Winter 2016 Deerfield Magazine by Deerfield Academy

WINTER 2016

DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

SE IN

MINDSET AND METHOD OLO GY / CLAIRE WO O ’02 / MICHELMAN ’53

AN TH

G LIBERAL / 30

BEIN

/ 6 ON

/ 1 4

volume 73/2

B OY D E N L I B R A R Y R E N OVAT I O N J u ly 2 0 1 5

Making a Difference. My thirteen-year-old daughter recently became vegetarian. She isn’t a Deerfield student (not yet anyway—I have high hopes!) but she has known DA all her life, and every now and then she winds up in the Dining Hall with me. We’d been having a conversation about her reasons for swearing off meat, and beyond the fact she thinks it’s “unkind” to kill animals for food, she added, “Do you have any idea about the emissions from livestock farming? They’re a huge problem! I’m trying to make a difference.” “I’m trying to make a difference” stuck with me. I can’t even remotely claim to be an expert on emissions of any kind, but every day here at Deerfield I see students who are engaged in studying those “huge” problems our world is facing—in classes such as “Global Food Systems,” “Design for Living,” and “Design for Human Impact”—where the methodology is every bit as important as the facts they’re soaking up. They’re learning how to make a difference. And as we pulled together this issue of Deerfield Magazine, I was also reminded of how many of you—our alumni, parents, and friends—are actively facing down those same problems—and making a difference. Take alumna Claire Woo ’02, for example. As product engineering manager at Station A—a “center of innovation” at NRG, one of our nation’s largest power companies, Dr. Woo has an ambitious goal: to effectively rewire the entire US power grid—and help save the world from the worse-case consequences of global warming. Her work is technical, ambitious, and—in every sense of the word—epic. She’s “Leading the Local Revolt,” beginning on page 14.

Dr. Woo is not alone in her global aspirations: Earthwatch founder Brian Rosborough ’58 talks about the “grand challenges” our planet faces in a “Tete-a-Tete” conversation beginning on page 50. He served as CEO of the “international environmental charity” for 25 years, and he tells us why he believes the natural world needs the care of people from all nations and all walks of life—perhaps now more than ever before. Happy spoiler alert: Mr. Rosborough is optimistic about the future of our planet—why? In part because of initiatives here at Deerﬁeld— from the fact that Head of School Margarita Curtis prioritized refurbishing and reorganizing the Boyden Library, effectively making it a hub of collaboration and interdisciplinary study (see pages 4 and 5), to the fact that every day students are given the opportunity and means to pursue excellence both inside and outside of the classroom (see “Five Minute Interview” on page 39, “In the Zone” on page 26, and “Stick (with it) Skills” on page 36). I hope you enjoy this issue of Deerﬁeld Magazine. Please send us your comments, your photos, your stories (short and long!); the deadline for news and notes for our spring issue is March 1, 2016. We always seem to have so many interesting stories to tell, and in many ways, that is because of you—you make the difference. //

Jessica Day Managing Editor

Managing Editor

Production Coordinator

Multimedia Specialist

eCommunications Specialist

Art Director

Archivist

Director of Communications

Jessica Day

Cara Cusson

JR Delaney

Danaë DiNicola

Brent M. Hale

Anne Lozier

David Thiel

Editorial Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu Publication Office: Cummings Printing, Hooksett, NH. Third class postage paid at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and additional mailing office.

Deerfield Magazine is published in the fall, winter, and spring. Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright © The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

2 | VOLUME 73, NUMBER 2

Mindset and Methodology

F E AT U R E S :

Leading the Local Revol+

COMMENTS

Word Search

In Memoriam

First Person: JADE BASEM ’15

The Common Room

Albany Road

On Being Liberal

42 88 95 96

Cover: JR Delaney / Inside spread: Lawrence Luk

May I intrude with a gratuitous and, no doubt to you, surprising view that I find Deerfield Magazine these days almost unreadable? I don't know how to read the publication, where my eye should go, where I am when within it. A publication— and I've designed and edited a number of them—is not supposed to be like a Rauschenberg painting, where the eye is not supposed to have a resting place. The design is supposed to lead the reader in how to proceed. In this case, I wander lost in a field of font types and sizes, illustrations mixed up all over the place, nothing linear save, here and there, pieces of text. I don't think it works, nor that it effectively portrays the school from which, long ago, I graduated. James Banner ’53 Washington, DC

The Fall 2015 Deerfield Magazine offers glimpses of the Academy's living pulse, its evolving campus building renovations, and generally, in David Thiel's words: "share(s) some of the experiences that show breadth in the Deerfield experience." A very personally reflective issue for all of us far away in the "abyss." The magazine keeps us connected. As Noah Blake states: "It's all predicated on the fact that alumni, parents, friends—all constituents—love this place." Even the financial section came alive with all the donors. Two of my fellow '55-er classmates, Tim Day and Jerry Rood, contributed $100,000 (or more) to Imagine Deerfield. A New Year has embraced us—Go Deerfield in 2016 ! Tom L’Esperance ’55 Carlsbad, California

BACK IN CIRCULATION A final flurry of activity over winter break assured that the newly renovated Boyden Library was ready to welcome students, faculty, and staff when they returned to campus in January. Subtle touches, such as "sound deadening" chairs (upper right) and study carrels with sliding glass doors (right) surprised and delighted the community. The most obvious change to the building was the relocation of the main staircase (above and on our cover), which now provides a central, open connection between all three floors;

4 | ALBANY ROAD

the library renovation committee wanted to create a strong connection between the upper floors of the library and the new Innovation Space in the lower level, in addition to maximizing views and connections to exterior windows and natural light. Keeping the original staircase and adding a separate open stair to the lower level, in addition to consuming more floor area, would have necessitated a fire-rated separation wall between the two stair openings, limiting open connections between spaces. Consolidating the stairs into a single vertical stack, protected by closely-spaced sprinklers and a draft stop around the opening at each floor also eliminated the need for a smoke evacuation system that an "atrium" stairway would have necessitated. ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge served as the architect for the project, and a celebration of the redesigned library will take place later this year.

PHOTOGRAPHS JR DELANEY

BY SARAH ZOBEL | PHOTOGRAPHS BY JR DELANEY & BRENT HALE

(Classes at DeerямБeld teach more than their content.)

Some futurists say that millennials will cycle through a dozen or so distinct careers—many of which don’t even exist today. Whether or not that will prove true, there’s no arguing that the pace at which technology continues to evolve means even familiar jobs look different this morning than they did a decade ago: think of the doctor keeping track of patients through electronic records, the journalist reporting via vlogging, or the quilter selling on Etsy. “If you think about a world in which most of the jobs don’t even exist right now, then you have to think, what should we be training our kids to be able to do?” says Academic Dean Peter Warsaw. But technology is only one piece of the puzzle. A few years ago, Mr. Warsaw met with the chairs of Deerfield’s academic departments to discuss the ideal student; six critical qualities emerged: discipline (work ethic); productive collaboration skills (including class participation and discussion); grit (resilience); independence and initiative; creativity; and—“king of them all”—curiosity. All qualities that can best be nurtured through design thinking and systems thinking— somewhat abstruse concepts that nevertheless have applications across disciplines. At Deerfield, they are being embraced as best practices for 21st century learning. Originally business-related, design thinking has been warmly received among educators for its approach to solving a problem, whether that’s the creation of an object—a smartphone, for instance—or the resolution of something less tangible but with more dire consequences, such as food insecurity. Design thinking utilizes the creative process: the notion that there is no wrong idea when you’re getting started, and the embracing of trial and error, multiple iterations, and a perpetual sense of refining—whether of a product or of an answer. And whether they’re running a business or teaching a class, those who adopt design thinking encourage employees and students alike to face each problem through continuous decision making, rather than feeling as though there is only one correct answer. Systems thinking, meanwhile, calls for an analytical, overarching approach. It considers the larger structural organization, the dynamics within that structure, how those systems interrelate, and how they function over time.

CRITICAL QUALITIES OF AN IDEAL STUDENT

DISCIPLINE COLLABORATION GRIT INDEPENDENCE & INITIATIVE CREATIVITY CURIOSITY

NO EASY ANSWERS “At Deerfield we want to focus on what are some of the world’s most pressing problems that not only lend themselves well to developing critical thinking skills and understanding systems thinking, but really require those skills to be able to know where to start, in terms of solving them,” says Director of Global Studies David Miller. In his Global Food Systems course, Mr. Miller and his students have considered what is a global food system, how eating is an agricultural act, and how the food-related decisions they make are part of a larger system. In an attempt to answer those questions, this past fall each student chose one ingredient routinely found in the Dining Hall to research. For the student taking a closer look at romaine lettuce, for example, a connection between the US Food and Drug Administration and workers’ and immigrants’ rights was soon apparent. “Students see that you have to understand how the shelf life of an ingredient has to do with the workers that are behind it, and how the workflow connects to immigrant rights, which connects to international policy about agriculture,” says Mr. Miller. “That’s really what we’re hoping for: that we ask students simple questions and they see the complexity in the topics that are coming up.” Daniella Faura ’17 learned about quinoa, which the United Nations said has the potential to positively affect hunger and food insecurity worldwide, although the popular grain isn’t always available even at a food secure institution such as Deerfield Academy because small farmers often can’t keep up with the demand, Michael McCarthy, director of food services, told her. Investigating further, Daniella also discovered that its popularity has played a significant role in the economic fluctuations of growing countries such as Bolivia. Although Daniella is interested in food as a topic, it was actually the focus on critical thinking that drew her to Global Food Systems.

She’s already observed the cross-pollination of the skills she’s honing there in her other courses—in formulating arguments in history and gathering evidence and supporting claims in English class, for example—and with long-term plans to study international and foreign affairs, Daniella anticipates that reach will continue. “These skills are helpful in trying to figure out what the problem is,” she says. “Looking at multiple perspectives through different lenses with various viewpoints is important, along with collaborating with other people in trying to solve this one issue, and realizing there are multiple ways to solve an issue.” Global Food Systems is a College Board AP (Advanced Placement) Capstone seminar—a skills-based program with which both Mr. Miller and Deerfield have been involved from the outset. The College Board assesses students on a team project, an individual 2000word research report, and a final exam, and Mr. Miller says that given its focus on skills, the course is content agnostic. Global food systems were a natural fit because they’re something students can process as a basic part of their daily lives, while looking at how complex seemingly simple things can be. Students are also accountable for their peers’ learning, so, for example, during the winter term’s team project on hunger and food insecurity, each will be expected to be capable of providing an oral defense on every aspect of the project, whether or not he or she was responsible for that part. It’s not about impressing the teacher, Mr. Miller says, but about solving a problem. “I’m assessing you not by how much work you did, but by how much understanding your audience has at the end of the presentation,” he says. “So you go from content-centered goals to audience-centered goals—not what do you want to tell me, but what do you want me to do after I’ve heard your presentation or read your pamphlet?”

GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEMS

Mr. Miller and his students have considered what is a global food system, how eating is an agricultural act, and how the food-related decisions they make are part of a larger system.

I’m assessing you not by how much work you did, but by how much understanding your audience has at the end of the presentation. So you go from content-centered goals to audience-centered goals—not what do you want to tell me, but what do you want me to do after I’ve heard your presentation.—David Miller

"We look around, and lots of things in nature have solved the problems that we want to solve . . ." calling plants nature’s “machines,” . . . students are

employing design thinking to come up with ways to positively affect urban living through plants. —Ben Bakker

HANDS ON What Ben Bakker wants his students in Design for Living to do is build green, or living, walls. Making use of vertical spaces, they’re both visually appealing and functional, using plants to clean indoor air—some people even grow food in them. With the world’s population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, and with 80 percent of that population living in cities, the need for clean air and water and accessible food is real, and urgent. “We look around, and lots of things in nature have solved the problems that we want to solve,” says Mr. Bakker, calling plants nature’s “machines.” His students are employing design thinking to come up with ways to positively affect urban living through plants. Mark DesLauriers ’16 zeroed in on aquaponics, a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture that creates a self-sustaining micro

-ecosystem, as one possible solution to food issues. He’s working with a partner to build a system comprised of a combination fish tank and grow bed: it pumps water that’s toxic from the ammonia in fish waste into the adjoining bed, which uses grow media to cultivate bacteria that oxidize the ammonia into nitrite and nitrate, which the plants then absorb. The clean water is then pumped back into the fish tank. Intended for use in homes, the system requires only routine feeding of the fish. In a happy coincidence, the students’ work was validated when they learned of Deerfield alumnus Gabe Blanchet’s company, Grove, which is currently marketing the Grove Ecosystem—also aquaponic—which is housed in a large bookcase-like cabinet and intended for home use. (See Deerfield Magazine, Fall 2015.)

“People are interested in the urban issue of access to healthy food,” says Mark. “That’s one possible solution to implementing a system into people’s homes so they can grow some of their own food and take ownership of the food industry.” It might also mean that rather than shipping vegetables from California, people could grow them in the heart of New York City. The course, new this year, is also part of the AP Capstone program (although not all students are taking it as such); with courses such as Global Food Systems teaching research and critical-thinking skills, this class and others like it are intended as follow-ups and practicums, “turning students loose to apply those skills to research scenarios,” says Mr. Bakker.

DESIGN FOR LIVING

With the world’s population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, and with 80 percent of that population living in cities, the need for clean air and water and accessible food is real, and urgent.

With design, usually you’re making something from nothing, so all you really have to go on at the start is intention and goal. Clarity around goal is a big part of the process. Using the tools and the process, students are able to “ignore the possibility of impossibility. Instead of asking can we or can’t we, you begin to ask, ‘How do we?’ —David Thiel

TO REITERATE…AGAIN Like Global Food Systems, David Thiel’s twoterm Design for Human Impact’s subject matter is primarily a resource to learning the methodology, and project work is focused on graphic, industrial, and experiential design. Students understand that they’re learning tools that will be applicable whether they’re designing an investment portfolio or an airplane, an invasion or a peace treaty, the user experience on a computer or a navigation system on a roadway, because, as he points out, everything that isn’t part of the natural world has been designed. Often when students ask Mr. Thiel a question, he responds with one of his own: What is your goal?

DESIGN FOR HUMAN IMPACT /

David Thiel’s two-term Design for Human Impact’s subject matter is primarily a resource to learning the methodology, and project work is focused on graphic, industrial, and experiential design.

RULES FOR (FLAG) DESIGN: — Keep it simple — Use meaningful symbolism — Use 2-3 basic colors — No lettering or seals — Be distinctive

“With design, usually you’re making something from nothing, so all you really have to go on at the start is intention and goal. Clarity around goal is a big part of the process,” he says. Using the tools and the process, students are able to “ignore the possibility of impossibility. Instead of asking can we or can’t we, you begin to ask, ‘How do we?’” Together, students also learn divergence and convergence, says Andrew Peck ’18, giving the example of a deceptively simple class project to design a Deerfield flag. After watching a TED talk by designer Roman Mars on the components of a good flag, the Design for Human Impact students practiced on Adobe Illustrator, recreating existing national flags to familiarize themselves with the software. Only then did they begin the actual design process, using divergence— creating choices—and convergence—making choices. Each student presented 20 potential symbols to the class, at which point the convergence began. Together, they grouped like symbols, eliminating any that were duplicates, and in doing so they reduced the number of possibilities from more than 200 to 20; they repeated the process to winnow it to 15. Lists in hand, each student turned back to divergence, this time by drawing 20 sketches and choosing those they would include on their flags. They were told they could add others, too—with the exception of the Deerfield Door and the seal of the Academy—but no text, nor the word “Deerfield.” Andrew chose the Connecticut River and the horse’s head hitching post outside of the main entrance to the gym as emblematic of the Academy; like almost every student’s, his flag had a green background. Andrew says he is confident he’ll recycle the divergence/convergence approach in future. “It’s something you do subconsciously throughout your life. It’s a practical skill, and it’s going to help me in the long run,” he says, adding that any intimidation he felt as a sophomore in a class heavy with seniors was immediately quashed by the open discussions and mutual support. “It actually feels a lot less competitive than any other class, because

everyone has to throw out as many ideas as they can—whether they sound silly or smart—because we just want to get as much as we can on the table. From those we might ﬁnd the solution, the idea we’re looking for,” Andrew says, adding that he’s also learned it’s important not to get too attached to ideas, which can seem brilliant in the moment, but then become less so with time, or perhaps change with new knowledge. It’s possible Andrew will have a long career that involves his newly-honed graphic design skills, but his choice of profession—or professions—is almost beside the point; it’s that fact that Andrew and his fellow students will bring to any job the ability to face problems with solid critical-thinking and collaborative skills, together with independence, initiative, and healthy work habits—the heart of design and systems thinking. “Whatever students might choose to do, or whatever they might be required to do, we know that those [skills] will serve them well, and they will transport with them from job to job, career to career,” Peter Warsaw says, pointing to Deerﬁeld’s original AP Capstone course, Global H2O, as further evidence of their practicality at multiple levels: A poll taken early in the class’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) unit showed 15 students opposed to fracking and one in support of it. But after two weeks of examining the issue from various environmental, economic, and socio-political viewpoints, and capped by a debate, the 15-1 had become an even 8-8, with the former lone supporter having switched sides. To Mr. Warsaw, that was an example of the best parts of design and systems thinking. “These are complicated questions,” he says. “People often say that’s an easy no: Fracking’s a bad thing to do. Well, yes, if you look at it through one lens. But the world doesn’t look at things through one lens. This is where students need the critical thinking skills to sort how they can even decide the relative strengths and weight each lens carries. The more students who grapple with that kind of work the better, and the earlier they grapple with it, the better.” //

Want to learn more about vexillology? Check this out: ted.com/talks/roman_mars_why_city_flags_may_be_the_worst_designed_thing_you_ve_never_noticed?

BY NELL LAKE PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE LUK

LEADING THE LOCAL REVOL+

Claire Woo ’02 thinks a great deal—and critically— about this centralized, long-distance system. She’s bringing her passion for solving technical problems to tackling an enormous, and complicated, goal: to disrupt the model of the current grid and find a better way to distribute renewable energy in the U.S. Most of us don’t give much thought to the U.S. electrical grid. We turn on lights, toast bread, power up computers, and hardly, if ever, ponder the vast and complicated system that generates and delivers the power that makes these things possible. Yet Dr. Woo thinks a great deal—and critically—about this centralized, long-distance system. She’s bringing her passion for solving technical problems to tackling an enormous, and complicated, goal: to disrupt the model of the current grid and ﬁnd a better way to distribute renewable energy in the U.S. Along the way she wants to help save the world from the worst-case consequences of global warming.

+ CHAMPION OF THE GRID / Dr. Woo in the Station A offices.

Dr. Woo, who has a PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley, is a product engineering manager at Station A, a “center of innovation” within NRG, a large U.S. power company. Her team is working on solving an intricate puzzle: how to build renewable-energy electricity networks on a more local scale. One key to a better future, she believes, is for communities to generate electricity—and coordinate its supply and demand—close to home. It’s a puzzle that others are working on, too; Dr. Woo and her team hope to provide the best solutions. The Problem with Big: The current U.S. grid consists of three vast, regional networks, comprising about 7,300 generation plants. Responding to ﬂuctuating demands for power, these plants continuously create electricity, which travels over high-voltage wires—often across hundreds of miles—to substations in cities and towns. The substations distribute the power via transmission lines to individual homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and so on. Along the way from plant to user, transformers change the voltage of the electricity: ﬁrst, it’s “stepped up” to high voltage for travel; then it’s stepped down for our use. One problem with this centralized system, Dr. Woo says, is that the farther electricity travels, the more energy is lost along the way. The current grid is therefore less efficient than a collection of many smaller networks would be. But the key problems with the grid—and the reasons Dr. Woo believes local renewable-energy networks will help save the planet—are more complex:

Start by imagining that you, the owner of a house—wanting to be green and more energy-independent—install solar panels on your roof. You keep your house wired to the conventional, larger electrical grid, however, and during the day, while your solar panels are supplying electricity to your appliances and lights, they also send excess electricity into the grid. In providing this power, you earn credit with the utility. You use this credit when you need to draw power from the grid—at night, say, or on rainy days when your solar panels don’t provide enough power. If the net value on your meter—what you generate minus what you use—is zero, you pay nothing to the utility. Good news. And yet here’s the rub: the utility is still providing you with a service, essentially storing your excess energy, for free, during times you generate it, and letting you draw on it later. The utility has lost revenue from you, so will likely raise rates on your neighbor. While your use of solar panels helps the planet (and boosts emerging businesses enabling clean energy), the arrangement, Dr. Woo says, “is not sustainable. Utilities are saying . . . ‘How am I going to make money?’” “It is a huge problem,” she says. You need the grid, but you’re not helping it survive. The growth of solar and wind has created other problems for energy distribution, stemming from the fact that sun and wind ﬂuctuate as sources of power. The sun rises and sets; clouds alternately cover and reveal the sun; and wind surges and subsides. Thus, the more renewable -energy sources in a network, the greater the ﬂuctuations in supply and demand. At sunrise, solar power surges into the grid and at sunset, there’s a very fast “ramp down” of the solar generation, Dr. Woo says. “It’s difficult for the current grid to respond to. Fossil fuel power plants generally take a long time to change their outputs, to ramp up or ramp down.”

You might say, well, couldn’t we just abandon the current grid altogether? Isn’t the solution for everyone to install solar panels, with batteries in their homes for storing the excess energy? This would, theoretically, make everyone “grid-independent,” Dr. Woo says. But there are several problems even with this scenario, she says. First, not everyone owns houses on which they can situate solar panels. Not everyone, in other words, can generate their own energy. Second, Dr. Woo says, it is very difficult for most homes to be 100 percent independent. Even if you live in a sunny place and cover every inch of your roof with solar panels, your home will likely be only about 90 percent self-sufficient. You still need an external source of power. And just as it takes time for the conventional grid to ramp up and down, it also couldn’t just turn on when needed. “On our visits to electrical plants,” Dr. Woo says, “we always ask the plant manager, ‘how long does it take for you to start up?’” The answer, Dr. Woo says, usually ranges from eighteen hours to a week. “So everyone couldn’t just say, ‘We’ll just use [the grid] on rainy days.’” So this unresponsive, large grid could need to become obsolete. But what’s the alternative? What’s the best way to establish renewables as our primary power source?

Small Solutions: Dr. Woo believes that utilities must take on a new role: coordinating and operating local renewable-energy networks. These networks would range in size from small neighborhoods, to towns, to cities. She and her team are working to identify the “key hardware and software components” of such networks, to design infrastructure that will support what Dr. Woo calls the “distributed energy future.” Each system in this future will be self-sufficient, coordinating power exchanges among resources, “based on real-time supply and demand.” Each system will thus be more nimble in distributing power than the big grid. This local-network approach, Dr. Woo says, besides helping solve technical problems, will also help satisfy consumers’ interest in knowledge and control. “It’s actually not impossible for the conventional grid to be renewable,” Dr. Woo says. “You could have many huge solar panels and wind farms in the desert. But most consumers don’t want that anymore. People want to know where their power comes from . . . They want more control.” Many also want to be more green. And yet, as Dr. Woo explains, total green independence is impossible. “There is still a need for a grid, some central operator, some shared resources among buildings,” Dr. Woo says. Thus, besides being practical, the local-network approach combines consumers’ interest in individual action with the interdependency of community.

I WANTED TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

I WANTED TO WORK ON A MORE HOLISTIC BASIS—ON EVERYTHING, ALL THE DIFFERENT ASSETS—SOLAR, BATTERIES, AND THE CONTROLS AT THE INTELLIGENCE LEVEL.”

STATION Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OWN MICROGRID

HOW IT WORKS IN 4 STEPS

RESERVOIR

BALANCE

Three Aquion Batteries

A System Master Controller

store any excess solar production during the day and discharge during non-sunlight hours to support the loads in the building.

is the brain of the microgrid. It makes sure that the energy supply and demand are always balanced. During sunlight hours, solar energy directly supplies the building loads. Any excess solar production is stored in the batteries. In the evening, with insufficient sunshine, the controller discharges the batteries to supply loads. When there is not enough sunlight or stored energy in the battery, the controller buys energy from the electric grid.

E UR PT CA cing roof mou nted lar

so ls

convert the DC power produced by the solar panels to a more useful form known as AC power, which is the form of power used by most electrical appliances and equipment.

n fa

Three SMA Sunny Boy Inverters

ther

TRANSFORM

Sou

ture

cap the . ergy

n â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e sun

A New World: Dr. Woo found her own intersection of individual action and community responsibility at Deerﬁeld. She came to the school as a sophomore from Hong Kong. “It was great,” she says, and also “very, very different . . . In Hong Kong, everything was rote memorization, spoon feeding . . . just memorizing the whole textbook, literally. At Deerﬁeld I struggled at the beginning because I couldn’t just memorize everything and expect to do well on an exam.” She had to learn to think for herself, analytically and critically. During her senior year, she took an elective English course that focused on environmental problems. The course changed Dr. Woo’s world view. She remembers thinking, “This is new to me!” Environmental issues were not discussed at school in Hong Kong. In this course, she pondered “issues that are affecting our daily lives and future generations, the impact of daily actions and decisions that we make. Like what are you buying, what kind of food are you eating, the mode of transportation that you choose to take, where do you decide to live.”

PROJECT LI++LE HOUSE / The Little House is a pre-fabricated structure conceived by ecofabulous’s Zem Joaquin and architect Jonathan Davis that embodies aspirational, modern, sustainable living. It utilizes recycled and renewable materials, natural ventilation, passive solar heating, deep shading overhangs and a unique thermal concrete floor heating system, serving to demonstrate sustainable building and design concepts. source: http://www.stationa.com/projects/potrero/little-house/

She learned that not eating animals, eggs, or dairy was an effective way of reducing her environmental impact. She became vegan. She also decided to become a scientist. “I loved math and science; I loved problem-solving. I wanted to use that to do something related to the environment and to climate change. Clean energy was the path I identiﬁed.” She studied chemical engineering at Princeton, where she worked with a professor on a new design for fuel cells. At Berkeley she focused on solar panels; but after earning her degree, Dr. Woo switched to another critical component in renewable-energy: batteries. “I realized how important [batteries are] as an enabling technology, in this future world where we’ll have a lot more renewable energy and resources.” Batteries help create a steady, stable supply of energy given the ﬂuctuations of wind and solar. Supply instability has been a key challenge for renewable-energy problem-solvers. Renewableenergy grids need ways of providing power even in times when power -generation isn’t happening. Add batteries to systems, and they can store electricity for later use. “You need batteries as a smoothing, or energy-shifting, resource,” Dr. Woo says.

In her work for the Bosch corporation from 2011 to 2014, Dr. Woo focused exclusively on battery technology. She worked on ﬁguring out, for example, how to maintain stable temperatures in “a very large battery that only likes to operate from 20 to 30 C but is installed in areas [with] temperature ranges from -20 to 40 C.” Now at Station A, her work focuses on the design of overall systems in which the battery is one of the components. She ponders, for example: “What is the optimal size of the battery for a particular building? What is the best place to install the battery on the [local] grid? What controls are needed to operate the components—batteries, solar, hot water heaters, etc.?” “I learned a lot from the job [at Bosch, but] I wanted to try something different. I wanted to work on a more holistic basis—on everything, all the different assets—solar, batteries, and the controls at the intelligence level.” This intelligence—controls and communication, including ever -critical cyber-security—is an essential component in the new grids, a central piece of the puzzle. Economic details also need to be worked out. It’s not clear, for example, whether the solar panels, cables, wires, and so on, would be owned by utilities, by local governments, or by some other party, Dr. Woo says. But certainly the owner of these “assets” would charge consumers in the same way utilities charge now. “The more energy we use, the more we have to pay,” Dr. Woo says. The utility will have a new role: distributing and coordinating power according to supply and demand. This is the new paradigm, Dr. Woo says. Her workplace at Station A is itself a decommissioned power plant, built in 1890 by a businessman who wanted energy independence. He powered his company with onsite generators. Now the building runs on solar. It is “super cool,” Dr. Woo says. She loves it in part because the building’s open interior promotes an entrepreneurial, start-up vibe—a good atmosphere for creative problem-solving and innovation. She and her nine colleagues work there in friendly harmony, talking “about what we can do to implement this vision that we have.” Their vision gives Dr. Woo hope. With emerging knowledge, she says, avoiding the catastrophic consequences of global warming is “still possible. We have the technology. We can lower our carbon footprint and change the world.” Building smaller, “thoughtfully designed and intelligently operated” networks, she says, is a key part of the solution. //

Journalist Nell Lake is the author of The Caregivers: A Support Group’s Stories of Slow Loss, Courage, and Love (Scribner, 2014).

Tradition and Innovation A REPORT BY ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR OPERATIONS AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER KEITH FINAN

Last summer marked the conclusion of the tremendously successful Imagine Deerfield campaign. It marked a transition for me as well, since I joined the Academy’s staff at the start of the campaign. Now our task is continuing and completing the implementation of the programmatic initiatives inspired and made possible by Imagine Deerfield. These initiatives support Dr. Curtis’ focus on preserving the Deerfield tradition of attention to the development of student character, while simultaneously adapting to the pace of a world with instantaneous communications and constant innovation. The Boyden Library is a wonderful physical representation of this sought after balance. It recently reopened after a six-month shutdown to replace all of the windows, doors, and mechanical systems as well as a complete renovation of the interior spaces. Now the library invites the community into spaces that reflect the contemplative nature of the traditional reading room while at the same time offering spaces for lively interaction and non-traditional classrooms. The veterans on campus remark that it feels comfortable and familiar but exciting and new at the same time. We envision it will become the academic hub of campus —a place where tradition is evident as students study and do research, while providing space for innovation, creative thinking, and collaborative work. The renovation also allows the Center for Service and Global Citizenship, another Imagine Deerfield initiative, to be located in the library. The Center engages students in thinking about the challenges their generation faces, and provides the resources to help them investigate possible solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. The offices of College Advising and the Academic

22 | ALBANY ROAD

Dean are also now located in the library, rounding out this dynamic academic building. The library is just one manifestation of the opportunities we offer our students. Arts and athletic programs, team-taught and independent study courses, and off-campus activities (whether local or global) are all a result of the Academy’s mission to develop students of strong character who can navigate the changing world. It is the success of Imagine Deerfield that allows us to provide this top-tier education for our students, and while campaign donations have afforded us the opportunity to improve our programs, they have not diminished our obligation to manage the Academy’s resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. Operating budget expenditures for the 201415 academic year (net of financial aid) were $49.7 million, an increase of 4.3 percent over the prior year’s spending of $47.6 million; however, general administration was inflated by one-time expenditures and spending on our core (instruction) grew by 5.0 percent. This overall increase was planned and predicated on the success of Imagine Deerfield and focused on programs to enrich students’ educational and personal growth. Thanks to another year of strong donor support for the annual fund and disciplined spending, the operating budget needed less support from the endowment than anticipated. Total assets of the Academy, as of June 30, 2015, grew to $838.7 million from $766.8 million at June 30, 2014. Net assets grew by $71.5 million to $768.9 million as of June 30, 2015. Through the careful guidance of the Endowment Committee, led by Robin Grossman P’03,’06, the Academy’s total return on the investment pool

$838.7

Million

$71.5

Million Net asset growth from June 30, 2014 to June 30, 2015

$766.8

Million Total asset growth from June 30, 2014 to June 30, 2015

$532.2

• Renovation and renewal of the physical plant are ongoing Million

Investments and perpetual trusts market value for the year

6.62%

Total return on the investment pool for the year

While continuing to improve our financial condition is critical to the long-term strength of the Academy, investments in the physical plant and in program are also necessary to ensure the school’s long-term viability.

$28.7

Million

Increase from 2013-14 This is a new high for the Deerﬁeld Academy Endowment

• Investments in dormitories, faculty housing, information technology infrastructure, and academic buildings continue through intentional efforts funded by the campaign and increased funds for the routine maintenance of buildings • Programmatically, the number of students on Global Studies trips has doubled

was 6.62 percent for the year. This was another top decile endowment return performance, and exceeded our benchmarks while maintaining a conservative risk profile. The investments and perpetual trusts ended the year with a market value of $532.2 million, an increase of $28.7 million from 2013-14. This is a new high for the Deerfield Academy endowment. While continuing to improve our financial condition is critical to the long-term strength of the Academy, investments in the physical plant and in program are also necessary to ensure the school’s long-term viability. Renovation and renewal of the physical plant are ongoing. Investments in the library, as noted above, dormitories, faculty housing, information technology infrastructure, and academic buildings continue through intentional efforts funded by the campaign and increased funds for the routine maintenance of buildings. Programmatically,

the number of students on Global Studies trips has doubled; student musicians toured Asia last March break; students are building robots and competing with other schools; a second greenhouse has been constructed for use by classes that focus on food and sustainability. There is excitement and much to celebrate! Imagine Deerfield provided for these important enhancements to the Academy even during the economic uncertainty of recent times; continued economic and political uncertainty demands that we be ever vigilant of the need for caution. We understand our obligation to provide for future students the opportunities and excitement shared by today’s and yesteryear’s students. It is a privilege and a pleasure to help provide the flame that lights the candle of learning and knowledge in Deerfield students. Thanks to the support of the Academy’s alumni, parents, and friends, we can keep that candle burning. //

• Student musicians toured Asia last March break • A second greenhouse has been constructed for use by classes that focus on food and sustainability

Trustees of Deerfield Academy

For the year ended June 30, 2015; With comparative totals for the year ended June 30, 2014

Statement of Financial Position Assets Cash and cash equivalents Restricted cash Receivables: Student loans and accounts receivable, net of allowance of $448,300 in 2015 and $336,319 in 2014 Investment interest and dividends Due from brokers Other receivables Contributions receivable, net Charitable remainder unitrusts and other deferred gifts Inventories Prepaid expenses Investments BeneďŹ cial interest in perpetual trust Land, buildings and equipment, net Deferred expenses Total Assets

2015

2014

$27,152,792 674,513

$22,521,711 683,502

405,930 129,424 39,645 373,196 81,876,586 5,284,071 387,763 992,334 513,627,142 18,616,452 188,509,202 584,398

426,097 117,017 431,288 543,106 52,840,410 5,298,434 380,040 859,409 484,858,268 18,695,585 178,511,004 612,011

$838,653,448

$766,777,882

$5,960,616 152,440 3,841,146 55,926,878 476,887 3,413,246 69,771,213

$7,991,337 528,279 4,045,654 53,455,401 453,137 2,943,417 69,417,225

279,719,035 280,666,579 208,496,621 768,882,235

263,050,923 236,542,857 197,766,877 697,360,657

$838,653,448

$766,777,882

Liabilities and Net Assets Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities Due to brokers Life income obligations Bonds payable Bond interest payable Deferred income Total Liabilities Net Assets Unrestricted Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted Total Net Assets Total Liabilities and Net Assets

24 | ALBANY ROAD

Trustees of Deerfield Academy

Statement of Activities

Revenues, Gains, and Other Support Student income: Tuition and fees Less ﬁnancial aid Net tuition and fees School stores Net student income Interest and dividends Net realized and unrealized gains Other income Gifts and bequests Total revenues, gains, and other support

For the year ended June 30, 2015; With comparative totals for the year ended June 30, 2014

2015

2014

$32,760,987 (8,591,623) 24,169,364 1,037,294 25,206,658 1,821,536 29,921,605 1,246,867 62,989,926 121,186,592

$31,978,272 (8,004,725) 23,973,547 1,052,208 25,025,755 3,524,271 67,965,154 1,066,858 30,835,396 128,417,434

11,280,512 5,462,864 511,193 7,662,222 12,215,292 6,811,231 5,721,700 49,665,014

10,738,975 5,264,553 519,553 7,472,135 11,467,175 6,704,419 5,444,763 47,611,573

71,521,578

80,805,861

697,360,657

616,554,796

$768,882,235

$697,360,657

Expenditures Instruction Student support Summer programs Operation and maintenance of physical plant General administration General institutional Depreciation and amortization Total expenditures

Change in Net Assets Net Assets – Beginning of Year Net Assets – End of Year

IN THE O Z NE 26 | ALBANY ROAD

The Deerfield girls basketball team is undergoing a role reversal: For the past two seasons, Julie Schloat has served as head coach of the Big Green program, with Caroline Stedman as her assistant. This winter, Stedman has taken over the reins, while Schloat will be second in command.

Brent M. Hale

BY BOB YORK //

“It’s exciting,” said Stedman of becoming the Big Green head coach. “I’ve been the assistant coach here for the past two years, so I’m quite familiar with the program, as well as with many of the players. Plus, Julie and I have worked together very closely over the past two years, so there won’t be any major changes in the way we’ve been doing things.” While this will be Stedman’s first stint as a head coach, she brings a great deal of knowledge to the job, as well as a ball bag full of kudos as a player. Prior to signing on with Deerfield, she culminated a storied career at Amherst College by being named the Division III National Player of the Year. She earned All-American laurels following her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons by helping the Lord Jeffs to four consecutive “Final Four” appearances and a Division III National Championship in 2011. Stedman’s regime at Deerfield got off to a big start—literally—as 35 players signed up for tryouts this season and 26 showed up for the first practice, which was held just prior to Thanksgiving break. “Both numbers are above average for the girls basketball program,” said Stedman. “A typical turnout here would allow us a full complement on the varsity level and a fairly robust JV team. With these numbers, we could have a full complement of varsity and JV players and, we could even have enough players for a Thirds team.” Despite the robust turnout, Stedman and Schloat still had the “Help Wanted” sign on the gym door in their quest to find players with varsity experience. Heading into the 2015-16 campaign, the Big Green listed just five returnees from last year’s team—and none were starters. Returning to the fold this winter is Gwyneth Hochhausler ’16, who, at 6’1”, is destined to be penciled in at center, “where she has shown a lot of potential, particularly on defense,” said Stedman.

“She’s developing into a real disruptive force around the basket . . . she has a knack for blocking shots.” “I think it’s going to be an exciting season for the girls basketball program,” said Hochhausler, who will mark her fourth and final season as a member of the Big Green varsity this winter. “We just had the best turnout in the four years that I’ve been here. It’s awesome to see the interest in the program growing, especially with the ninth-graders. “We had a starting lineup that was made up entirely of seniors last year,” added Hochhausler, who is the only senior on this year’s roster, “so I didn’t get all that much playing time. I think I got enough though to feel that I can go out and help contribute to the team’s success this season.” Lily Fauver ’17 will be spending her second season on the varsity level, and at 5’11”, will be situated at forward. “Lily started some of our games last season and for a sophomore, she showed she was a fundamentally sound player,” said Stedman. “She’s an offensive threat and has shown she can rebound well.” The other frontcourt slot should belong to Nailah Barnes ’18, after what her mentor described as “an outstanding freshman season.” “She exhibited a great deal of athletic potential both at forward and at guard,” said Stedman, “and therefore she’ll likely see a good deal of playing time in the backcourt, as well . . . especially on defense. Nailah did quite well for us last season as a cover guard.” Speaking of the backcourt, Felicia Renelus ’17 and Megan Graves ’18 both picked up valuable experience there last winter. “Felicia made the varsity as a sophomore and despite her inexperience at this level, she showed she was extremely comfortable back there,” said Stedman. “She’s very athletic as well and proved to be one of our better threepoint shooters.” Graves, meanwhile, should be the Big Green point guard this season after beating the odds and making the varsity as a freshman. “Megan plays a lot of basketball and is game savvy, which is what you need in a point guard,” said Stedman. “She picked up a great deal of experience last year and showed she can do what needs to be done on the court. She can drive to the basket . . . shoot three-pointers . . . find the open player. She can do it all and is the type of player a coach likes to build a team around.”//

In the Gallery JESSICA DAY

28 | ALBANY ROAD

An expanse of windows and natural light are usually key elements of the von Auersperg Art Gallery, but on January 19, the day Deerfield students, faculty, and staff celebrated the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the gallery was shrouded in darkness to accommodate Question Bridge: Black Males. It will stay that way through March 4. “This installation is a collaborative effort with the University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass, Amherst,” says Mercedes Taylor, coordinator of educational programs for the gallery. “They are showing the installation simultaneously with us, but theirs will run through May first.” Question Bridge is a five-channel video installation that aims to represent and redefine black male identity in the US; mediated through the lens of a video camera, members of the black community were provided a format to openly express their deeply felt beliefs and values through candid question and answer exchanges. None of the questions or answers were prompted, providing an honest and at times raw conversation for viewers to witness.

We look at a two-year cycle for planning gallery exhibits—a continuum with works that connect to Deerfield’s curriculum— and voices that are broad and experienced. —Mercedes Taylor Question Bridge originated in 1996, when artist Chris Johnson was looking for a way to use new media to generate a meaningful conversation around class and generational divisions within San Diego’s African American community. Over the course of four years, Johnson, along with Hank Willis Thomas, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Kamal Sinclair traveled the nation collecting questions and answers from over 150 black men in eight cities (New York, Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Birmingham, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philadelphia) that comprise a video catalogue of 1500 exchanges.

“The purpose is to bring different voices to the community, open a conversation, and to break down stereotypes,” says Ms. Taylor. Question Bridge has embarked on a campaign to get 200,000 black males to add their voices through the Question Bridge website and mobile app by this summer, and members of the Deerfield community will have opportunities to participate during recording sessions on campus and through the Question Bridge app. Ms. Taylor and gallery Director Lydia Hemphill are making every effort to ensure that the von Auersperg Gallery is a true “teaching gallery,” with exhibits that consistently connect to Deerfield’s curriculum. A student docent program was introduced last winter when the Academy hosted alumnus Angel Abreu ’92, who curated The Fire This Time, featuring the work of K.O.S. (Kids of Survival). The docent program continued this fall as students explored Human Impact, which functioned as the impetus for a student show this coming spring; students from across New England have been invited to submit their work for inclusion in an exhibit that considers the cultural, environmental, scientific, and political crossroads at which we find ourselves. “We look at a two-year cycle for planning gallery exhibits,” says Ms. Taylor, “a continuum with works that connect to Deerfield’s curriculum, and voices that are broad and experienced.” That strategy is working: about 40 classes from various disciplines have been taught in the gallery so far, and Native America: Art by and of First People, a show that ran this past November and December, was directly connected to philosophy and religious studies teacher Jan Flaska’s class, “Native America.” Jamie Bucci, who teaches ethics, recently said: "I have loved incorporating the exhibits into my ethics classes. When we read Martin Luther King's 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail,' we talk about King's exhortation not to stand by in silence where you see injustice happening Through these exhibits, my students can see that being an 'upstander' can mean using their personal talents to highlight issues that are important to them . . . the gallery has given me a great opportunity to teach from another angle." The student Human Impact show will be in the gallery during March and April, followed by an exhibit of the work of artist Jason Middlebrook in May and June. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, and weekends by appointment. //

ON BEING LIBERAL BY FRANK I. MICHELMAN ’53 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT

Frank I. Michelman ’53 returned to campus this past fall to be presented with the Heritage Award, which is given annually to an alumnus whose professional and personal achievements have contributed to the betterment of society—someone whose life exemplifies the Academy’s motto: “Be worthy of your heritage.” Mr. Michelman is the Robert Walmsley University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University, where he began teaching in 1963. In addition to writing Brennan and Democracy, Mr. Michelman has published extensively in the fields of constitutional law and theory, comparative constitutionalism, South African constitutionalism, property law and theory, local government law, and general legal theory. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a past president of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. He has served on numerous boards, and was awarded the American Philosophical Society’s Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence, and the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. Mr. Michelman has organized judges’ conferences and delivered the keynote address at the 2011 conference on “The 20th Anniversary of Israel’s Human Rights Revolution” in Jerusalem.

JR Delaney

I have to start by saying this is a sort of amazing event in my life. There was no Heritage Award when I was here as a student. If there had been, the thought of one day being myself a recipient would never, believe me, have entered my mind. When I left here for home in June of 1953, I was happy to be gone, as I thought, for good. It’s not that I hadn’t during my time here learned to respect Deerfield. Certainly, I knew on some level that being here had done me good. But I did not then feel the sort of attachment that could possibly have put into my head any thought of joining in a “Deerfield heritage.” And, you know, I can’t help suspecting that maybe it’s not so different with some of you sitting out there now. So let me tell you that, over the years since leaving, my sense of attachment to this place— to my teachers here, my classmates, and what I owe to them—has ripened and changed, and in ways that make this event an especially pleasing outcome. So thanks to the Trustees, and thank you, Dr. Curtis, and thank you all for the warmth of your welcome. I have spent my career being a professor. I started out on that career with a goal of becoming proficient and successful at the tasks—teaching and so on—that go with a professor’s job. I confess I did not have consciously before me any more inspiring a goal than that one. And one gift to me from this occasion is that it has set me looking back to see what I would find in my professorial career by way of service to a loftier goal than just getting along in life. And what I found was this: I found in my work a constant push for clarification, and even perhaps for some modest improvement, of a cluster of political ideas we call by the name of ‘liberal.’

Debates around the world these days kick around the term ‘liberal’ in some contradictory ways. It might surprise you when I say that outside our own country, the term ‘liberal’ usually means you are so strongly hooked on free markets and property rights that you are more or less automatically opposed to the very sorts of policies that, in our country, liberals like me are expected to support (and I do): redistributive taxation, state-supported universal health care, state regulations of business including safety laws, wage and bargaining laws, affirmative action requirements, and others. Obviously there is some confusion going on, and that’s what I want to talk about. I’ll talk about liberal beliefs as I understand them. I’ll talk about how far those beliefs actually might be shared by many— not all, but many—who call themselves conservatives. I’ll talk about what this all might all have to do with the Deerﬁeld Heritage I am very pleased to claim today. Liberalism, to me, does not begin as a set of partisan stances regarding economic policy, cultural issues, immigration, and so on. It starts much further back. It starts as a cluster of beliefs regarding a society’s most basic arrangements for public government and the exercise of the force of law. More speciﬁcally, these are beliefs about what those arrangements will have to be like, in order that the laws and policies that come out of them can be counted as just for all citizens, in a set of social conditions that I will be describing. Here is a starting point. Call it ‘individualism.’ Being liberal, I think of the people in a country like ours as being each one an individual, having a life of his or her own to shape and to lead; a life for which he or she carries a special responsibility and in which he or she has a special stake. Being a liberal in politics, I think of people that way—as all free and equal individuals—before I think of them as knit together into social classes and identity groups, or into families, friendships, churches and organizations. That does not mean that families, groups, and relationships are not an absolutely crucial source of meaning and value in individual lives. It only means that, in the end, what a good and right practice of politics has to look to is the conditions of the lives of individuals. Now here is a next step. Being liberal, I see in societies like ours a condition that we call cultural and religious pluralism. I see people attached to a multiplicity of religions, a multiplicity of callings and of orientations to the world, a multiplicity of ideas about the right or the best ways to live. I see persons and groups pursuing a multiplicity of values and objectives and ideals—not all of whom can possibly all the time have things all their own way. Now please hold that point in mind while I say a bit more about the kind of social space or social situation for which liberal principles are shaped to apply. As I said before, these are principles meant for application to the wide space of public government and law. That is a space we all necessarily share with huge numbers of strangers including many whose hopes, whose aims, whose needs, whose creeds will differ sharply from ours in many important ways. If we

also accept the liberal premise about the freedom and equality of everyone, then the space of public government and law simply is not a space where we can just make alliance with our church group or our cultural group or our economic class and then press to have everything around us be set in the ways most pleasing to us, regardless of the conflicting concerns of other and different people. But now matters start to get complicated. Because, being liberal, I also believe there can be no realistic hope for a decently peaceful, productive, and fulfilling life for anyone, unless the great majority of people are united—united in their willingness to accept the same restraints of government and law that others also stand ready to accept. And therefore, being liberal, I think that all of us can rightly demand from each other—friends and strangers alike—a general attitude of readiness to conduct our acts and affairs in accordance with the laws and legal forms our system of government lays down and supports. You should now be able to see a problem taking shape from what I have said so far. If I am serious in what I said about the facts of social plurality and difference, then how can I think there could be any set of laws that everyone willingly could find acceptable? That is truly a hard problem. Being liberal, though, I have to think an answer can be found. And I think it can only be found in the idea of a system for making the laws that everyone can see as a fair system. By ‘fair,’ I mean the system is such that every person subject to it should be able to see it as no less geared to the support of his or her own concerns and pursuits as a free and equal person than it is to those of anyone else. Being liberal, I believe our basic, constitutional arrangements for government and lawmaking could still be ones that everyone could see as being in that way fair to all, even knowing there will be some sharp disagreements over the wisdom and rightness of some of the laws that get made. But the system, then, could not be one that was shaped to fit all the demands or all the hopes of some one social class or group or sect to which not everyone else belongs. It would have to be controlled by principles of such a breadth that they can be found acceptable by anyone who understands and accepts the conditions as I have so far laid them down—those conditions being: a need shared by everyone for stable government and law; a need, therefore, for an attitude of unitedness—of general cooperation and compliance—across the citizenry as a whole; but also the social fact of a deep diversity among individually free and equal citizens. Constitutional principles to fit such a situation would have to be principles such as equality under the law, freedoms of conscience and expression, a high regard for freedom and choice in matters of personal life and devotion, a high regard for general health and safety, a high regard for general prosperity, and so on. And of course the lawmaking system would have to be of the kind we would call democratic, where everyone has a fair shot at affecting the outcomes, the same as what others have. Now take another example. Being liberal, as I’ve said, I want society’s

JR Delaney

Liberalism, to me, does not begin as a set of partisan stances regarding economic policy, cultural issues, immigration, and so on. It starts much further back. It starts as a cluster of beliefs regarding a societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most basic arrangements for public government and the exercise of the force of law. More specifically, these are beliefs about what those arrangements will have to be like, in order that the laws and policies that come out of them can be counted as just for all citizens.

DeerďŹ eld Academy Archives

From my own recent observations around this campus, I have a strong and happy sense that a Deerfield education today does truly aspire to the kind of regard for facts and reason I have been talking about. Looking back to the Deerfield of my day, I believe that it exemplified a like regard, and that it did much to instill that attitude in me. I take that attitude to be something at or near the core of my Deerfield heritage.

basic organizing structures and institutions to represent terms for social cooperation that are fair to all persons conceived as free and equal. Being liberal, I also think such terms should allow an ample space for a market-based economy. But then here comes a question: I believe experience teaches that otherwise uncontrolled market economies are prone to develop traps of structural poverty and social isolation, traps involving vastly unequal educational and other social opportunities, traps that get reproduced from generation to generation. I see it as clear that prevention and cure for such conditions requires strong and determined governmental countermeasures. You and I might disagree over the right countermeasures, but could we agree that a society that fails of a vigorous and unremitting pursuit of rectiﬁcation of those conditions is intolerably unjust to those born into them, and so gravely weakens its claim to the full and willing cooperation of all its members? That is something that I, being liberal, do deeply believe, and I believe it follows pretty obviously from the set of principles I was betting many conservatives, too, would sign on to. I now come to a point that may strike you as distant from those I have taken up so far, but I hope you’ll be able to sense a connection. Being liberal, I believe that if a government’s choices of public policy —I’m thinking here for example, of immigration policy and climate policy—are to pay a tolerable respect to those who remain in disagreement but of whom we demand that they go along anyway, those choices must show a full regard for the facts. By ‘facts’ I mean states and conditions and causes and effects that are what they are regardless of anyone’s wish that they should be different. Now there is a domain of social practice devoted to the ascertainment of the kinds of facts I mean. We call it science. We don’t call it ‘liberal science’ or ‘conservative science.’ Being liberal, I feel sure that facts do not come with party labels attached. Of course science can be unsettled, it does not always have answers to the questions that bear on our policy choices. But sometimes it does, and when it does it demands respect from every single participant in politics. Respect does not mean prostration. You can respect the science but still make your arguments against the policy that some scientists say should follow from it. You can advocate for whatever convictions you may hold that we can sometimes stand under obligation to take ultimate guidance in social policy from sources other than science— from ethics, say, or faith— so that sometimes people can rationally decide not to follow a straight path to best outcomes as science technically may predict them. Being liberal, though, I believe that what we are not free to do, within a politics of mutual respect, is simply to disregard or deny the relevance to public policy of facts and risks that the scientiﬁcally scrutinized evidence shows to be in all likelihood the truth whether we like it or not.

Being liberal, I think it is only reasonable and fair to expect from our politics this kind respect for evidence and reason. But actually it is fair only when it comes coupled to a parallel expectation of our scientists and researchers: that they, insofar as humanly possible, will enter upon each inquiry with minds completely open to go wherever the evidence and reason may lead, and that they will accordingly maintain in their scientific work a maximum feasible separation from any sort of dependence on anyone having material or political stakes in the outcome. I am coming back now to a Deerfield heritage. From my own recent observations around this campus, I have a strong and happy sense that a Deerfield education today does truly aspire to the kind of regard for facts and reason I have been talking about. Looking back to the Deerfield of my day, I believe that it exemplified a like regard, and that it did much to instill that attitude in me. I take that attitude to be something at or near the core of my Deerfield heritage. Now to finish. I have said that I mean by liberal principles a set of principles made for application to the public space of government and law. The same principles might not necessarily be fit for application to smaller and closer-knit associations like churches or families or workplaces. What should we say about their application to schools? My liberal principles include democracy, an equal political voice for everyone. Of course, schools can teach democracy. They can support and encourage the open and spirited exchange of ideas and opinions. But schools cannot themselves be democracies. Schools are run by authorities whom the students do not choose, and whose impositions on the wishes and preferences of students the students do not finally control by voting. How can that be right, liberally speaking? Well, look, a school is a place you come to in order to receive assistance in the acquisition of learning and other capacities that you need but don’t yet feel yourself in a position to acquire on your own. That’s a good answer, but I think only as long you add one further condition, which is this: Above all other capacities the school should help you to acquire or develop, the first should be a capacity to acquire capacities. It should be a capacity to learn and think and judge for yourself, on your own, starting not only sometime after the moment of leaving these halls and fields (soon these halls and fields we’re leaving) but starting even as we still are here. I firmly believe that Deerfield did that for me. Or, it did what it could, given what it had to work with. Deerfield got me, I mean, along the path of learning and thinking on my own and for myself. And I hope you can see, then, how that makes the fact of my turning out ‘liberal,’ as I have, is itself the truest possible testimony to my Deerfield heritage. //

STICK SKILLS WITH IT

BOB YORK // PHOTOGRAPHS BRENT HALE

36 | ALBANY ROAD

“Don’t get me wrong, I like being where we are now, rather than where we were at this point last year but I want to resist breaking an arm while trying to pat ourselves on the back . . . the season still has a long ways to go.” —Coach Creagh

Brendan Creagh held out his thumb and forefinger, barely leaving enough space to slip a coin through. “That,” emphasized the Deerfield hockey coach, “is often the difference between winning and losing.” Such is life in the unforgiving A Division of the New England Prep School Athletic Council. Here, in what has long been considered by many as the premier showcase of prep school hockey in the entire country, you bring your “A Game” to the icehouse, cross your fingers, then pray to the hockey gods that it’s good enough to get the job done on that given night. Those prayers would appear to have gone unanswered for the Big Green last winter, however. It seemed as though nothing but frowns rained down from the heavens, as the boys suffered through one of their bleakest seasons in history. So far this winter, though, there’s been a lot more smiling going on. “Overall, we really haven’t been playing much differently so far this season than we did at the start of last season,” said Creagh. “In fact, our first two losses last year saw us outshoot our opponents by a two-to-one margin and that same scenario played out quite a bit throughout the season.” But there’s nothing like a few more goals scored and a few less goals allowed to get Gang Green back on track, and that’s exactly what it’s done. Last year, Deerfield scored nine goals and allowed 13 through its first four games for a 1-3-0 mark. This season, a 14-9 scoring ratio produced a 3-0-1 showing. The bottom line grows even more impressive if you toss in the Flood-Marr Tournament results. This year, Deerfield earned a 2-2 split, including a 1-0 victory over No. 1 ranked Salisbury

School. The win, which allowed Deerfield to enter the 2016 portion of its schedule at 5-2-1, was secured when Courtney Morgan ’16 scored with 15 seconds remaining in the game. Nick Scarpa ’16, meanwhile, registered the shutout following a 34-save effort. That fifth victory, incidentally, gives the Big Green one more win than it mustered during the entire 2014-15 campaign. “Don’t get me wrong,” said Creagh, “I like being where we are now, rather than where we were at this point last year but I want to resist breaking an arm while trying to pat ourselves on the back . . . the season still has a long ways to go.” Creagh cracked a smile while mentioning that he hesitates to say anything about breaking an arm, because the Big Green skipper wasn’t smiling at all when the subject of injuries came up last year. Senior co-captains Ryan Wolter (defense) and Adam Koeppell (forward) and Chuck Hall (forward) were lost for the season due to concussions suffered during preseason. Senior Matt Kane (defense), meanwhile, went down for the count during soccer season with a knee injury. “You expect a certain number of injuries, after all, this is hockey, it’s a very physical sport,” said Creagh. “That said, though, I’ve never seen a wave of injuries hit a team in such a short period of time. Making matters worse, those injuries hit at the core of the team . . . the seniors. We lost a lot of experience, but more importantly, we lost a lot of leadership. Those injuries forced a bunch of our younger players to step up much sooner than expected—and they responded big time.” Following wins over Groton and Northfield Mount Hermon to open the current season, the Big Green then spent a pair of weekend games

that were, as Creagh described, “character building.” First, Deerfield knocked off archrival Choate, 4-3, on a Justin Marler ’17 overtime tally after the Boars tied the game in the final minute of regulation. One night later, Deerfield took Avon into OT before settling for a 3-3 tie. The Big Green found itself trailing the Beavers by a 3-1 margin late in the game before Andrew Hadley ’16 scored with four minutes remaining while Thomas Dale ’17 knotted the score with just nine seconds showing on the clock. Needless to say, Big Green fans went wild! “Those two games taught us a lot about ourselves,” said Hadley, “and the most important thing we learned is that we’re a team that doesn’t quit. We could have given up when Choate tied the game in the final minute of regulation,” he added, “but we didn’t . . . we won it in overtime. The same could be said about the Avon game, too. We were down 3-1 after one period of play and on their ice and we fought back with two goals late in the game to tie it. Those two games built up our confidence and say a lot about our character.” Another team trait on the rise has been the energy level. According to Zeke Emerson ’16 “it’s way up . . . and it’s a good thing,” said Emerson. “Two of our games went into overtime and another wasn’t decided until the final minute of regulation, so we’ve had to grind start to finish. “We’ve still got a long way to go,” added Emerson, “but I think everyone would admit they’re encouraged by the way we’ve started the season. We know what we have to do to be successful . . . we just have to continue doing it.” //

SHOW YOUR WORK

Ultimately, we aspire to consider with greater precision the meaning of Deerﬁeld's motto, “Be Worthy,” and to complement the ﬁctional situations with a more personal consideration: our habits, attitudes and behaviors—do they lead us closer to the “good life” or the “easy life?”

THE CLASS: SPANISH VI: HONORS LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE / MARGARITA CURTIS

Brent M. Hale

THE ASSIGNMENT: Read a selection of literary texts (in Spanish) by Latin American authors, including José Emilio Pacheco, Mario Vargas Llosa, Osvaldo Dragún, Gabriel García Márquez, and Juan Rulfo, among others, to introduce dilemmas and situations that invite us to engage in a rational debate, to subject our own convictions and points of view to a critical examination, to justify why we think what we think, and why we do what we do. The reading of these texts can transcend merely aesthetic or literary considerations and provide a training ground—an exercise for the development of discernment and the willingness to live well. Ultimately, we aspire to consider with greater precision the meaning of Deerfield's motto, “Be Worthy,” and to complement the fictional situations with a more personal consideration: our habits, attitudes, and behaviors—do they lead us closer to the “good life” or the “easy life?” //

38 | ALBANY ROAD

Five Minute Interview Dane Scott ’16: Senior Dane Scott was granted a winter cocurricular exemption to complete his feature-length film, Novocaine, which he wrote and directed, and filmed mainly on campus with the help of more than two dozen other Deerfield students. Academy alumnus and Golden Globe nominee Matthew Fox ’85 also lent a hand with the project, which was supervised by fine arts teacher Timothy Trelease. Currently, Dane is reediting his film to a new soundtrack featuring several “underground” musicians and original music. He is planning on submitting it to various film festivals, including Cannes. Watch the trailer: vimeo.com/danescott. What was your inspiration for Novocaine? I was inspired by everything, which is vague but true. Sky Ferreira’s record Night Time, My Time, Donna Tartt’s novel—everything. Something that really inspired me was reading articles by adults talking about how bad and lazy the millennial generation is—I used quotes from some of those articles in the trailer. One said millennials are ‘fame-obsessed’ and the ‘me me me generation.’ I wanted to make a film with friends, and I thought it’d be natural for us to tell a story from our perspective . . . How long did it take you to write the script? I wrote the first draft of the script over one weekend in the fall term when I went home—writing pretty much nonstop in a cafe down my street— basically from when the place opened to when it closed; ridiculous amounts of lattes! I then edited it for a bit back at school, tweaking things, and when we were shooting I encouraged improvisation a lot, as well. I wanted it to feel authentic, above everything else.

You deal with some difficult subject matter— death, drug abuse, depression, and more—and Novocaine clearly takes place at a prep school; were you at all concerned that people might assume it was biographical? I mean, aspects of it are, in a way, biographical. It’s cool if people assume that, too. I think we made a very honest film, even though there are dark elements. There are also positive moments, funny moments, and, hopefully, illuminating moments. One line in the film is, ‘Being a teenager and being bored is like bathing in gasoline, and then walking down a road of matches. We’re all waiting for something to start, for something to spark.’ That’s a universal feeling—at least I think so— that’s just as much felt by Deerfield kids as it’s felt by kids in Paris and Detroit. These issues— addictions and obsessions, societal pressures and intense boredom—touch everyone when they’re growing up, in some way. And I think that’s important to realize—that no one is immune to these kinds of struggles. What was it like working with Matt Fox—someone who has had so much success professionally? Well, predictable answer, but it was completely unreal. He was really supportive, and asked a lot of insightful questions during the shoot, and didn’t treat any of us like kids but as genuine collaborators. And even though he’s my best friend’s dad, it was definitely kind of intimidating, too. But he’d intimidate me if he didn’t have any success, I think, because his acting feels so real, and he’s completely unpretentious in his process. He’s an actual artist. What’s your next project? I’m shooting my first short film this spring, called Cherry Frosting, which I’m really excited about. I’m making it with some of my friends who also worked on Novocaine: Caroline Fett, who’s an amazing producer, and Tia Jonsson, who’s again the project’s lead actress. It’s about a group of vengeful runaways travelling across America, led by a girl who goes by the name Marie Antoinette. It’s a really dreamy, weird story. I’m also doing some film photography, and I’ve been working on a novel. //

Civil War Memorial Renovation

40 | ALBANY ROAD

On a dreary Friday in early December, a small crowd gathered on the common in front of the Main School Building; they watched in near silence as the statue that has crowned the town’s Civil War memorial since its installation in 1867 was slowly and carefully lowered via crane into the bed of a waiting pick-up truck. From there it was placed in storage at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association to await conservation work. A constant presence for generations of Academy students and alumni, the Connecticut Valley sandstone figure was at risk of collapsing after enduring a century and a half of the vagaries of New England’s weather, and can no longer be displayed outdoors. Town officials are unsure at this time whether a replica of the soldier will be created and installed atop the obelisk, which is structurally sound. According to research conducted by Historic Deerfield Fellow Emily Wells, the idea to erect a soldier’s monument can be attributed to George Sheldon, who served as the town’s unofficial historian during the mid to late 1800s: While attending the funeral of Colonel George Duncan Wells in Greenfield on October 21, 1864, Sheldon thought of “the thousands of soldiers whose last resting place could never be known,” as well as those who “[slept] on each great battle field.” Unlike Wells, whose body had been returned to his family and buried according to correct funerary custom, these men would

Brent M. Hale

never receive the honor of a proper burial. It was while contemplating this sad fate that Sheldon first thought of building a monument to honor the fallen soldiers from Deerfield, of which there were 42. Soon after, the town voted to create a Committee of Arrangements to oversee construction of a monument, with Nathaniel Hitchcock serving as chair. A local newspaper ran the following announcement: At the town meeting on Tuesday, the town voted to erect a monument on the Common at a cost of $3000. It is to be similar to the Stockbridge monument, a shaft, surmounted with a soldier. The names of the Deerfield soldiers who offered up their lives for their country in the late rebellion, are to be inscribed upon the shaft. What was unique to Deerfield’s memorial was the fact that the committee decided to crown the monument with a statue of a soldier; most other memorials were simple obelisks, and even the Stockbridge monument referenced in the newspaper featured an eagle, not a soldier, marking

CT VALLEY SANDSTONE

c.1867 2645 lbs

6' 2" IN HONOR OF

FALLEN SOLDIERS

the Deerfield memorial as one of the first to include a standing soldier. Another interesting fact is that Nathaniel Hitchcock was preoccupied by his concern that the monument might fall into ruin someday. In an effort to alleviate those concerns, he instructed workmen to leave an opening in the monument’s foundation in which he, Winthrop Arms, Jennie B. Greenough, and her daughter Gracie, placed a hermetically sealed time capsule containing many documents about the War, the story of the monument, and a list of the men it memorialized along with photographs of some of them, among other items. The opening was sealed with concrete, and remains intact to this day; it is thanks to Hitchcock’s detailed record keeping that the contents of the capsule are known. The removal and stabilization of the statue is currently being funded by the Town of Deerfield’s Community Preservation Act, under the supervision of Francis Miller, Directing Conservator with ConservArt LLC of Hamden, CT. //

42 | THE COMMON ROOM 1 9 3 4 1 9 3 5 1 9 3 6 1 9 3 7 1 9 3 8 1 9 3 9 1 9 4 0 1 9 4 1 1 9 4 2 1 9 4 3 1 9 4 4 1 9 4 5 1 9 4 6 1 9 47 1 9 4 8 1 9 4 9 1 9 5 0 1 9 5 1 1 9 52 1 9 5 3 1 9 5 4 1 9 5 5 1 9 5 6 1 9 57 1 9 5 8 1 9 5 9 1 9 6 0 1 9 6 1 1 9 62 1 9 6 3 1 9 6 4 1 9 6 5 1 9 6 6 1 9 6 7 1 9 6 8 1 9 6 9 1 9 70 1 9 7 1 1 9 72 1 9 73 1 9 74 1 9 7 5 1 976 1 97 7 1 978 1 979 1 9 8 0 1 9 8 1 1 9 82 1 9 8 3 1 9 8 4 1 9 8 5 1 9 8 6 1 9 8 7 1 9 8 8 1 9 8 9 1 9 9 0 1 9 9 1 1 9 92 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 97 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 02 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 4 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 6 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 * R e u n i o n Ye a r s

The Common Room

o ep Solve 6 and ke y. 9 e oast pag gin’ t g o n your

THIS WIN BACK OW ! THR ER HAT n B o BOM ur puzzle

1949 “After retiring from Northeast Utilities, I maintained my Deerfield farm, rebuilt two old John Deere tractors, built an observatory for my son, and am now a co-owner of the Bridal Barn and Tux Shoppe here in Deerfield.” —Carlos Allen “When President-for-Life Harvey Loomis asks us to write something for the Class Notes, we all rush to comply. The major news in my life has been the relocation from New England to South Carolina. Nancy and I sold our Boston apartment in August 2014 and made our home in Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton, SC) our fulltime residence. We realized an immediate reduction in complexity in our lives, and are also enjoying lessened overhead with a single property. And, with delight, we find that our family is eager to visit this extraordinary place. In fact our oldest son, Arthur ’79, and his wife are looking seriously at property here, with an eye on three years hence when Art’s wife, Admiral Raquel Bono, retires from the Navy. ’Nuff said. Give a call, pay a visit.”—Donald Dwight

FROM THE ARCHIVES circa

“I’m still working fulltime on the senior technical staff at Apple, and my current book, The Reality of Knowledge, is getting meager bits of notice. The kids are all gone and ﬁnally all working. I suppose some day I’ll retire, but not yet.”—George Towner

’47

I enjoy my dressage sessions (not sure about the horse’s opinion); still dabble with oil paints; remain involved with the lively Art Museum in Vero Beach during the winter; whack at golf balls; annoy the neighbors with my piano sessions (poor Chopin must also be suffering from my exertions, wherever he may be); enjoy getting together with classmate and neighbor George Bass to share a meal at our club and then wind up the evening singing the good old songs—ending with a rousing, nostalgic rendition of the Deerfield ‘Evensong;’

44 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Thanks to a prod from Harvey, here are a few words for those who may remember your fellow classmate. Thanks to the medical miracles of this day and age, things are more or less operating satisfactorily, at least sufficiently that I enjoy my dressage sessions (not sure about the horse’s opinion); still dabble with oil paints; remain involved with the lively Art Museum in Vero Beach during the winter; whack at golf balls; annoy the neighbors with my piano sessions (poor Chopin must also be suffering from my exertions, wherever he may be); enjoy getting together with classmate and neighbor George Bass to share a meal at our club and then wind up the evening singing the good old songs—ending with a rousing, nostalgic rendition of the Deerfield ‘Evensong;’ and from time to time I wander off for a visit to Rome or a stay amongst the heather in Scotland. My darling Ellie is much missed since 2008 when she passed away. But there are still great times with her families’ reunions when as many as 35 of us gather for the holidays here in Brookline, and I enjoy touching base with my stepsons and their families in Seattle, WA, and Los Altos, CA, as we visit back and forth. Being together with classmates for our 65th was a special moment in time, as were our student days at Deerfield. Should any of you ’49-ers find yourself in the Boston area, or around Vero Beach, FL, you’ll find a welcome at my doorstep.” —John McKey

1951 “Dick Aldridge reports that he is recovering from open heart surgery but hopes to see us all next spring at our 65th Reunion; Jack Hodgson writes that he has sold his apartment in Moscow. He has three very interesting daughters: one a resident veterinarian at the University of Illinois, the second, who lives in Sydney, Australia, is a chemical engineer specializing in environmental issues, and the third is a translator living in Kolka, Finland. Jack continues to swim; Dozier Gardner has nine grandchildren: the oldest at Ithaca College, the youngest at the Park School in Brookline, MA. He still hopes that one of the nine will find his/her way to Deerfield; Carol and Charlie Smith have been married for almost 45 years, and have three happy families with six grandchildren ages three to 14. Last year they travelled to the east coast of South America and went fishing in Alaska as well as celebrating the 60th anniversary of Charlie’s graduation from Wesleyan. Other activities include being a trustee of the St. John’s Hospital and Health Center where Carol volunteers; Sherwood Anderson and his wife, Kate, are active in the Octal Sister City Project (Octal is a city in northern Nicaragua with a population of 40,000. They have been to Octal four times in the past seven years and always stay with local citizens. Among other things the project supports micro loans. They continue to ski (very cau-

tiously) in Colorado and Vermont; Tom Reed and his wife, Kay, remain happily installed in Sonoma County, the heart of California wine country. They visited George Dill in Texas. Tom backs Governor John Kasich for President; Bill Wilmot is hobbled by a bad knee and rotator cuff surgery but still manages to play tennis with a serve in single digits. He continues to work after 23 years in the local soup kitchen. One grandson received a golf scholarship to Kent State and a granddaughter is a 15-year-old catch rider. Last year she was recognized as the top pony hunter in the US and is now moving into horses; Bill Fry has been part of a tutoring program run by the Yale Club of Chicago. He has also worked with the Chicago Greeters Program through the Chicago Bureau of Tourism with French speaking tourists. Son Michael is a clinical pathologist at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. Son Peter is an English teacher at Groton, while daughter Kate is an actress who has appeared from coast to coast; Bob Hiden and wife Ann live less than an hour from their three children and three grandchildren. Bob cruised the Chesapeake for two weeks in June, and the whole family gathered on the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia for about ten days. Then Bob, son John, and grandson sailed the boat back to Larchmont; Jim Schoff and wife Joanna continue to balance their time between Rye, NY, and Morrisville, VT. Jim is recovering from back surgery and battling slowly advancing Parkinson’s disease, both of which have limited his and Joanna’s activities this past year; Bob Gable and wife Emily spent several weeks last summer at Epworth on the shore of Lake Michigan in the town of Ludington; Bill Ames and wife Nancy have put their farm on the market. Nancy continues to teach at the Bement School. Bill suffered a broken leg from bowling and is a trustee of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, and he and Nancy attend St. Michael’s Episcopal church in Brattleboro. Bill has taken up flying again and hopes to solo soon; Vic Russo and wife Carol continue to enjoy their retirement. They now have three great grandchildren; Jim McKinney reports that in July 2013, after a seven-year courtship, he married his Italian fiancée, Lia Stevin. After ten years of schooling and practical training, his son Robin has at last become full-fledged pediatric critical care doctor and is on the staff of a children’s hospital in Providence, RI. Robin and his lovely wife, Nancy, have also produced a daughter, Isabel, who celebrated her first birthday in September.”—Jim McKinney

Making a will forces you to think about what really matters in the long term—that’s why the Academy is getting a signiﬁcant slice of my estate. I had the incredible privilege of a Deerﬁeld education, and want it to be there for others, always. Fred Rich ’74 / Author, Conservationist, and Lawyer

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

RECENTLY PUBLISHED:

AUTHOR :

The Experience of Modern Sculpture A Guide to Enjoying Works of the Past 100 Years

Philip F. Palmedo ’52

Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

Jessica Day

It is thanks to Philip Palmedo’s wife, Betsy, that the beautiful and informative The Experience of Modern Sculpture exists; she first came up with the concept for the book, and then both requested and issued its creation as a challenge to her husband. He, in turn, experimented with the idea of writing a book with the goal of enriching the experience of modern sculpture, “particularly for those who have found it uninteresting, mute, or simply baffling.” The result is nearly 200 pages of engrossing photography accompanied by a lively, engaging text that informs and further ignites the reader’s curiosity. Mr. Palmedo is a physicist, art critic, and writer who earned his undergraduate degree from Williams College and an MS and PhD from MIT. In addition to The Experience of Modern Sculpture, he has written journal articles, catalog essays, monographs, and several other books on modern sculpture. He chaired the Art Committee at Brookhaven National Laboratory and now serves on the Council for the Arts at MIT, on the Arts Advisory Board at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, and is a fellow of the Williams College Museum of Art. While The Experience of Modern Sculpture features plenty of “traditional” works of art, Mr. Palmedo also emphasizes form rather than meaning, and minimizes the distinction between a Jaguar racing car, for example, and a Brancusi sculpture. He says: “The pleasure you get from gazing on the sensuously curved surfaces of a 1955 Jaguar roadster is much the same as the pleasure of observing the endless curves of a Jose de Rivera sculpture. There are differences, of course . . . feelings are triggered by the physical shape of the car, but extend beyond its physical reality to an imagined experience (driving). In the case of the de Rivera sculpture, our response is purely aesthetic. It’s as though the part of the Jaguar experience that is shape and surface has been extracted and made into a pure aesthetic object. Feelings are evoked by the de Rivera, but they are distilled feelings of a kind not offered by any practical object.” Using 140 examples by artists ranging from Picasso and Giacometti to Oldenburg, Hesse, and Serra, The Experience of Modern Sculpture introduces readers to modern sculpture’s links to ancient art, to science, and to the world around us. //

46 | THE COMMON ROOM

EXCERPT: This book does not have a linear structure; I look at

the field of modern sculpture the way I look at a physical work of sculpture: walking around it, getting views from different angles, looking at details, stepping back to see the whole, then way back to see it in its context. This is not a survey of modern sculpture. Many important sculptors are not mentioned and the works shown of a given artist may not be typical or the most famous. I include less well-known artists for I believe that less famous doesn’t equal lesser. My focus is on individual works, how they communicate, and how we can get pleasure from them. My objective is ambitious but straightforward: to enrich a reader’s life by heightening the experience of looking at modern sculpture.

photos display paradisiacal portions of the pristine natural landscape of Kauai: photo 1 (left) Lawai Bay Beach in Kauai ’55 | “These at Allerton Garden (a National Tropical Botanical Garden), and photo 2: the Menehune Legendary Fish Pond in Kauai.” —Tom L’Esperance ’55

1955

’55 |

48 | THE COMMON ROOM

Kit ’55 and Sara Main report: “Things are good for us!”

“Karl Robinson contemplates decades of his continual ‘quest to fathom the essence of things’ since our formative boyhood days at Deerfield: ‘We speak of the Deerfield ‘bond’ so intimately connected with the beauty of Pocumtuck Valley, a quiet spot set far from the madding crowd. Did we bond more with the school or with the valley? Without the valley with its majestic trees and its great river flowing ‘on its way,’ it is hard to imagine the school for the school derives so much from being ensconced in such a magical place. Enter Albany Road and the vibration changes into something (for lack of a better word) holy. Go out the other end, it changes back into that of the frenzied world. The how and why of this Deerfield vibration is now and ever will be a mystery that needs no solving—only acknowledging. We who were fortunate to attend Deerfield know in our hearts that ‘ . . . all the valley lies in splendor’ . . . Yes, truly fortunate. . . . To think that I got to spend four years and see sixteen magnificent seasons parade through that valley. What a gift! What a great good fortune! The stately old houses, the majestic trees, and above all the heavy tranquility—it filled me with awe and beauty and peace. It has always been with me—a legacy of beauty and peace. Thank you, Frank Boyden, for settling there and creating a great school that pulled me to you and the Pocumtuck Valley.’ Mark Rowland followed his dream to go to Alaska, where he has resided for 50 years as an attorney and judge in our 49th state. He says that living in Alaska ‘is rather like falling in love with an absolutely gorgeous woman who’s seriously mean about half the time! It’s quite a place. The winters get long and sometimes I wonder why I stayed but I’m here for the duration.’ He remembers years ago running into George Rentschler by chance down by the docks at Valdez. Mark has also stayed in touch with Alex Pagel, who was his freshman roommate at Deerfield. Mark mentioned talking with Brady Coleman once in the past 60 years and commented, ‘It was just like I’d seen him yesterday.’ Brady also followed his dream and became an actor who’s

’55 | now been in eight movies. Also very interesting is Terry Dobson ’56, who became a great Aikido master and has had several books written about him. Mark gave up flying five years ago after being able to ‘extend my adolescence firmly into old age.’ After Pony Duke passed away in October of 2014, Mark and Felicia took a trip to Italy in June together with Mary Ellen Duke and saw Pony’s son, George, who had accompanied her as far as London. John Frymoyer generously relates his multifaceted professional activities and hobbies plus a smörgåsbord of health challenges along the way. He writes: ‘Indeed, 60 years do disappear rapidly. Despite my absence of communication, I try to read the class notes, avoiding obituaries, which appear with greater regularity than one would like; it goes with the territory. Since the 50th my life has been busy, between writing more books on the spine, rebuilding old cars (like a l946 Ford ‘Woody’ and a l941 Caddy), and attempting to keep up withfour daughters, four sons-in-law, and 11 grandchildren. Only yesterday the grandkids were toddlers and now three are college graduates, another five are in college (two at Stanford, two at U Michigan, one at George Washington), leaving only three at home. After celebrating 50 years of marriage in 2009, my wife Nan passed away in 2010 from an ancient and rarely seen disorder—rheumatic heart disease—complicated by high doses of anticoagulants and a cerebral bleed. Since 25 of those 50 years were on ‘borrowed time,’ I feel fortunate to have been with her so long. Then I had the experience of remarrying l6 months later. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but that marriage finally came to a blissful ending this spring—leaving me footloose and fancy free. (continued on page 54)

Lou Greer ’55 was captured in (upper righthand corner) a 1962 Alfred Eisenstaedt photo for Life magazine.

tête-à-tête: BRIAN ROSBOROUGH

Brian Rosborough, Class of 1958, helped to found the Earthwatch Institute and served as CEO of the “international environmental charity” for 25 years. A pioneer in the environmental field, Mr. Rosborough has also served as a Deerfield trustee, and is proud parent to Annabelle ’03 and Davis ’06. He was a special envoy to the United Nations, and served on a number of boards, including those of Princeton University, the Fulbright Institute, Mount Holyoke College, and the Rocky Mountain Institute, among others. Deerfield Magazine’s Julia Elliott recently spoke with Mr. Rosborough about how an investment banker fell in love with science, how Earthwatch more closely resembles Tom Sawyer than Morgan Stanley, and about those “grand challenges” our planet is facing today.

50 | THE COMMON ROOM

Jo-Anne Croft/Earthwatch

DM: Will you tell me the story of how Earthwatch began? BR: I was busy in New York, trying to be an investment banker. A partner in the firm I worked with asked me to meet with a fellow from the Smithsonian, who asked me over lunch at La Biblioteque for $50,000 to underwrite an expedition for Harvard and Smithsonian astronomers to go to Mauritania in June of 1973. There was going to be a total solar eclipse, and they needed to move 60 people out in the desert and keep them alive for 40 days while they set up instruments to take some measurements. It was said to be the longest total eclipse in about 300 years. For me, that was exciting; I thought, this is really interesting, and this is a noble pursuit, but this fellow needs money to underwrite it. So I said, ‘Let me think about it.’ Of course, I didn’t have the money, so on a whim I called National Geographic when I got back to my office. I deepened my voice, and parroted back everything I’d heard at lunch about intra-Mercurial objects between the sun and Mercury. The Geographic phone call identified somebody in the film division who listened to the pitch and then came back on the phone and said, ‘We might be interested.’ And I blurted out, ‘Well, there is a facility fee of $50,000 to underwrite the project and get it all together.’ The man said, ‘That’s not going to be a problem.’ And I said, ‘May I get your name, please?’ That was the first of about 3500 expedition teams that Earthwatch has underwritten. In short, I left Wall Street to join a small group assembled in Belmont, MA, to plan and underwrite research expeditions with Smithsonian scientists. It was a leap of faith! DM: What is your role at Earthwatch now? BR: I linger as a trustee, as a director. I’m sort of non-executive—more on the advisory side. DM: You mentioned that you were an investment banker when you got that call from the Smithsonian. How do you feel your background in business helped inform the structure of Earthwatch and the way the organization works? BR: That’s a good question because I studied history in college, and law, and finance, and had been a naval officer. So I was really not connected to science or the science community. I saw science through my own lens, which was, ‘Hey, these people are entrepreneurs. They’re

trying to get things done, and they lack the funding. The things they’re trying to get done, the research, could be leveraged with very, very small contributions yet impact our whole society.’ So I saw scientists as entrepreneurs and Earthwatch as social venture capital. That made us—at least originally—unique. When we started, very few people were underwriting science with volunteers; now everybody seems to want to travel for science these days, but I think Earthwatch has been true to its commitment to base its program entirely on peer-reviewed research, and insist on publication of everything we fund. We stay away from the travel business as best we can.

munity where they’re working; all projects are reviewed and approved by peer scientists. We then publish and underwrite them over two to five years, usually.

DM: It sounds like you’re the venture capitalist of science research, in the sense that you’re investing in these younger more startup-type scientific expeditions. BR: That’s exactly the way to say it. We stand on our head trying to get people involved, as you would guess. It’s one thing to encourage people with a challenge or a problem, but it’s a whole other thing to get people to travel outside their communities and work in different environments—sometimes under rigorous DM: Can you give me an overview? conditions. So Earthwatch has to balance its What’s the mission for Earthwatch? own resources, which are modest, with the BR: The mission is to engage citizens and projects. For instance, we avoid any areas of the scientists in solving problems that we face in world that would put volunteers in dangerous the future, and the conservation of natural circumstances. We always look for Principal resources is paramount. In today’s language, Investigators who’ve got strong track records, it’s akin to Kickstarter, in the sense that we who enjoy managing people. It seems to work, ask people to take an interest in helping and has been consistently productive. Over the scientists solve problems and to invest some past nearly 45 years, we’ve funded about 3500 time and money. They can go with their invest- projects, given away $100 million, and involved ment and join the expeditions. Then we ask about 100,000 volunteers, not just from the US, foundations to support the training of teachers, but from about 50 countries. students, and others—particularly the underserved. Earthwatch receives proposals from DM: I read that Earthwatch has become scientists every year, from all over the world, the third largest private funder of vets those proposals with other scientists science research. Is that accurate? in a peer review process, then redesigns the BR: No, I think we are among the largest challenge so that the public can get involved. funders of field-based science. If you just say Citizens apply to either support the projects, ‘science,’ you’re talking billions and billions, join the projects, or both. and Earthwatch is not at that altitude. We’re Earthwatch is a non-governmental alternative largely involved in studying rocks, and stars, where scientists, instead of applying just to and plants, and animals, and people and their NSF (the National Science Foundation), can ruins—anything you can get to and try to apply and supplement their grants or get fundamentally understand what’s going on Earthwatch grants matched by NSF. We’ve and why it’s going on. We study change over narrowed our scope to field-based research; time; change is important and healthy for the we don’t have large labs; we don’t have huge growth of all species, but the velocity of vessels at sea for oceanographic work; we’re change can be destabilizing. So that’s what not sending rockets to the moon. That’s capi- this generation is facing—a rapidly changing tal intensive. Fieldwork is like a fishing trip: world—and how to keep things in balance. You’re off, you’re camping, and you’re close to the ground. You’re carrying in and out your DM: When you respond to critiques that own food and supplies. Science is largely driven this is eco-tourism, what do you say? by questions, and so what we try to find out BR: Well, when I was the responder, I would from what we call the Principal Investigators take special care to explain that the volunteers is what are they trying to accomplish and why have signed up for a different sort of mission, it’s relevant—relevant to their discipline, that they’re there as part of a working team of relevant to society, relevant to the host com- scholars and technicians from around the

tête-à-tête: BRIAN ROSBOROUGH world, and that their control over their own time is modest. This is not to say that a research team doesn’t enjoy the food and drink of the country they’re in, and doesn’t have fun on the weekends. It’s just to say that they’re there as special forces, if you will, to address a problem, and there’s a time limit, and real questions, and data to be collected. There’s an intellectual energy around Earthwatch, which is slightly different than the recreational pursuit of ‘eco-travel.’ DM: In the transcript from the program ‘Living on Earth’, they described you as ‘a combination of dedicated environmentalist, high-flying adventurer, and hard-nosed entrepreneur. In essence, a business executive in a wetsuit.’ I love that description. Did that feel accurate to you? BR: That’s a wonderful thing. To get people’s attention, you have to do all kinds of promotions; we had a series of ads where there would be two pictures: there would be the story of who you are in real life, and then a story of how you changed that to join an expedition. We would take different volunteers and find out if they were a banker, or a baker, or a musician, and then talk about what they did with those skills on expeditions. DM: So that advertising strategy, in a way, is kind of a metaphor for who you were. On the one hand, you were a business executive, but on the other hand, you were willing to sort of put on the wetsuit and get out there in the field. Is that true? BR: Yes. I would say that’s modestly true about all of us—the staff and those people who joined the expeditions—you could argue they all fit that metaphor. When I was invited to explain Earthwatch, I would say things like, ‘We’re found on a continuum from Morgan Stanley to Tom Sawyer,’ but we were closer to Mr. Sawyer than Morgan Stanley.

DM: What sort of research projects is Earthwatch conducting at this time? BR: If you look at our shrinking planet and growing population—from seven and a half to nine billion people between now and 2050— there are what are now being called, in places like the United Nations, ‘grand challenges.’ These grand challenges include how we resource, produce, and distribute clean energy; how we find and share water without conflict; how we reach affordable health and universal education. These are the grand challenges facing society. Earthwatch, in some sense, addresses all of these. For example, markets in the global economy are wonderful things. They produce wealth and jobs, and they move an awful lot of people out of the dark ages, but they’re also destructive forces of consumption and economic growth, which limit or delimit biological resources or biological diversity. We are, as a species, a small fraction of living things, but we command a good percentage of the biological resources of the planet. So a lot of what we do is observe, measure, count, look at things that are changing over time. In a given season, we’ll work with 30 or 40 different scientists who are working with animals in different habitats, or birds, or looking at fisheries; we look at the interactions between the natural world and the very powerful forces that humans render in their effort to grow. This helps us articulate what is growth and what is sustainable growth, what is the renewable use of resources . . . We do a lot of work in the area of climate change; what’s the velocity of change; what are the impacts; what are the indices of change not only on biological resources but infrastructure. Since 1990 droughts, floods, and cyclones have caused over a trillion dollars worth of damage around the world, impacting four billion people, but those who suffered the most were the poorest. We want to make sure that developing countries grow in a sustainable and strong way, so we look for scientists working in remote and developing areas.

DM: What do you mean by that? BR: Well, Morgan Stanley is a vast, international investment facility, and Tom Sawyer used to ask people to paint the fence. We DM: What sort of remote areas did you go to? would ask people not only to paint the fence, BR: That is one of the big mistakes I made; but to bring the brush and pay for the paint. I should’ve gone to all of them, but I spent a lot

52 | THE COMMON ROOM

’58 of time like a squirrel in a wheel, trying to keep the resources going. I was fortunate to go to China with a fellow named Paul Sun who was looking at, of all things, vernacular architecture—how the Chinese were making decisions about building and where they were drawing their ideas from. To do that, we looked at ancient constructions of Chinese buildings through the rules of feng shui. He was an architect, and I was fascinated by whether Earthwatch could fund architects as well as scientists in the biological and behavioral area. I spent some time in Africa summiting mountains, climbing into Nyiragongo, where we made a film about a live volcano and how it impacted those populations near Goma, Burundi, and Rwanda; I saw places and did things that I probably would not have but for Earthwatch . . . Expeditions are a wonderful way to talk out those problems (grand challenges). Let’s say there’s a problem in Africa where wildlife and domestic livestock are in competition for the same food resource. If you get the farmers, the park rangers, and the corporates on the same expedition team while you’re studying whether or not this is a problem, you can build strong alliances and you can even change policy. Over the years, the findings of Earthwatch have led to the creation of parks, the change of policy, and partnerships between very powerful economic forces and people of modest means. DM: So why was it important to you that Earthwatch take on the world’s most pressing problems? You could have had any kind of mission, but you’re really going at these big problems. Why was that important to you? BR: For several reasons. For personal reasons, the mind is happiest when it’s learning. If we’re learning about what’s done right and what’s done wrong, we are more apt to be able to produce solutions that help our children and our grandchildren, so there’s a moral component. Earthwatch is in the wonderful position of sitting down with corporations who say, ‘Why should I be concerned about the loss of wildlife in Australia if temperatures rise and species are driven to the end of their range and up some mountain? Why should that concern me?’ We’re in a position of saying, ‘Well, it’s

. . . to find people who think differently, who act differently, who pray differently than you do—and to understand why they’re important, why they’re creative, why they have an equal chance (as you do) to make a contribution to life, is most important.

very hard to run a good business in a bad environment. If you have a healthy environment, you have healthy workforces, and you have longevity. This is why we think your executives should be on the front line of these decisions so that they can interpret them.’ One of the largest sponsors of Earthwatch in the recent past has been an international bank. They started looking at the issue of the loss of natural diversity; they moved their teams to studying urban water, and now they send executives out in small teams over short periods of time—four to six days. That was a stunning innovation, in my view, by a financial corporation; they realized that climate change will impact every aspect of their business over the next hundred years, and they wanted the youngest bankers in the building to be able to have the vernacular to make the arguments, to be able to see—when they’re working on finance, or property, or transportation—what the connections are. DM: Generally speaking, what are the biggest ways in which Earthwatch has had an impact? BR: I think Earthwatch’s greatest impact has been to introduce teachers, students, and citizens to the processes of scientific fieldwork. In other words, I think Earthwatch has been a bridge for people to embrace the problems that impact the quality of life. DM: Do you have a most memorable research expedition that you went on? BR: The ones where I was most fully engaged for longer periods of time, as opposed to the many I just dropped in to oversee, left the strongest impressions. The work I did in Africa with Haroun Tazieff, climbing into Nyiragongo, which was a live volcano, for The Violent Earth by National Geographic, which reached 30 million people. While they finished up filming, I was asked to take a crew of students who were with us across a game park. I had one fellow with a gun—a Swahili tribesman and

ranger. I was walking across a large game park with wild animals and 15 students in my care. We camped out overnight, and that was a memorable experience! I was afraid that the blue tents would attract hippos . . . Foolish me, I picked a place where I thought we would enjoy spending the evening, but every other animal wanted to be at the same place at the same time! I did some work on hominid evolution, which is the tracking of our oldest species with people like Phillip Tobias, now deceased, and others. That made an indelible impression; to this day I read papers, books, and formal articles in that area. So one thing that Earthwatch does is, it lights up something in your life, and you become a spokesman. You speak up at the table: ‘Well, I had that experience. Let me tell you about it.’ I went to Iceland, too, to work on another volcano project, and had some excitement there—almost slipping off a precipice with 500-foot drop below me. Fortunately, the other three wheels worked well enough to get the one that was hanging off the edge moving again. DM: You were in a vehicle? BR: Yeah. I went out the first season to see each of the scientists and meet them in situ, so that I could represent accurately the challenges and the risks to the volunteers, and that was a part of that program. DM: Do you have a positive outlook on our chances for solving those ‘grand problems’ we were talking about? BR: I do. If you just read the newspapers, and you’re starting into university life and trying to find a career and identity, it’s easy to either conclude that, gosh, everything that’s clever has been invented, or everything that has worked is now failing, or that my life will be different from my parents’ lives because China will be stronger than the United States. You could believe that the future is not as bright, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, it’s even

brighter, I think, because the velocity of change requires very agile people to keep up with it. Margarita Curtis has been working on that at Deerfield. The renovation of the library will create spaces for collaborative learning, for teamwork and team building, and addressing challenges with your peers. I think tomorrow’s world will require that people be more interdisciplinary, more collaborative, will work across disciplinary boundaries with each other, so that the solutions will be subtler and more impactful. Does that make any sense? DM: Yes, and I love it because, as you said, it ties in perfectly with all of Dr. Curtis’ curriculum initiatives. Is there one problem, of all the ones that we’ve talked about, that we really need to tackle first? BR: I think intolerance is a problem. I think particularly in our governing systems we have evolved into two parties that govern by finding fault in the opposite side. The ability to cross the proverbial aisles of life, whether it’s a congressional aisle or just in your own neighborhood—to find people who think differently, who act differently, who pray differently than you do—and to understand why they’re important, why they’re creative, why they have an equal chance (as you do) to make a contribution to life, is most important. I think people who are able to bring others together, to reach common solutions that are constructive, outer-directed, and intergenerational will succeed in life. There are some profound questions that need to be answered. We have grown up very successfully and very rapidly in market systems that require that the fittest survive, the most competitive win, the cheapest, fastest product outsells the other, and that growth is unlimited even on finite resources . . . All of that kind of thinking has driven markets, and jobs, and societies forward, but now we’re dealing with a shrinking planet and larger forces—like climate. We’re rethinking how we live in cooperation with nature; that’s timely and important. //

From court to rink, Deerﬁeld Athletics invigorate campus life and instill core values. As we take aim to create even greater opportunities for our athletes and coaches, thank you for helping to build a championship program with your leadership gift.

deerfield.edu/give

54 | THE COMMON ROOM

(continued from page 49) My time is split between Florida and Lake Michigan. As they say, ‘all and all’ it has been a good run. After five separate cancers—all but one related to smoking—(lung, kidney, lip, other lung with prostate thrown in for good measure), I would hope ‘the Bank’ is a long-lost memorial to human frailty. As long as I can cognate, there’ll hopefully be a few more years in the pipeline.’ Our annual get-together in Koloa, Kauai, at the home of Nancy and Tom Crawford found them to be in fine spirits. They surprised Merry and me with the presence of ‘J.P.,’ the executive chef of Red Salt, one of the finest restaurants in the Poipu Beach area, who exquisitely prepared dinner for six of us featuring delicious long-tailed red snapper (Onaga) fish. This seasonal delicacy is caught off the Hawaiian Islands via hook-and-line gear in deep waters at 600-1000 feet! The Crawfords’ generous hospitality is well known locally, along with their commitment to the preservation of the island’s natural environment. Jack Bacon and his wife, Carol, have adjusted comfortably to their sunny retirement surroundings in Cape Coral, FL. The wise snowbirds trek north occasionally during clement months to visit Jack’s roots in the Green Mountains. Jack is a Past Potentate of Shriner’s International in Vermont. He was also the lucky recipient of a kidney three years ago that was donated by his daughter. Kit Main, who lives with his wife Sara in Shaker Heights, OH, took his grandkids down to Orlando for a week to explore the adventures in Disney World. Next year they’ll be ‘up in Maine again.’ Kit and Sara see a lot of their two daughters who live less than an hour away. He says, ‘Things are good for us—we’re not planning to move. We regret we were unable to attend the 60th. Let’s plan on the 65th. We are in good health with the usual challenges of the ‘amber years’ and enjoying each day. We welcome any classmates in town for the Republican Convention—candidate, delegate pro or anti.’ Lou Greer became a centerfold celebrity 53 years ago! ‘Today was a significant anniversary . . . 70 years since Japan announced their surrender in 1945! It was also the anniversary of the famous kiss photo in Times Square, taken by Life magazine’s Alfred Eisenstaedt. Well, that attribution brought to mind that I, too, must be a celebrity since Eisenstaedt took my photo for a magazine centerfold: the middle of the September 21, 1962 issue of Life. It was a picture depicting the fad that favored red apparel at the time, and a bunch of Time Inc. marketing trainees were recruited to spend a Saturday at Eisenstaedt’s home in Connecticut so he could create the centerfold. Thirty bucks and a lunch for us and our spouses made by Mrs. E.’ Visit deerfield.edu/alumni/class-of-1955/class-notes for current and previous class notes, which can be revisited back to 2011. For example, re-read how Terry Fuller’s quick thinking led to his and his staff’s miraculous escape from the 74th floor of Tower #2 in the aftermath of the horrendous 9/11 terrorist attacks. Terry related, ‘I was working in my office on the 74th floor of WTC Tower #2 when the first plane hit Tower #1 . . .” —Tom L’Esperance, Class Secretary; email: tmlski@roadrunner.com; phone: 760-942-2680

1958 “Great ’58: Bob Breen and his lovely wife, Ann, are living in Florida. Bob has retired and they go on numerous river cruises abroad. Jean and David Knight hope to join them on one this spring entitled ‘Treasures of France: A Grand River Journey from Normandy to Provence.’ Bob’s mastery of the French language from his Deerfield days (Mr. Baldwin?) would make this adventure all the more enjoyable. John Hayward and his lovely wife live in Vail, CO. He reports that living in Vail is like ‘dying and going to heaven.’ He’s retired and in good health. He is an avid skier and rides a bike for exercise during the summer. His only concern is that he will ‘outlive his money.’ Brian talked with Roger Hoit, who said that he and his lovely wife Nancy have a great life with a busy architectural practice, an active farm with five horses, two goats, and rescued dogs and cats . . . and a wonderful family with grandchildren next door both in Hingham and Chatham, MA. Roger also qualified for the 2015 USGA Men’s Senior Open Championship (medalist and low amateur in his division) and ‘looks forward to taking some bucks off Great ’58 classmates on the golf course at our 60th Reunion.’ David and Jean had a great lunch with Dick King and his lovely wife Linda in Boothbay, ME, in early September. Dick and Linda split their time between Boothbay and Beaufort, SC. He is recovering from a small stroke but looked in great shape and was in high spirits. He bombs around Boothbay on a scooter. Every weekday morning he joins fellow citizens of Boothbay for a cup of coffee at a local eatery to discuss weighty matters around the ‘table of wisdom.’ Bruce talked with Bob Moses who was ‘upbeat about everything except the price of oil.’ He has five grandchildren who all live quite close to him. His philanthropy is ‘Texas centered.’ This is evidenced by the fact that he supports over 700 scholarship kids at the University of Texas. Way to go, Bob! Bayley Silleck and his lovely wife, Joan, have moved back to New York State to be closer to their son and his family in Hastings-on-Hudson and to their daughter in NYC. Bayley related that his film about the British shelling of Baltimore in 1814 was generously sponsored by David Koch. Bayley also did a 42-minute HD documentary on the Rappahannock River in Virginia, which won first prize at the Richmond Environmental Film Festival. Brian chatted with Fred Stein who lives in Chester, CT, with his second wife of 23 years. ‘Sold family plumbing business to siblings, has given up downhill skiing for the clarinet and sax, and plays in 55 piece band called the Bristol Brass and Wind Ensemble.’ David is in touch with Dave Willis who currently lives in Chester, VT. Two of Dave’s sons went to Deerfield one (David Jr.) graduating in 1988 and the other (Will) in 1992. In the small world category, Zeke ’54 and Ellen Knight checked into the Woodstock Inn and were amiably and efficiently welcomed by Dave’s daughter-in-law, Kathleen.”— Bruce Grinnell, David Knight, and Brian Rosborough

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

’57 |

Four members of the Great Class of ’57 gathered at Jon Harwell’s house in Nashville, TN, this past fall. Left to right: Charles Updike, Bob Fulton, Jon Harwell, and Jim Tripp

’58 |

Three members of the Class of ’58 (Brian Rosborough, Bruce Grinnell, and David Knight) and their wives (Lucy Rosborough, Judy Grinnell, and Jean Knight) met in Greenﬁeld (MA) recently for a wonderful luncheon to celebrate Bruce and Judy’s 53rd anniversary.

1961 “Patsy and I continue to be fortunate—especially with four grandchildren who are a constant source of fascination and delight. I continue to work on management consulting in health care and the challenge of helping clients adapt to change and new realities continues to be engaging. Recently saw Bobby Hallagan, Bruce Macleod, and Curt Mills, and it was great to see them all well and thriving.” —Michael Annison

1964 “Kitty and I celebrated our 45th anniversary last January and our preschool and kindergarten, The Acorn, celebrated its 35th anniversary. No plans to retire from such a joyful calling. We avoid the San Antonio heat by going to northern Michigan for three months every summer, so we’re greatly blessed (and some people say that qualiﬁes as semi-retirement!!) Best to all!”—Rich Lange

1966 / 50th

Barry Gallup ’65 Wore his Deerfield t-shirt with pride to a Red Sox game he attended with his father-in-law, Burnie Lancaster. Later, Barry proudly wore his Reunion gear on a daytrip to West Point with his son, Barry Jr.

’66 | Jeff Wood ’66 and family in Miami.

56 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Twenty-six years in business as electronics marketing manager, then materials manager; four years consulting; fourteen years teaching high school math in inner city Philadelphia; now retiring. My life is punctuated by interests cultivated at Deerfield and at John Suitor’s summer camp. We charter 40-to 50-foot yachts on the Chesapeake out of Rock Hall, MD. Katy (my wife) and I have two grown daughters who have good jobs in medicine. My daughter Kacy is now looking after my first grandchild, Jake, named after me! We are so lucky! Deerfield has made our rich life possible.”—John Calder “I retired from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey after 30 years in admissions, alumni, and career work. My specialty was career work with the translation and interpretation students and alumni. Adding six years at Occidental College as career director, three years at Williams College in career work, and two years at Bennington College in admissions and student services, my educational career spanned 41 years in Vermont, Massachusetts, and California. My wife Kate also retired this summer from 25 years as an elementary school teacher in the Carmel/Monterey, CA, area. We are now enjoying retirement in Carmel Valley, CA. See you all at the 50th!”—Jeff Wood

’67 |

Win Smith ’67 and his wife, Lili, stop for a photo op while skiing at their Sugarbush Resort in Warren, VT.

1967 “I continue as CEO of St. Peter’s Health Partners—dealing with all the healthcare issues everyone reads about. More importantly, we now have a grandson and granddaughter—far more interesting than all those healthcare issues and a lot smarter (at ten months) than most of us dealing with those issues!”—James Reed “Even though I am married to a Choatie, we are looking forward to the 50th. Life is good up here in Vermont, and my second career (owning and running Sugarbush Resort) has been great after 28 years on Wall Street. Ski Bums are held in much higher esteem these days than Investment Bankers. Between us Lili and I have eight kids and ﬁve grandchildren so far, and are planning on taking them and their spouses on an African safari next summer. Fortunately, there are no dentists in the family so we should stay out of the headlines. Deerﬁeld has been having an annual ski event here at Sugarbush the past few years. Tom Barnes joined us one year, and I hope others from the Class of ’67 can make it this winter.”—Win Smith

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Chris Brown ’67 Sold his piano tuning and repair business, and is committing to his startup tools business. He looks forward to catching up in 2017!

James Towne ’67 Interviewed by TV host Salim Amin of The Scoop to share his firsthand experience as trustee of the Loisaba Community Conservation Foundation, a not-for-profit organization serving Laikipia communities in Kenya.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED: EXCERP T: By private Vatican request, the west gate to

Vienna’s Central Cemetery opens at three o’clock, Friday, October 2, 1931. In motionless air, a solitary groundskeeper is kept waiting another seventeen minutes. Then before AUTHOR :

David L. Hoof ’64

Panther Press, Wyoming / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

he can blink, Adolf Hitler’s supercharged Mercedes Benz

Jessica Day

convertible rockets past. Beside the Fuhrer sits Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler, pince-nez glinting sunlight.

In A Death in Munich, David Hoof’s tenth novel, he tackles the 85-year-old mystery surrounding the death of Adolf Hitler’s niece and, some say, live-in lover, who was found dead from a gunshot wound in her locked bedroom in Hitler’s Munich flat in September of 1931. According to Thomas Allen, author of World War II: Encyclopedia of the War Years, “Hoof travels back to a tumultuous time when a rising Adolf Hitler was a murder suspect. This fascinating story glides believably from reality to possibility, chronicling a mystery involving not only leading Nazis but also Hitler’s women, including Eva Braun and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.” And from the crowded streets of Oktoberfest to the terrifying and solitary confinement of one of Josef Mengele’s torture chambers, readers accompany protagonist Dieter Fahrlicht on his search for the truth and his ultimate mission: to topple Hitler. Mr. Hoof is no stranger to writing historical fiction or murder mysteries, and his works include the fan favorite Little Gods, which takes place in 1963 at an “elite New England prep school.” Little Gods features narrator Travis Mather, a student who is determined to find his best friend’s killer, whose death is quickly eclipsed by JFK’s assassination just weeks later. Other novels by Mr. Hoof include such memorable characters as the rugged lawman Redfawn Kravitz in Sharpshooter, and blind Hollywood sound-effects man turned investigator Spike Halleck, who is determined to rescue his six-yearold niece before her kidnappers commit murder. A graduate of Cornell University, Mr. Hoof also holds a PhD in chemistry from Purdue, and enjoyed a National Science Foundation post-doctoral fellowship at Georgetown University before joining the US Department of Energy, where he dealt with the reprocessing of nuclear reactor fuel. Throughout the years he was also writing, and in 1990 he left the Department of Energy to spend more time with his children and to write fulltime. His first novel, Sight Unseen, was published that year. Mr. Hoof expects to publish his next work, Death Makes No Deals, later this year. //

58 | THE COMMON ROOM

In their wake, four black staff cars navigate a sea of tombstones before killing their engines at the moldering Lueger Kirche. Here, not two weeks earlier, the body of Hitler’s niece and lover, Geli Raubal, was consecrated for burial. Kneeling at a distant headstone, I lay down a spray of mums, interlace my fingers and seem to pray. Through narrowed eyelids, I watch Hitler strangle a dozen red roses and stagger to Arkadengruft 9, an ornate, bunker-sized mausoleum. To his left appears Father Johann Pant. Following step-for-step, Pant ushers Hitler toward his lover’s final resting place.

1970 “Some of you may know that I went to high school at the exclusive Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, a school so hightone that the diploma did not contain the words ‘high school’ (when I enlisted in the Army, they did not believe that I had graduated from high school at first, even though I had a university ID card). Deerfield is well-organized and constantly seeks funds and attendance at alumni events, so I got frequent reminders of the upcoming 45th Reunion. I had been to my 20th and 25th Reunions, but had not been back since and had seen very few classmates in the last 20 years. So I decided what the heck, I will fly up on Saturday, get there for the class picture at noon and come back Monday. I drove onto the familiar ‘Street,’ which runs about half a mile between massive shade trees and colonial houses, some of which date back to the late 1600s. Just turning onto the ancient Street evokes the place and the sheltered time of my high school days. Most of the people I had hoped would be there were not, but I came to socialize and soon found myself chatting amiably with Rick Lincoln and Keith Mackay, with whom I had lived in Hitchcock House in 1969-70. I drifted in and out of conversations with them and other alumni. I wanted to walk up to the Rock in the morning, and Rich and I agreed to do it together. ‘How about six a.m.?’ I suggested, thinking that was too early but I would settle for seven . . . ‘Great!’ said Rick. Two other classmates, Charlie Trautmann and Dick Gilbane, overheard us, and we all decided to go together. Deerfield lies in a river valley with Pocumtuck Mountain (a long high ridge) on the east side, and the Rock is a stone outcrop at the top of the ridge about two miles from the school. When I was a student, we had 20 sit down meals a week, the only exception being Sunday morning, when we could get coffee and rolls in the basement of the Dining Hall. I would stop by and pick up some food and walk up to the Rock in the early morning. The quiet, the beautiful view, the peaceful woods: those were moments of real serenity for me. Those days can never return, I know, but that walk on that morning had a palpable magic of its own. The four of us walked and talked about school days (and how Bob Merriam ’43, the school’s enforcer, had caught some kids smoking weed at the Rock); about our kids and our work (Rick and Dick did a lot of contracting); about Charlie’s PhD work, drilling samples along the top of the mountain to test changes in the earth’s magnetism over geologic time; about global warming and politics. The morning was wonderfully clear, with only a few wisps of cloud to break the cool sunshine. Warblers flicked through the branches. We wandered upward across ski trails and finally found the footpath along the top of the mountain that led us to the Rock itself. The view across the valley to the green hills, with the Academy below us, was absolutely spectacular. In making this new connection, taking this simple walk, with these friends whom I had seen almost nothing of in so many years, in this beautiful place, I felt like I had come back home—to that place of serenity—in a way I had never expected.” —Dan Read

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Andy Cohn ’69 Is still “hanging out” in Long Beach, CA, and recently downsized to live within walking distance to the beach. “No regrets about 40 years in CA, except it’s a long way back to Deerfield.”

Stephen Hannock ’70 Appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and was interviewed by Serena Altschul about the contemporary art exhibition that he co-curated at the homes of Hudson River School legends Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. http://bit.ly/1OS4Jwu

1971 / 45th Scott Marquardt ’72 Got together with classmates Carlos Torres and Hal Howard for backgammon and biking in Washington, DC, last spring.

There was an enjoyable mini reunion in Houston of members of the Great Class of ’71 who live in Texas: l to r: Allan Reagan, Craig Reed, Jim Vreeland, Ward Pennebaker, and John Reed. “Allan traveled to Houston from Austin and Jim came from Corpus Christi. Many of us are thinking about getting back to campus in June for the 45th. Best to our ’71 classmates!”—John Reed

1977 “I wrote a book (Not My Grandfather’s Wall Street) under the pen name David Von Leib. It’s loosely veiled historical fiction looking back at the path of a variety of characters through various financial crises of the past 35 years. If you want to look under the covers of where today’s market volatility may find some of its roots, this book could be a fun read for some. If anyone out there believes that markets have a natural fractal rhythm tied to mathematical constants such as pi and phi, they will enjoy the book even more. Back in the day, I wrote what became the first set of ISDA docs, and traded some of the first OTC derivatives contracts at JP Morgan. Blame it all on me, if you want. The derivatives industry has since turned monstrous.” —Barclay Leib (To read a review and excerpt from Not My Grandfather’s Wall Street, see page 61.)

Submit your news and photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

60 | THE COMMON ROOM

RECENTLY PUBLISHED:

AUTHOR : AUTHOR :

Not My Grandfather’s Wall Street Diaries of a Derivatives Trader

Barclay Leib ’77 writing as David Von Leib

American Star Books / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

Jessica Day

Barclay Leib’s career on the New York Stock Exchange began early—at the age of 16—to be exact. Now, after witnessing firsthand for 35 years the ups and downs, twists and turns, booms and busts of the market, Mr. Leib has written Not My Grandfather’s Wall Street. He calls his debut a Michael Lewis-styled novel that is 80 percent based on actual experiences but written as fiction and under a pseudonym for ease of storytelling . . . and possibly to avoid repercussions from a bookmaking business he may or may not have been involved in as a precocious seven-year-old. Not My Grandfather’s Wall Street follows the path of a numbers-oriented young man through his start-stop career, including involvement with the 1980 Hunt Silver Crisis, the 1987 market crash, the 1999 fall from grace of a guru hedge fund manager, and the mysterious death of a famous international banker, among other riveting, real-world events. Mr. Leib says that if there are any subplots in his book, they might include his belief that markets are fractal in their behavior, and tied to mathematical constants such as pi and phi as opposed to the equilibrium economic theory usually taught in Economics 101 and 102. He also believes constant rule changing by regulators and central bankers over the past three decades created short-term fixes at the risk of longer -term system fragility, and finally, he says that the line between “huge success” in one’s career and “simply stumbling along is a thin one, often impacted by luck or lack thereof. People trying to do the right thing don’t always finish first, but this is what it is—the way the world works.” He then adds, “Call the book personally cathartic in that respect.” //

E XC E R P T : Thorn uneasily stood by the

Despite all of his drinking issues, and a

Most brokers went from post to post with

guard booth at the Wall Street entrance to

divorce to show for those problems, Gordon

a variety of orders in hand. Specialists simply

the New York Stock Exchange Trading Floor.

had actually not done too badly in business,

stood at one post and helped ensure an

As he stared at the brass-ornamental entrance

landing on the floor of the New York Stock

orderly market in an assigned list of stocks.

door to the exchange floor itself, with the mild

Exchange in the early 1950s. First it had been

It was deemed an enviable job.

rush of bodies moving behind it, his heart

as a “$2 broker”—someone who charged $2

“Hey, I’m John O’Dea,” a rotund specialist

pounded at all the activity—the scurrying,

to handle an order on the floor when other

clerk greeted Thorn with a warm smile and

the noise.

normal brokers were busy. Then he’d had a

hand-shake. “We’ll go downstairs first, and get you a floor badge.”

It was his first day of work at a summer job.

stint as a standard broker for an upstairs firm.

Thornton’s infatuation with the markets

And finally he’d amassed enough capital to

had started, in part, because he heard about

set himself up as a “Specialist” on the Floor.

them all the time.

Yes, Thornton’s first real summer job— at the ripe age of 16—would be as a junior specialist clerk working behind Post 16 in the NYSE “Garage Room” . . .

The Flame Game

62 | THE COMMON ROOM

By Bob York Photograph by Robert Van Fleet

Even though it was 50 years ago, Jim Smith still remembers feeling a bit perplexed as he watched referee Vinnie Riley approach him on the Deerfield sidelines. Specifically, it was the penalty signal Riley appeared to be giving that left the veteran Big Green football coach puzzled. “I’d never seen it before,” says Smith. “Vinnie was holding his arm out straight and pointing toward our bench. I remember thinking, ‘What’s that signal for . . . what the heck did we do now?’” “Then,” adds Smith, “as Vinnie got about five feet from me, he said, ‘Look!’ And when I glanced over my shoulder I suddenly realized what he’d been pointing at . . . all I could see was black smoke billowing from the building right behind us.” That building was the Mount Hermon School’s Silliman Hall, home to its science department, and it burned to the ground on November 20, 1965. It did not meet its demise, however, without supplying a spectacular backdrop for the annual Deerfield vs Mount Hermon football bash. Robert Van Fleet, a Mount Hermon parent, made certain of that when his camera captured the iconic photo of the two teams doing gridiron battle, their faithful fans giving the game their full attention from the bleachers, while directly behind them, smoke, fire, and the business end of four fire hoses dominated the scene. “The fire broke out just before halftime, and I think the timing actually helped keep the situation under control,” recalls Smith, who was interviewed for an NFL Films documentary about the game titled “Playing with Fire,” which aired this past October. “During halftime, the schools’ headmasters—Frank Boyden and Arthur Kiendl—met and made the decision to continue the game. “I think it was a good one,” acknowledges Smith. “They felt that if the game was called off, the fans would begin congregating around the fire and someone might get hurt. By continuing it, everyone would have something to keep them occupied and out of trouble.” The crowd, which was estimated as being anywhere from 3000 to 7000 strong, didn’t need a sideshow; they were there for the game. And in the storied history of the Deerfield – Mount Hermon rivalry, this clash was one that came with all the bells and whistles.

“No better way to end your prep school football career,” says then Captain Don Abbey ’66 of Deerfield’s 20-14 victory. “Both teams put it all on the line that day to be the best team in New England. It was an intense, well-played game on both sides of the ball. “You could sense a degree of excitement in the stands, too,” adds Abbey, a fullback/linebacker who went on to play at Penn State. “We were also aware something was happening behind the stands, but we were so focused on the game, we really had no sense of the fire.” Like Abbey, backs Jim Burns ’67 (Alabama) and Brooks Scholl ’65 (Cornell) played both ways, as did tackle Bill Coghill ’66 (Syracuse), all of whom earned Division I college scholarships. “I really don’t remember much about the fire because I was so focused on the game,” admits Burns. “I do remember thinking that it actually seemed to give Mount Hermon a boost. We were up 20-0 at halftime, but they outscored us 14-0 in the second half.”

For an undefeated Mount Hermon squad (7-0), a perfect season, a 17-game winning streak, and a New England championship were on the line. As for Deerfield, it was no slouch either. The Big Green entered the fray at 6-1, but a victory over its archrival would allow Deerfield to wear the crown. “It was like a war zone out there that day,” adds Burns. “I remember, late in the game, Brooks cramped up and I kept trying to massage his leg between plays so he could stay in the game. Fortunately, we survived . . . we didn’t let anyone get behind us. “What I remember most was the team presenting Dr. Boyden with the game ball; I remember him standing there in his double-breasted suit, raising the ball over his head and saying, ‘Thanks a lot, boys!’” The championship was one of five titles Smith earned during his 36 years at Deerfield (175-88-12) but ranks second as his most memorable victory. No. 1 is the 13-7 win over Lawrenceville when his son, KC ’82, made the game-winning catch with eight seconds remaining in the game to earn Smith his 100th victory. “Being a part of the ‘Fire Game’ was an unforgettable experience,” admits Smith, who later wrote a note to Kiendl. “We had met numerous times and I got to know him pretty well. I respected him as an educator and I appreciated his sense of humor, and I wanted to thank him for a job well done that day.” The affable Smith then added a PS: “I asked Arthur if he’d found my lighter in the ashes . . . ? About a week later, I got a small package in the mail. It was a Zippo lighter with the game’s final score: DA 20, NMH 14, etched into the cover.” //

64 | THE COMMON ROOM

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Game Changing Year BILL KUHARICH ’72 / by Jessica Day

For Bill Kuharich it’s always been about football and education, so it’s easy to say that Mr. Kuharich’s postgraduate year at Deerfield was “game changing.” But in reality, it was more epic than that: It was life changing. Now he’s on a mission to make sure that kind of experience is available for other young men and women, and that they get the most out of their short time at Deerfield . . . or Waldron Mercy Academy, or Malvern Prep, or at the University of San Francisco, or at Middlebury College—all educational institutions that have played pivotal roles in Mr. Kuharich’s life, and all institutions at which he has helped to establish scholarship funds.

“Bill Kuharich runs back an interception.” —’72 Pocumtuck

66 | THE COMMON ROOM

YOU BECOME PART OF THE GRASSROOTS AT DEERFIELD WHILE YOU’RE ALSO LEARNING IMPORTANT LIFE LESSONS . . . SKILLS THAT TRANSFER TO COLLEGE AND TO CAREERS; IT’S A FOUNDATION THAT DEERFIELD LAYS The whole thing really started at the University of San Francisco, where Mr. Kuharich’s father, Joe, accepted his first head coaching position. Under the senior Kuharich’s leadership, the USF “Dons” posted a 9-0-0 regular season in 1951, and were invited to play in the Orange Bowl in Miami. There was just one stipulation: They had to leave their black players at home. Despite the fact that playing in a bowl game could have really helped the financially struggling football program, Coach Kuharich and his team refused the pro-segregation offer, and their undefeated season came to an abrupt end. But Kuharich’s team never forgot how it played out; when they gathered for a 40th reunion in 1991, Bill Kuharich and his family marked the occasion by creating a financial aid scholarship in memory of Joe, who died in 1981. Since that time 23 scholarships have been awarded—and 23 lives have been changed. Those numbers inspired Mr. Kuharich to repeat the process at each school he attended. At Deerfield, he has established The Postgraduate Fund along with The Postgraduate Initiative—a program for PG leadership development—in appreciation of his postgraduate year. “For me,” says Mr. Kuharich, “it wasn’t any one particular moment at Deerfield . . . it was the overall time I spent as a PG—the interactions I had with other PGs and the opportunity Deerfield gave me to grow— academically, socially, and athletically. It was the whole experience. “I want to offer the opportunity of a postgraduate year to students who will take that year and use it to their advantage, and then springboard that advantage into college.”

Mr. Kuharich is also committed to mentoring PGs while they’re at Deerfield and after graduation, too. “I had mentors at Deerfield that became a part of my life,” he says, ticking off a list of familiar names: Larry Boyle, Bill Tyler, and of course longtime football coach, Jim Smith. This past fall, for the second year in a row, Mr. Kuharich came back to Deerfield for roundtable discussions with the Academy’s current group of postgraduates. They talked about making the most of their time at Deerfield; Mr. Kuharich challenged them to participate in new activities, to become class leaders, and to have an impact on the school. He brought along classmate and fellow PG Steve Riley, who spent 27 years as vice president of sales for the Boston Celtics. It is Mr. Kuharich’s hope to engage more PGs in the alumni body who might be willing to share their time, talents, and wisdom with current postgrads at future roundtable discussions. “I think we (alumni PGs) have some common ground with today’s postgraduates,” Mr. Kuharich says. “It’s a completely new experience for many of these kids, but we were sitting in their seats before; we can help with ‘How do I navigate these waters?’ ‘How do I get the most out of my time at Deerfield?’ I want to challenge all alumni PGs to get involved.” Drew Philie ’09, assistant director of Admission and Athletics, has also been working alongside 11th and 12th Grade Dean of Students Kevin Kelly to prepare the Academy’s current class of 25 postgraduates for the rigors of college while taking advantage of all the opportunities Deerfield has to offer. Mr. Philie says he hopes PGs take a lot from their Deerfield experiences, but perhaps most importantly that they come to appreciate the lifelong relationships that are created during their time on campus—Mr. Kuharich agrees. “You have the opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone at Deerfield,” he points out. “You become part of the grassroots at Deerfield while you’re also learning important life lessons . . . skills that transfer to college and to careers; it’s a foundation that Deerfield lays,” he says. As a professional football executive whose expertise is in evaluating and selecting players for their athletic talent, Mr. Kuharich does have a particular type of scholar in mind for The Postgraduate Fund: “A well-rounded person—someone with many interests who represents what Deerfield stands for—and who wouldn’t be able to afford a PG year otherwise. Those are the students I want to help.” //

For more information about The Postgraduate Fund and/or The Postgraduate Initiative, please contact Leadership Gift Officer Guy Ardrey at 413-774-1592 or gardrey@deerﬁeld.edu

13,770

ft /

Grand Teton National Park

12,002

Chris Lynch ’83 Climbed to 13,770 feet in Grand Teton National Park, WY.

ft /

Mount Elbe

Rocky Mountain National Park

John Knight ’83 Hiked to 12,002 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. “What have you been up to?” he asks. “The car got me to 11,900, by the way.”

Don Hindman ’83 “Tossed” classmate John Knight this photo, taken at 14,433 feet.

68 | THE COMMON ROOM

14,443

Adam Feiges ’83 Reminded his classmates that peaks can be fun and more personal, especially with the family involved. Here

12,441

ft /

14,036

ft /

Mount Sherman

Mount Baldy

they are at Horsethief Overlook, Fruita, CO, elevation unknown. “Not a peak but a workout nonetheless.”

Dexter Wood ’83

Jeff Spadafora ’83

Went on a “little jaunt” with his son’s Boy

Took his son for “a walk and a little fishing” before

Scout Troop this past summer to the summit

taking him to college. “Fourteen-ers are all the

of Mount Baldy. Elevation 12,441 feet, and

rage in Colorado (for some),” says Jeff. Jeff and

“we hiked almost 4000 of it!” Dexter says.

Neal topped out at a respectable 14,036 feet.

’84 |

Worthy of their heritage: Tucker Holland ’84 and Dan Renaud ’84 met up recently to run the 40th Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, honoring the men and women who serve and sacriﬁce for our country.

1984 Jim Ferrari ’82 Seeing more of Deerfield this year since his son, Nicholas, is a PG.

’84 |

70 | THE COMMON ROOM

John Knight reports: “Leigh Guyer has always had a little something special in his personality. Well, he’ll get to use it some more, even though he recently had a heart attack and ﬁve stents put in (instead of open heart bypass surgery). Congrats on a successful procedure and here’s to many more days of smiles!”

“I have been appointed to serve as director of the Vermont Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS), succeeding Joe Flynn who recently became deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety (DPS). I served as the chief of Vermont’s Hazardous Materials Response Team at the DPS, a post I held for the past 16 years. I’ve also been a volunteer in the South Hero (VT) Fire Department for 25 years and chief of that department since 2009. I graduated from St. Michael’s College in 1988 and earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Vermont in 1998. ‘I’m pleased to have found a director with an impressive combination of experience in response and leadership,’ DPS Commissioner Keith Flynn said. ‘Director Herrick is a respected member of the Vermont emergency response community because of his years of service as a ﬁreﬁghter and EMT, and for his management of the state HazMat team and Emergency Response Commission.’”— Christopher Herrick

’84 | “In lieu of our annual Friends of Deerfield Korea golf gathering, we had a joint Deerfield-Northfield Mount Hermon golf outing at Namchon Country Club in Korea. I would prefer not to discuss the scores . . . but there was much good comradery among the fellow Franklin County school representatives.”—Yong Hyun Kim ’85

’88 | “I hosted a fall golf outing on Long Island that included Rob Brewer ’88, Luke Fichthorn ’88, Coleman Church ’88, Tom Bradley ’87, and Chandler Bigelow ’87.”—Oscar Anderson

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Kurgo exists to encourage families and their dogs to get out and enjoy the world together.

The Dog Guys G O R D I E S PAT E R ’ 8 8 / by Lynn Horowitch

The story of Kurgo, a successful dog products business run by Gordie Spater and his brother Kitter, began as many such stories do—by identifying a common problem and developing a marketable solution. The problem in this case was what happened to Kitter’s Plott hound, Zelda. Like many dogs, Zelda liked to go for rides in the car, preferably in the front seat. One day, after a particularly sharp stop, Zelda fell headlong onto the pedals. Understandably shaken, Kitter shared the story with his brother, and soon the two were brainstorming solutions; Kurgo’s first product, the Backseat Barrier, was designed to keep pups safe in the car and prototyped while “huddled in two basements,” Mr. Spater recalls. The Backseat Barrier put an end to the Zelda-on-the-pedals issue and was the beginning of Kurgo—a viable, growing business. From that small start 12 years ago, the brothers have grown Kurgo into a company with 25 employees that manufactures more than 300 products sold globally. The products are designed to meet the needs of dog owners who want to include their pets in their active lives, and items range from car seat covers to travel dog beds to collapsible food and water dishes. Kitter is in charge of product design and manufacturing, while Gordie serves as the chief business officer, and is responsible for distribution, marketing, sales, and customer relations. “Basically, everything starting from the warehouse and ending with the consumer,” he says. The Spater brothers bring an entrepreneurial sensibility to their work. Their father, Thomas, Deerfield Class of 1955, and mother ran a women’s apparel manufacturer, so maybe entrepreneurship is in their blood. After Deerfield, Gordie graduated from the University of Vermont, then moved to New York City and worked in advertising. His next move was to Maine, where he helped market the Sunday River Ski Resort. Then he worked for a couple of different Inc. 5000 companies. “I kept working at smaller and smaller places,” he says. “I realized I wanted to be an entrepreneur.”

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above: Gordie Spater, right, with Baxter and his brother Kitter with Garp.

KURGO.com

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF KURGO.COM

So it was off to Harvard Business School, after which Gordie helped to found two companies “in various basements or other shared spaces.” One was an Internet start-up for Little League baseball teams that later merged with another company. The second was focused on importing medical devices. Then Zelda flopped onto the driver’s side of Kitter’s car, and Kurgo was born in 2003. The company, based in Salisbury, MA, sells its products online (kurgo.com) and through chain stores, including Petco, PetSmart, and Pet Value, as well as local pet specialty retailers. With winter well underway, it’s high season for such Kurgo products as the North Country Dog Coat with LED Safety Light and the Surf N Turf Dog Life Jacket, which converts into a waterproof rain coat. Other products, such as harnesses and seat covers, help dogs and owners get to destinations safely, because as Gordie says, “Kurgo exists to encourage families and their dogs to get out and enjoy the world together.” //

DEERFIELD

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

SERVICE

APRIL 9, 2016!

DAY OF

SATURDAY,

THIS YEAR, WE ANTICIPATE REPRESENTATION IN AT LEAST TEN CITIES WITH PROJECTS PENDING IN ATLANTA, AUSTIN, NEW HAVEN, AND HOUSTON. HERE’S THE LINEUP FOR OUR DAY OF SERVICE AND OUR ALUMNI/PARENT CONNECTION:

SANTA MONICA, CA

An initiative of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association, the Deerfield Day of Service now enters its fifth year. The genesis of this program came from many alumni remembering their own Heritage Day, a day when the entire student and faculty body went into the community for service projects. Former Executive Committee members Rush McCloy ’92 and Tucker Holland ’84 created the pilot program in 2012, partnering with Robin Hood in New York City. Over the last four years, this program has expanded to include multiple cities and partnering organizations such as PAVE Academy (Brooklyn, NY), Neighbor to Neighbor (Greenwich, CT), Food Bank of the Rockies (Denver, CO) and Food Forward (Los Angeles, CA) to provide food security, serve the homeless and support education. Please join us!

John G. Knight ’83

For more information or to get involved, contact: Rachel Jackson, rjackson@deerfield.edu / 413-774-1590 or visit deerfield.edu/events

(intro through Paula Edgar ’95)

OPCC (Ocean Park Community Center) Charlie Smith ’51

DENVER, CO Food Bank of the Rockies

CHICAGO, IL DRW College Prep Kevin Kroger ’87 and George Mesires ‘87

GREENWICH, CT Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich

CONCORD, MA Gaining Ground

The Executive Committee of the Alumni Association: Sara di Bonaventura Ofosu-Amaah ’01, President Nat Emmons ’60, Vice President Al Acquavella ’99 Elaine Asher ’93 Ted Ashford ’82 Frances Cashin Hodler ’03 David DeCamp ’76 Paula Edgar ’95 Ted Flato ’73 Dan Garrison ’94 (Ex-Officio) Peter Gonzalez ’62 (Emeritus) Bruce Grinnell ’58 David S. Hagerman ’64 P’99, Former Faculty

Lucy Rosborough P’03,’06 Porter Hill ’99 Francis Idehen ’95 Kent Kahle ’70 John G. Knight ’83 Ted Lubin ’00 Marguerite McNicoll ’98 Alex Mejia ’99 John Mendelson ’58 George Mesires ’87 Wally Tomenson ’95 Ray Walker ’92 Nathalie Weiss ’08 Sydney Williams ’85

SHELBURNE FALLS, MA Mary Lyon Foundation Sue Samoriski P’94

WORCESTER, MA Boys & Girls Club of Worcester Dusty Miller ’58

BROOKLYN, NY BloomAgainBklyn Rick Anderson ’62

HARLEM, NY The Bowery Mission Davis Rosborough ’06

PROVIDENCE, RI Southside Community Land Trust Laura Bozzi ’99

74 | THE COMMON ROOM

“It really demonstrates how our Deerfield community is ‘being worthy of its heritage’ in neighborhoods and locales across the country. I’m so proud to be a part of this community and facilitate the connections with our partner organizations for Saturday, April 9, 2016.” —Jenny Hammond P’15, Director of Alumni & Parent Engagement

Over the last four years, the Day of Service has expanded to include multiple cities and partnering organizations such as PAVE Academy (Brooklyn, NY), Neighbor to Neighbor (Greenwich, CT), Food Bank of the Rockies (Denver, CO), and Food Forward (Los Angeles, CA) to provide food security, serve the homeless, and support education.

’89 |

Jacques Cattier ’89 posed with classmates Derek Hutton and Spaulding Hall in the Teton Valley.

Tom Locke ’92 Married Natalie Newman at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT.

Jonathan Harris ’98

George Craft ’01

Featured in a Washington Post article,

Welcomed a son along with his wife,

“How the Internet’s Most Earnest Evangelist

Sarah, on August 14, 2015. Thomas

Deerfield alumni in attendance were:

Became Its Fiercest Critic,” in which he

(Tommy) Casey joins big brother

Julie (Wolf) Defense ’91, Chris Morin

discussed his most recent web-based

James, age three, and sister Mary,

DeRosa ’93, Brittany Locke ’03, Shantel

project, “Network Effect,” and his struggle

age one.

Moses ’93, Ann (Kleven) Rounseville ’92,

to balance screen-time with real life.

and Rachel (Reingold) Mulcahy ’92.

http://wapo.st/1M3dyDH

76 | THE COMMON ROOM

Under the heading “Dept. of Foursomes,” the November 9, 2015 issue of The New Yorker featured the following article by staff writer John Seabrook—written after he tagged along with Don Mitchell ’01 and his bandmates on a visit to Levain Bakery in NYC. Darlingside’s most recent record, Birds Say, was released this past September to wide acclaim, including a spot on NPR Music’s Favorite Songs of 2015 list. The young men of Darlingside have been going to the Levain bakery, on West Seventy-fourth Street, for milk and cookies since they were in a Williams College a-cappella group, almost ten years ago. Now that they’re a grownup act—a four-man harmony group, with a new album just out and a national tour under way—they’re nostalgic for simpler times. So one recent Thursday they were waiting in line on the steps leading down to the bakery, from which wafted a rich, tingly cloud of sugar. Harris Paseltiner, a classically trained cellist, who is the youngest (the others call him “the boy”) and the most talkative of the rigorously egalitarian foursome, described the cookies.

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“They have a hard exoskeleton,” he said, “but they’re gooey and gelatinous inside.” The faraway look that he wears onstage came into his eyes. “Would you use those words to describe our music?” Don Mitchell (guitar and banjo) asked. “If you have a guitar that’s going through a fuzzbox, so that it’s super-warm and gooey, and you mix that with a cello that’s groaning with reverb, it can sound kind of buttery,” Paseltiner said. The members of Darlingside perform original songs around a single microphone, accompanying their close harmonies with a mix of classical, folk, and hipster instruments, including a Brazilian tambourine, a

“We don’t tend toward cities,” Paseltiner said as they crossed Columbus Avenue, explaining that after Williams they had all lived together in a house in Hadley, Massachusetts, where the band got started. “We moved in, set up a studio in the basement, said, ‘O.K., we’re doing this as a career,’ and then realized we didn’t know what kind of music we wanted to play.” A sort of folk pop, as it turned out. Now they all live near one another, in Cambridge. On occasion, they write lyrics at the local climbing gym. “We’ll climb, hop off, write some lyrics, and then climb again,” Auyon Mukharji, the band’s Suzuki-trained violinist, said. “The puzzle of how to go up the wall is like the puzzle of writing lyrics—go here, then here, then here.” “It was all good until three of us got finger injuries,” Paseltiner said. Finding a leafy bower just inside the park, the four nibbled their cookies and sipped their milk, and seemed to become enveloped in a Proustian daydream. Their reverie was soon disturbed by an anxious-looking off-leash Alsatian, which approached with a soft Frisbee in its mouth. Mitchell winged the Frisbee, and the dog darted away.

The members of Darlingside perform original songs around a single microphone, accompanying their close harmonies with a mix of classical, folk, and hipster instruments

harmonium, and a mandolin. As with cookies, their sound is all about texture. When their drummer left the group two years ago (“our erstwhile drummer,” as they refer to him), the remaining four redesigned the music around their voices, becoming a sort of neo-barbershop quartet. Sometimes the sunshine breaks out in their harmonies, and it feels like 1965 with David Crosby and the Byrds. At other times, as in “The God of Loss,” the weather is gloomier. The band plumped for four of the bakery’s signature six-ounce cookies, and four milks. “Whole, please,” Paseltiner added. “And an itemized receipt.” Then they strolled toward Central Park.

DARLINGSIDE.COM

“That’s a cute dog,” Paseltiner said. The dog became less cute each time it returned and buried the saliva-soaked Frisbee in Mitchell’s crotch. “He’s certainly eager,” Mukharji noted. Mitchell began to cast searching glances in the direction of the dog’s oblivious owner. Meanwhile, Dave Senft, the bass player, explained that the group had originally wanted to call themselves Darlingcide, a neologism based on Arthur Quiller-Couch’s advice to self-indulgent young writers—“murder your darlings”—which they had first heard in a songwriting class at Williams. But they worried that fans would pronounce the name “Darling-kyed” or “Darling-seed-a.” Soon another dog came over to sniff the Alsatian’s behind, but caught a whiff of something more appealing —the half-eaten chocolate-chip cookies—which it proceeded to devour. The members of Darlingside decided it was time to move on. //

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FROM THE ARCHIVES circa

’65

2014 ASHLEY AWA R D Recipient

Amplify Voices and Stories M U J I B M AS H A L ’ 0 7

As a student at Deerfield, Mujib Mashal had a passing familiarity with Tom Ashley, Class of 1911—literally. Mr. Mashal worked in the Greer Store and during the winter, “with snow and the freezing weather outside, a break from work meant walking to the gym,” he says. “And there was Tom Ashley.” He walked by Mr. Ashley’s portrait, which hangs prominently in the gym lobby, throughout his time at Deerfield, not only on his Greer breaks, but also on his way to soccer practice each fall day. He recalls hearing about Mr. Ashley’s commitment to Deerfield, and as Mr. Mashal remembers, “Tom Ashley was a poster boy of sorts for being an all-rounder who strived for more than just academic excellence.” In 2014 Mr. Mashal was honored with the Ashley Award. The award was created by the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association to recognize young Deerfield alumni who are pursuing lives of service. It honors those who can serve as an example for current students, as well as for fellow alumni.

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Mr. Mashal, who grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, is a journalist with the New York Times, based in his hometown and reporting from across the country. He also appears frequently on NPR and other international outlets to discuss his own reporting and developments in Afghanistan. He rejoined the Times about a year ago, after interning with the paper’s bureau in Kabul the summer before his senior year at Columbia University, where he earned a degree in South Asian history. After his graduation from Columbia in 2011, he spent three years as a freelance writer in Qatar and Afghanistan for publications including Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The Wall Street Journal, and Al Jazeera English. Mr. Mashal’s writing covers a region in conflict, but focuses on individual Afghans, their “stories and voices.” He explains, “I cover a war that has exhausted the American public, but even more so the Afghans. Before the American involvement, this war had already continued for decades, at great human cost.”

Courtesy of Mujib Mashal

/ by Lynn Horowitch

The service that I see in my work is amplifying the voices and stories of the ordinary people here to a world audience . . . If it ends up having the smallest of impacts in highlighting our common humanity and increasing empathy, what I think we lack in this world where ‘the other’ is once again becoming so fashionable, I will take it.

By telling personal stories, Mr. Mashal seeks to increase understanding and bridge divides. “The service that I see in my work is amplifying the voices and stories of the ordinary people here to a world audience,” he says. “If it ends up having the smallest of impacts in highlighting our common humanity and increasing empathy, what I think we lack in this world where ‘the other’ is once again becoming so fashionable, I will take it.” The seeds for Mr. Mashal’s approach—of focusing on individuals to strengthen connections and to build empathy—were sown in a Deerfield classroom. “I often think back to a history class I took at Deerfield, with Dr. Baker,” he says. “The class was called ‘Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times.’ In a way, my work on a daily basis involves the chronicling of exactly such stories.” While Dr. Baker helped spark Mr. Mashal’s passion for history and storytelling, his high school experience also helped him gain fluency and facility with writing in English. When Mr. Mashal came to Deerfield, he was not

proficient in English. He recalls, “I would have never thought I could become a writer in English if you had asked me during my first two years at Deerfield.” Early on, homework that would have taken a native speaker 20 minutes took Mr. Mashal two hours, as he had to look up every word. But by his junior year, his English had improved, “things had gotten easier, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” Mr. Mashal says. His classes with teachers such as Joel Thomas-Adams pushed him to produce high-caliber work and helped him master the language. Now Mr. Mashal is applying his mastery of the English language and deep understanding of his homeland to address Afghanistan’s most pressing problems. He recognizes that he and his fellow journalists have an important role to play in working toward resolution and peace in Afghanistan and other areas torn by war. “I think the first important step to solving any world problem is having a wellinformed, nuanced discussion about the existing reality,” he says. The press can complement diplomatic efforts, grassroots initiatives, international pressure—or even jumpstart such initiatives. Mr. Mashal says, “Journalism helps in fueling that early discussion—and I can cite from our work in Afghanistan. If militias abuse people in faraway villages, yet the government continues to rely on them as a policy and create more, our work as journalists reporting on their abuses becomes central to the discussion of activist and human rights bodies in holding the government accountable, and making sure such abusive militias are not created again.” //

2005 Kyle Yager ’05 married Ashleigh Catsos on September 26, 2015 in Greenfield, MA, in a backyard ceremony and reception overlooking the Deerfield Valley. They were grateful for the assistance of DA’s Director of Food Services Michael McCarthy in the planning and execution of many of the wedding details (including a dessert bar featuring the Dining Hall’s famous vegan brownies). Kyle is the son of the Academy’s Theater Technical Director Paul Yager and Sandra Yager, Deerfield’s campus stores manager. Kyle, Ashleigh, and their pup Frankie live in Brooklyn, NY. Kyle works as a props manager for the Blue Man Group in New York City.

Submit your news and photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

84 | THE COMMON ROOM

2009 Izzy (Black) Smith ’09 married Trace Smith on July 11, 2015 in Charlotte, NC. Bridesmaids included classmates Mara Upson, Scottie Thompson, and Meg Beimfohr. Other Deerﬁeld graduates in attendance were Kate Anderson ’12, Sam Anderson ’10, Rick Anderson ’72, Hannah Flato ’10, Michael Flynn ’82, Kaitlin Fobare ’09, Caleigh Forbes ’09, Geoff Griffin ’72, Knight Hammock ’09, Jeff Hebert ’09, Mike McKenna ’09, Albert Nichols ’09, Connie Rhodes ’12, Ali Schulz ’12, Caroline Schulz ’10, Emily Upson ’13, and Sam Weinstein ’09.

Mad for Queen Juana E L A N A VA N A R N A M ’ 1 3

ca. 1505, Flanders

86 | THE COMMON ROOM

Courtesy of Elana Van Arnam

Hamilton College junior Elana Van Arnam was recently featured on the college’s website as an Emerson Summer Collaborative Research Award recipient. Making use of her grant to travel to Spain, Ms. Van Arnam set out with this question in mind: Was Juana I of Castile truly insane or a victim of circumstance and history? Ms. Van Arnam’s Hamilton classmate, Thomas Georges, wrote the following article: Popularly known as “Juana la Loca,” or Juana the Mad, the Queen is one of the most iconic figures in early-modern Spanish history. “Juana’s legacy for the almost 500 years since her death has been solidified as a crazy woman and incompetent ruler,” explained Van Arnam. “Most of the research done on Juana and her life has only been to determine whether or not she really was mentally ill, or to what extent.” In recent years there has been a new wave of scholarship investigating not only Juana’s mental state, but also the circumstances surrounding her life and rule, Van Arnam observed. In following this new path of research, Van Arnam’s investigation is focusing on the competing household cultures and politics present in Juana’s households in Castile and later in Burgundy after her marriage to Philip I of the Habsburg dynasty. “By studying in Barcelona I have access to primary sources—correspondence, treasury records and first-hand accounts of court officers—from the lives of Juana and her immediate family,” Van Arnam remarked. These primary documents, in conjunction with broader study of early modern courts and households, have formed the foundation for the most recent research surrounding Juana’s life and reign. This broader review of cultural norms and phenomena of the time is tremendously important, as misconceptions concerning Juana are not only rooted in the popular portrayal of her madness, but also in profound ignorance of the political realities of the day. “There is a common misconception that a sovereign held the utmost power—political and otherwise— not only in his or her kingdom but also in the household,” claimed Van Arnam. “The failure to acknowledge the role that politics played in each household fuels Juana’s long misrepresentation in history. The story of a mentally ill yet powerful queen is much more entertaining than that of a woman who was caught in a tangle of competing political, family and dynastic interests, but it yields a false account of her life,” she added. Van Arnam said that beyond what she learned regarding Juana’s rule and early-modern Spanish history, she was eager to undertake this project as it provided a valuable experience exploring the difficulties of practical research. “Conducting the research itself has been its own learning experience,” she posited. “I have never done research on this scale before, and I have learned about the various obstacles involved—everything from dead ends to simply having trouble gaining access to primary documents.” Given her hopes to proceed with graduate research, Van Arnam was grateful to develop the perseverance necessary for research, as well as to experience the gratification inherent in completing such a wide ranging project. She hopes that this project will be regarded as one among many other studies that challenge history’s misrepresentation of seemingly powerful women. Created in 1997, the Emerson Foundation Grant program was designed to provide students with significant opportunities to work collaboratively with faculty members, researching an area of interest. The recipients, covering a range of topics, are exploring fieldwork, laboratory and library research, and the development of teaching materials. They make public presentations of their research throughout the academic year. //

For the ďŹ rst time in a decade, we are within striking distance of reaching 50% alumni participation in the Annual Fund.

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FIRST PERSON / JADE BASEM ’15

Senior year, I decided to sign up for a brand-new course at Deerfield called ‘Experimental Neurology.’ I already knew that I wanted to pursue a career in science, and I really enjoyed biology and psychology, so I figured neurology would probably be interesting, too. Little did I know how much this one class would end up changing my life. By the second week, I was obsessed. And as the year progressed, I fell ever more in love with the topic and complexity of the human brain. Then, when Deerfield hosted the 14th annual Pathways program, and alumni were invited back to campus to speak to seniors about the “paths” they’d traveled in their careers, I was presented with the opportunity to meet Dr. Reid Thompson, Class of ’81 and head of Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I immediately introduced myself, and Dr. Thompson and I engaged in a conversation about his life as a neurosurgeon, and the advice he had for those who wanted to follow in his footsteps. After the panel, I accompanied Dr. Thompson to the Dining Hall, where tables were set up for each alumnus and for any students who were interested in speaking with them further; Deerfield presented us with this unique occasion, but it was up to us to seize the opportunity. As the day came to a close, I invited Dr. Thompson to join my Experimental Neurology class the following day. Impressed by my enthusiasm, he gladly agreed.

88 | THE COMMON ROOM

Our research projects at the time were focused on Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly. My partner and I were working on dissection, so, with the chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt standing over my shoulder, I attempted to keep my hands steady as I sliced a Drosophila brain under a microscope. Dr. Thompson whizzed endless questions my way, and I nervously answered each one—struck by what an amazing opportunity it was to have him in our classroom, and by the fact that I had the opportunity to take a neurology class in high school. I couldn’t help myself: I asked Dr. Thompson if he thought there might be an opportunity for me to intern at Vanderbilt over the summer. It took time, a lot of paperwork, and ‘a village’ (which included the assistance of Deerfield’s Alumni Office when it came time to find me housing in Nashville, where I was most graciously hosted by Crews Johnston ’87 and his lovely family). Finally, after several weeks of hard work by a large group of generous people, my unique internship experience was created and set to begin on June 15: I would observe Dr. Thompson for six weeks. The first day of my internship, a Monday, set a distinct pattern in motion: Mondays were spent at Dr. Thompson’s clinic, seeing patients. The rest of the week was for operating.

Dr. Reid Thompson, Class of ’81, at the 14th annual Pathways program—alumni were invited back to campus to speak to seniors about the “paths” they’d traveled in their careers

Dr. Thompson’s patients all suffered from skull-based tumors, but within that diagnosis patients ranged from having their first MRI scan to those who were having a six-week post-operative check up, to those who had surgery five years ago. It was a fascinating start to every week due in large part to the amount of time Dr. Thompson would take to explain every patient’s scan to me as well as their history; he treated his patients similarly: with his complete attention and patience. The very first operation I observed was a twelve-hour frontal lobe meningioma case. I was introduced to the chief resident, told to change into scrubs, and given a quick tutorial on proper operating room etiquette—including what I could and could not touch. I entered the operating room with a plethora of emotions stirring inside me. The patient wasn’t present yet, but all of my preconceived notions of surgery had been shattered already. The bright room felt rather lively, as the surgeons, doctors, and nurses prepped for the case. I became nervous about how I would react once the procedure was underway. I had heard that some people became light-headed the first time they observed an operation . . . or fainted or threw up. But when the patient arrived, something in me switched on . . . or off: I no longer felt nervous for myself, but had an incredible sense of the weight of responsibility that was placed on those around me. A sense of purpose and empathy was palpable in the room.

The surgery itself was mesmerizing. Dr. Thompson described each step to me as he went along and pointed out specific anatomy— comparing it to the patient’s MRI scan that we had previously examined. Being only steps away from the patient and able to see their brain was truly stunning. It was impossible to lose that sense of awe, and each case that I saw over the next few weeks proved to be just as exhilarating, unique, and genuinely breathtaking. Overall, I was in the operating room for 39 surgeries and every subset of neurosurgery: tumor, vascular, interventional, pediatric, cranial, spine, functional, trauma, and infections. Over the course of my internship, I also went on rounds with Dr. Thompson, attended board meetings and conferences, joined Grand Rounds with the entire neurosurgical team, and spent an entire day learning how to read scans with the neuroradiology team. In addition, I spent two nights on-call with the residents; as an observer whose only job was to stay awake and learn, I loved these nights for the large number of new cases I saw in a short time period, and for the opportunity to see a side of the hospital that is in complete contrast to the one most people experience. The final day of my internship was bittersweet: The last operation I observed involved a patient who had come to the hospital on one of the nights that I was with the residents. I had witnessed every aspect of this man’s story since he arrived at Vanderbilt, so concluding my journey on what was typically a non-surgical day with this particular patient was a perfect ending. As I drove away for the last time, I realized how incredibly connected I had become to the people and patients at Vanderbilt in six short weeks. Now at Colgate University, my summer experience is still helping me in a multitude of ways—from the classroom to finding the confidence to declare myself as a pre-med student. Beyond academics and experience, I also gained a mentor. Dr. Thompson was a remarkable teacher: He allowed me to see all aspects of his job; he introduced me to people that he felt would be great teachers, have important advice for me, or simply share their wisdom; he was always proud to introduce me as a fellow Deerfield Academy alumnus. Which brings me back to where I started: I never would have known that I was interested in neurosurgery had it not been for my Experimental Neurology class—now it’s the path I’m actively pursuing. I am so excited for the day when I can return to Deerfield for Pathways or some other event and reciprocate the generosity that I have experienced. //

6’s& 1’s

June 9-12, 2016

deerﬁeld.edu/reunions 90 | THE COMMON ROOM

A Dining Hall favorite, scaled down for your home kitchen.

RaspberryFilled Vanilla Cookies Yield: Approximately 3 ½ Dozen INGREDIENTS

Granulated Sugar Salt Baking Soda Shortening Unsalted Butter Eggs All Purpose Flour Vanilla Extract Raspberry Filling*

1 ¼ cup ½ tsp. ½ tsp. 1⁄3 cup 2 ¾ Tbs. 1 large or 2 small 2 ¼ cups ½ tsp. 3⁄4 cup

DIRECTIONS 1 Cream sugar, butter, and shortening until light and ﬂuffy. 2 Add egg or eggs. 3 Add vanilla extract. 4 Add ﬂour, salt, and soda, and mix until smooth. 5 Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes.

Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make an indentation in each with your thumb, and ﬁll indentation with raspberry ﬁlling. 6 Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

*Note: Use ovenproof raspberry ﬁlling (raspberry jam does not work).

6 7

1797 D i n n e r / T h e R a i n b ow R o o m , N YC

Academy Event / BOSTON

1 Alex Auersperg ’78 P’14,’19, Margarita Curtis, Rodolfo Wachsman ’63 2 Rodgin Cohen ’61 at the podium

3 Jim and Meg Dougherty P’08 4 Charlotte Cowan P’07, ’08, ’13, Susan

Glovsky, Steve Glovsky ’72, Rory Cowan ’71 P’07,’08,’13 5 Karyn Wilson P’10,’13, Samantha Byrne ’10, Miles Byrne ’76 P’10,’13, Elizabeth Byrne ’13, Lisa Finigan, Joe Finigan ’76 6 Chrystel Pit, Bejamin Kulas ’95, Jill Garrison ’99, Dan Garrison ’94 7 Dick Boardman ’62, Lynne Stanton, Dave Oliver’60

92 | THE COMMON ROOM

6 COLLEGE DINNERS 1 Middlebury 2 Duke/UNC 3 Georgetown/GW 4 Boston 5 UPenn 6 Princeton 7 Bowdoin 8 Trinity/Wesleyan 7

REGIONAL & CLUB EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS: deerfield.edu/alumni/events/

FEBRUARY 25

Deerfield Club of New England Cabaret Theater Production

MARCH 8

9 10

Academy Event in Los Angeles, CA at Bel-Air Country Club Academy Event in San Francisco, CA at waterbar

APRIL 9 TBD 28

Day of Service Academy Event in Chicago, IL Academy Event in New York, NY at The Princeton Club

MAY 6–7 24 D e e r f i e l d C l u b o f t h e R o c k i e s + Ava l a n c h e G a m e

9 l to r: Jane Shiverick ’04, David Schmidt ’90, Meegan Moszynski ’97, John G. Knight ’83 10 S e a t t l e G a l l e r y W i n e & C h e e s e hosted by Jim Burns ’67. Others in attendance were

Harlow “Cork” Hardinge ’49, Lee Prokowich ’94, Roberto Ochoa ’94, Dara Korra’ti ’84, Peter Garrison ’72

JUNE

Parents Spring Weekend Deerfield Club of New England Spring Theater Opening Night Deerfield Club of the Bay Area SF Giants Game v. SD Padres and Tailgate Commencement

9–12 Reunions (1s and 6s)

Submit your notes and photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

CLASS CAPTAINS & REUNION CHAIRS

1940 1946 1950 1951 1952 1952 1953 1953 1954 1955 1955 1956 1959 1961 1961 1962 1962 1963 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1965 1965 1966 1966 1966 1967 1967 1967 1969 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972 1972 1972 1973 1974 1974 1975 1975

David H. Bradley Gerald Lauderdale R. Warren Breckenridge David Beals Findlay John Robin Allen Richard F. Boyden Renwick D. Dimond Hugh R. Smith Philip R. Chase Michael D. Grant Tom L’Esperance Joseph B. Twichell George Andrews Fonda Jon W. Barker Thomas M. Poor Peter W. Gonzalez Dwight E. Zeller Richard W. Ackerly Peter A. Acly Timothy J. Balch David D. Sicher Neal S. Garonzik Robert S. Lyle Edward G. Flickinger Andrew R. Steele David H. Bradley Peter P. Drake Richard C. Garrison Douglas F. Allen John R. Bass George W. Lee John W. Kjorlien Douglas W. Squires G. Kent Kahle John L. Reed Bradford Warren Agry Joseph Frederick Anderson Michael C. Perry Robert Dell Vuyosevich Lawrence C. Jerome J. Christopher Callahan Geoffrey A. Gordon Dwight R. Hilson James L. Kempner

94 | THE COMMON ROOM

Captain Captain Captain Captain Class Secretary Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Class Secretary Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain

1975 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1981 1982 1982 1983 1983 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1985 1986 1986 1987 1987 1988 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993

Peter M. Schulte Marshall F. Campbell David R. DeCamp James Paul MacPherson J. H. Tucker Smith Wayne W. Wall Paul J. S. Haigney Stephen R. Quazzo Luis E. Bustamante Daniel F. Goss Augustus B. Field John B. Mattes Paul M. Nowak Andrew M. Blau Leonard J. Buck Kurt F. Ostergaard John H. Sangmeister Frank H. Reichel William Richard Ziglar John G. Knight J. Douglas Schmidt Gregory R. Greene B. Barrett Hinckley David W. Kinsley Christopher S. Miller David A. Rancourt Sydney M. Williams Henri R. Cattier Michael W. Chorske John D. Amorosi Andrew P. Bonanno Oscar K. Anderson Gustave K. Lipman Edward S. Williams Jeb S. Armstrong Justin G. Sautter Elizabeth B. Cooper Kristina I. Hess Jeffrey Morrison McDowell Clayton T. Sullivan Kimberly Ann Capello John T. Collura Christopher T. DeRosa Michelle Lin Greenip

Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain

1993 1993 1993 1994 1995 1995 1996 1997 1997 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2007 2007 2007 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2013 2014 2015

Charlotte York Matthews Captain Sarah D. Weihman Captain Marjorie Maxim Gibbons Widener Captain Daniel B. Garrison Annual Giving National Chair Paula Taryn Edgar Captain Daniel D. Meyer Captain Leslie W. Yeransian Reunion Chair Amy Sodha Harsch Captain Margot M. Pfohl Captain Ashley Muldoon Lavin Captain Alexander Hooker Mejia Captain Christopher Colin Wallace Captain Michael P. Weissman Captain Lisa Rosemary Craig Captain Emily D. Battle Captain James Dorr Dunning Reunion Chair William Malcolm Dorson Captain Robert Agee Gibbons Captain Terrence Paul O’Toole Captain Dorothy Elizabeth Reifenheiser Captain David Branson Smith Captain Serena Stanfill Tufo Captain Eric David Grossman Captain Tara Ann Tersigni Captain Nicholas Zachary Hammerschlag Captain Caroline C. Whitton Captain H. Jett Fein Captain Anne R. Gibbons Captain Bentley J. Rubinstein Captain Torey A. Van Oot Captain Kevin C. Meehan Reunion Chair Matthew McCormick Carney Captain Elizabeth Conover Cowan Captain Jennifer Ross Rowland Captain Robert Haldane Swindell Captain Elizabeth Utley Schieffelin Captain Nicholas Warren Squires Captain Emily Fox Blau Captain Emilie Ottaway Murphy Captain Campbell Thomas Johnson Reunion Chair Sergio Arturo Morales Reunion Chair Nicholas Morgan Rault Captain Alexandra Torrey Tananbaum Captain Heidi Bergen Hunt Captain

deerfield.edu/reunions

In Memoriam

1942

Dickinson Richards Debevoise August 14, 2015

1931

William Alfred Stolzfus September 6, 2015

1949

Isaac Patch, Jr. May 31, 2014

1943

Philip Adams Garland February 1, 2015

1933

Alan Neidlinger Hall August 22, 2015

1950

Leonard Carpenter Meeker November 29, 2014 1935

Lowell Hunt Brown, Jr. October 16, 2012

John Witbeck Harder* June 24, 2015 Robert Stewart Teaze August 29, 2014 1944

1937

David Cushman Twichell April 24, 2013

Frank Wetherby Donnelly May 25, 2015 1945

1938

John Lincoln Baxter, Jr. October 8, 2015

Robert Edwin Burns September 10, 2015

Brandon Wood Caswell August 31, 2015

Richard Norval Moersch May 31, 2013

Charles Kennedy, II* October 6, 2015

Stuart Inslee Repp* October 8, 2015

David Walter Clark March 31, 2014 1951

Howard Harold Bundy, II December 19, 2011 Robert Carter Cochran September 2, 2013 James Louis Doherty December 8, 2015 David Beals Findlay, Jr.* September 15, 2015 1952

William Wallace Davies, IV October 17, 2014

1946

Herbert William Mahler December 10, 2015

Ronald Sears Davis September 26, 2014

Bradford Martin Blanchard June 30, 2015

1953

Nathan Bradley Higbie, III May 23, 2014

John Cushing Esty, Jr. October 22, 2015

1939

Richard Stoughton, Jr. January 13, 2015 1940

James Gelston Affleck, III March 8, 2015 1941

Henry Madison Rowan* December 9, 2015

1947

Allan Scott Woods April 24, 2015 1948

Donald Francis Eldredge August 10, 2015 Winston Russell Hindle, Jr. September 1, 2015

Robert Ewing Harwell, Jr.* January 3, 2016

1956

Lloyd Herbert Maurer September 13, 2009 1957

Seth Kelly Parker December 31, 2015 1959

John George Savage, Jr. September 24, 2015 Charles Nowell Stoddard, III* December 3, 2015 1969

Emmett Dwight Marx August 9, 2015 Frederic Fiedler Tompkins April 21, 2015 1970

Paul K. Harrington August 10, 2015 1974

Paul Bernard Touher December 3, 2014

Stephen Milbank Spalding August 31, 2015 1977

Bruce Hunt Moeckel October 1, 2015 1997

Adam Edward Tanney September 22, 2015

John Brian Touher November 22, 2013

* Boyden Society Member / In Memoriam as of January 3, 2016. Please go to deerďŹ eld.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

Find the key words in the jumble below. The remaining letters, read row by row (left to right, starting at the top), will reveal a famous saying. Send the lines to communications@deerfield.edu or to Puzzle, Communications Office, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342, and you’ll be entered to win a Winter Bomber Hat! (The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers received by March 1, 2016.) *Tips: Circle only the key words listed below, and do not circle backwards words.

KEY WORDS

King Lava Lifts Limbs Lived Main Math Mice

Oaks Odor Over Plot Poles Rang Rank Sack

Satisfaction Scar Scheme Sick Since Size Sort Tails

Talk Tall Tool Tore Type Veto

More gear at: store.deerfield.edu

BY Danaë DiNicola

Behave Bulb Chest Course Crow Dust Else

Endure Evening Farm Fits Free Glad Head Image

Congratulations to Leigh Guyer ’83 whose answer was drawn at random from all the correct answers we received for the Fall ’15 puzzle: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” —Virginia Woolf

Fill in the blanks to reveal the hidden phrase: “_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _. / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _.” —_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ 96 | THE COMMON ROOM

L T C E J B O CO

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