TALK TUNES
“Fall 2024” you ask? Yes, the Newsletter Team apologizes for the delay! We decided to not skip over the Fall ’24 season despite being a little late on the publication. The holiday season has come and gone and we hope everyone was able to enjoy it. So wonky with the holidays falling in the middle of the week. How many times have you asked yourself “wait…what day is it?” Hopefully you still remember the beautiful mist of Roscoe and the time we spent together as one, complete Stonefield. No trust fall exercises, no spreadsheets, no Powerpoints, just an extended time together in a beautiful, natural environment. We hope everyone was able to take something away from it. Did anyone see that chicken with the crazy hair at the alpaca farm? That little guy was rad. We celebrated Oktoberfest with style as you’ll see and even experimented with turning a parking lot into an outdoor basketball court. Congrats to the champions of all Oktoberfest events!
We hope you find this issue to be worth the extended wait. We’ve got some great interviews with Orlando and Gus and some really interesting new members of the team in our Guess Who section. Lastly, there is an exciting new development to our ski trip this winter, a trip over the border to our great neighbor to the north, Canada! We’re going International baby! And the Polar Plunge is right around the corner so there is plenty of winter left to enjoy. The good news about a delayed issue is we’ll be working on a new issue very soon to get back on schedule. All the best in 2025 Stonefielders!
A hot pink subway ride to space will take you straight through the “Leo” star constellation. Maria Ulloa is both the music conductor AND the train conductor - curating a playlist of Latin music accompanied by the essentials from Nicki Minaj while she navigates you through the astrological lion. Maria successfully harnesses the energy of the Leo while giving her passengers the ride of a lifetime on Mixtape 047. Throw this one on during your daily commute and you might just start looking forward to it!
Like a hamster on its wheel, every single day Brian Denk is hustlin. Physically - he’s at his desk cranking out site plans. Spiritually - he’s outside running the streets. With help from his friends Rick Ross, K Dot and Big X - Mixtape 048 goes above and beyond to motivate the listener to get after it, no matter the task at hand. Whether you’re in Cad or in the trenches, check this one out next time you’re in need of some David Gogginslevel motivation to get you through it.
Like Andre and Big Boi on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Team Sierra curated their own double-album to celebrate 50 Stonefield Mixtapes. The first half; Mixtape 049, encompasses the sound of Shah Israels Holiday Party DJ set. Accurately titled: “The Party,” it’s accompanied by its aptly named counterpart; “The After Party,” Mixtape 050. Together, they are the soundtrack to an unforgettable night. As 049’s BPM’s begin to build toward their peak, listeners flip over to side B; 050. These two playlists take listeners deep into the night. Whether you’re listening at a dance party or in the car alone late at night, these two will keep you wide awake from dusk til dawn.
Photo of Kevin Heffernan taken by Khyber Jones in Roscoe, NY
oKTobErfEST rEcAp
There’s never a dull moment at Rutherfords annual Oktoberfest. Rain or shine, there’s always an exciting lineup of activities for everyone to take part in. The parking lot, typically a chaotic game of musical cars played by Stonefielders and Yan Asian delivery drivers was cleared out to make space for a few hours of activities. Whether the space is used for a mechanical bull, inflatable jousting, or (completely rigged) carnival games, there are three vitally important things that keep this tradition going year after year: 1.) Beer, 2.) Pretzels, and 3.) Matt Reiser inevitably showing up rocking his Lederhosen.
This years’ events kicked off with a 3-on-3 basketball tournament on a makeshift court accurately modeled using NBA measurements and marked with blue painter’s tape. While every player had their own idea of how in-shape they were, it was a unanimous decision that nobody had the lung capacity to play full games of 21. So, spectators watched as the trios went head-to-head in games to 11 that were just as ruthless. Everybody poured their blood, sweat, and tears on that pavement, but only one trio could be crowned champions. It was Aiden Hoeman, Ed Wilkinson, and Sergio Cabrera who came out on top. As a reward for participating, each player got to keep their uniforms despite Chris Perry’s repeated pleas to play shirts vs. skins.
Where has anybody witnessed something as simple as a game of bingo become so competitive and emotionally charged that it requires physical punishment? Easy answer, the Nest. Stonefielders were transported to Munich for the biggest game of bingo they’ve ever played. So big, that despite Dana’s very clear instruction, some participants felt the need do whatever they could to get the upper hand. With stakes as high as a Stonefield tee shirt, it’s no wonder people were coming up with their own clever ways to cheat. In order to get back in the game, those caught had to climb a 20-foot rope as if they were in gym class circa 2004. Justin Nieves was one of the poor souls forced to make their climb of shame, and his ascent was equally, if not more impressive and shocking than the absolute clinic he put on during the basketball tournament (he averaged 8 points a game). It’s an image we won’t soon forget, and we hope to see more of that competitive spirit at all future Stonefield events.
When the wake settled from SIXTEEN cutthroat rounds of bingo, it was time for the main event: The Beer Olympics. Stonefielders separated into squads eagerly awaiting their turn at the pong table. Many boots of beers were chugged, and even more cups were flipped (some required embarrassingly longer times than others), but alas, one team was left standing: Nick Kennedy, Wyatt Gerber, Aiden Hoeman, Chris Perry, Nick Kaniewski, and Matt Reiser (who was drinking 0.0’s, so does his win really count?).
If you weren’t around to witness the freak of nature in action, Steven Tufano from Team Victor chugged 24 fl oz of beer from a boot in 3 seconds flat. A little breakdown for those of you who aren’t blown away by that last sentence. One can of beer is just 12 fl oz. Multiply that by 2. Now picture the bluest mountains you’ve ever seen on the outside of those carbonated cans of Coors. Have you ever shotgunned a beer? You know that horrible feeling you get after you finish? Can you fathom how that man must have felt in that moment? Like a champion.
DAILY cArrY
With Adam Itani
As a man whose day-to-day life revolves around color schemes, it’s no surprise my daily carry is monochromatic with the exception of hygiene products. Why do those always have to be such bright colors? I’d spend a lot of money on a nice beige pack of gum just for the aesthetics - who cares about the flavor? Onward to the goods. The right side is comprised of my leather items - both from Amazon believe it or not. The 9060’s have been put through the ringer - and lot’s of wash cycles to make up for all the years of abuse. They’re mainly used for the gym - but contribute to the daily color scheme.
When I’m not at work, you can find me glued to my MacBook working on my clothing brand in Illustrator and Clo3D.
My passion for designing sophisticated streetwear is only rivaled by my love for caffeine and rap that came out between the years 2010 and 2017. It’s safe to say designing clothes is my creative outlet of choice. When I’m not working on my own clothes, I’m selling others online. The plastic shipping bag contains a pair of jeans I sold on my girlfriend’s Depop account since mine was ‘randomly’ banned (still bitter about that).
Directly after this photo was taken, I put everything back in my bag where my water bottle emptied - completely saturating my bag of gym clothes. It’s all good though - I looked like the hardest worker at Lifetime. Either that or I’ve now been labeled as the guy who peed his pants.
rETrEAT rEcAp
Stonefield hosted a 3-day work retreat this past September. It was a rare moment together where we all got to be in the same place at the same time. The retreat was held at Roscoe Mountain Club in upstate New York. Stonefielders took a step back from their computers and redirected their focus toward recreation. Those in attendance enjoyed great company, food, drinks, and countless activities they won’t soon forget. Activities included yoga, golf, pickleball, casino night, a tour of a local brewery, and who could forget the crowd favorite the alpaca farm. We sincerely apologize to anybody who missed out on those guys - they were hilarious! There may or may not have been some discussion of adopting a few to roam and protect the Rutherford office.
Despite the inclimate weather, spirits were high the entirety of the retreat. Even with low visibility, golfers teed off on the front 9 while spectators watched from the comfort of the clubhouse - Michelob in hand. As the sun made its way out and the rain let up, dynamic duos hit the pickleball courts creating a harmonious symphony of clicks and clacks with their paddles. Other Stonefielders were given a tour of the local brewery to learn about how various types of beers are made. Oh, and they enjoyed their fair share of samples too! Exciting days led to
formal evenings where we all enjoyed dinner and drinks to the sound of live music and Matt Checca screaming at the New York Giants as they began their downward spiral toward the worst record in the entire NFL. On casino night we all witnessed some things we never thought possible. Anybody who glanced across the room saw John Corak looking taller and more western? He was rocking a cowboy hat and a suede jacket. The only thing missing was a sweet bolo-tie. If you continued to scan the room you could see Will Chen erupting with excitement as he swept the blackjack table. We’ve hardly even heard the guy speak, let alone scream like that.
These fun-filled evenings didn’t end at curfew. Dinner and drinks led to after parties that went deep into the night. After that, a quick nap followed by impromptu Polar Plunges to overcome the hangover from the night before. Others opted for yoga, the much more relaxing option, in preparation of the day ahead. It’s safe to say the trip was a resounding success. We hope those who were able to make it for our time together left feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to tackle the final few months of 2024. We also want to thank Roscoe Mountain Club again for the hospitality. We couldn’t do things like this if it weren’t for all the hard work from each and every one of you.
A recap of the Project Stonefield Retreat at Roscoe Mountain Club
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With Orlando Callegari
Upon arriving at the lobby of 92 Park, I found Adam, who greeted me and introduced me to Orlando, who reclined leisurely in an office chair. I was scheduled to interview someone else, so I chatted with the easygoing Orlando while I waited. Minutes later, I found out that our planned interview subject was tied up, so I had the option to reschedule or just keep the chat going with Orlando. The choice was easy.
The team meandered over to the Williams Center and arrived at the Black Box theater, where we settled in for photos. Orlando, clad in an orange button down over a black Stonefield t-shirt, seemed familiar within the space and later revealed that he writes for the Williams Center Blog. First we stood at a cocktail table left over from an event and eventually moved down to the Rivoli theater to take a few shots in a space emblematic of his love for film.
What’s your job at Stonefield?
Emperor and commander of all.
Supreme emperor or just regular emperor?
Regular. Supreme is what I’m shooting for next year.
So what is your Stonefield-related job?
Print room administrator. Engineers send submission requests and we print them and send them out. It’s at the old Soldato location in the basement, where we are the Morlocks.
What are some of the other side jobs?
I occasionally write the blog for William Center. The best part about writing for the blog is that I can basically write about anything I want, as long as it’s related in some way to the Center or the town.
Another interest that I have is screenwriting. I studied film production at, first, NYU and then Hunter.
How did you end up here at Stonefield?
It was a year-long campaign for the job. I had done a lot of print stuff.
Basically, I saw the ad, and when I contacted Iman, she said, you know, we’re not really sure, as it’s kind of slowing down a little bit. After that, I just kept checking up, and it was probably about nine months. I got it locked down about a year ago.
How did you get lumped into the work here at the Williams Center?
I think somebody told me that I should do something with the Center, to talk about movies or whatever. I eventually was told that they could use some help with media and stuff like that.
What’s your writing background in film and writing?
I am sort of self-taught. In college, you know, I tried to do everything in film: editing, directing. Then I got into screenwriting and I was like, oh, this is it. This is the thing I want to do. So I was like, okay, let me learn to write other stuff. I learned at a few places and then did work for a few news websites like Patch and TAPinto.
So what got you into film? Was there a certain film or style of film that drew you in?
I always loved movies. And what I didn’t realize as a kid was that my family was also super into movies, both sides of my family. As a kid, I just thought loving it was normal. My mom would watch foreign language films on PBS. She would show me things like A Fish Called Wanda, Moonstruck, all that stuff. And my dad’s side of the family, they all are into movies as well.
I remember my dad took me to see The Fugitive when I was 10. It was an amazing movie. I think I was hooked then. My dad also showed me Pulp Fiction when I was 12.
Then I took an acting class at Bloomfield college. It wasn’t really an acting class; it was more of an acting analysis class. I think that was the moment when I thought, oh this is interesting. The class actually looked at where to stand and the mechanics of acting, and that’s when I thought more about the writing side.
What are some of your favorite screenplays?
Pulp Fiction and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which has one of the best endings. I remember particularly there’s a line early in the film where he says something when he sees Clementine walking on the platform: “Why is it I fall in love with every girl who shows me the least bit of attention?” I remember thinking that was exactly what I had thought, and that was the moment that caught me in that movie.
What’s another film that you go back to for inspiration?
Well the first one was Back to the Future. I used to watch that every day at my grandmother’s house. I was about four years old, and my mom would drop me off there. My cousin would also come to stay there. And he knew if he was late that I would be watching Back to Future. If he came on time or a few minutes after I got there, we would go and play games, but if he came 20 minutes later and the movie already started, we would sit back and watch the whole thing.
What’s a film that you can recommend to the Stonefield community?
Whiplash: it is the most intense movie about jazz drumming that you’ll ever watch.
How about an album?
The first one that comes to mind is Fiona Apple’s When the Pawn... Expect something really dense. It’s not something that you’re just going to be humming the melodies to as soon as you finish. But if you listen to it three or four times, you’ll think, oh shit this is a good song.
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With August Eschedor
I linked up with August Eschedor from the Detroit office for my first Zoom interview for the newsletter. Near the end of the workday, Gus (as I learned to call him) sat at his desk with a large glass window behind him, as he answered questions with ease and slowly revealed his wry wit. After I learned about his responsibilities within the company and about his background, he casually dropped that he was a college cheerleader for a Division 1 school. After landing on this nugget of information, the conversation found its center.
What’s your individual responsibility at the Detroit office?
I am part of Team KILO, a good name to pick if you ever play Call of Duty. I’m starting to get into site development plans, mostly for city approval–we submit to the city and then they say whether we can do the jobs or not.
We do a lot of car washes, and one of KILO’s main clients is a company called Alrig. I would say they’re probably 75% of my job. Just trying to get things approved by cities is most of the job. I started attending most of the town meetings with the guys. They’re pretty good at it and definitely get me convinced to put a car wash in wherever they say, so they are pretty good.
Are you doing any of that presenting work yet?
I just did my first monthly mock hearings where we do practice rounds. It’s nice that we do that kind of stuff to get prepared for the real world.
So beyond the rhetorical training, if you see problems with a design that show up ahead of time in the practices, it may help you to actually do the initial design better, right?
Yes, exactly, especially when I’m doing zoning reviews and stuff, I’ll be able to pick out what people are going to have a problem with before even designing it.
Gus, what about your background? Did you go to school for this?
In high school, I worked construction. At 16, we did a lot of sewers and things like putting in manholes. I had my own little concrete gigs on the side in high school, so that got me thinking about civil engineering because we design that type of type of work. I knew I didn’t want to just shovel my whole life and break my back working doing that, so I thought about civil engineering as a good path.
I ended up going to the University of Toledo, just 30 minutes north of me. Then I continued to work construction through college. I did my co-ops with E.S. Wagner, a heavy construction company. But this is my first design job. I never really saw myself as a designer, but I’ve really enjoyed doing the design work.
So what are some of your interests outside?
I was a cheerleader in college.
Wait, hold on a second; you don’t don’t gloss over a thing like that. So you were at a D1 University as a male cheerleader? Walk me through what that was like.
One of my buddies who did that grew up with me and went to Toledo the year before me. He starts telling me how cool it is, getting to hang out with hot girls and going on trips for free and everything. I was a wrestler, so I thought that cheer was not my thing. Then I saw a video on his Instagram, and it did look kind of cool. I said I would go check it out, at least.
He took me to a practice, and the coach was a smooth talker because originally I wanted to wrestle because I wrestled in high school.
How many dudes are on the team?
We started with the goal of getting 10 guys. I think by my senior year we ended up placing 11th at nationals, and we had 14 dudes on that team.
How do you keep that level of physical activity going as a full time worker?
I still stunt once in a while when we get together and have our alumni games and stuff. It’s one of those things where you’ll never master. There’s always the next thing, and when I started, I thought that if I could do the qp, which is where you hold them with one hand, that would be the coolest thing I could do. So I hit that, and then as soon as I hit that skill, there’s another skill that I need to hit to be happy.
What’s the apex of the tough moves to pull off?
The qps and things like that take a year or two to learn, and then you start getting into spinning skills where you throw them up and they’re twisting and stuff. Then you get into the elites, which are the stunts you compete with. There’s a trick where you throw a girl up with one hand and catch her with one hand. That one’s pretty cool.
What are you doing to fill that competitive void?
My roommate from college is moving near here, and we both played rugby in high school and a little bit in college, so I think I will be doing some rugby. My sister lives in Scotland, and my brother-in-law got me into it. We went over there a few times, and he took me to a big rugby tournament.
What kind of TV or films are you consuming?
I never stray far from Psych or How I Met your Mother. I probably reference those at least three times a day.
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