ALUMNI E-NEWS #11 • OCTOBER 2014
This is our eleventh alumni e-newsletter which means the next one will be our twelfth which will represent a FULL YEAR of alumni e-newsletters and wow, that’s something. Also, “twelfth” is a really weird word to spell. MR. SCHNEIDER SAYS READ THIS in which our English and history teacher recommends three terrific books: While I often reserve summer and breaks for luxuriating in long, involving novels (read: The Goldfinch or, I don’t know, Gone With the Wind), once school starts back up again, my go-to reading is often the short story collection. With time tight, I value being able to dip in and out of a rich, fully-conceived work—filled with characters and ideas that interest me—I just don’t have the brain capacity to track those characters and ideas across six hundred pages. That said, I offer three suggestions for short story collections by female writers (because, why not?) to ease the slide into the five-day Thanksgiving weekend or (even better) the two weeks of winter break. Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill Though most of her literary output consists of memoirs, long-time British book editor Athill is also the author of some indelible fiction. Midsummer is a collection of her shorter works, originally published between the 1950s and the 1970s. Athill’s protagonists are often smart young women who experience the world with wide eyes and keen minds. Come for the unfussy writing (as one would expect of an Englishwoman), but stay for the wry humor and perceptive observations. That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie I’ll take any chance I can to talk about Adichie’s work, especially her most recent novel Americanah. That book led me to this collection, which spans both Nigeria and America and the emotional terrain that lays in-between. Adichie experiments with style—varying points of view and narrative formats, for instance—to bring readers into the minds of a rich cast of characters facing often harrowing, but always captivating, turning points in their lives. The last story, “The Headstrong Historian”, is the best of all. It’s the female answer to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, in about one-eighth as many pages. Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin In the 1970s and 1980s, Laurie Colwin produced a number of insightful comedies of manners about New Yorkers and this is my favorite of all of them. The book is a set of linked short stories that tracks the extramarital affair of fusty older gentleman and a newlywed coming into her own. As the point of view of the work slowly flips from the former to the latter, the reader’s sympathies change and so, too, does the trajectory of the lovers’ relationship.
WE ARE FULL OF GOOD IDEAS No really. And our latest is this: we want to form a Young Alumni Council, featuring two volunteers from each class currently in high school (2011 - 2014) and college (2007 - 2010). This group of volunteers would meet online two or three times per year to brainstorm ways to continue growing our alumni program, help promote alumni events, and help encourage participation in alumni fundraising. If you’re interested in learning more or volunteering to be part of our inaugural Young Alumni Council, let Mr. Palmer know before November 15. WE BELONG TOGETHER We love it when RSS alumni get together to be awesome, including several of the board members of Tribe, a new group for young professional New York Jews looking to connect with one another. Here are Tribe board members Zev Lebowitz ‘00 and Ezra Levine ‘00 with RSS classmate Sarah Soffes ‘00 at the latest Tribe event. The next gathering is November 14, and you can learn more about that here. OH HEY LOOK - THREE MORE CALENDAR INVITATIONS TO CERTAIN PEOPLE Wednesday, October 29: Class 2014 at #caof n c 7th/8th Grade Soccer Gameeled If you are a member of the Class of 2013 then you should come to Central Park where we will give you food and pompoms and together we will cheer on this year’s 7th/8th grade team while hanging out and being awesome and also nice to each other. This is our first-ever sidelines gathering of alumni. RSVP on Facebook, pretty please. Monday, November 24: Class of 2014 at 8th Grade High School Night Hey, ninth graders! Come eat pizza, represent your high schools, and then eat dessert together. We’re aiming for 100% attendance, so tell your secretary to put this in your phone and click Alert With Sound so you won’t forget. Tuesday, November 25: College Alumni Reunion We have totally never done this before but we are way excited about it. We’re throwing a party for the Classes of 2007 - 2010, i.e. our college-age alumni. Stay tuned and watch your email and Facebook in early November for details.
WINTER IS COMING But Littlefinger and Sansa Stark are ready, especially as portrayed by RSS staff members Eric Castro (who’s our director of IT and teacher of digital arts) and Emma Castro (who’s our digital communications manager) at New York ComicCon earlier this month. As we all know, “When you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die.” These two are still alive so raise a goblet for winning. And since it’s October, if you dress up as something fantastic for Halloween, email us a pic of your costume so we can be super proud and impressed. ICED OUT CHAINS And some really lovely rings, too: if you happen to be looking for jewelry any time soon, RSS alumna Alexa Eshaghian ‘09 has quite the lovely line with her sister at www.alexmikajewelry.com.
TEACHER LOVE STORY Mr. Moshen got married! To Ms. Gutterman! Awwwwww. Gigantic Mazel Tov to Josh Moshen, who’s taught in our elementary division since 2005, and Samantha Gutterman (now Moshen), who’s taught in our early childhood division since 2010. This is the first time we’ve tried saying this but it seems fitting: totes adorbs!
CRS MITZVAH DAY! We are mighty proud that RSS alum Evan Miller ‘04 is spearheading a gardening project with the children of Jennie Clarke Temporary Shelter during this year’s CRS Mitzvah Day, and we hope other RSS alumni (hey hey hey, Class of 2004!) will volunteer with Evan. Sunday, November 9 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 183 E. 100th St. If you’re interested, contact Evan at evanm324@gmail.com or 646-872-9521 and visit www.rodephsholom.org/mitzvahday. OUR TEACHERS ARE SO RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME IT’S RIDICULOUS. AND AWESOME.
True fact: RSS teachers are among the best in their field, and here is a video about them and what they did this summer and you should watch it because wow.
GIVE US YOUR LIKES (We really appreciate them. And we would be super-duper excited to reach 400 FB Likes before the end of this year.)
There’s still time for you to be among the very first alumni supporters of the 2014 - 2015 school year. Click here to do that and we will be soooooooooooooooooo happy.
Be good and we love you! Still looking good on Instagram FYI:
Rodeph Sholom School Office of Development Bryant Palmer Director of Alumni Relations 646.438.8657 www.rodephsholomschool.org