THE BELFIELD BANTER
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AUGUST 20TH | BANTER PUBLICATIONS | ISSUE I
Lost in Rebecca Solnit
By Kate Cheng
‘26
If you’re new to St. Anne’s and are unacquainted with Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, rest assured you’ll soon find it popping up everywhere. Chapel quotes and sermons are full of its influence, and it serves as the unofficial textbook of senior year, proudly occupying the most prominent place on the summer reading list. Throughout my days as an underclassman, I anxiously anticipated the day when it would finally be my turn to read this reportedly sagacious work.
That day has come and passed. I made my way through the 200 or so pages of Solnit’s prose in early June, eager to see what it had to offer. Accompanied by a pen for annotating, I finished the book in six days.
Looking back through my copy now, I found one spot where I paused about midway through the book to note my thoughts about it. I wrote: “...too many commas and distracted sentences it’s so hard for me to read. Maybe it’s just me but the style is rather annoying and confusing.” A little harsh, perhaps, but true. I would understand if this writing style was intentional—it does a fantastic job of mimicking the human mind lost in its own thoughts. Solnit is able to cram so many thoughts and words into each sentence, but the flipside is that the text becomes easily tangled and bogged down by the very words intended to lift it up. There are moments where Solnit’s mastery of language shines through. Her vibrant descriptions of shades of blue, the darkness of the desert, or the thrilling rush of a thunderstorm create a melting pot of wonderful nouns, verbs, and adjectives. However, while
Women are the Kind of People that People Come Out Of
By Grace Browne ‘28
“All of Christ for All of Life” is the motto of The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s caption on his recent X repost. The repost is a 7-minute video, originally aired by CNN and then reposted by Canon Press, a media press in Moscow, Idaho associated with CREC. The video interviews Doug Wilson, the senior pastor of Christ Church in Idaho and the founder of the CREC, along with other pastors and members of the church. In the interview, members shared their opinions that the US government should cease to be secular, sodomy (non-reproductive sex, often referring to homosexual intimacy) should be illegalized, and that women should lose the right to vote. Throughout the nation, there are around 150 churches associated with the CREC, with 18,000 congregants. Recently, a church opened in Washington D.C. meant specifically to serve members of the Trump Administration, including Hegseth. On the church’s first Sunday service, the Defense Secretary was in attendance. To members of the CREC, Hegseth is hailed as an inspiration. In Christianity Today, it was reported that “children in the pews whispered excitedly when Hegseth entered, and the defense secretary was mobbed by supporters as he left
compelling, they don’t fix my issues with the structure and style of the work as a whole.
My fellow seniors will not fail to note the similarities the book shares with its predecessors from American Studies, like “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other writings by the transcendentalists of the nineteenth century. Solnit draws on a wide range of historical and modern philosophers as she gets lost. Unfortunately for her, while I tolerated Emerson, I preferred Thoreau much less, and his influence is undeniable within Solnit’s themes.
As per tradition, this past Sunday, the seniors and their families were invited to Senior Chapel, where two members of the St. Anne’s faculty delivered sermons reflecting on the message shared in Solnit’s work. It was a joy to see Grisham Hall packed to the brim with familiar and unfamiliar faces. Mrs. Brodie’s tale transported the audience into the rural roads of the Pacific Northwest, and we felt each bump and bounce along with the Newtmobile as we listened to her illustrate the feelings of getting lost. Mr. Lippmann followed with a deep and compelling urge to “break the algorithm,” get lost, and listen to ourselves rather than the paths that AI or the world recommends. It’s a message I think we all need to hear. I may not have enjoyed A Field Guide to Getting Lost, but I look forward to hearing my peers’ takeaways from Solnit’s words and eagerly await the next milestone in the senior year experience.
the church.”
Hegseth’s denomination of Christianity practices complementarianism, the idea that men and women have been given different roles by God. Within the church, women are not able to hold leadership positions and are taught they must submit to their husbands. In the reposted CNN video, Wilson claims that “Women are the kind of people that people come out of.” He believes that because God gave the role of motherhood to women, being a homemaker should be half of the population’s sole purpose. While reducing the stigma around women choosing to stay at home is an admirable goal, I hope we can all agree that making this the only choice is not. In the same interview, pastors Tony Sumpter and Jared Longshore were asked if women should be allowed to vote. Sumpter responded that, ideally, households would vote as one unit. While wives may be included in this “discussion,” men have the final say in every decision, as they are seen as the head of their household. Longshore was even more frank in his opinion, saying he would support repealing the 19th Amendment.
While there will always be radical groups in the world, it’s CREC’s proximity to the high levels of our government that is most disturbing. As a member of the cabinet, Hegseth has an alarming amount of power for someone with these troubling beliefs. This repost is not the first time Hegseth’s lack of respect for women has been brought to the attention of the American people. He has admitted to cheating on his first wife with five different women, and his second wife claimed he was often drunk and abusive. He has also been accused of sexual assault; he settled with the victim, paying her $50,000. In an email sent to him by his mother, she tells him that he is “an abuser of women” and a “man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego” (She later took back these remarks). The Secretary of Defense is the head of the US military, excluding the President of the United States, where approximately 225,000 women serve our country. Pete Hegseth is their boss; they deserve better.
After the backlash, a Pentagon press secretary told reporters that “of course the Secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote.” However, it is up to us to decide if we can trust a man who reposted and celebrated a video that says the opposite.
My Summer at USC
By Caroline Reilly ‘26
This summer, I spent the majority of my time in Downtown Los Angeles at the University of Southern California. For six weeks, I attended the School of Cinematic Arts as part of a filmmaking intensive. My courses focused on directing and cinematography. Within my cinematography class, we were instructed on lighting, various professional equipment, including a Sony FX9 camera, and mise-enscène. In the directing class, we watched short films, critiqued movies, and analyzed scenes from movies ranging from The Breakfast Club to John Wick. Over six weeks, my classmates and I each wrote, directed, and edited three films. This was done entirely outside of class time. We were responsible for scheduling our shoot days, making call sheets, casting actors, and obtaining filming permits. While stressful at times, this process forced us to collaborate and gave us a real look into the work required to produce a film.
In addition to my classes and filmmaking, one of the unique opportunities at the program was the screenings that USC offered. Being the premier film school in the country comes with its perks, and as a result, the university regularly holds early screenings with film industry professionals. While I was at USC, I met and spoke with Mark Hamill, Allison Brie, Dave Franco, and Jerry Bruckheimer, to name a few. Among the screenings I attended, my highlights were Jeff Buckley, It’s Never Over, Together, and Formula One. Though my favorite was Jeff Buckley, It’s Never Over. Being an early screening, the sound wasn’t entirely synced towards the end of the documentary, but while I may be biased as Jeff Buckley is my absolute favorite music artist of all time, I thought the visuals, combined with Jeff’s music, made for an incredibly powerful documentary, synced or not. The film follows Jeff Buckley’s life from his childhood up to his tragic death, accompanied by interviews from important women in
Jeff’s life. I especially enjoyed the little stories shared by friends, archival footage, and hearing about the inspiration behind Jeff’s songs. The Q&A with Oscar-nominated director Amy J. Berg was also very special to listen to, and it gave me a greater appreciation for the amount of time and work that went into this project. The documentary is currently playing at select theatres and will move to streaming this winter.
Elio Review
By Quinn Humphreys ‘27
Despite overwhelmingly positive reviews, Pixar’s new film, Elio, has proved to be their worst box-office opening in history. One possible reason for this is that fewer people are interested in seeing movies, especially when they will be available to stream in just a few months. However, I believe the experience of going to a movie theater and seeing a film for the first time can’t be beat, and Elio, in my opinion, is one that’s worth making the trip to a theater to see. A story about an orphan with dreams of being abducted by aliens, the film is heartwarming, funny, and relatable to anyone who has ever felt alone. Elio has everything you want from a Pixar movie: lovable, imperfect characters; jokes catered to children and adults; redemption arcs; and scenes that will have you wiping away tears or at the edge of your seat. Some reviews claim Elio is too similar to other Pixar films, and while its “no place like home” moral and themes of acceptance and found family may seem standard for the animation studio, the movie has a rather unique feel. In my opinion, while the film never mentions it outright, Elio has an underlying theme that perfectly describes the isolation of growing up neurodivergent or feeling “different.” Elio is an uplifting story with beautiful animation and character design, and whether you watch it in theaters or on Disney+, you will not be disappointed.
Governor’s World Language Academies
By Nori Carter ‘26
This summer, I was honored to be accepted into the Virginia Governor’s World Language academies, a prestigious language immersion program that accepts students from all over Virginia. The academy took place at Washington and Lee University, where we spent three weeks with no technology and no English in order to ensure a fully immersive environment. We lived in the Washington and Lee dorms, attended classes taught in Spanish, watched Spanish “Telenovelas” (a type of Spanish TV), ate in the dining hall, engaged in cultural activities including cooking, art, and dance, and played sports. The first few days were hard, with many people accidentally slipping into English or struggling to adjust to the new environment, but by the start of the second week, you could already see strides made in the improvement of people’s grammar, accents, and fluency. My favorite parts were getting to know more people there, learning more about Spanish culture, and improving my Spanish exponentially. Along with Spanish, the other academies there included the French and German academies, with some international events being held such as dances and the infamous world cup (or as we called it the “Copa Mundial”) to allow us to spend time with other academies (which was slightly difficult as we were still only allowed to speak in our given programs’ language). Overall, while only speaking Spanish at first was difficult, it quickly became something I enjoyed to do, and now it is one of the best and most formative experiences of my life, with memories, friendships, and a new appreciation for language that I will have forever.
UVA & Jim Ryan
By Ari Kastello ‘26
On August 4th, UVA named law school professor Paul G. Mahoney as interim president. A former Law School Dean, Mahoney’s appointment itself is unsurprising, but the circumstances that led to it show the extent to which the Trump administration and State officials are going in their attempt to reshape higher education.
Mahoney replaced Jim Ryan, who had served as the university’s president since 2017. Ryan had many progressive policies, particularly his support for the university’s DEI initiatives. These policies are regarded as a major success for their expansion of access for low-income and minority students, but have consistently drawn ire from the Youngkin administration and the university’s 17-member board of visitors, a majority of whom are Youngkin appointees, including prominent GOP donors.
Following the January 21st executive order banning DEI programs at universities, many of UVA’s diversity programs were placed under the office of community partnerships. The Trump administration claims that the university has failed to comply with the order and threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of federal research funding from the university, as well as open a Department of Justice civil rights investigation, unless Jim Ryan resigned. Ryan complied with the order, under threat of removal from the board, and officially left his position on June 27th.
His forced resignation was unprecedented. This marks the first time the federal government has forced out the president of a supposedly independent university. The Trump administration’s attack on the independence of universities as a whole, not just UVA, will have a major impact on academic freedom and will erode the independence that has made America’s universities respected globally for the unbiased research and education they provide.
The response to his ouster has been mixed and has generally followed political lines. Republicans applauded the move, with Republican lieutenant governor candidate John Reid saying, “Good. That’s what happens when you stick your middle finger up at the elected governor and the voters of Virginia and then play a game of chicken with the president of the United States on an issue that’s overtly reverse racist like DEI.” But Democrats defended Ryan and raised concern about the increasing assaults on academic freedom, with state senator Creigh Deeds
(D-Charlottesville) saying, “I don’t know that this sort of thing has ever happened before, where the federal government has reached down, totally around the governing structure that a sovereign state has set up for governance of its universities, and has forced this sort of change”. Most importantly, the students and faculty of the University seemed to echo that sentiment. Many were shocked and dismayed at his removal, with an open letter from the UVA faculty saying, “We are alarmed by the attempted use of government power to impose an ideological agenda on an institution with a proud, 206-year tradition of liberty through expression.” In addition to the letter, hundreds of students and faculty marched towards Carr Hill, the president of UVA’s residence, to show support for Ryan.
In the coming year, we will see the implications of this shocking federal interference play out not only on campus but on a national level, and to what extent the federal government tries to restrict the independence and freedom of higher education.
Back to School Playlist Summer Reads
The Subway
Chappell Roan
Golden
HUNTR/X
Vodka Cranberry
Conan Gray
Getaway Car
Alex Warren
A Horse With No Name
America
Silver Springs
Fleetwood Mac
Keep On Loving You
REO Speedwagon
Lady Writer
Dire Straits
Orbital
Samantha Harvey
The Stranger
Albert Camus
A field guide to getting lost
Rebecca Solnit
The Memory Police
Yōko Ogawa
Editor’s Note
Welcome back Upper School!
I hope everyone has a restful and exciting summer. Whether you’re excited to be back or dreading the start of classes again, I hope you’ll take a moment to appreciate the beginning of a new school year. From nervous freshmen to melancholic seniors there are a lot of feelings in the air.
Myself and the staff on the Belfield Banter are thrilled to present our Back to School edition! A big shoutout to the team who worked over the summer to pull this one together in time. Of course, we’re always looking for more hands on the team, so if you’re interested in being on staff or writing articles, don’t hesitate to reach out! We would love to have you.
Happy reading!
Kate Cheng (Editor-in-Chief)
