BULLETIN
March - April 2011
Reflections on Raising Boys By Bob Lunder
Table of Contents 1-2 Feature Story 3
Notes from Inside
4
Development Committee
5-6 Spring Gala Feast 7
Camp Glen Brook
8
Main Lessons
11
Community Marketplace
Bob Lunder is a current parent, P’18 and P’16. The following are his impressions from the lecture “Raising Boys” given by Whitney MacDonald, organized by Social Inclusion and Community Education in January of this year. In older societies and primitive cultures when a boy reached adolescence, he was taken away from his family and subject to an ordeal and ritual as part of his passage into manhood. To use the Plains Indian tribes of North America as an example, a boy was never allowed to stray far from the campsite while growing up. He was always amongst the tribe and ostensibly in a safe place. When his time came, older men from the tribe would lead him from the campsite to a place he did not know. His initiation might include physical pain (a bone being broken, walk across hot coals, etc.) and would certainly include leaving him alone. He might spend four or five days praying and waiting for a vision. He would find his way back to the tribal village through trackless wilderness, with no one to help him survive or confront danger. This test of endurance and courage would produce a spiritual transformation of the boy into a young man (the terms ‘boy’ and ‘young man’ are often used interchangeably in our society). Upon returning to the village he received recognition from all tribe members as now being a man and warrior. The people would depend on him in providing food and in defending the tribe, even at risk to his life. The young man
knew what role he needed to play until old age. In today’s highly urbanized societies little thought is given to how a boy becomes a man, and almost no recognition of the passage into manhood occurs. Further, a man’s role in family and society has been devalued in popular culture and even in educational institutions. Fathers often are not present in their boys lives. A crisis in a significant percentage of young men in our society has developed. Whitney MacDonald, a Waldorf teacher from North Carolina, discussed the disturbing statistics relating to the alienation young men feel at a lecture at our school on Jan 18. Rates of imprisonment, drug use (90% of rehab patients are male) and violent death are extremely high for young men today. Perhaps more telling were the statistics on college enrollment, which has seen a shrinking percentage of male college enrollees (only 44% of the total) and graduates (just 46% of the initial male college enrollees graduate within six years). I spoke with Mr. MacDonald after his lecture. In contrast to the statistics on destructive behavior in young men I pointed out the selfless acts of courage young American men perform. I am friends with a number of courageous Marines who have returned from combat tours having risked their own life and limb to save their fellows. I know firemen who survived the World Trade Center collapse in 2001 and swear that they could depend on every man in their firehouse to be just as fearless
Reflections on Raising Boys
(continued)
as they were that day. Such brave and selfless men often come from the same places where young men are found wandering through life aimlessly. Whitney pointed out to me that both the Marines and the FDNY have formal and informal rites of passage. The young men are formally recognized at the end of their training. They feel a sense of accomplishment, as well as a sense of belonging and community in their units. They are challenged to first be independent, and then to be dependable. Isn’t this what most parents would hope their boys become? Listening to the lecture I could see areas where our school and Waldorf education serves boys well. Whitney mentioned that boy’s brains develop later and differently from girls. The early push towards academics in many mainstream schools results in early burn-out for boys. Certainly Waldorf trained teachers are more aware that boys are later in vocalizing and reasoning capabilities. Mr. MacDonald pointed out that starting a child into reading early is not as important as starting the child when he is ready. Another point he made was that children need alone time that is a time of calmness, even boredom. This quiet time allows for the processing of information taken in and for reflection. The opposite of this is over-stimulation. A child can become like a junkie for stimulation with highs and crashes if he gets too much. The Steiner school emphasis on handwork fits in well with the need for quiet time and quiet activity. An important point Whitney made was that starting at about age 6 boys seek a male role model. Teenage boys in particular need men who can teach them by example - what it means to be a man. A glaring weakness of today’s society is the absentee dad. The overwhelming demands of corporate careers often make men an outsider in family life. Even when a dad is home, the technology of the internet keeps him from really being present. At sporting events I often observe dads who spend the bulk of the game time absorbed in their electronic messaging device, not watching their child’s game. The cern not help
alienation of boys is something that should conall of us, not just the parents of boys. We will have a civil society for very long if we cannot young men find a more meaningful existence. n
Today more than ever, boys are struggling with their transition into adulthood. Addiction, broken relationships, loss of direction, alienation and cynicism are the hallmarks of todays’ adolescents. It doesn’t have to be this way. Cultures throughout the world and through the ages have developed Circles of Elders to support their sons and families. Using a modernized version of the Circle of Elders, Sakonnet Passage will teach men how to build trust and use their collective wisdom and experience to create a guiding vision for teens. If you are a father in our community and are interested in forming such a circle, please contact Linda Ogden at logden@steiner.edu.
Notes from Inside
Soc al I nclusion The Social Inclusion Committee has been busy working with the 8th Grade and High School Students who are on the SAC (Social Action Committee), helping them to prepare role plays for the 4th–7th graders. We hope to begin having the SAC perform these role plays shortly after spring break. The SAC meets weekly and the members have shown an amazing commitment to the work of Social Inclusion. We feel fortunate to have such dedicated students working with us. The role plays serve two purposes in working with the classes. First, they provide an opportunity for the children to view a difficult social situation in a non-judgmental and impersonal format. Secondly, they provide an opportunity for conversation around social issues. Our hope is that through these conversations, we will begin to build a Code of Ethics that represents our school. In case you haven’t heard, Social Inclusion now has office hours. We are in the Learning Support Office on the 3rd Floor in the Lower School on Mondays 8:30-10:30 and 3:15-4:15. Please stop by if you’d like to learn more about Social Inclusion or if you have any questions or concerns about social issues in general. Feel free to contact Linda Ogden (logden@steiner.edu) or Leslie Li (lli@steiner.edu) with any suggestions or questions for Social Inclusion.
S
ports at teiner
The Basketball Season is coming to a fantastic close, with our teams having very competitive and successful seasons. Our Girls Middle School had a successful year, finishing in fourth place in the I.S.A.L: “Big Apple Athletic Conference.” Our girls also captured a wonderful victory against The Baltimore Waldorf School at the “Friendship Games” held at the Green Meadow Waldorf School in late January. The 16 girls were excellently coached by Coach Lucy Oswald and Coach Dianna Peralta and all of them finished the season with great enthusiasm and tremendous school pride. We all look forward to another good season next year. Our Girls Varsity Basketball team had a very challenging season this year. Their team spirit and togetherness was always on display as the team played extremely hard and remained competitive throughout many of the games this season; unfortunately, many of their game results did not end in their favor. The team was coached by Coach Christian Perry and Coach Cleopatra Johnson. There is a very bright future for our Girls Varsity Basketball team and everyone is excited about returning next season and having a great year! Last but certainly not least, our Boys JV Basketball Team truly had a “Season of Dreams,” capturing the first Boys High School Basketball Championship since the 1990-1991 when the Boys Varsity Basketball team won the Division II I.S.A.L (Independent Schools Athletic League) both league and Tournament Championships. This year’s Boys JV Basketball had the opportunity to repeat that exact same accomplishment 20 years later with a victory at the Boys JV Basketball Tournament Championship Game – and did they ever deliver! Our boys played a hard fought match against The Churchill School but managed to take a 1 point lead with just a few seconds remaining. With a final score of 26-25, the Rudolf Steiner School Boys JV Basketball Team became the 20102011 Tournament Champions. The entire Upper School was in attendance and rushed the court after the final buzzer to embrace the team and congratulate them on their win. The team was coached by Head Coach: Ging Vann, Assistant Coaches: Mitch Martin and Steiner Alumnus Russell Ball ’10. Respectfully, Ging Vann, Athletic Director
Development Committee
Annual Fund Update
Annual Fund Participation by Class The Annual Fund is the heart and soul of our school’s fundraising. It’s the heart because it funds every program and person from tuition assistance for students and salaries for faculty, to books, beeswax and Bunsen burners. And it’s the soul because an Annual Fund gift is a personal expression of our belief in the school’s mission and our commitment to supporting each student’s gift of learning. You’ve heard it many times before, but it can’t be overstated: Rudolf Steiner School welcomes Annual Fund gifts of any size, and participation is a foremost goal. While large contributions help the school to take great steps forward, it is only through the annual, collective generosity of the entire community that we are able to take the daily steps necessary to deliver the exceptional Waldorf education that our children receive throughout the year. Rudolf Steiner School relies on us all. Please join your fellow parents in making a gift to the Annual Fund.
Back Nursery Middle Nursery
33%
Downstairs Kindergarten
55%
Upstairs Kindergarten
58% 38%
Grade 1
74%
Grade 2
44%
Grade 3 Grade 4
28% 40%
Grade 5
43%
Grade 6 Grade 7
33% 50%
Grade 8 Grade 9
28% 50%
Grade 10 Grade 11
Please consider making a gift to the Annual Fund today. You may make a check payable to the “Rudolf Steiner School”, or visit our online donation form by clicking here.
100%
Grade 12
23% 20%
Steiner Parent Chefs Create a Gala Feast! Live Auction Dinner, presented by Eugenia Bone & Joseph Albano
By Eugenia Bone, Parent 2013
Professional chef Joseph Albano P’20, P’23, food writer, cookbook author and chef Eugenia Bone P’13, along with school administrator-cum-wine expert, Josh Eisen, had the great pleasure of preparing dinner for alumni parent Brigitte Vosse and five alumni parent friends last month. This multi-course feast was a Live Auction offering that Brigitte won at the Steiner Spring Gala last year. After settling on a date, we offered Brigitte a choice of an Italian or French format. She picked French. Then we offered her two choices for every course. Here’s what she chose: fried olives stuffed with fish, with champagne cocktails (the original recipe); mushroom bisque with Amontillado sherry, sole stuffed with ricotta and crab with Kir-Yanni Akakies Rose, squab with aged balsamic, wild mushroom custard and asparagus with Allegrini Palazzo della Torre; arugula salad with poached pears and Istara, a sheep’s milk cheese, Chabichou du Poitou, a goat’s milk cheese, and Fourme d’Ambert, a cow’s milk cheese all from France, with Clos du Papillon; and butterscotch pudding with Chantilly crème with a 15-year-old Madeira that had the ladies doing the chair dance of gastronomic happiness. We prepared the dinner in Brigitte’s apartment and it was served by Eileen Diskin, Steiner’s Director of Alumni Affairs and Joy Phelan-Pinto P16, 18, and Development Chair. When dinner was over and we departed around 10:00pm, the kitchen was clean and the guests were still happily ensconced at the table. We have no idea what time the party actually ended, but afterwards, Brigitte wrote us that dinner was simply fabulous and her guest ex-parent Jane Arnold, said it was superb. Irene Mantel, Steiner’s Director of Admissions, was also one of Brigitte’s guests who rhapsodized about the delightful evening. This very special event could be yours next! We’ll be offering the dinner again at this year’s Spring Gala (on May 20), so loosen your belts and make a bid!
Brigitte Vosse and her guests enjoy their multi-coursed meal in the comfort of Brigitte’s own home. There’s nothing like a good meal and fabulous friends!
Eugenia Bone, Eileen Diskin, and Joseph Albano holding down the kitchen. Joy Phelan-Pinto (not pictured) pulls double duty as server and photographer.
Libations Fit for the Gala Feast Wine pairings were a delightful inclusion of the Spring Benefit Gala Feast, and the libations were designed by none other than our own Joshua Eisen - no average School Administrator is he! Josh’s many talents have included past positions of chef, as well as that of a food, wine and spirits writer. We are delighted to share the impressive list of wines and spirits selected by Josh to accompany each course of the remarkable meal prepared by Eugenia and Joe. Wine served by course: 1. Champagne Cocktail (the original recipe) NV Champagne, sugar cube with angostura bitters, and a tablespoon of top-notch Cognac 2. Lustau Amontillado Sherry “Los Arcos” 3. Kir-Yianni Akakies Rose 2010 (100% Xinomavro grapes from one of Greece’s top wine growing regions) 4. Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre 2007 (a Veronese IGT from on of a great producer of Amarone and Valpolicella) 5. Domaine des Baumard Savennieres 2005 Clos du Papillon (100% Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley, France) 6. Blandy’s 15 Year Old Boal Madeira
Joseph Albano’s Butterscotch Pudding You will need six 8-ounce ramekins for this dish. Serves 6 ½ cup dark brown sugar ½ cup white sugar 8 egg yolks 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon salt 8 ounces milk 4 ounces cream For the Whipped Cream 8 ounces heavy cream 2 tablespoons sugar Pre-heat oven to 300 F. Whisk together the egg yolks, dark brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Heat the milk and cream in a saucepot over a medium heat until it comes to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and keep warm. In the meantime, add the white sugar to a saute pan deep enough to hold the milk as well (which you will be adding later). Watch carefully as the sugar begins to brown. In a few minutes the sugar will become completely brown. The sugar should be very dark brown but not black. Add a small ladle of the heated milk. The sugar will bubble rapidly for a moment and then stop. Add the remaining milk to the sugar slowly, stirring all the while. Slowly pour the milk and sugar mixture into the egg yolks, stirring all the while. Pass through a fine mesh strainer and pour into ramekins that are set on a baking tray. Bake for 30-35 minutes until set. Cool in fridge a few hours or overnight. When ready to serve: Whip cream and sugar to stiff peaks. Serve each pudding with a dollop of whipped cream.
Steiner Scholarshipat
Camp Glen Brook
Has Deep Roots
By Twain Braden
I
n the winter of 1945-46, Rudolf Steiner School teacher William Harrer stepped onto a train at Grand Central and, five hours later, stepped off at the downtown rail station in Keene, New Hampshire. A friend was waiting for him at the curb and together they drove five miles east, up a steep hill, and arrived at a 200-acre hilltop farm that overlooked Mount Monadnock. Settled in 1776 by a Revolutionary War militiaman, the land had been used in the intervening century-and-a-half as a working farm and, more recently, as a gentleman’s farm for a succession of prominent Boston families. These farmers, foresters, writers, poets, and artists—and their many friends and relations—had left a series of rambling homes and buildings that nestled on the land with a striking natural beauty. Within minutes, Harrer knew this was the place.
of Garden City, New York. The school would continue to operate the Camp in summers and use the property during the school year for student work projects. It was a perfect match that was made official in 1972 and continues to this day. The Camp hosts numerous school visits (from Waldorf and other schools, public and private) in spring and fall. The co-ed summer camp hosts children from around the world, ages 9 through 16.
Following the passing of the Harrers, a few friends in the Glen Brook community were inspired by their work and felt it fitting to establish a “campership” fund for Rudolf Steiner School children. That fund continues today. Each spring, Glen Brook’s staff confers with Steiner’s music teacher, Judy Bachleitner, who spent numerous summers at Glen Brook herself, about who might benefit from such an experience. When asked to “There was Mount Monadnock, snowcovered, look- share, Steiner parent Roxon Clark - whose son Haniff was the ing like Mount Fuji; a most beautiful landscape,” Harrer 2009 Harrer Campership recipient - recalls “The weeks Haniff wrote years later. “I knew instantly this was it…I ran down spent at Glen Brook have been a life changing experience for to the lake [which] was overflowing at the dam and formed him and myself. Haniff has learned to be independent and quite a waterfall and glen brook rushed down with great more confident in the things that he does for himself. Everyforce. Each time I came in sight of Mount Monadnock, one is kind and friendly at Glen Brook. Even the few hours I I felt greatly elated and thankful for the task that lay be- spent at Glen Brook made me feel like a part of the family.” fore me; fulfilling my dream to establish a children’s camp.” The Harrer Campership Scholarship pays 90% of camp fees He purchased the property and the very next summer and is one of the many ways that the Harrers’ generous legacy opened Camp Glen Brook with 12 campers—all of them lives to this day. his students at the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan. Twain Braden, a 1988 graduate of the Waldorf School of Garden City, is The Camp was to be a playful variant on a Waldorf School— director of Glen Brook. For more information on the scholarship program the same wholesome ideals that nourish the child’s will and Glen Brook’s various programs visit www.glenbrook.org or contact through creative play, music, art, and outdoor activities. For Twain at 603-876-3342 or twain@glenbroook.org. the next 30 years, William Harrer, along with his wife Dorothy, also a Steiner teacher, would devote summers to their beloved Glen Brook, building the Camp into an institution that proved to be the first of its kind by blending the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner into a thriving camp environment located on one of the most beautiful landscapes in New England. The Harrers wanted the Camp to continue after their passing, so they negotiated transfer of the Camp to the Waldorf School
Main Lessons 1st grade March: Arithmetic Block III April: Writing & Reading IV
7th grade March: Astronomy April: Geometry
2nd grade March: Carrying & Borrowing in Addition and Subtraction April: Language & Arts: Riddles and Justice Tales from Around the World
8th grade March: Organic Chemistry April: American History
3rd grade March: Old Testament April: Measurement 4th grade March: Play rehearsals & performances April: Human & Animal 5th grade March: North American Geography, Part II April: Botany, Part II 6th grade March: History April: Math
9th grade March: Physics April: American Literature 10th grade March: Ecology April: World Civilization II 11th grade March: Advanced Geometry April: Botany 12th grade March: History Through Art April: Math in Today’s World
Image: 10th grade watercolor
7th grade main lesson work
Physiology
6th grade main lesson work
Spanish Countries
Services Steiner parent can cater events for you in your home or elsewhere. Small or large family events, larger corporate dinners, expert wine pairing available, casual or elegant, always prepared and served professionally. I love food and source great ingredients to produce memorable events. Please call me at 917-239-6620 to inquire! Lauren McGrath Parent of Eleanor, 2014 Bring Joe Home Parent class of 2020 and 2023 and husband of Chrisann Didonato, Joseph Albano is a professional chef, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Culinary Institute of America graduate whose resume also includes a two year apprenticeship in France. Specializing in French, Italian, and New American cuisine, for over 22 years he has been creating delightful and delectable meals, tailored to any interest or dietary restricion.
Shop with Dolma Fair Trade and find beautifully handmade gifts that support women, schools and entire communities in India. Dolma specializes in high quality silk scarves, handbags, table linens and more. Dolma is a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation. Visit us at dolmafairtrade.com If you’re in the mood for creativity, then head to Alumna Stella Metzner’s ’96 shop, Spacecraft. Located in Brooklyn, Spacecraft offers a variety of crafting options from knitting to painting, and pottery. Prices based on the project you choose. A great outting for the entire family. Head to Spacecraft, located at 355 Bedford Ave in Brooklyn or visit them online at spacecraftbrooklyn.com
If you have an advertisement you would like to appear here, please email your entry to ediskin@steiner.edu. All entries are subject to review. Publication is not guaranteed.
Marketplace
Community
Joe is available to cook for your next event or family get-together! He can be reached at 516-314-8912 or josephmalbano@gmail.com
Artwork by 10th grade students