Roxbury Latin Newsletter: Winter 2020

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T HE N EWS LET TER

WINTER 2020


headmaster

Kerry P. Brennan assistant headmaster

Michael T. Pojman director of external relations

Erin E. Berg director of development

Thomas R. Guden ’96 photography

Gretchen Ertl, John Gillooly, Mike Pojman, Adam Richins, Evan Scales, John Werner design & editorial

Erin E. Berg, Marcus C. Miller the newsletter

The Roxbury Latin School publishes The Newsletter quarterly for alumni, current and former parents, and friends of the school. contact information

The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132 Phone: 617-325-4920 change of address?

Send updated information to julie.garvey@roxburylatin.org. alumni news

Send notes and correspondence to alumni@roxburylatin.org. cover

Seniors Antonio Rosado and Jack Cloherty celebrate a varsity soccer victory over Groton on October 23, 2019 (photo: Adam Richins). Š2020 The Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School

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The Newsletter

Lines ran deep in the Jarvis Refectory on November 21, 2019, as students

WINTER 2020 | VOLUME 93 | NUMBER 2

scooped up eggs, waffles, and homefries for their favorite lunch, which just happens to be breakfast. Photo by John Gillooly

Features 16

This Team Works: The 2019 Varsity Soccer Season | by ERIN BERG

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Back in the USSR: Sovietologist Dr. William Taubman delivers the 16th Annual Jarvis Lecture

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Founder’s Day Celebrates Boston and John Eliot

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An Anniversary Convocation: Honoring the Trustees and Dennis R. Kanin ’64

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Trustees are the Turtles: Professor Harry Lewis ’65 on the Role of Trustees at Roxbury Latin

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Faculty Flashback: Bob Jorgensen: A Master of Many Talents Reinvents Himself Over 40 Years | by MIKE POJMAN

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Aiming for Another Record-Setting Year: The 2019–2020 Annual Fund officially kicks off

Departments 4

RL News

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Arts News

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375th Hall Highlights

>> Veterans Day Commemoration Hall >> Matt Weiner ’89 and Squirrel Butter Perform >> Build a Bed Project Kicks Off Season of Giving

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Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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Varsity Cross Country are ISL Champions On November 1, the Varsity Cross Country team competed against the 15 other schools in the Independent School League in the league championship race, held at the St. Mark’s School. Roxbury Latin emerged victorious, earning the 2019 ISL Championship title. RL scored 44 points to place first. Middlesex followed with 56 points, and St. Mark’s earned 110 points. Four Roxbury Latin runners placed in the top 15, and five placed in the top 20. This is RL’s second ISL team title in three years. Will Cote (II) placed first overall—the first time that RL has had an individual champion in the culminating league competition. Will was also named the league MVP and a Boston Globe AllScholastic Athlete of the year. Other RL runners placing include: 3rd – Mark Henshon (III) 10th – Quinn Donovan (II) 14th – George Madison (III) 16th – Javi Werner (II) 26th – Nolan McKenna (II) 36th – David Sullivan (III) On November 9, the varsity team earned a second place finish in the New England Championship meet, ceding a title they have held for the past two years. The meet, co-hosted by RL,

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was held at Nobles. Five RL runners placed in the top twenty at the meet—including Mark Henshon (III), who placed first in New England—earning All-NEPSAC distinction. Those boys include: 1st – Mark Henshon (III) 4th – Will Cote (II) 11th – Quinn Donovan (II) 19th – George Madison (III) 20th – Javi Werner (II) The Junior Varsity team also completed a strong season, offering lots of promise for the future of the program. The J.V. squad earned a third place finish in the ISL, placing three runners in the top 15: 6th – Michael Thomas (IV) 9th – John Harrington (I) 14th – Liam O’Connor (I) The Junior team completed a perfect season, finishing with an undefeated record of 13-0, running many perfect races throughout the fall. They concluded their season by earning first place in the Junior Jamboree hosted on October 30 at Roxbury Latin. //


Photos by John Werner

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universities published a joint paper in 2017 to present recursions and algebraic properties of descent polynomials. Inspired by this 2017 paper, I extended their research to a new pattern of descents and proposed a recursion, as well as several new theorems for this new pattern by classifying number sequences as geometric diagrams.” Mesmerized by the connections between numbers and shapes from a young age, Chris started his exploration in higher math three years ago at Boston University’s Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS) summer program. Last summer, Chris continued his immersion in this program with an awarded PROMYS Scholarship and the support of Roxbury Latin’s O’Connell Fellowship. This year Chris was invited back as a Junior Counselor to mentor new members and teach

Chris Zhu (I) Named Finalist in Yau High School Science Award On November 3, senior Chris Zhu was named a finalist in the USA Region of the 2019 Global S.-T. Yau High School Science Award (YHSA) for his mathematical research in Enumerative Combinatorics. As one of three finalists in the mathematics division, Chris is invited to compete in the YHSA Global Final, to be held at Tsinghua University in China. Selected as a semifinalist based on his research paper, Chris advanced to the USA Regional Competition at Harvard Science Center on November 2 to present his work, titled Enumerating Permutations and Rim Hooks Characterized by Double Descent Sets. In front of six influential mathematics professors from Harvard and Brandeis, Chris introduced his research effort: “In 1915, the British mathematician MacMahon published his ground-breaking work about descent polynomials. For the next century, little work was done on the topic until five researchers from American

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mini-courses in elliptic curves, an advanced topic in algebraic geometry. Over the past two years, Chris has furthered his excursion into group theory, commutative algebra, complex analysis, analytic number theory, and enumerative combinatorics at MIT PRIMES, a year-long research-oriented math and science program for high school students. In October, Chris published his PRIMES research work on arXiv. org, which will be in a publication by The International Press of Boston. The S.-T. Yau High School Science Award was founded in 2008 by the Fields Medal Laureate Shing-Tung Yau, director of the Center for Mathematical Sciences and Applications and the William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. For the past eleven years, the S.-T. Yau High School Science Award has been inspiring thousands of high school students across the globe to take on the challenge of conducting independent mathematics and science research. It provides a platform for international high school math and science enthusiasts to compete and communicate. Being selected as one of the U.S. finalists, Chris will have the opportunity to broaden his connections with the participants from China, Europe, Singapore, and other countries in the Global Final competition. //


this year a teacher in Bronxville, New York, held a mock slave auction with the Black students in her fifth-grade classroom. In 2015, a high school social studies textbook in Texas read: “The Atlantic slave trade… brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.” Ms. Stewart spoke of the way Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with fourteen-year-old slave Sally Hemings is often described euphamistically as an “affair,” and she discussed the many monuments erected celebrating individuals who played prominent roles in perpetuating slavery. “The remnants of slavery are all around us in 2019,” Ms. Stewart explained. “So why can’t we talk about that in our schools?”

Journalist Nikita Stewart on the “1619 Project” and Teaching About Slavery in America On November 12, New York Times journalist Nikita Stewart addressed students and faculty in Hall, to speak about an important, sobering anniversary. Exactly 400 years ago this fall, the first enslaved people from Africa arrived in Virginia by boat. This past August, The New York Times launched its 1619 Project with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States. Nikita Stewart, a native Texan who studied journalism at Western Kentucky University, wrote one of the project’s lead essays, titled “Why Can’t We Teach This?” Ms. Stewart has been a finalist for the Livingston Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. This spring she will publish her first book titled Troop 6000; it chronicles the extraordinary story of the first Girl Scout troop designated for homeless girls, and the remarkable countrywide responses it sparked. Her essay in the 1619 Project addressed specifically the way in which our country’s schools teach—or avoid teaching—the topic of slavery to young people. During Hall, Ms. Stewart shared examples of the ways in which schools in our country misinform or gloss over this enormous, formative part of our nation’s history. The examples were troubling and shocking, particularly because many of them occurred so recently. For example,

“The remnants of slavery are all around us in 2019. So why can’t we talk about that in our schools?” With holes and misrepresentations in so many American history textbooks and classrooms, Ms. Stewart encouraged students to look to primary sources in order to get the full picture of our country’s history. Reading primary sources critically and with the source, audience, and historical context in mind, she said, is the best way for students to arm themselves with the most accurate information possible. After Hall, Ms. Stewart visited two U.S. History classes, to continue the conversation with students and faculty. //

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Dr. Vanessa Calderón-Rosado on the Benefits of Gratitude For fifteen years, Roxbury Latin has begun the last school day before the Thanksgiving break with a tradition that is distinctly RL. Thanksgiving Exercises are an opportunity to, as Headmaster Brennan said, “turn our heads and hearts to the proposition of gratitude—for the country in which we live, for the freedoms and opportunities that are guaranteed by our being Americans, for our families and friends, for this community and others, for intelligence and discernment and deep feeling. For our gifts and aspirations, for good sense and hoped-for-dreams. Indeed we should live with an attitude of gratitude.” During Hall students, faculty, and guests sang with gusto— We Gather Together, For the Splendor of Creation, America the Beautiful. Mr. Myron McLaren read Psalm 100, and senior Ian Balaguera read “Harvest Hymn” by John Critchley Prince. The Hall featured the resonant Litany of Thanksgiving—which includes a boy from each of the six classes—reminding us all of our “blessings manifold.” “The only thing wrong with Thanksgiving as a holiday,” Mr. Brennan asserted, “is that it may suggest that this is the only time to give thanks, or at least the most important. Each day, virtually each hour, offers an occasion for gratitude.”

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Delivering the morning’s Hall address was Dr. Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA)—a community development corporation that helps individuals and families improve their lives through highquality affordable housing, education, and arts programs. Under Dr. Calderón-Rosado’s leadership since 2003, IBA has become the largest Latino-led nonprofit organization in Greater Boston. “According to Cicero, gratitude is more than the greatest virtue—it is the mother of all other remaining virtues,” said Dr. Calderón-Rosado. “Studies have shown that gratitude may be associated with many benefits, including better physical health, better mental health, increased happiness, increased life satisfaction, and decreased materialism. Other studies seem to validate Cicero’s observations. They suggest that gratitude as a virtue encourages the development of other virtues, such as patience, humility, and wisdom… Being grateful requires a conscious and deliberate effort to pause and recognize the goodness inside us and around us. It takes developing an understanding of our human and social condition.”


Dr. Calderón-Rosado described her experience growing up in a loving home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with her mother, father, and brother. She recalled the nightly prayers she and her mother would say together. “It was mostly led by her and repeated by me, but those prayers, I realized, were our act of thanksgiving. We gave thanks for the sun, for nature, for being alive, for breathing, for our ability to see the colors of the flowers, for our ability to hear the birds singing. We gave thanks for our ability to walk, run, play, eat, sleep. For the roof above our heads, for the cars that took us to and from school and work every day. We gave thanks for my teachers, for the food on our table. My mom and I gave thanks for our family, for their health, and for ours, and for our beating hearts. It was a long list, but at the end of our prayers each night, she and I felt happy. We looked at each other with love, with a smile, and she kissed me. And before she left my room, she said Dios te bendiga, mi hija. God bless you, my daughter. I remember the feeling of joy that being thankful produced in me before closing my eyes to sleep.” During Hall, Dr. Calderón-Rosado lightheartedly called upon a boy from each class to share aloud something he was thankful for—something that started with the same letter as his first name: Mark (VI) was grateful for his mom; Vishnu (III) for vegetables; Daniel (II) for dance; and Evan (I) for “everyone here!” Dr. Calderón-Rosado was selected as a Barr Fellow in 2009, and in 2010 she became the first Latina ever to be appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In 2014, she was appointed to the City of Boston’s Housing Task Force and Women’s Commission. She has served as advisor to numerous other task forces, commissions, and highprofile executive searches, including those for Boston’s Police Department and Public Health Commission. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Calderón-Rosado earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico and her doctorate in public policy from UMass Boston. She is the mother of Carlos ’16, and Antonio, Class I. //

Digital Artist Neil Horsky on the Possibilities in Art On December 5, students in Sonja Holmberg’s Grade 7 Digital Design course were treated to a visit by professional artist Neil Horsky, who spoke with the boys about his work and about his new book, The Rules of the Game. Mr. Horsky is a community artist based in Roxbury, whose work is done in Photoshop and other digital media. His book features 12 digital design collages that re-interpret vintage instructional illustrations and diagrams, all demonstrating how to play various sports. Mr. Horsky explained how he recontextualizes these sports, using them as metaphors for “the game of life,” the social contracts that we all sign, and the rules by which we abide, whether implicitly or explicitly. Mr. Horsky’s digital collages merge the mundane with the fantastical, becoming increasingly surreal throughout the course of the book. During his lecture, Mr. Horsky discussed various compositional elements, Photoshop techniques, strategies for conceptual development, and the incorporation of text into imagery, among other things. Mr. Horsky’s art, music, video, and writings have been part of dozens of exhibitions in and around Boston. He has led workshops and delivered presentations in various parts of the country; has collaborated with numerous artists and institutions on community art and performing arts projects; and has taught arts-integrated humanities courses at several educational institutions throughout Boston. Mr. Horsky employs the arts to encourage self expression, connect people, and build solidarity. He aims to help individuals and communities thrive by cultivating creativity, imagination, and critical thinking, and by inspiring the personal and collective will to enact change. //

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Festival of Men’s Choruses: Musical Brotherhood by ETHAN PHAN, Class II, and DANIEL BERK, Class II

On November 8, Rousmaniere Hall was filled with the sound of more than 100 male voices singing in harmony at the Festival of Men’s Choruses. While the festival is an annual tradition, this year’s concert was special: Catholic Memorial’s Chorale and the St. Albans School Madrigal Singers from Washington, D.C. joined the Roxbury Latin Glee Club and the Belmont Hill B-Flats in celebration of RL’s 375th anniversary. First to perform was the CM Chorale. Formed only last year, the group delivered a strong performance, opening their fivepiece set with a traditional Muskogee song titled Heleluyan, featuring a canon with the title of the song as the sole lyric. Next, CM performed the Gregorian chant Gloria in unison and Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus—two sacred pieces. To end, they sang CM’s fight song Cheer! Hail! Fight! and a jaunty rendition of There is Nothing Like a Dame. Next up were the St. Albans Madrigal Singers, who performed with synchronization and skill in their four songs, the first of which was the Italian piece Ad Amore. The close harmonies in the piece delighted the audience. The Madrigal Singers followed up this impressive opening with Bound for the Promised Land, an early American hymn, and Biebl’s antiphonal Ave Maria, a

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hallmark of men’s choral music. For Ave Maria, a bass, baritone, and tenor trio sang from the balcony, giving the piece a calland-response sensation. The group concluded with a special performance of Men of the Future, Stand. Veterans of the festival, the Belmont Hill B-Flats anchored the guest performances with a strong four-song showing. They opened with I Can See Clearly Now, a familiar Johnny Nash tune. They moved on to the more doleful Prayer of the Children and then the more contemporary Castle on the Hill. The B-Flats finished with the Canadian folk song Northwest Passage, with their new headmaster, Gregory Schneider, singing the solo. After intermission, the Roxbury Latin Latonics reopened the show with three stellar pieces. First, the group debuted its rendition of Ave Maria, written by Tomás Luis de Victoria. They followed this polyphonic motet with the somber Irish folk song Danny Boy. Baritone Christian Landry (I) hit every note in the solo and touched every heart in the audience. Finally, the Latonics performed the fan-favorite Brown-Eyed Girl. Tenor Ale Philippides’s (III) solo had the entire crowd swooning, brown-eyed or not.


Following the Latonics, the Roxbury Latin Glee Club made its seasonal stride down the aisles of Rousmaniere to join its brethren in song. The group began with the heartfelt Waitin’ for the Dawn of Peace, an American Civil War folk song. The Glee Club then masterfully performed O Vos Omnes, a Renaissance motet, and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, a tribute to Robert Frost’s poem with pianist Chris Zhu (I). It’s All Right brought some ’60s soul to the festival with Tommy Reichard (IV), Eli Bailit (III), and Richard Impert (I) soloing. The Glee Club closed with Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit,

a classic American Spiritual. Emmanuel Nwodo (IV), Esteban Tarazona (II), and Frankie Lonergan (II) manned the song’s three solos. Fittingly, the night ended with a combined performance by all four groups. A hearty rendition of Brothers, Sing On! was followed by the inspiring Seize the Day, with pianist Jonathan Weiss (I), which earned a standing ovation from the crowd. The last two performances captured the overarching success of the concert and the night’s theme of unity in brotherhood. //

Photos by John Werner

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Can You Handle The Truth? RL Showcases A Few Good Men On November 22 and 23, Roxbury Latin staged this year’s Senior Play—Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men. In the play, two U.S. Marines are facing a court-martial, accused of murdering a fellow Marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. While it is believed that his death was retribution for his naming another Marine in a fence line shooting, Naval investigator and lawyer Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway suspects the two carried out a “Code Red” order: a violent extrajudicial punishment. While Galloway wants to defend them, the case is given to the inexperienced and lazy Lt. Daniel Kaffee. The case goes to court, and what unfolds is emblematic of the tight narrative pacing and rapid-fire dialogue that viewers have come to expect from writer Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin has been a prolific force in American film and television over several decades. While many people are familiar with the 1992 film adaptation, A Few Good Men was a play before it was a screenplay. Roxbury Latin boys—along with Winsor student Katie Burstein, who played Lt. Commander Joanne Galloway in the production—successfully brought to life the tension, complexity, and humanity of Sorkin’s writing on the Smith Theater stage. In a recent Tripod article, senior Jonathan Weiss explored faculty member and director Derek Nelson’s decision to stage A Few Good Men this fall:

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When Mr. Nelson searched for this year’s Senior Play, he had the school’s 375th anniversary in mind. His first instinct was to find a play written literally in the 17th century… but A Few Good Men ties in with the 375th in a profound way. It deals with history, with education, and with core Roxbury Latin themes like honesty and loyalty. A Few Good Men is brilliantly written: “Aaron Sorkin is a master of both overarching plot structure and scenes,” says Mr. Nelson. “He manages to push just the right buttons to get the audience on the edge of their seats.” Dauntingly, excitingly, the play moves fast: “The challenge is that there is a lot of language, and you have to make those scenes pop.” Best of all, A Few Good Men is delightfully out-of-the-box. Seldom does a mainstream movie… grace the RL stage. Mr. Nelson would stress, though, that the intention was not to recreate the movie, but rather to bring to stage the original Broadway play. As director, he did not aim to “match the tone, or interplay between characters, or even the readings of the lines in the way that they were directed in the film.” At the same time, he did not command the cast not to imitate the movie. His goal? “I want the actors to find themselves in Colonel Jessup, in the judge, and so on.” //


Production photos by Mike Pojman. N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l

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Winter Recital Halls RL’s student musicians treated their classmates to a variety of performances in two Recital Halls—on December 5 and January 16. The December 5 set included Franz Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata by Chris Zhu (I) on piano and Eric Zhu (V) on viola; Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fugue no.7 in A Major by Heshie Liebowitz (III) on piano; Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 by Alex Yin (III) on violin, and a late 19th-century Varnam in the Southern Indian Carnatic tradition by Vishnu Emani (III) on violin, Aditya Mahadaven ’16 on drums, and Hari Narayanan (I) on vocals. //

Alex Yin (III), Chris Zhu (I), Eric Zhu (V), Heshie Liebowitz (III), Hari Narayanan (I), Aditya Mahadaven ’16, Vishnu Emani (III), and Dr. Andrés Wilson

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The January 16 Recital Hall featured Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor by the RL String Quartet; two of Frédéric Chopin’s Études (Wrong Note and The Torrent) by Theo Teng (III) on piano; Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango by Ben Kelly (III) on cello and Heshie Liebowitz (III) on piano; Overgrown Cathedral, an original piano composition by Jonathan Weiss (I); and Cream’s White Room by RL’s newly formed Guitar Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Andrés Wilson. //

First Row: Eli Mamuya (IV), Theo Teng (III), Jonathan Weiss (I), Heshie Liebowitz (III), Justin Shaw (IV), Ben Kelly (III), Alex Yin (III), Justin Yamaguchi (V); Second Row: Ryan Miller (VI), Vishnu Emani (III), Nahum Workalemahu (IV), Anton Rabkin (III), Jack McCarthy (IV), Tait Oberg (IV), and Joseph Wang (V)

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This team works Perhaps no group better reflects the soul of Roxbury Latin than the 2019 varsity soccer team: a collection of gritty,

selfless boys whose devotion to each other produced one of the program’s most competetive seasons in recent years. by ERIN BERG, photos by ADAM RICHINS


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occer is the most democratic sport there is,” begins Head Coach Paul Sugg. “Whether you’re a small kid or a big kid—regardless of your size—there are ways for you to be a good soccer player. This notion fits well with Roxbury Latin’s ‘democratically gathered’ ethos.” Paul Sugg is in his 35th year of coaching varsity soccer at RL, assisted by Arturo Solís, of the Modern Language department, and Phil Thornton, of the Development office. This fall season was highly successful, earning the team the league’s Wiedergott Improvement Plate, given to the team deemed most improved over the prior season. Coach Sugg also points out that, in his opinion, soccer is as pure a team sport as there is: “Players have a level of responsibility and accountability that they don’t necessarily have in other sports. Play calling is not on the coach, as in football. Players have a bigger role in the team’s success in the moment. One person on his own can’t make you a great team. All 11 players on the field have to have a certain cohesion.” And perhaps that’s the reason that RL’s varsity soccer team found such success this 2019 fall season. (The team had a winning record of 8–4–3 and a near bid to the New England Prep Tournament, missing out by the narrowest of margins.) The coaches, and the boys themselves, all point to a group of players who were committed, selfless, who didn’t gauge their happiness based on their own individual success or their own playing time, but who contributed to the positive, collective tone that began with the prior year’s team leadership and then persisted—and grew—over the season. This commitment was apparent early, as the boys came to school in August physically prepared in a way that stood out against years past. “This year there was a real emphasis on fitness, and everyone showed up with that in mind,” says Byron Karlen (II). “Everyone was prepared in that regard after the summer, which meant we could start right in.” That fitness contributed to the team’s success in tangible ways throughout the season, says senior co-captain Jack Cloherty: “The fact that we were more fit, as a team, than a lot of our opponents really showed itself in several contests throughout the season.” “The last 15 minutes of so many games were our 15 minutes,” adds Alex Fuqua (II).

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“Every individual in this small, tight, soccer team family that we’ve created is important... the guy in front of you and the guy next to you and the guy behind you. We’re all in this together. That is the lesson I hope these boys take with them when they leave Roxbury Latin.” “We also communicated really well on the field,” adds co-captain Peter Frates (II). “Even in moments when we are not the most technically skilled 11 players on the field, being more fit and communicating more effectively than our opponents mean we can compete, which I think we showed this year.” While the boys took on the responsibility of physically preparing themselves over the summer, Coach Solís takes up part of that mantle once the season begins, charged with planning and executing fitness days during practice: “We tell the guys that if they can get themselves to 80 percent, we can do the rest.” And while that physical preparation is important to Coach Solís, it’s secondary in his goals for the boys. “Those fitness days are really a moment for the boys to bond as a unit,” he says. “In that collective sacrifice, in those hard moments, the boys start to ask each other, ‘Who are we? Who are we now?’ When you have to be introspective, when you have to be positive—when you’re tired, when your legs are burning, when the guy next to you hasn’t made the times and we’re repeating a set—who do you become then? Because the character matters then. Because

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that will apply for us in the game later, when we’re down three to two and there are five minutes left. Who are you then, as a team? How do you rally for each other—for your brothers, for your family? These are the lessons beyond the actual running. The running is the vehicle.” The team had many opportunities this year to show “who they were,” for one another, and for their school. There were rough patches—few, but consequential: a pounding loss to rival Nobles, falling short of the league playoffs by a vote. But there were moments of greatness as well, and that’s what the players and coaches point to as highlights of the year. The St. George’s game—overlooking the ocean of the Rhode Island coast, on an October evening that boasted every strand of New England weather—is a moment in the season that the


team and coaches universally point to as an example of what this group of boys worked toward and could accomplish.

They were exemplary. In terms of what we’re trying to teach the boys, they fully accepted and showcased it on that day.”

“With 20 minutes left, we were up by two and we thought we had it,” recalls Byron. “St. George’s came back and tied the score with nine minutes left to play. The weather was crazy, the wind, the rain—it was intense. We were really fighting for it.” In the last ten seconds of the game Ben Brasher (II) scored to secure RL’s 5–4 victory.

The future looks bright for the varsity team. “We’re returning a lot of players next year,” says Peter. “We have lots of rising seniors, and we know how to play well as a possession-based team, which I think we’ll only improve upon next year.” The team is graduating seven seniors, one of them being Jack, who earned first team All-ISL and All-State honors and will play at Brown next year. “Without Jack as a stand-out player on the field next year,” says Alex, “next season will need to be an ultimate team effort, which I think we’re ready for.”

“Regardless of whether we had won, tied, or lost that game,” says Coach Solís, “the grit and determination that the boys showed—as the weather changed and the score tightened— won them that game. It wasn’t their skill, but rather their character, their commitment to each other, that won them the game. They earned it because they willed themselves to earn it.

“This year’s group of guys was such a coachable team,” says Coach Solís. “When they received constructive criticism, they could apply it immediately and adjust, both physically and mentally. Their collective ability to move beyond upsetting moments and learn from those moments was led by fantastic captains, fantastic senior leaders.” Coach Solís names Antonio Rosado as among those consequential senior leaders. “In terms of Antonio’s skill as a soccer player, perhaps he wouldn’t even identify primarily as a soccer player, but he is a leader in our community who will shoulder whatever burden we ask of him. He is a great representative of leadership on our team.” Antonio was tapped to step in as goalie in the BB&N night game when starting goalie Brady Chappell (II) was injured. “Antonio’s immediate response was ‘Of course, yes. Of course I’m going to do this.’ We asked ‘Do you feel nervous about this?’ and he said ‘No, I’m ready.’ For the boys to see that, and for every person who was at that game—every boy, every adult—to rally around Antonio, tells the whole story. The way he stepped up and kept us in the game and made huge saves for us exemplifies so much of what we’re trying to teach here. “Every individual in this small, tight, soccer team family that we’ve created is important. Whether you’re playing 90 minutes every game, or you’re getting your two minutes every game, or you’re playing once every 10 games, you are as important as the guy in front of you and the guy next to you and the guy behind you. We’re all in this together. That is the lesson I hope these boys take with them when they leave Roxbury Latin.” //

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n October 15, Dr. William Taubman— Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science Emeritus, at Amherst College— visited campus as the 16th annual Jarvis International Fund Lecturer, a series named for the Reverend Tony Jarvis, who for 30 years led Roxbury Latin as its 10th Headmaster. Dr. Taubman has a long and illustrious academic career as a “Sovietologist,” focused on the former Soviet Union, its politics and foreign policy. He has earned a number of awards and honors over his career, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. His biography of Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, was the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of Stalin’s successor. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. His latest book, Gorbachev: His Life and Times, chronicles Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise and how his liberal policies ended the Cold War. He delivered the following remarks to students and faculty in Hall: I’m delighted to be here, especially since your headmaster was a former student of mine at Amherst College where I taught for almost 50 years. Kerry asked me to talk about Russia—how the Soviet Union came to be the Russia that we know today, the role of key figures like Gorbachev and Putin, and U.S.Russian relations today under Putin and Trump. To understand this, you have to go way back, to Russia before it became the Soviet Union in 1917, to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union itself, to the early hopes in post-Soviet Russia for democracy and a partnership with the United States, to the way Putin led the way back to authoritarianism at home and a new cold war abroad. This is a lot to cover. I’ve taught several courses at college that tried to cover all of this, but this morning I’m going to do it in 20 minutes. I think. We’ll see. I’m going to start in the present. A week ago Sunday, there was an article in The New York Times called “Welcome to Eastern Europe, America,” and the first paragraph reads this way: “The message of much Kremlin propaganda is not to showcase Russia as a beacon of progress, but to prove that Western politics is just as rotten as Vladimir Putin’s. We may have corruption, so the argument goes, but so does the West. Our democracy is rigged, but so is theirs.”

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This was written by a former Russian now in immigration living in London. The piece continues, “Putin encourages the Russian public to trust nothing and yearn for a strong leader to guide it through the murk—a tactic much as common in Washington these days as in Moscow.” And then one more quote from this article: “When the Russian president,”— Putin, that is— “went on international television during the annexation of Crimea to smirk and say that there were no Russian soldiers on the peninsula and that the soldiers the world could see were just locals who happened to have bought Russian military uniforms, he wasn’t so much lying as demonstrating that he doesn’t care at all about facts, and by extension the rules governing his behavior.” Sound familiar? We’ll get back to this at the end, but let’s go back to Russian history before 1917. There are two big things I want you to know about Russian history over those many centuries. The first is that Russia was ruled by an authoritarian regime. A czar at the top; no rule of law; no constitutional norms until the very end and then they weren’t observed; practically no experience with civic activity; hardly any tradition of democratic self-organization. And the second thing about Russia is the effect on the Russian people’s view of themselves—that they themselves couldn’t really be trusted to govern themselves and needed to be governed by a strong czar. How do we know this? There were no public opinion polls in those days, so I’m going to quote to you from a series of Russian peasant proverbs. Peasants formed 90 percent of the Russian population in those days. Listen to these proverbs. “Great is the Holy Russian land and there is no room for the truth.” “Russian people are a stupid people.” (These are Russian proverbs!) “In Russia, thank God there is a hundred years’ supply of fools.” “It’s a sin to steal, but how to avoid it.” “Fear your friend as you would an enemy.” And here’s my favorite. “Politics is a rotten egg.” Politics, in other words, a dirty game, rule of law won’t work here, we need a strong czar to keep order. Now, Soviet Communism introduced in 1917 was supposed to change all of this, but actually it had the effect of intensifying it. The aim was to create Communism—full equality, full democracy, in effect heaven on earth—but Russia wasn’t ready for that. (If any place actually is—that’s a big question to discuss.)

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“Smiling slyly, Khrushchev asked Humphrey what his native city was, then got up from the table, approached a large wall map of the United States, and drew a circle around Minneapolis with a fat blue pencil. ‘That’s so I don’t forget to order them to spare the city when the rockets fly.’”

After the revolution, the civil war began. Lenin, the first leader, resorted to force and dictatorship, and Stalin perfected a totalitarian system. Let me linger for a moment on the difference between authoritarianism under the czars and totalitarianism under Stalin. Under Stalin, the dictator used the Communist Party and the secret police to liquidate millions of real and imagined enemies. Probably very few real enemies. Most of them were imagined. An ideology, Marxism, Leninism dictated what citizens could and could not do, and people were encouraged to turn each other in. This had a devastating psychological effect on them, informing on one another—getting the people they didn’t like picked up by the secret police, taken away to the death chambers in the middle of the night.


How many innocent victims perished under Stalin? We don’t know, but it could have been tens of millions. Let me just give you some numbers. Collectivization of agriculture. Peasants herded into collective farms between 1929 and 1932, which involved driving 10 million peasants from the farm land where they lived. Many of them perished. The famine of 1932 to 1933 killed five million more. The great terror of the late 1930s? One million executed, most of them shot in the back of the head in police cellars. Four or five million sent to labor camps where many died, and these were only the highlights—or, I should say, the low lights.

was, I think, the primary instigator of those crises because he operated according to a slogan. It wasn’t a slogan, it was a belief of his. He was in effect saying to the West, “Be my friend, or I’ll break your neck,” and so he threatened to oust the Western powers from Berlin. He sent missiles to Cuba. He was crude, rude, impulsive, explosive.

And you can imagine what the effect of this must have been on the view of politics of Russian people. After Stalin died in 1953, we get Nikita Khrushchev, about whom I wrote that biography. He was in power until 1964. He denounced Stalin in 1956 in his famous secret speech. He hoped to reform the Soviet Union, but he encountered resistance and eventually retreated.

Let me give you a couple of examples. In 1958, Khrushchev received Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, who later became vice president of the United States under President Johnson. They had an all-night meeting practically, and at one point Khrushchev was threatening to bomb the United States if it came to that. I’m now quoting from my book. “Smiling slyly, Khrushchev asked Humphrey what his native city was, then got up from the table, approached a large wall map of the United States, and drew a circle around Minneapolis with a fat blue pencil. ‘That’s so I don’t forget to order them to spare the city when the rockets fly,’ he said. Humphrey apologized that he wouldn’t be able to reciprocate and spare Moscow.”

Let me say a word or two about Khrushchev and the Cold War. The Cold War began, of course, before Khrushchev took over, during and at the end of World War II. Khrushchev actually wanted to ease the Cold War, but it was actually on his watch that the two most dangerous crises of the Cold War occurred in Berlin and in Cuba in October 1962. Why did this happen? Well, the U.S. actually played a role, but Khrushchev

At another such occasion, when Averell Harriman, a senior Democratic statesman and negotiator for Kennedy, came to Moscow, Khrushchev told him Germany could be destroyed in 10 minutes. “Bonn and the Ruhr, that’s all of Germany. Paris is all of France. London is all of England. You have surrounded us with bases, but our rockets can destroy them. If you start a war, we may die, but the rockets will fly automatically.”

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Khrushchev was succeeded in 1964 by Leonid Brezhnev, and the Brezhnev period—especially toward the end, when Brezhnev died in 1982—was characterized by stagnation. That means economic growth slowed. There were shortages of consumer goods. People stood in long lines to get food. Brezhnev himself was old and doddering and could barely understand anything by the end. Let me tell you a Brezhnev joke. This is not my joke. This was a Soviet joke that Soviets would tell each other and Westerners like me: There are 5,000 delegates at a Soviet party congress in the Kremlin. Brezhnev is droning on, and an agent comes up to Brezhnev and says, “There’s an imperialist agent in the hall.” And Brezhnev says, “Go get him.” And the agent walks 63 rows forward and 57 seats to the left and grabs the guy by the collar and brings him up to the podium. Brezhnev said, “How did you know he was the imperialist agent?” The Russian policemen says, “As the great Lenin said, ‘The enemies of communism never sleep.’” You got it? Think about it. Gorbachev comes in 1985 until 1991 and, in my view, he is a hero. He introduced the first democratic elections. He introduced the first functioning parliament. He gave Russia free speech, and—with a little help from Ronald Reagan and George Bush—he ended the Cold War, but when he took the lid off the system with these reforms, all hell broke loose. The economy crashed even further than it had under Brezhnev because he eliminated the state controls that

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had been managing it, but was afraid to try to introduce a market. Nationalism and ethnic separatism exploded in the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, especially the Baltic states—Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania—and political polarization exploded, too. Hardline Communists attempted a coup against him in August 1991, and radical Democrats led by Yeltsin, who turned out to be not-so-democratic, as we’ll hear in a moment, forced Gorbachev from power. Jane [Amherst Professor of Russian Emerita, Dr. Jane Taubman] and I interviewed Gorbachev eight times for two hours each and met him many other times, and we concluded that he is a kind of tragic hero. Tragic because he was trying to democratize a country that had never known democracy and was still not ready to be democratized. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Yeltsin became the president from 1991 to 1999. As I said at the beginning, hopes were high for democracy and partnership with the West, but it didn’t work out once again. The remnants of the Communist Party resisted, and at one point, Yeltsin grew so angry with them and so threatened by them that he actually bombed the parliament in order to save it. The economy crashed in 1998; Yeltsin resigned in 1999; appointed Putin as the acting president; and he won the election in 2000. At first, Putin sounded as if he were committed to democracy, and he was the first one—you may have heard—who called


“I certainly hope two things will happen: That the U.S. returns to a more traditional way of conducting our democracy, and that in Russia we will see what Gorbachev hoped for but never saw under his rule—that the democratization process will resume and continue and maybe even succeed. But who knows? It could take a long time.” President Bush after 9/11 with support for the United States after that terrible day. But gradually he came to return to the kind of authoritarianism that had dominated Russia under the czars, and a new cold war abroad—interfering in the 2016 American elections, annexing Crimea, invading Ukraine. Hence the beginning of my talk, the references to Russia today under Putin.

What about U.S.-Russian relations today? What about Trump and Putin? As we all know, Trump seems strangely fond of Putin, strangely determined to appease him in one way or another. Why? We don’t know. Could it be that somehow the Russians have blackmail information on him? What is motivating Trump? Well, I go back to that quote from The New York Times in the beginning. It seems to me that Trump and Putin are very similar in their attitude toward the truth, toward the facts, and even toward elements of democracy. Trump has been openly admiring of other dictators in Hungary and Poland, in Brazil, in the Philippines, maybe one even developing in Britain. So Russia is reverting to the Russian pattern. Putin and Trump are cooperating in a strange way. What about the future? Relations between Russia and the United States depend on what happens in each country. Will the United States turn back to its more traditional way of operating before 2016? Will Putin leave office when his fourth term as president ends in 2024? (By that time, he will have been in power longer than Joseph Stalin.) I certainly hope two things will happen: That the U.S. returns to a more traditional way of conducting our democracy, and that in Russia we will see what Gorbachev hoped for but never saw under his rule—that the democratization process will resume and continue and maybe even succeed. But who knows? It could take a long time. //

Established in 2004, the F. Washington Jarvis International Fund Lecture has brought to campus many distinguished public servants and thinkers on foreign affairs. The fund is a generous benefaction of Jack Hennessy, Class of ’54, and his wife, Margarita. The Hennessys have, throughout their lives, represented an unusual engagement with other nations and cultures and have generously provided the philanthropic wherewithal so that others might come to know and appreciate our broader world. Through their generosity, hundreds of Roxbury Latin boys and masters have been afforded the opportunity to travel to foreign countries over the years, developing new perspectives on many political, economic, historical, and cultural issues.

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Headmaster Kerry Brennan with Captain Colin Murphy ’05, Lieutenant Thomas Buckley ’11, and Staff Officer Josh Rivers ’11

Veterans Day Commemoration Hall Honors Alumni Servicemen On November 11, Headmaster Brennan welcomed students, faculty, staff, and three dozen guests—alumni, parents, grandparents—to Roxbury Latin’s annual Veterans Day Hall, which honors, as Mr. Brennan began, “those veterans who are with us, and also all those others who have served our country in peacetime and wartime over the past 250 years. Their commitment, loyalty, and service to our country, to the values for which it stands, and for each one of us ought never to be forgotten.” Several veteran alumni, parents, and former faculty members were in the audience and invited to stand to be recognized. Following a welcome by Mr. Brennan—which included a brief history of Armistice Day, and of the RL alumni who committed their lives to military service—came a reading by senior Cameron Estrada titled “The Blue and the Gray,” by Francis Miles Finch. Rousing renditions of

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the songs America, I Vow to Thee My Country, and God Bless America—and a performance of Waitin’ for the Dawn of Peace by the Glee Club—rounded out a celebration that culminated in brief and powerful addresses by three RL alumni who serve, or have recently served, in the U.S. military, including Lieutenant Thomas Buckley ’11 (Navy), Captain Colin Murphy ’05 (Marine Corps), and Staff Officer Josh Rivers ’11 (Army). Each of these men shared with students the very different paths that led them to military service; stories of what their experience has been like, both state-side and abroad; and how their decision to serve has affected their lives in positive ways. In this 375th anniversary year, Roxbury Latin is honoring its alumni, in particular, as examples of leadership, service, and excellence, representing a wide range of pursuits and passions. Throughout the year these “Men of RL” are visiting


campus and interacting with students in the form of Halls, performances, exhibits, panel discussions, and classroom visits. Thomas, Colin, and Josh played an important role in this series on November 11. “Through these RL men we can draw a direct and impressive line to those WWII vets honored by the school

several years ago, to four RL alumni casualties in the Civil War, and to RL’s most famous veteran, General Joseph Warren, Class of 1755, who lost his life at Bunker Hill. The inclination to serve our country is a natural extension of John Eliot’s admonition to serve as he said, ‘in Church and Commonwealth,’” said Headmaster Brennan. //

Thirty-seven Roxbury Latin students have been killed in service to this country: American Revolution (1)

World War II (19)

Joseph Warren, Class of 1755

Edmund Billings, Jr., Class of 1915

Civil War (4) David Brainard Greene, Class of 1847 Samuel Shelton Gould, Class of 1858 John Marshall Whitney, Class of 1859 John A. Johnston, Class of 1865

Robert Titus Phillips, Class of 1919 Ralph Barnes Hartmann, Class of 1927 Elliott Weston Clark, Class of 1930 Crosby Vanderveer Hale, Class of 1931 Charles Willard Reid, Class of 1933 Joseph Christopher Raffi, Jr., Class of 1933

World War I (13)

George Leverett Barker, Class of 1934

Phillips Brooks Robinson, Class of 1899

Robert Edward Green, Class of 1935

Hugh Charles Blanchard, Class of 1905

Theodore Hoague, Jr., Class of 1935

Stanton King Berry, Class of 1907

Robert Irving Bedell, Class of 1936

William Wallace Webber, Class of 1908

Alexander Ogden Jones, Jr., Class of 1938

Raymond Earl Bennison, Class of 1909

Richard Lindsay Nowlin, Class of 1938

William Bradford Turner, Class of 1911

Edwin Francis Benson, Class of 1939

*Congressional Medal of Honor, killed near Le Catelet

Charles Henry Doell, Class of 1939

(one of 124 recipients awarded for service in WWI)

Henry Gardner Summers, Class of 1939

Wallace McIver Woody, Class of 1911

Warren Ashley Enman, Class of 1940

Ralph Frederick Fleming Brooks, Class of 1913

Andrew Williams Welch, Jr., Class of 1940

Eugene Galligan, Class of 1913

David Verity Currier, Class of 1942

Francis William Riley, Class of 1913

During WWII there were 330 alumni in national service.

Henry White Broughton Jr., Class of 1915 *Distinguished Service Cross for exceptional bravery in battle at St. Mihiel Francis Pratt Breck, Class of 1916 Nathan Cook Brackett, Class of 1917 In 1918 there were 250 alumni in national service.

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Founder’s Day On November 5, Roxbury Latin celebrated its annual Founder’s Day, honoring the very beginning of the school, founded in 1645 under King Charles I by “the good apostle” John Eliot. In this 375th anniversary year, the school celebrated the history of the City of Boston and Roxbury Latin’s place within it. >>

The day began with an address by Dr. Christopher Hannan ’82, a Massachusetts Maritime Academy Professor. Chris has studied and written extensively about John Eliot. Chris focused particularly on the herculean task of creating a written Algonquin language and using it to translate the Bible, which Eliot undertook in order to convert indigenous people to Christianity.

<<

At the conclusion of Hall, all 304 boys and more

than 55 faculty and staff members piled onto the MBTA Commuter Rail for a full day in Boston’s Back Bay.

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Despite a

rainy morning, the traditional all-school panorama (see the photo on page 30) was taken on the Senior Grass.

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Then it was up to the Skywalk in the Prudential

Center, where boys enjoyed panoramic views of the city and interactive exhibits on Boston’s history and neighborhoods. >>

<<

Throughout the day, boys got a faculty-guided tour of the Back Bay, meandering past the Boston Public Library and the Arlington

Street Church, to the Public Garden and learning about the history of one of their city’s most historic neighborhoods. As they made their way down the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, boys regarded statues of the first published African writer in America, Phillis Wheatley; the abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison; and the sailor and maritime historian, Samuel Eliot Morrison, among others.

<< Finally, the group gathered in Trinity Church at Copley Square. Welcomed by Trinity Church’s rector and RL parent, Reverend Morgan Allen, boys learned the fascinating historical and architectural facts about the building itself. The British Consul General to New England, Harriet Cross, also spoke, offering her thoughts on the founding of RL and its ties to England.

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Matt Weiner (center) plays the upright bass with friends Charlie Beck and Charmaine Slaven of the duo Squirrel Butter.

Matt Weiner ’89 and Squirrel Butter Perform Daland Concert On December 10, Roxbury Latin’s 375th anniversary “Men of RL” alumni Hall series continued with some music. Talented bassist, guitarist, and pianist Matt Weiner, Class of 1989, performed a number of bluegrass and country songs to the delight of the students and faculty, in the last week of the marking period. Matt, who resides in the Pacific Northwest, has more than two decades of experience as a highly sought-after music teacher. As a bass player he has been known to perform upward of two hundred shows per year. In Hall he was joined by his friends Charlie Beck and Charmaine Slaven, who comprise the duo Squirrel Butter, an old-time variety duet that performs the genres of early bluegrass, country, and Cajun while adding their own unique perspectives. Matt and Squirrel Butter’s set list included a single by country duo The Louvin Brothers and the 1928 Eddie Anthony song Georgia Crawl. Between songs, Matt shared ruminations on his experience

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at RL—including a very spectacular leg injury on the soccer field— and encouraged the boys to try out a number of pursuits, passions, and professional paths, remembering that you never truly know if you like something until you try it. Matt is no stranger to the Rousmaniere Hall stage; he last performed there in a Recital Hall on March 2, 1989, with his classmate Jake Shapiro, delivering an original composition “for three synthesizers, drum machine, guitar, and computer.” This concert Hall was supported, in part, by the generosity of the Andrew Daland ’46 Memorial Concert Fund, established by Andrew’s wife, Pamela Worden, and his family and friends, with the purpose of bringing a musical concert to Roxbury Latin boys each year in Andrew’s memory. We are grateful for the generosity that fuels this musical experience each year. //


Build a Bed Project Kicks Off Season of Giving Tina Baptista experienced homelessness at 13 years old, when her father had passed away and her mother went to prison. “It was very difficult to get an education, to wake up not knowing where I’d be going to sleep the next night,” she shared in Hall on November 25. “On many days I didn’t even have the opportunity to go to school. I didn’t know if I would have food on the table when I got home. I often didn’t know where home would be the next night, but still I showed up. I went to school. I put my best foot forward, and I made sure that if there was anything that I had, it was an opportunity to better my life through an education.” Ms. Baptista was RL’s second speaker in the school’s 375th anniversary Hall series focused on homelessness and poverty. Today, Ms. Baptista is the director of A Bed for Every Child, a program of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. Studies show that lack of sleep has a negative impact on a student’s concentration, memory, and ability to learn. Children who get more, high-quality sleep do better in math, science, and reading. Children who get little sleep are more likely to have behavioral problems, be prone to general moodiness, and have difficulty living up to their potential. A Bed for Every Child works with public schools

and community organizations throughout Massachusetts to provide access to free, new, twin beds for children in need. “Youth homelessness continues to rise in Massachusetts, and so does childhood poverty. At the Coalition and at A Bed for Every Child, we are putting children at the forefront, because we know these young people are our future educators. Children that are facing adversity—poverty, homelessness— deserve better. School was the stability in my young life; it was my safe haven. When I was given the opportunity to finish high school and go to Salem State University, it turned my life around. I realized the opportunities that education provided for me. I’m the third generation in my family growing up in poverty, and I’m so incredibly fortunate that as a young adult I have ended that cycle within my family, and it looks very good from here on out. We’re hoping to provide that same stability and sanctuary for children living in poverty, the chance to break the cycle, by the simple gift of a bed.” After Ms. Baptista’s Hall presentation, the entire school went to the gymnasium where boys—in teams of four, across all grades—built 76 beds that would be donated to children in need.

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>> “As you’re building these beds,” Ms. Baptista concluded, “I want you to ask yourself: What is tomorrow like for me? What does a good night’s sleep mean for me tonight? and How can I continue to put my best foot forward? This morning you’re giving a child an opportunity to dream big.” To date, A Bed for Every Child has served more than 10,000 children across Massachusetts.

Ms. Baptista graduated from Salem State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management. She has worked with the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless since 2013, first as an advocate and later as a community organizer. Today she raises awareness through partnerships with local non-profits, educational institutions, and places of worship, and helps to support low-income communities through connections with corporations and businesses, big and small. This Hall and service project were the second element in this year’s 375th anniversary focus on homelessness and poverty. Matt Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book

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Evicted, kicked off this series in October, and students have been considering these issues more closely in various ways throughout the fall. In Ms. Dromgoole’s Contemporary Global Issues class, groups of seniors researched different populations of homeless individuals, in Massachusetts and across the country—learning about the ways in which state programs succeed or fail in supporting homeless veterans, families, and youth. Students also participated in a holiday service drive, collecting socks, gloves, hats, and hand warmers for the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, donating nearly 800 items, including 615 pairs of socks. //


An Anniversary Convocation Honoring the Trustees and Dennis R. Kanin ’64

On January 6, the students, faculty and staff gathered in Rousmaniere Hall to formally commence the Opening of Winter Term, with more than 60 special guests in attendance. Those guests included current and former trustees—including all three living board presidents: Harry Lewis ’65, Dennis Kanin ’64, and Bob O’Connor ’85. The special anniversary convocation was intended to honor Roxbury Latin’s “feoffees” and trustees over 375 years, and to celebrate, especially, Dennis Kanin, for his longstanding and unwavering commitment to Roxbury Latin. “When John Eliot admonished his successors to ensure that The Roxbury Latin School would prepare its students ‘for service in Church and Commonwealth,’ he was simply putting before them the urgent ambition that the school’s graduates would lead and serve,” began Headmaster Brennan. “To lead and serve does not simply mean in politics or actions on behalf of a cause or party. Indeed, the leading and serving we care about has to do with everyday lives and people who make a positive difference on behalf of communities large and small, insignificant and consequential. You are called to that kind of life. And, indeed, you need look no farther than this school’s

trustees over 375 years to know the kind of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and commitment to a cause that mark their lives, and indeed their leadership and service on behalf of Roxbury Latin and the ideals for which it stands.” After a reading delivered by Charter Trustee Anne McNay, and after Assistant Headmaster Emeritus Bill Chauncey read portions of Teddy Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena,” Professor Harry Lewis ’65—former board president and Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard—shared with the students (through clear, accessible, and funny metaphors) what a trustee’s role actually is. Professor Lewis knows well long-standing institutions—the dynamics and complexities, the successes and opportunities—and he has long served as a great steward of RL. In Hall he described himself and his fellow trustees as: the turtles, the climate, and the people. (Read Professor Lewis’s remarks in their entirety on page 28.) Finally, everyone who was gathered in Rousmaniere Hall turned to honor the man of the hour, Dennis Kanin, who was joined by his wife, Carol; three sons—Zach ’01, Jonah ’04, and

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Frank ’06; dear friend Niki Tsongas; and several members of the Tsongas family. “Mr. Kanin’s eagerness to lead and serve was evident from his school days here, during which he showed the virtuous spirit and belief in the political process that would serve as the leitmotif of his whole life,” described Mr. Brennan. “During his schoolboy days he was co-editor of Tripod, played football and soccer, acted, and sang in the Glee Club. As a senior, he co-founded Massachusetts Teen Democrats. At Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Kanin led efforts in opposition to the Vietnam War and on behalf of greater student empowerment. He became involved in the campaigns of several catalytic Democratic candidates: Gene McCarthy, George McGovern, and Ted Kennedy. Most notable, however, was Mr. Kanin’s political and personal partnership with his dear friend Paul Tsongas. Mr. Kanin both ran his campaign for the House of Representatives and then served as his chief of staff. Subsequently, he would run Paul Tsongas’s successful Senate campaigns and his unsuccessful run for President. “In these instances Mr. Kanin’s distinctive ability to utilize political knowhow on behalf of worthy causes, and the candidates who champion them, earned him the notice and admiration of all those in the political establishment—locally and nationally… From 2000 until his retirement as a Life Trustee in 2018, Mr. Kanin served our Board and Roxbury Latin with unfailing energy, integrity, and effectiveness. For nine years, when he served as the President of the Board, I had the pleasure of his partnership advancing causes in which we and, ultimately,

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the whole Board believed. Mr. Kanin’s faithfulness to the school’s mission and his unselfish eagerness to give others credit for the good work he had done served him well as he led the school’s acquisition of 35 additional acres; authored the first Strategic Plan in the school’s history; established a financial model that would ensure our need-blind admission and enrollment commitment and ensure a distinctively representative student body; and solidified the historic decision to proceed with the renovation of existing athletic facilities and the building of the Indoor Athletic facility and Hennessy Rink. This year he serves as chairman of the celebration of our 375th anniversary. More important than any of this, however, is the model Mr. Kanin offered for humble, smart, tireless leadership—leadership on behalf of the school he loves and the values for which it stands… No one I know so consistently follows a North Star that guides him ethically, politically, and personally.” Two tangible works of art were then unveiled, both honoring Mr. Kanin in different ways. The first: a portrait of him, commissioned by the school, and painted by the remarkable portrait artist Jason Bouldin. The second: In Tony Jarvis’s fifth and final book titled Men of Roxbury—published by the famed Boston publisher of fine books, David Godine, RL Class of 1962—Mr. Jarvis included the following dedication: Dedicated with profound gratitude and affection to Dennis Roy Kanin, Class of 1964. Trustee 2000-2018, President 2006-2015. Wise, strong, and courageous leader—unifying and conciliating peacemaker—who, in the hour of need, was the man of the hour. Scholae Salvator. //


“Trustees are the Turtles.” Professor Harry Lewis ’65 on the Role of Trustees at Roxbury Latin

Good morning, and welcome back to school on this, the first day of the second half of the three hundred and seventyfifth year of The Roxbury Latin School. We are gathered to celebrate the service of Dennis Kanin as Trustee and, for a decade, as president of the Trustees. Others will have more to say about Mr. Kanin in a moment, but it is a special pleasure for me to kick things off, because Mr. Kanin and I have known each other for 60 years now. We met, I am pretty sure, when I was a Sixie and he was a Fifthie in 1960. Dennis was a year ahead of me at RL, and I’d like today’s RL boys to think about that. Now, just for a moment, stop looking at me and look instead to your left and to your right, at the row in front of you and the row behind. Look at the faces you see. Which ones will you have the pleasure of honoring 60 years hence, in January of 2080? Few of the rest of us here today in Rousmaniere Hall will be back then to learn the answer to that question. But RL itself will be here, and it’s quite possible that one or two of you will be right here sixty years from now, honoring the long service of the men you became and whom you knew, today, as boys.

And that brings me to my job today, which is to tell you about the Trustees and their role. I’d like you to remember three things about the Trustees. First is that the Trustees are the turtles. Second is that the Trustees are the climate. And third is that the Trustees are the people. Now it is too early in the morning for riddles, so fear not, I will explain. First, the Trustees are the turtles. I’m referring here to the old myth of the boy who climbed to a mountain cave to seek wisdom from a mystic. The boy asked, “Oh wise man, what holds the world up? Why doesn’t everything fall away to oblivion?” And the mystic gravely said, “Son, the world rests on the back of a giant turtle.” The boy went back down the mountain and thought about that for awhile, then climbed back up the mountain and approached the mystic a second time. “Oh wise man,” he said, “if the world rests on the back of a giant turtle, what is supporting that turtle?” “The giant turtle supporting the world,” the mystic said, “rests on the back of an even more gigantic turtle.” Now did I mention that this

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Now Roxbury Latin is the world, for our mythic purposes. And you students are the reason this world exists. And this world has a certain orderliness to it. The faculty admit and teach the students. The headmaster hires the faculty. The Trustees appoint the headmaster. And who appoints the Trustees? The Trustees appoint the Trustees. They form the mortal links in an eternal chain, each set of Trustees appointing the next so that headmasters, faculty, and students, this entire world, will not fall to oblivion and will continue to exist in perpetuity. Mr. Kanin and the other Trustees who are with us today are just the top turtles, but there have been turtles on top of turtles all the way back to the beginning of the school. There have been 335 Trustees in all, going back to the first six in 1645. Their names were Thomas Lambe, Joseph Weld, Joshua Hewes, John Roberts, Isaac Morrell, and John Johnson. Many Trustees are alumni of the school, and nowadays more than half must be alumni, though of course that could not have been the rule at the beginning. Like the turtles supporting the world, most of the time they are barely perceived by you earthlings. The Trustees keep Roxbury Latin going, always making sure that it can afford to continue its operations, and occasionally making really big decisions. The two gentlemen above the piano for example, Robert Hallowell Gardiner and Charles Hall Grandgent, were particularly important turtles, I mean Trustees, in their time. They made the momentous decision to move the school in 1927 from its cramped quarters in Roxbury to the spacious campus we now enjoy. So the Trustees don’t just preserve and support, though that is their first job. Sometimes they institute changes, as must happen since the world changes around us.

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So the school has changed over the years, and that brings me to my second point. Moving to a scientific metaphor, the Trustees are the climate. Now the climate is distinctive to a place. It’s hot and humid in the summer here in Boston and cold in the winter, and no other place has a climate exactly like Boston’s, though some places resemble it in one way or another. In the same way, no other school has a climate exactly like Roxbury Latin’s. It’s a small day school for boys in grades 7-12, with a commitment both to the classics and to a diverse student body, a place that believes that mortui vivos docent, mens sana in corpore sano, and so on.

“The Trustees appoint the Trustees. They form the mortal links in an eternal chain, each set of Trustees appointing the next so that headmasters, faculty, and students, this entire world, will not fall to oblivion and will continue to exist in perpetuity. Mr. Kanin and the other Trustees who are with us today are just the top turtles, but there have been turtles on top of turtles all the way back to the beginning of the school.” >>

boy had gone to Roxbury Latin? He did, and he had learned there to be skeptical, irreverent, argumentative, and generally annoying. So this time he shot right back at the mystic. “Really?” he said. “But then, what about the second turtle? What holds up the turtle that supports the turtle on which the world rests?” The mystic breathed deep, opened his eyes, and revealed the whole truth. “It’s turtles,” he proclaimed, “all the way down!”

Now if the Trustees are the climate, then the headmaster and the faculty are just the weather. They blow hot and cold, not necessarily on a daily basis. But every year at RL is a little different than the previous one. The Trustees don’t track every breeze or even every storm, but like the climate, they provide stability of purpose even as the experience of life here may change. When RL decided to move almost a century ago, or when it decided to build a hockey rink only a few years ago, those are Trustee decisions. The headmaster and the faculty can’t make those kinds of decisions on their own. The


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Trustees are supposed to maintain a long time horizon, to plan and execute big changes when needed to maintain our core purposes into the future as the world changes around us. And finally, a civic metaphor. The Trustees are the people. Now this point is a little more subtle. The Trustees have the responsibility of supporting the school into perpetuity and planning and executing the big changes that must occasionally occur. But then, how come most of the Trustees are not educators? There are a few people like me who work for a living as teachers, but most Trustees work in business, law, medicine, or other worthy endeavors. They are educated, and they understand the value of education, but they are not educators. If these people don’t know anything first hand about education, why are they the ones guarding the present and charting the future of an academic institution? It’s a good question with a particularly American answer. In this country, it is the norm that secondary and collegelevel institutions are governed by non-educators. The boards of governors or trustees, who hold ultimate power over educational institutions, are people who have never held a stick of chalk in their hands and probably can’t conjugate a verb or factor a quadratic. It’s not obvious that this is the way things should work. Other institutions don’t work that way. The top dogs in law firms are all lawyers. Sometimes we think of schools as being like churches, but most churches generally don’t operate this way either. In the Roman Catholic church, for example, the pope and the cardinals are themselves priests. And it’s not this way even in educational institutions outside the U.S. At Oxford and Cambridge, it’s the professors themselves who make the decisions about budgets and land purchases, for example. It’s a deeply American principle that lay people—people who are not educational professionals—are the final authority at educational institutions. They represent the public’s interest in the deal that these institutions have made with American society. And that is why I referred to the Trustees as the people. Roxbury Latin is a public charity, which under U.S.

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law is a very different kind of animal than an ordinary forprofit business. We are tax exempt and eligible to receive taxdeductible contributions from private individuals. And we are free within very broad limits to operate without government interference. That’s why our 17th-century charter refers to us as the “free school in Roxbury,” not because it didn’t cost anything to attend but because we were, and remain, free from both government and church control of our affairs. But in exchange for our freedom from external interference and our privileged status as a charitable institution, we are committed to serve the public interest, not our own interest. RL has to stay true to its mission to prepare students for service to church and commonwealth. The Trustees are called Trustees because they are the ones entrusted with the responsibility of making sure that RL keeps its half of the bargain our forebears long ago made with the people of Massachusetts and of the USA. So we can’t, for example, pay Mr. Brennan a $100 million dollar salary (much as he deserves it!), fire all the rest of the teachers, and get rid of all the students. The Trustees represent the public interest in keeping the school true to its mission. Society has given us the sacred trust to keep the school a servant to society, and that is why you hear so often about service from your headmaster and the other faculty. That is why people keep telling you that from those to whom much has been given much will be expected. It’s not only morally and ethically right; it’s part of the deal with America under which we exist. So welcome back to the oldest school in continuous existence in North America. Remember that the Trustees are the ones responsible for keeping it on course to survive another 375 years. They are the turtles under the school’s massive weight, the climate in a time of turbulent weather, and the representatives of the public interest. In the short run, remember that the civic and moral lessons this place teaches you are part of that eternal trust the Trustees are charged with maintaining. And look around you once again, because in the long run all these responsibilities will fall to you. Thank you. //


Men of Roxbury Tony Jarvis’s Final Book Available for Purchase

Printed in conjunction with Roxbury Latin’s 375th Anniversary celebration, Tony Jarvis’s fifth and final book, Men of Roxbury, includes profiles of 28 of the school’s distinguished alumni, as Reverend Jarvis writes, “whose lives of public service seem to incarnate all that Eliot hoped for in his students.” The lives and careers of General Joseph Warren, Arthur Vining Davis, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and James Bryant Conant, among many others, are brought to life with extended and amusing detail. Published by Boston book publisher David Godine, RL Class of 1962, the book is available to purchase through the school for $35. Please email men_of_roxbury@roxburylatin. org for further details.

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SAVE THE DATES 375th Anniversary Celebration: Honoring Our Faculty

An Evening of Music: Berman Artists in Residence

Alumni, parents, faculty, and staff will be invited

This year’s Berman Artists in Residence—alumni Gilles

for a special evening celebration of Roxbury

Vonsattel ’99 (piano), Stefan Jackiw ’03 (violin), and Lev

Latin’s faculty—past and present. This event on

Mamuya ’14 (cello)—will perform an evening concert in

campus will be complete with delicious food

Rousmaniere Hall, open to all members of the extended

and drink, and wonderful company.

Roxbury Latin community, with a reception to follow.

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020 ROUSMANIERE HALL

ARTS CALENDAR

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Friday, February 28 @ 7:30 PM

Winter Musical: Disney’s Newsies

Saturday, February 29 @ 7:30 PM

Winter Musical: Disney’s Newsies

Sunday, March 8 @ 6 PM

Glee Club Concert with The Winsor School

Friday, April 3 @ 7:30 PM

A Cappella Fest

Friday, April 24 @ 7:30 PM

Senior Concert

Friday, May 1 @ 7:30 PM

Junior Play: Chalk is Cheap

Saturday, May 2 @ 7:30 PM

Junior Play: Chalk is Cheap

Thursday, May 7 @ 7:30 PM

Sly Voxes Spring Concert

Tuesday, May 12 @ 7 PM

Latin Play

Friday, May 15 @ 7:30 PM

Instrumental Concert

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FACULTY FLASHBACK Bob Jorgensen

1996

After 40 years, Bob Jorgensen retires. He served many roles at Roxbury Latin and brought several new programs to the school throughout his tenure, including woodshop, computer science, and jazz band.

A Master of Many Talents Reinvents Himself Over 40 Years by MIKE POJMAN

Bob Jorgensen met Headmaster Fred Weed one spring day in 1956 for lunch, and for a casual interview regarding an opening on the Roxbury Latin faculty. On that day, Bob had no idea that this meeting would lead to an RL career spanning four decades, under four headmasters, during one of the most consequential periods in the school’s long history. Having just completed two years in the Marine Corps— happily married to his college sweetheart, Bobby, the father of a newborn son, Dean (RL Class of 1974)—Bob was looking to settle into a career as a teacher of woodshop. As fate would have it, Mr. Weed was looking for a visionary who would launch a shop program at Roxbury Latin—long a dream of his. That he might also fill an opening in the math department

would be a bonus. Ever versatile, Bob was willing to tackle that challenge, too. His connection with Mr. Weed and Roxbury Latin was immediate. “My starting salary was to be $4,000,” Bob recalls with a smile, “but I think I talked him into $4,300. Of course, prices were different back then. My rent at the time was $85 per month.” When I sat down with Bob recently, I asked him what kept him going for 40 years. “Perseverance,” he laughed. “Perseverance. But seriously, it was a marvelous career. I enjoyed working with the boys so much. I looked forward to going to work, going to school, every day. I was there just when the Gordon Field House had been completed, so I was able to build the woodshop from scratch [in the space previously used as a makeshift gymnasium]. Everything was brand new, all new equipment. Shop was for Fifthies and Sixies, so I taught a couple of sections of that, and second year Algebra to start. The next year I added first year Algebra and eventually Geometry and Pre-Calculus.”

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Subsequently, over the years, headmasters Fred Weed, Dick Mayo-Smith, Bill Chauncey, and Tony Jarvis recognized and tapped Bob’s wide-ranging talents. In the 1960s he served as the school’s Business Manager, “during which time we built the Ernst Wing, in 1965.” His wisdom, experience, and common sense were invaluable throughout the “building boom” of the ’80s and ’90s, as he oversaw construction of the Gordon Wing, Smith Arts Center, Bauer Science Building, and Gordon Field House—not to mention the addition of three new playing fields and two parking lots on newly acquired land at the end of Quail Street. Bob was the voice of reason at building committee meetings, with a keen eye for detail, indisputable credibility with contractors, and a down-to-earth approach (literally!) that kept each project manageable and on schedule.

which meshed with his love of teaching when he founded the Jazz Band in 1992. “We started with just three players back then,” he remembers. Over the next ten years, the group grew and prospered under Bob’s direction, and it continues to thrive to this day—an enduring part of his legacy. Roxbury Latin has been blessed with titans on the faculty who have dedicated their long careers to the betterment of the school: Chauncey, Bridgess, Whitney, Davey, Hubbard, Ligon, Kerner, Dower, Ward—and many more. Although he has assiduously avoided self-promotion, content to work behind the scenes, Bob Jorgensen is certainly to be counted among that pantheon of greats, more valued than he knows, less celebrated than he deserves. Perhaps, as is my hope, this modest panegyric will rectify that. //

When I brought up the subject of technology, complimenting Bob on his foresight in bringing computers to the school in the early 1980s, he demurred, with characteristic humility: “I didn’t actually start that program. We already had a computer called a ‘PolyMorphic’ with something like 56K of memory.” But as an eyewitness at the time, I know that it was Bob who saw the potential of the newly released IBM PC. It was he who convinced Tony Jarvis that computers in schools were not only the wave of the future but, more immediately, a necessity of the present. With full faith in Bob’s vision and expertise, Mr. Jarvis put him in charge of designing a new computer facility in the lower level of the Perry Building—where the women’s locker room is now—fitting it out with the latest technology. (Ever frugal, Bob furnished the room with repurposed study tables that he converted into computer stations.) He introduced computer programming into the Fifthie curriculum, guiding the boys through the fundamentals of BASIC (if-then statements, error trapping, nested loops…), the predominant coding language at the time. I asked Bob to recall some of the things that brought him the greatest satisfaction over the years: “I loved being a homeroom teacher [the equivalent of today’s “classmaster”]. You got very close to the kids. I really enjoyed that. I was the homeroom teacher for Class IV for a number of years.” He mentioned his lifelong passion for music, too—for playing the saxophone—

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Bob lives with his wife, Bobby, at Wingate in Needham, and he continues to play the sax with his band “The Olde Kids on the Block.”


Aiming for Another Record-Setting Year The 2019–2020 Annual Fund officially kicked off on October 4. Headmaster Kerry Brennan, Annual Fund Chairman Bryan Anderson ’88, Mat Cefail of Class I, and Tevin Barros ’14 each took to the podium to share with current and past parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends the importance of RL in their lives, and the ways in which donors’ generosity makes a Roxbury Latin education possible. Read excerpts from their speeches here: KERRY BRENNAN, HEADMASTER “You know that last year the school achieved another milestone by busting through the goal and receiving more than $4 million in gifts to the Annual Fund. As notable as that figure is, that 2,189 parents, alumni, and friends of the school believed in us is a similarly impressive reality. They believed that we have the capacity to change lives for the better. Given the talent, versatility, diversity, and ambition of the boys with whom we have the pleasure of working, it would be surprising and, in fact, criminal, were we not to ask of them all that we do. In a culture that cries out for such leadership, we are offering to the world each year a cadre of good men who can change it, who can change our world for the better. In small ways, perhaps even in undiscernible ways, the boys we serve will go on to serve others, to serve those in need, to serve worthy causes. And in doing so they will lead. In the communities they will encounter and shape­—families, neighborhoods, cities and towns, states and our Nation, in the workplace, in places of worship—these boys grown into good men will carry with them the burden and the legacy of this place in which character is paramount. Since 1645 we have been in pursuit of a single-minded goal: to fit students to

lead and serve, to represent and reflect that which is good and bright and honorable. // TEVIN BARROS ’14 “My RL journey was truly a special one, and as I stand up here tonight I am overcome with a feeling that most RL boys feel every time they step on campus and reminisce. It is a sense of belonging and pride that I realized I carried with me long after my time at RL. I continued on to attend Tufts University, and when I think about my four years there I agree with most of my peers: that RL sets its students apart in preparation for learning at the next level and in life. Through this shared experience we learned to think critically, challenge our perspectives, and push ourselves through any speed bumps to maximize our potential for growth. After Tufts, I went on to work in an elementary school in my hometown of Dorchester, and I believe RL played a strong role in this decision. My journey from grade school to Tufts was such a unique experience—one sadly not enough students are able to partake in. The commitment of time and effort from the RL community that went into making my journey possible, not only on my behalf, but for so many others, is what makes

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Headmaster Kerry Brennan

this place one of a kind. It’s why I work with young people today. It’s what instills in me a sense of community, and an urge to help young individuals who are currently sitting in a classroom in Dorchester as I once sat. If I can act as a Mr. Ryan or Mr. Reid for students, and help guide them along a positive path, then I have succeeded in carrying on the RL tradition. RL has been instrumental in shaping who I am today, and I owe it all to you. The faculty, the students, alumni, parents and trustees, I cannot thank you enough for continuously making this opportunity possible. Thank you.” // MAT CEFAIL, CLASS I “I ask you all to look around the room at the faculty of this school. These individuals, year after year, meet new students and say goodbye to the old ones. They work with these students for 6 years, for 10 months each year. They see all of us fail and succeed. They watch all of us grow, and shape us into who we will be as adults. Whether it is as our teacher in class, our coach on an athletic field, our instructor in Glee Club, our director in the play, or whether they are our mentors, our advisors; if they are the men and women who help keep the school clean and running smoothly, these individuals impart the lesson of honesty in all dealings, the lessons of a life of service. Yet their greatest lesson is something more, gifted through their kindness and support. Every day they are there for us—catching us when we stumble, helping us get back on the path, helping us to make the right decisions in life. These men and women have taught me how to memorize Latin, how

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Mat Cefail, Class I

to solve math that has letters in it, how to stand up here in front of you all and speak as I am. These men and women have taught me how to be honest, humble, respectful, thankful, and kind. This is the feeling that every graduate feels walking out of these halls for the last time. They feel the magnitude of what Roxbury Latin has done and imparted to them. Roxbury Latin has stood for 375 years, and will continue to stand for many more because of you. Our alumni, parents, and friends are here tonight because the lessons learned at RL resonate with them. They give to RL to ensure that these same lessons are passed on to future generations of RL boys. To the faculty, past and present, you are truly outstanding individuals who make RL the great institution that it is. On behalf of myself and every Roxbury Latin student: thank you. To our alumni, parents, and friends: thank you for all you have given to RL over the years. You have allowed me, and countless other boys, to be taught and supported by these wonderful individuals.” // BRYAN ANDERSON ’88, ANNUAL FUND CHAIR “The Annual Fund bridges the gap between tuition and the actual cost of a Roxbury Latin education. First, some facts: Budgeted cost per student is $60,900 and tuition is $34,550, which leaves a gap of $26,350 for each student. >> The average day school tuition of other Boston area independent schools is $50,568, compared to our current tuition of $34,550. A difference of more than $16,000. >>


The Annual Fund comprises 22% of the operating budget. This compares with the national private day school average, where the Annual Fund provides less than 10 percent of the operating budget. >>

Roxbury Latin is one of the few remaining need-blind admission and enrollment private schools in the country.

Subsequently, Eliot convinced those founding families to defray tuition for students whose families could not afford donations, and later, the trustees granted free admission to all applicants from Roxbury. Today financial aid is decided solely on the basis of need instead of geography.’

>>

So, let’s get this straight: Tuition for every student in the school starts at little more than half of what it actually costs for every student to attend. And those who can’t afford the aforementioned little more than half? If they deserve to be here, RL will figure it out for them. Even if that means that they pay nothing. Who in the world built this budget? Well, it turns out John Eliot did, 375 years ago. And I quote from the school’s website: ‘The school was open to all who wished to attend.

Ladies and gentlemen, history must repeat itself here at Roxbury Latin. We must continue to support those who cannot fully support their stay here in this village. I am not sure how Eliot would have succinctly described this generosity in his day, but I believe in my heart he would be incredibly proud of this little ‘Annual Fund’ today: 375 years later and the mission has stayed true. Please enjoy the rest of your evening, and when you think of RL, and your gift to the Annual fund in the near future, please give just a little more and know you are truly honoring our Founder’s wishes 375 years later!” //

Tevin Barros ’14

Annual Fund Vice-Chairs Soren and Caroline Oberg P’21,’23,’25; April Anderson and Annual Fund Chairman Bryan Anderson ‘88 P’21,‘23; Headmaster Kerry Brennan; and Parent Chairs Beth and James Frates P’19,‘21

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ALGC Dinner On December 11, the Alumni Leadership Giving Committee (ALGC) held its annual dinner at Del Frisco’s in Boston. Admission Director Billy Quirk ’04 was the evening’s keynote speaker. The ALGC is comprised of roughly two dozen alumni who share the responsibility of asking other alumni to join them in making contributions to the school at the leadership level.

Annual Fund Update The 2019–2020 Annual Fund is making great progress toward achieving its goal of $3,800,000 thanks to the generosity of our alumni, parents, and friends. We have already received gifts and pledges totaling $3,085,321. We are 81 percent of the way there, but we still need your help! Thank you to all who have already made a commitment to the 2019–2020 Annual Fund. If you have not yet contributed, please consider supporting Roxbury Latin. Every gift helps RL maintain tuition that averages $16,000 less than that of other local independent schools. Every gift helps bridge the $26,350 gap between the cost of tuition and the actual cost of an RL education. Every gift supports the admission and enrollment of qualified boys, regardless of their family’s ability to pay, and every gift helps retain and attract a faculty that is second to none. Gifts, large and small, from each and every donor, make a tremendous difference to the talented young men who study here. Please join your classmates, fellow parents, and friends by making a gift today. Thank you for doing your part to ensure that Roxbury Latin can preserve its distinctive quality and character. //

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3. 4. 20 20 In this 375th year, help us celebrate with 375 gifts in one day!

Call for Trustee Nominations The Committee on Trustees is seeking recommendations from any member of the Roxbury Latin community for trustee candidates to serve a six-year term on the Board of Trustees. Please forward such recommendations by March 1 to the Committee on Trustees at nominations@ roxburylatin.org. N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l

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Winter Varsity Teams

HOCKEY — First Row: Kieran McCabe, Kam Miller, Sam Ginsberg, Kevin Swan, Joey Ryan (Captain), Mikey Jones, Dante Cuzzi (Captain), Matthew Traietti, Bobby Luca, Peter Frates, Nolan McKenna; Second Row: Coach David Cataruzolo, James Birch, Frankie Lonergan, Sam Stone, Patrick Schultz, Tait Oberg, Connor Berg, Will Murphy, Jojo Dable, Andrew Sparks, Malcolm Whitfield, Coach Mo Randall, Nolan Walsh, Walker Oberg

BASKETBALL — First Row: Antonio Rosado (Captain), Charlie Weitzel (Captain), David Brennan (Captain); Second Row: Coach Sean Spellman, Benja Rosenzweig, Javier Werner, Mark Henshon, Nate Ukoha, Jere Rose, Reid Corless, Sunil Rosen, Ejiro Egodogbare, Colin Herbert, Antonio Morales, Tim Smith, Austin Kee, Aidan Cook (Manager), Coach Tony Teixeira

WRESTLING — First Row: Richard Impert, Mat Cefail (Captain), Javi Rios (Captain), Pete Levangie; Second Row: Nick Consigli, Thomas Savage, Aidan Gibbons, Kayden Miller, Ethan Chang, Miguel Rincon, John Wilkinson, Justin Shaw, Dovany Estimphile; Third Row: Coach Paul Sugg, Ben Crawford, Eric Auguste, Esteban Tarazona, Adam Kuechler, Will Specht, George Humphrey, Krystian Reese, Will Hutter, John Balson, Arjun Bose, Avi Attar (Manager), Coach Josh Wildes

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class notes

1954

Jared Diamond’s most recent book, Upheaval—about national political crises viewed in light of personal crises—was published in May 2019. Jared is still teaching geography to undergraduates at UCLA (even though, as he says, the lowest grade that he received at Roxbury Latin was in Mr. Whitney’s Sixie year geography class!) Robert English, brother of the late Richard John English, recalled: “During the 300th anniversary—75 years ago, at age five, while living on St. Theresa Ave.—I vividly remember observing the multitude of automobiles parked on the lower field during one of the many weekend celebrations!”

1958

Arthur Gold mourns with classmates over the unexpected death of Robert Smith on January 3, 2019. Despite some recent medical interventions—melanoma surgery and open heart surgery—Arthur feels healthier and stronger than ever. He looks forward to continuing his two careers as a financial consultant to real estate professionals and as a voice-over performer.

1963

David Scheff is still practicing pediatrics, around the corner from RL, at 2020 Centre Street, and thoroughly enjoying it.

1967

Steven Rand and his wife, Paula, became grandparents in July 2019. Grandson Lucas made his debut in Rotterdam,

Netherlands, and is packing on weight fast. He is already being groomed by “The Spah” for a forward position on the RLS lacrosse squad. Steve and Paula are still in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but retirement is only a year away and will occasion a move to Waterloo, Ontario, in Canada, their place of origin.

Review for “best practices” for culturally sustaining and revitalizing teaching, PdH believes in the potential of children, culture, and language in a local, regional, national, and international context. PdH is an International Baccalaureate Candidate School serving students in grades K-12.

1971

1999

Louis Kaplan is an associate professor of nursing at Simmons University in Boston, right next door to the “other” Latin School. He looks forward to seeing his classmates at their “big” reunion next spring.

1977

Members of the class of 1977 gathered for their 42nd consecutive Thanksgiving Eve: Jeff Ganem, David Mix Barrington, Michael Price, Bruce Rosengard, Jack Englert, Dave Astrue, Jack O’Loughlin, Craig Newfield, and Jim Joyce.

1983

Kurt Bekebrede Gantrish and his family are doing well and living in Hanover, New Hampshire. He has two sons out of college, one in college, and two finishing high school. He recently installed solar panels on the house, which generate 60 percent of their power needs annually.

1986

Brian Buckley is in Flagstaff, Arizona, focused on nonprofit work at Puente de Hozho Puente de Hózhó (PdH) Elementary School. PdH has two duallanguage programs comprised of a Navajo Immersion Language Program and a Spanish-English Bilingual Program. Featured in the Harvard Education

Oliver Libby lives in New York, where he manages an international venture called H/L. He is co-founder and chair of the board of The Resolution Project, which fosters youth leadership development around the world through collaborative social entrepreneurship. Oliver is engaged to marry Ms. Sabrina Tharani in 2020.

2000

On October 13, 2018, Wyatt Lipman married Maria de Cesare at the Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts—the historic home of Edith Wharton, and the first place the couple visited together. (“I’ll always remember reading Wharton’s Edith Frome in Class III English with the late, great master, David Frank!” writes Wyatt.) Oliver Harper and Amit Paley celebrated at the wedding with Wyatt and Maria, who now live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Maria is the Head of Business Affairs for Google’s Creative Lab, and Wyatt is Associate General Counsel for Content Strategy & Media Partnerships at Facebook.

2004

Mike O’Brien and his wife, Drew, welcomed their daughter, Brooke, on August 19, 2019. See photo on page 51.

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Photo: Patrick Beaudouin, Hoover Institution

Josh Rauh ’92 Named Principal Chief Economist to President’s Council of Economic Advisers Alumnus Joshua Rauh, Class of 1992, has been selected to serve as principal chief economist of President Donald Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Josh is a senior fellow and director of research at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and the Ormond Family Professor of Finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. The CEA is charged with offering the president objective economic advice on the formulation of both domestic and international economic policy. Josh formerly taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management. He has studied corporate investment, business and individual taxation, unfunded pension liabilities, and investment management. He is a recipient of the Brattle Prize and the Amundi Smith Breeden Prize, both awarded by the American Finance Association. His

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work has appeared in top academic journals including the Journal of Finance, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Public Economics, and Journal of Political Economy. Josh’s research has received national media coverage in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Financial Times, and The Economist. He has presented his work in numerous academic and public forums and has testified before Congressional committees on unfunded pension liabilities. Josh earned his BA in economics, magna cum laude with distinction, from Yale University and his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. //


2005

Luke Joyner lives in Chicago, where he teaches about architecture and cities. For the past three years, he has taught college students at the University of Chicago, in addition to high school students.

2006

John Spatola and his wife, Jill, welcomed a baby girl, Martha Jane, on January 12.

2009

On November 9, John Collins married Madeline Buckley (daughter of faculty member Brian Buckley) in Portland, Maine. A number of Roxbury Latin friends were among the 150 guests, including best man Nick Poles.

2012

Andrew Kingsley was featured in The New York Times’s “Who Made

My Puzzle?” on November 20 as the publication’s crossword puzzlemaker of the month.

2015

On October 29, Anthony Giordano appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! In an impressive match-up against the returning champ—and correctly responding to the Final Jeopardy answer with: What is Rear Window?—Anthony unfortunately lost by $2.

2018

2019

Former faculty members Sally Stevens and Phil Kokotailo met Tomas Gustafsson and Erik Zou for dinner in London. Tomas is on a gap year and was working in London as an intern. After a New Year’s trip to Iceland, he headed to Spain for the next leg of his internship. In the spring, he’ll be in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Erik is currently attending Eton College as Roxbury Latin’s Hennessy Scholar before matriculating next year at Harvard. See photo below.

Ben Bryant was profiled by Harvard Athletics for his extracurricular involvement as Director of Programs for a startup educational non-profit called United 4 Social Change (U4SC), which offers internships, courses, and videos on topics such as Philosophy, Public Speaking, and Argumentative Writing.

Erratum Stephen P. Koster ’67 was accidentally omitted from the list of Clarence W. Gleason Society leadership donors in the Annual Report. We sincerely thank him for his continued generous support of the school. //

Clockwise from top: Wyatt Lipman (center) with RL classmates Oliver Harper and Amit Paley; John and Jill Spatola’s baby girl, Martha Jane; Mike and Drew O’Brien’s daughter, Brooke; Members of the class of 1977 gathered for their 42nd consecutive Thanksgiving Eve; Anthony Giordano appears on Jeopardy!; John Collins with new bride, Madeline Buckley; Sally Stevens and Phil Kokotailo with Tomas Gustafsson and Erik Zou in London.

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Founder’s Day Pub Night November 7: Clery’s Pub, Boston

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NYC Reception November 15: The Yale Club, NYC

Young Alumni Holiday Party December 19: Headmaster’s House


in memoriam

George Blair Clark ’51 died peacefully at home on Thursday, December 19, 2019 in Jacksonville, Illinois, at the age of 87. He was born on May 22, 1932, in Boston, the son of George Blair Clark, Sr. and Zelda Benn Clark. Blair grew up in Roslindale and attended the Longfellow School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. The Yearbook staff called Blair “one of the most popular and respected boys in the class.” His classmates praised him for being “industrious” and “thorough.” In addition to participating in varsity football, track, and hockey, Blair was a tremendous baseball player. His classmates remembered him frequently practicing on the baseball diamond long after all his teammates had finished. He was an inspiration to other boys “not just because of his ability, but also because of his drive, spirit, and sportsmanship.” He also sang in the Glee Club. Outside of school, Blair occupied his time bowling, bird hunting, and summering in Osterville on Cape Cod, where he participated in

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a summer baseball league and worked at First National. He remained in touch with classmates and supported the school throughout his life, including as a member of Roxbury Latin’s Thomas Bell Society. After graduating from Roxbury Latin, Blair attended Harvard University. He graduated in 1955 and subsequently served in the United States Army. Blair earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1957. Blair then moved to Chicago to accept a position with Rand McNally in textbook sales to universities. Blair married Rhoda Alice Hertzberg on August 19, 1961, in Barrington. In 1962, Lawrence Hertzberg offered him a position at Hertzberg New-Method Book Bindery located in Jacksonville, IL. The company was launching a new division of reinforced paperback books that would become known as Perma-Bound Books. Blair and Rhoda moved to Jacksonville and made it their home. In 1976, Blair joined AG Edwards & Sons. With a lifetime interest in finance and investing, he developed a successful investment advisory practice at their Jacksonville office. He retired in 2000 and continued his active interest in private investing for the remainder of his life. Blair’s life was filled with diverse interests. In 1966, he was invited to join Jacksonville’s oldest men’s literary society, The Club. He delighted in researching various literary topics and reviewing books for his yearly presentation. He was an avid bridge player, an excellent tennis player, enjoyed reading and reciting

Shakespeare, and loved spending time with his hunting dogs. He had a passion for jazz and classical music, theater productions, fine art, and investing. The Clarks also enjoyed entertaining and traveling the world. On the occasion of his 45th reunion in 1996, Blair recalled: “RLS has a way of inspiring students. Years ago, on a history test, Gerhard Rehder asked us to identify the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. I failed to do so, but you can tell him I plan to redeem myself by visiting their 15th century castle on the Island of Rhodes [this spring].” His family and friends alike will remember him always for his delightful wit and great humor.

John Reardon Barry, Jr. ’54 died on November 8, 2019, at the age of 83. He was a resident of Maryland at the time of his passing. John was born on October 28, 1936 to Dr. John Reardon Barry and Ruth Keleher. He grew up in West Roxbury and attended the Richard Olney School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin.


In his college letter, Headmaster Weed called Barry a young man of “the highest type in character, manner, and integrity.” In his senior year, the faculty praised Jack for his deportment, attention, fidelity, and neatness. He was a particularly accomplished student of Ancient Greek. Outside of the classroom, Jack played football, sang in the Glee Club, worked on The Tripod, and helped with the stage crew for the play. He also participated in Boy Scouts outside of school. John attended the College of the Holy Cross after Roxbury Latin, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Physics in 1958. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1958 and served as an officer until 1962. In 1961 he married Patricia Ann McGuire. John began working at Johns Hopkins University as a physicist in 1963. He enrolled in graduate school work in 1965 and continued working at the University as a research assistant. In 1971, John resumed work as a physicist and principal of staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Beginning in 1982, John served as supervisor to Special Studies in the Naval Warfare Analysis Department, focusing on long-range planning and technical studies for the navy. John was the beloved husband of Patricia McGuire Barry; devoted father of Christopher Gordon Barry and John William Barry (Jennifer); loving grandfather to three grandchildren; he was the dear brother of Philip Lane Barry, M.D. (Wini), member of the RL Class of 1960; also survived by many loving family and friends.

Louis Larrey ’57 was born June 12, 1939. He died peacefully on November 7, 2019, at the age of 80. He had lived in Falmouth for 46 years. Lou was the son of Louis Sr. and Rose (Therauf) Larrey. He grew up in Westwood and attended the Pond Plains School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. Lou was broadly involved in the life of the school as a student. He sang in the Glee Club, performed in the school play, wrote for The Tripod, served on the Dance Committee, wrestled, and played tennis. During the summers he volunteered as a Sunday School teacher and participated in a youth fellowship program. Headmaster Weed called Lou “an exceptionally pleasant and willing boy—thoroughly reliable, hardworking, and fair-minded. He is always on hand when there is work to be done—and the last to leave.” This commitment to the greater good continued long beyond Roxbury Latin. After graduating from Roxbury Latin, Lou attended Wesleyan University. He graduated in 1961. He remained at Wesleyan for a fifth year, and earned his Master’s in the Art of Teaching in

1962. He began his career in 1962 as an English teacher at New London High School in Connecticut. In 1965, he went on to teach at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. In 1969, he moved his family to Portland, Oregon, to take part in the opening of a new innovative high school. The following year, he enrolled at Stanford University School of Education as a graduate student, where he trained secondary educators. In 1973, he and his family moved to Falmouth, where he was one of the house administrators in the new Falmouth High School. In 1992, he became head of the English department. He retired in 1996 and became very involved with community service. He was part of the founding team that developed the VIPS Program. He also assisted in establishing Neighborhood Falmouth, an organization that helps members live independently, safely, and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. Lou served on several community boards over the years. Lou was an especially proud graduate of Roxbury Latin. He remained in close contact with the school throughout his entire life. Lou enjoyed singing with local choruses, boating, gardening, traveling, reading, and spending time with family. Lou is survived by his wife of 60 years, Camilla; son Marc, daughter Melissa, and four grandchildren. Paul Beatty ’52 died on January 5, 2020, at the age of 85. He is survived by his beloved wife and three daughters. A full-length obituary will appear in our Spring 2020 Newsletter. //

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The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132-3496 www.roxburylatin.org Change Service Requested

Academic, athletic, and artistic enrichment programs, for boys and girls at Roxbury Latin’s 117-acre campus. Kids can play, learn, create, and investigate in more than 20 fun and flexible programs.

Learn more, and join us, at

RLSummer.org Th e R ox bu ry L ati n S c ho ol 101 st. theresa avenue

•

west roxbury, ma 02132


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