Raw milk supporters also draw attention to the very real and very detrimental impact pasteurization has had on how our current commercial dairy
5 industry operates. Because most harmful bacteria will be killed off when the milk is pasteurized, farmers don’t need to keep healthy cows in order to produce safe milk. And since healthy cows are expensive, the average American dairy farmer is going to follow the money and rely on the cheaper “quick fix” of treating disease with excessive antibiotics instead of preventing disease in the first place. The government doesn’t have to care about this, even though it’s pretty gross, because pasteurization eliminates the chance that the milk will be a public health hazard. In essence, the guaranteed safety that goes along with pasteurization has eliminated the need for strict regulations on how milk cows are raised. The sale of raw milk could rectify this situation be-
cause strict government codes would become absolutely necessary without the safeguard of Louis Pasteur’s ever-important process. Like any argument, there are merits to each side. Raw milk is certainly a health threat, and one has to wonder whether our healthcare system would be strong enough to prevent and combat possible outbreaks if raw milk were legalized. On the other hand, raw milk could mean a safer, more humane, and more natural dairy industry if strict new laws were imposed. Especially since the level of government involvement in business is such a hot political issue, I think that over the next few years the debate over raw milk will challenge our country’s current opinions on health and safety measures as well as raise new questions about food and health in general. The seemingly innocent raw milk debate turns out to be a very loaded topic and one which I predict will become even more relevant in the next few years.
Sports
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The Mark of the Mets By ABIGAIL PANITZ
As summer ends, we switch back from focusing on hobbies and pastimes to more “serious” affairs. Nonetheless, we must remember the true value of our time spent over these past few months gazing at the television, following World Cup matches, going to baseball games, and drafting fantasy teams. Sports are more than the innings and outs, statistics and strategies. Baseball in particular is a hallmark of American culture. The New York Mets are emblematic of New York culture. Perhaps the switch in baseball sta-
diums is a good metaphor for how the Mets have changed in the past decade. Shea Stadium, while a historical site of fond memories for most Mets fans, was, admittedly, a dump. It had limited food offerings, a dingy atmosphere, and bad architectural planning. Citi Field, which opened in 2009, signaled a new era for the Mets. It welcomed the Mets into the corporate world. The
Mets became yet another team to have their stadium sponsored by a corporation.
at Shea Stadium, it is 8 feet taller, which equates to about another 6 feet of distance.”[1] The move from Shea to Citi shows an increase in the franchise’s maturity. And we as Mets fans will take what we can get to make the experience more enjoyable. With a transition to a new stadium, major aspects of Mets culture have remained constant. The ever-sunny and goofy sports commentator team of Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen will always elicit lovehate feelings from fans. And SNY’s famous chant, “Get your New York sports here!” is as gruff and raw as the fans’ attitude, used to losing countless games. The Mets don’t have a bright future ahead of them. In fact, they have a future that is predictably disappointing, a future so mediocre we can depend on it. Maybe we’ll win some games this year, maybe not. But for me, that’s not the point. I like to win of course, but I appreciate the beauty and the intricacies of the sport regardless of whether
Sports Schedule Monday October 6th Cross Country – Away JV Boys Soccer – Home Varsity Boys Soccer – Away Varsity Girls Soccer – Away Varsity Volleyball – Home
Tuesday October 7th JV Volleyball – Away
Wednesday October 8th JV Volleyball – Away Varsity Boys Soccer – Home Varsity Girls Soccer – Away Varsity Volleyball – Home
Friday October 10th Varsity Boys Soccer – Home Varsity Girls Soccer – Home
Tuesday October 14th Varsity Girls Soccer – Away
Wednesday October 15th Cross Country – Away JV Boys Soccer – Home
Friday October 17th Varsity Girls Soccer – TBD Varsity Boys Soccer – Away Varsity Volleyball – TBD
Monday October 20th Citi has transformed going to a Mets game into a more positive experience. There are better views throughout the stadium, a wider variety of better food vendors, and even a kids’ area for little league athletes. But what Citi has compensated for architecturally in terms of user enjoyment, the team has lost in terms of player performance. The stadium’s longer, and higher fences make it considerably harder to hit home runs. According to Greg Rybarczyk of the site Hit Tracker, “…for a typical home run ball, each additional foot of fence height is equivalent to moving the same height fence back by 0.84 feet. So, the 16-foot fence in left field at Citi Field is not only much deeper than the left-field fence
Cross Country – Away Varsity Girls Soccer – TBD Varsity Volleyball – TBD
Wednesday October 22nd we win or lose. Being a Mets fan and going through all of the trials and tribulations of wearing a blue and orange jersey has proven to be somewhat enjoyable, no matter the season. Being an all-weather fan shows dedication and determination, a willingness to rise above superficiality in favor of deep, time-tested loyalty. Sports are a major part of our culture and our identity, win or lose. We as Friends Seminary students and athletes know that more than anyone else.
JV Boys Soccer – Away Varsity Boys Soccer – TBD Varsity Girls Soccer – TBD Varsity Volleyball – TBD
Friday October 24th JV Boys Soccer – Away Varsity Boys Soccer – TBD Varsity Girls Soccer – Away Cross Country – Away Varsity Volleyball – Away
October 2014
Sting Inspired Ship Sinks By ANNIE SAENGER
The Last Ship has officially set sail at the Bank of America Theater in Chicago, Illinois, and as of October 26 will open on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theater. Unfortunately, this voyage is looking less like ‘smooth sailing’ and more like ‘Titanic.’ The Last Ship is the brainchild of British musician Sting, inspired by his 1991 album The Soul Cages and his own childhood. The book, written by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, revolves around the experiences of a community dependent on a decaying shipbuilding industry in Wallsend in (northeast England). The score, by Sting, is mostly comprised of original material, dotted with a couple older songs, such as “Island of Souls” (The Soul Cages) and “When We Dance” (Fields of Gold). The show tells the story of Gideon (Michael Esper), the most recent in a long line of shipbuilders, who decides to leave his
home, girlfriend, and ailing father for a life of adventure. When he returns years later, he finds his beloved community in shambles as the market for ships has moved elsewhere. In a final, desperate attempt to save the shipyard and show themselves and the world that their work is special, the workers unite to build one last ship and depart on it. The Last Ship’s main problem is its plot – it is at once stuffed to the brim and stunningly lacking in originality. Sting seems to have pulled from different musical clichés and mashed the results together into a barely-coherent narrative. Gideon comes home to find that he has a son (Collin Kelly-Sordelet), but then he also gets roped into a love triangle with his baby-mama Meg (Rachel Tucker), and on
Arts and Culture
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Growing Up By ALE LAMPIETTI
After hearing that Richard Linklater had been making a film over the past 12 years, I was intrigued to go see it. Boyhood follows the life of a boy, from ages 6 to 18, and the events, problems, and relationships that influence his life while growing up in Texas. The film follows the growth of Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) alongside his sister, Samantha (Lori Linklater), and his divorced parents, Olivia (Patricia Arquette) and Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke). In another Linklater film, Before Sunrise, the character Jesse (also played by Ethan Hawke) discusses his idea for a television show that runs every hour of the day, every day, for a single year. Céline (played by Julie Delpy) says that such a show, or the recording of the life of a single man, would be utterly mundane. However, Jesse responds by saying the show would capture the “poetry of day-to-day life”. Linklater has done exactly this in Boyhood. Using the same actors over the course of twelve years, Linklater found a way to encapsulate the life of a boy growing up in Texas and he chose the perfect moments t hat shape Mason’s character to do so. There is no plot or storyline; rather, the
film follows Mason Jr. through elementary, middle, and finally high school and the multitude of problems he faces due to his complicated family dynamics. The stunning performances in the film immensely contributed to its quality. Linklater produced a genius script, but Ellar Coltrane and Ethan Hawke were fantastic on their own. Over the course of the twelve years, Coltrane played the role perfectly well. Acting as a child, Coltrane embodies the troubled life of a boy who grows up, loses and makes friends and deals with an abusive stepfather.
top of everything else the ‘other guy’ just happens to be trying to close down the shipyard in favor of a new business. We, the audience, don’t know whether to pay attention to the romantic stumblings of the star-crossed lovers, or root for the underdog shipbuilders, or hate the bad guys. Our focus is so constantly the victim of tug-ofwar between the actors that we’re left wondering exactly what is going on.
Beyond that, there’s Gideon. In spite of a fair performance by Michael Esper, the character is simply unlikeable because he never gets a chance to make a case for himself. All we see is a gruff, rude man who abandoned his home and broke a promise to come back, so we never get behind him and root for him. I found myself fervently hoping that Meg wouldn’t choose him over her reliable, charming and present
However, as Mason Jr. becomes a teenager, Coltrane seems to have developed a further understanding of Mason Jr., almost growing up as the character on and off screen, making his performance outstanding. Hawke was perfectly cast as Mason’s fun and loving father, who, despite rarely seeing his children at first
, later becomes a friend and mentor to his son as he moves back to Texas. In sum, Hawke makes the film more brilliant. Finally, one must give credit to Patricia Arquette, who gives an exceptional performance as a hard-working, desperate, but above all else, loving mother. Her life seems to be the least stable, yet her values remain solid throughout the film. She not only helps guide Mason Jr. through the rough parts of his life so far, but also allows him to test the waters of adulthood throughout his boyhood. The film resonated so deeply within me, not only because nothing like this has ever been made, but also because I, myself, am a teenager growing up in America. Of course, New York City cannot be compared to a small Texan town (there is so much in the City that is not “American”). However, some moments that Linklater chose to include in the film were purely about growing up. As such these moments are universal, transcending specific geography. If you have not seen this film yet and are a student, go see it! Linklater has created a masterpiece in Boyhood. If you are interested in other works by Linklater, I suggest the Before trilogy, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, and Bernie.
boyfriend, even though he was ostensibly the foil. The character approaches three-dimensionality briefly during “Ghost Story,” where he visits his father’s grave and sings a tortured ballad of his refusal to be like his old man. However, this deeper moment is out of place and feels overdone in comparison to his otherwise invulnerable self.
Continued on p.9
Arts and Culture
8
The Goldfinch By JULIA ROSENBAUM
Friends Presents
Romeo Juliet &
This year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt, follows the life of a 13 year old New Yorker, Theo Decker, into his adulthood after he survives a terrorist bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that kills his mother. Confused and injured, he wakes up on the floor of the museum next to a dying old man, Welty Blackwell, who urges him to take Carel Fabritius’s Goldfinch of 1654 away from the sight of the detonation. Theo’s stealing of the painting serves to dictate the course of his life, being a constant reminder of the moment of the explosion and restricting his ability to detach himself from it, similar to the painting’s subject: a yellow finch who is forever chained to a perch. This was probably one of my favorite books of the summer because as a reader, I was granted the opportunity to watch the intricate progression of the subsequent ten years of Theo’s life. As the story develops, Theo’s loss of his mother places him in a group of eclectic environments and houses, both in location and culture. Each new character is masterfully drawn by Tartt and granted their own voice and story even if only appearing for half a page. She properly captures the wholly diverse setting of New York City by putting Theo in contact with a wide range of people: anyone from an affluent Park Avenue family to a cosmopolitan son of a Russian emigre. But the architecture of his life and the extension of his abilities continue to revolve around the moment and the painting, which he finds new ways to hide in each stage of his life. Welty’s niece, Pippa, whom Theo was inexplicably attracted to in the moments
before the explosion, becomes his obsession throughout the entire novel as he seems inexorably drawn to the moment that changed the course of his life forever. Also, even though Theo encounters uniquely fabricated characters every couple of pages, the ones who remain entangled in his life are the same throughout the novel’s entirety.
written by
William Shakespeare
At the Vineyard Theatre December 12 - 14 For questions email: sborowka@friendsseminary.org “there’s only a tiny heartbeat and solitude, bright sunny wall and a sense of no escape. Time that doesn’t move, time that couldn’t be called time. And trapped in the heart of light: the little prisoner, unflinching,” and later, “only occasionally did I notice the chain on
While this consistency imbues a sense of comfort within the reader, it puts the protagonist in sticky glue, disabling him from detaching himself from the part of his youth where his mother still existed in a physical state or in his mourning. The reader watches Theo try to recreate the state of mind that occupied his period of grief by taking prescription pills that he had stolen from his step-mother, Xandra, while he lived in Las Vegas. And in these masochistic drug trips, Theo is able to both repress the misery of growing older without his mother and revive the child who still remembers her with clarity. At one point in the novel, Theo states about the painting’s subject,
the finch’s ankle, or think what a cruel life for a little living creature—fluttering briefly, forced always to land in the same hopeless place.” Trapped in this solitary light with a chain around his ankle, Theo makes it impossible for the reader not to empathize with him. He describes grief with such fidelity that the reader has difficulty forgetting it still exists, even as Theo claims to have moved on with his life. This novel offers up many questions,
but the one that stuck with me as the book came to a close was this: has a character fully developed if his narrative offers maturity and understanding but his actions do not? The reader’s sympathy for Theo is both a curse and a gift, as at times, his tortured past acts as the fog that hides his indiscretions from the reader. Theo might learn his lesson through a moving and cohesive strain of consciousness, but he doesn’t take responsibility for his actions. As the reader watches in awe at the astounding conclusions about the true essence of life and beauty unfolding along the page, he or she might turn a blind eye to the man behind the words. Can our search for beauty and meaning in our life act as an excuse for the things that we’ve done? With these questions in mind or not, a reader will undoubtedly enjoy Donna Tartt’s remarkable novel.
Arts and Culture
October 2014
A Summer of Food
9 Vaquero’s Smorgasburg
By KIRA FELSENFELD While spending my summer in the city, I decided to embark on a two-month food journey. From ramen to tacos, New York is a mecca for different cuisines. The summer’s various tastes left me happy and full.
Soba Nippon 19 W 52nd St, Manhattan
On my way to the MoMa, I decided to dine here. I had their soba with tempura, which was a perfect pair with a rainy day. The atmosphere was quiet and calm. While many restaurants near the MoMa are somewhat crowded and stressful, Soba Nippon provided a gentle respite from the busy world outside. However, I was a bit frustrated with the high prices for my food. I felt that the prices were not coordinated with the portion size (medium portion size for 17 dollars). With a plan to split the soba, I was disappointed. Nonetheless, the flavors were incredible.
The Farm at Adderley 1108 Cortelyou Rd, Brooklyn
The Farm was a highlight of my summer. The restaurant area itself was sweet (a lovely outdoor area in the back), but the food was wonderful. I often am cynical about the farm-to-table dining experience because it is over-hyped. However, this restaurant played it up tastefully. I was impressed by their heirloom cucumber salad with a sesame dressing and a pureéd eggplant base. This combination of smoky and sweet flavors was an excellent way to start my meal. I fell in love with their burger. The burger was served between two English muffins, which was a bit more manageable than the classic two bun-serve. My favorite part of the meal by far was the fries. These hand-cut potatoes were accompanied by a curry mayonnaise dipping sauce. The Farm at Adderley was filled with pleasant flavors and surprises.
Island 1305 Madison Avenue, Manhattan
Smorgasburg highlights Smorgasburg takes place in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sundays and in Williamsburg at East River State Park on Saturdays
Mimi and Coco NY This upper east-side restaurant was mediocre in it’s main courses (very average pseudo-Itallian), but was incredible in terms of the desserts. I was served a plate filled with warm donuts with some caramel dipping sauce and whipped cream. The portion was perfect to split with a friend, and the flavors were wonderful. However, I would not recommend this restaurant unless you are prepared to receive a bit of attitude. The wait-staff was snarky and condescending because of my age. The prices are also not worth the food served.
Smorgasburg
Mimi and Coco was my biggest surprise of Smorgasburg. The food company provides 6 little fried balls each filled with either shrimp, potato, or pork sausage. The balls are topped with a sweet and spicy sauce and almond bits. I fell in love with these little spheres. Six of these are $6. There is also not too much of a line for this booth, making it manageable in the summer heat.
Probably my favorite bites of the entire summer. I ordered Elotes (grilled corn with a bit of mayo, cheese, and chilli), and some watermelon juice. Not only were the prices entirely fair (6 dollars for the two), but the booth also lacked pretentiousness. I often find that a lot of Smorgasburg stations are filled with snobby Williamsburg hipsters who will not make conversation with anyone casually. However, the women running this cart have been running their store for 30 years and were incredibly friendly. Their attitude along with the lovely flavors of corn and watermelon bumped this place up to the top of my list.
The Good Batch Smorgasburg
The Good Batch is a new addition to Smorgasburg this year. Their flavors of ice cream sandwiches span from rocky road to what I ordered: salted chocolate with vanilla ice cream, sandwiched between two chocolate walnut cookies. The portions were huge (almost impossible for me to finish), with cookies for about 5 dollars each. Often, I find ice cream sandwiches to have the cookies frozen or incredibly hard before hand. This was not the case for these cookies. The cookies were soft and very buttery. QUICK TIP: To avoid the lines of The Good Batch, try and find it towards the end of the day (5 PM). They will also give you some great discounts if you find them around then.
Continued from Sting Inspired Ship Sinks To really like this character, the audience needs more detail on his life. If we get to glimpse the father who beat him and tried to make him work in the shipyard, as we do in the introductory “Island of Souls,” the show owes us a more in-depth explanation of that story so that we can understand Gideon’s present-day problems. Right now, the flashback does little to justify Gideon’s actions, leaving him pretty thoroughly disliked. The show’s story-based problems do not as a whole continue onto the soundscape. Sting has crafted a score that nicely captures the unity of the workingmen with killer harmonies and that oscillates between a more contemporary feel and tributes to his homeland’s culture. The problem with the score is that it redefines the meaning of the word repetitive. “The Last Ship,” the show’s cornerstone, is reprised a hefty four times, and other songs receive similar treatment. While it’s pleasant to listen to, the songs come back so often that they begin to lose their individuality and blend together. A couple standouts are scattered throughout the performance, including Meg’s tirade against men, “If You Ever See Me Talking to a Sailor” (which showcases Tucker’s fabulous voice at its best). These standout songs made great vehicles for the show’s true saving graces to express their talent. Director Joe Mantello and choreographer Stephen Hoggett perfectly integrated pseudo-movement as the backbone of the show to great effect. Every transition is a joy to watch as the shipbuilders’ chorus uses a series of exhales and chair knocks to create the next space. Instead of using dance, the chorus synchronizes rough steps and buoyant stomping to accompany songs. Again during Meg’s solo, Hoggett uses the movement of sliding glasses across bar tables to accentuate her anger, and does so impeccably. His contributions hold the show together. If The Last Ship wants smooth sailing on Broadway, the writers will have to clear up the messy plot and make their front man more compelling. Moments of cohesion and depth fail to make Gideon appealing to the audience, and the book as is remains a hodge-podge of by-the-numbers plot devices. Until Gideon wins over viewers’ good opinions, my forecast is choppy waters.
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11
October 2014
How to Work Smarter and Faster in Minutes
Easy
SUDOKU
By MAGHNUS MARENECK Yes, I know how it is: keeping up with friends, 7+ hours of sleep, good grades, clubs, sports and all the other activities you want to do can seem impossible to do together at Friends. But it doesn’t have to be. Want to do more with your time? Take a little advice from someone who has really benefitted from productivity hacks.
1. Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail What to do before begining work • Make a commitment to be as productive as you can • Completely eliminate all your potential distractions (Facebook, phone, email) • Prepare your workspace with all necessities: pencils, paper, snacks, drinks 2. Estimation means Destination • Make an estimate of how long you should and can spend on each task, then... • Schedule time to complete every task before it’s due, and stick to it • Make sure this is done in 50 minute increments, with 10 minute breaks and time for flexibility 3. Beginning is Winning When something seems hard, just start it. If you need help doing this: • Promise yourself that you will work on a task for only 5 minutes • Plan out what you can accomplish in only 5 minutes • Work for only 5 minutes (and then stop) • Repeat from A) as necessary, but for longer as you get comfortable
4. The Pomodoro Technique • Work for 50 minutes on one task and only one task • Facebook/phone must be off. Then... • Take a 10 minute break • Repeat from A) as necessary 5. Sleep or Weep • Less than 7 hours of sleep is seriously harmful to productivity and concentration (backed up by many scientific studies) • Sleep is the restorative process of storing what you learn in long term memory • Especially before a test, forgo further study in favor 8 hours of sleep Have you ever heard of MindMapping, or the Kanban board? Not many have, but they can work productivity wonders if used properly... Follow my column to find out more advanced techniques in the next edition!
Difficult
12
Tape-estry
Your School Communications Director John Galayda worked with a team of local artists, including former Friends staff member Anna Pipes, to create a piece of colorful artwork using vinyl tapes, covering the 16th Street entrance.
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CONTRIBUTORS After viewing Jim Lambie’s original MoMa exhibit, “ZOBOP!,” Bo was inspired to have a similar on display for the start of the year. John Galayda coined the display’s title, “Threads of Our Community,” which intended to link each colored stripes to a Friends’ Quaker principle (SPICES). Assistant Director of Communications, Thomas Appleton, speculated “there might be something more in the future,” adding, “we just have so much tape left over.”
WRITERS
Kira Felsenfeld Abigail Panitz Jack Lanzi Danny Cooper Annah Heckman Catherine Lucey Max Teirstein Morgan Carmen Julia Rosenbaum Annie Saenger Ale Lampietti
CHIEF EDITORS
Maghnus Mareneck Samuel Zieve-Cohen
ADVISORS
John Galayda Deanna Yurchuk
DESIGNERS
David Perry Callum Bayle-Spence