ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS 75230 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 VOLUME 61 ISSUE 4
Lettermen. Page 22
COMMENTARY NEWS
THE REMARKER
NEW ASSOCIATE HEADMASTER
LIFE
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION
Introducing John Ashton, Hockaday’s head of Upper School and former assistant head of Upper School here.
Following seniors Conner Olson and Ben Naftalis through their competition in Miami.
A look into improving campuswide communication in terms of televisions, bulletin boards and school-wide emails through Outlook.
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Page 10
Page 18
YOUNG ARTS
INSIDE
News Male Call Life Vibe Commentary Sports Backpage Addendum
2 8 9 17 18 21 28 1A
PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION
SEXUAL AGGRESSION
Steve Miller ’61 to headline school auction By Bradford Beck
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t’s something that has affected celebrities and students alike — from Bill Cosby and Prince Andrew to fraternity boys at The University of Virginia. Claims of sexual assault and rape can dramatically affect people’s lives — both the alleged victim and accuser. It brings to the forefront of national discussion the rights of both parties. The ambiguity of these incidents is crowded with blurred lines — lines that must be addressed.
it’s time to talk.
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he Parents’ Association auction will begin Feb. 21 at a cocktail party located in the Great Hall, followed by a live performance by the Steve Miller Band and dinner in Hicks Gym. The auction, which is headed by Katherine Roberts, president of the Parents’ Association, will also allow people to bid on items in a silent auction that will be online for two weeks after the event. Along with the auction, the Parents’ Association will raise proceeds through other means. “We have also been selling raffle tickets for a car from Sewell Automotive, and we also sold the fantastic St. Mark’s cowboy boots,” Roberts said. One of the main attractions for the auction will be the performance by the Steve Miller Band, which was made possible in part by Headmaster David Dini’s connection to Steve Miller ’61. Miller will also perform for students Feb. 20. “Mr. Dini has become friends with Steve Miller ’61 through the years and at our request, Mr. Dini reached out to Mr. Miller last year to ask if he would perform for us,” Roberts said. he auction is only one part of the event called “Celebrate St. Mark’s.” “[Celebrate St. Mark’s] is a fundraiser,” Roberts said. “We make all the arrangements with the caterer, the audio and visuals, the chair and table rentals, print invitations, get donations and get the entertainment.” Although the auction is an annual event, many parts of the auction change from year to year. “This event is similar to last year’s in location but different in many other ways,” Roberts said. “This year we will only have a Live Auction. Last year had a DJ for entertainment as well as a video tribute to Mr. Holtberg. This year, we will not have a DJ because we are having the Steve Miller concert.” The goal of the event is to raise money for Parents’ Association Endowed Fellowing in honor of Arnold and Jan Holtberg. The online auction will have restaurant gift certificates, class baskets with different themes, trips, tickets to sporting events and outings with faculty and staff.
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Inside Colorblind • See The ReMarker’s special section, which attempts to answer the question, “Why is it so difficult for us to talk about race?” Addendum, Pages 1A-4A
THE REMARKER | FRIDAY, FEB. 6, 2015 | PAGE 2
However, the woman isn’t comfortable, and the man may not be safe if I didn’t do something. I want her to understand. “Ma’am just let him be. He’ll probably get off at the next stop. He’s not harming you. He’s not taking your money. Please.” She shared that she’d been a nurse at Parkland Hospital, Dallas’s public facility, for more than 30 years. She was 67 years old. And she’d seen enough of this. “Other people don’t deserve to have a homeless man take their money from them,” she says. But I stop her right there. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I respectfully disagree.” I’m frustrated, and I’m confused. And the eyes of the train float from the man to me. But there’s nothing to worry about. No shame. No anxiety. No agitation. I believed so much in myself and in what I was saying that her reaction and words couldn’t bother me. I tell her that this man is not asking her to put up with him. He’s not taking anything from anyone. I tell her there’s no obligation to help him. But turning him in would most definitely ruin him. Why go out of your way to set a person further back in life? She looks from me to the man. And her mouth opens—ready to counter, but as the man turns around, she stops. She looks back at me and only has one thing to say: Wow. Because as the man stepped off the train, she noticed his graphic Nike t-shirt that had only three words sprawled across his chest: I’M DOIN’ ME. The man isn’t pretending to be anyone else. He’s just doin’ him. My conscience had taken over a situation that my brain didn’t understand. I’d just stood up to a woman 50 years older than I to defend a man I didn’t know. But that moment energized me. It felt like every fiber of my being had been touched by an adrenaline rush, and with that extra energy, I had the power to squash the condition. I gave this man a free pass that wasn’t mine to give. He gave me access to the strength of my own conscience. I love making the people and projects in my sphere grow to their full potentials. And with my conscience, I can do that. It was a win-win situation that I’d play out ten times out of ten. That difference came at a cost to nobody, for the man on the train had paid the price for his pain every single day of his life. But the reason for my defense was plastered on every car of every DART train— a sign stared us all in the face: “There are no free rides.”
Upcoming
NEW HORIZONS
ALDEN JAMES PHOTO
COURTESY MARKSMEN YEARBOOK
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s he makes his way down the aisle with his “God Bless” sign in hand and dreadlocks pouring over his shoulders, I know he shouldn’t be here. He’s so articulate. So well-meaning. He has that supreme confidence to ask for what he wants. I’m standing at the front of the train, smiling, and admiring a man I’ve been conditioned not to. “Excuse me everybody,” he says. “If any of you would be willing to help me out a little, I’d very much appreciate it.” As hundreds of eyes—including mine—pierce his path, he remains relaxed. But as he passes by me, an older woman next to me stands up. “That’s it,” she says. “I don’t need to deal with this. How do I call the conductor?” The man remains unfazed, continuing his step-by-step path down the aisle with his cup wavering from sideto-side and giving people the chance to contribute. I step in front of the woman, not quite sure what I’m doing, and motion for her to return to her seat. It’s spontaneous, but more than anything, I want to keep the people around me comfortable and safe.
The writer of the Alma Mater and the first Senior Master of the school faculty passed away Dec. 11. Page 4
“No one has ever tried something like this before, one little spacecraft three billion miles from home.”
— Alan Stern, Page 7
Newsfeed
THINGS TO DO IN THE WEEKS AHEAD
Today
Weekend
Next week
> A discussion about
> For those who need to
> Community Service
creating jobs while keeping a clean economy will be held at Northlake College tonight at 7-9 p.m. and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is part of the Clean Economy Series.
> The DFW Winter Boat
Expo at Dallas Market Hall ends this weekend Feb. 8. The show has 650 new 2015 boats and watercrafts on display and available for purchase from 20 North Texas dealers during the end of the winter.
get their standardized testing out of the way, do not forget about the ACT test this Saturday Feb. 7 at the Hockaday School.
> Evensong, a perfor-
mance which features the culmination of the organ dedication, will be held in the Chapel Sunday Feb. 8
> There will be Lower
School make-up testing beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at 12 p.m. this Saturday in the Fojtasek Lower School building.
Hours are due Feb. 9. In the meantime, there are many projects that students can do to fulfill the requirement hours. For example, Rays of Light occurs today, Feb 6., starting at 5:30 p.m., and provides six hours for attending students.
> The Lower School will be
celebrating Valentines Day on Feb. 10 and will have school off on Feb. 11 because of parent teacher conferences.
NEWS AROUND CAMPUS
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he annual Coat Drive received 295 coats, 45 more than last year’s drive at the end of its week-long duration lasting from Jan. 12 until Jan. 16. These coats will be donated to organizations including The St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, the Letot Detention Center and Austin Street Shelter. Not having a desired goal in mind, eighth graders volunteered in the mornings to acquire coats in front of Nearburg and the Fojtasek Lower School. “Our goal was to collect as many coats as possible for the kinds of various agencies that we’ve partnered with for the drive,” Assistant Director of Community Service Kezia Warner said. “It’s cold out there and people need coats on their backs. We had eighth graders participating in the mornings and had a good number of them involved this year at the Lower School and in Nearburg.”
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21
YEARS
Senior exhibitions have been delivered at 10600 Preston Road
WES LEY HIB BS PHO TO
A win-win situation
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF J. J. CONNOLLY
NEWS
SHOURYA KUMAR
Former Upper School Associate Head John Ashton is rejoining the community after serving as head of Upper School for six years at Hockaday. Page 3
COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
ASHTON RETURNS AS ASSOCIATE HEADMASTER
THE FINAL STEP Talking about one of his interests, varsity water polo, senior Nathan Ondracek gives a presentation to the seventh grade, an activity that every senior participates in as a final right of passage in his path to manhood.
overheard COMMENTS MADE BY FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS AROUND CAMPUS
Senior
Stuart Montgomery “Don’t you ever want to just squeeze a baby?”
Junior
Chance Cooley “I only read The Fourcast.”
Senior
Sophomore
Christian McClain “I’m a fun guy. Get it? I’m like a mushroom and stuff.
Case Brabham “I won the battle of Gettysburg.”
Senior
Senior
Carrington Kyle
Corson Purnell
“I wonder if Shourya poisoned Conley so he could pretend to be editor for a little bit.”
“Think me up a sandwhich.”
PHOTOS BRADFORD BECK, MASON SMITH
he Math Team placed first overall with 137 points at a tournament Jan. 17., beating second place Cistercian by 63 points. In the individual events, the team won nine out of ten competitions. The team also won a team round where students took two tests each in various math subjects, including algebra, geometry, precalculus and calculus subject tests. Each student took one test for his current math class and one open test for any other math subject. The team competed against schools including Greenhill and Fort Worth Country Day.
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any places around campus have been renamed to honor donors’ generous gifts from the Centennial Challenge. The Roosevelt Family Pipe Organ that now adorns the chapel has been a prominent edition to the campus. The polished facade pipes are up to 16 feet long, but represent only a small portion of the 3,432 pipes inside the organ, the longest of which measures 32 feet long. Other recognitions include The Riggs Family Foyer, The Addy Family Mathematics Wing, and the Jain Family Mathematics Classroom.
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ifth graders Zack Stone, Will Shoup and Mac McKenzie placed second overall in the Texas Stock Market Game sponsored by the Texas Council on Economic Education, which began Sept. 29 and continued through Dec. 5. The game granted participating teams a virtual $100,000, allowing them just over two months to simulate investments in the New York Stock Exchange and trade to make the highest profit possible. — Newsfeed stories by Daniel Cope, Bradford Beck and Noah Koecher
NEWS
THE REMARKER FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 3 4 J.J. CONNOLLY 5 FRACKING 6 MARTIN FAMILY 7 ALAN STERN
THE RETURN OF JOHN ASHTON
Thestageisset 19 years after his first introduction to the school, the man who was once a part-time teacher and attendance clerk has been appointed to the new post of associate headmaster beginning this June THE NEXT STEP Currently their head of Upper School, John Ashton will be leaving the Hockaday community — the school his daughter Mary Kate currently attends — to fill the newly-established associate headmaster post.
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ohn Ashton straightened his tie, smoothed his suit jacket and stared at the doorway, hoping to find a job. He didn’t know it was the day before the Class of 1996’s commencement. He didn’t know the girl he followed from Indiana wouldn’t last. But he did know he wanted to work here, at 10600 Preston Road – and he didn’t care what he had to do. Hi, my name is John Ashton. I teach English, I coach and I do outdoor programs. Are there any positions available?
Verna Smith, the headmaster’s administrative assistant, dumbfounded at why anyone would ask for a job in May, simply told him all the positions were filled. He tried again with many other schools in the area, but went back to Indiana empty-handed. But a couple of weeks later, he received a call from Middle School Head Warren Foxworth ’66. After working out all the details, John Ashton joined the staff here, working as a part-time teacher and as an attendance clerk in the Upper School Office. Nine years later – after stints with other Dallas schools and a temporary relocation to Washington – he had moved up the administrative hierarchy, serving as associate head of Upper School. Now coming full-circle, Ashton will become next year’s associate headmaster: the school’s clear-cut second-in-command administrator. ecause Ashton joined in the summer, none of his first experiences at 10600 Preston Road were on campus. “Not knowing much about the school, my first look at it was on the Pecos [Wilderness Trip] where around the campfire I really got to know what the school was about,” Ashton said. “I was getting my haircut after Pecos and saw a D Magazine laying there and it was the annual issue about ‘Private Schools in Dallas, plus the Mystique of St. Marks School of Texas.’ And I went ‘huh?’” From 1996 to 2002, Ashton worked as a humanities teacher, coached different sports and ended up as director of the Wilderness Program – but he soon decided that he needed a change.
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“My wife and I got married, not the girl I chased down here – I met her [my wife] here,” Ashton said. “We wanted to go off and live near the mountains and try something different, so we went to go live in Ellensburg, WA, a small town of about 15,000 people. She was one of two pediatricians there.” He returned to Dallas two years later because he felt that being close to family was important for his young daughter, Sarah Kate; in returning to the school in 2005, Ashton served as associate head of Upper School for several years, prior to being named Hockaday’s head of Upper School in 2009. Regarding his return next year, Ashton notes the opportunities offered by a top administrative role as a clear motivator – but, as he’s quick to point out, business matters represent only half of the equation “I’ve considered what it would look like to be the head of a school somewhere,” Ashton said. “Much of that involved weighing a lot of options – moving my family out of Dallas, moving to a school that I may not believe in as wholeheartedly and moving my daughter out of a school [Hockaday] that I fundamentally believe is right for her. So for me, it would take this type of position, which expands my responsibilities for the success of a school that I believe in, while also satisfying my priorities.” Headmaster David Dini expresses the utmost confidence in appointing Ashton to the associate headmaster role, highlighting the many qualities Ashton personifies as an administrator and individual. “Mr. Ashton is certainly very
likable and outgoing, but more importantly, he’s a devoted educator who invests himself fully in the development of his students,” Dini said. “He’s bright, empathetic, talented, caring and a true servant leader. I have tremendous confidence in Mr. Ashton and know that he will contribute greatly to our School.” In returning to an all boys school, however, Ashton’s student body is due to radically change; nonetheless, Ashton views his years at Hockaday as important learning experiences – instilling him with lessons directly applicable to his new role. “Obviously the culture of an all-boys school plays out differently than an all-girls school,” Ashton said. “I was the only man in a leadership position, so from a professional standpoint, I was the only man surrounded by incredibly talented women. To be on the team with them, I learned quite a bit.” hile the new opportunities presented mean only good things, leaving a job and school he loves required deep introspection. “Having been at a place I love, a place I believe in and such a fundamentally strong school, it would have taken a lot, a significant offer, to even have myself consider leaving,” Ashton said. Yet in mixing both the professional and personal spheres – his experiences as a teacher, administrator, friend, father and individual – Ashton discovered that the secret to leading a successful career path is to pursue a job that piques interest and fuels passion. “As you all make your decisions, do things that you are excited about doing, otherwise, you are going to survive five days to enjoy two,” Ashton said. “That’s not living, that’s surviving.” As a part of his belief in the school, Ashton stresses the students – teaching them, interacting with them and befriending them – as the source of his passion. Connecting with the boys, he believes, will be central to his new role. “The student piece, and the student interaction, is critical – and I’ll make sure that it’s a part of my work,” Ashton said. “Because, that’s where I get my energy… I mean, that’s what excites me about what I do everyday. There’s a connection to be made in the
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less formal times: I’ll be at the games, at the events, in the hallways. I’m really excited about now working with grades one through 12, about expanding my work to all the boys.” But Ashton’s excitement is not limited to the occupational boundaries of his work. For the future “number-two,” work and life intermingle frequently – a phenomenon he attributes to a sound ethics education. When asked, ‘what’s most important to you – and why?’ Ashton contemplated for several seconds. “If you just go to your gut response, being a good husband and father,” he said. “And then out of that, being a good man that cares about people, and does things to express his care. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all rental space… we’re all sort of leasing our ground here.” Ashton understands that, by the time a Marksman graduates, he’ll have a comprehensive understanding of any number of topics – yet the secret to a stellar education, Ashton says, transcends just subject matter. “By the time you guys leave, you’ll know your math, you’ll know your English – you can sit down at a table and have a conversation with anyone,” Ashton said. “But what you better be – what you have to be – is a man. And more importantly, you have to understand what that means, and to speak to that. Then comes the practice of internalizing that behavior – honestly, that is fundamental to whatever comes after.”
‘THE STUDENT PIECE... IS CRITICAL — AND I’LL MAKE SURE THAT IT’S A PART OF MY WORK. BECAUSE, THAT’S WHERE I GET MY ENERGY... I MEAN, THAT’S WHAT EXCITES ME.’ JOHN ASHTON
STORY CYRUS GANJI, CASE LOWRY, GOPAL RAMAN | PHOTOS ALDEN JAMES
More about the man Aside from his work, Ashton is man of various passions and pursuits. Favorite movie? Lonesome Dove. You need to watch it, it’s part of your education. It’s a long movie. You need a little bit of Gus McCrae’s wisdom in April and May when it’s getting frenetic, you need some of his wisdom to reorient yourself. Favorite book? Redeployment. It’s a collection of short stories, and the author is a Dartmouth graduate who after Dartmouth enlisted in the Marines. He served two tours in Iraq, came back and received a masters in fine Arts and now is an author. It is fiction, yet you see very clearly it is informed fiction, based upon his experiences. The stories are powerful, they really capture the human side of soldiers and war. Favorite band? Probably Sting, in his heyday. I grew up in the 80s, 90s, U2 would also be up there. What’s on the playlist right now, I got a little country going on. Favorite football team? Growing up in Indiana, the Indianapolis Colts. You gotta support your hometown team. I was a sophomore in high school, the Colts left Baltimore in the dark of night and moved to Indianapolis and all of a sudden, it was an upheaval. College ball? Indiana University, basketball particularly. I was there in 1987 when they won the NCAA championship. You stay with them through thick and thin. We never have anything to boast about in football. Food? Tex-Mex. Lions or Daises? Lions in a field of daises. I’m a father still, I’m a parent, so yes. Favorite foreign destination? I’d say England. One time, I spent a summer working in England, I cold-called for a job and I worked as a doorman in a pub on the pier extending Lions in into Brighton. Long a field of daises. I’m story short, we worked a father for five weeks, saved still, I’m a as much as we could, parent. and spent time all over in England. I got a jaywalking ticket in East Berlin, while it was still Communist. We actually frantically gave all our money to get our passports back. If you could spend an afternoon doing anything in any number of places, what would you do? Colorado, fly-fishing, the Toilet Bowl (which is the head waters below the damn of Frying Pan River, below Rudai Reservoir). I’m there, and no one else happens to be there. Second scenario? November, Kansas, pheasant hunting, with my Labrador retriever out in front, my hunting partner (which is Mr. Sullivan, by the way) beside me, his lab out there, walking the strip. Winter, late afternoon, sun’s about to set… dog’s on point, flushing pheasant, arcing shot, Mr. Sullivan takes it, dog retrieves, next shot.
N THE REMARKER NEWS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 4 J . J . C O N N O L LY 1 9 2 2 - 2 0 1 4
The man of many firsts H
e was nothing less than a legend. He wrote the words of the school’s Alma Mater. He laid the foundations of the community service program through his CanPaign food drive. He received five yearbook dedications across his years, and was awarded the first School Flag in 1955. He was the first Senior Master of school faculty, coached every Middle School sport and served as head of Upper School. He hosted countless students as a dorm master, even housing boarders in his own home for 26 years after the official closing of the boarding department on campus. For four years he served the U.S. military during World War II. For 42 more he served St. Mark’s. For the 92 of his life, he served everyone around him with the undying drive to love, teach and transform. And though his death on the evening of Dec. 11 marks the loss of a true father to the school, he will be forever remembered, admired and cherished for who he was.
PEN IN HAND Hundreds of classes, thousands of students and tens of thousands of papers awaited Connolly during his 42-year tenure. For one man, that’s a lot of grading.
The teacher
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nce he retired from the U.S. military in 1946 to begin teaching three years later, J.J. Connolly’s classes came to be understood as difficult, yet effective. During his 42-year tenure, ending in 1991, he taught Latin for 18 years and English for 24. But from the onset of his teaching career, students regarded him as a tough disciplinarian — a man hardened by war, with clear demands as to what he expected his pupils to become. “He set the standards, and told you what they were, and then expected you to live up to them,” said Gilbert Gaedcke ’53, who lived as a boarding student next door to Connolly during all four years of Upper School. “He gave a lot of homework, and tough homework. His tests were fair, and he graded fair, but he expected the maximum out of you.” Connolly arrived on campus to begin teaching during Gaedcke’s freshman year in 1949 and took up residence on the third floor of Davis Hall, which served as a dormitory until 1960. While Gaedcke never had Connolly as a teacher, he remembers both the premonition and esteem with which Latin and English students regarded him. “He wasn’t easy in any respect,” said Gaedcke. “But if he trusted you, and liked you, and thought you had potential, he would stay behind you until you were blue in the face.” English instructor Curtis Smith likewise recalls the adoration of both students and faculty towards Connolly, describing him as a “patriarch” when Smith arrived in 1977 — Connolly’s 28th year at the school. “He was highly respected, a representative of that very principle type of school, a master even,” Smith said. “He taught four classes of seventh grade [during Smith’s first years on campus], and that was the class that every seventh grader went through with a bit of fear and eventual gratitude.” And while the impact that Connolly left on his students was undeniable, Gaedcke attributes his teaching reputation to his fervent devotion to Catholicism. “He was the next thing to being a priest, if there was one,” Gaedcke said. “His commitment — to his church, to God and to principals — was the thing that he carried through, and not only in his own life. He taught it to everybody he was around, and he lived it as well as taught it. He never wavered.”
The dorm master
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ather than buying his own home in Dallas, Connolly accepted the position as Dorm Master of Upper School and .had just begun to settle in when Gaedcke was assigned the dorm next door. Though their relationship was tumultuous at times, Gaedcke fondly recalls the activities that brought him and his fellow boarders closer to Connolly, such as nightly ping pong competitions in the dorm’s recreational room. “He was a tremendous ping pong player,” Gaedcke said, “and would get everybody to try to beat him; there were a couple of guys that could beat him, but most of us could not. And then we’d sit down, sometimes in his bedroom, sit around and shoot the breeze, and discuss world subjects: sometimes religion, sometimes music — he was always playing classical music.”
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s a faculty member, Connolly was renowned for his ability to identify with students and solve school problems. His leadership among faculty is amply shown by his positions as the first Senior Master and as a representative on the “Faculty Adviser Committee,” alongside the now-retired Larry Cavitt and third grade instructor Frank Jordan. “He was a legendary teacher here,” Jordan said, “and he was revered by many of his students. As you might know, he composed the school Alma Mater, which most students here today don’t know. Of course, some of them might know of him by name, but most probably don’t, and it’s sad.”
Curtis Smith Remembers Connolly as “the patriarch”
Despite the casual side of Connolly, which was always willing to discuss philosophy or have a music-blasting contest through the wall, his disciplinarian moral code always took precedence, pushing the rebellious Gaedcke and his dorm-mates to their very best. “I always tell the story of how he was on my case all the time, and I would tell him ‘J.J., don’t I ever do anything right?’ And he’d say ‘Well, what do you want me to do Gilbert, pat you on the shoulder?’ and I’d say ‘Yea, I’d appreciate that.’ And he’d look at me, just stare at me with his hands on his hips, and say ‘When I see you acting half as good as I think you’re capable of, I’ll pat you on the shoulder, and not before.’” Gaedcke’s son Dewey Gaedcke ’82 also lived with Connolly, a generation later, but in his private home near the school, which was opened up to students after the boarding department’s closing in 1960. By working directly with Connolly, Dewey Gaedcke was able to stay in Dallas while attending St. Mark’s as a late applicant. “He lived downstairs,” Dewey Gaedcke said. “The boarders lived upstairs. But all of the extra food and household supplies were stored upstairs. He was not big on surprise inspections, but he was a strict enforcer of the rules and we were not allowed to have TV’s, Playboy’s, alcohol or food up in our rooms.” Frank Jordan Recalls Connolly’s leadership
FRESH OFF THE BLOCK While Connolly remained at St. Mark’s for 42 years, upon his arrival, he was only 27. Before his life at St. Mark’s, he earned a degree from Boston College and served in the U.S. military.
The colleague
Anecdotes such as Connolly’s love of raw jalapeños, his humorous belief that exercising wasted the limited heartbeats granted to him by God and his insistence on sending his boarders to church every Sunday are all memories that Dewey Gaedcke feels encapsulate who Connolly was as a dorm host. Yet he knows Connolly was also much more. “Connolly, unlike so many people in our culture,” Dewey Gaedcke said, “had accepted and come to peace with his unique foibles and insanity, and didn’t bother to apologize for them, or worry about being accepted. I believe he accepted himself and that was enough. People can sense such a strong inner self-reference, and they admire it. They want it.”
STORY NOAH KOECHER | PHOTOS ARNO GOETZ, PUBLICATIONS ARCHIVES
WAKE-SETTER Alongside four decades of teaching, Connolly truly made history, from recieving the first School Flag to founding the community service program.
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The friend
e it teacher, coach or colleague, Connolly held true to being a friend in every walk of life. In fact, Gilbert Gaedcke believes the depth of Connolly’s dedication is shown by the breadth of his involvement. “He was just one of those guys that took part in everything,” Gilbert Gaedcke said. As far as friendship to his community, Connolly was also known for his ability to grow group discussions from a one-on-one question asked by a student or boarder. “You could go to him with almost any kind of question or philosophical question you wanted to discuss,” Gilbert Gaedcke said, “and we could go for hours and hours.” And even when he wasn’t a personal friend, Smith acknowledges that Connolly was a mentor and a counselor — someone you could rely on for a credible, professional opinion, if not always a private heart-to-heart. “He was the revered old guard, and friendly, and not chummy at all,” Smith said. “A man you would go to if you had a problem or an issue about the school, but not necessarily a man you would go to — owing to the age difference for me — for a social problem, or something outside of the school, or if you just wanted to talk in sort of a casual way.” Many years ago, Connolly sent Gilbert Gaedcke a biblical reflection passage by Elie Wiesel entitled “The Sage in Sodom” — something that he has never forgotten for over half a century. In the passage, a pastor travels to the sinful city of Sodom, where he walks the streets and preaches for dozens of years. “And finally the man grew old,” Gilbert Gaedcke said, “and a kid walked up to him and said, ‘Old man, you continue to walk the streets and preach, but nobody listens. Why do you continue to walk the streets?’ and the man said ‘In the beginning I thought I could change man, but today I know I cannot. I continue to walk the streets and preach, to keep man from changing me.’ That was J.J. That was J.J., and I’m sorry to see him go.”
Smith draws a connection between Connolly’s great ability as a teacher and his knack for posing solutions to school problems in faculty meetings, specifically remembering him for his comments in grade level meetings which seemed to “hit the nail on the head.” “He really knew boys well,” Smith said, “and could say pithy, concise, spot-on comments that could really capture what their issues were and what we should do as teachers to get them on the straight path. I always listened to him very admiringly and respectfully.” Because Connolly was a key, long-tenured figure in the English Department when Smith arrived, he believes he was drawn to the more experienced teacher as a source of pedagogical advice and sound opinions. “He was the Davis Hall generation,” Smith said, “and to me he was always a Richard Ramirez, Agent Check out our man full of good 9400 N Central Expressway advice for me — a Steer Clear® Program. Dallas, TX 75231 young teacher Bus: 214-320-3000 When your teen gets ready — with a strong richard.ramirez.b6o5@statefarm.com to drive, we’re there. They perspective of learn safe driving and you the school and what it should get lower rates. be, and a man Like a good neighbor, who could State Farm is there.® articulate it very GET TO A BETTER STATE™. clearly. I saw him, as a colleague, CALL ME TODAY. as someone from who I could certainly get a very seasoned and wise view of what the school is about.” State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 1001000.1 State Farm Indemnity Company, Bloomington, IL
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THE REMARKER NEWS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 5 N FRACKING
BREAK NG IT DOWN
Oilgarchy What’s behind the outburst of earthquakes in the North Texas area? Project manager Davis Marsh explores.
Texas alone has used
110
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ith the Metroplex rattled by unprecedented earthquakes, many Marksmen and community members assume that fracking is to blame, and they may not be entirely wrong. In order to separate the science from the hysteria, The ReMarker consulted with AP Environmental Science instructor and Green Club sponsor Dan Northcut ‘81 to get the scientific viewpoint on the geological phenomenon and a growing trend in energy extraction.
billion gallons of water for horizontal extraction since 2005.
Let’s get started with the basics. What is fracking? Fracking, which is just short for fracturing, has been around a long time. It’s just in the last five or ten years that we’ve been able to drill horizontally a lot easier. We’ve been able to go along formations horizontally. Since we can go along them horizontally by fracturing, we’ve opened up a lot more of the rock formations that hold oil than we were ever able to get to 20 years ago or 30 years ago. So the fracturing has opened up a lot more of the reservoirs. So the fracturing itself, they’re basically putting in high pressure steam and other drilling fluids. High pressure steam is put in there and pressurized to fracture the rock and they fracture it to give the shale high permeability. So, the hydrocarbons can seep out through the cracks and we can suck them up and burn them. So the fracturing itself is not that big a deal. The amount of fractures themselves is actually pretty miniscule compared to the amount of rock around.
So where’s the danger in the process? The quakes are most likely being caused not by the fracturing, but by the injection wells that the companies use to get rid of the fracking fluids because the fracking fluids have all these different types of lubricants and different chemicals in them that help with the actual drilling or fracturing process but also happen to be toxic to us. So they have to do something with this fluid. They can recycle it, it’s more expensive, but they can use it again. They just have to filter out the shards and rock. At some point, whether they recycle it or not, that fluid has to be gotten rid of in some kind of environmentally friendly kind of way because it’s got toxic chemicals in it. One of the main ways companies like to get rid of it is by doing injection wells. So they’ll drill another well somewhere near where they’re doing a lot of other fracking. So they’ll take their waste water fluid and inject it into these other wells. They’ll drill into a permeable formation and then inject the waste water into those to get rid of it, which could be good.
What happens then?
Davis Marsh photo
The first problem is whether or not you’re going to get any of that waste water into water supplies because that would be bad on account that we all need water. We actually use a lot of ground water but not in Dallas. Say for San Antonio and Austin who Dan Northcut ‘81 Fracking’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
use mostly ground water though. So ground water gets used a lot so we don’t want to contaminate ground water because once it’s contaminated, it’s really hard to clean up. If you contaminate a river, it’s like ‘oh that’s bad.’ We can deal with it even though it’s expensive. Ground water though, you’re in a case where no matter how much money you throw at it, you might not be able to get it all out. Now the earthquakes, from my understanding from local geology professors from SMU and UT Arlington, what’s happening is the waste water wells are being put into formations
The United States is now that have a fair number of faults in them. Because the waste water has lubricants and its water, they’re basically allowing a lot of these little faults in these formations to slip and then you get your earthquake because it’s slipping along the faults. My understanding is it’s pretty much the waste water injection wells that are causing these earthquakes. We don’t live on a plate boundary so it’s not like we’re going to have a 7.0 or an 8.0 or something and watch downtown crumble into dust. The concern is that the earthquakes, if we have enough of them and they get to a certain point, it’s going to start effecting foundations, infrastructure, roads, sewer lines; that is the major concern.
What are we going to see in Texas in the long term? All other things being equal, they’ll keep fracking. Right now of course with OPEC causing prices to be so low, the impact on fracking is mostly due to what OPEC is doing, not because of what the environmentalists are saying. OPEC is basically saying ‘we’ll put you guys out of business,’ which is already happening. It’s kind of interesting because environmentally, it’s a concern but I think the bigger concern overall is we’re still depending on other countries to not mess us up. In the past few days I’ve seen the American petroleum and gas commercials on TV where it’s like ‘we create millions of jobs’ and all that kind of stuff, but there have been a ton of layoffs especially in the North Dakota region in the last couple months. I mean OPEC can affect us just like that –snaps- if they want to, even though we have all this oil all of a sudden. The big picture for environmentalists says the sooner we put big money into renewable energy the better because that way it wouldn’t matter what OPEC did.
So would you say that fracking is simply just a short-term solution to a long-term problem? The fracking? Yeah. Because even with all the fracking and all the oil that it frees up, there’s a limited amount. In five to ten years, all that oil made available will be gone. Then we will be back to where we were ten years ago when we were wondering about renewables. The sooner we get on that the better. With the renewable energy, we’d avoid all the pollution. They’re just going to continue fracking off and on. They want it because they can make money off of it. But we can also make money off of the solar and wind energy and it wouldn’t pollute, so that’s a question of society.
What do you think about nuclear power? The biggest problem with nuclear is really the waste because after the fuel is used, it’s radioactive for tens of thousands of years
#1
in global shale gas production.
and we don’t know what to do with it. When a nuclear plant is up and running, there’s essentially no pollution occurring. So even as an environmentalist, I would pick nuclear over coal any day. You just have to make sure you don’t put your nuclear plant on a seduction zone like Fukushima. That’s not where you want your plants, but American designs are pretty good. In general, the cost is much lower with nuclear power. Actually coal is dangerous, too. It’s the biggest source of mercury pollution in the U.S.
How do you feel about the media hype surrounding the fracking controversy? Well you’re going to get extremes in both directions. The trick is to recognize that there are extreme views on both sides and you just nod your head politely and then you go back to the middle and realize businesses are into fracking because it makes more money. If they can make money off of like wind and solar, they’ll do that. So it’s just a matter of putting the right policies in place that’ll move us from a fossil fuel economy to a renewable one. Then those people will happen to make money off that and it’ll be renewable. So companies aren’t trying to like poison us or anything. They aren’t necessarily the most responsible. There are definitely enough companies that are sort of irresponsible and flagrant in their use of materials and that’s unfortunate. In general the oil business is about making money and not about polluting.
The Dallas area has experienced
120
earthquakes since 2008, only
2
of which occured prior to 2010.
So do you see fracking as somewhat of “Big Oil’s” last stand? I wish it was a last stand. Unfortunately, there will be a couple more last stands we will have to fight our way through. That’ll be the oil shale in Colorado and the tar sand in Alberta. All the easy oil is gone. We burned all the easy oil in the twentieth century. So, everything we get oil wise now will cost financially and even more environmentally. The sooner we switch our energy drug from oil to something more renewable and less harmful, the better. We want our energy. There are no ifs ands or buts about it. We want that energy, but the question is if there is a way we can get it that’s better for everybody. And there is! It’s just a matter of getting everybody to come around and money plays a big part in that.
STORY DAVIS MARSH | ILLUSTRATIONS ABHI THUMMALA, DAVIS MARSH | PHOTO DAVIS MARSH
Information courtesy American Petroleum Institute, Environment America and Southern Methodist University
N THE REMARKER NEWS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 6 THE STORY OF A CUBAN REFUGEE
Cuba libre For the first time in 54 years, since President Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with the Castro-led nation, Cuba and the U.S. are engaging in diplomatic relations. For many Cuban-Americans — including varsity soccer coach Corindo Martin — the news is welcomed... but many questions remain unanswered.
HISTORICAL ROOTS Pictured far left is Martin’s mother, Martiana, in her Cuban Republic passport photo and his father, Corindo (left)in his passport photo. Martin’s sister, Gema (bottom left). Martin himself (below) as an infant, in 1962 —roughly a month prior to their permanent abandonment of the country.
T
hree years into Fidel Castro’s consolidation of a communist state — on the afternoon of July 17, 1962 — yet another Cuban family filed into a Pan American flight destined for Miami. It was a typical Caribbean day in La Habana. As the plane rose into its ascent, the city’s skyline came into view. The sun glinted off the harbor’s Morro Castle, arcing towards El Capitolio’s majestic dome. While Corindo and Martiana Martin relished one last glimpse of the lost city, their children – two-year old Gema and 42-day old Corindo – would never recall the significance of that summer day. For 53 years, the four Martin children — Gema, Corindo, Jorge and Alejandro — would hear about Cuba and have no cognitive memories of sound, sights or smells to connect with. They would be Cubans without ever having been Cuban. Now, half a century later, the Martin’s exile may be edging towards an end; with President Obama’s opening of diplomatic relation with the island nation, Cuba is no longer a landless dream. It’s a hopeful nation.
••• Even though Cuba seems to be witnessing progressive change, now math instructor and varsity soccer coach Corindo Martin and his family have reasons to doubt the nation can ever return to its pre-Castro, non-communist state. Martin’s parents are staunch anti-communists, which led them to flee the country — and lose all their belongings — briefly after Castro’s rise to power. “They never talk about it very much, but they were affluent — they were well-to-do — and they lost all of their belongings, all of their property,” Martin said, “and when they had to leave, part of the understanding was that all of their property and their belongings were going to be seized by the Cuban government.” However, the loss of belongings was trivial compared to the Martin’s familial wellbeing. Even though Cuba would always be their country of origin, the Martins understood that
the nation’s culture and customs were bound to change with the arrival of a communist dictatorship. “They [Martin’s parents] could see the writing on the wall, so they left for that reason — they saw that things were going to change, and that they’re way of life was going to disappear,” Martin said. With their forced abandonment of Cuba, the Martins adopted a newfound homeland as their own. For half a century, the family has pledged allegiance to the United States, expressing appreciation for the many liberties and opportunities inherent within the country. Corindo Martin Here pictured in 1985 while living in Miami, waits to see how Cuban-American relations evolve.
“I remember the first time I was going to leave to go to Europe, my parents said, ‘Go, play soccer, do the things that you want to do over there, and then you’re going to find out that the best place in the world – the highest standard of living, the greatest place in the world — is the United States of America, and you’re going to want to come back,’” Martin said. “That’s how they felt about the United States — they felt the U.S. was truly a place where, if you had the ability and the work ethic, then you could make of yourself what you wanted to.” Despite Martin’s upbringing in America, his Cuban heritage played an equally impactful role on his upbringing. From speaking
only Spanish in his household to regularly eating Cuban meals, Martin’s parents vigilantly assured that their children maintained a relationship with their roots. “Our house, as we grew older, we did all the things that you would think of as very American, but at the same time, we held on very strongly — especially our grandmothers — to our Cuban heritage,” Martin said. “I’m very proud of that. I’d like to believe that we take some of the qualities of being Cuban, and our pride and heritage in that, and have tried to meld it with an American culture.” Martin’s grandfathers, in particular, both suffered from the Communist regime. His maternal grandfather was a senator under the former president of the pre-revolutionary Cuban Republic, Fulgencio Batista, and was incarcerated for seven years because of his loyalties to an old, villainized administration. On the other hand, Martin’s paternal grandfather lived in fear. “The day that Castro changed the currency and outlawed U.S. money — this is back in the early part of the ‘60’s — my mom was telling me that my paternal grandfather had to sit there in front of a fireplace with U.S. dollars, burning and burning and burning them, because if you were caught in possession of them, you were incarcerated,” Martin said.
STORY Cyrus Ganji, Bradford beck | Photos Used With permission corindo Martin
The facts of reading
It’s no secret that over the past decade, reading has been on the decline. Shorter attention spans, more homework, and greater selections for entertainment have made print books seem less and less attractive. But according to recent statistics from the Green Library, reading at St. Mark’s is not as dismal as it seems.
566% increase in electronic circulation
30%
increase in print circulation
18% 9.5%
circulation of overdrive’s eBooks percentage of print books checked out
342
eBooks
4,024
print books
circulated in 2013-14
Martin’s parents, while hopeful for a free nation, have accepted the disappearance of pre-Castro Cuba. Martin himself, however, is more optimistic. “My parent’s generation was a bit different: they were more practical in the sense that ‘our Cuba’ is dead and gone forever, so we better make the most of everything here in the States,” Martin said. “So this is very interesting: they were much more pragmatic people, less romantic, just in general – they just had to, they had no choice.” Yet Martin — in accordance with his generation — believes that Cuba can, and will, be rebuilt. “My generation has always been more about, especially when the iron curtain was due to fall, ‘what can we do to get back to Cuba, will the Cuban government ever fall, and can we get back in there and really build it up and turn it into what it once was,’” Martin said. “I would love for one day, for my boys to get to see Cuba – and get to experience Cuba,” Martin said. “As a Cuban, what I’d like them to experience is an open and free nation.”
THE REMARKER NEWS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 7 N MISSION TO PLUTO
Three billion miles from home
AMONG THE STARS Three billion miles from earth and 130 million from Pluto, Stern’s quest is far from complete. But with images and readings of an unprecedented quality, the data will be worth the two year wait yet to come.
As the head of NASA’s New Horizons project, alumnus Alan Stern ’75 is finally seeing his dream unfold in front of his eyes — the longest unmanned space flight in world history.
A
lan Stern ’75 has waited 26 years for this moment. The moment after Voyager 2 began its exploration of Neptune Aug. 25, 1989, Stern spawned an idea that he could not get out of his head. All eight planets of the solar system had been explored by the space agency. Only one dwarf planet in the solar system remained a mystery: Pluto. Ever since the Voyager mission, Stern, Chief Executive of NASA’s Science Directorate, has poured his heart and soul into the New Horizons project as its principal investigator. He has stood at the helm of this complex operation that involved billions of dollars and thousands of scientists to perfect every last detail. After so many years of anticipation and hard work, Stern is within reach of his ultimate goal: to lead the first successful operation to photograph and collect data from Pluto and its surrounding satellites. “It feels great,” Stern said. “It’s like having a Christmas present under your tree for years and years, and now we are about to unwrap it.” Stern is finally seeing his dream unfold itself right in front of his eyes, as the New Horizons spacecraft began its flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto Jan. 15. Although the craft is three billion miles from its home, New Horizons is now close enough to Pluto to begin preliminary photography and data collection of the planet. “This is the first reconnaissance of Pluto and the third zone of our solar system called Kuiper belt, and we are just going exploring,” Stern said. “You’ve never seen anything like this, when you see something new. And it is actually something that the National Academy of Science has been watching on NASA’s priority list. We are going to bring people along to social media and other forms of media and hope that the St. Mark’s community will be as
interested as everyone else.” The ultimate goal of the project is simple: to ensure that 26 years of hard work and anticipation do not go to waste. “The only one objective is to make this successful,” Stern said. “You know, no one has ever tried something like this before, one little spacecraft three billion miles from home, a lot of software on board and literally thousands of Americans working on this project. And it all comes down to how well it works in real life.” Until New Horizons passes its closest point with Pluto on July 14, the craft will continuously collect and send data back to earth. “The closest it will get to Pluto is about seven thousand miles, which is pretty far away, about the distance from [Dallas] to Tokyo,” Stern said. “If we get too close we obscure the images. Imagine it like you’re flying past Dallas in a supersonic jet, if you fly too low to the ground your images will be obscured. We are flying at the perfect distance as to where we hope to take good images.” The New Horizons project is notable not only because it is the first exploration of Pluto, but also because of the innovative and cost-ef-
fective technology on board that will revolutionize future interstellar explorations. “I think the project is going to draw a lot of attention to first time explorations, which haven’t been done in a long time,” Stern said. “Our big breakthrough was how to do missions at lower costs, and I hope that this will spark future explorations which would have been discarded due to their cost.” However, the project’s future does not end at Pluto. “The spacecraft is extremely capable at Pluto,” Stern said. “It can take over a hundred times the data it will use during its flyby with Pluto, which is good. However, it will take about a year just for the information to reach the Earth again by radio.” After the data reaches Earth in the fall of 2016, Stern has a plan to further utilize the technologically savvy spacecraft to collect more data about the Kuiper belt. “We will go to NASA to ask if we can fly to shuttle farther into the solar system,” Stern said, “ in order to explore the ancient building blocks of the planets called Kuiper Belt objects which are much, much smaller than Pluto, let’s say about the size of the city of Dallas, in 2019.” Realizing his 26-year-old dream of exploring Pluto and beyond is becoming a reality, Stern attributes part of his success to the
school at 10600 Preston Road. “You know, when I was at St. Mark’s, I grew up knowing that I wanted to be a scientist or an engineer, and St. Mark’s was very helpful to me in kickstarting my career by allowing me to go to good colleges and graduate schools,” he said. “ It’s just a pleasure to look back and tell people that New Horizon’s got its start at St. Mark’s because in retrospect, I’m the guy who started it, and I came from St. Mark’s.”
New Horizons’ flight path
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR Here is the path the craft has travelled from Earth, in green, and the minimal distance remaining to Pluto. The ship will continue recording images until July 14, but the data will take roughly a year to reach Earth.
STORY ANVIT REDDY, JAMES HANCOCK | PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION CREATIVE COMMONS | ILLUSTRATIONS JOON PARK, ZUYVA SEVILLA
M THE REMARKER MALE CALL FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 8
MALECALL
THIS ISSUE BEST VALENTINE’S DATES HOW MAKE A FIRE THINGS MEN SHOULD DO ON DATES
Taking you back to the basic fundamentals of all things manly.
MAN SCHOOL
BEST DATES FOR
VALENTINE’S DAY
THINGS MEN SHOULD DO
ON DATES
1 Collared Shirt To be honest, it’s a tough thing to do to put on an uncomfortable collared shirt. But, it shows them you care. While not being able to summon the will to put on a good-looking shirt before a casual date is forgivable, wear one if you’re going to a nice restaurant or trying to make good impression.
2 BUY FLOWERS It’s surprisingly easy to do if you go to a place like Central Market, takes two minutes and costs $10. It’s always a nice way to start off the date, and a girl will never be mad at you for going out of your way to do something nice. It doesn’t have to be an every time thing, but it’s a gentlemanly thing to do.
3 EAT QUIETLY Don’t smack your mouth or inhale your food. Take your time, use utensils and chew quietly. Having a little restraint can go a long way to making a date a success. Also, try to make conversation at dinner. It’s always nice to try to engage the other person, no matter how great your meal may be.
A
s more qualified members of The ReMarker dive into the deep-seated issue of race and sexual assault, Male Call takes a more lighthearted approach to current events. With Valentine’s Day in mind, Male Call editor Philip Montgomery weighs in on his favorite dates and spots for those looking for a nice way to celebrate.
SPORTS GAME
ICE CREAM
I
t’s the 21st century, and some girls actually kinda like to go to sports games. It’s a nice thing to do for a night, and bad tickets are really cheap, especially if any of those teams are having a rough season (the best games are the one’s between terrible teams). Games are fun and easy to build a night around. If you like watching sports, it’s a cool date that doesn’t cost as much as you think. Grab dinner before so you don’t eat a mediocre, insanely expensive stadium meal and try to get there early so you don’t get caught up in traffic.
E
veryone loves ice cream. It’s cold, and as mentioned earlier, Texas is hot. Like Klyde Warren, it’s casual and inexpensive, but also less of a hassle (parking at Klyde Warren is a nightmare on a nice day). Marble Slab and Sprinkles Ice Cream in Preston Center are good places to check out. You’ll probably see people you know at both of those places though, which can be a bad thing on a date.
KLYDE WARREN PARK MOVIE NIGHT
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his is the classic first date (which Valentine’s Day isn’t the best time for, but it’s still a solid option for any couple). Dinner is nice to be able to talk for a little, but if hours of conversation isn’t your thing, the movie is a great thing to do instead of sitting in awkward silence. Also, since you’ll probably end up choosing what movie you’ll see (note: girls mostly expect you to ask them out, especially if it’s the first time), pick one that she’ll like to be nice. She’ll have more fun if she’s seeing something she wants to see.
CREATIVE COMMONS
K
lyde Warren Park is really cool. There’s great, relatively inexpensive food trucks with a lot of variety and excited little kids that run around doing hilarious things. When the weather heats up, it’s a great date place because it’s cheap, casual and stocked with things to do. There’s like a two-week sweet spot in spring every year when it’s not too hot and not too cold: take advantage of it while you can. Klyde Warren Park at 100 degrees is not as fun as Klyde Warren Park at 70 degrees.
STORY PHILIP MONTGOMERY | ILLUSTRATIONS ABHI THUMMALA, PURUJIT CHATTERJEE, CREATIVE COMMONS
4 PAY FOR THE MEAL
2020 0 2
Never, ever let the girl pay, especially on a first date. It’s just how it works. The Cubs will never win the World Series, the middle schoolers in the lunchroom will always be too terrified of Howard to get seconds on corn muffins and guys always pay for dates. It’s the way of the world, men.
5 PICK HER UP Like paying the bill, the guy just usually drives. It’s a nice thing to do so that she doesn’t have to go out of her way. Always be on time. It’s always smart to add a couple minutes so that you don’t keep her waiting. Especially if you asked her out, being late is never a great way to start off the night.
Things Men Should Do On Dates by Philip Montgomery
PRO TIPS How to
Since the dawn of man, fire has always appealed to the y-chromasomed individuals of our society. As the eighth grade campout approaches, Male Call gives tips about how to make a fire on your own, a useful skill for those who want to enjoy the outdoors without feeling the bitter winter cold.
MAKE A FIRE
2
step
F
1 S step
tart with small sticks and twigs and kindling. Put dried leaves and grass in a small pile stacking small sticks on top of it. Before you light your fire, spend a good amount of time just finding wood to use. Waiting until the fire has already started will make it die quickly.
or practical purposes matches are best. Flint is unnecessary (unless you’re Survivor Man) and really hard to use. This is the hardest part of making a fire. The fire dies pretty fast as it torches through the grass, so keep adding more. Start forming a teepee or cone shape with your sticks. This style allows air to easily enter the heart of the flames. Always remember that fires need to air and fuel to survive.
3 O step
nce your biggest logs are on, your fire is done. Prefferably, these logs are cut from dead tree trunks with a hatchet because it’s easier and looks cooler, but you can also use a saw. Sit back, relax, grill hamburgers, cook s’mores, enjoy the wilderness and look up at the starry sky around you. It’s a truly beautiful sight. Side note, fires are better and more satisfying when it’s pretty chilly outside. There’s nothing like enjoying a winter’s night by your trusty, handbuilt fire.
4
step
F
ind bigger and bigger logs to slowly pile on. Keeping up the teepee form is the most important part. Be careful putting logs on. The top parts of the flame will not burn you though, and it looks pretty cool to other people if you can hold your own against a big fire and put logs carefully and safely on.
THE REMARKER | FRIDAY, FEB. 6, 2015 | PAGE 9
MASON
S M IT H
CREATIVE COMMONS
MUSIC MAN
Frequently called the most heard, least known composer in America, Steve Arnold ‘71 started his career in seventh grade playing gigs for Hockaday parties. Page 12
PHOTO
NOISE-O-METER
DOC’S HARMONICA PROTÉGÉ
LIFE
MASON SMITH PHOTO
“It’s kind of fun and neat. It’s opened Collin’s personality up a little. I haven’t gotten him quite crazy enough yet but I’m still working on him.” —athletic trainer Robert “Doc” Browning Page 13
Upcoming THINGS TO DO IN THE WEEKS AHEAD Weekend
Next week
> “The Sound of Music,”
>
Listen to some great Celtic music at the Celtic Music Showcase. This family-friendly event will start at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Plano Courtyard Theater on 1509 H Avenue.
> “The Book of Mormon,”
> Entomologist John Watts
> “A Midsummer Night’s
will be taking tour groups around the Texas Discovery Gardens Feb. 7 on 3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The tour starts at 11 a.m. and ends in a noon butterfly release.
HANGIN’ OUT
3
with Harrison Chen
Junior Harrison Chen is more than just that kazoo player at Coffeehouse. Life Editor Avery Powell sat down with Harrison to discuss his other interests outside the classroom.
What are your current interests? I usually like to do music. I play electric guitar, classical guitar, acoustic guitar, ukulele, piano, drums and kazoo.
CRE
AT I V
E CO
MM
a musical by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, opens at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., Feb. 10 and runs until Feb. 22.
Dream,” one of William Shakespeare’s most popular works, will be showing at The Plaza Theatre, 521 W State St., from Feb. 12 to Feb. 15.
Number of times poet Ed Mabrey has won the Individual World Poetry Slam title.
ALDEN JAMES PHOTO
Where do you get your impeccable sense of style? I guess it started with my sister. She taught me how to dress and I took it up on my own after she left to go to college. What is your favorite part of your wardrobe right now? I like my fox jacket. It’s a leather jacket. I got it a while back and it’s just stuck with me.
the Inbox LIFE AROUND CAMPUS
Today the Upper School musical about a young woman in World War II era Austria who teaches children about music, opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Hockaday. The musical will continue showing throughout the weekend and all students and parents are welcome to attend. Tickets cost $12 and can be purchased on the Hockaday website.
SneakPeek
with art instructor Max Wood A behind the scenes look at the featuring art by Purujit Chatterjee development of the latest project of
When did you first start performing? I’ve done piano recitals, but I’ve never been very good at those. I would always get really nervous, and I still get really nervous. The first time that I actually enjoyed performing was with my sister’s band, named Ella. They introduced me to playing in front of a large group of people.
one of the best artists at St. Mark’s
What was your first performance at coffeehouse like? It was really nerve wracking. We played “She Said,” by Plan B. It was pretty simple, but still it was really nerve wracking. You have this adrenaline rush. The worst part is right before you play. The best part is after you finish. When I’m playing I don’t really think about it, I don’t even realize I’m playing. We’ll move onto another aspect of you life. Let’s go on to film. I hear you won a thing or two. My film got accepted into South by Southwest last year. Then over the summer, Cole Gerthoffer and I got accepted into the All American High School film festival.
S
ixteen orchestra students attended the All-State concert in San Antonio Jan. 31. The concert, comprised of one of the largest student groups ever from the school, featured solos from seniors Timothy Cho, William Su and Rohan Pinto. Other attendees included juniors Eugene Song, Eric Li, Joshua Choe and Kevin Kim. Sophomores Victor Barton, Rohan Maganti, Eric Shang, Matthew Yang, Christopher Chen, Patrick Magee and Michael Wang. Freshmen Cal Rothkrug and Andrew Li also attended the concert. “There’s a lot more of us this year than last year,” Song said. “People practiced a ton and really dedicated themselves to the orchestra this year.”
...
T
he Green Library recently acquired the Artstor Digital Library as a new database for student research. Now students will have access to digital images curated from international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives and artists. With Artstor, users can view and download these images, furthering research possibilities. “It doesn’t matter if you’re taking history, English, photography or any number of courses,” Director of Libraries and Information Services Tinsley Silcox said, “if you want to spice up your paper, you’ll have access to 1.8 million images with Artstor.”
...
SLAM POETRY Appearing at the Literary Festival, Ed Mabrey performed for the Upper School Jan. 8 and for Middle School Jan. 9. Mabrey was the first person of color to win the Individual World Poetry Slam title and most recently won the title in 2013.
ONS
With the Grammy Awards this weekend, we’ve constructed a state-of-theart device to judge some of the most talked about tracks. Page 17
A
s one of the premier ceramic competitions for students nationwide, many seniors, juniors and sophomores of the ceramics program have submitted their work to the K-12 Ceramics Exhibition in hopes of placing well in the competition. Beginning on March 25, the exhibition will showcase the award winning submissions. “I’ve noticed this year that students are really beginning to express their creativity in unconventional ways, with what we call an ‘abstract piece,’” senior Wesley Cha said. “That being said, I hope the jurors for this year’s completion will appreciate the new direction St. Mark’s students are taking.”
...
Artist: Purujit Chatterjee Medium: Oil on Canvas Technique: “All other paintings are acrylic paintings. Oil paintings take a lot more time and involvment, but he’s advanced enough.” —Max Wood
Inspiration: “This work is based on a book called ‘Crowds and Power,’ by Elias Canetti. It’s about how when you’re in a crowd, there becomes a power. Like how a drop of rain could become a storm.” —Max Wood
Critique: “The colors are fabulous. I teach them to use tertiary colors, which are used here in the spaces in the distance.” —Max Wood
Spanish exchange student Óscar García del Río recently switched homes after spending the first half of the year at senior Shourya Kumar’s house. Now García del Río will live with junior Jackson Cole for the remainder of the school year. Though García del Río is enjoying his time in the exchange program, he’ll be glad to return home at the end of the school year. “I miss the food, the Spanish food,” García del Río said. “I miss my family.” Inbox stories by Will Clark, — James Hancock and Aiden Blinn
LIFE
THE REMARKER FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 10 11 CHARLIE MARSHALL 12 STEVE ARNOLD 13 TRAFFIC MAP 17 OSCAR REVIEWS
YOUNG ARTS WEEK
Ascent into art
WOODWORKING For the YoungArts competition, senior Ben Naftalis (right) entered in the design category and senior Conner Olson (left) and entered in the visual arts category.
Seniors Conner Olson and Ben Naftalis were recently chosen as finalists for the prestigious YoungArts competition in Miami.
With more than 12,000 entrants, the YoungArts competition is often recognized as the most competitive and prestigious art contest in the nation. It serves as the sole pipeline to become a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, an honor seven marksmen in the past ten years have earned, most recently Galen Gao ‘12. “It is the only [competition] that encompasses all of the arts,” Fine Arts Department Chair Jacque Gavin said. “For YoungArts you have to be not only good, but inspired. It is something over and above the run of the mill.” Olson and Naftalis spent the week in Miami working with artists such as Jean Shin and hearing their insights on design, inspiration and making a living on art. “They were really successful artists and were doing what they loved,” Olson said. “They were having a meaningful impact in what their art was saying to people, and how that’s a viable way to have a career.” For Olson, becoming a finalist was a form of validation for his five years of work in the studio. “It was really exciting because I had known about this program for the last five years while I had been in woodworking,” Olson said. “It has always been a goal for me, so I was excited because what I had done had paid off.”
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ee me in my office after class, Ben. Senior Ben Naftalis just knew he was in trouble. He nervously worked on his rough wooden piece in the industrial arts studio until he removed his apron at the end of class and walked into wood and metal instructor John Frost’s office. Frost didn’t even say anything; he just signaled for Naftalis to look at his computer screen as he scrolled down a document. Under the familiar YoungArts competition logo, Naftalis saw his name. Instantly, he became ecstatic and relieved, recognizing his name as one of 180 finalists from around the nation invited to travel to the prestigious YoungArts Week in Miami, a six-day celebration of the arts hosted by the non-profit National YoungArts Foundation. During the week, finalists learn from elite sculptors, painters and woodworkers, view each others’ pieces and compete for cash prizes ranging from 1,000 to $10,000. Like Naftalis, senior Conner Olson was also invited to Miami for his industrial arts work. After the week was over, Olson’s view on himself as an artist changed completely. “The whole week itself really gave me a greater appreciation for art,” Olson said. “It also showed me that in order to be an effective artist, what you’re making has to say something and have a meaning. I left realizing that I’m an artist, and that I happen to use wood and metal as my medium.”
Y ASCENT “I feel like I have developed a style to it where there’s very strong geometric aspects to things,” Olson said. “I also like to mix in a little bit of chaotic redundancy and repititon. Especially in this ladder where you have the arms and the black cubes.”
oungArts applicants are required to submit five to ten pieces in their portfolios, which can be a problem for many students because in a year of industrial arts, they may only complete one or two works. “Our awards at YoungArts speak very highly of what the guys are doing and their level of commitment,” Frost said. “Due to our 45 minute periods, due to the nature of the materials and due to the complexities of their projects, sometimes, they can spend an entire
year on one project. I hope they can make two in a year, but sometimes, it’s only one. It’s a long term process.” Olson’s favorite piece, “Ascent,” was well received at the YoungArts festival and is currently on display in Miami. “My chapel chair piece, ‘Ascent,’ came from a fairly simple idea,” Olson said, “but it become really strong and resonated with a lot of people. When I took it to ISAS, the response was really good, and from there I knew I had to make some other really strong stuff to supplement it for when I submit to YoungArts.” In addition to having a strong technical foundation, Olson’s natural skills and intuition have also helped take his work to a higher level. “Olson has this intuitive understanding of how to put things together, of relationships, and I think that’s what he’s done for five years,” Frost said. “He just likes to build stuff and put ideas together that force you to think about things.” All the hours Olson has devoted to his craft of woodworking also resonate through his other subjects. “[Wood-working] has really pushed me to be creative and think outside the box with problem solving,” Olson said. “I’ve found it has given really solid tools that I use in some of my harder classes like AP physics C and calculus. Having the ability to creatively problem solve has been really useful in being able to think in different ways to conquer the issues that I come up against.” After his immersive experience in Miami, Naftalis, like Olson, learned the utility of the arts outside the classroom. “Even if you don’t think you could make it as an artist there’s always a loophole,” Naftalis said. “You can always find a way to be around the arts your whole life.”
A WINNING
Portfolio What does it take to earn national acclaim? Here are some selected works of Naftalis and Olson: BOX ENCIRCLED Made in eighth grade, Olson’s project was to make a box. The round part slides out of the base and pushes the lid up. The piece is made with basswood, aromatic cedar and mahogany.
WATCH THE THRONE For his chapel chair project, Naftalis was given an old chair and was tasked with a creative redesign.
GEOMETRIC GROWTH Olson’s pieces, unlike Naftalis’s, focus more on visual aesthetics rather than functional design.
COMING TOGETHER Similar to the Watch the Throne, Naftalis crafted this piece out of scrap wood that he sanded flat to create this table.
STORY GOPAL RAMAN, JOHN CRAWFORD | PHOTOS MASON SMITH | PHOTOS COURTESY CONNER OLSON, BEN NAFTALIS
THE REMARKER LIFE FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 11 L CHARLIE MARSHALL
Bridging the gap Instead of following the normal path to college after high school, Charlie Marshall ’14 travelled to an Illinois farm to take a gap year before going on to the University of Chicago next year.
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very year, Marksmen flock to institutions all across the country to continue their education. Whether it means studying in a small private college or a big university, almost everyone receives a higher-level education. Almost. After high school, Charlie Marshall ’14 found himself on a farm in rural Illinois, shoveling horse manure and rising to the sound of a rooster’s crow. While the experience, which was part of a gap year before Marshall attends the University of Chicago, was rewarding in many ways, living on an Illinois farm meant something more to Marshall. “My family had been farmers in Illinois for generations before they came to Texas,” Marshall said. “My grandfather grew up on a farm in west Frankfurt, Illinois. He died early this year, and I think this was my way of honoring him. I’ve always liked being outside and working with my hands, and this seemed like a good chance to get it out of my system.” Marshall’s responsibilities on the farm included everything from harvesting and weeding to feeding livestock. “The farm was pretty much exactly what you’d expect — it’s dirty and hard work but it’s enjoyable,” Marshall said. “There’s no heating or Internet or anything like that. It’s kind of like the Pecos, actually, which I loved. I thought the farmhouse would be a little more well maintained, but it was more of a rundown shack.” Marshall believes that a gap year would greatly benefit anybody considering one. “I’d imagine most people have things they want to try but
person and gain more independence, show more initiative, more responsibility and walk into college perhaps a little more cultured than most of his peers.” hile a gap year presents many benefits, spending a year away without formal education also has its drawbacks. “I think the one potential disadvantage is that you are away from the classroom and the student mentality and the student lifestyle for a year,” Gendason said. “So certainly there is going to be a transition back into the daily reading, the homework, the self discipline that is needed, but I think you can overcome that with all the advantages and the fact that you went to a school like St. Mark’s. I don’t think one year is going to keep you away so much from the day-to-day rigor of academics.” In addition to the economic considerations, a non-traditional path scares some kids off. “I think there is a mentality that the next step is four years of college and the next step after that is going to graduate school or a job,” Gendason said, “and the idea of being just one year off might frighten a lot of students and parents, even though there is no set path to be on to get into a graduate school or to get a job. The idea of doing something atypical of our school culture is probably what frightens some people.” After considering his experiences, Marshall says he’s not looking back on his decision to take a gap year. “Most people say they wish they had taken a gap year. Both the farmers say they wished they had taken some time before college,” Marshall said. “It’s good to clear your head for a while before going to college.”
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LIFE ON THE FARM In a rural farm in Illinois, Charlie Marshall ’14 works alongside fellow farmers and mentors. Farm work includes cleaning animal stables, harvesting crops and planting fruits and vegetables.
think they’ll never have time for,” Marshall said. “After college there’s a lot of pressure to get a job right away. I found something that didn’t cost any money, and a lot of gap year programs can cost a lot, so they should be careful.” Associate Director of College Counseling Casey Gendason agrees that a gap year has much to offer, especially to St. Mark’s students. “I think the advantages are that the student gets to rest his mind, catch his breath, stop running around the hamster wheel at 100 plus mph,” Gendason said. “He can see a part of the world or participate in an activity that he didn’t have time to or didn’t have access to in high school and really become a worldly
STORY RICHARD JIANG, ABHI THUMMALA | ILLUSTRATIONS ABHI THUMMALA, WILL CLARK | PHOTO COURTESY CHARLIE MARSHALL
Sound of Music opens tonight at Hockaday DEBUTS AT HOCKADAY’S HOBLITZELLE The St. Mark’s and Hockaday production of The Sound of Music will open today at the Hoblitzelle Auditorium at Hockaday. Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The musical is based on the lives of the Von Trapp family, a family living in Austria shortly before the outbreak of World War II. It contains many well-known Broadway songs such as “Edelweiss,” “Do-Re-Mi” and the title song, “The Sound of Music.” This will be the last musical to be performed at Hoblitzelle before it is torn down and replaced with a newer arts building. “I feel so honored to be a part of The Sound of Music,” said Hockaday junior Juliette Turner, who plays the part of Elsa Schrader. “So many talented students have performed on this stage in the years past and this year follows the same trend. I’m working alongside so many gifted individuals.” The cast and crew are made up of Upper School students from here and Hockaday, as well as three Middle School and Lower School students from Hockaday, along with fifth grader Xander Bowles, who play the youngest of the seven Von Trapp children. “Although I will be sad to see Hoblitzelle go,” Turner said, “I look forward to new exciting things ahead.”
ALDEN JAMES PHOTO
by Aidan Maurstad
GETTING INTO CHARACTER While on set at Hoblitzelle auditorium, Hockaday senior Charlotte Bagwell, who plays the role of Maria, and senior Kyle Weinstein, who plays the role of Captain Von Trapp, embrace while rehearsing a scene.
Do you wish to improve your Spanish speaking skills? Planning to travel this summer to a Spanish-speaking country? Do you want to do better on your next Spanish test? I can help. I have eighteen years of experience teaching at ESD in both Middle and Upper school, was educated in Madrid, Spain and am fully bilingual.
Contact Joanne Donheiser at donheiserj@gmail.com.
L THE REMARKER LIFE FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 12 STEVE ARNOLD
STEVE’S STUDIO Steve Arnold ’71 holds a guitar (left) made in 1840, one of the many guitars in his collection. Each pin (top) represents one of the more than 250 radio stations across the country where Arnold’s music plays. At his studio in McKinney, Arnold (right) composes the theme for the Ryder Cup.
The man behind the music You’ve probably heard his music, but you wouldn’t know his name. With more than 100 million listeners daily, Steve Arnold ’71 is one of the most prolific composers in America
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t’s 3 a.m. at Jessie Beck’s Riverside Casino in Reno, Nevada, and Steve Arnold ’71 is about to go on stage with his band. At this hour, his only fans are a few drunk hecklers, but he needs the money. Hopefully next week he’ll be in Vegas and all these horrible gigs will be behind him. But that gig in Vegas never comes. The band starts to fall apart. Desperate to get out of Reno but too broke to make it all the way back home to Dallas, Arnold spends his last dollar on the trip to L.A. At that time, the mid-seventies, L.A. was home to some of the world’s greatest singer-songwriters, and Arnold was looking to join the throng of iconic names and to have his
music heard by millions. Almost forty years later, Arnold is now one of the most heard composers in America, working on everything from the jingles for CNN to the Ryder Cup theme. But despite his success, hardly anyone knows his name. He’s just the man behind the music. Arnold’s prolific music career began long before that day in Reno, long before he even got to St. Mark’s. In 1966, armed with a cheap guitar from Sears, Arnold set out with a group of fellow Highland Park seventh graders to form his first band. “We ended up playing a lot of these seventh and eighth grade Hockaday girl parties,”
Arnold said. “I don’t even think we got paid. I had a band pretty much all through junior high. Then when I transferred to St. Mark’s in the tenth grade, the band stuff kind of went away.” Even though Arnold’s music stagnated in high school, he took some valuable lessons away from the school. “There was a certain amount of discipline that you had to learn to survive at St. Mark’s,” Arnold said, “and that paid off hugely for me later on.” After graduating, Arnold traveled to Reno, then L.A., trying to make a career as a musician. “The time in L.A. was probably my most prolific writing time,” Arnold said. “For some reason I was writing like crazy. I was trying to record the stuff to pitch it to record labels, but of course, I didn’t have money to record.” Arnold’s career writing jingles began when his parents flew him to Dallas to write the jingle for their retail store. But instead of going back to L.A., Arnold bought a studio in Dallas with some help from a wealthy friend, excited to finally start recording his own music and renting out his studio to make money. “Well the problem was that everyone who rented the studio was like me, they didn’t have any money,” Arnold said. “So they’d come to record and write hot checks. Pretty soon I was thinking we weren’t going to make it.” rying to stay afloat, Arnold’s younger brother, Bob Arnold ’74, went around town and knocked on a bunch of stores’ doors offering to write jingles. “My brother’s big pitch was, ‘Hey my brother is this kick-ass writer from L.A., and he’ll write you a free jingle,’” Arnold said. “‘If you like it you can buy it, if you don’t like it you don’t
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STORY WILL CLARK | PHOTOS MASON SMITH
Spanish classes take field trip to the Meadows Museum the art itself. “The idea was being able to go there with a tour guide that was able to speak a little bit of Spanish,” Toledo said. “They have that at the Meadows Museum, and being able to step back a little bit to see how the students engage with the tour guide and the museum itself was a really good experience.” Toledo also noticed how differently her students learned in the classroom versus at the museum. “This is my first time teaching Spanish art history at this level, and I really enjoy seeing how the students engage,” Toledo said. “It’s different when I’m standing in the classroom projecting pictures. For them to see it in person is just a completely different experience. It’s almost hard to put into words.” Toledo hopes her students will learn about Spanish art and grow to more deeply appreciate art in general. “I know some of them have never been to the Meadows Museum before,” Toledo said, “but even with just a small taste of art, the students can take that back with them. Hopefully they’ll remember some Spanish artists, and begin to appreciate art. Hopefully it will stick with them SPANISH EXCURSION Spanish students toured the Meadows for the rest of their lives. That is Museum last week and observed art from famous Spanish artists what I want to instill in them.” like Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez. by Corday Cruz tudents from the advanced Spanish A classes visited the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University Jan. 22 in conjunction with their studies of Spanish artists. In addition to this excursion, the advanced Spanish A-honors classes took the same trip to the museum Friday, Jan. 28. The trip supplemented the unit about Spanish artists such as Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez by traveling to the Meadows Museum, which possesses one of the largest collections of Spanish artwork outside of Spain. Spanish instructor and chaperone of the trip Isabel Toledo said seeing some of the artwork in person from the painters that they studied helped her students immerse themselves in
FRANK THOMAS PHOTO
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have to spend anything.’” Soon the duo was writing jingles for dozens of companies around Dallas, but Arnold’s most profitable clients were news stations. “I was clueless as to how to do news music,” Arnold said. “I understood music, but actually news music is almost more of a science than it is an art.” One of Arnold’s first national clients was ESPN, which hired Arnold after hearing a recommendation from one of Arnold’s local clients. ESPN then asked Arnold to create a sonic brand for their new show, “Baseball Tonight.” “Sonic branding is branding a product with music. If the music is repeated often enough, people will get it stuck in their head and the minute they hear it they know what the product is.” Now, Arnold’s clientele includes CNN, ESPN, NBC, and international stations like Al Jazeera. “Things just slowly built up,” Arnold said. “Nowadays it’s become extremely important to make a brand stand out sonically because there are so many different platforms where people can get content.” Sonic branding seamlessly and subtly conveys the tone of the advertisement, jingle, or theme song of the brand, and that’s why Arnold has been called the most heard, least known composer in America. He conveys a powerful message, but people aren’t even aware of the music if it’s done right. “Back in the L.A. days, I probably wanted to have fans,” Arnold said. “Now I just feel fortunate to do what I love doing. Music is a language, and with just a few strums on a guitar, you can create a wide variety of emotions, and that’s why I love music.”
THE REMARKER LIFE FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 13 L
TRAFFIC MAP ush
G
eB eorg
ike
p Turn
Routes to school
Sophomore Will Ingram Average commute time: 45 minutets. Wake up time: 6:00 Arrival at school: 7:45 Preston
Tollway
“I get home very late, so there are times when I don’t have enough time to get all my homework done at night. I have to wake up even earlier to get that work done. If I had a shorter commute, I’d be able to get more sleep and get all my work done rather than scrambling in the mornings to do it. I would also be able to spend more time at school shooting baskets with my friends or just hanging out.” — Sophomore Will Ingram
This map, compiled after polling 100 members of the community, represents the various paths people take to school. The darker the color of a path, the more that route is. Junior Mahir Karim Average commute time 45 minutes Wake up time 5:55 Arrival at school 7:45
“For me one of the biggest drawbacks is when there are things going on in Dallas or at St. Marks, and I forget about them and drive home. It is too big of a hassle or there is simply not enough time to go back to those events. But, I have sort of adapted to it. If I had a shorter commute, I would be able to get much more of my homework done because I often don’t have enough time to do all of it at home.” — Junior Mahir Karim
Beltline
Hillcrest
Alpha l
ra nt Ce
635
Forest
Royal
Sophomore Gordon Gunn
Walnut Hill
Average commute time 1 minute Wake up time 7:15 Arrival at school 7:30 “Living so close to school definitely makes the busy high school life easier to manage. I get to get home earlier, go to sleep earlier, get up later, and overall just be more efficient. I don’t have to worry about commute time or anything. It’s given me a lot more freedom, and I’m very thankful for my convenient location.” — Sophomore Gordon Gunn
By the numbers
NW Highway
Average travel time to school (in minutes)
Lover’s Lane
Average wake up time
Mockingbird
Average arrival time
13’49’’ 6:45 a.m. 7:39 a.m.
According to students, here are the top benefits of a short commute 1. Being able to sleep later 2. More time to do homework 3. Can easily pick stuff up from their house
STORY CRAWFORD MCCRARY | ILLUSTRATION WILL CLARK
by Daniel Cope t 3:30 each Friday, the sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar riffs and Santana’s choruses fill the training room. Injured athletes put on their ice packs as athletic trainer Robert “Doc” Browning watches his guitar student, sixth grader Collin Katz, strum all the classics with a guitar in hand and amp at his side. Katz has practiced guitar for years and plays violin and piano. After a quick encounter at a taco joint, Browning agreed to teach Katz how to play harmonica, an instrument Browning is famous for and has more than 40 years of experience playing. “We were down at Taco y Mas by Forest Lane and I ran into Ms. Katz,” Browning said. “She said Collin wanted to learn the harmonica and was wondering if I’d be willing to work with him.” They began in mid-October with the basics of the instrument. “I gave him a basic harmonica lick and sort of
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rhythm and just had him memorize that,” Browning said. “We progressed a little bit to scales and then how to play individual notes. From there I started suggesting music he could listen to online. So much of it is the feel.” Browning has played the harmonica for 42 years yet cannot read music. He describes playing as something that just comes from the creative mind. “The best way I can describe it is reading brail,” Browning said. “I don’t read brail, but from what I understand from people who read brail is that when they’re reading brail, they don’t feel the letters in their fingers. They’re feeling it obviously but there’s an instant transfer that it’s not like their fingers are actually feeling the letters in a sense. Same with the harmonica.Once you start really playing it and you understand the instrument. A lot of what you do is totally by feel.” Katz has found many differences in the harmonica’s style from other instru-
ments he’s learned, noting the musical freedom that comes with the harmonica. “It’s a little more difficult, but that’s probably because I’ve been playing guitar longer,” Katz said. “But you definitely have more freedom on a harmonica than a guitar because on guitar you might be able to throw an extra lick in the solo but pretty much you have to play it the same way they played it.” Now 30 lessons in, Browning’s strong personality is slowly starting to rub off on the sixth grader. “He’s a quiet and kind of shy guy,” Browning said. “I’m trying to get him to come out of his shell a bit. I mean he’s getting there, but you’ve got to be around me.” The jam sessions in the training room have greatly helped Katz’s stage confidence as well. “For Collin it’s been good,” Browning said. “It’s opened his personality up a little. I haven’t gotten him quite crazy enough yet, but I’m still working on him.” Browning focuses on
mostly older jazz music with Katz and introduces him to music he began practicing when he was just a beginner. Together they play the songs of Sonny Terry and John Mayall, which resonate with Browning greatly. “That was very personally touching because those were the musicians that I had most tried to emulate in my early years of playing harmonica,” Browning said. “To hear his music again was very moving because I hadn’t listened to him in maybe 10-15 years. To hear those familiar pieces again was very cool for me.”
MASON SMITH PHOTO
Trainer ‘Doc’ Browning mentors sixth grade harmonica student
JAMMIN’ Harmonica in hand, athletic trainer Robert “Doc” Browning plays some tunes with sixth grader Collin Katz in the training room and entertains senior Sam Daniels, who is clapping enthusiastically in the background.
P THE REMARKER PERSPECTIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 14-15
SEXUAL AG
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inally, David Hance understands why he spent all those years locked up. He didn’t beat the woman. He didn’t break into her house. He didn’t use a gun. He raped her. And for that crime, he spent 19 years locked up in a Texas prison. For years, he believed he’d been unjustly sentenced, that it wasn’t rape.
“In my mind, I thought rape was like the movies where
Now, more than ever, it is critical to spe openly and honestly about rape.
you take a gun, put it [to] somebody’s head, break into their house and rape them,” he said. But now, after years of therapy and counseling, Hance admits and accepts the truth. He raped a woman. With years of work with Bobbie Villareal, Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center (DARCC) executive director, Hance says he now understands what he did wrong that night in 1991 on Greenville Avenue. “Rape is about power and control,” Villareal said. “It’s not about sex. It’s a violent criminal action, and I think we forget that sometimes because we think it’s just about sex.”
‘[Rape is] to force somebody to have sex by any means without their consent. It can be with words, harm or force.’ — David Hance
Twenty-four years ago, after a break up with a serious girlfriend with whom he shared a child, Hance entered the Network Club, upset about the breakup, with the intent of having sex. He wanted to numb the pain. When he naively approached a woman who looked to be vulnerable, he thought she could replace his ex-girlfriend for the night. He didn’t consider the consequences. And it cost him his future. He took the woman to his car and began to have sex with her without her consent, establishing complete power and control over her. But after 19 years of prison and six years of therapy, Hance has been educated in sexual assault and will admit to his crime. Now, four years out of prison, he’s a boxer and personal trainer. But that wasn’t the plan. That was never the plan. ••• Hance used to think he wasn’t a rapist because he didn’t understand the definition of sexual assault — of what constitutes rape. A lot of high school and college students today are, no doubt, equally confused about the blurred lines of communication that exist — especially now, in a more casual social environment and sexually charged culture. Rape is a violent, intentional and aggressive act of power without consent, and the consumption of drugs and alcohol, compounded with a lack of communication, further muddles the area of consent. According to Barry Sorrels, a criminal defense lawyer in Texas and a former president of the Dallas Bar Association, herein lie the blurred lines that are so often associated with accusations of sexual assault.
“A lot of times it’s a question of consent, and a common allegation is, ‘I didn’t want that to happen.’ But it did,” he said. “And so that’s the issue. Sometimes there’s a gray area as to whether or not there’s consciously been consent of both parties to engage in sexual activity. And it can get fuzzy when there are drugs and alcohol involved.” According to Villareal, verbal, face-to-face communication that leads to consent is crucial to avoiding a sexual assault case, in which there are two sides to the story. “We really emphasize verbal consent,” she said. “Really and truly. You can’t just kind of know what she or he wants to do. You really need to have that consent. Otherwise, you’re engaging in risky behavior. Drunk sex is risky behavior because, technically, if you’re drunk, you can’t give consent.” In order to prevent these situations, these blurred lines must be defined — and it’s more important than ever. Comedian Bill Cosby has faced sexual assault allegations from 24 women in the past year, and Britain’s Prince Andrew faces sexual assault allegations as of early January. And when Rolling Stone published an article about alleged sexual assault at the University of Virginia (UVA) last November, the university president suspended all Greek activity on campus. Later, the credibility of the article’s sources was called into question. UVA senior Scott Popplewell ’11 explained his immediate reaction to the article’s graphic content. “I was shocked because I knew there was a problem of sexual assault on nearly every campus,” Popplewell said, “but I didn’t know that UVA was as bad as it was being described. I had never seen anything like that, and I have never seen anything that made me think or be suspicious of sexual assault in a relationship between one of my friends and someone else.” This article is just one of many examples of sexual assault happening on campuses involving a Greek life organization. UC-Berkley, Duke University and many other colleges have faced allegations regarding sexual assault. Charles Branch ’10, who was president of the FIJI chapter at the University of Texas, thinks Greek life has strayed from its roots. “Instead of standing for friendship, academic pursuit and service to the community, it’s more about who can have more fun,” Branch said, “who can throw the best parties on the college campus, who can get the best looking girls or guys. When you create an atmosphere like that, one that really strives to make that its main priority, it’s easy to lose focus on why you have a fraternity and also
why you’re in college.” However, Branch believes th current stigma is not a death sent life, the system must change, start assault. “If there’s going to be a future Branch said, “they are going to hav act up and really start respecting respecting the institutions that th a grip of what college is all about.” Hockaday junior Sadie Lidji i Teenage Communication Theate nization in which high school stu skits and talk about current socia sexual assault. Emphasizing a lac cation, Lidji believes the blurred l sexual assault can be traced back almost a taboo topic in America. “On the one hand, America is sessed and sex is everywhere,” Li on the other hand, abstinence-on everywhere. You have a lot of con as a teenager in America, and it’s r think critically about this stuff be times you get really mixed signal teenagers don’t get an education and sexual abuse that is useful to Director of Counseling Barba wishes the school did more with educating about interpersonal re and sexual violence. Whether thr sions, forums or presentations, sh importance of both education its ing appropriate learning environm information. “Those are ongoing discussio should have with their families,” s think the educational environme where you can provide informati more of that. I think people need more and that you all need to be e Without these important con situations like sexual assault beco And building on Van Drie and Lid “useful education,” Branch believ sions are the starting point for gre change in the world. “Part of that goes back to how plays this type of stuff in our cultu “and how sexual education is tau so I don’t think a few conversation make it go away. It’s a deeper prob need to come to grips with and ac about.” Van Drie attributes the incre to sexual violence in the media to permissive to topics like sex and g “I think as a society, we’re mu to talk about sexuality,” she said, “
STORY CAMERON CLARK, PHILIP SMART, SHOURYA KUMAR | ILLUSTRATION ZUYV What makes it sexual assault?
educate YOURSELF
One of the best ways to prevent getting into precarious situations is understanding the definition of sexual assault and ways to protect yourself.
1. Sex with a person who says “no.” 2. Sex with a minor (younger than 17 years old); even consensual sex with a minor is illegal. 3. Sex with someone who is unconscious, drunk, etc.; people cannot give consent in this state.
“Duress can be just applying undue pressure as opposed to a direct threat of physical violence. So there’s a lot of different situations where there could be evidence of sexual consent — but, it’s mostly [from] force, threat, duress and lack of consent.” — Criminal defense lawyer Barry Sorrels
How do you protect yourself from potentially false accusations? 1. “An ounce of preventions is worth a pound of cure,” according to Sorrels. So, avoid putting yourself in situations that could lead to false accusations (parties with lots of drugs, alcohol, etc.). 2. Use good judgment and avoid impairing it with alcohol, drugs or other stimulants. 3. Respect the rights of the other person in the situation. 4. Treat others like you’d expect them to treat you in the situation — in other words, just treat them like a human being. — information from criminal defense lawyer Barry Sorrels
GGRESSION
It’s time to talk.
eak
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ons that people she said, “but I ent is also a place ion. I’d like to see to talk about this educated.” nversations, ome more likely. dji’s calls for a ves these discuseater societal
w our society disure,” Branch said, ught in schools, ns are going to blem that people ctually think
eased attention o a culture more gender relations. uch more willing “and I don’t think
this was true 20 or 30 years ago, but I still think it is very difficult for women to report sexual assault. I think women are more willing to speak out because there’s greater understanding that rape is about violence and aggression and not about sex. I think often women are afraid to come forward and report because of what our society does to women who do report — stigmatize them, shame them and engage in a blame-the-victim mentality.” At the most basic level, Lidji wants people to come to grips with morality — blurred lines become clearer when recognizing another person’s human dignity. “My main instinct is just to be treated like a person,” she said. “It sounds kind of obvious, but I think a lot of times, you can either feel objectified or dismissed. I feel like it’s on one end of the spectrum.” Villareal, too, advocates the importance of treating others like human beings by respecting others and their boundaries. “Being informed, getting consent, knowing your rights and respecting another human being,” she said. “That’s what it all comes down to. That’s all it is, respect and boundaries. And if we could have that, then we wouldn’t have crimes.” ••• Ten months ago, Hance wrapped his hands in white cotton gauze and light brown tape and slipped on a pair of red boxing gloves. He stepped into the ring in the Amon Carter Center in Fort Worth. Across from him was Cody Perez — a fighter more than 20 years younger than him. But the money Hance made that night wouldn’t go toward a new house, new clothes or a new car. Instead, he gave much of those earnings to the DARCC. “The people that I hurt, I’ll give back to them because I understand that for some victims, their whole lives are completely ruined,” Hance said. “They drop out of school, or their jobs are lost and [more]. And I always tell myself that I want to try to make an impact to try to get them back on the right track.” Twenty years ago, he might’ve thought differently. Twenty years ago, he would’ve kept it all. But then again, 20 years ago, he raped a woman — a crime he would pay for with nearly two decades in a jail cell. But now Hance spends both time and money trying to prevent rape by leading fundraisers for the DARCC. “You don’t need to be out late at night drinking or at the clubs because there’s so much more to life,” Hance said. “That’s not really what it’s all about. And when you get 20 years [in prison], you realize that.”
‘We would love to be involved with boys schools because you all can change [these things]. You all have the power... you’re still the majority of foundation leaders. You’re still the majority of members of boards of trustees... So if we as a community want to change society, we have to get you all on board.’ — Bobbie Villareal, executive director of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center
Men, too, can be victims A
lthough the majority of sexual assault related crimes are committed by men, both males and females have been and continue to be victims of sexual assault. According to Director of Counseling Barbara Van Drie, one in six boys have been sexually abused, and males generally report sexual assault less frequently. Approximately three percent of American males have experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault/rape in their lifetime. “Men are also the victims of sexual violence and if we understand that it’s difficult for women to report,” she said, “recognize that it’s likely even more difficult for men who are victims of According sexual violence.” to the Rape, Bobbie Villareal, executive Abuse & Incest director of the Dallas Area Rape National Crisis Association (DARCC), says Network, that the DARCC is contacted by about ten percent many men as well as women. “In this hospital and other of victims of sexual hospitals, we see men as well as aggression in women,” she said. “In our counthe U.S. are male. seling, we see men as well as women. And on our hotline, a lot of men actually call for help.” People view sexual assault as a problem for only women, but many men also have to deal with the hardships that come with being a victim of rape. “We kind of go in there believing that this only happens to women, but that’s not true,” Villareal said. “It happens to both sexes.”
VA SEVILLA
1. The absence of “no” does not mean “yes.” 2. Consent is not static. If someone is uncomfortable or wants to stop having sex, they have the right to revoke their consent. — information from Executive Director of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center Bobbie Villareal 3. Consent can become blurred and cannot technically be given when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. “Not knowing whether or not you have consent and consequently introducing the possibility of sexual assault, is just one of the reasons why you shouldn’t have sex outside of a trusting and committed relationship.” — Director of Counseling Barbara Van Drie
What can our society do to prevent sexual assaults? 1. Men need to stop objectifying women in their speech because it leads to them (men) actually thinking of women as objects. “Because [men] objectify [women] through their speech, it kind of leads to them thinking about them that way as well and maybe then committing rape or assault. Being cognizant of how you are talking about someone is totally under your power.” — UVA senior Scott Popplewell ‘11 “One thing I want to reinforce would be to try and make a habit of listening to and amplifying the voices of sexual assault survivors because that’s the only way you can stop the cycle of violence. Realizing that you aren’t entitled to the body of anyone is also important.” — Hockaday junior Sadie Lidji
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID HANCE
Things to know about consent
WORKING TOGETHER Shaking hands, Hance and Villlareal wrap up a meeting at the DARCC. Hance has done fundraisers for and donated some of his boxing winnings to the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center.
L THE REMARKER LIFE FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 16
THE REMARKER VIBE FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 17 V
THEVIBE
THIS ISSUE PARKER’S PICKS LOUDEST TRACKS HEADLINERS
Reviewing the very best and very worst of it all
PARKER’S
audience into the action of the movie. Birdman truly soars.
Julianne Moore (Still Alice) Best Actress
I
t is hard to watch a person break down in front of you. It was hard last year watching Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine break down in her eponymous film and it’s hard again this year in Julianne Moore’s Still Alice. As Alice slowly begins to forget her family owing to her early-onset Alzheimer’s, it becomes impossible not to sympathize with her character and her continuous struggle against unbeatable odds. And all of this relies on a great performance from the leading lady — Julianne Moore delivers. Watching the film, I actually began to forget it is a film owing to her performance. It felt more like watching a close friend slowly slip away from me and into darkness. Oh, and if that doesn’t convince, you, there’s always the fact that we didn’t have to watch her slash Neil Patrick Harris’ throat.
Reviews Specialist Parker McWatters makes Academy Award predictions
Birdman Best Picture
T
his is the best acted movie, hands down. With usually comedic actors like Zach Galifinakis and consistently good actors like Edward Norton, the film creates some of the best performances of the year. Leading the charge is Michael Keaton, perhaps the most underrated actor of the last few decades. The film exists seemingly in one continuous shot, giving the feeling of a play to the entire proceeding. The film’s darkly humorous tone (Is he crazy?) creates a bubbling atmosphere that will enthrall both the casual moviegoer and the die-hard cinema junkie. verall, this has to be the best shot, directed and acted film of the entire year not only because of its electric script but also because it incredibly places the
H
Michael Keaton (Birdman) Best Actor
O
them. His performance knocks every other nominee out of the water (helped by a lack of a Jake Gyllenhaal nomination) and raises Birdman to a level high above what the film could have been without him. is role in the film seems semi-autobiographical, given his fading stardom after playing a superhero in real life and in world, but it could not matter less. Keaton does something that none of the other nominees this year truly did, and that was act. He didn’t gain muscle (Bradley Cooper), wear a fake nose (Steve Carrell), rest himself in a repetitive (although great) disability (Eddie Redmayne) or Cumberbatch around the entire movie. He acted through every one of Birdman’s ten-minute continuous shots, and shouldn’t that be why the person wins the best actor Oscar? For truly acting?
S
o… being Batman apparently makes you a good actor. Three Batmen have won Oscars (Yes, Ben Affleck counts) and Keaton seems to be about to join
Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Best Director
Y
eah, I loved Birdman. I loved it a lot more than Boyhood, and only two films came close to my love of it: Whiplash and Nightcrawler (which is criminally underrepresented). However, I can still admit the accomplishment that was the direction of Boyhood. The thing
took twelve years to shoot, and the guy actually cast his daughter in one of the main roles. Even with that usually detractive action (I’m looking at you, Jaden Smith), the film worked. Heck, even if the film had turned out to be bad, Linklater would still probably be near the top of my best director list. But it’s not bad.
And all of this was because of the visionary direction by Linklater over the twelve years of filming. Say what you will about the gimmicky nature of the film, Linklater’s direction truly is an accomplishment. Catch the Oscars on ABC at 6 p.m. central time Feb. 22
FILM REVIEWS PARKER MCWATTERS | PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION CREATIVE COMMONS GRAMMYS
UP NEXT
Noise-o-meter
Head iners Concerts Alice Cooper
We’ve picked the tracks generating the most buzz at the 53rd Grammy Awards this weekend, both good and bad.
Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. Verizon Theatre
The Avett Brothers
Feb. 28 at 8:30 p.m. South Side Ballroom
Fleetwood Mac
March 4 at 8 p.m. American Airlines Center
Because the Internet
Albums
Melophobia
The Districts
Cage the Elephant
A Flourish And A Spoil Feb. 10
Nominated for Best Alternative Music Album
Kodaline
Coming Up For Air Feb. 10
Imagine Dragons
Smoke + Mirrors Feb. 17
Modest Mouse
Strangers to Ourselves March 3
Movies
Morning Phase Beck
Childish Gambino
Nominated for Album of the Year
Shake it Off
Nominated for Best Rap Album
Taylor Swift
Nominated for Song of the Year
Thundering
Rowdy
Noisy
Deafening
Turn Blue The Black Keys
Nominated for Best Rock Album
Loud
Bangerz
Miley Cyrus
Nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album
The New Classic
Hozier
Nominated for Song of the Year
Iggy Azalea
Nominated for Best Rap Album
Quiet
Take Me to Church Dull
Silent
Jupiter Ascending Feb. 6
Seventh Son Feb. 6
Kingsmen: The Secret Service Feb. 13
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Feb. 20
Focus
In
Because the Internet Childish Gambino The infamous “Sophomore Slump” must mean nothing to ‘Bino. Rolled out with an acompanying screenplay to turn this record from a listen into an experience, the Atlanta rapper’s second studio album didn’t dissapoint. Gambino continues to flaunt his wit in every rap verse, and supports his skillful flow with a slew of R&B style singing solos dotted throughout the album. He tried something new and tried it just right.
The New Classic Just because radio hits like “Fancy” and “Black Widow” Iggy Azalea have hijacked pre-teen ears across the nation doesn’t earn the album a Grammy. Or even a nomination. It’s pop in rap’s clothing. Not even good pop at that. Iggy’s exorbitant amount of hip-hop culture appropriation puts her at the bottom of our list. If Iggy wins a Grammy, this may be our last review. Morning Phase Beck Beck has been all over the place in his 20-plus-year career, but this time he dedicated himself to creating melow, toned-down tunes. And he nailed it. Beck expertly utilizes soothing background vocals and acoustic guitar to create this effect without falling into that dreary tone of many singer songwriters. Bravo, Beck.
ALBUM REVIEWS WILL CLARK AND AVERY POWELL | PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION CREATIVE COMMONS
COLUMNS. Personal opinion is expressed through by-lined columns, which appear throughout the publication.Advertising. Contact the business staff at 214.346.8145. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Inclusion of an advertisement in these pages is not an indication of an endorsement by The ReMarker, any of its staff members or St. Mark’s School of Texas. DISTRIBUTION. Press run is 3,800 copies. Copies
are provided free of charge to students, faculty and staff at various distribution sites on campus and at our sister school, The Hockaday School. More than 2,600 copies are mailed out to alumni courtesy of the school’s offices of External Affairs, Development and Alumni divisions.
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along with archival copies, can be viewed online at the school’s website, www.smtexas. org/remarker.
READER INVOLVEMENT. The ReMarker encourages
reader input through letters, guest columns and story ideas. Contact the appropriate editor for submissions. Suggestions will be given due consideration for future publication.
student newspaper of St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, TX 75230. 214.346.8000 www.smtexas.org/remarker
MASON SMITH PHOTO
ARNO GOETZ PHOTO
The recap of the final three seconds of the St. Mark’s vs. ESD basketball game (see Target practice). Page 19
Literary Festival guests, Page 20
EDITORIAL
CAN WE TALK?
That question seems appropriate for us here as there seem ways to improve communication among faculty, students and administrators. Here are three areas that could be improved:
TELEVISIONS
SCHOOLWIDE EMAIL
BULLETIN BOARDS
Students need to be sent weekly schedule
Fresher news needed immediately
W
hile this old fashioned technique of communicating around campus may be getting phased out over time, we believe that they are still an extremely effective way of communication. We, however, are not using them as well as we could be. In the Eastern upstairs wing of Centennial Hall, near the English classrooms, there are bulletin boards, but we continue to fail to utilize them. Earlier this year, there were papers on the board announcing a 2010 writing contest. While it is nice to know we were using the boards back in 2010, it is not nice to know that we have not updated since 5 years ago. Even though bulletin boards might not seem as conventional as they once did, we believe that if we update them and fill them with relevant and important information, then they will begin to work their way back into a very effective way of communication.
I
n the day of instant communication, it seems the school is not utilizing this privilege because we are not always communicating effectively with email. It seems that each week not every advisor is on the same page in getting across the weekly schedule, so we think that we could utilize the grade wide email in order to communicate effectively. We believe that an effective way to solve this problem would be for the class presidents of each grade to send out a grade wide email containing the weekly schedule. If so, then there will never be an excuse for a student to miss a special meeting because he will receive an email on a weekly basis. This would be another way to enhance the punctuality of our community as a whole, for everybody would always be on the same page.
@ ILL
UST
any times, the televisions that line Centennial Hall and the Commons portray images to which we do not pay close attention. Whether they are spitting out random news headlines or even telling the weather, we stroll on by, not thinking twice about even daring to read the screens. We love the idea of communicating around the school campus easily and efficiently, but we believe that the usage of these televisions are not being maximized and taken advantage of as much as possible. We urge the Development office to maximize the effectiveness of these useful tools by updating them and filling them with more school relevant information. For instance, with the lack of knowledge about last trimester’s community service hour due dates, we could flash the due date of the hours so that students would have no excuse for missing the deadline. However, this would not be the only advantage of these televisions. While the screens do show the athletic schedules, we believe that it would be to our benefit if they could show important assemblies, class meetings, conferences, etc. While the screens do show some relevant information now, we believe that the effectiveness of them could be extremely increased, an act that would benefit our community as a whole.
ION
M
R AT
More frequent updates would maximize effectiveness
LA
EDITORIALS. The newspaper’s opinion will be presented in each issue in the form of editorials, which are clearly labeled and appear on the Opinion pages.
Robert Zorn ‘75 writes a letter thanking the school for his opportunity to attend the Literary Festival. Page 20
MA
10600 Preston Road, Dallas, 75230 or via email at remarker@smtexas.org. Letters should be brief and signed, although the writer may request anonymity. Letters may be rejected if libelous or obscene material is contained therein.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
UM
LETTERS. Send submissions to the editor at
We suggest appointing a student Lion Tracks committee comprised of seniors. Page 19
I TH
COVERAGE. The ReMarker covers topics, issues, events and opinions of relevance and interest to the St. Mark’s School of Texas community.
STUDENT INPUT IN LION TRACKS
ABH
EDITOR IN CHIEF MATTHEW CONLEY MANAGING EDITOR SHOURYA KUMAR CREATIVE DIRECTOR ZUYVA SEVILLA DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR ALEX KIM HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER MASON SMITH ISSUES EDITOR VIK PATTABI SENIOR CONTENT EDITOR CYRUS GANJI OPINION EDITORS CAMERON CLARK, WILLIAM CALDWELL BUSINESS MANAGER ROBY MIZE NEWS EDITORS BRADFORD BECK, NOAH KOECHER LIFE EDITORS WILL CLARK, AVERY POWELL SPORTS EDITORS ZACH NAIDU, PHILIP SMART GRAPHICS DIRECTOR ABHI THUMMALA CAMPUS COORDINATOR RICHARD JIANG PHOTO EDITOR ALDEN JAMES MALE CALL EDITOR PHILIP MONTGOMERY REVIEWS SPECIALISTS JACOB CHERNICK, PARKER MCWATTERS PROJECT MANAGER DAVIS MARSH COPY EDITOR WILLIAM SYDNEY CARTOONIST WALTER JOHNSON STAFF ARTISTS JOON PARK, KILLIAN GREEN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS SAM EICHENWALD, ARNO GOETZ, WESLEY HIBBS, GRAHAM KIRSTEIN, CAM LAM, ADAM MERCHANT, CONNER OLSON, TIM O’MEARA, NICO SANCHEZ, FRANK THOMAS, CORBIN WALP, MATT WOODBERRY STAFF WRITERS RISH BASU, AIDEN BLINN, DANIEL COPE, JOHN CRAWFORD, CORDAY CRUZ, JAMES HANCOCK, CASE LOWRY, AIDAN MAURSTAD, CRAWFORD MCCRARY, MATTHEW PLACIDE, GOPAL RAMAN, ANVIT REDDY STAFF ASSISTANTS ANDRE ARSENAULT, DAVIS BAILEY, KAL BUSCAINO, CARSON CROCKER, RETT DAUGBJERG, BLAKE DAUGHERTY, ALEC DEWAR, WILL FORBES, ELLIOT FORD, ZACHARY GILSTRAP, JOHN GUNNIN, ALAN JIANG, ZOHEB KHAN,HENRY KISTLER, CANYON KYLE, CHRIS MCELHANEY, MIKE MAHOWALD, NICK MALVEZZI, NAFTAL MAUTIA, AUSTIN MONTGOMERY, WASEEM NABULSI, SEUN OMONIJE, ETHAN PITTSON, REECE RABIN, OMAR RANA, JIMMY RODRIGUEZ, KOBE ROSEMAN, SAM SHANE, MOHIT SINGHAL, SAM SUSSMAN, OLAN WARE, WILL WOOD ADVISER RAY WESTBROOK
COMMENTARY
THE REMARKER
THE REMARKER | FRIDAY, FEB. 6, 2014 | PAGE 18
what
comes to
mind?
We all have a story. Perhaps, as students, we don’t have enough of a story to write an entire autobiography, but we certainly know enough to sum up what we’ve experienced in our life so far in a few words.
A stranger would never guess that I... ...Hate to wear ties
...Don’t like soda
Head of Middle School Warren Foxworth
Sixth grader Trevor Crosnoe
...Can’t stand people who don’t like Indian food
...Love Star Wars
Junior Nico Sanchez
Assistant Director of Athletics Josh Friesen
...Like churning butter
...White water kayak
Senior Carrington Kyle
Sophomore Frank Thomas
...Hate people who ask that question
...Am an usher at my church
Senior Wyatt Martin
Senior Justin Jones
NEXT MONTH’S PROMPT
‘I learned the hard way that...’
Submit your response to 16clarkc@smtexas.org for a chance to be featured in next month’s paper.
THE REMARKER COMMENTARY FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 19 C
EDITORIAL “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
LION TRACKS
Student input needed for Lion Tracks revision A
D
id terrorists ever have a sense of humor? It’s a strange question, I know, but one that I can’t deny asking. After all, before they were terrorists, they were people. And people like jokes. Maybe terrorists never developed, nor ever had the chance to develop, a funny side. Maybe they were too busy facing political strifeW or too occupied seeking purpose amidst the chaotic clutter of their lives. Whatever the diagnosis, one thing is certain: Stephane Charbonnier, Jean Cabut, Phillip Honoré, Bernard Maris, Bernard Valhac and Georges Wolinski did have a sense of humor, and — just a month ago — were killed for expressing it. These Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, along with six others, were individually targeted as part of a brutal terror attack in Paris’s 11th arrondissement – an inconceivably despicable act of violence instigated, fundamentally, by cartoons. People issued varied responses to the attack. Some blamed French authorities for lackadaisical terrorist tracking, and some blamed U.S. personnel for limited action against Arabian terror cells. Yet some – for some reason – blamed the cartoonists. If the cartoonists are truly at fault, then many of our comedic icons – Seth McFar-
t the beginning of each school year, the student body is asked to read through Lion Tracks, a set of school guidelines created by faculty and administrators located in the back of the school’s directory. Thorough and informative, Lion Tracks does, for the most part, an adequate job of creating a compilation of all of the school’s guidelines. Even so, some improvements can be made. For example, the Acceptable Use Policy for technology is included, but the new Digital Device Policy, which was made official in the 2013-14 school year, is not explained fully. Another example can be found in the chart that provides a detailed description of the uniform requirements. But some of the cold weather uniform options are left out of Lion Tracks. These kinds of issues can be resolved by appointing a student committee including our Student Council president and vice president along with the Senior Class president to give input for the annual revisions of Lion Tracks. We hope Headmaster David Dini will appoint a committee including the Student Council president, vice president and Senior Class president, who can give their input when Lion Tracks is revised for the following year. That way, those who must follow this code of conduct at the school can have input for its revisions.
CYRUS GANJI
lane, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Sacha Baron Cohen and many, many more – are just as culpable. And they’ve done nothing wrong. Actually, they’ve done a lot of things right. Who else can inject laughter within the triteness of politics, or alleviate the levities of religion, war and life? Who else can cast light on such seemingly dark times, or issue playful critiques on absolutely ludicrous world figures? Many— here in the community, on CNN and in Paris — have argued that the cartoons were excessively offensive. While equally horrified by the ensuing violence, they seem to believe that the journalists instigated the injustice. That thought path, however, implies something much more serious: that Charlie Hebdo was at fault in publishing certain images… Why? Why are people so sensitive to such trivial matters as cartoons? Cartoons have never murdered people in cold blood. Cartoons are incapable of violence, and — unlike words — are solely meant to instigate laughter via a lighthearted, witty parody of current affairs. But, if one were to find the image of cartoon Muhammad offensive, you – just like the cartoonist — have the right to speak your mind. Write a letter to the editor.
Post a Facebook update. Launch a twitter movement. Organize a demonstration. There are millions of ways to civically voice discontent — ways in which one can be heard and understood. That ideal, the voicing of discontent, is the fundamental pillar of free speech — the basis from which journalism began. These cartoonists openly illustrated their beliefs and, as a result, were killed. But, if faced with the choice of censoring their beliefs for their own safety or continuing expression at their own peril, it’s doubtful any would’ve chosen the former. That brings us into the equation. You, as a reader, may not agree with all the content in The ReMarker. You might not agree with the message of this column. But, as a direct result of our divergences, you and I share a mutual obligation. The content of a publication is irrelevant to its ideal: above any message, the just transmittance, acceptance and acknowledgement of that message is fundamental to free, open thought — and thus, free, open society. Nothing can rightfully ease the loss of these twelve individuals. However, their vigilant protection of an ideal is reassuring, optimistic proof that free speech is alive and well. And, as demonstrated by the Unity Rally in Paris and the global movement Je Suis Charlie, free speech may just be stronger than ever.
ALCOHOL BAN
Letter to the editor
ecently, Dartmouth College banned hard liquor on campus in an attempt to try and prevent situations involving sexual assault. We commend Dartmouth for taking this action and encourage other colleges and universities to take the same measures. A huge step could be taken in preventing sexual assault by banning hard liquor and other strong stimulants from the campuses at which these situations continue to be a major issue.
Alum: thanks for the opportunity
To the editor: It’s hard for me to believe that second grader Bobby Zorn first stepped onto the campus at 10600 Preston Road fifty years ago! Because of the wonderful experience my association with St. Mark’s has afforded me over the years, it was a particular joy and honor for me to participate in this year’s Literary Festival. This letter, really, is directed towards the
parents of those attending the school today. During the Lit Fest and its associated activities, I had the opportunity to get to know quite a few young Marksmen. In my long association with the school, I’ve never encountered a more amazing group of boys—not only in terms of brightness, but also with respect to personability, enthusiasm, and good-naturedness. Parents: you are doing a fabulous job raising your sons, and perhaps you’re the ones
target practice Water fountains | off target (again)
MASON SMITH PHOTO
Really? That’s all we have to say to those who leave the water fountain spouts facing outward in Centennial and Hoffman. No, you don’t have to be the sharpest tack in the drawer to realize that the waterspout is pointed at your shirt and not your mouth, but sometimes, if you’re in a hurry, it happens. It happens to all of us. Finally, to the guys who run up and turn the spout while someone is drinking water: C’mon, man.
Junior Parker Dixon | a literal bullseye Down by one point with three seconds left in the game, the varsity basketball team needed a bit of magic to pull off the win against rival ESD. And magic they got, from none other than junior Parker Dixon. On a busted inbound play, Dixon caught the ball and quickly buried a three, holding his follow through as time expired. They didn’t even need a three to win, but he made one anyway. Guess that’s just how clutch he is.
who should be writing a book. (Of course, the faculty and administration deserve great credit as well for shaping our boys’ character.) Young Marksmen, thank you again for inviting me to participate in this year’s Lit Fest—and for allowing me to add my voice to yours. Please know that my door will always be open to all of you if I can be of help. All the best, Robert Zorn ‘75
things that hit or miss their marks at 10600 Preston Road 10:30 activities | late for fourth period To be clear and simple, 10:30 periods are somewhat of a misnomer. More properly, they should be named the 10:30 – 10:55 periods. That’s right. 10:55. From a student’s perspective, there’s nothing sweeter than a full five minutes to saunter from one end of campus to another; or, if need be, cram for a last-minute test, finish an undone worksheet, contact a teacher with questions, or – and by far most importantly – grab a box lunch. Here, at 10600, administrators, teachers and students alike take punctuality exceedingly seriously – let’s keep our actions in accord with such a spirit.
CAMERON CLARK PHOTO
Dartmouth’s step in the right direction R
Winter attire | it could improve We are certainly grateful for the opportunity to wear sweatpants as we arrive at school? But what’s the point? For that five minutes that we walk from the parking lot to our classes, why would we bother wearing sweatpants? Perhaps we could create some kind of compromise where the students are allowed to wear sweatpants throughout the school day if they are gray St. Mark’s sweatpants. Then we’d all be happy. And warmer.
C THE REMARKER COMMENTARY FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 20
Ferguson a different perspective
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know just as little as the next guy about what was actually running through Darren Wilson’s head in the moment he shot Michael Brown. For all I know, perhaps he was racially biased in his decision-making, but I feel that it is wrong to simply make an assumption about that in either direction. Although I’m not taking a stance on the racism aspect of the situation, I do firmly believe that our focus lies in the wrong issue regarding Ferguson. Wilson’s potential racial bias is certainly a debatable topic and something that can be speculated upon, but I feel that as a country, we are missing what must be discussed in
CONCISE OPINION ON CAMPUS MATTERS
the good LITERARY FESTIVAL
ARNO GOETZ PHOTO
This year’s Literary Festival was undoubtedly a success. With a broad selection of authors, including a St. Mark’s alum, the festival was definitely able to keep most students invested. The special assembly beforehand on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. featured poet Ed Mabrey’s recitation of his slam poetry, which was possibly one of the most entertaining assemblies we’ve had here. Kudos to the people in charge and thanks for all of your hard work. We were all quite impressed. Let’s do this well again next year.
Michael Brown was 18 years old—the same age as many of our senior Marksmen at the time of his death. So, think about this hypothetical scenario for a moment: God forbid one of our fellow Marksmen finds himself in an unfortunate situation similar to that of the one Michael Brown encountered in Ferguson, how would we react? Would we base an assumption that the teenager was shot by the cop because he was Hispanic or Asian or black or white? I hope that our primary concern would lie in the fact that a teenager was shot by a police officer under controversial circumstances, and not whether the cop based his decision to shoot off of the color of the young man’s skin. Sure, some speculation (but no definitive statements) of racism on Wilson’s behalf could certainly be deemed appropriate in the case of Ferguson, but what irritates me is that many people don’t seem to be concerned with the death of the teenager himself in Michael Brown. Rather, they are simply worried about what this killing of an African American teenager represents in their eyes. And because of these seemingly more important yet arguably less relevant issues that are raised, it’s as if the terrible death of the teenager himself carries negligible importance. Although Michael Brown has made more headlines than any other human being in the past few months, he lies somewhat forgotten as an individual, buried under the countless protests all directed toward the potential racism of a cop. What should these protests be directed toward should someone disagree with Wilson’s actions? A better angle to examine is the justification (or lack thereof) of Wilson’s decision to shoot this young man, regardless of his skin color, under the apparent circumstances seen in this case in Ferguson. A case in which a cop shot a teenager.
the so-so
CHEER, DON’T JEER
Before a huge rivalry weekend at ESD Jan. 9, Head of Upper School Wortie Ferrell spoke in an Upper School assembly about cheering for our team instead of jeering the opposing team. While we have definitely made improvements, there were still a number of people taking jabs at opposing players. There was also a decent amount of complaining directed at the game’s officials, which is an unacceptable kind of jeer. We’ve made progress, but c’mon guys, we’re better than that. We need to get rid of it completely. CAMERON CLARK PHOTO
CAMERON CLARK
order to enable us to learn and grow from this tragedy. Before addressing race, it is imperative that we ask ourselves this: Does a cop have the right to shoot a teenager (regardless of his race or ethnicity) if he’s under the circumstances that Darren Wilson encountered? I’m posing this new question because it has been severely overlooked, completely overshadowed by the fiery discussions of potential racism.
the bad
CAMERON CLARK PHOTO
A
s I scrolled through my Twitter feed a couple of weeks before Christmas break, I couldn’t help look through the countless tweets regarding Ferguson, Missouri. And as I read, I stumbled upon many examples of a particular type of tweet. This type of tweet came from teenagers of all races claiming or implying that minorities are at a complete disadvantage in America. While I do believe that racism stands as an issue that has not been dealt with adequately throughout the world, I feel that tweets of this nature are overstatements given that many men and women of great stature, such as our president, Barack Obama, our former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and our Attorney General, Eric Holder, are African American. But, most importantly, I believe these tweets and claims are not provoking the proper discussion that should be had pertaining to the shooting of Michael Brown. Anyone protesting the shooting in any manner has the right to express their own opinion, but, with all due respect, I believe protests should be aimed in a different direction. I certainly hope to be an advocate of human equality for all men and women of all races and ethnicities. I, too, hope to one day see the complete eradication of racism from our country. But sometimes, I believe, some American citizens find ways to twist stories into more than what they really should be. And to me, the current case in Ferguson stands as a perfect example.
long STORY short
VENDING MACHINES
Ever since the student store has expanded its drink options to include Gatorade, Snapple and other juices and sodas, the vending machine in the commons has grown even more abandoned. So, we need to make a decision: is the vending machine worth keeping? If it is, it needs to be fixed, given that it’s virtually ignored and probably has old drinks in it. If it’s not going to be used by students regardless, then we might as well get rid of it. Or at least, put legitimately delicious sodas in it.
EARTHQUAKE MAYHEM | CARTOON WALTER JOHNSON One day, on a Lion and Sword Tour....
And this is the Great Hall, where the students eat lunch
E* * L B M RUM *RU BLE* What is that rumbling? Run!!! It’s another earthquake!!
! ! ! Wait!! That’s just 4th period lunch!
THE REMARKER | FRIDAY, FEB. 6, 2015 | PAGE 21
W
hen my basketball coach played high school basketball, there was no three point line. There was a tip-off to start every single quarter. The high-five hadn’t been invented yet. People didn’t even know what Bagel Bites were. (Too far?) Basically, what I’m trying to say is that my coach, junior varsity head coach Scott Guiler, is pretty old. And it’s kinda awesome. Last season, Guiler brought in a list of his top ten favorite movies. Cool Hand Luke? I had never heard of it before. It’s a fantastic movie. If you haven’t watched it, finish reading this column, drop this newspaper and sprint to the nearest computer and access this web-portal called the internet and watch it. But don’t watch it illegally. Or just don’t tell the cops that I told you to watch it. For a bunch of know-it-all teenage boys, having a coach who is a bit older is probably the best thing for us. But don’t get me wrong. The team isn’t a bunch of naive kids taking in wisdom from this grandmaster sensei of a coach like a scene straight out of Karate Kid (not the Jaden Smith version). A lot of times, we disagree with Guiler. Coach has this rule that we all have to wear ankle braces. Doesn’t matter game or practice. Home or away. We’re wearing ankle braces. As a team, we bought most of Dick’s Sporting Goods ankle brace selection. The employee there told me he’d never seen “ankle braces flying off the shelves like this.” We probably helped the store meet its quota for the next year. I’ve never had an ankle injury in my life. I wasn’t ready to willingly put on these braces that were basically Chinese-finger-traps for my feet. But I put them on, and they slowed me down at first (I didn’t think it was possible that I could get slower, but, in the words of Kevin Garnett, anything is possible). But in a game, one where I was wearing one of my ankle braces, I landed my right foot smack on top of an opponent’s Nike Hyperdunk shoe and twisted my once-invincible ankle. When I went to see Trainer Matt, he said my injury would have been way worse if I hadn’t worn an ankle brace. Luckily, I only missed a couple of quarters. One time, in a game against Highland Park, I took an elbow right in my mouth. I started bleeding, not very much, but I had to come out of the game. Guiler looked at me and gave the perfect old-school response: “Rub some dirt on it.” He made me realize it wasn’t a big deal, and I got back in the game pretty soon. During one practice, he played a few of us in one-on-one. Him, the seasoned veteran, versus one of us. He won. Another rule of Guiler’s is no phones on the bus – no exceptions. At first, a lot of the team, including myself, didn’t think much of this rule. We kept our eyes on our phones playing games of Trivia Crack while coach kept his eyes on the road. When Guiler found out we weren’t adhering to the rule, he was angry. The angriest I’ve ever seen him in my two seasons with him. After he chewed us out, we stopped using our phones. We started talking. Communicating. Learning, as a team. And after we won a tournament and took a picture — with the same phones we used to disrespectfully use — he was the happiest I’ve ever seen him with the first place trophy. You know, some people say their coach is like a dad to them – but this one — our coach, he’s probably more of a granddad to us. A granddad that every kid needs in his life.
MASON SMITH PHOTO
Upcoming SPORTING EVENTS IN THE WEEKS AHEAD
ATHLETIC Tip-off STUDENTS’ ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Today
Weekend
Next week
> Seventh grade soccer plays
> Freshman and junior var-
> Winter SPC Championships kick-off with basketball and soccer playing their opening round games Feb. 12 in Houston. Basketball plays at Houston Christian while soccer plays at Episcopal High School.
the seventh grade Greenhill team on Silcock Field while eighth grade soccer competes against Greenhill’s eighth grade team in Hunt Stadium. Both games are scheduled for 4 p.m.
> Varsity soccer takes on
Greenhill in its latest counter play tonight at 7 p.m. at Greenhill.
> Varsity basketball also con-
tinues counter play tonight at Greenhill. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
sity basketball play Dallas Thunder tomorrow at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively, in Hicks Gym.
>Varsity basketball hosts
the Dallas Thunder at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow for Senior Night in Hicks Gym. It is the final home game of the season for the Lions.
> The Dallas Mavericks host the Portland Trail Blazers tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. It is the first matchup between the two teams since Portland won 108-87 Nov. 6 at home.
Watching the varsity basketball team warm up, former varsity player K.J. Wiggins ’10 (middle) is now an assistant coach as part of head coach Greg Guiler’s staff. Page 27
MASON SMITH PHOTO
MASON SMITH PHOTO
COMING BACK
> SPC Championships continue Feb. 13 with basketball, at Houston Christian, and soccer, at Episcopal High School, each playing two more games in second and third round play. > Swimming competes in the SPC Championship meet at Conroe ISD Natatorium while wrestling begins its post-season competition at 9 a.m. at Episcopal in the championship meet.
42
SECONDS FOR SENIOR WRESTLER ANDREW MCCLAIN TO PIN HIS COLLEYVILLE HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOL OPPONENT
T
he junior varsity basketball is 10-9 so far this season. They competed in the Dallas Christian tournament this season and won the championship game 48-45 against the Home School Athletic Association. Notable wins for the Lions also include a 75-21 victory over the ESD freshman team and a 53-47 win over Legacy Christian. Junior varsity soccer is 9-1-1 with the majority of players being sophomores. With only one loss this season, the Lions are a prominent team in their conference as seen in their 10-0 victory against Fort Worth Country Day. “We have a good team composition,” sophomore Leo Weiser said. “The freshmen this year are pretty good despite the fact that three of them moved up to varsity.”
...
M
iddle school sports teams are hitting their stride as the seasons come to a close. The eighth grade gold basketball team is 6-8 and the blue team has gone 5-10 so far. The seventh grade gold basketball team went 10-4, and their blue team went 3-12. Randall Fojtasek, a member of the seventh grade blue team, enjoyed playing and learning this season. “I had a great time hanging out and playing with my friends” Fojtasek said “But I also learned a lot from coach Tholking, and I’m excited for next year.” The eighth grade soccer team is 10-3-1. The seventh grade team has had an undefeated season thus far, going 10-0.
W CAMERON LAM PHOTO
The granddaddy of coaches
CLUTCH TIME
“That was the biggest game I have ever played in, by far. The crowd was roaring the entire game and overall it was a fun experience,” — sophomore guard Will Ingram on the 61-59 win over ESD. Page 25
TAKING DOWN THE COMPETITION Holding his opponent down, senior wrestler Andrew McClain pins and defeats a member of the Colleyville Heritage High School wrestling team. McClain helped the Lions win the duel that took place in Spencer Gym Jan. 14.
DEEPend
VARSITY SWIMMER JUNIOR ERIC LI
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR MEETS?
Eric Li “I picture my race from start to finish. I zone out from all the noise and the general atmosphere of the meet and concentrate on what I need to do.”
GRAHAM KIRSTEIN PHOTO
PHILIP SMART
SPORTS
HOT CORNER
Focused on the ball, senior Ben Wilner crosses it into the box during a 3-2 loss against rival ESD Jan. 9. Wilner hopes the Lions can pick up the pace for the upcoming SPC tournament. Page 26
59.51 SECONDS JUNIOR ERIC LI’S FASTEST 100 METER BREASTSTROKE THIS YEAR
...
hen the Arizona Cardinals faced off against the Carolina Panthers Jan. 3, Sam Acho ’07 became the first alumnus to participate in the NFL Playoffs. Acho started the game as the weak side Linebacker for the Cardinals. Although the Cardinals lost 16-27, Acho made a tremendous impact on the game. He recorded two tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. Acho stripped Panthers quarterback Cam Newton with less than 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, completely shifting the momentum of the game. However, the offense could not make anything of the opportunity, finishing with less than 100 yards for the entire game.
S
...
pring sports begin their preseason as the winter seasons come to a close. The varsity baseball team has its first home game Feb. 24 against Pantego Christian and the varsity lacrosse team has its first home game Feb. 20 against St. Stephen’s School. “I am excited for this upcoming season,” senior Carrington Kyle said. “As it is my senior year, I am hoping the team can work as hard as possible to bring home the hardware.” — Tip-off stories reported by Daniel Cope, Crawford McCrary and Anvit Reddy
SPORTS
THE REMARKER FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 22 23 BASKETBALL PHOTO STORY 24 ANDREW SMITH 26 SPC PREVIEW 28 JACK GORDON HEAT MAP
LETTERING
Just a jacket As the number of students on campus wearing a letterman jacket continues to dwindle, it has become more evident that the once-prominent symbol of athletic achievement has lost its value
FADING VALUE Letterman jackets used to be a popular option for students, but today, fewer and fewer students sport the athletic jacket. Jackets of (from left) Creed Lowry ‘14., Warren Smith ‘13, Harold Montgomery ‘78, Cameron Baxley ‘14 and junior Ward Rushton hang in Hicks locker room.
H
e was the first junior football captain since Ty Montgomery ‘11. Since the spring of his freshman year, he hasn’t competed below the varsity level in any sport. A starter on the football, basketball and baseball teams, junior Brannon Rouse has lettered in all three sports. Rouse has more than enough accolades to merit wearing a letterman jacket. But you won’t see him sporting one. “Actually,” Rouse said with a chuckle, “I don’t even own one. I don’t even know where I can get a letterman jacket.” In the school’s current culture, this isn’t very unusual. Just observe the attire of students here on a daily basis. One will see multiple studens with college and St. Mark’s sweatshirts – and even the occasional illegal professional team jacket. But the number of people wearing a letterman jacket? Not many. Over time, the popularity of owning a letterman jacket and wearing one on campus has significantly declined—the once-ubiquitous cream and gray jackets with blue and gold patches have slowly disappeared. Brannon Rouse Varsity athlete doesn’t own lettermans jacket
But things weren’t always this way. The jacket hasn’t always been so much of an after thought that some people don’t even buy one,. Today, though, the requirements for earning a letter are much different than what they once were years ago. When Harold Montgomery ’78 was in high school, not only was wearing the letterman jacket a big deal, but so was lettering. “Back then, letterman jackets were incredibly popular,” Montgomery said. “They were a symbol of athletic achievements which were important to us at that time. There was a lot of prestige attached to receiving an athletic letter, and if you were a freshman or sophomore, you would run to go get one.” Director of Advancment Operations Scott Palmer ‘01, who also doubles as varsity tennis coach, was a varsity athlete during his time in high school. A four-year letterman in tennis, Palmer took part in the pride and popularity of lettering in a varsity sport. “For whatever reason, they were more a part of campus culture,” Palmer said, “People wore their lettermen jackets to school, to off campus events, you name it. I lettered for four years in tennis, and it was certainly a big deal for me. It remains something that I am very proud of.” Aside from the prominent emblems
of athletic achievements and the blue “SM” stamped on the front of the jacket, the school’s letterman jackets—since the 70’s—have been very practical, containing many pockets and offering warmth during the winter season. However, the popularity for wearing the jackets just has not been what it was in those days of the 70’s. Today, coaches and athletes agree that athletic status is measured on whether or not the athlete made the varsity team, not if he earned a letter at the end of the season. This major distinction between making varsity and lettering has caused coaches to have different requirements for a letter in their respective sport. Varsity track coach John Turek believes in the philosophy of lettering. “Today, at St. Mark’s, and around the country, society has embedded in us that it is bad to elevate oneself and standout among your peers,” Turek said. “It is a direction that I feel is wrong. A person should be proud of his or her accomplishments and it should serve as motivation for others. When did it become bad to work very hard for something, achieve your goal, and then not be able to show others what you accomplished?” Turek brings up a question that has yet to be answered. Although the jackets may have gone out of style, high school athletes aren’t “running” to get their jackets anymore. They aren’t even going to the banquets where the letters are handed out. Varsity baseball coach Johnny Hunter values a contribution to the varsity team more than earning a letter. “I personally hold more value to being on the varsity team and being a contributing member on the team than just earning a letter,” Hunter said. “But I’m not really sure why there has been a decline. It might be a generational thing or a preference thing where students would rather not spend money on jackets. Or if they just would choose to wear something else.” John Turek Varsity letters are symbol of hard work
For almost every sport at the school, there is a more significant value held by the coaches and athletes to those who make varsity opposed to those who just letter. A student may ask an athlete, “Did you make varsity?” But rarely will he ask, “Did you letter?” For this generation of the school’s athletics, the prestige of lettering has seemed to have lost its shine.
Having lettered in multiple sports, Hunter, Montgomery and Turek were a part of the culture that consists of displaying one’s athletic achievements through a letterman jacket. During the 70’s, Montgomery participated in certain sports where lettering is not just a mere participation certificate. It has always been the coach’s decision on who deserves a letter, but the requirements are the ones that have changed. “When I was in school, it was the coach’s decision on whether or not an athlete will letter, and only about 30 percent of the top players on each varsity team usually would receive a letter,” Montgomery said. “That’s why some of the athletes had their entire jackets filled up. Somewhere along the way, the significance of earning a letter just broke off.” ow, lettering is dependent on the type of sport and the requirements of the coach. For baseball, Hunter judges an athlete based on his contribution. “My requirements are actually maybe as least restrictive as some of the other sports that I have seen,” Hunter said. “I’m not sure I have a firm policy, and a lot of it has to do with contribution to the team. And frankly, having played in at least one varsity game is a bare minimum threshold.” Due to the noted decline of the significance of a letter, only a handful of athletes have regularly worn the jacket in the past ten years. Cameron Baxley ‘14 was one of those athletes. Baxley proudly wore his jacket to school, knowing that earning a letter is not that easy. “It was definitely a big deal for me. My first letter was in wrestling my freshman year,” Baxley said. “To letter in wrestling, you just had to be on the team for the whole season. This is no easy feat. I was ecstatic when my parents surprised me with a jacket that summer.” A former captain of the crew team, Baxley believes the jackets and the entire idea of lettering can have a positive effect on a varsity team. “To letter is important,” Baxley said. “Knowing that there is a necessary level of accomplishment in order to letter gives the guys in the lower boats something to work for, which in turn pushes the guys at the top, leading to a more competitive team overall. I also think that there has been a shift in culture where you are considered kind of arrogant to wear it around or that only super-jocks with patches running down both sleeves are qualified.” This “jock” perception, generational change and different requirements have all viable reasons for why the decline in lettering
N
popularity. Assistant Athletic Director Josh Friesen, who lettered in basketball, baseball and track and field Amery High School in Wisconsin, believes that there are many reasons as the cause of the decline. “I still have a lot of letters from high-schoolers still sitting in my office,” Friesen said, “You don’t see the jackets anymore maybe because of how expensive they are, or that they just aren’t very stylish. Most athletes don’t even know where to purchase one too.” Certainly, the patch on the jacket — whether it be the purple of old or the navy blue of today — was never the driving force for athletes to try out for a sport. But as a whole, the varsity letter is not held in as high esteem as it once was. Yet for Turek, the jacket remains as it always was — a symbol of achievement “To me, it is recognition for doing what needed to be done to get the most out of oneself,” Turek said. “I remember hearing a quote from someone that has resonated through my persona about my role as a coach here at St. Mark’s: ‘You can often judge the value of something by what you had to sacrifice to achieve it.’”
HOW TO
LETTER FOOTBALL
Here’s how to earn a varsity letter, sport-by-sport:
FENCING
CROSS COUNTRY
Play at least one game on the team
Participate in a varsity tournament
BASKETBALL
VOLLEYBALL
SOCCER
WRESTLING
SWIMMING
TENNIS
Evaluated by attitude, work ethic and competition
Be a member Be a member Be a member of the team of the team for of the team for the full season the full season
Be a member Meet the time Be a member of the team standards of the team or show leadership
TRACK & FIELD
WATER POLO
GOLF
CREW
BASEBALL
Evaluated by Make the team Play in one attitude, work and meet tournament ethic and specific drill during the competition requirements season
LACROSSE Members of the 30 man roster earn a letter
STORY ZACH NAIDU, RISH BASU | ADDITIONAL REPORTING CASE LOWRY | PHOTO MASON SMITH
Second year Be a member members are of the team considered varsity
THE REMARKER SPORTS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 23 S ESD GAME
A game for the
AGES
MASON SMITH AND ALDEN JAMES PHOTOSTORY
In a heated rivalry match, the varsity basketball Lions defeated the ESD Eagles, ending in a buzzerbeating three-pointer by junior guard Parker Dixon.
PLAYER
BOX SCORE
LIONS 61 EAGLES 59 Jan. 9
POINTS
Jack Gordon Parker Dixon Jalen Lynch Brannon Rouse William Caldwell Will Ingram Matthew Placide
22 16 9 7 3 2 1
Junior Parker Dixon hits a three as time expires.
Head varsity coach Greg Guiler strategizes.
Leading the Lion fans, senior Connor Mullen storms the court. Junior Parker Dixon tips off the game.
Finding an opening, junior Jalen Lynch passes to fellow junior William Caldwell.
Storming the court and waving the school flag, Lions fans celebrate a win.
S THE REMARKER SPORTS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 24 ANDREW SMITH
Go figure
Andrew Smith has loved ice skating since he was 4 years old. Staff writer Anvit Reddy sat down with the freshman to discuss his dedication to the physically challenging sport. How did you get into ice skating? When I was two or three, we would walk around at the Galleria and watch people skate. I always wanted to skate with everyone else, and I wanted to learn. My dad decided he wanted me to play hockey, but I couldn’t stand up in hockey skates. Someone recommended that I get used to the ice in figure skates and then move up to hockey skates. So I started taking figure skating lessons, but I never switched back. What’s the attire for skating? For practice attire, I generally wear some yoga pants for men, and just like a t-shirt and a jacket. For competitions, we wear the same pants, but shinier and fancier versions of them, and shirts with sequins and sparkly things on them. What do you enjoy most about ice skating? It’s a good challenge. It’s something in which you can constantly improve because you can never be perfect. There is a good community around the sport. It’s a really small sport so it’s a rather close, small community, and I think that’s a cool thing. It’s also an extremely
FOCUSED Stepping into the rink, Smith begins preparing for his next practice.
technical sport, from the scoring system to the elements themselves. It’s based a lot in science. We’ve done a lot of physics research on studies concerning jumps and spins. So it’s cool to see the development in that. Also it’s something that I’ve been doing for a long time, and it’s something that I enjoy a lot. At this point, it’s second nature to get onto the ice. For me, it’s a good way to get away from the stress of school and elsewhere. What was your mindset leading up to your first competition? I was pretty nervous leading up to that. I didn’t know how that was going to go. There was definitely added stress with the possibility moving forward. It was good to get conditioning with this type of stress. I think that definitely helped. There is a difference between qualifier competition and non-qualifier competitions, so this first regional competition introduced me to this new mindset. How do you develop your choreographed routines? You generally have a coach like I do. Sometimes you will have multiple coaches. I have a coach who does spins, I also have a jump coach, and we’re thinking of getting a choreographer this summer. We start out by figuring out what music we’re going to skate to for the year. There are two programs: long program and short program, different elements, and different music in each program. It’s a different process for each program. So for the short program, you have a required list of elements that you have to do. We pick the music first, and then we work out choreography and integrate the elements. The long program is completely free form and you can do whatever you want. So the short program is much more rigid. What are your expectations for this year’s regional competition? I hope I do well. Right now we’re trying to get the best program we can and we’re trying to figure out what we need to do to improve. We are planning on doing things that we haven’t done in the past, and we’re working on my weaknesses, so I think that it’ll go well.
STICK THE LANDING Descending from a spin, freshman Andrew Smith begins to glide along the ice during one of the more intense parts of his practices.
Out of all your ice skating experiences, which one is the most memorable? In figure skating, we have one jump, and it’s called the axle. You take off, rotate a number plus one-half times, and land on one foot. It’s often considered the hardest jump to perfect because it takes so long to learn. So I would say, and I could probably get a lot of other figure skaters to agree with me, that landing this jump is one of the highest points in figure skating. How would you sum up your ice skating experience up to this point in your life? I’ve been doing this since I was four-years old, so it’s something that I know very well. I think that it has definitely affected my life personally. It has become a normal thing that I do know. It also helped shape my character, so I think the sport has helped me improve as a person and as an athlete.
‘I’VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE I WAS FOURYEARS OLD, SO I THINK THE SPORT HAS HELPED ME IMPROVE AS A PERSON AND AS AN ATHLETE.’ FRESHMAN ANDREW SMITH
STORY ANVIT REDDY | PHOTOS ADAM MERCHANT
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S THE REMARKER SPORTS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 26 SPC PREVIEWS
Gunning for gold
Basketball, swimming, wrestling and soccer all head into the SPC tournament with high expectations
Freshman Alan Jiang
Swimmers stay focused, eye seventh straight SPC championship by Zach Naidu unior Eric Li could barely feel his arms after one of the most draining swim practices of the season. But he wasn’t the only one; every one of the guys around him, stretching out his soreness, had also just swum the entirety of the grueling, two-hour practice. Even though the Lions have won the past six SPC swimming championships, Li and the rest of the swim team are well aware of the work they must put forth in order to hoist the trophy for a seventh consecutive year. As of Feb. 2, the Lions had won six of their meets by an average of 124 points. The only competition left is the biggest one of the season — next week’s SPC Championship meet in Houston. “I know, for the past few years, that we’ve won SPC by a significant amount. But I don’t want to go into SPC feeling that we are guaranteed to win,” Li said. “I know that we still have to work very hard. We can only be beat by ourselves so we cannot let anything slip through our hands.”
Junior Parker Dixon
J
Season Record
9-1
As of Feb. 3
SWIMMING HIGHLIGHT SM 183 SCORE Jesuit 111
Senior captain Nathan Ondracek also knows what it will take to win SPC, and has focused on making sure everybody realizes the value of competing as a team. “As captains, we just try to keep the team together,” Ondracek said. “Make sure everybody focuses on team work, try to get more out of the season than just a SPC title and more than just the win. [We want to have] a more closely bonded team, and something we’ll remember 10 years after school.” One of the team’s most recent bonding opportunities was the Jan. 17 Casady/McGuiness Invitational swim meet in Oklahoma City. All 40 members of the team traveled to Oklahoma. The team spent Friday night in Oklahoma before competing against 20 other private and public schools in the competition the following day, defeating runner-up Altus High School by a score of 752-318. “It was a team trip where everybody had a lot of fun,” Ondracek said. While team bonding is an important aspect of the team, the ultimate goal is to win SPC. As Li also said, Ondracek strongly feels that the only team that could prevent the Lions from winning SPC again is the team itself. “Coach Oprea says all of the time that the only team that can beat us is ourselves,” Ondracek said. “If we disqualify a lot, or we get sick, or if we don’t put in the work, that’s going to beat us.” However, Ondracek also knows he and the other captains, seniors George Lin, Richard Jiang, Tim Simenc and Mason Smith, will do their best to make sure everybody stays focused on the goal. “I think, as a captain, you have to stay on top of people, make sure they’re doing their work and make sure they’re putting in the work to perform their best,” Ondracek said. “I think if we put in the hard work, and we do it as a team, we should win SPC hopefully.”
Senior Ben Wilner
Freshman Will Wood
Guiler optimistic for basketball’s SPC chances A
by Corday Cruz s the counter season draws to a close and SPC in Houston nears, the varsity basketball team hopes to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish. The Lions hope to return from Houston with the trophy this year, and head coach Greg Guiler feels confident that his team can win the tournament. “There are some years that I think I’m being optimistic by saying we can win it all, and obviously anytime you want to say you’re the best, you’re being optimistic,” Guiler said. “I think there’s a very realistic possibility or likelihood that we could be the very best team in the SPC.” Senior captain Jack Gordon also feels that the team can make a run at SPC as long as it stays the course. “We’ve been playing well lately so hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling,” Gordon said. “If we can do what we’ve been successful doing all year then we’ve got a real shot at spc.” Jack Gordon Confident about team’s chances to do well
In addition, Guiler hopes the team can use this part of the season to gain a competitive edge going into the tournament. “We’ve got to have an edge where guys here expect to play well every game and be in a position where we can come out of every game with a win,” Guiler said. “I think it’s really important to be hot at the right time.” With the new rules in the SPC dictating that the top two teams from each zone have a bye and do not have to play a game on the first day of the tournament, Guiler notes that a game on the first day allows a team to get acclimated to elements such as the gym – but as Guiler expects strong opposition, he sees a top two seeding as beneficial to his team. In order to win an SPC title, Guiler notes the team will have to play intelligently and make use of the entire squad rather than just one or two players, unlike some other teams. “There are some other teams out there that have a kid or two who is extremely talented,” Guiler said. “But when I look at our whole package, and when we play smart, tough, really hard-working basketball, we’re a handful.”
Wrestling looks to get back on top by Zach Naidu t has been three years since the wrestling team last reigned supreme atop the SPC. Winning SPC, once a formality, has been the chief goal for the team the past few years, a goal they fell just short of at the end of last winter. Even though they have not won the championship since the 2011-2012 season, the team, led by coach Justin Turner, seems determined to build off of last year’s second place finish. “It’s been long since wrestling won its last SPC title,” senior captain Justin Jones said. “This year’s tournament is really going to come down to how bad do we want it.” A hindrance the wrestling program has had to overcome in recent years is the sheer lack of bodies on the team. This year, however, things are a little different. “We have numbers,” junior Mahir Karim, a three-year varsity member said. “The talent was always there, but now with the freshmen and a new sophomore and senior, we’re able to fill a lot more weight classes and we don’t have to give up so many matches.” With the increased number of wrestlers, the team has been able to not only to rely on its veterans, but also receive vital contributions from younger talent. “The goal is for us to continue working hard as a team,” Jones said, “and possibly have some of the young guys on the team step up and win some key matches.”
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Mahir Karim Tougher competition will pay off in SPC championship
Captained by Jones and senior Jake Holder, the team has had experienced leadership over the course of the season. Holder hopes the team’s bond will lead to an SPC championship. “As a team, we promised ourselves SPC this year,” Holder said. “We are putting the work in while caring for each other. We are determined to win, for each other, and for the school.”
After rough start, soccer strides before SPC S
by Rish Basu enior Hilario Vargas stood and watched as the varsity soccer team dejectedly walked off the field after losing 3-2 to ESD. The losses on Jan. 9 and Jan. 12 to ESD and the Home School Athletic Association, respectively, were the final games before the counter season, leaving the Lions without a win for over a month. However, when the Lions beat Trinity Valley 5-0 in their first counter game victory, the team began to hit a stride at the perfect part of the season. With senior captain Jack Fojtasek out for the season and Hilario Vargas out for the ESD game, the varsity soccer team has faced lingering problems with injuries in leadership positions. “It’s really hard watching from the sidelines,” Fojtasek said. “There is nothing I want more to be back out on the field with my teammates competing. But being a captain isn’t all about being a skilled player, it is about how you lead and react to the situations you are put it in. I always try to get the guys fired up for games, give my best advice, and still try to be the leader I was chosen to be.”
Counter Record
5-2
As of Jan. 30
SOCCER
HIGHLIGHT SM SCORE Casady
1 0
By winning their second consecutive counter game against Fort Worth Country Day on Jan. 20, the team has found a way to get back on track for the SPC tournament without one of its captains on the field. Despite Fojtasek’s severe injury, the Lions have stepped up to the plate during the most important stretch of the season. “Jack was a huge loss to the team,” Vargas said. “That is the single most unfortunate thing that could have happened to the team. Because he was a captain and a great player, we had to fill that position with someone who would strive to do the same.” Vargas expects that every underclassman will be ready to step up come tournament time. “A good finish to the end of the season and being careful about injuries will be key,” Vargas said. “We have to have every member on the team healthy, hardworking, and focused when the tournament arrives.” With aspirations to win their third SPC championship in four years, Fojtasek also believes that playing together and staying healthy will give the team the best possible chance to win a championship. “Staying healthy is definitely going to be a huge part of our success in the SPC tournament,” Fojtasek said. “Also, creating more of a cohesive unit and not just individual players playing will be important too,” Fojtasek said. “I think everyone needs to believe in each other and trust each other on the field. We have always prepared the same way for SPC and I think Coach Martin will keep it that way.”
THE REMARKER SPORTS FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 27 S CALLAWAY CLARK
SERVING ABROAD Tennis takes seventh grader Callaway Clark places — from California to New York, he’s been through it all. This time, he’s heading to Europe for the next six months.
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ake up. Play tennis. Study. Train. Compete. Go to bed. Repeat. Seventh grader Callaway Clark’s schedule for the next six months will be rigorous while trying to add fundamentals to his tennis development. Clark will be training at the ISP tennis academy, one of the most prestigious camps in the world, located in the heart of the French Riviera, between the cities of Nice and Cannes. To improve his skills, become a better player and see if he has what it takes to earn a Division I tennis scholarship, this tennis juggernaut will be Callaway’s home until the end of the school year. Clark, who has played tennis competitively since age nine, believes this program will only benefit his game and reveal his chances of playing tennis collegiately. “My goal is to play D1 [Division I] tennis,” Clark said, “and I want to find out now if I’m up for the challenge and have a shot at a scholarship rather than finding out in high school.” Ray and Ellen Clark, Callaway’s parents, thought this camp would be a great way to see how serious Callaway is toward tennis as well, and whether or not it would be something Callaway seriously wants to pursue in the future. “Callaway has always played a lot of different sports, but earlier this school year he decided his aim is to be a D1 tennis player and to pursue tennis for some short period of time,” Ray Clark said. “So through several conversations, we came up with taking a semester out of school so that Callaway could play more tennis but also do something cultural regarding to France.” Moreover, Clark’s two coaches, Theron Cole, who works with Clark in Dallas, and Brandon Allen, who works with Clark in California,
supported the idea of this trip to enhance Clark’s skills and to potentially improve his ranking. “When I told them of the idea, Theron and Brandon encouraged the idea 100 percent,” Callaway Clark said. “They both know this is an amazing opportunity for me to improve and learn tips from the best coaches from one of the top camps in the world.” This will not be Callaway’s first time traveling for tennis, having traveled all over the country since his first started playing. “Callaway has played in California, New York and Nebraska,” Ray Clark said. “He has also played in Arkansas and obviously Texas.” Since it gives him the chance to play against the best talent in his age group, Callaway does not mind traveling for tournaments. Also, traveling gives Clark the chance to potentially get seen by college coaches, which helps him reach his ultimate goal of a scholarship. “Traveling gives me a unique experience in my opinion,” Callaway said. “I find it fun traveling in the first place and then getting to play against some of the best players in my age group to potentially improve my ranking is really cool.” ot only does Callaway want to pursue tennis, but also, given the chance, he wants to be able to choose which school he plays for in college. In order to do this, Callaway will have to increase the rigor of his training, which is one aspect of the trip to France. “His goal specifically is to be able to pick his D1 School, so in order to do that Call-
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FOREIGN FRANCE Leaving the country, seventh grader Callaway Clark hopes a six-month trip to the prestigious ISP tennis academic in France will help him learn about the game and his future in the sport.
away has to be in the top 50 players in the country,” Ray Clark said. “So being ranked 80 right now for his grade, he has just begun to see how much he can improve.” Because of his potential, Clark is interested in some of the top tennis programs in the country. “The University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Virginia and University of Texas at Austin tennis programs are all interesting,” Callaway Clark said, “but I do not have a specific choice yet.” Furthermore, being gone for nearly half the school year brings up the question of schoolwork — but to keep up with his academics, Callaway has registered in an online school. “Callaway is enrolled at Laurel Springs Online Academy,” Ray Clark said. “He has
received direction from various teachers and is still following the same curriculum through this online school as students here.” So far, Clark enjoys studying online, working nearly three hours every day, which gives him a new perspective on learning. “The main reason why I like Laurel Springs is that I don’t have a specific due date for a paper, or I don’t have to take a test on a certain day,” Clark said. “In a way it complies with my crazy schedule which doesn’t put too much pressure on me.” Moreover, ISP’s motto, “Train hard, aim high,” not only reflects Callaway’s schedule, but also the mindset tennis has instilled in him. “Tennis has taught me how to work hard for something,” Callaway Clark said. “You can’t just take things easy hoping to achieve your goal, but if you put in the hard work it will pay off in the end.”
STORY MATTHEW PLACIDE | PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION OF RAY CLARK
by Philip Smart pproximately 60 alumni returned to the school Jan. 3 for the 19th annual Alumni Games, which saw matches in basketball, soccer and water polo between current varsity team players and returning alumni. Hosted and organized by the Office of Alumni Relations, the Alumni Games pitched returning marksmen, typically former athletes of their respective sports, against current Varsity players. The Office of Alumni Relations partnered with coaches Cory Martin, Greg Guiler, Mihai Oprea, and Doc Browning and coordinated the invitations, registration, snacks, and t-shirts for the event. “The Alumni Games allow for Marksmen of all generations to return to campus and compete against the current varsity teams in basketball, soccer and water polo,” Director of Alumni Relations Alex Eschelbrenner said. The Alumni Games was envisioned as a chance for former athletes to retry their hand in sports they had once enjoyed as an upper schooler, as well as a way for current students to bond with the wider St. Mark’s community and get to know and to learn from veteran athletes. “Three major groups benefit from the annual Alumni Games: one, the alumni athletes, two, their friends and family that come to cheer them on,
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and, three, the current varsity teams that take the opportunity to fine tune their skills,” Eschelbrenner said. “Each year our alumni offer terrific feedback regarding the Alumni Games. Perhaps this year’s most valuable feedback was the alumni’s suggestions to our coaches on ways for the current teams to improve.” The first Alumni Games were hosted in 1997, when the varsity baseball team played against a group of alumni just after SPC weekend. Ever since then, the games have morphed through the years and come to include several different sports. “For many of our alums, being a part of a St. Mark’s athletic team created incredible lifelong memories and friendships,” Eschelbrenner said. “To bring together Marksmen of all ages to relive their ‘glory days’ in the spirit of friendly competition is truly special.” In a 3-2 win for the varsity soccer team over the alumni team, junior forward Will Diamond, senior midfielder Ben Wilner and freshman midfielder Houston Engleman all scored. “It was a really fun experience overall for both the team and the alumni,” Diamond said. “I look forward to the game every year. I get to see the guys from past teams, and they are always having a good time, but also they are very competitive.”
Wiggins ’10 returns as assistant basketball coach by James Hancock s the varsity basketball team’s former captain, assistant coach Kevin Wiggins ’10 brings a unique perspective on how to most effectively coach this year’s team. As young as he is, Wiggins is able to identify with the players better, which has become advantageous in applying the most suitable coaching style to the team. “Being young and right out of college allows me to relate with some of the players in a way that the other coaches cannot,” Wiggins said. “I’m fortunate enough to be able to demonstrate through action some of the principles we as coaches preach. Moreover, I feel like my prior experiences as captain of the varsity basketball team here at St. Mark’s gives me a unique insight on how to navigate this year’s team to SPC.” Throughout the season, players have noticed that Wiggins brings dynamic advantages to the team. “He can relate to the players pretty well, as he graduated from St. Marks not
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too long ago,” junior varsity player Parker Dixon said. “He also sometimes plays with us in practice, and he brings a lot of intensity that just makes everyone around him better” Recently, Wiggins graduated from Occidental College where he studied Politics. Just 23 years old, Wiggins is in a major transitional period of his life, and he has looked toward the 10600 Preston Road community to provide temporary guidance. “St. Mark’s is a very special place,” Wiggins said. “During this time where I’m trying to figure out what my next steps are in life, I couldn’t imagine a more ideal place to be.” Looking towards the future, Wiggins strives to achieve the goals he has set on a personal and team-based level. “On a personal level, I’d like to be the best coach that I can be each and every day,” Wiggins said. “On a team level, I’d like to see this team win the SPC championship. There’s no reason in my eyes why both of these goals cannot be realized.”
MASON SMITH PHOTO
Varsity teams take on alumni
PLAYER’S COACH After playing as a varsity point guard, Kevin Wiggins ’10 now helps coach the team he once played for.
St. Mark’s School of Texas 10600 Preston Road Dallas, Texas, 75230
THE RETURN
MASON SMITH PHOTO
Supporting the Lions basketball team at ESD, former Headmaster Arnie Holtberg congratulates senior Walter Johnson on his performance in the soccer game against ESD Jan. 9.
Sharp
THE BACK SPORTS PAGE THE REMARKER FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014 PAGE 28
BASKETBALL STATS
shooter
Known for his accuracy, senior guard Jack Gordon’s strength is shooting. The Cornell commit has led the varsity basketball team to a 7-0 counter season as of Jan. 30. The ReMarker breaks down his shooting in a shot chart.
HEATING UP Recorded by coaches Kevin Wiggins ’10 and Ryan Parker, Gordon’s shots, along with the team’s, are kept via iPad. The shot chart (above) shows Gordon’s first 13 games of the season.
‘I WANT TO WIN SPC. THAT’S THE BIGGEST GOAL. IT’D BE NICE TO BE SEEN AS A GOOD LEADER ON A TEAM THAT WON SPC. I’M MORE QUIET THAN SOME OTHER LEADERS, SO I WOULD LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED AS SOMEONE WHO DID THINGS FIRST, THEN TALKED SECOND.’ SENIOR GUARD JACK GORDON
THREE POINTERS MADE: 28
FIELD GOAL: 58%
THREE POINTERS: 53%
REPORTING PHILIP SMART | PHOTO GRAHAM KIRSTEIN | ILLUSTRATION ABHI THUMMALA, PHILIP SMART, ZUYVA SEVILLA
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ADDENDUM A REMARKER SPECIAL SECTION | FEBRUARY 6, 2015
POST RACIAL AMERICA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT ‘I CAN’T BREATHE’ THE ‘N’ WORD FERGUSON RACIAL EQUALITY STOP KILLING US
COLORBLIND
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN FERGUSON AND NEW YORK CITY? WHY ARE WE SO RELUCTANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE?
A THE REMARKER ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 2A, 3A
WITH
RACE
Despite the uproar around the nation after the events in Ferguson and New York, there has been a distinct lack of discussion regarding race on campus.
was called the n-word freshman year in biology.” “At sporting events, I’ve been called the n-word on the field, everywhere.” “Should I react to it?” senior Justin Jones mentally questioned. “Should I punch [him]? Should I risk getting kicked out of the school?” It’s 2015, and yet, incidents like the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both African-American men, at the hands of white police officers in Ferguson, MO and New York City respectively, still bring the issue of race to the forefront of national attention. Beyond those cases, questions about the nature of “post-racial America,” a nation with an African-American president, have become common with the release of Selma, a movie which details Dr. Martin Luther King’s struggles for racial equality. Yes, race is a sensitive topic. It’s rarely discussed on campus, despite the presence of two groups specifically promoting racial conversation — DADYO and the Breakfast Club. And yes, discussions about race often can be awkward or tough. But recent events raise one important question, a question worth discussing. “Is the future colorblind?”
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enior Justin Jones has been the only African-American in the Class of 2015 since fourth grade, a distinction making him uniquely aware to racial issues. “If I did have another African American in my grade, I definitely think things would be different,” Jones said. “Being a black person, I think you should have those mentors and those guides to provide information about what it means to be black. If you don’t associate with those kinds of people and you end up running into something dealing with race, you’re going to be [in a bad situation].” Jones has found himself in such situations before, both on campus and on the field. “I’ve definitely experienced racism,” he said, “but I’ve learned how to control it and how to tell people how I feel when they act that way. I get fried chicken jokes all the time. And honestly, I deal them out too. I’m only going to deal them out to you if you deal them out to me.” However, Jones still sees racist jokes as the school’s most significant racial issue. “I think St. Mark’s problem is that a lot of the kids think it’s funny,” Jones said. “They don’t mean it seriously, but they think it’s funny just to joke about it. So they continue and they don’t know when to draw the line. Some seniors, some of my own classmates, who I’d consider guys I’d like to hang out with, make racist jokes just because they want to see me react.” Senior Miguel Plascencia, head of the school’s Dallas Area Diversity Youth Organiza-
tion (DADYO) group also notices the presence of racial jokes, but thinks they can sometimes be more polemic than people realize. “I think there’s two polar opposites,” he said. “When a serious topic comes into discussion in society, people will be too afraid to speak of it, like, ‘that’s not my place to talk about’ unless you spark a conversation or if a person of color sparks a conversation. On the other side, they’re fine with telling a joke or making fun of a race or something, which everyone does.” And in Plascencia’s eyes, this distinct lack of discussion of serious issues poses considerable harm. “It’s been a problem with DADYO, for a long time and it comes back to the fact that people are uncomfortable talking about situations like this because people don’t like to step over boundaries,” Plascencia said, echoing Jones’ sentiment. “The people who come to DADYO who want to talk are usually people who have the same types of opinions and the same types of ideals and for DADYO to work, you need the whole range: you need hateful people, you need people that care, you need people that think differently.” Junior Hunter Alexander also notices a trend on campus to shy away from racial issues. Like Plascencia, he believes people feel uncomfortable and would rather ignore the issue entirely than
discuss it openly – in a sense, a perverse kind of colorblindness. “I have felt uncomfortable talking about race around minorities because I think there’s a fine line when you’re talking about race,” he said. “You don’t want to incorporate stereotypes, even though for one circumstance, the stereotype may fit, but another, it might not.” However, Alexander sees the value in open discussion, especially when confronting the aftermath of events like Ferguson. “For me, being a white kid, if we’re talking about something to do with African Americans, I shouldn’t just be walking on eggshells trying to talk about it,” he said. “There’s racial issues and let’s just get down in the nitty gritty of it and let’s work to alleviate it. Walking on eggshells is never good for trying to solve anything. If someone is too colorblind all the time, someone might overstep a boundary, go past the line or be insensitive.” ockaday senior Anesu Nyatanga, chair of the school’s Student Diversity Board, tried to do just that, leading an open panel discussion last year called “Racism 2.0”. “We thought that racism has kind of evolved and it’s not as overt as it used to be,” Nyatanga said. “We also talked about microaggressions — those are things that we see and I think we deal with more within the Hockaday and St. Mark’s community. A microaggression is someone not saying something that might come out as overtly racist, but it still has some sort of place of ignorance and it’s still pretty offensive. Things that on the surface level don’t necessarily don’t seem very hurtful, but when you dig deeper can be pretty harmful.” Similarly, middle school humanities instructor Meagan Frazier personally understands the importance of holding open conversations about race, an understanding borne out of her family’s diversity.
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“I come from a very racially mixed family, and we talk about race,” Frazier, who is in her first year here, said. “It is on the table at every family get-together, but that’s how we become comfortable with one another because when we walk out of our familial unit, each one of ou experiences in the world is different because o our race and how people see us.” Frazier led a group of three DADYO students, sophomore Andrew Whigham and juniors Will Garden and Link Lipsitz, to the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, IN in December and immediately noticed the boys were forced to wrangle with their own racial identity. “One of the cool things the guys got out of the SDLC was that they were in affinity groups and they really had to unpack and identify the own race,” she said. “You have to first acknowledge that we are racially different, your hair is different than mine, and by acknowledging tha I’m opening myself up to you. But by saying I don’t see you as anything different, while know ing that I’m different, is frustrating. That’s part o privilege to be able to say that you’re color-blind oach Dwight Phillips has been acknowledging these differences for years, since he began the Breakfast Club, a group that takes trips to IHOP for a chance to discuss anything that might be on their minds. Once only comprised of African-American students, the club has now become a diverse group that meets at least once a month. “It turned into something very positive,” Phillips said. “Then I asked the guys to ask othe to join us and with guys like Will Altabef, Cameron Hillier and Sam Daniels, we started mixing up our group and it has worked in the sense of everyone getting to know each other. I’m not sure that it has any effect about how these peo ple feel about each other but it definitely opens a door to a good conversation and them getting to know each other as far as race.”
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A From his experience dealing with overt racism after starting elementary school in 1968, Phillips has developed a specific empathy for students dealing with racial questions. His door is always open for those seeking advice or support. “If there’s a kid who thinks he’s been discriminated against or called names, I like for them to come talk to me — of any ethnic background — I like to talk to them about it because hopefully I can put a different spin on it for them,” Phillips said. “There’s always gonna be people out there who see differences — they thrive on them — and there’s nothing much you can do about them.” Phillips, however, believes abandoning one’s racial identity should not be the conclusion of a discussion on race. “I had a conversation with Justin Jones and he brought up something that I agree with – that some kids in the current generation of the black community come to school and they would rather not identify as black,” he said. “Kids need to stick to their identity. If you’re black, you’re black, if you’re white, you’re white, and I’m not ashamed of being who I am. For students, they have yet to develop maturely about those subject matters so I can see how they why they wouldn’t want to touch upon that conversation.” Like Frazier, Phillips believes there’s no way to be absolutely colorblind. “There’s no positive way to ignore race,” he said. “I think it should be part of humanity to see this, in a way that you get to know that person.” Ultimately, Frazier believes the path to openness in discussions about race begins in the classroom – through the guidance of teachers and advisors, boys can become more comfortable having sensitive conversations. “We need to first teach the boys how to have those self-reflective discussions before I can then expect you to come to the table with an intelligent argument about what’s actually happening and the reasons behind it,” she said. “We need to make boys comfortable talking about race. Before we can start talking about Ferguson and race relations, we first have to understand what it means to be white, what it means to be black.”
‘I think everyone sees color at St. Mark’s and I think everyone tries to put people in boxes, but because we are so racially diverse and don’t talk about it, I don’t think that people really understand the impact of their words or their actions on someone who is racially or culturally different than they are.’ — Meagan Frazier, Middle School humanities instructor
Miguel Plascencia Believes DADYO would benefit from a more diverse membership Justin Jones Sees racism as a topic that still needs more discussion Anesu Nyatanga Led a panel discussion on racism at Hockaday Dwight Phillips Wants to talk to any student with questions regarding race
very, you’re not black. I know the drill: Crack a smile, force a chuckle. Move on. It bothered me the first time, and maybe the second. But when I’m sitting at the lunch table with my best friends, getting into a heated debate about the color of my skin, and who I was — or wasn’t — didn’t feel like an option. So I just agreed. ••• I rock back in those somewhat-flexible plastic chairs in N114, everybody’s favorite conference room that routinely held entire grades for drab Senior-exes and the occasional long-winded guest speaker. Usually, the room is filled with my classmates, slouching and turning and checking their friends’ watches to see how much time until they go to sports. But this time is a bit different. Every single person in the room is black, excluding, of course, former headmaster Arnie Holtberg. Six African-American seniors, dressed in their Sunday best, look over their notes one last time before they start their panel discussion in the front of the room. Sandwiches, cake and six goodbye cards for all of parents and students to sign. A typical “Senior Send Off.” The goodbye party held every year for African-American students. None of the kids really want to be there. I’m one of them. Some of us had the same thought going through our heads. Why do we have to have an extra “celebration” just because we’re black? I feel stuck. Not just in a conference room, having to spend my Sunday afternoon listening to some older kids talking about their experience at St. Mark’s, but inside the color of my skin. Another thought shot through my mind. Why are we segregating ourselves? We’re past that. Why are we so hung up on the color of our skin? It wasn’t making any sense. I didn’t want being black to define me. To trap me. Just a few days ago, it happened again. Avery, you’re not black. To him, being black and being Avery Powell were two very different things. A black person might be naturally good at sports, talk different or have that certain kind of “swagger” that only black people have. That’s not me. I do theater productions instead of sports, spend my savings on video games from Best Buy and own four different styles of Sperry Topsiders. I didn’t agree. It’s not up to someone else to decide. Being black doesn’t define me. I won’t let it. But I know who I am. A young, black male.
Meagan Frazier Led students to diversity conference
STORY VIK PATTABI, AVERY POWELL | ADDITIONAL REPORTING MATTHEW CONLEY | ILLUSTRATIONS ZUYVA SEVILLA | PHOTOS MASON SMITH, ARNO GOETZ
A THE REMARKER ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 6, 2015 PAGE 4A
Mending A COMMUNITY
Dallas City Council member Dwaine Carraway — one of the city’s most influential advocates for providing citizens with equal opportunities across the board — sees race as a critical issue to confront.
Why do you think people have such a problem discussing race? Before even America was discovered, you had in those societies back then the dominance of one race selfishly portraying that they were greater than the other. And that became the dominant factor as to how we arrived to this selfish status. FULL EXPERIENCE Having served as interim Mayor of Dallas until June 2011 following Tom Leppert’s resignation, City Coucil Member Dwaine Caraway sees discussion of race as key in uniting Dallas.
way to function. However, the color of one’s skin seemingly has an affect on the way of life throughout our society, and until we accept the fact that we all function as human beings the same, but our skin colors and racial backgrounds are different, we will continue to be confronted with the divided race aspect of life on a daily basis which brings about the racism. Why do you think these problems haven’t been solved yet? You have some people, not all, but some people, that consider themselves still today dominant in society and beyond this city, in this world, and refuse even to this day, to call society equal and to review it that way. You have so many different and double standards in race even today in this city that still has yet to allow an even playing field. Why is it that we’re still living in a society that has to be considered ‘minorities’ instead of everybody as ‘Americans’ and just people? African Americans and Latinos still have to wear the label of minorities. For what reason? We’re all Americans. There are those still unwilling to level that playing field, in terms of economics, in terms of jobs, job promotions, in bank business, in regular business. You name it, it’s not a level playing field. What progress has Dallas made? A lot of progress has been made here lately but still not enough. We still have a long way to go. Until the controls are taken away – funding for example for folks in business and in construction, promotions for those in corporate, are removed, you’re still going to have it to a great degree. We cannot continue to accept the status quo.
How do you think people should be discussing race? I would like for us to get to a point where we can discuss race on our levels without the fear of being called racist, being felt as though you are racist and that you have to be so very careful to discuss race. I’d like for folks to become comfortable with being able to refer to Africans-Americans, Latinos, Anglos, as whites and Hispanics or African-Americans without the fear of having to have to think that they have to walk on egg shells. At the end of the day, we all go to the hospital, we all, when we have to get an MRI, use the same types of machines, we all use the same type of x-ray machines to detect our illnesses, and therefore, we all are the same type of human beings that God made, that gave us all the same way to breathe and the same
How can St. Mark’s do better? When you look at today’s youth, they are totally different from yesterday’s. When you look at today’s society, it is totally different from yesterday’s society, but from yesterday’s society, there are some that still will not let go. I do not believe that today’s society and the students at St. Mark’s are even paying attention to race as well as and as much as yesterday’s society still refuse to let it go. I see more interracial friendships with today’s society, less calls of segregation. I see more interracial relationships, people going out, hanging together and much more arms wrapped around in respect for one another. But most of the things I’m talking about are addressing the old guard, those in the old guard still refusing to let go. And that’s not everybody. I want to make sure we’re focusing on real
Racial growth These statistics, taken from the Admission Office, reveal the percentage growth in the number of minority students attending 10600 Preston Road in the last 10 years, broken down by race.
2005 2015
2.3%
Asian American
146%
African American
44 45
life. But there are still those that are power-struck and still in control and refuse to allow the playing field to be leveled. I think in time, things are changing, and with African Americans and Anglos and Latinos and Asians in today’s society being as smart, articulate and involved, and less caring about ethnicity, I think eventually in the future, things will get better. But it still has to be flushed out. Should we look away from race entirely? The more we look away from race, the better it is for societies and generations to come. The more we refuse to allow equality across the board for everybody and for all with the way technology and the growth and the new wave of thinking and entrepreneurship is going, it would behoove us to wrap our arms around the future, the reality of the future, and the reality of the future is simply that the new guard is not seeing it the same way the old guard saw it. It’s beginning to flush out, and it’s still going to take a minute to get there, but it’s still happening. It could happen a bit quicker if the old guard were to let go. How should young people head in this direction? Keep showing folks that, ‘Hey listen, we all are the same, and we see it that way, and move away from skin color when it comes to opportunity especially’. Move away from skin color when it comes to people being treated fairly, being able to sit at the table and get into jobs without barriers, get into educational levels without barriers, get into establishments of that nature without barriers. Being able to sit beside one another and laugh and talk with another without the fear of being compromised and being called racist. Being able to address certain circumstances and certain subjects with the truth and with the facts. When you look at the website, and you look at the comments on the website, a lot of people are making racist comments, but they make them anonymously. And that still tells you just how thick it is and how thick people still exist in this society. With my plastic bag initiative, there were whites that were saying they wanted to spit on me. There was a gentleman from North who wrote and called me [the n-word]. What would they have called Mayor Rawlings, him being white and him passing the law? Some people won’t let go and some still hide behind anonymity and those are the people today’s society will eventually, as we grow and continue, to flush out. It’s for us to know that those types of mindless people still do exist.
Middle Eastern
41.9%
60%
Native American
Hispanic/ Latino
89 219
43 61
33%
5 8
STORY AVERY POWELL, VIK PATTABI | ILLUSTRATIONS ABHI THUMMALA, ZUYVA SEVILLA, MATTHEW CONLEY
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