ALUMNI E-NEWS #5 • FEBRUARY 2014
There is so much going on right now and we love it! Also, if you read every word in this month’s alumni e-newsletter, one of your wishes will come true within seven days. (We asked Mr. Parente and he said that’s true and he’s a scientist so he must be right.) WE’RE SO SMART WE GO TO OXFORD And by “we” we mean Diana Greenwald ‘01, who is working on a doctorate degree at one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious educational institutions. We caught up with Diana recently and learned about her studies, which involve our new favorite word: “econometrics.” Diana told us how she likes living in the UK and reminisced about some high-flying yard equipment from way back in the day. Read Mr. Palmer’s interview with her here, on the internets, or scroll over to pages 4 - 5 of this dandy little document. ALSO WE ARE AWESOME AT ART AND WRITING Gigantical congratulations to the many, many RSS alumni who won Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recently, including so many Gold and Silver Keys and Honorable Mentions that we’d need a whole new newsletter just to announce them specifically. Well done, Molly Baraff ‘10, Sophie Brous ‘13, Molly DeVries ‘10, Lydia Goldberg ‘10, Jack Javer ‘11, Josh Kotran ‘10, and Andrés Vaamonde ‘10, plus former students Sarah Cogan, Matthew Goodman, and Alex Greenberg. Special shout-out to Molly DeVries, whose short film about her grandparents was one of five from the entire NYC region nominated for the national American Visions award.
APPARENLTY THIS IS OUR GLOBAL EDITION WOOT WOOT Here’s a story we love: kids go to RSS together the first ten or twelve years of their lives, become great friends, graduate from 8th grade, and attend different high schools, then different colleges, all over the U.S. You might think those kids would drift apart, what with all the years not together after 8th grade. But that’s less likely to happen if you’re an RSS grad, and we get proof of that all the time, like this photo from a hallway in Prague, featuring RSS alumni from the Class of 2007 Nick Levy, Leo Sepkowitz, and Brandon David, with fellow former RSSer Daniel Manocherian. In Prague! This makes us happy. Have fun, fellas. AND NOW, FROM THE SOUTH PACIFIC Speaking of studying abroad, former Student Council co-president Marissa Bendit ‘07 is spending this semester in Samoa, an island nation in the South Pacific. Here she is wearing a lavalava (a traditional Pacific island skirt) outside the fale (a traditional house/meeting area) on the campus of USP: Alafua, where she’s studying. We want to visit! RSS ARTIST OF THE MONTH Magda Mortner ‘04 is one of several RSS alumni making her way in the art world -- in this case as a painter -- with recent shows in Alphabet City, Greenpoint, and Red Hook (wow, just typing those makes us feel cool) and an updated website, too, at www. magdamortner.com. Check out her stunning work there. We are looking forward to the day when we can organize an RSS alumni art show!
Diana Greenwald graduated from sixth grade at RSS in 2001, and
she’s been in school ever since, first at Horace Mann, then at Columbia University, and now at Wadham College, University of Oxford, where she’s already received a Master’s degree in Economics and Social History and is now working toward a doctorate in the same specialty. We spoke with Diana recently about her studies, life in the UK, and a spinning see-saw that used to be in the yard. Hi, Diana. I have to say, as your sixth grade English teacher, it surprises me not one bit that you are now a Doctor of Philosophy candidate at one of the world’s most renowned universities. Tell us a little about your educational journey that led to this point. I guess I have always been a school enthusiast! After graduating from Rodeph Sholom, I went to Horace Mann for the rest of middle school and high school and then to Columbia for college. In college I studied art history and some economics and then became interested in the relationship between the two subjects. My senior year I applied for a few scholarships that allow Americans to study at Oxford. I didn’t get the scholarships, but I did end up being accepted to do a master’s degree in Economic & Social History. I only meant to stay for my Master’s, but ended up really enjoying my research and liking my department—so I applied to the doctoral program. Now I’ll be here for five years in total. That’s a lot of school and we love it. What are you studying now? I’m writing my dissertation about how economic and social change influences changes in artistic production, particularly in the United States in the 19th century. To do this, I have digitized large amounts of information about what art was produced and displayed at the time—including works that have since been destroyed, disappeared or are simply not wellknown enough for anyone to study in depth. This process allows me to consider almost all the art produced in my analysis and not just a select sample of paintings that are hanging on the walls of the world’s most famous museums. I compare the quantitative information about art to social and economic data to answer questions like whether or not artists produced more landscapes and images of the countryside as a society became more urban. If they did, why is this the case? If you find this description at all interesting, you can check out some of my work on my website, at www.dianagreenwald.com. What are your next steps for when you’re done with this program? Oh no, this and “How is your dissertation going?” are the two questions that doctoral students dread. The immediate next step will likely be a post-doctoral fellowship at a museum or university in the U.S. The long-term goal is to get a curatorial job. Curators get to be both academics and managers of exhibitions, staff, etc. As a spreadsheet-loving art historian, a mix of intellectual and managerial jobs really appeals to me.
How do you like living in the UK? It rains a lot and my only means of transport is a poor-quality bicycle… so that is less than ideal. However, despite the wet and dreary weather, I really like it. Oxford is a perfect place to be a student. As a big-time Harry Potter fan, I still get giddy when I walk around certain parts of the university. This sounds bad, but one of the other great things about the UK is how easy it is to leave! There are cheap flights from London to almost anywhere in the world. While a visit to France, Spain or Italy is an expensive weeks-long undertaking from New York, it can be a weekend trip that costs less than 100 pounds from here; ease of travel is a major perk. We are jealous of that! It’s been a while since you were a student at RSS. But do you recall any lessons or skills from your early educational career that you carry with you still? One of the things I liked best about RSS was that it made school fun. I don’t remember feeling any particular pressure to perform or any stress about my schoolwork. Instead I remember being curious and enjoying what I was learning—apart from my multiplication tables, which tortured my fourth-grade mind. I really think that experience of school as a fun and welcoming place to be is part of the reason I am in academia now. Ironically, the multiplication tables and other basic algebra skills are some of the things I now use most often. That’s great to hear. Do you have a favorite memory from RSS? I have a lot of good memories. However, one of my favorites is when we got fancy new playground equipment one year. The equipment included a sort of see-saw that you could hang from and poles that would spin around in circles. My classmates and I were quickly able to adapt these things into thrilling but dangerous acrobatic equipment. It was really fun! Unsurprisingly, however, the playground equipment was removed within a year or two. I would also like to give a shot out to Meg Waxman, who was my second grade teacher. I still remember second grade as one of the best of my (many) years in school! Thanks, Diana. And best of luck with your dissertation. We promise not to ask about it again until at least 2016.
WE PARTIED WITH YOUR PARENTS Our first-ever reunion and cocktail party for parents of RSS alumni was a smashing success, feauturing lots of laughter and mingling, delicious food, and musical entertainment provided by the Bailen Brothers ‘04. More than 90 of your parents attended, from 17 different graduation years from 1995 through 2013. Photos on our Facebook page. NOT AFRAID TO BEG FOR LIKES The coolest guy in school, aka Claudio, told us to tell you that you should follow us on Instagram. And the recent Olympic medalists who came to visit RSS said to follow us on Facebook in honor of their patriotic victories and general attractiveness. We are a week or so away from announcing our new alumni giving program AND several dates and times for in-person alumni events this spring. Be on the lookout for communication about both those things in the March newsletter, which will not come on the next-to-last-day of the month. Until then, as always: be good and we love you.
Oh hey there, Instagram:
Rodeph Sholom School Office of Development Bryant Palmer Director of Alumni Relations 646.438.8657 www.rodephsholomschool.org