The Belfield Banter Vol. 16

May 17th, 2021

Vol. 16

BELFIELD BANTER THE

Th e S t . Ann e’s -B el fi el d S choo l S tud en t New s l etter

In This Issue:

WOMEN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE SPRING PLAY: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME LOCAL BUSINESS: MOON MAIDEN’S DELIGHTS AN ODE TO HOUSEPLANTS MAKE YOUR BED TOMORROW ELLIE POWELL: END OF YEAR NOTE FINAL THANK YOU

WOMEN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

by Hannah Laufer — **Note: Laufer originally published this piece in a magazine independent of St. Anne’s-Belfield School and its student body, though the article has since been edited for clarity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Virginia has 11 total representatives in Congress. Only three are women, all of which were elected in the year of 2018, thereby beating multi-year Republican incumbents. These wins helped shift the balance of power to Democrats in Congress.

Congresswoman Elaine Luria was one of these women. She graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science having double-majored in physics and history. Later, she earned a Masters of Science in engineering management from Old Dominion University. She is the first woman to spend her entire naval career on a combat ship. Now representing coastal Virginia in District 2, her district is known for experiencing sunny day floods and at the forefront of the climate crisis. Since the election, she has supported many bills to help combat the effects of climate change, thus directly impacting her community.

Some of these bills include the American Conservation Enhancement Act (S.3051), which included the Chesapeake Bay Reauthorization Act. This authorized around $455 million in funding for the Bay Program through the year 2025. The Chesapeake Bay Program coordinates restoration efforts, which include cleaning and protecting the Chesapeake Bay, a naturally occurring watershed that spans five states. This Act had not previously been renewed or fully funded since 2005. These are critical resources to improve not only the quality of water, but the quality of living for animals and people.

Luria also supported the Natural Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC). This bill works to directly restabilize shorelines, including marshes, lakes, and rivers, by utilizing natural materials such as plants and oyster shells. Restabilizing these shorelines helps protect coastal communities from sunny day flooding, rising tides, and the impact of these threats. Her commitment and dedication to her constituents can be seen throughout these bills and many more. Congresswoman Luria is proudly at the forefront of the fight to save our world.

SPRING PLAY:

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME This article contains previews, spoilers, and anecdotes relating to the spring play, The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Nighttime.

The show can be streamed on stab.org/ saintsstage from May 20th to May 24th.

BEHIND THE CURTAINS: THE DIRECTION OF A PANDEMIC PLAY

by Izzy Sanok and Q. Fu _ Over the past month and a half, a group of around 30 students and faculty, including Q and myself, created a production like no other. Having worked on previous STAB productions, I have never seen nor participated in any production like The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Nighttime. From eclectic lighting and sound to hysterical characters transporting you all the way across the pond, this show has it all. To sum up our experiences thus far as a community, Q and I have surveyed our crew members and actors to get various perspectives on the [cont p2]

unique and thrilling challenges of a pandemic play. After interviewing these students, both voluntarily and with brownie bribes, we received the fabulous answers below. BEWARE, the following article contains spoilers. If you would rather leave the content of the show a surprise, due to the slight peeks we give you into this show, please do not read any further. Remember to stream our show between the 20th and 24th of May! 1. What is your favorite part/memory of the play?

“I love the cast and I especially love the lunches and outdoor time we have during the weekend rehearsals.”

-Brehanu B. ‘22

“Sitting in the auditorium with Becca, Brehanu, and Izzy laughing until we’re crying.”

-Cheryl O. ‘21

“I remember on one Sunday rehearsal during a lunch break, a small group of us collectively face planted on the pavement outside Grisham and intimated passing cars. It’s a pleasant memory.”

-Q. F. ‘23

“Making so many baked goods for an immensely appreciative and supportive cast. Finding connections with upperclassmen this year has been extremely hard due to Covid-19 setbacks, so creating close bonds and friendships with people outside of my usual friend-group has been awesome! Plus baking them trays and trays of brownies puts a smile on my face.”

-Izzy S. ‘24 2. Summarize or describe the play in 3 words

“Quirky, underaged, detective.”

-Brehanu B. ‘22

“Unique, exhilarating, jaw-dropping.”

-Izzy S. ‘24

“Fun, quirky, exciting.”

-Cheryl O. ‘21

“What’s going on?”

-Q. F. ‘23 3. What are some things that happen backstage the audience doesn’t know?

“We’re usually talking and/or playing games.”

-Brehanu B. ‘22

“The struggles of trying to find costume pieces, props, etc.”

-Cheryl O. ‘21

“Certain unnamed individuals T-posing on opposite sides of the stage, asserting dominance over each other in scenes they’re not on. Oh, and playing hangman on the orchestra whiteboard across the stage while learning how to read lips through masks.”

-Q. F. ‘23

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“Some serious dance parties to ‘Hurricane’ by Bridgit Mendler… if you know, you know.”

-Izzy S. ‘24 4. If you could change one line without consequences in the play which one would it be and to what?

“And another thing is that Toby died” → “And another thing is that Toby was so scared of Mr. Shears that he committed suicide.”

-Brehanu B. ‘22 “Probably when Becca and Ashby are fighting.

It would definitely be really funny if it was a little more aggressive.”

-Cheryl O. ‘21 “Change the opening line: “What did you do to my dog?” “I killed it.” End of play. Curtain call.

The end. That’s it.”

-Q. F. ‘23 “Roger should just chuck the cans directly at the audience, it’ll add a little more pizazz.

-Izzy S. ‘24 5. Anything else you would like to share?

“Y’all better come see it!”

-Brehanu B. ‘22 “I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know this show and creating new relationships!”

-Cheryl O. ‘21 “Please do not bring garden forks to the show.”

-Q. F. ‘23

“Watch it, or else.”

-Izzy S. ‘24

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Additionally, we would like to spotlight a very special member of the cast. He has been an absolute joy to have in the production, a natural actor who works wonders, and without doubt, the absolute favorite of every single crew member—no exceptions. The cast and crew of Curious Incident have unanimously agreed that if there is to be one, the STAB Golden Globe would surely go to Finley! Come to the show if you would like to see this genius actor in-person (by which we mean virtually)!

LOCAL BUSINESS: MOON MAIDEN’S DELIGHTS Interview by Ally Alvarez with owner Sidney Hall - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What is Moon Maiden’s Delights and how is it different from regular bakeries?

Moon Maiden’s Delights is a mindful bakery that emphasizes nutritional value. It is different from regular bakeries because we make all of our own nut milks and flours and use entirely organic, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and sprouted ingredients.

How did you become interested in baking?

After college, I worked at a conventional bakery in Boulder, Colorado, and enjoyed the way baking allowed me to express myself through art, creativity, and helping others. While there, I learned the necessary skills and techniques to create baked goods and pastries. Later, though, I worked with Julia Hellerman at Julia’s Kitchen, which focuses on creating more nutritious baked goods. That’s where I learned to apply traditional baking methods to healthier, untraditional items.

What has been the most challenging aspect of running your own business?

One of the most challenging things for me has been learning how to ask for and accept support. I’ve also learned that I can’t do everything and that sometimes it’s important to lean on others.

How do you create new recipes?

What has been the most difficult item to create?

I actually don’t sit and think about creating new recipes. My inspiration comes more naturally, and it can come from anything from seeing an item in a store to the changing seasons. The item that has been most difficult for me to perfect has been laminated doughs like, for example, a croissant dough that has multiple layers. It’s taken a while, but I think I’ve finally got it.

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What is your personal favorite item to make and why?

My favorite items to make are cakes for weddings, birthdays, or other celebrations because they are the centerpiece of gathering events, and they help people come together. It’s a fun way to stay connected with others because if you make someone’s wedding cake and, later, you make their child’s first birthday cake, you feel involved in their life. I also love to decorate cakes with beautiful, natural garnishes.

Where can people find Moon Maiden’s Delights?

Although I’ve closed my brick and mortar, you can find me at the IX Park Farmer’s Market on Saturdays from 9-1.

To learn more about Moon Maiden’s Delights, visit https: www.moonmaidensdelights.com.

AN ODE TO HOUSEPLANTS

by Sasha Rinkevich — COVID-19 has brought much of the unexpected to our very stoops: a global quarantine, physical distancing, online school, and, for many, new hobbies.

For me, one of these has been collecting houseplants.

Anyone that has been on a Zoom call with me this year can attest to this: as the time I have spent in isolation has increased, so has my collection of houseplants. What started as one neon pothos I purchased in April has grown into a sizable collection of everything from air plants to elephant ears.

Perhaps it was an attempt to brighten up the space where I suddenly found myself eating, sleeping, and studying. Or maybe it was a desire to find some way to feel productive as many of the creative outlets I had previously enjoyed were taken away from me.

Whatever the rationale, the conclusion remains the same: what used to be a relatively sparse bedroom has now become a miniature conservatory. Tiny terra-cotta pots of succulents and cacti sit beside propagated pothos and an ever-growing sansevieria.

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Over the course of the past year, I have not always been successful in my cultivation of a greener thumb: I am still mourning my alocasia polly and prayer plant. But I’ve also succeeded in ways I had not expected. I’ve rescued plants from Lowe’s only to see them thrive, and watched many a new leaf unfurl. I’ve found so much joy in learning about, caring for, and naming my plants.

cal, a few sides to the debate: there are people who say it is a useless task seeing as it is undone every night, those who are indifferent but not quite to the point of consistent compliance, and of course those who believe it is a must. If you fall into one of the first two, here are three reasons why you might want to consider changing your answer.

This pandemic has forced us to look inward and find fulfillment in the simplest things. Although we’ve had to mourn the loss of much of what defined our past lives, we’ve grown in new ways. We’ve found novel ways to pass the time and survive. And, as more people are vaccinated and we move towards a world that is closer to how things seemed before last March, the pieces of quarantine that have remained with me are the ones that I had previously thought to be insignificant. The TikTok trends, television shows, and awkward Zoom socials have faded into a blur in my mind, but my newfound appreciation plants has stuck with me.

1. There are a large host of mental benefits that come with making your bed every day.

The biggest comes from the dopamine boost you get from completing the simple task of making your bed each day. Basically, in taking the two or three minutes to get your bed in order, your body releases a chemical which is known simply as an inducer of happiness and satisfaction (dopamine). Just like any other chemical or drug, your brain will want more of it and will realize that completing more tasks is the way to go about that. Hence, you have yourself a jump start to a productive day.

Last week, I moved one of the little spider plants I’d propagated into a pot with dirt. Like this little spider plant, I found roots in something unexpected. And as I move slowly back into something resembling normalcy, just as the plant moved into its dirt, those roots will stay with me. I may be attending school from a classroom instead of my greenery-surrounded desk, but now I can offer unsolicited plant facts to my uninterested-though-polite friends and family members and strike up easy conversations with fellow plant enthusiasts. Something that I hadn’t expected to change my perspective has done just that, and from it I’ve grown.

2. Making your bed every day also comes with a physical benefit or two. The NSF did a study which concluded those who made their bed slept better than those who didn’t and were 19% more likely to report that they got a good night’s rest come morning. While it may sound like a minuscule percentage, combined with the other proper conditions, making to bed will help get you on your way to the efficient and body-altering sleep we all need.

MAKE YOUR BED TOMORROW

by Sonia Kamath — Do you make your bed every morning? If you didn’t before, you might want to start now.

Making your bed in the morning. We all know we should do it, we all romanticize the idea of it, but do we do it consistently? The answer, for many people, tends towards a big fat “nope.” There are, as is typi

3. Finally, if neither of the former points did it for you, as I admit they did not at first do it for me, making your bed every single day ups your chances of becoming a millionaire by a shocking amount. That’s right. People who make their beds are up to 206% more likely to be a millionaire than those who don’t. Why? It all comes back to the intention and the mental and physical benefits you reap from it. Successful people are ambitious people. Fueling your ambition starts as soon as you wake up, and what better to get your body craving task completion than the addictive dopamine rush that comes from making your bed!

Remember, as with most habits, consistency is key. Making your bed every day takes some commitment, but if you stick with it you’ll find all the odds are in your favor.

SIGNING OFF, ELLIE POWELL: A LETTER TO MY COMMUNIT Y — Dear St. Anne’s-Belfield School,

As some of you may know, I underwent a period of depression this winter that felt unparalleled to anything I had experienced before in my life. While I know that I was far from alone in this, I found myself without the tools with which to correct the path I was on. Night after night, I would stare at my ceiling and feel more alone than ever despite having my parents down the hall and my friends a mere text away.

Questions without answers about the future, shame, and even death plagued every waking moment, and I felt as though I was losing touch with both my quiet spirituality and myself. The two things that kept me invested in my own happiness were a 1973 Jeeves & Wooster radio drama called “What Ho, Jeeves!” and The Belfield Banter.

Every day after school, I would sit in my car, turn on “What Ho, Jeeves!” starring Michael Horndern and Richard Briers, and think about the upcoming edition of the school newspaper. Focusing on something dependable that I could put all of myself into kept me from thinking about the uncertain future that lay ahead of me. Instead of worrying about my recently submitted college applications, I worried about what I would write in the next issue. Instead of cringing at moments from sophomore year in which I was not my best self, but rather my worst, I edited my friends’ articles. It was a dark winter, but The Belfield Banter gave me a support system through which to navigate my anxiety-inducing thoughts and greatest fears.

Jack Dozier, for instance, has always been the strong voice of reason that counters my impulsivity. Jack created the newspaper club Slack groupchat, initiated countless Zoom meetings, and even took steps to find a physical meeting space for the school newspaper. He is always grounded in details while never making those around him feel flighty or unintelligent for not having thought as far ahead as he has. As I finish editing our peers’ pieces, Jack makes sure that we cover all of our bases in terms of inclusivity, kindness, and efficiency. He always makes time for those around him and cares deeply for every member of our beautiful community at St. Anne’s-Belfield School. We may very well have only published a few editions this year had he not taken so much initiative regarding communication with our administration, the official growth of our staff, and The Banter’s recent technological advancements.

The rest of our staff has also helped me tremendously in my mission to publish The Belfield Banter as often as possible. Emma Finley-Gillis, for example, puts the pieces Jack and I send her every week into the beautiful format that you all see when I send the newspaper out in an official capacity. She created our

logo, too, and is available to make quick edits to the newspaper at a moment’s notice. Regarding the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating a cohesive STAB newspaper, she may well be the most important part of the process. Emily Gohn, one of my dearest friends, has also been a tremendous help to the team with her horoscopes and constant support as our Features Editor. Hannah Laufer consistently delivers witty, insightful, and community-driven articles as our Columns Editor, and Sonia Kamath is always able to find brilliant artists and writers for The Belfield Banter at the drop of a hat as our Director of Student Outreach.

It would be remiss of me to neglect mentioning the impact that Ms. Ha, Ms. Hadland, and Mr. Taylor have had on The Belfield Banter this year. As the creator of The Belfield Banter podcast, Ms. Ha is such a bright and dynamic force within the community of the school newspaper. She has constantly thought up new ideas to keep the newspaper a relevant fixture within the minds of STAB students and even thought up a Belfield Banter pizza party. Ms. Hadland consistently puts The Belfield Banter up on Issuu for readers outside of our direct community such as prospective students and alumni to find. Always willing to lend a hand, she even helped us coordinate a surprise photoshoot last week for Mr. Taylor and Ms. Ha’s end-of-year newspaper gift. Mr. Taylor is the best faculty sponsor any student publication could possibly ask for due to his wisdom, compassion, and honesty. He has put up with nearly a million emails from me concerning the newspaper this year and has inspired every member of the club, staff, and editing team to keep pushing through our highs and lows with his trusting spirit. The guidance I have received from these individuals has made the newspaper possible and my world a brighter place.

I wonder at times why I did not write an article about Jeeves & Wooster through my tenure as Editor of The Belfield Banter. Having been introduced to the book series as a small child and never really letting go of P.G. Wodehouse’s most beloved characters, perhaps I felt it would be too difficult to be objective about it.

More likely, though, I’m certain I would never be able to fit everything I had to say about Jeeves & Wooster into one article, which would be entirely disappointing. Nonetheless, as you look back on Belfield Banters of months past, I hope a few of you get a kick out of knowing how profoundly Wodehouse’s style was influencing me through the winter as I began to climb out of my abject melancholy.

St. Anne’s-Belfield, it has been a true pleasure serving as your Belfield Banter Editor-in-Chief. I want to thank every single person who has read this publication, sent me an email of encouragement, or written an article. It is with your help that we are able to produce a student-run newspaper like this one. I am continually impressed by the thoughtfulness and depth with which my peers write, and I am sure that STAB students will continue to reflect upon complex topics with care long after my graduation. I have all the confidence in the world in Sasha Rinkevich and

Jack Dozier, next year’s co-Editors-in-Chief. I know that with the guidance of the student body, our brilliant faculty, and the incoming staff, they will continue to cultivate the culture of reading and writing that we have attempted to enhance through The Belfield Banter.

Signing off,

Ellie Powell

The Banter Staff:

Eleanor Powell-------------------------Editor-in-Chief Jack Dozier-----------------------------Junior Editor Emma Finley-Gillis--------------------Director of Graphics & Formatting Emily Gohn-----------------------------Features Editor Hannah Laufer-------------------------Columns Editor Sonia Kamath--------------------------Director of Student Outreach

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A FINAL THANK YOU

by Jack Dozier — As the final piece of the final issue of The Belfield Banter, this article truly has much to celebrate.

We have made it to the end of a pandemic school year, and many of us have been fortunate enough to get vaccinated against the Novel Coronavirus.

We have stayed on course, and connected, which none of us knew if we would be able to do successfully in the beginning of the school year.

Thank you to our incredible faculty and staff.

Thank you to our new Head of School, Dr. Graves.

Thank you to the doctors, nurses, scientists, and medical professionals who have kept us healthy.

And a very special thank you to the incredible Ellie Powell, who made working on this year’s Banter an honor.

Ellie, we will miss you when you go to Harvard next year, and you are leaving very big shoes to fill. We wish you the best of luck, and we are thankful for your efforts to keep our whole school community connected in this challenging year.

You transformed The Belfield Banter and your legacy will live on.