VOLUME LI ISSUE I
NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON
SEPTEMBER 2020
The New Normal Photo by Chloe Key ’21
Early Signs of Fascism, Today: Pt. 1 By Sydney duKor-Jackson ’21 In January of 2017, only days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a visitor at the U.S. Holocaust Museum shared a photo on Twitter of a poster in the gift shop. The post blew up, garnering hundreds of thousands of retweets and likes, and has been circulating through social media ever since. As the 2020 presidential election approaches, the picture has resurfaced, with many drawing comparisons between Trump’s presidency and the contents of the poster, titled “Early Warning Signs of Fascism.” As seen in the photo, the warning signs are as follows: “powerful and continuing nationalism,” “disdain for human rights,” “identification of enemies as a unifying cause,” “supremacy of the military,” “rampant sexism,” “controlled mass media,” “obsession with national security,” “religion and government intertwined, “corporate power protected,” “labor power suppressed,” “disdain for intellectuals and the arts,” “obsession with crime and punishment,” and “rampant cronyism and corruption.” Contradictory to popular belief, this poster was neither on display in an exhibit in the museum nor created at the time of the Holocaust. Author Laurence Britt created this list in 2003 after studying seven different fascist regimes, including Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Benito Mussolini’s Italy, Francisco Franco’s Spain, Anontio de Oliveira
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Image courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Salazar’s Portugal, George Papadopoulos’s Greece, August Pinochet’s Chile, Mohamed Suharto’s Indonesia. With an understanding of the origins of this list, just how much weight do such comparisons to Trump’s presidency hold? Beginning with “powerful and continuing nationalism,” Trump claims to identify as a nationalist. In a video published on the White House Youtube channel on October 23, 2018, Donald Trump says, “I am a nationalist.” He then goes on to say he is “very proud,” and that it’s a word that “should be brought back.” Trump seems to embrace the term; one could almost say that he is reclaiming it There is more to unpack with “disdain for human rights” than can fit in this article, so look out for a follow-up article in the next issue of the Bridge. Next is the “identification of enemies as a unifying cause.” A tweet from Donald Trump on August 8, 2020, reads, “Sleepy Joe Biden just agreed with the Radical Left Democrats to raise Taxes by Three Trillion Dollars. Everyone will pay - Will kill your Stocks, 401k’s, and the ECONOMY. BIG CRASH! #MAGA.” Looking at the line of reasoning Trump uses here, he first establishes that “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “the Radical Left Democrats” want to raise taxes by three trillion dollars and that doing so will be bad because “everyone will pay,” and the economy will crash. He finally states that Biden and Democrats are the enemy,
as defined as “a thing that harms or weakens something else.” After comparing several of Laurence Britt’s early warning signs of fascism to Trump’s presidency, it is clear that there is some truth to claims that Trump is a fascist, but a conclusion cannot truly be drawn without further analysis of the list, which will appear in Part 2 of this article.
The Bridge
Founded in 1969 thebridge@nmhschool.org Editor-in-Chief Janice Cho ’21 Managing Editor Celes Moon ’21 Digital Editor Sydney duKor-Jackson ’21 Layout Design Editor Sally Pak ’21 Features Editor Dillon Stone ’21 Opinions Editor Dariya Kozhasbay ’21 Arts Editor Chunwen Ko ’21 Sports Editor Leah Sutton-Smith ’21 Photo Editor Chloe Key ’21 Social Media Editor Tram Huynh ’21 Faculty Advisor Jennifer Sutton
Better Times Will Come. Meanwhile... By Janice Cho ’21 I am currently writing this article from South Korea as my friends travel to campus to quarantine, and if that doesn’t say something about our strange circumstances, I don’t know what will. By the time this article is published, we will have settled into school, both on campus and off. It’s safe to say that this school year will be like no other. Never in the history of NMH has our campus looked the way it does right now, with hall pods, plexiglass, and a fraction of our student body at home. For returning students, this experience might seem surreal. We’re not used to an NMH without chilling in our friends’ dorms, going to three classes a day, or standing in crowded lines in Alumni. For students doing the LAB program, including myself, it’s strange that summer break ends and school begins within our homes — my bedroom is once again both a resting place and my classroom. For new students, it’s just as weird to start the year without ever seeing the unmasked or physical faces of faculty and a majority of the student body. This situation isn’t ideal for anybody. After months of being in lockdown at home, nobody wants to now wear masks in their classes. Nobody wants to physically distance from their friends. Nobody wants to quarantine before coming onto campus. But we need to. All of us. Why? If we don’t, this less-than-ideal situation could worsen. Cam-
masks on. Wash your hands. Maintain physical distancing. Be truthful about who you’ve been in contact with. And for goodness sake, don’t be careless. The 2020–21 school year will definitely be one for Peter Weis’ archives. And as long as everyone in our community adheres to the necessary precautions, it can still be a good one, too.
Editor’s Note
Someday, NMH can look like this again. Photo by David Warren
pus could close again. People could get sick. And that would be much worse than keeping your stuffy mask on. So, as we wait for the pandemic to settle down, please don’t be careless. Don’t take off your mask where you should be keeping it on. Don’t gather with people outside of your hall pods in enclosed spaces. Don’t lie about who you’ve been in contact with. Think about how many people could be affected by your actions. Remind those around you to do the same. This might seem like basic information, but if there’s one thing that COVID-19 has taught us in 2020, it’s that
some people still do stupid things — think parties or anti-mask protests — during a global pandemic. Don’t be one of those people. On the other hand, the virus has significantly subsided in the places that have actively worked together to keep their communities healthy (i.e. countries like New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan). While NMH may be no country, we are part of a community and we all need to work to keep it safe and healthy. I know that this is obviously hard during a global pandemic, but try to see some bright sides to our situation. Focusing on your discomfort and
fear will only make you more uncomfortable and more fearful. We are privileged enough to still have access to our education. We have ways to see our friends’ faces, even if that means through a digital screen or plexiglass. We are alive and hopefully healthy (if not, please immediately contact Sara Rourke and quarantine). Remember, these strange times will pass. However, they’ll pass much, much more quickly and smoothly if we follow the guidelines to keep our community safe until a better time comes again. So, you know the drill. Quarantine properly. Keep your
As much as we love producing and reading print news, The Bridge team wants to contribute to a safer NMH community amid this global pandemic. In order to continue sharing informative, interesting content while keeping our community healthy, The Bridge, in collaboration with The Hermonite, will be primarily online this school year and refrain from print in the near future. This way, both publications can help prevent the potential spread of germs from the distribution and circulation of print papers. Starting from the next issue, The Bridge and Hermonite will share articles through our joint website, which is currently in the works under Sydney duKor-Jackson ’21, The Bridge’s digital editor. Going forward, make sure to keep your eyes out for digital PDF issues and website updates! Stay safe, healthy, and informed. - Janice Cho ’21, Editor-in-Chief
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Nostalgia: Before the Pandemic By Tram Huynh ’21 Ever since moving to the U.S. in 2017, my family has marked summer as a time we return home to Vietnam. I always looked forward to going home because it meant I could return to what I’m familiar with: the culture, streets, and people. Unfortunately, with the ongoing pandemic, my trip to Vietnam was canceled and for the first time, I spent the summer in the U.S. These pictures were taken last summer before this chaotic pandemic ensued. They’re a reminder of the nostalgia of home and when life was different.
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AD Debby Ghezzi Wants Your Ideas By Leah Sutton-Smith ’21 Debby Ghezzi, NMH’s new athletic director, has always loved sports. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she played and managed sports throughout high school and in college at Ohio University. She has worked all over the U.S., including in six different collegiate athletic departments. She spoke with the Bridge in August. The following is excerpted from that conversation. Were you into sports when you were younger? Always. Always tennis, always basketball, and then everything else was an outlying factor. Whether we were in the middle of the street playing wiffle ball with every kid in the neighborhood until the streetlights came on, or we were shooting hoops in the backyard, or playing tetherball, it was always active. I always knew growing up I wanted to be involved in athletics. Or be a librarian. What did sports mean to you? It started out just being fun because it was a great way to hang out with all my friends. To be outside and to release those endorphins has always
been important to me. Right now I start every single day on my treadmill. If I don’t do that, I’m setting myself up for a lousy day, mentally. It’s really my time to plan my day and think through things. And I know how complete it makes me feel. The athletic department hosted a speaker on Zoom who focuses on mental health and athletics. Why? Her name is Ivy Watts, and she’s an ex division one track athlete who has gone through anxiety, depression, and overall self doubt. Campus is going to be so different when you come back, and you start to wonder, what am I facing when I go back? This was an opportunity to hear somebody who’s had those doubts and had those concerns, and to hear [them] say, ‘We all are anxious right now. This is how I overcame it.’ As we go through this year, I’d like to focus on two department-wide initiatives. One is mental health and the other is social justice. As soon as we get school up and running, I’d like to put together a committee of coaches and student athletes to work together to build a curriculum that we can do with our teams through-
“You have a lot to say, and we want to listen to what you have to say. We want you to be able to work through that with us.”
every day. Everybody will be outside, including volleyball. They [will] have to go outside and do footwork and conditioning and skills and drills and that’s what everyone will do the first couple weeks, socially distance, no contact. Once we get through those first two or three weeks, we’ll take an evaluation. If everyone involved feels like we’re still in a really safe place, then we’ll add more competition to daily practices. We certainly haven’t given up hope of some type of a contest against close institutions.
Ghezzi is looking forward to hearing from students. Photo by Glenn Minshall
out the entire year. Student athletes have a lot to tell us as to how you would like us to shape those curriculums. How can the NMH athletic community participate in the fight against systemic racism? I think this is an area that is student athlete driven. When I watch a little bit of the NBA restart, all of those teams are expressing their views in different ways. Some of the guys have the names of [racial violence] victims on the back of their shirt, some guys have “peace” on the back of their
shirt, or “justice.” We’ll talk to our coaches about working with their teams and letting their athletes express how they want to convey their opinions. You have a lot to say, and we want to listen to what you have to say. We want you to be able to work through that with us.
What advice would you give to student athletes this fall? I would come into this season looking to really work on developing my game and my skills, my understanding of the strategy of the game, enjoy being with my teammates, and really focus on learning to become a leader. And focusing on things that are as important as the game—social justice, and just having fun being with my teammates. Come in and, like any other season, look to get better, and look to learn every single day from your coaches and your teammates, and that will pay off.
This is probably a question everyone is asking you: what is the plan for athletics in the fall? The most important time is going to be those first two or three weeks. We’ll be in our bubble and we will practice
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The Ambiguous Limbo of Adulthood By Celes Moon ’21 What does it mean to become an adult? Is it something that you obtain when you wake up on your 18th birthday, or after you graduate college? Varying from culture to culture, person to person, there’s a lot of ambiguity involved in making the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This summer, I had the opportunity to take a Cornell program called “Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood” with Professor Anthony L. Burrow. The course tackled questions about the transitions and psychological changes that occur between
adolescence and adulthood. It explored social, biological, and cognitive changes that may indicate a shift from adolescence, and discussed a transitional period between adolescence and adulthood called emerging adulthood. Generally, we think of puberty as a biological indicator that we aren’t children anymore. However, there don’t seem to be significant physical signals when we become adults. Instead, there are social cues, such as becoming the “age of majority” — when you start having certain adult privileges and responsibilities. In America, when you turn 18 you can vote and many are able to drive cars. However,
the drinking age in the U.S. is 21, so even if you can vote and drive, you can’t drink. So, do you suddenly become an adult overnight, like undergoing a magical transformation? This abrupt transition provoked Professor Jeffrey Arnett, a research professor of psychology, to wonder and study if there was actually another period between adolescence and adulthood. He published his findings in his book Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood, where he coined the term emerging adulthood — ranging from 18 to 25 years old, a period of identity exploration and a sense of in-betweenness. A reason for this nov-
el period — introduced in 2001~2004 — is that right now the number of people attending college is the highest ever in history. As young adults go to college, they are prolonging their entry into the world. A freshman or sophomore in college probably won’t worry about paying their taxes, which they will have to start doing once they attain adulthood. As most 18-year-olds are still financially depend on their parent, lack of financial independence creates a disconnect — they feel more grown up than their younger selves, yet don’t seem to fully grasp adulthood. The confusion of the adolescent/adulthood bound-
ary may stem from the fact that the three transitions into adulthood — biological, social, and cognitive — may not necessarily occur at the same time. Social cues may indicate that you’re an adult, such as having voting rights, but you may not feel like you have become one cognitively. All these stages in life — childhood, adolescence, adulthood — were defined before the technological breakthrough of technology. These periods reflect a society that faced vastly different problems. With our rapidly developing world, maybe it’s time for us to rethink these periods in life as we face modern problems.
To get the obvious out of the way, there simply is nothing cooler than protecting old and at-risk people from disease. Keeping your germs to yourself and not wanting to make everyone around you as sick as a dog is an incredibly swaggy thing to do. I’m not the one to tell you what’s cool and what isn’t, but trust me on this one. A somewhat more trivial upside, but still just as cool, is that they make it harder for you to get recognized by people on the street (even harder with six feet between you and the other person!) You hook that piece of cloth behind your ears, and suddenly you’re a walking mystery in your own area. Magic. You
even have room to pretend you’re a super secret assassin on a super secret mission (buying super secret groceries, woohoo!) or something. Comes in real handy if you’re actively avoiding an awkward encounter with some kid who was in your HUM-II class that you don’t know too well, or if you’re just not too keen on any breed of small-talk. Another plus is that with half your face hidden, you could get away with expressing all sorts of emotions you usually wouldn’t be able to, unless you don’t mind getting a handful of dirty looks or the occasional “Are you okay?” You can sing in public, and guess what, no one will know. I mean, they’ll probably hear
you, but at least your potentially-overwhelmingly-homely singing face will be hidden. You can talk to yourself. You can smile, frown, clench your teeth, stick your tongue out. You can cry, which is something I’ve been taking great advantage of. The amount of times I’ve cried at Target and remained unquestioned? Uncountable. It’s almost like a superpower at this point, honestly. Now, I know that a good amount of people cannot wait for the masks to go, and I get it. You sweat under it, you can get maskne (Eek!), it’s uncomfortable, it’s hard to talk, hard to exercise without feeling like your lungs are going to collapse, and there’s definitely
something very dystopian about a world where everyone wears a mask over their face at all times. I get it. Plus, the mask makes it harder to smile at people on the street and that definitely doesn’t make the world any better. Heck, I’d go as far as to say that it makes it a little worse, even. Overall, masks have been a super weird thing to adjust to for all of us, but even though they carry with them a whole lot of downsides, it’s always a good idea to try to find benefits and have fun with them, especially since it seems like they’ll be around for a hot minute.
Why I Think Masks Are Great By Dariya Kozhasbay ’21 Masks! For your face! Bet you never thought they’d become such a huge part of your life, did you? Yet here we are, where masks have become just about every single (sane) person’s gateway to the world that lays beyond their doorstep, as limited as that world is, given all the restrictions and guidelines and stuff (which I sure hope you’re following!) Now, this might be controversial, but I think that the masks are great. Cool in theory, and just as cool in practice. I’d even go as far as to say that we should normalize masks in a post-COVID-19 world — let me tell you why.
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NMH Scenes From a “Saunter” By Dillon Stone ’21 This is my fourth and final year at NMH. Just the other day, I chose to “saunter” (Hum I Reference) along our beautiful campus. As I did, vivid were the memories that I and countless others created together. I felt a compulsion to capture just some of the natural beauty that we are so blessed to be surrounded by at NMH: the grounds on which all of our memories live.
Deerfield’s mascot (a Green Door) comes to NMH?
Several members of the Class of 2021 from their freshman year.
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Revisiting and Remembering Taiwan By Chunwen Ko ’21 As we approached New York, I leaned over my sister to look out the window. High above the Atlantic, the plane seemed to circle around JFK until it finally found the right angle for landing. It was a strange feeling, returning to America after having spent four months in Taipei. The last time I had spent that much time in Taipei was before I moved. In those four months, I went through online classes, summer reading, and extended family visits. I spent most of my time at home. The hot, sticky weather made walking outside extremely unpleasant, yet the coolness from the air
conditioner was inauthentic and damp. I became a lethargic homebody, always sneezing due to some unknown allergen that thrived in the humidity. Every morning I would wake up and feel as if I’d been left in a crock-pot. Whenever I ventured outside, I felt like I was under scrutiny. People glanced at me whenever I spoke English in public and pointed out my accent when I spoke Mandarin. I didn’t fully understand how to connect with my family members and their friends. The culture felt familiar yet distant. I’ve always found it easier to be Taiwanese in America than to be American in Taiwan. In a multicultural country full of immigrants
and their descendents, I don’t feel out of place; Taiwan, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly homogeneous. I felt like a travesty, mired in an identity crisis. This is something immigrants and international students often experience, and it can be especially difficult at times as many others simply can’t relate to us. To be fair, I can’t relate to people who have lived in the same area for their entire lives either. I sometimes imagine what life would be like had I stayed in the same place for seventeen years: part of me finds it appealing, but part of me thinks I may go mad. Revisiting sites that shaped my childhood helped. When-
ever I walked by my old elementary school, I could picture myself playing tag in the hallways and reading comic books with my friends. Memories, most of them endearing and some embarrassing, suddenly surfaced. Apartments where I once lived, parks where I played as a child, the ice rink where I would skate with my sister, bookstores, restaurants, metro stations: all of these places reaffirmed my connection to the city. Walking down familiar streets and passing by traffic lights that I’ve seen hundreds of times made me realize that even if I felt out of place from time to time, this was still my city. Whenever people ask me
where I’m from, I’m never really sure how to answer. Taipei is perhaps the most correct answer, but it feels incomplete. For a long time, I wasn’t exactly sure of the impact that my Taipei childhood had on me. I felt that my Taiwanese childhood and American adolescence were at odds with each other, and I did not know how to reconcile those differences. But as I revisited places in Taipei and remembered distant memories I have not recalled for a long while, I realized that I’ve been keeping pieces of Taipei with me all along.
The National Theater and National Concert Hall of Taiwan, where the author watched his first musical and attended plays and concerts. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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Connecting Through the Pandemic By Chloe Key ’21 Our spring semester was abruptly interrupted when we were told that we wouldn’t be returning to campus. To adjust to this change, I stayed in touch with friends through social media and letters and was able to see close family friends in person. Here are just a few of the ways NMH students stayed connected during the pandemic to shed light and happiness on these challenging times. Sofia Lozano ’22 “All of my friends live in many different time zones, so it was a challenge for us to find a time when we were all available to talk. At first, we tried to stay in touch through Snapchat, but in China, Snapchat is blocked. We soon lost touch because of that, so we had to adapt and they suggested downloading WeChat. I
Mike Stanley ’23 “Over this summer, my friends from NMH and I
decided to get the app because it was easier for all of us. It was an app that we could both text and video-call. I mainly speak Spanish when I’m in Venezuela, [so] I feel like keeping in touch with my friends whom I don’t speak Spanish with helps me not lose my English, which has come to be a big part of me.” stayed connected in a unique way through timer photos. Whenever we were having fun or thinking of one another, we sent each other random timer pictures. We chose this because it was a way to send something simple yet meaningful at the same time. This seems to be a special way because I haven’t heard anyone else do this. I am very excited to return to campus in two weeks for the fall semester. These timer pictures are a great ice breaker and a way to reconnect instantaneously from summer break!”
Hadyn Phillips ’21 “Marina Keator texted me one day and said ‘I wish we could hang out.’ We decided to watch Tiger King since we both hadn’t seen it. We thought that we should invite Ella Fontaine because she was also missing her friends. We zoomed every Friday to watch Tiger King and spend time together. It wasn’t what it used to be, but it was time we set aside to be with each other. The Tiger Club has helped me improve my communication skills. I’m good at communicating in person, but online I lose track of who I need to get back to. I think a lot about how the world is right now and it’s not where we want it to be. If you view things in a more positive light then it definitely helps the tougher times go by quicker.”
Robyn Alteneder ’21 “I had to leave campus a few days before Spring Break even started, so I never got to give a proper good-bye. Three months after we left, I was lucky enough to see Matti and Dillon in person. It was nice catching up and being able to talk about our
own quarantine experiences. Seeing them outside of school allowed me to see a different side of them. It’s weird because we go to a boarding school, [so] the only context we see each other in is at school. It was nice to see them outside of school and be able to talk about stuff not related to school for once. At NMH, we don’t talk a lot about our home lives because school and home are very separate things for us.”
Jack-Jack Pizer-Lippitz ’21 “Every day, I chatted with my friends through the in-game chat boxes. Video games are something that bonds my friends and I. When we were at school, it was something that was normal for us to do together. With everything being so different this summer, continuing to play allowed us to keep a state of normal. It’s a way to feel relaxed and laid back when everything else is hectic and changing. There’s even an NMH League of Legends group chat that we use to communicate outside of the game.”
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