The Current

Current The

SPECIAL ISSUE / APRIL 2015

JAMES MICHAEL MEIER

March 23, 1956 – February 19, 2015 Engage the mind, enliven the spirit.

3750 Bannister Road, Fair Oaks, CA 95628

www.sacwaldorf.org

This issue of The Current is dedicated to

James Michael Meier.

James, or Mr. Meier as he was known to so many who knew and loved him, taught Humanities in our high school, and as one student said, taught humanity in all of life.

In addition to The Current’s regular content, a special section in this issue offers messages from the beautiful memorial service that the Meier family included us in as well as James’s memorable and inspiring Commencement speech to the class of 2012.

May my soul’s love strive to you May my love’s meaning stream to you May they bear you May they hold you In the heights of hope In the spheres of love.

-Rudolf Steiner, from “Staying Connected”

Contents Early Childhood 3 Farm-to-Table 4 Current Happenings 6 Lower School Life 7 For James Michael Meier 8 Catch the Waves 16 High School Happenings 17 Alumni News 18 Beneath The Current xx Cover Image: Wendy Baker Photography

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Creating with Our Hands, Head, and Heart

By Margarita Hawk

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n the early childhood programs at SWS we provide the young child with a world full of adventures and experiences that help form their lives. One aspect of this is art. At Sacramento Waldorf School we create an environment that is full of beauty yet not busy. In an early childhood classroom you experience calm, warmth, peace, and balance. Everything in the classroom is placed deliberately. We consider only natural materials. The walls are painted not with a flat paint but “lazured” with layers of watercolor.

In the kindergarten the children try their hands at watercolor painting. They are able to sit for ten to fifteen minutes and work in wet-on-wet medium. They experience color and at times even form and image.

They also have the opportunity to sculpt with their little hands on beeswax, or to mold wool into eggs or felted balls or other little toys. We introduce woodwork by making different types of toys such as boats, rings for tossing games, swords, gnomes, whistles, and much more. They work with yarn to create baskets, pony reins, rugs, and more. Weekly they use beeswax crayons to play with color. They play with clay. Their world is filled with art.

Every single one of these activities is presented with great care and respect. We require that the children give the work their full attention and create a thoughtful piece of art. Some of the works require weeks to come to fruition and the children value and have reverence for their work. They enjoy the process and the outcome.

They rejoice at their accomplishment and at the end they learned not only to appreciate art but to lead a life filled with beauty and balance—with hands, head, and heart at the center of their lives.

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Farm to Tales of Garden Waves

By Farmer Steve Payne

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ver had one of those moments, you think you’ve seen everything? Some years ago while working at an environmental education center, I met my friend Jack. He was an older gentleman who caught my eye the first day he volunteered. The farmer I worked for saw Jack chasing bees from flower to flower, hoping to help them sting his elbows and exclaimed, “What are you doing?” Jack explained that he suffered from arthritis and the bee stings helped alleviate the pain. The farmer replied, “You don’t have to chase bees, you can just rub yourself with this plant. This is stinging nettle and it has similar chemical properties as a bee sting.” So Jack, instead of chasing bees, rubbed the stinging nettle on his elbows. Later I learned that many people find relief from arthritis by infusing the leaves in a tea. This plant, found all over the world, can grow from two to seven feet high. It has bristly, hair-like stems and leaves that, when touched, inject a complex mix of histamine, serotonin, and other chemicals into the pores, creating an irritating reaction. Like little bee stings, the chemical reaction has been said to help alleviate pain and reduce swelling.

Older leaves can be thoroughly boiled for soup; young leaves that have yet to develop those bristly hairs are picked and used in salad. High in iron, folic acid, and vitamin C, nettle is reported to be helpful during cold and flu season. It is also a source of vitamins A and K, calcium, magnesium, and

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potassium. Rudolf Steiner, in his Agriculture Lectures to farmers, prescribed stinging nettle when needing a quick release of nitrogen in the soil. Because of its iron, silica, and high protein for a leafy green, nettle can be made into a tea for plants by letting it rot in water for three weeks, becoming a powerful fertilizer when poured around the base of plants.

Here on the farm students begin cutting down our prolific patches of nettle as early as fourth grade. However, it is in fifth grade that we begin discovering stinging nettles’ importance for the farm. In fifth grade students deepen their relationship and understanding of science as they take up lessons with botany. We learn of stinging nettles’ many uses as we also learn to respect its sting when harvesting, drying, bagging, and preparing it for sale at the farm stand.

We are also frequently cutting the tall plants to add to our fertilizer tubs for springtime growth. Outside the students apply their new skill of observation as we care for our herb garden. These experiences allow us to observe the characteristics of the square stem family of Lamiaceae, while comparing the obvious differences between mints, basil, sage, oregano, rosemary, thyme, lavender, and nettle. With these varying culinary flavors, our students gain an understanding of the many supportive properties these herbs have to our health and well-being. Stinging nettle is not a plant to fear but to be celebrated and enjoyed for its incredible giving qualities. In case of an unwanted reaction both calendula flowers and dock leaves can be rubbed on the location to relieve the stings. Careful picking!

Table Stinging Nettle Soup Prickly nettle is transformed in this rich and creamy soup.

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 30 minutes Serves: 4 to 6

Ingredients 1 pound stinging nettle leaves and stems (wear gloves to handle the uncooked nettles) 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 1/4 cup uncooked white rice 4 cups chicken broth salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste Add the salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.

Drop in the stinging nettles, and cook one to two minutes to soften. This will remove most of the sting. Drain in a colander, and rinse with cold water. Trim off any tough stems, then chop coarsely.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about five minutes. Stir in the rice, chicken broth, and chopped nettles. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes.

Carefully puree the soup with a stick blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Would you like to be a Home Chef for The Current?

Contact thecurrent@sacwaldorf.org.

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Current Happenings Relay for Life

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or the fourth year, our school is proud to host the Fair Oaks Relay For Life starting Saturday, April 18, at 9am.

Relay For Life is an inspirational and meaningful 24-hour community event to celebrate those who have survived cancer, remember those we have lost, and share ways to fight back against this disease. Teams camp out on the big field and take turns walking around the track while raising funds for the American Cancer Society and building knowledge and awareness for cancer patients, survivors, and their families. Last year, many Waldorf students and families participated as team captains, team members and event volunteers. It’s not too late to join, so if you can help, please visit www.RelayForLife.org/FairOaksCA or contact event chairperson and SWS parent Pat Poremba at patporemba@gmail.com.

April/May Events Tuesday, 4/14

6pm

Library

Parent Guild Meeting (All Are Welcome)

Saturday, 4/18Sunday 4/19

9am to 9am

SWS Big Field

Relay for Life

Thursday, 4/23

6:30pm

Room 73

Board of Trustees Meeting

Monday, 4/27

11am

Ancil Hoffman Golf Course

4th Annual Waldorf Cup Golf Tournament

Friday, 5/1

8:30am

SWS Patio & Linden Hall

Grand Day

Sunday, 5/3

11am

Monday, 5/4

May Day No School, Faculty In-Service

Friday, 5/9 Lions Gate Hotel

Monday, 5/25

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The Black & White Ball Auction & Dinner “A Magical Masquerade”

No School, Memorial Day

LOWER SCHOOL LIFE

The First Eight Grades

By David Mitchell

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aldorf Education brings amazing insight into the biological phenomenon of learning. Psychomotor development actually can be seen as a timeline, and I marvel that today’s modern research is now providing scientific evidence for a way of educating that Rudolf Steiner established in 1919 as an answer to Emil Molt’s question of how to educate the children in his factory.

The children should not simply be taught to do artistic activities and manual skills, but they should be taught so-called “non-artistic” subjects imaginatively and artistically as well. This is true, though in widely different ways, in mathematics and grammar, carpentry and knitting, sports and foreign languages, all of which are part of the Waldorf curriculum. These cultural activities help the children build academic skills slowly, fortified with deep comprehension and understanding.

For example, in geography, the reality of the climatic zones of North America will be clearer to the child if the teacher can convey—artistically, descriptively, dramatically—the fresh, oxygen-rich air of the boreal forest of the North; the clammy, fetid thick air of the Everglades and the swamps of Louisiana; the rainy and snowy seasonal swings of the vast prairies of the Midwestern plains; the burning dry, mineral-rich deserts to the west of the Rocky Mountains; and the magnificence of the sequoias and redwoods standing tall in the saturating fog of the forests in the rainy Pacific Northwest.

In the natural sciences, a sense of awe and wonder is cultivated from early childhood. Such a mood can arise, for example, when, while studying the human body, the children discover the vital relationship between the substance in the body—the bones—and the quickest of the cells—the red corpuscles—produced in the bones. It may arise when, in examining the modes of seed production in lower and higher plants, the children realize that there is an evolutionary sequence, a connected progression. This sense of awe and wonder will develop into a feeling of reverence, laying a firm foundation for a respectful treatment of the natural environment in later life. And it should underlie, yet never undermine, the critical faculties which the study of science in the later stages of education both requires and develops.

To support such an approach, all aspects in a Waldorf school—from the classroom furnishings to the way a poem is recited, from the pen a pupil uses, to the exercises done in the gymnasium—are considered with two criteria in mind: they should be functional and they should be beautiful. For the child, this guarantees a caring authority that produces a stimulating effect on all his inner and outer senses.

Every activity in a Waldorf school has a purpose…and in application strives toward beauty. The soft knitted handwork project in grade two also strengthens the small motor skills and brings the child’s mathematical tabulating (addition) inward as he or she carefully counts the stitches and rows. The stools carved in the grade eight woodcarving class have both function and aesthetic. Mathematical precision and a sense for the whole are both required to construct them.

Excerpted from David Mitchell’s “Windows into Waldorf: An Introduction to Waldorf Education,” a 2006 AWSNA Publication.

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For James Michael Meier

By Kemp Battle

C

lose your eyes.

Call him.

Use the name you know him by.

James. Jimmy. Uncle. Gr’uncle.

See him coming towards you?

From a distance you can see that affable gait—a hint of his father’s bowlegs, but more powerful, more athletic. An unhurried readiness about him—the joyful gunslinger easy with his own quickness—or better still, the consummate cornerback able to see the whole field without any fear at all.

As he nears, he offers you his sly grin and the blue merriment in his eyes. And when he takes his place by your side, he makes you feel everything is ok—even if it isn’t.

O how we relied on that! How readily we remember today that natural calm, that light touch. He didn’t need to do much—his presence did the trick, and he made you feel there was surely a way through, a sensible solution.

And beyond that smile was his laugh. Conspiratorial and inclusive; never at you, always with you.

His old college proctor called him Huck Finn with a surfboard.

How he would have liked that description! The surfboard spoke of California cool, but Huck Finn sung of the heartland he so loved. Like his straw hat. Like being born in Waterloo, Iowa. The heartland made him happy: neither west nor east. It was the center of the world, the place of wheat and wind, where smiles were wide, handshakes were firm, and you stole second base standing up.

He came from Meiers and Arnolds and was damned proud of it.

We know his details. Growing up on Bea Way, next door to George. The garage jammed with tools, objects that might one day be useful but never were, the grease cleaner that made Fred brag like a salesman and the cul de sac that served as Fenway Park. It was all there for James, his boisterous brothers and beautiful sisters. He had a Midas touch and made friends wherever he went. (Even the nurses who never had the chance to hear his stories or see that marvelous smile loved him ferociously during the last days of his life.)

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Coming east to Harvard, he discovered a culture that left him both bewildered by its propensity towards self-importance and excited by its sophistication. He loved Harvard, the libraries, the late night arguments, the pitch and catch of ideas, but what he loved most of all was the woman who made coming east worthwhile.

The best of the east was China.

Then, now, always.

He graduated law school from McGeorge here in Sacramento, but never really felt excited by the profession.

The law appealed to his ravenous intellect but offered little to that wild, generous, expansive heart. Winning arguments seemed a pinched and useless pastime. He was more interested in people, in their longing and their faith, in the impossible journeys brave pilgrims sought. And so he came to his real calling—all of you. The Camellia Waldorf School and Sacramento Waldorf School. Two decades collaborating with fellow teachers and wonderful students.

How he loved teaching and learning.

He bragged about all of you all the time to the rest of us. He recounted the joy he felt reading Homer again with you; exploring the mysteries of the world and its endless becoming. Being an ally, a guide, a mentor, a friend, a fellow traveller and seeker made all the difference for him.

He never complained or groused about the work to those of us far way in a wider world.

He knew what he was looking for and he found it.

As he watched his sons grow, he watched his students,

friends, family and wife grow. He loved it all. And he was reliable and steady about his own journey. He loved where he came from, mythologized it and then knew that he could take the best of it forward.

More than three decades ago he was already looking back with wisdom on the world he had come from. He knew the heartland from which the family sprang was the source of his power, but he knew also that there was more. Fred and Margaret, the whole precious tribe from Fred, Leonard, Steve and Peggy to Cindy, Dan, and Lynn had proven that—they carried with him the best of the family’s core: the integrity and the grit, the devotion and the joy. But the deepest learning would bring the deepest satisfaction: his cherished wife China, his beloved sons, Henry and Nathaniel, came to stand for all of it too. And the past found redemption in the present.

“We truly took the role of nostalgic old men,” he wrote in his early twenties, “and since we have already mourned the passing of an age, and proved to ourselves that it is an empty vessel now aground on the shoals, it’s time for us to disembark.

It is time to look forward. It is time to see a promised land and to gather our children together and set forth towards something new. We have it in us to see the future.”

A dear friend of James Meier ever since they met in college, Kemp Battle lives in New York State with his wife Kerissa.

He is the author of three books: Great American Folklore, Hearts of Fire, and The Flame Keepers. He has been an occasional on-air correspondent for The Today Show for pieces about American history and earned his BA from Harvard College cum laude.

We are very grateful to Kemp for permission to publish this astute, evocative, and uplifting eulogy of James. It means so very much to hear that James’s love and fondness for his Waldorf students and colleagues nearly matches ours for him.

It was a call to action.

Look around you.

You are the future he saw. You are the community he sought.

He gave you everything—and you gave it right back to him in equal measure.

A beautiful life lived, a profound lesson learned.

Bless the mighty soul of James Michael Meier.

We are all better for his having lived so well.

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Henry Meier Remembers His Father When Than and I were children, my dad would often eat Grape Nuts for breakfast. This in-and-of itself isn’t remarkable – lots of dads eat Grape Nuts. It’s a very “dad” thing to do.

What is remarkable about his choice of breakfast cereal is that, at 5, 6, 7, 8 years old, Than and I were so in thrall of this man, our father, that instead of demanding Captain Crunch or Fruit Loops we ate Grape Nuts – willingly! – along with him.

James Michael Meier was, is, so much to so many people. He was a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a gr’uncle, a teacher, a colleague, and friend. In all his relationships, he was unfailingly loyal and well-intentioned. He saw the very best in everyone and everything in the world.

As his son, he taught me – as I’m sure he taught all of you – to see that world and treasure its existence and our presence in it. He taught this in so many ways: how to tell the difference between the red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures that soared over the Cosumnes and American rivers; the proper way to shoot a hook-shot on the basketball court; a love of literature, poetry, language, and words.

Words. He taught me words. Specific words, yes, but he also taught me words in a more fundamental sense. He instilled a deep and abiding love of words in me. To love reading them, to love hearing them, to love saying them, to love arranging them on a page to explicate the contents of the mind.

The rich contents of his mind were never hidden from me. For as long as I can remember, my brother and I were regaled with his stories and the stories of others that he brought to life with unmatched vibrancy. Davey Crockett stories, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, Redwall – hundreds of characters were given voice and brought to life by my father.

That’s who he was. He was a life-bringer. Everyone who’s ever been hugged by him knows this. When he hugged you he didn’t just enfold you in his arms, he held you in his being. There was never an obligatory hug from James Meier. He devoted himself to each hug ferociously and welcomed you into the inner sanctum of his life.

I’ve been – maybe strangely – placid throughout the past few weeks. To have him wrenched from us abruptly does not seem like a thing that would engender serenity, but as I have said to many people since he died, he went in a way that was idiomatic of who he was. He left a job he loved to ride a bike he loved next to a river he loved heading to a family he loved above all else.

To end I want to read a brief excerpt from one of his favorite poems, Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

Come, my friends, ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

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“Community” Commencement Speech to SWS Class of 2012

By James Meier The Class of 2012. My, oh my! What thrills you have given us. What mysteries you have unfolded before our eyes. What memories you have made for us. You are a force to be marveled at, and at times, reckoned with…you know who you are. We are so proud of you as individuals and we celebrate each and every one of you today. You are talented and accomplished and the world needs young people of character and purpose like you. I could go on like this and exhort you to stride forth into the world, follow your true star, claim your places as unique individuals in God’s creation, stand on your own two feet and sing your song of yourself.

But I have a different suggestion.

First, I ask that you put aside, for a moment, your individual triumphs and aspirations. I ask us all to take

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that ideal of rugged individualism down from its pedestal and allow that icon to mingle with the crowd. Abandon the metaphor that offers you the stark choice between the boldness of the lone wolf or the meek submission of the sheep. Instead, wrap your hearts and minds, but especially your hearts, around the vision that thrills to the resiliency of the pack and the reassurance of the fold.

We are struggling as a society with what it means to be a society. We are fractured into smaller and smaller social units that polarize and isolate us more and more each day. We hear it in the name-calling that passes for political debate. We see it in social policies based on fear and blame. We feel it in the general disregard for the well-being of others in exchange for material comforts. It is easy to put the onus on the internet

and those pesky “social networks,” but that would be confusing the symptom with the sickness and only serve to confirm in your minds how hopelessly out of touch I am.

My point is that we are in desperate need of community.

We seem to have lost touch with the natural state of empathy that we are heir to. We have forgotten the art of compromise and must revive the notion that the ideas, dreams, and feelings of others are at least as important as our own. As a species, we are predisposed to cooperate, support, aid, and congregate but as a culture we have chosen to compete, hoard, threaten, and isolate. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Remember all of the times that someone was there when you needed a helping hand.

Understand that for each of those moments you remember, there were ten that you never even knew about.

This is where I turn to you, dear graduates, for a glimpse of the shining face of hope. For you have been schooled in the art of community. From kindergarten to the Senior Play you have learned the value of giving support to those around you because you know what it feels like to be supported. You have learned to lead, but also to follow… to quietly swallow the valid point you have been waiting to make because it’s time for the discussion to end. You have been the beneficiaries of extraordinary generosity of spirit, time, resources, and effort from everyone you see in this room and many more besides.

This is community. Take a big, long drink of this.

Remember all of the times that someone was there when you needed a helping hand. Understand that for each of those moments you remember, there were ten that you never even knew about. Most of all, remember how it felt when you were the one who pitched in and gave the helping hand and saw the face of gratitude smiling back at you.

To be sure, community is a place to share your triumphs, join in the celebration of each other’s achievements as we are doing here today, but it is so much more important to share your doubts, your frustrations, and your hardships. It is in difficulties, failures and tragedies that community finds its center, its strength, and its resilience. One other thing necessary to a healthy community is work. When we strive together in real and meaningful work, to build something,

to achieve something, to create something that did not exist before, community will arise.

So, go forth and create community; find your roommates, your dorms, your classes, your clubs. There will be neighborhoods, churches and cooperatives. Join choirs, orchestras, teams, and troops. Eventually, there will be your children’s schools…I’m not saying they have to be Waldorf schools, but…. In each of these gatherings, in each of these coalitions, in each of these communities you will find warmth.

You will bring warmth. More than that, by coming together, by working together, by striving together, you will create that human warmth that sustains us all, that reaches beyond the false boundaries and moves throughout the wider world to create something better for all mankind. This is how we can heal the world.

When you are finished with healing the world, don’t forget what Mrs. Gray told you at Senior Walkthrough a week ago: come back. Come back to school, certainly, but also return to those homes that welcomed you, fed you, sheltered you, and offered you solace. This is your gauge, this is your template, this is your original. If you lose your sense of what community should feel like, smell like or taste like…come back. We know you, we see you, we love you. We are your community.

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Elegy For Mr. Meier (A Community Generated Poem created by the students and faculty of the Sacramento Waldorf High School)

By Andrew Sullivan

He was never small: too many liters of majesty, cubic acres of strength, kindness immeasurable.

He was towering, mischievous, sassy, commanding, devoted, wise, and gentle, a great and fearless lion: teacher, sponsor, St. Nick, Michaelic Master of Ceremonies, Dumbledore.

He was tire iron and tissue box, forged, by the man-makers of the old world, of pure thought, feeling, and principle.

He was the teacher of morals for those whose fathers never were, book in one hand, spread open wide across his huge palm, the other with chalk between his fingers, gesturing as he spoke.

He was an oracle but you didn’t have to climb a mountain to get to him.

He knew the right words for situations, his voice filling every corner of the room, no matter how quietly he spoke.

He saw each of us for who we were – he saw what was shining inside.

I want to thank him for that, thank him for having my back even when I was not honest with myself.

He taught more than humanities; he taught us what it was to be humanity.

He was a knight, an instructor of strength, completely in character when striking a superman pose as a fireman in front of the Oasis Springs hotel, saying, “No thanks are necessary, I was just doing my job!”

He was here to teach us that we can always do better, that we can always do more than we ever thought possible, that giving our best is the best thing we can do.

He was inspirational with his blue toenail polish and spandex bike shorts. Once, he taught, nonchalantly, an entire English class dressed in a long flowing purple robe and turban.

He was the king of Waldorfia: when he told the people to cheer, they cheered!

Here are five instructions for being Mr. Meier: 1. Become a great writer with hard-to-read handwriting.

2. Learn everything there is to know about U.S. History.

3. Have a voice meant for audio books or radio.

4. Learn to sing.

5. Try again. It will take a lot more practice to be Mr. Meier.

In his pastel shirts, he would stride across campus, covering what seemed like a mile with each step. Only yesterday, I had a dream I was in class and Mr. Meier was the teacher.

For the whole class he walked around giving students hugs.

Never spoke a word, just gave us hugs.

Now, as I wander on the bike path, through a grassy field, past the quad, and near his office, I feel surrounded by his presence and his deep capacity for love.

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Catch The Waves High School Mountain Biking

Coach’s Corner: Spring Forward

By Doug Morkner Brown

By Dean Stark

Mountain biking is spinning into gear in the high school!

Our team is coed and participates in the NorCal MTB league which hosts dozens of teams throughout California. We practice along the American River Parkway and local trails. Our team gets to ride amazing courses in breathtakingly beautiful venues around northern California, as close as Lake Folsom and as far afield as Calistoga and Monterey. We’d love to have you root us on at a race; watch the Announcements for dates and locations.

Our varsity basketball season is winding down and spring sports are already upon us. Our JV basketball teams finished their season in style by winning their last game of the league campaign. Both teams improved greatly over the year and show a lot of promise for the future. Congratulations to them on a fine season.

Our varsity teams both made it to the playoffs. The girls team finished second in league play and our boys finished fourth. They have a lot to be proud of.

Boys Baseball and Girls Soccer are now in full swing. Please welcome our new baseball coach, John Peters, and our new soccer coach, Miguel Ruiz. Also practicing hard are the Middle School Co-Ed Baseball and Soccer teams. If you have a free afternoon, come join in on the fun. Check the Athletic Calendar in Veracross for game days. Go Waves!

Booster Report

By Pollyanna LeVangie Check out your Booster dollars at work! The Booster Club is making waves with a new scorer’s table. It is being used now at basketball games and will be used for many volleyball and basketball seasons in the future. Thanks to all the recent fundraisers — from pancakes to pasta to spirit wear — we are proud to support out waves athletes with quality equipment.

Also, thanks to Amy Cress for spearheading this endeavor.

Without involved parents the Booster Club would not be a successful as it is!

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HIGH SCHOOL HAPPENINGS

Teaching Drama in a Waldorf School

By Sarah Winfield, SWS High School Drama Teacher

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very year our students act out stories. Beginning in kindergarten they watch puppet shows and act out the story through imaginative play. Each year after that, every grade puts on some type of play.

These grow from simple stories told as a group, to more complex plays with individual parts. By the time the students reach high school they are experienced storytellers.

This foundation allows me to ask my high school drama students to dig deeper: • Who am I? • Where am I? • What do I want?

• Why do I want it?

• How am I going to get it?

• Are any obstacles preventing me from getting what I want?

These are questions that I ask my high school students to answer for each character they play.

Looking in-depth at what motivates a character to act, speak, or move in a certain way, or make the decisions they make, students can slip into someone else’s skin within the safe confines of the classroom environment.

Like putting on a coat, they can see how it fits — Does it pinch? Does it feel good? Can I wear it, even if it’s ugly? Sometimes it is fun, sometimes uncomfortable, but always it is enlightening.

These questions live within each of us at every stage of development; at each stage of our lives. In questioning and exploring a character’s objective (what do I want?) and motivation (why do I want it?), students learn that what they say and what they do affects others and shapes events. Through improvisation exercises, they learn to be flexible enough to accept whatever someone brings to a scene, trusting enough to allow what will happen to happen, and brave enough to risk failure. These are life lessons — relationship lessons. Teaching drama is not so much about teaching “acting,” but about strengthening life skills. Drama enlivens the imagination and looks at what it is to be human.

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Alumni News A Heritage of Waldorf Links

By Andrew Murray, SWS (’81) The Current: When did you attend SWS, Andrew?

Andrew Murray: I started in first grade at the “Old SWS” at Fair Oaks Blvd. and Watt Avenue in 1968 and graduated high school at the “New SWS” on Bannister Road in 1981.

The Current: Did SWS have any special influences on your future life?

Andrew: I remember many amazing teachers over the years: Russ Burgess with his “silent math problems;” Ken Melia with wonderful explanations of osmosis; Margo Patterson with her gentle German lessons that we always hoped would end in a cultural discussion rather than grammar; Dave Alsop who was so close in age to us naughty 8th graders that we couldn’t pull a fast one on him; Hilda Middleton and her magical description of poems; to name just a few.

The Current: How has your life progressed since leaving SWS? Andrew: I have been very fortunate be happily married to my college sweetheart, Angelica, to have a family with two SWS alums, Ana and Ian, who are happy in their pursuits, and to have a satisfying and successful career. Waldorf education has given me the ability to be creative when I solve problems for my customers, to approach each issue with a fresh perspective, and to respect the many different religious, philosophical, and political affiliations that I encounter daily.

The Current: Have you always stayed connected to SWS? Andrew: With my grandfather, Rudolf Binnewies, who helped start Sacramento Waldorf as one of two founding teachers, my father, Mark Murray, who taught here for 30 years, and then being a student myself, it was practically predestined that our children would attend SWS. My children entered SWS in kindergarten with Ann Landgraf. I served on the board of trustees for seven years and helped re-energize the fledgling SWS Endowment.

The Current: How did you go about putting the Waldorf Cup together the first time?

Andrew: Since the BOT had already approved a formal endowment policy, the timing was perfect to assist with organizing the first Waldorf Cup. With some key commitments from fellow parents such as Bill and Cheryl

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Anson, Michael and Vera Johnson, Martin and Karen Hermann, Chuck and Jan Iverson, Jim and Lori McElligot, and many others, we had enough benefactors to make it happen. I am very proud of the work that the BOT completed in connection with the SWS Endowment and that the Waldorf Cup provides a connection that many current, past, and present friends of SWS can enjoy.

The Current: What gratifies you the most about the Waldorf Cup? Andrew: To honor the life’s work of my father, mother, and grandfather is a tall order! I want to see Waldorf education be accessible to more than just those fortunate enough to pay for it (it is expensive!) For that, significant tuition assistance is needed. The SWS Endowment will one day provide crucial funds for those who today cannot afford to attend. The Waldorf Cup has helped to grow the Endowment to well over $250,000. I am gratified to honor not only my parents and grandparents, but also present and future SWS students who will benefit from our collective efforts.

The Current: Thank you so much, Andrew, for sharing your memories with us here, and for all of the efforts of yourself and your family to build, support, and strengthen SWS. Now in its fourth year the Waldorf Cup is already a beloved event with a strong following and many fans. As it grows, the SWS Endowment grows, and our school’s future grows brighter.

At the Waldorf Cup in 2014, from left to right: Andrew Murray, Peter Winterling, Dan Maurer, and Mark Murray

“From an Old Waldorfer”

By Mark Murray, Former SWS Teacher and Dad to Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray, SWS Class of 1981

After taking the Waldorf Teaching training program given by Dr. Herman Von Baravalle in Sacramento, and the teacher certification program at Sacramento State, and after five years of teaching in the public school, I was ready for a more meaningful educational experience.

In 1967 I took a one-year leave of absence from the San Juan School District to see if Waldorf education would work for me. I accepted a sixth grade teaching position at the Sacramento Waldorf School. To be able to teach based on the true needs of the human being was a wonderful change. That leave extended into thirty years of teaching at the Sacramento Waldorf School.

My children and grandchildren received a major part of their education from Waldorf, which continues to enhance their lives with a sense of the importance of the balance between humanity and science through the arts.

My son Andrew helped to start the Waldorf Cup and continues to play an important part in its success. I love playing in this event and hope to continue doing so as long as I can swing a club and hobble around the course.

BENEFIT THE SCHOOL! JOIN YOUR FRIENDS! JOIN THE FUN!

Fourth Annual

Monday, April 27, 2015 ANCIL HOFFMAN GOLF COURSE 6700 Tarshes Drive · Carmichael, CA 95608 GolfAncilHoffman.com

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 11:00 am: Registration & Open Driving Range | Bloody Mary Bar Opens | Box Lunch 11:30 am: Putting Contest 1:00 pm: Shotgun Start 6:00 pm: Cocktail Hour 7:00 pm: Awards & Banquet

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT:

Sacramento Waldorf School

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sharon Bertossa 916.203.1423 | thebertossas@sbcglobal.net Neva Hale 916.798.1962 | nenehale12@gmail.com

Endowment

Please click here for more information about the 2015 Waldorf Cup Golf Tournament

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If you would like to place an Ad in The Current send an email to: TheCurrent@sacwaldorf.org.

The Black & White Ball

Saturday, May 9 – Lions Gate Hotel at McClellan Park Tickets and auction information available online at: https://sacwaldorf.ejoinme.org/Auction Proceeds from the auction provide vital funding for SWS! How can you support the auction? Volunteer | Donate Items | Be a Sponsor | Buy Tickets!

Beneath The Current The Current is a publication reflecting the school-life of the Sacramento Waldorf School in Fair Oaks, California and is produced by: PUBLISHER Mary Wilhelm, Director of Development and SWS Parent EDITOR/EDITORIAL CALENDAR Ellie Lief, Development Assistant and SWS Parent CONTENT LAYOUT Erin Pace-Molina, Exit 74 Designs PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGE SUPERVISION Dani Roth, SWS Parent and BOT Member CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS Early Childhood: Margarita Hawk, Kindergarten Teacher, SWS Alum Parent and International Student Host-Parent Farm-to-Table: Steve Payne, SWS Farmer and SWS Parent Lower School Life: David Mitchell, AWSNA Author

In Tribute to James Michael Meier: Henry Meier, James’s son and SWS Alum; Andrew Sullivan, SWS Alum, Parent, and HS Teacher; Kemp P. Battle, James’s Friend Catch the Waves: Dean Stark, SWS Athletic Director; Pollyanna Cooper-LeVangie, SWS Parent; Doug Morkner-Brown, SWS HS Teacher and SWS Parent High School Happenings: Sarah Winfield, SWS HS Teacher and SWS Parent Alum Page: Andrew Murray, SWS Alum and Alum Parent; Mark Murray, SWS Former Teacher, Alum Parent and Grandparent QUESTIONS. COMMENTS. SUGGESTIONS. Email: TheCurrent@sacwaldorf.org