12
What did you think of the leadership conference? From the start, I knew that this year was different. So much violence and police brutality had taken place prior to the conference. We broke a record by putting our hands up in protest; 1,700 people raised their hands to represent the innocent people police have killed out of fear. What was the most important thing you learned at the conference? I learned that everyone has a story that is worth listening to because you will always learn something new. SDLC is the perfect place to meet people from all over with different backgrounds. Students who come to SDLC leave knowing that there are people who struggle just like them. We are empow- ered to try and make the world a better place so that every individual can have privilege. Knowledge is key: the more you know, the better you can educate your peers. In what ways did the conference con- tribute to the preparations for MLK Day? Because Ms. Glew attended the People of Color Conference, I knew that MLK Day would be incredible. Change is coming, and this is the year that Hold- erness will begin to change. Holderness has become very inclusive, but we can always do better, especially because we are in the middle of nowhere. What did you think of the MLK Day workshops and presentations? MLK day at Holderness was very impactful. is year’s theme was race, which is one of the major concepts we need to discuss, even though it can be uncomfortable. e statement “All white people are racist” [from the mov- ie I’m Not Racist…Am I?] has impacted every student. is strong statement is very controversial, but it is the only way to make EVERY single student at Hol- derness want to learn more. Many of activities on MLK Day acknowledged the limited knowledge that many have and how important it is to learn about worldwide situations. It only has to take five minutes of out of your day to learn new things and become more aware of what is going on in the world. Knowl- edge is power and will help people SDLC Conference and MLK Day: Change is Coming In November Rachel Tejeda ‘17, Storm ompkins ‘17, and Keying Yang ‘17 spent several days at the NAIS 2014 Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Indianapolis. ey also played an important part in the MLK Day workshops organized by Ms. Glew. Here’s Rachel Tejeda’s perspective on the two events in her own words: Continued on page 9 Volume 10,Issue 7 1.23.2015 A PUBLICATION BY HOLDERNESS STUDENTS FOR THE HOLDERNESS COMMUNITY

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What did you think of the leadership conference?

From the start, I knew that this year was different. So much violence and police brutality had taken place prior to the conference. We broke a record by putting our hands up in protest; 1,700 people raised their hands to represent the innocent people police have killed out of fear.

What was the most important thing you learned at the conference?

I learned that everyone has a story that is worth listening to because you will always learn something new. SDLC is the perfect place to meet people from all over with different backgrounds. Students who come to SDLC leave knowing that there are people who struggle just like them. We are empow-ered to try and make the world a better

place so that every individual can have privilege. Knowledge is key: the more you know, the better you can educate your peers.

In what ways did the conference con-tribute to the preparations for MLK Day?

Because Ms. Glew attended the People of Color Conference, I knew that MLK Day would be incredible. Change is coming, and this is the year that Hold-erness will begin to change. Holderness has become very inclusive, but we can always do better, especially because we are in the middle of nowhere.

What did you think of the MLK Day workshops and presentations?

MLK day at Holderness was very impactful. This year’s theme was race, which is one of the major concepts we need to discuss, even though it can be uncomfortable. The statement “All white people are racist” [from the mov-ie I’m Not Racist…Am I?] has impacted every student. This strong statement is very controversial, but it is the only way to make EVERY single student at Hol-derness want to learn more. Many of activities on MLK Day acknowledged the limited knowledge that many have and how important it is to learn about worldwide situations. It only has to take five minutes of out of your day to learn new things and become more aware of what is going on in the world. Knowl-edge is power and will help people

SDLC Conference and MLK Day: Change is ComingIn November Rachel Tejeda ‘17, Storm Thompkins ‘17, and Keying Yang ‘17 spent several days at the NAIS 2014 Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Indianapolis. They also played an important part in the MLK Day workshops organized by Ms. Glew. Here’s Rachel Tejeda’s perspective on the two events in her own words:

Continued on page 9

Volume 10,Issue 7

1.23.2015

A PUBLICATION BY HOLDERNESS STUDENTS FOR THE HOLDERNESS COMMUNITY

2The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Oh God, they totally look like...Doppelgangers

Rory Macleodvs.

He Man

Lewis Mundy-Shaw vs.

Super Sonic

Katie Remien vs.

Pepper Ann

Ms. Glew vs.

Lizzie McGuire (Animated)

3 The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Harrison Alvavs.

Ketchum

Chae Hahn vs.

Mulan

Darielle Matthewsvs.

Tania

Mr. Skelleyvs.

Mr. Incredible

4The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Outside the Holderness Bubble

By Mr. Durnan

The difficult deci-sion I face most days in Santa Fe is this: mountain biking or homework? Home-work should come first. I am enrolled in a great books graduate program at a school called St. John’s and have been read-ing Plato and Aristo-tle (and Machiavelli, Locke, Kant, Marx, Rousseau). My rusty synapses have been put to the test. My classmates are smart and committed (and young; most of them are about the age of my own chil-dren). They often read each assignment three times before class. I struggle to finish once.

Which brings me to the mountain bik-ing. It is sublime. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains spill into town, and there is excellent single track from 10,500 feet down Windsor Trail to the city center at 7,000 feet. The Dale Ball Trails, thirty miles of challenging single track, have a

trailhead on campus.

Now that the snow has fallen in the mountains, riders have shifted to the desert trails of La Tierra, undulating beauties west of town. Often these attractions feel more compelling than the next chapter of St. Augustine’s City of God.

My best days include a good ride, a few hours in St. John’s sublime library, and dinner with a few grad student friends at our little condo. Dinner conversation fascinates: many of my peers are study-

ing the great works of the East (I’m in the more conventional Western track), and they argue about origins of yogic practice and adjective conventions of Sanskrit. They love a meal away from the campus dining hall. They scratch Yeats’ ears and hug Ms. Fischer before they pile in the car to be driven

back to campus.

Not many schools offer professional development like the Chair Program at Holderness. It’s expensive. I am thank-ful for this extraordinary time in my life and for the school that supports it. I know that my colleagues are working extra and covering jobs that normally I would do (thanks especially to Ms. Mags). Working hard and playing hard, I try to reach the promise of each wonderful day.

Plato, Mountain Biking, and the Origins of Yoga

By Ms. Fischer

When Holderness students were donning dress code and logging onto Canvas during the first day of classes in September, I was painting the front door of our condo and dealing with a toothache. Once I took care of those things, I was off to Santa Fe, NM, where Mr. Durnan was starting classes and turning our rented condo into a home. I drove from New Hampshire to New Mexico by myself, which was an adven-ture in drinking bad hotel coffee and eating worse fast food – my dinner in

Lebanon, MO, may well be the first and only time I will ever eat at a Taco Bell!

Arriving in Santa Fe, I reunited with Mr. Durnan and our trusty dog, Yeats. Mr. D had gotten a good start on his sabbatical goatee (see photo)! Soon I started an online course in Modern Latin American history and went through training to be a literacy volun-teer.

Along with the textbook assignments for my course, I’ve read Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries and two biographies

of Simon Bolivar, one historical (in English) and one fictionalized (in Span-ish).

I’ve also learned interesting factoids such as: only 10% of all the land in Mexico is actually arable, but they have tons of oil; and, Paraguay’s first post-independence president/dictator, in the 1820s, forbade those of European descent (read: white people) to marry other white people – they could only marry indigenous or mestizos. Wow!

The Adventures of ms. Fischer and Yeats

Continued on page 8

5 The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Celebrating an Orthodox Slava in Banja LukaHello school,

I know Holderness is back in session after celebrating the winter holidays several weeks ago. The holiday season ended in Bosnia, however, on January 20 with a Slava, which is a celebration—but I’ll explain that later.

Spending the holiday season abroad has been an interesting experience because I have been introduced to new tradi-tions, customs, and foods. Below is a summary of some of the holidays that my host family has celebrated during the past month.

December 19: Every Orthodox family in Banja Luka has a patron saint, and since Saint Nikolas is the second most com-mon patron saint, the majority of people in Banja Luka were either holding a Slava (a celebration for the patron saint) or attending a friend or family member’s Slava on December 19. My host family’s patron saint is Saint George, so my family did not celebrate a Slava on December 19. My host brother did, however, set up a Christmas tree (we actually had two Christmas trees: a fir tree and a oak branch which is the traditional Christmas tree here), and Saint Nikolas brought chocolate for my host sister, my host brother, and me.

December 25: Very few people celebrate Catholic Christ-mas here. Orthodox holidays are generally about two weeks after Catholic holidays because they use a different calendar called the Julian calendar. (Most other Christian sects use the Gregorian calendar.) Both of my host parents had to work on this day, and both of my host siblings had school. I, however, did not have school on this day, so I woke up late, opened the presents that my family sent me, and went for a long walk around the city. When my host parents got home from work later that day, they wished me a Merry Christmas and gave me a photo album so that I would have a place to put all of my pictures from this year. Sadly, there was no snow for Christmas, but we finally did get some snow a few days later.

December 31/January 1: New Year’s in Banja Luka is cel-ebrated much like New Year’s in the United States. Young people go out and party, and everyone stays up until mid-night to wish each other a Happy New Year.

January 7: January 7 is Orthodox Christmas. As part of their religious tradition, my host parents fasted for the 40 days, which means that they didn’t eat any dairy, eggs, or meat—aside from fish. Their fast ended on Christmas Day. Whenever the people here celebrate a big holiday, it is pretty much guaranteed that there will be a lot of food. We started the day off with a loaf of bread that my host mother baked.

In Bosnia, people bake a coin into a round loaf of bread on Christmas, and then each family member takes a piece; the family member who gets the coin is supposed to have good luck for the next year. All five of us took a large piece of bread and tried to find the coin, but nobody could; the coin that my host mother had baked into the bread was too small. It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that my host sister eventually found the coin.

At around 11:00 am, my host grandmother came over, and we ate breakfast. She brought another loaf of round bread. My host sister found the coin again, but this time it was much easier to find. We ate a huge breakfast and then just sat around talking and playing games. At around 4:00 pm, we ate another huge meal that my host mother had prepared.

Christmas in the United States tends to be very focused on gift giving, but Christmas in Banja Luka is a bit more like Thanksgiving in the United States, where family members come together to enjoy each other’s company and share a large meal.

January 13/14: January 13 is the Orthodox New Year’s Eve, and January 14 is the Orthodox New Year’s Day. This holiday isn’t as big as the regular New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve, but people were still out celebrating, and at midnight there were a lot of fireworks and firecrackers set off.

January 20: January 20 is the day of Saint Jovan. Saint Jovan is probably a counterpart to Saint John, and he is the most popular patron Saint in Bosnia.

I hope life at Holderness is going well. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions about Bosnia: [email protected].

Paige Pfenninger ‘15

A Serbian woman arranges dried oak.

6The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Seahawks or Patriots? Yanchitis weighs InBy Jack Yanchitis ‘15

Two weekends ago, rainy weather plagued both the AFC and NFC Championship games of the 2015 NFL Playoffs. The first game of Sunday, January 18, was the NFL Champion-ship game between the Green Bay Packers and the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. The game became an instant classic when the Se-attle Seahawks returned from 16 points down on a four-interception perfor-mance by Russell Wilson and tied the game late in the fourth quarter. They won the game on a touchdown pass from Russell to Curse on the first pos-session of the overtime period.

The Pat’s “game” was garbage, I’m afraid to say. The Colts are only a half decent team even when Andrew Luck has time to sit in the pocket for hours, find an open receiver, and deliver the ball. In addition, the Colts’ defense is absolutely horrid. The Patriots were playing at home, in weather where they are seemingly at their best. Andrew Luck has played unbelievably over the

course of the regular season—garner-ing him respect as a top-five quar-terback—but he just couldn’t pull it together outside of the cozy Lucas Oil Stadium’s roof. At one point, Luck had only completed 9 out of 28 passes. 45-7 was the final. Pats won. Whoo. Hoo.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s match-up between the northeast and northwest-based teams, I am inclined to sway hard to the left (not usually a fan). I think what it boils down to is the fact that the NFC’s elite teams are just bet-ter than the AFC’s best. The Patriots have been at times brilliant, such as their defensive efforts at home against the Broncos. Other times they have been scarily flawed, like in their week 17 match-up against the New York Jets when they allowed the most sacks on Tom Brady of the season. But as much as I hate to say it, the Pats really pulled their season full circle after their embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs early in the season. The Patriots are an elite team; it’s undeniable.

However, the genius of Belichek will

not be enough to stop the streaking, clutch, Seattle Seahawks. I think of the New England Patriots as a slightly worse 2014 Denver Broncos team—which played a very similar Seahawks team in the Super Bowl last year. The Patriots this year just do not have enough weapons to put up big points on the red hot Legion of Boom. Julian Edelman is an average starting wide receiver, and the backfield in Boston is too unreliable to be able to estab-lish a very strong running game come Sunday.

In contrast, the Seahawks are playing at their best right now, despite Rus-sell Wilson’s poor performance in the league championship game and lucky special teams plays that brought them to Arizona. Richard Sherman is the best corner in the game.

Seattle’s D will come up big in another Super Bowl blowout. Seattle will de-fend its title, and the Patriots will lose their third Super Bowl in as many tries over the last decade. 27-13. Final.

SPORTS

7 The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Chau’s 2015 Australian Open PredictionsBy Tommy Chau ‘15

It’s that time of year again when the beautiful blue courts in Australia are hosting numerous tennis matches for the first Grand Slam of the year. The 2015 Australian Open began on Janu-ary 19 but won’t be over until February 1, so let’s make some predictions about the outcome.

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams will be the champions.

Despite being eliminated by the even-tual champion Stan Wawrinka last year in the semi-finals, Novak is definitely the favorite. After ending 2014 as the best in the world for the third time in his career, Djokovic is still at the top of his game.

At the age of 33, Serena Williams does not have any more goals but extending her 18-Grand Slam record, and she still stands a chance to repeat her success. Other contenders such as Sharapova, Kvitova, Halep or Bouchard might

be able to challenge Serena’s throne, but they need to show up consistently stable and mentally tough to make it to the final round.

All dark horses in the men’s draw will make it to at least the 4th round.

Wawrinka, Cilic, Nishikori, Raonic, and Dimitrov have long been con-sidered the rising stars in the tennis world. Cilic has even won a Grand Slam—the 2014 US Open. The rise of these players has shaken the Big 4 for the past year with their spectacular performances in Grand Slam and ATP World Tour 1000 tournaments. The 2015 Australian Open will be another auspicious Major for these guys.

No American male tennis player will survive into the second week.

It’s sad to say, but Europe is dominat-ing the ATP rankings. John Isner

might make it through the first few rounds of the tournament, but can anyone expect this 6-foot-10 massive server to defeat the European players who have much more well-rounded games?

Other American players—such as Sam Querrey, David Young, and Tim Smyczek—are either qualifiers or wild-card entrees into this year’s Australian Open, so it is hard for them to put up a good challenge against players like Djokovic, Federer, Nishikori, Raonic, etc…

The women’s draw will witness many surprises in the beginning rounds.

There seems to be a trend in some of Grand Slam tournaments, including the most recent 2014 US Open; the women’s draw tends to witness major surprises during the first week. In other words, it will not be surprising to see one or two top-ten seeds elimi-nated from the second or third round of this major.

8The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Humans of HoldernessCeline Yam Settles into Dorm Life in ConnellBy Maggie Cunha ‘16

The other day I caught up with Celine Yam to ask her a few questions about coming to Holderness. Celine joined the sophomore class after Thanksgiving break and is roommates with Lexi Black in Lower Connell.

Maggie Cunha: How would you rate your experience at Holderness so far?

Celine Yam: Very high! Everything’s been going well. The people here are so nice and my teachers have been really supportive. People actually hold the door and say hi to you! You can even say hi to people you don’t know. I mostly had sophomore friends at my old school, but here, you can have friends from all grades. I like that.

MC: How did you hear about Holder-ness?

CY: My brother interviewed here for next year, and during the tour my mom thought, “Maybe Celine would like it here.” I interviewed and imme-diately loved it.

MC: What sports do you play?

CY: I row crew and run track, but I’m

excited to try new sports here. I tried nordic and it’s fun. It was tough at the beginning, but I’m learning.

MC: How does living in Manhattan compare to Plymouth, NH?

CY: It’s very different. The first time we had night practice for nordic, I came back almost crying because I was so afraid of the woods in the dark! I thought bears were going to come out and get me. I live in the polar oppo-site. But I guess I’m both an outdoorsy and city person. I’m actually really looking forward to OB!

MC: Were you surprised by anything at Holderness?

CY: I think walkbacks are funny. When I first got here, people in my dorm filled me in on everything. Pay-back is also kind of funny.

MC: How would you describe Holder-ness to someone else?

CY: It’s a really supportive community. If you need anything, anyone will help you. I feel comfortable asking people for help.

Ironically, tutoring was really hard; I thought it would be easy when I was paired with a high school student (I’m a high school teacher, after all). But she could only read and write at a fourth grade level and had some difficult family issues that made my writing prompts (“Describe the happiest day of your life”) seem pretty ridiculous. I not only learned a lot about learning, but also about unequal opportunity and how life can get in the way of finishing high school – and learning to read, for that matter.

Never fear, Mr. D and I have also been taking advantage of cultural and rec-

reational opportunities. Among other things, we’ve been to a food festival and the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, and now know the answer to “Red, green, or Christmas?” We mountain biked in the hills above Los Alamos and hiked up to about 12,000 feet to a place called Nambe Lake. We saw one other intrepid hiker at the top that day, and Yeats promptly found and ate his entire snack. Oops!

For me, the Chair Year has been a great opportunity to read and recreate, and also to think and reflect on many top-ics. Rather than rush from breakfast to class to lunch to sports (and so on), I can take time to consider different as-

pects of big things (education, inequal-ity, history, language) and little things (where to walk Yeats, how to make a chile relleno that doesn’t fall apart). I do miss Holderness and look forward to teaching again in September!

Continued from page 4

9 The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Joe Antonellis Talks with President HarkerBy Charles Harker ‘15

This Monday at dinner, I was at a talkative table when I interviewed new student Joe Antonellis. Here is our con-versation, with a few comments from the peanut gallery.

Charles Harker: What’s the most exotic place you’ve been?

Joe Antonellis: Ireland.

CH: Where did you go before attend-ing Holderness?

JA: Westwood High School in Boston, MA.

CH: What is the most exotic animal you’ve ever petted?

JA: Like, a llama.

Jack Kinney: Do you like the Sea- hawks?

JA: (Silence)

Charlie Day: Do you like Tom Brady?

JA: Yes, I would marry him.

CH: Do you know what a cheese curd

is?

JA: No.

CH: Why?

JA: Seems like a pretty exotic fruit to me.

CH: You are a football player. What is your go-to touchdown celly?

JA: Superman into the Bernie.

CH: Okay, I guess I’m supposed to ask this: Why Holderness?

Tyler Slusarczyk: FTB.

JA: ‘cause you can ski.

Precious Ozoh: Oh, come on bro. That’s lame.

JA: You can do multiple things and still have time to focus on school and athletics.

CH: Do you like carrot cake?

JA: It’s fluctuated every year since I was a kid. This is kind of an off year. Sometimes my mom makes it for my birthday, but she didn’t make it this year, so it’s an off year.

CH: Favorite Weld meal so far?

JA: Wow..gotta be the chicken nuggets. I’ll do like a salami and cheese Panini, two blueberry breads, a banana bread, and a pumpkin bread, some tots, and a Granny Smith apple.

CH: If Brownie Night didn’t exist, would your experience at Holderness be significantly lessened?

JA: Definitely.

understand one another.

What did you think of the school’s general reaction to the MLK Day activities--specifically, the movie?

I loved the school reaction’s to MLK Day. People started to understand and acknowledge issues in society that are often ignored on campus. MLK Day workshops made people want to know more which I love to see. It is hard to believe that so many conversations moved positively, but it is a start.

How would you like to see Holderness students get involved with improving internal and external race relations in the future?

I would like to see Holderness try to

reach out to more people and teach stu-dents about the little problems around the world that affect us all. For example, before I went to the conference, there was no discussion of the police killing in Ferguson. Storm told me she knew nothing about it, and I was stunned because of all the protests that were going on in my city, Boston. Keying mentioned Ferguson briefly in a cur-rent events announcement in Assembly, but that was not enough. Although it does not affect us ON campus, when we leave campus and the “Holderness bubble,” it affects more of us than you might think. There should always be awareness.

What were some things you wit-nessed/discussed at the SDLC that carried over into Holderness’s MLK

Day celebration?

At SDLC many discussions were based on world problems that have recently occurred— police brutality and the kill-ings of innocent people. At Ms. Spark-man’s station, many students learned about blacks who were killed trying to go to white schools or just trying to approach a white person. SDLC and MLK Day both showed the unfairness of racism that must be stopped.

Continued from page 1

10The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

In the communityFIS Racing: The skiers and Their Tales from the RoadBy Nick Lacasse ’16

When we attend a five-day race, only a combined 10 minutes are actually spent racing. We are the men’s FIS team. Sketchy, rundown New Eng-land hotels, skin tight race suits, and overpriced egg sandwiches are all part of the glory.

The men’s team consists of a group of cheeky, daring, and just about the most astonishing individuals you will ever meet. Each trip involves driving to some God-forsaken town next to a ski mountain, only to be confronted with a lack of internet and cellular service. After having slept in a particularly questionable sleeping arrangement, we are told to take it deep on the race hill. And we try, but we also fall/lose a ski/have a bad run.

But the reason we do it is for the small-est chance that we will have a flawless run…and most likely get 45th because we are racing against Division I college athletes.

Athlete Analysis

Joe “Fishercat” Gillis (photo below): Joe is speed. He is constantly aston-ishing the whole team with his Casey Dorm stories. This buff-chick, calzone connoisseur is killing it on the slopes.

AJ “Gluten Man (GM)” Chabot: AJ’s always looking for some GF mate-rial—as in gluten free. AJ has claimed a few men’s team honors, such as “Most Time Spent Hiking During a Race” and “Best Stretched.”

Zack “Cherndog” Chernin (photo below): Zack has finally returned to the FIS team after recovering from a torn ACL. Zach is a major component of the team, for he is the most positive and is very good at cooking.

James “Jimbo” Rowe: Rowe is a sec-ond generation men’s team member. This prodigy is shredding the knar and persistently is just a stand out guy. Nice job, James.

Greg “Don” Osborne (photo below): Greg is representing both the Technica Blizzard team and Connecticut. He’s also sponsored by lots of other ski companies.

Chris “Boo Bear” Hyland: Chris is the glue that holds the team together. He is also a member of one of the campus power couples and wears the pants on the ski team.

Nick “DJ Jazzy Jeff ” Lacasse: Nick is the go-to guy when you are having a bad day. He’ll tell you to suck it up and get over it. Great skier too.

Sean “Ravioli” Robinson: Sean has a lot of nick names other than Ravi-oli—including King Sean, Carl, or even Donagan. Point is, Sean is bae.

Liam “ASAP” O’Reilly (photo below): He is a thug. If it weren’t for the ice, he’d be on fire.

Michael “Kitten” Beutner: Although furry on the outside, don’t be misled; he is as stone cold as the ice he skis on.

Dougie “Fresh Prince” Deluca (photo below): His freshness and positive vibe on race days has brought the men’s team to the next level. He represents his country by wearing a team Canada race suit.

How do you become a men’s team member? It is simple. First you must go to a USSA ski race and lower your points to around 80-85; however, remember that your points start out at 990. So to get your points down 910 points to a comfortable 80, you have to score. In order to calculate your score, you first need to know the penalty which is based off the average of the top-five racers’ points. Then after the penalty is determined, you can cal-culate your score by identifying how many seconds and tenth/hundredths of a second you are off of the first-place person. Then you multiply how many

Continued on page 11

11 The Picador: Volume 10, Issue 7

Winter Carnival: Time for a Change in Tradition?By Maggie Barton’ 16

Every year, in the cold biting air of Jan-uary, the week-long events of Winter Carnival are thrown into our already busy winter schedule. It is possibly the most anticipated school-wide event of the year and one of the quintessential Holderness activities in which the en-tire school participates. In admission tours, we cite it as a highlight of the Holderness experience, but does Win-ter Carnival really bring out the best in our community? Holderness is already a perpetual balancing act—how to spend free blocks, when to go to sleep, who to sit with in study hall, and what to do on Sunday afternoons—and all of these questions are amplified during the chaos of Winter Carnival.

The week’s purpose is partially to bring students together and establish cama-raderie within dorms. Often, though, the unity is disturbed by competitive hostility between dorms. Fights over who gets to practice their lip sync in Hagerman and snide comments dur-ing a game of dodgeball can pit dorm groups against one another. Campus becomes a fragmented warzone of rivalry and tension. Devotion to win-ning Winter Carnival is seen as the appropriate attitude of a dorm mate. Those who are not as enthusiastic or participatory in the events of the week can often be viewed as negative and anti-social. Is this ultimatum of “Go hard or go home” really the attitude we want to promote in our residential community?

Not only does Winter Carnival threat-en to sabotage our relationships with students from other dorms, but it can also drive a wedge between students and their teachers. It is no surprise that teachers have come to resent the energy students put into the nights’ activities instead of homework, but it puts students in a very tough position as well. Our study hours are nearly chopped in half, and we are still ex-pected to maintain the effort and time we put into our classes the rest of the year. We are forced to choose between sleep, school, and Winter Carnival, and it is nearly impossible to give each the attention it needs. This sets up a terrible lose-lose situation in which we are unable to be “wide awake” for the carnival, school, and our sports.

It is clear that there must be a bet-ter way to approach this week. In the bleak mid-winter, seven days of school-wide games should be fun! But without a happy compromise between school and Winter Carnival, the entire community will suffer. At a school that already jam packs teacher and student schedules, it seems irresponsible to

add more to our plates without taking anything away. Just as Mr. Peck said about the Dating Game in Assembly, it is important that Holderness tradi-tions change with the times. I think a conversation about the practicality of Winter Carnival is a great way to open an even bigger conversation about just how busy we all are.

Students at Holderness barely have time to fit all their required commit-ments into their schedules, let alone fun. Winter Carnival is a rare oppor-tunity for Holderness to slow down and make room for fun. A reduced or non-existent homework load could fix this problem completely. If teach-ers worked together to minimize the homework they assign, students would be able to complete their work within the shorter study hall and wouldn’t have to lose sleep.

It is clear that something in the equa-tion must change, and if teachers could make this homework adjustment stu-dents would be better rested and more focused in class. A week that currently causes stress, sickness, and tension, could finally become the bright light it is supposed to be.

seconds you are off the leader times by the points per a second. After deter-mining that, all that’s left to do is add that number to the penalty. Congrats, you scored. Once you lower your USSA points enough, entry into FIS races is permitted and competing with

the big boys can commence.

Every team member has a passion for ski racing and is a true competitor. Each went through the long journey from Mighty Mites and NASTAR. And all have put aside their social lives and endangered their school work every

winter to race. We love and appreciate the sport and are especially thankful for our parents and their support. No sport parent is equal to a ski racing parent, for they stand out in the cold, wind, rain, snow, sleet for hours just to watch us compete for a minute or less.

Continued from page 10

Senior EditorsYoungjae ChaTommy Chau Parker DensmoreCharlotte FrecciaCharles HarkerJack Yanchitis

Junior EditorsMaggie BartonAJ Chabot

Layout and DesignMoti Jiang

Keying Yang

Faculty AdvisorsMs. MagnusMr. Herring

Contact InformationHolderness SchoolChapel LaneP.O. Box 1879Plymouth, NH 03245

Phone Number: 603.536.1257

Email: [email protected]

I’m not Racist…Am I?

Whose watch is on the ceiling?

Will there be a Ferris wheel at Winter Carni-val?

I heard George Washington built Exeter’s gym.

Is there a Summer Carnival?

Is college where you go after high school?

I heard a local orchard named an apple after Mr. Peck.

OverheardsCompiled By Charles Harker ‘15

and Maggie Barton ‘15

DM, TB: Thanks for kicking off MLK right.

JT + SR = We see that cubicle connection.

RM + JR = More than Frenzis.

EA + JH = The VP has found her second man.

SS + WC = Mrs. Barton’s English class has a way of bringing people together.

SC + KA = V s’cute.

JC + DD = He’ll teach her how to Dougie.

ShoutoutsCompiled by Maggie Barton ‘15 and

Charles Harker ‘15

Rachel Tejeda’s Favorite Quotes from the SDLC Conference:

“The issue with white supremacy is that it doesn’t need a person behind the machine for it to continue running.”

“The oxygen of equality and democracy is being consumed by poisonous plants.”

InWinter Carnival

Influenza

Poetry Out Loud

Deflation

Head’s House

Deconstructing Racism

OutSuper Sunday

Going to Class

Stage Fright

Inflation

Literally Every Other Weekend Activity

Constructing It

In and OutBy Maggie Barton ‘16 and

Charles Harker ‘15