THE BSE FLOW Vol. 2 No. 4

Transcription

Expert
Advice
Engineering
Success
>A4
>A3
Comics
Adventure
Fearless
Fiction
>B7
>B6
Free
Covering Shelburne Falls and Beyond
The BSE Flow
Vol. 2, no. 4 • dec. 25, 2015
Student-run newspaper of the buckland-shelburne ELEMENTARY school communitY • Shelburne falls, mass.
Holiday Notes
Community
Clothes Closet
takes donations at
Cowell site 24/7
Trinity Church’s Community Clothes Closet, next
door to the West County
Food Pantry in the lower
level of Cowell Gymnasium,
on 51 Maple St., is open on
Wednesdays with the food
pantry: noon to 6 p.m.
All are welcome to visit
and take free apparel.
Organizers ask that donors use the clothing dropoff shed, available 24/7 in
the Cowell parking lot, and
that they place clean clothing in good condition in
plastic bags before dropping
off their goods.
Third ‘Early Night’
Dec. 31 from 6-8 p.m.
at Cowell Gym
Spend your New Year’s
Eve with family, friends,
and neighbors at the annual
party at Cowell Gym.
Early Night, running from
6 to 8 p.m., features hundreds of balloons to play
with on the floor; tables
filled with games, crafts,
and activities; and music
and dancing for all ages.
Naturally, there’ll also
be a New Year’s Eve countdown featuring a silver
basketball drop.
Cowell Gym is at 51 Maple St. The Cowell is hosting
the event in partnership
with the Shelburne Recreation Committee.
The event is free. Donations to the gym’s Operating Fund are welcome,
and a donation box will be
available.
For more information, call
Doug Martin at 625-3054 or
visit “ShelburneRecreation”
on Facebook.
20 Christmas
trees donated
The Mary Lyon Foundation is proud to acknowledge a tree grower, who
wishes to remain anonymous, made 20 families
very happy with a delivery
of free Christmas trees well
in time for the holiday.
The Mary Lyon Foundation supports all aspects
of quality education in the
towns of Ashfield, Buckland,
Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Plainfield, Rowe,
and Shelburne.
— INDEX —
Letters ................................. A2
Advice ................................. A3
News ................................... A4
Community ........................... B1
Alumni ................................. B4
Must Read ............................. B5
Comics ............................. B7
Last Word .............................. B8
Sixth-graders ‘bank’ on Nature’s Classroom
SHELBURNE FALLS—When
the 30 students in Mrs. Goodman’s and Mrs. Perlman’s classes board the bus for Nature’s
Classroom in spring, they’ll
have proud memories of having
raised the money for the trip
themselves.
Late fall was a flurry of fundraising: chocolate bar sales, a
calendar raffle, art print sales,
coffee sales, and a massive,
days-long, schoolwide Christmas shopping spree. All told the
effort is on track to fund a week
of environmental education at
Nature’s Classroom.
“I’ve heard a lot about it. It
sounds really fun, and I’ve had
friends in other classes earlier and they said it was really
exciting to go there. We’ll get to
do a lot of cool experiments and
stuff like that,” said sixth-grader
Nathan Leger.
He added, “I’m OK with
the outdoors but I really like
the idea of doing tons of
experiments.”
According to Mrs. Goodman,
the goal for the fundraisers is
“just a lot of money. The cost is
$370 per kid, and the parents
are paying, like, $100 of that, so
we need to raise $270 times 30.”
Surveying a sea of students
picking through the donated
shopping spree goods, she called
out, “Who’s good at math?”
The answer is a steep $8,100.
Flow photos
Sixth-graders Nathan Leger (left
photo) and Jacob Pelletier (right,
assisting Charlie Murray) are working to reach Nature’s Classroom.
One student picks out magnetic fashion figures and a toy
mouse and car for $3.
Another considers a stainless
steel frying pan, a strainer, and
a cheese dome.
“Jewelry? What do you think
about that?” asks Mrs. Perlman.
“Or this is a lovely jewelry box.
Here, look: a Bridge of Flowers
T-shirt. What size does your dad
wear, do you know?”
Sixth-grader Jacob Pelletier
helps his little buddy Charlie
Murray buy his dad an anthology of short stories.
“We’ve made $880 just in the
first two groups. This is pure
profit. Just in bills, not even
counting the quarters,” Mrs.
Perlman says.
Helpful students wrap gifts
out in the crowded hallway. The
trip will go on.
— Flow staff
Alex Lilly, sixth grader, helps young Oliver Riley ring up gift purchases
in the all-school holiday shopping spree. Thousands of dollars are being
raised through the spree, a calendar raffle, sales of special Mo’s Fudge
Factor chocolate bars, BSE-branded coffee at Mocha Maya’s, and art prints.
Arms Library time capsule flung toward future
Copper roof dome, last
open in 1914, bears
our messages for 2115
F
By Hannah
CHASE
riends and supporters of
Arms Library put together
a special box of memories
called a time capsule and
sent it to the future. It might be
opened in 50, 75, or 100 years,
making it to 2115.
According to Laurie Wheeler,
the executive director of Arms
Library and a member of its
building committee, the box
contains things that will help
future generations figure out
what today’s generation was all
about. It was sealed up in the
new roof of the library on Sept.
17 around 7:30 a.m. It will
be seen next when the roof is
opened up for repairs it might
need many decades from now.
“A time capsule is a box or
metal tube — a container you
specially decide you’re going
The BSE Flow
Flow photo. Inset: Laurie Wheeler photo
ARMS LIBRARY DIRECTOR Laurie Wheeler shows off the goodies bound for the future — possibly as far as 100
years — in a community time capsule, which was promptly stowed within the library’s shiny new copper dome.
Roof renovations, years in the making and achived in 2015, were powered by volunteers.
to put away for the future, and
then they’ll see the items we put
in there. It’s items that are important to this time right now,”
Wheeler explained.
The roof replacement is part
of a $670,000 “Put a Roof On
It” project that took volunteers
three years to complete. The
roof that was replaced was built
in 1914 with the rest of the
library building. It is made of
copper, slates, and very heavy,
chalky limestone. You can touch
pieces of it in the library. Pieces
of the old roof copper will be
turned into gifts you can buy.
Contents of the packed time
capsule include children’s handprints in paint; books, newspapers, magazines, and artwork;
letters; and a library card.
Fifth-grader Hannah Chase reports
downtown news and features for
The BSE Flow. We welcome your
news tips at [email protected].
We thank our strong family of supporters for eight glorious issues
and wish all of us, everywhere, a safe, healthy, and happy New Year.
A2
Friday, dec. 25, 2015 • The BSE Flow
Opinions and advice
[email protected]
Get Involved
Politics matters to all of us — it shapes our lives
M
after a while I got bored and felt
like falling asleep.
I saw a lot of signs being
passed around. Some people
made their own signs. There
were bumper stickers and pins.
My mom, my sister, three
strangers who became our
friends, and I held up letters
that spelled out “Bernie.”
I don’t think he saw us — his
back was facing us.
A lot of people were cheering.
One section cheered, “Feel the
y family and I went
to a rally for Bernie
Sanders, who is running for president. He
is a state senator from Vermont.
It was loud — it was in a big
auditorium, the MassMutual
Center in Springfield, that seats
about 8,000 people. My mom
later said 6,000 came.
Bernie Sanders is older than I
expected. I thought he was going to be a young man. He had
a massive amount of energy but
Bern!” Many of his supporters
started this cheer by going,
“Feel the—” and the crowd
cheered back, “Bern!”
He said he wants to be president because he thinks he can
help the community by making
four-year colleges and universities tuition-free.
He said if the police do something wrong [police brutality]
they should be sent to jail, not
just let off the hook.
He also said he is in favor of
gun control because guns are
dangerous and are used to kill
people.
I agree with him. But if you
don’t that’s OK. The important
thing is to start getting involved
in the issues. You can help in
your community in lots of ways,
even without voting for president. But the best way to help
others is to stand up for what
you believe in and care about
politics.
Right now the president is
Barack Obama, a Democrat,
who has served almost two
four-year terms, and that’s the
maximum. The next presidential
election is Nov. 8, 2016.
I think people should care
about politics because it’s going
to build our future.
— Diana Yaseen, Flow staff
We welcome reader letters reflecting a wide range of respectful
opinions at [email protected].
Letters
THE
BSE FLOW
www.bseflow.com
Rachel Silverman enjoying Mohawk — we wish her well!
John Snyder, publisher
30 Church St., Shelburne Falls,
MA 01370; Tel. 413-325-6348;
E-mail [email protected]
Founded in 2014 and
published monthly at
Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School, The BSE
Flow is the independent,
student-run newspaper
of Shelburne Falls.
This newspaper, its website, and Flow TV are products of an independent afterschool journalism workshop
serving our school, towns,
families, and neighbors. We
practice reporting, writing,
current events, history,
design, ethics, language arts,
and commerce.
We belong to the National
Elementary Schools Press
Association, the Journalism
Education Association, the
New England Scholastic
Press Association, and the
Greater Shelburne Falls Area
Business Association.
advertise
and donate
Support your business or
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“Thank you for everything you taught us and
did for us. You taught us
new things like how to
draw lightning and bubble
letters.”
— Moshe Close
“Good luck, Ms. Silverman. Thank you for teaching us.”
— Vincent Gauthier
write a letter
to the editor
We welcome your letters to
the editor of 250 words or
fewer — and community
voices of up to 750 words —
at [email protected]
We reserve the right to decline printing any letter, and
may edit. We cannot print
anonymous letters.
For more information, please
write [email protected]
or call 413-325-6348.
send in news
tips, submissions,
suggestions, and
corrections
WRITE [email protected]
contributing
editors 2015
Joy Bohonowicz
Ainsley Bogel
Eliza Bogel
Harper Brown
Hannah Chase
Myah Grant
Areia Heilman
Brooke Looman
Kylie Lowell
Katie Martin
Bennett Snyder
Diana Yaseen
copyright
The BSE Flow Vol. 2 No. 4 is
© 2015 Advance The Story,
Shelburne Falls, MA, 01370.
All rights reserved. We print
at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Mass.
RACHEL SILVERMAN assists Flow staffer Ainsley Bogel on a feature then in the works for
our coverage of the spring Art Show. Ms. Silverman left the elementary schools this fall
for Mohawk. Our art shows will continue under new BSE art teacher Rebecca Cummings.
D
RATES: www.bseflow.com
CALL: 413-325-6348,
WRITE: [email protected]
or 30 Church St.,
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
The BSE Flow encourages a
respectful, family-friendly
exchange of views about
school community issues.
Kylie Lowell photo
“I would say Ms. Silverman was a very good
teacher here and she taught
everyone a lot. She taught
me a lot. I want her to come
back.”
— Ethan Thayer
ear BSE families,
Just after school ended back
in June I was offered a full-time
position as art teacher at Mohawk, and
I accepted.
While I am excited about the change
and the challenges ahead, I am certainly feeling the bittersweetness of it as I
say goodbye to BSE.
For five years I have been lucky
enough to work in a fabulous school
community with an awesome group of
creative young people in a beautiful art
studio. We have made lots of spectacular art happen and I have enjoyed
every art show immensely as I see the
pride of the faces of students and parents alike.
I have grown as an educator here
and learned so much from my colleagues and students. Leaving is not
easy. Hopefully it’ll only be a matter of
time before I get to teach my BSE gang
again at Mohawk. Until then, I thank
you all for your support of the arts —
and of me over the years. I will always
be grateful for that.
Fondly,
Rachel Silverman
Asked a bit later how she was settling
in at Mohawk, she told the Flow:
I’M TRYING A LOT of new things and
learning a ton about gearing art education toward middle- and high-school
students. I miss my elementary school
kids a lot, but I’m enjoying the new
challenge of creating a rich and meaningful art program at the older level.
I realize that my experiences at BSE
and Heath have taught me so much
about what is important and developmentally sound in art education and I
am really just building on that and taking my practice beyond the sixth-grade
year into what comes next.
I’m also piloting a new course next
semester and looking forward to
launching more in the future.
I feel excited and grateful to be in this
community. The kids aren’t as small but
they are still pretty sweet, up for trying
new things and exploring different ways
art can be a part of our lives. ❦
PHOTOS AND REACTION INTERVIEWS BY FLOW STAFFERS
Ainsley Bogel, Eliza Bogel, Hannah Chase, Bennett Snyder, and Diana Yaseen.
We thank you, too, Ms. Silverman, and wish you lots of happiness.
Some of us will see you at Mohawk!
School Improvement Plan stronger with you
D
“I will miss Ms. Silverman. I like what she did
for us. She always picked
creative projects for us to
do, like drawing tigers and
coloring them in with oil
pastels.”
— Myah Grant
“I miss you. You’re
awesome. I can’t wait to see
you at Mohawk.”
— Madalyn Lilly
“I’ll miss her too. She was
the best art teacher. She’s
really nice. She taught me
how to overlap.”
— Mohammad
Abdelgawad
Moments
LEC seeks family, community voices; Shelburne seat still open
ear Flow readers,
Our LEC (Local
Education Council)
is an advisory board to the
principal. Members consist of parents of current
students, teachers, and
members of the towns of
Buckland and Shelburne.
This year’s members are
parents Jennifer Martin,
Elizabeth Garofalo, Rachel
Silverman, and Amanda
Kingsley; school staffers
Sandra Carter, Kate Dwyer, and Lillian Black; and
community member and
Buckland resident Mary
Brooks.
A seat is open for a Shelburne resident as well.
The LEC creates the
Family-School Connection portion of the School
Improvement Plan.
Some schoolwide initiatives that have come from
the LEC include the school
garden, after-school enrichment programs, and
the back-to-school Community Night.
[The SIP also covers
Effective Instruction,
Student Assessment, and
Tiered Instruction and
Adequate Learning Time.
— Ed.]
The LEC aims to respond to the needs of
Buckland-Shelburne
families to help strengthen
the relationship between
home and school that
is so important for our
students.
There is always time
in our agenda for com-
Happy to help!
• FOR COPIES of the district’s educational
improvement plan, including BSE’s School Improvement Plan for 2015-2016 and its Action Plan,
visit mohawkschools.org and click the tab for
Buckland-Shelburne.
• FOR MORE information on the LEC, contact
Jen Martin at 625-3054 or [email protected].
munity comment, and
we welcome input from
any member of the Buckland-Shelburne community. We just ask that you
contact Principal Joanne
Giguere first so that you
can be put on the agenda.
The LEC meets at the
school library at 4 p.m.
on the second Monday
of each month and follows the open-meeting
laws. Sometimes decision-making happens
over the course of several
meetings, as we carefully
consider concerns brought
to our attention.
We hope to hear from
you.
— Jennifer Martin
on behalf of the LEC
“Birch Collage” — Reuben Bassett
A
s the sunshine comes
into my bedroom
and wakes me up,
I push off my bedspread
and go barefoot into the
living room to find my
grandfather and grandmother reading the newspaper and waking up.
When they see me, one
of them offers to make my
breakfast. I want pancakes
with strawberries.
Afterward, we all have
places we need to go.
— “Breakfast,” with compound words underlined,
by Rikku
THANKS FOR READING THE FLOW! WE ALSO PRODUCE FLOW TV,
YOUR LOCAL, KID-POWERED PUBLIC ACCESS CABLE TV WORKSHOP!
FREE FLOW TV: COMCAST CHANNEL 17 AND BSEFLOW.COM
Ask Harper
By Harper
BROWN
Worried
about who’s
Dad’s favorite
— and why
D
ear Harper: I’m
pretty sure my
dad thinks I’m
his favorite. I
feel good and bad about
this but mostly bad. My
brother is older than me
and Dad is always stricter with him than me and
doesn’t joke around with
him like he does with me.
I don’t know why this
is. My brother definitely
notices it. What is your
advice?
— Confused in Colrain
Dear Confused,
Sometimes the tone
of voice isn’t the major
thing. Your dad will still
love you as much as your
brother even if he yells
at him all of the time. I
bet if you asked your dad,
he would tell you that he
loves you and your brother the same.
My mom and I talked about your question.
She recommended I look
through a book she has
called Touchpoints: Birth
to Three (Da Capo Press,
2006) by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. I found this
about “valuing individuals,” which means seeing
the worth in each person:
Parents often wonder how
to treat each child equally.
The answer is simple: You
can’t. Each child is a different personality and needs
a different approach. For
instance, you might say to
one, “You need me to speak
softly.” To another, “You
always need me to speak
angrily.” When they torture
you with “You’re always
nicer to him than you are to
me,” you can say, “You are
very different people, which
is great. I need to treat you
differently. When I speak
loudly to you, it’s to make
you listen but I am speaking
just as lovingly even if it’s
louder.”
You might feel better
if you talk to your dad.
As your brother is older,
your dad might be joking
around with him in a way
that you don’t understand.
Your father might have
different expectations
for you and your brother
since you are different
ages. For instance, I get
to stay up later than my
younger brother because I
am older. It’s not because
my parents like me better; it’s because I’m more
mature. I also get to watch
movies that have swear
words in them whereas my younger brother
doesn’t get to watch them
as much. People are different and that’s good! If
everyone were the same,
that would be very bad.
You can’t control everything your dad does.
There’s only one person
you can control and that’s
YOU! Treat your brother
kindly and he’ll return the
favor.
Tell me how everything
goes.
Your friend,
Harper
Harper Brown is one of
The BSE Flow’s advice
columnists and its New York
bureau chief. Got a question? Write Ask Harper, The
BSE Flow, 30 Church St.,
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
or [email protected].
Please include your contact
information and name. We
won’t print your name if
you ask us not to.
friday, dec. 25, 2015 • The BSE Flow
A3
Preschooler, principal pause to ponder pups
BSE preschool student
Alex Campbell interviewed Principal Joanne
Giguere in September
about her love for Labrador retrievers. Ms.
Giguere’s chocolate lab,
Gunther, can often be
seen in the school hallways, visiting with students and staff.
Alex: How many dogs
have you had?
Ms. Giguere: A big
number, do you want to
guess? Nine! I’ve had nine
dogs. Gunther is number
nine. That’s a lot, isn’t it?
Alex: Yeah! So here’s
another one: What kind of
dogs have you had?
Ms. Giguere: I have had
mostly labs, like Gunther.
They come in different
colors. They come in
black, yellow, and brown,
and I’ve had all colors!
Alex: Well, that one
that you do have, that’s
Gunther, and he’s brown.
Ms. Giguere: He’s
brown, and he’s a Labrador Retriever. He loves
to go swimming, and
hiking, and just loves to
play. That’s why I love
Labradors.
Alex: I’m trying to get
a lab. I want to convince
my dad to get me two of
them.
Ms. Giguere: Two of
them! What colors would
you get?
Alex: Black and white.
Ms. Giguere: Perfect!
They do have white ones.
Every now and then you
see a white lab.
Alex: Do you have any
puppies?
Ms. Giguere: My yellow
lab, Emma, had puppies
once. They were all over
the place! There were
Maya Jalbert photo
Principal Joanne Giguere fields questions from student Alex
Campbell on keeping dogs. He says he would love Labrador
Retrievers and would help take very good care of them.
six of them; they were
so cute. They were all
yellow. I don’t have any
puppies right now.
Alex: You should get a
girl dog so they can mate,
so they can get more
babies.
Ms. Giguere: Well,
that’s how you do it!
Alex: And then you
should keep them!
Ms. Giguere: Keep
them all? That would be a
lot of dogs. That’s a great
idea, I love puppies. They
are just so cute!
Alex: Do you have a
favorite kind of dog?
Ms. Giguere: I think
that’s going to have to be
labs. How about you?
Alex: Yup, I’m trying
to get one. A playing dog:
a lab, so I can play for a
long time, for most of my
day — play on a bunch of
days off with him.
Ms. Giguere: That
would be great, I hope
you can do that.
Alex: Yup, and I’ll be
cleaning up their poop.
Ms. Giguere: Yup,
you’ve got to do that. And
you have to feed them,
and make sure they have
water, and sometimes they
need baths. And they love
to play!
Alex: Yup! The part that
I’m really going into is
playing.
— Sent in by Flow reader
Maya Jalbert, BSE’s speech
and language pathologist.
Sibling vs. Sibling
The best and worst parts of being a twin; don’t sweat
hand-me-downs — try to appreciate what you have
D
ear Ainsley: I think
it’s cool that you and
Eliza are twins. I can
tell you apart so easy so
I don’t know why people
say you can almost never
tell twins apart. What is
the best thing about being
a twin and what is the
worst? Eliza can answer
too. I think you and Eliza
are both awesome equally
but for different reasons.
I have a sibling but we are
not twins.
— Curious Kid
Dear Curious Kid,
The best part about being
a twin is that you always
have someone to chat and
play with. There are some
bad parts too, like having
to share a bedroom and
almost never getting some
time completely alone.
There are many ups and
downs to being a twin but
overall I’m glad I’m a twin.
Here’s what Eliza says:
“The best part of being
a twin is that you can fool
people and make them
think that you are the other
twin. The worst part is
pretty much the same thing
Ainsley said.”
— Your friend,
Ainsley
D
ear Ainsley: I have
an older sister who
gets the best clothes,
the best everything. And
when she outgrows something it’s passed on to
By Ainsley
BOGEL
me, even my bike. I don’t
want to have her hand-medowns. I want my own new
things. How can I get my
parents to understand and
support me in this?
— I Am My Own Person!
Dear I Am My Own
Person,
You have a good point
when you say it is fun to
have your own clothes but
I also think you should be
happy for what you have.
Talk with your parents
about getting some of your
own items but also keep
some of your sister’s things
that are in good shape
and that you don’t mind
wearing or using. That way
everyone’s happy. I hope
this helps!
— Your friend,
Ainsley
At the Bridge of Flowers
Serving delicious
LUNCH and DINNER
with a river view
16 State St., Shelburne Falls
413-625-6216
www.westendpubinfo.com
Sandwiches, salads, paninis,
wraps, homemade soups and
breads, seafood, steaks and
vegetarian specialties
Many local items
Full bar serving beer, wine, liquor
Open for lunch and dinner daily,
except Mondays
Flow photo
Classmate Diana Yaseen looks on as sisters Ainsley (center) and Eliza Bogel demonstrate their
“twin telepathy” on the set of Flow TV at Falls Cable on Sept. 21.
Ainsley Bogel writes about sibling issues for The BSE Flow. Got a
question about how to get along with your brother or sister? Have
any tips or tricks on keeping peace in the family? Write Ainsley
Bogel, The BSE Flow, 30 Church St., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 or
[email protected]. Please include your contact information
and name. We won’t print your name if you ask us not to.
A4
News
Tipline: [email protected]
Class Dispatch
Fifth-graders’ Pringles survive mailing to Florida
SHELBURNE FALLS — All eight
thin, crispy Pringle chips students
mailed from the post office in October arrived safely days later at their
destination nearly 1,500 miles away.
According to one student in Ms.
Eklund’s fifth grade class, it was fun
preparing this precious cargo for a
dangerous trip.
“In groups of three we made boxes
and we needed to make it so the chips
didn’t break,” Bennett Snyder said.
The point of the experiment was to
see whether the students in the class
could anticipate the many hardships
the small packages would face on
their journey from the classroom to
Ms. Eklund’s cousin’s mailbox all the
way in Fort Lauderdale, a city on
Florida’s southeastern coast, with a
lot of machines, vehicles, drops, and
jostling in between.
“We asked, What are the properties
of a Pringle? What material is it made
of? We passed them around, looked
at them with magnifying glasses, and
really took a longer look at a Pringle
than anybody here thought we ever
would,” Ms. Eklund said.
The students’ conclusion, according
to their teacher: “It’s fragile.”
So they figured out the properties
of a container that would need to
keep something safe in shipping, and
trusted their work in cardboard and
tape.
All of the boxes arrived safely,
Ms. Eklund confirmed days after the
mailing.
The work is part of a unit fellow
teacher Jacqui Goodman introduced
on the properties of materials and
objects.
Another part of the unit had students subject “mystery powders”
like salt and corn starch to a variety
of tests to identify them, alone and
combined.
“It uses their powers of observation
to turn their science brains on: to observe, to record, to make hypotheses,
and to realize that if their hypotheses
aren’t proven — if they’re not true in
the end — it’s OK. Hypotheses aren’t
After-School News
Talented Olivia Girard
joins staff, helps kids
E
By Hannah Chase
very day is a new
adventure for Olivia
Girard, the new employee for the after-school
program.
Olivia is very friendly, has
long, light-brown hair, and
says she loves working with
children. She recently graduated from Mohawk High
School, where she was on the
honor roll, played tennis, and
performed in three plays.
She said she enjoyed acting
and singing very much. She
was the green bird girl in
“Suessical the Musical” and
had roles in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream” and in “All Talk.”
Soon she’s going to be
studying at Greenfield Community College to learn more
about sociology and cultural
anthropology.
“Sociology is the study of
people; looking deeper into
people’s values and beliefs
past and present,” she told the
Flow.
At BSE she is working with
After-School Director Raelene
Lemione. Together they look
after 12 to 30 kids every day.
Kid signouts
can save you $$
Raelene Lemione,
Mrs. Unaitis, and Olivia
Gerard note that the
before- and after-school
program is busier than
ever.
“With the addition of
our preschool pals our
room is really buzzing
with activity,” Lemione
writes.
She asks parents to
keep sending in notes
on days they would like
their child to attend the
program — and reminds
them to sign their kids
out in the afternoon so
that she’ll know how
much to bill. A full day’s
rate is the default.
CHIPS AWAY
Rebecca Eklu
!
nd photos
ie, Gracie Hic Students, left to right: H
olly Hicks, H
ks, Hannah Pl
annah Macksend their gr
es
na
r,
Ev
e
Macek, and D
oups’ Pringles
village post
ia
office. Each ch off with a dash of flair na Yaseen
from the
ip arrived in
ta
ct
1,500 miles
Bennett Snyder photo
south.
always true; it’s an educated guess.
You do you best. You do your science and you figure out what’s true
and what’s not,” Ms. Eklund said.
— Flow staff
SCENES FROM AN OPEN HOUSE
MOMENTS FROM BSE’s Open House of Oct. 7.
Above left: Octavia Crawford, Arwen King, Grace
Crowley, and Olivia Poirier explain tectonic
activity of the Pacific Rim. Above: Members of the
fifth grade family cheer on learning: Back to front
and left to right: Becky Eklund, Bennett Snyder,
Heather Loomis, Schuyler and Alex Bogel; Ethan
Thayer, Hannah Plesnar, Eve Macek, Elizabeth
Snow; Hannah Chase, Ainsley Bogel, Eliza Bogel, and Abby Rosner. At right, with a good book:
Leah Rosner and Wes Rosner. — Flow staff photos
Ponte Restaurante
THE LIT TLE PL ACE WITH THE BIG TASTE
Eliza Bogel photo
Olivia Girard and her young
friend Morgan Raffa make
great use of their time at
after-school.
Many helping
hands here!
Many of the activities
in the before- and
after-school program
center on doing good
work in the community.
This fall the program
held a mitten drive to
benefit Community
Clothes Closet, based
at Cowell Gym, that
handed out more than
50 pairs of mittens and
gloves to people in the
area who need them,
Lemione said.
In 2014 the program
collected, weighed, and
delivered more than 250
pounds of food to the
Franklin County Survival Center, she added.
Apple Maps
TUNE IN FLOW TV, the student-led TV
workshop serving Shelburne Falls, on
Falls Cable channel 17 or BSEFLOW.COM.
Join in! Underwrite an episode at
[email protected].
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413-625-6066 • PlantsforPleasure.com
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Smith Hardwood Floor Co.
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Sanding • Installation • Refinishing
B
Section
Penelope McDonald-O'Neil, “Evil Queen sans makeup,” center, amid a sea of BSE Halloween parade-goers 2015
Kid Power
— Page B2
Local Motion
— Page B3
Alumni News
— Page B4
Kate O’Neil photo
Comics Cheryl Dukes
— Page B7
— Page B8
Magazine
The BSE Flow • Dec. 25, 2015
Karen Eldred and the life of the garden in education
T
he timing worked out
well on a clear day in
late September. The
fifth grade had planted garlic. Plans were set for
braiding it for sale for next
year’s class trip to Nature’s
Classroom.
“We had
Shelbure Falls
Farm and
Garden donate
the garlic
so we didn’t
have to buy
it. And today
I worked with Karen Eldred
one preschool
teacher and cut sunflower
heads, and we’re going to line
them up by size.”
Timing is the key for success
at the school gardens, where
retired teacher Karen Eldred
and a passel of school and
community volunteers tend to
herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
There’s a bounty of education here as well as food for
the table. Eldred spent a little
time with the Flow to explain
what the school’s eight gardens
really grow...
Flow: We always see kids
out here. It looks lovely.
Karen: Thank you, it is lovely. Jacqui Goodman’s [sixthgrade] class just came out and
we cut up the sunflower stalks
and added them to the compost bins; another preschool
teacher came out and we
decided what to do with the
scarlet runner beans that we
planted last year on big poles
that a storm knocked over. We
opened some up and they were
just beautiful. And then we
went through what she could
do with them, whether it was
eat them or save them for next
year for crafts.
Flow: Do you plan activities class by class, or...
Karen: It works perfect! The
timing was really good today.
A couple of clases were expecting me, and others I ran into
and it just worked. Ms. Funk
and I talked about kale — her
class is going to harvest kale
over the next two weeks and
Local gardeners say
rhubarb works wonders
R
hubarb is delicious in jams
and desserts. But
there’s more! Three
students working with
Karen Eldred on the
school gardens thought
you should know...
“Rhubarb is a plant.
The root and stem (rhizome) are used to make
medicine. Rhubarb is
used primarily for digestive complaints including
constipation, diarrhea,
heartburn, stomach pain,
gastrointestinal (GI)
bleeding, and preparation for certain GI
procedures.”
— Connor Bailey,
stalk over shoulder
the kitchen is going to make
kale chips.
Flow: How is all this organized? Is this all volunteer
effort?
Karen: All these beds are
put in by the Garden Committee. We still need parents’
support. I’m here as a liaison,
working with families and
school and the gardens and the
teachers.
I’ll do a little work with
the kids in the classroom on
what’s going to happen — this
is instruction time — and with
others it’s just random.
The preschool kids happened to just come out and
they had their wagon with
them. It was just coincidental.
And then we took 15 to 20
minutes and did some instruction with them and cut some
sunflowers.
Now I’m doing cleanup,
which is hard to teach kids to
do. This is fall cleanup and I’m
“Rhubarb is a plant
where the root is used to
make medicine for stomach problems. It helps by
being used as a laxative
and an aid to balance out
the stomach system.”
— Allie Martin,
nibbling stalk
“The root and underground stem are used to
make medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine
rhubarb roots are used
as a laxative. It is very
interesting to learn about
rhubarb.”
— Bella Pettingill,
with broad rhubarb leaf
(don’t eat the leaf,
it’s bad for you)
just waiting for Becky’s [Becky
Ecklund’s fifth-grade] class.
Flow: You said you’re
looking for more help. What
can community members do
to help?
Karen: We’re looking for
people to get involved. There
are always things that can
be donated. Right now we’re
looking for bales of hay to
mulch the garlic with. But we
need a parent representative,
which is what Emily Crehan
was doing, and had been doing
for a year. That would involve
making flyers and organizing a
date for a work crew. We need
someone who can help with
fundraising and grant writing –
that’s a critical need right now.
We also need supplies and
stipends. Red Gate Farm sends
people down here and they
get a stipend, I get a stipend,
and we want to add Emily’s
position as a stipend. It’s not a
salary; it’s not anywhere near
the hours that we work but it
Flow photos
recognizes that this can’t be a
purely voluntary thing if it’s
going to work.
Flow: What are you hoping
kids take from all this?
Karen: I want children to
understand where their food
comes from because children
really don’t. I want children
to get outside. They don’t
get outside anywhere near as
much as they should. There’s
science involved; there’s math
involved. Being able to make
connections to the curriculum.
Really connecting back to what
used to be part of their lives
and really isn’t anymore. Children really don’t know where
their food comes from; children
really aren’t getting outside
and getting dirty. They don’t
realize what compost is.
Flow: I’m surprised to hear
that. I’d think, living around
here, more kids would have
a sense of the earth.
Karen: There’s a certain
amount but it’s not like it used
supporting yourself with the
planted life.
Karen: There’s this whole
cycle that continues. We can
either help it continue or we
can asphalt it over. [Laughs]
Flow: So anyone can
help in the gardens here? It
doesn’t have to be a school
parent or a teacher?
Karen: I’d love some community members. A master
gardener would be really cool.
I’m self-taught. My grandparents gardened, my mom
gardened, I garden. In another
lifetime I canned my own food.
I worked with adolescents in
residential care when I worked
as a special-ed teacher and
we used to have gardens and
chickens and exhibit at the fair.
[Those were] hard-core city
kids who did really bad things
and they’re finding a different
part of themselves. Gardens are
for everybody. These gardens
are for everybody.
to be, where it was part of life.
Now it’s if a family chooses
to garden and it’s kind of a
hobby. And with some families,
yeah, they do still grow their
own potatoes and can their
own food but there’s a lot who
don’t. Everybody used to have
a kitchen garden and that’s not
true anymore.
Flow: Why is it important
for kids, for families, to have
this sense?
Karen: Well, it’s educational. It’s lifelong. It’s a lifelong
connection to living. If you
don’t grow your food, to at
least realize when you walk
into that supermarket where
that potato came from, what
the parts of a plant are, that
the carrot is actually the root,
that you’re actually eating the
root... When you’re eating corn
you’re eating seeds.
Flow: That’s a great vocabulary to have at your disposal too, to know how you’re
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HOUSING
LENDER
[email protected]
B2
Kid Power
Keeping kids fueled for a long day of learning
Sonya Hamdan
feeds a world
W
e wondered what goes into
the school meals program at
BSE. One day recently after
the lunch rush Flow reporter
Diana Yaseen and adviser John Snyder
sat down with Cafeteria Manager Sonya
Hamdan to find out.
Diana: Where does the cafeteria
food come from?
Sonya: Some comes from the
government. Every month we receive
a list and can choose from what’s on
that list. There might be some hamburger or chicken, frozen vegetables,
canned fruits, lots of things like that,
and I’ll order from there. Also I order
through a company called Thurston
for breads and anything else we need,
all the vegetables… The milk and the
yogurt come from All-Star Dairy.
Diana: How do you decorate?
Sonya: I bought the decorations
myself. The Christmas ones, some of
them, Mrs. Shearer brings in from her
home. All the Thanksgiving decorations are mine that I bring in from
home. We lower those three strings
and I can hang things from the ceiling. I think it makes it more festive
to have something over everyone.
And then I cut out with my Cricket
machine different things to put on the
bulletin boards. If I see something on
sale that fits the theme I buy it.
Diana: How much food do you
serve every day?
Sonya: Today was chicken nuggets
and peas and carrots. We served 128
kids and so many adults. That’s why
lunch counts are so important, so we
know for sure. I have an idea, but
Provided photo
By Diana
YASEEN
right now we have a lot of kids who
are out sick. So we need to have an
accurate count. On a day like today
when we have a per-piece item, like
chicken nuggets or hot dogs, I need
to know how many kids are eating so
I can do that much — and I always
cook a little extra. Kids come in late,
or don’t sign up for whatever reason,
and we have enough. Every chicken
nugget is counted when we put it on
the tray.
For the Thanksgiving meal we
served 247 [diners].
Diana: And everyone else brings
in their own lunch?
Sonya: There are 260-something
kids in the school, so the others bring
in their own lunch. Buckland-Shelburne has been a school where a lot
of the kids bring their own lunch,
consistently, for whatever reason.
A third of the kids, anyway. There
are some with food allergies, so we
eliminated our peanut butter. Now
we have SunButter [soy-and-sunflower-based]. That way we don’t have
to worry about anyone. And a fair
amount of gluten allergies. And there
are some kids who just like what their
mom or dad packs.
Chicken nuggets is one of the most
popular lunches, along with breadsticks, pizza, and French toast sticks...
TOP: From left to right: Helpers
Vanessa Mills, Josie Tetrault, Tucker
Mills, Christy Cress-Bistrek, Dot
Giffin, Sonya Hamdan, Gerry Cadran,
Jerry Levine, and Roxanne Shearer
set the stage and give students full
bellies to be thankful for. RIGHT:
Cafeteria Manager Sonya Hamdan.
Diana: Fruit is popular.
Sonya: Every month different
things come in that the kids like:
frozen strawberries, some cheeses,
canned and frozen fruit. This list is for
the entire district. I write a wishlist
for what I would like of those, as the
list is for all the schools in the district.
If there are only three of something
a school isn’t going to get what it
wants. But they’re usually pretty good
about making options available.
Diana: How about breakfast?
How many people?
Sonya: It seems to be 28 to 30
people. We’d like more. But what
happens is that when kids come in
they like to play on the playground
with their friends. They don’t come in
and have breakfast, even though it’s
free for everone who has free lunch,
or 30 cents for reduced price, and $1.
Thirty-six is the highest we’ve had.
Diana: Is there a lot of
measuring?
Sonya: There is. Everything has to
be measured. For example, when I’m
making up the menu, I write down
what I would like to do [serve], and
Flow photos
then go back though and put in the
vegetable component, the fruit component, the grains, the meats, because
it has to meet requirements — a half
cup (this is for lunch) daily, and a
weekly requirement. Each kid for
lunch must be offered certain minimum and maximum amounts.
The difference is that, starting this
year, [2015] the kids have to go out
with ½ cup of fruit — even if they
don’t want it or they don’t eat it. They
have to go out.
Vegetables: ¾ cup offered every
day. Usually that’s ½ cup of one kind
and ¼ cup of a fresh. But it has to be
3 ¾ cup per week.
Meat: At least 1 oz. day. We always
serve 2; it can be a little more. But it
cannot be more than 10 oz. per week.
Grains: 1 oz. That’s why, today,
with chicken nuggets, I had to put a
piece of bread on. Because the breading on the chicken nuggets did not
count up to 1 oz.
And so forth. If you don’t follow
these guidelines, when the state
inspects you, you will lose all of your
commodities that you order from the
government; you will lose all of your
reimbursements from the government,
which is based per meal.
[Referring to guidelines] Here, this
is a minimum of 1 oz. Who would
give a kid only 1 oz. of meat or meat
alternate?
John: Do you see kids having
more energy and focus after breakfast and lunch? Do you see that
as part as what you do in terms of
being in a school setting?
Sonya: I think you’re right. More
so, I think we give lunch to some kids
who don’t have any lunch at all: No
breakfast, no lunch. There are actually kids in this school who would not
otherwise have a breakfast or lunch,
and sometimes when they go home
don’t have a supper either. So that is
a sad fact.
Some kids in years prior have come
up to me after the Thanksgiving meal
and thanked me because they don’t
have a Thanksgiving meal at home,
never see decorations at home. It’s not
the norm but it’s more common than
you might think.
Pitching In
It’s fun and important to contribute in the kitchen
B
elieve it or not, washing
dishes for about 200 people is more exciting than
washing dishes for two
or three! You get to use lots of
equipment, including a spraying
hose and a big dishwasher —
you just insert your load and
hear a hiss and the machine
takes it in and goes to work.
“Lunch workers” are fifth and
sixth graders chosen every other
week to work with Cafeteria
Manager Sonya Hamdan and
her assistant, Roxanne Shearer,
putting away and drying dishes
in the cafeteria.
By Bennett
SNYDER
KITCHEN HELPING: HOW IT WORKS
I’ve done this job twice. I
look forward to doing it again,
even though I have to give up
a recess to do it. Here’s how it
works:
First the two kids go down to
the cafeteria at 11:15 a.m. and
wash their hands. Next they
volunteer to ether put away
or dry the dishes. Once that is
decided, they wait for people to
clear their lunches and Sonya or
Roxanne will put the dishes in a
huge washing machine to wash
the dishes.
If they put in silverware, the
kid putting dishes away gives
them back and puts them in
once more. When silverware is
washed twice, the “put awayer”
puts them on a table and the
dryer probably dries them. That
process goes on and on until
every class, from pre-K to 6, is
dismissed by 12:30 p.m.
The dishwasher is quite loud
when the dishes go in.
You have to wear gloves and
you cannot touch any part of
your face during your job.
According to Mrs. Hamdan
the work is also very important:
“We love having them here,
especially as there are only two
of us. The kids do a great job.”
Sometimes, she added, “helpers come back years later, even
after they graduate, and say
they remember this as a fun
time, and that they miss it. That
can bring a tear to my eye,” she
told the Flow.
After everything, on my way
back to class, I tend to feel
proud and my fingers feel wet
and pruny.
Students help our community in
ways large and small. Let us hear
how your student helps or might
like to: [email protected].
IT BEGINS with lunch: in this case four chicken nuggets and
servings of rice, mixed vegetables, and fruit. Students can
also choose the salad bar option, and get milk.
AFTER LUNCH, students empty whatever remains on their
trays and leave cleanup to the cafeteria staff and the day’s
lunch workers, today Octavia Crawford and Jeffrey Buck.
THERE ARE three lunch sessions covering grades Pre-K to 6,
and it all takes place between 11:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Here
Jacob Pelletier and Tyler Dubreuil get ready for dismissal.
ONE STUDENT dries dishes and one works on the dishwasher in the first group, and then they have lunch. When they
come back in, they can alternate. They also do the silverware.
CLEANLINESS IS KEY as Octavia and Jeffrey work behind the
scenes. In addition to the helpers, Mrs. Hamdan and Mrs.
Shearer keep the troops fed, happy, and healthy.
EACH TABLE gets a wipedown after lunch, with a student
from each table taking responsibility for the job. Here Gussie
Smith works as Ainsley Bogel and Grace Crowley look on.
B3
Local Motion
Run!
Eyes on the prize for health and fitness
Hide!
S
Zap!
now has yet to fall in our
neck of the woods but the
great outdoors are lovely
all around, and we can
certainly take a walk or enjoy
a hike. Sledding, snowshoeing,
and cross-country and downhill
skiing aren’t far off.
According to BSE physical education teacher Mary
Johansmeyer, kids will rise to
the challenge of physical fitness
and healthy lifestyle choices if
given the chance — and clever
encouragement.
Flow: We were just
speaking with Cafeteria
Manager Sonya Hamdan
about healthy eating and
student success...
Mary: It’s essential. I’m
on the Wellness Committee,
which is setting our nutritional policy for the district.
The state came up with this
requirement for a committee
to oversee nutrition, physical
education, and a healthy lifestyle. I’m on it along with Sue
Mitchell, the nurse liaison for
the district; Denise Dunbar,
the nurse from Sanderson; the
other elementary P.E. teacher
and high school P.E. teacher;
and we’re trying to get the
health teacher on board.
The goal is to make sure
our kids lead healthy lifestyles. We’re looking at
health as much as we can,
including what the kids eat in
school, like at parties. We try
to dictate what is allowed for
parties. It used to be all what
I call junk: good[-tasting]
junk, but is it healthy?
We’ll meet monthly and
present our recomendations
to the School Committee.
This isn’t new: We’re just
revisiting it.
Flow: What are the kids
working on now?
Mary: The young kids
work on movement concepts:
spatial awareness and basic
skills just so I can hook them
in to kind of get them excited
about moving.
The older kids, I always
start out with teamwork so
they can get used to working with one another. I just
introduced a game called
Hover Ball. The kids saw it
on TV. I don’t watch a lot of
TV. It’s half of a soccer ball
and you kick it and it just
sort of glides across the floor.
It was great for the older
kids because I always start
soccer later in the fall: the
grass is always soaking wet
in the mornings and I hate
bringing them out in it where
their feet are soaking, so I’m
always stuck with, How do
I teach soccer without being
outdoors? This is awesome
because we learned our basic
skills, and then once we got
My goal is just
to keep them
motivated and
excited to move
and just want
to keep moving
and having fun.
Flow photo
MARY JOHANSMEYER is approaching 20 years teaching gym in the district. She says she
believes the gym is a great place to instill teamwork, stamina, and self-confidence for a happier, healthier life. She looks for new ways to tie other classroom instruction in with fitness.
into game-playing we were
able to play in the gym. We
have goals. They were ready.
Flow: What’s your goal
for P.E. this year overall?
Mary: My goal is just to
keep them motivated and
excited to move and just
want to keep exercising and
moving and having fun.
We’re always trying to come
up with new, fun ideas.
Flow: Many kids say they
want more recess. Principal Joanne Giguere points
out there are only so many
hours available for that,
given the requirements on
instruction time. What’s
your view?
Mary: I feel that recess, or
just running and moving, is
so important. That’s how kids
learn: by doing. If they’re
just sitting at the desk all
day, yeah, I can teach you
by talking, but if you do it,
if you learn through moving,
you’re going to remember it
much longer.
In here a lot of the time
I’ll try to incorporate what
they’re doing in the classroom, like math facts. The
sixth graders are working on
it and getting better at their
multiplication. They work in
pairs: One person is the jumper and someone else holds the
math fact cards. They might
get “seven times seven” and
have to jump on the answer,
and do as many as they can
in 30 seconds. You’ve got to
know those numbers, and
you’re jumping and it just
plants that in your brain.
Whatever the classroom is doing I try to pick up on something and make it physical.
Flow: How long have you
been teaching here?
Mary: About 18 years. I
didn’t start until Kelly, my
youngest out of four, started
first grade. I came back to
teach. My degree was phys.
ed. When I first got married I
taught up in New Hampshire
a little bit and then when we
started having kids we moved
back here. I didn’t want to be
a working mom. I didn’t want
to be away from the kids so
I did daycare and I took in a
lot of teachers’ kids, and our
vacations were the same, and
my husband was a teacher,
so it worked for us around
vacations.
Flow: As parents, what
are we up against in terms
of keeping kids active:
screen time?
Mary: Definitely. Kids
need to be moving. I just
did the pre-fitness test for
fifth grade, and just looking
at the fitness components I
talked to the kids about —
abdominal strength, muscular strength, upper body
strength, endurance, and
flexibility — we talk about
why each of those pieces are
important to be healthy.
In many cases we’re finding where we need improvement, where we see a health
risk. Now I’m going to go
over their results with them
and send these results home.
It shows them, “I need to be
outside; I need to be more
active.” How many curl-ups
can you do in a minute? How
many 90-degree push-ups?
How flexible is your reach?
How fast can you do 2,000
steps? These are our standards. It gives us a measurement we can improve on.
Flow: Do you teach the
kids how to perform an
effective push-up?
Mary: I teach them that
from Day One: how to do the
exercise safely and effectively. We’ll do different things,
not just pushups. Pushups
are hard. It’s motor planning.
There’s a lot to think about,
so I always think of additional things to do to work on
upper-body strength.
Flow: Is there anything
else you think parents
should know?
Mary: I only have the kids
an hour a week. Their success depends on what they do
when I’m not around, though
I’m always happy to help.
Kids need to be doing more
at home. I am seeing that.
John Snyder
Like a challenge?
Laser tag just
might be for you
By BENNETT SNYDER
L
aser tag is a game you
can play if you are
looking for action and
sweaty armpits.
You start out with a suit
and “phaser.” You must
have two
hands on
the phaser
or it won’t
work. The
gun has
your codeWhen not
name on
blasting foes
a glowing
with lasers...
green tab.
The goal of the game is
to shoot as many people in
the shoulders, chest, back,
and phaser as you can.
You start in a dark room
and once the ear-petrifying music starts, RUN,
HIDE, AND ZAP!
Examples of code names
are: the Borg, Cow Tipper,
No Mercy, and Alien.
I have gone LaserBlast
at Interskate 91, at Holyoke Mall, three times and
played two rounds each
time. Each round is eight
minuets and there is no
“getting out.” At the end of
each round, you get a rank
depending on how many
people you hit and hit you.
The first time I held a
phaser, a smirk of confidence bloomed smackdab on my face. I knew I
would destroy everyone,
but I ended up in fifth
place. It takes practice and
I am slowly getting better.
I think I need to watch out
for competitors from afar.
InterSkate 91 says that
you can have your birthday party or a private
party there and take laser
tag lessons. At “LaserBlast:
Ancient Adventure,” a
“single blast” is $6 and a
“double blast” is $9.
Parents can surf the
Web there on free Wi-Fi
while their kids play. Or
they can even join in the
fun themselves.
For more information, visit
interskate91.com/north/
lasertag.
B4
Alumni Spotlight
Angela Worden-Corey’s ‘Year of the Caitlins’
March 4, 1997 —
President Bill Clinton bans
federal funding for any
research on human cloning.
A TEACHER
REMEMBERS
Yearbook
M
y first teaching
job was at Buckland-Shelburne
Elementary. I
had worked as a one-toone aide there my first
year out of college and
was hired the following
year to teach fourth grade.
This was 20 years ago, and
while I might not remember the names of all of the
students in my first class I
certainly remember faces
and personalities.
The 1996-1997 school
year was the year of the
Caitlins. We had three
in the class that year.
We also had a class pet,
a tiny green lizard, and
wrote stories about what
he might do at night after
everyone went home.
That year we studied
units about habitats and
African-American history,
and proudly displayed our
projects when the newspaper came to take our
picture.
My fourth-graders loved
music — especially the
B-52’s — and they loved
football, playing marbles,
and superheroes.
They also loved books.
For our first class readaloud I chose the novel
“Skinnybones” by Barbara
Park. There were days when
I could barely get through
reading time because a part would
strike us as funny
and we’d all dissolve
into laughter.
That year my
fourth-graders
learned how to write
book reports and how
to choose books that
they’d love to read.
After BSE I taught
sixth grade in Turners Falls and earned a
master’s degree in special
education from UMass-Amherst. Today I’m a
special-education teacher
in Orange. I work with
sixth-graders, and I’ve
been here for 15 years.
FIRST CLASS?
FOURTH GRADE!
1996-97
I’ll always remember
how lucky I was to learn
together with this class.
My hope for them has
always been that they
would become even more
awesome, bigger versions
of the awesome kids that
they were in fourth grade.
ANGELA WORDEN taught her first class at BSE, fourth grade, in 1996-’97. Students were Gregory Bardwell, Lindsay Bregoli, Mark
Burnham, Erica Clark, Caitlin Connors, Kristoffer Danielson, Katelyn Doty, Casey Dyer, Chelsea Hindley, Philip Malone, Caitlin
Miner, Alison Kate-Morse, Philip Nichols, Mathew Pierce, Jennifer Racette, Amanda Schuetze, Meghan Scott, Charles Stone,
Maxwell Thaxton, Meghan Wheeler, and Matthew Wright.
g
in
Yearl
er
Warn
HI! THE FLOW wants
to hear from alumni
of BCS, BSE, Mohawk,
Arms Academy, and
other area schools —
students, teachers,
and staff included.
We love stories we
can share with
our young readers
and their families.
Write alumni@
bseflow.com.
Bros.
Yearbook
Living, loving history with Emma Guyette
Summer at Smith put
her in touch with heroes
BUCKLAND—Mohawk
senior Emma Guyette has just
accepted an offer to attend
Smith College, where she plans
a double major in American
Studies and Government or
International Relations, with a
potential minor in the Study of
Women and Gender.
For this BSE alumna, the
path forward starts well in the
past, and it is a story always
in need of discovery, retelling,
and relearning.
Here is an excerpt from an
interview she gave the Flow
this August on her then-recently completed two-week
summer residential session at
Smith: Hidden Lives: Discovering
Women’s History.
Flow: What was the allure
for you in attending summer
at Smith?
Emma: There were four options. I chose history. Discovering Women’s Lives. I want to
be a history major and I love
Smith College. I’m applying
for early decision in November. I’m applying at Smith and
at nine other New England
colleges.
Flow: Why history?
Emma: I decided that I
might want to be an archivist
— they preserve historical and
digital paperwork — or maybe
go into politics or become a
history teacher. I just love being part of something that can
change the world. Archivists
preserve the world, politicians
shape the world, and people
who write history textbooks
give history personality and
bring it to people.
Flow: Is there an aspect
of history that speaks to you
above others?
Emma: I really like U.S.
history — how our country
was formed — but then I also
really love European history
and history in general. It’s so
fascinating.
Flow: What’s the passion?
Emma: I just love learning
about everything that’s come
before me and shaped my life.
Especially learning about women’s history: all these women
who came before me and gave
me everything that I am lucky
enough to have today. It’s really important to learn from the
past to learn how the future
will be shaped. It’s so interesting that it’s recorded: what
people have done before you.
It’s set in stone but you can still
interpret it your own way.
Flow: How does understanding the past shape what
we’re doing in the present or
what we could be building
toward in the future?
Emma: You look at the
past so you don’t repeat it.
I think that history is a very
powerful way of learning from
people’s mistakes or extreme
failure so you don’t repeat it.
It’s really interesting to look
back and say, “Oh, nope, that
didn’t work.” You know it
didn’t work, so let’s reshape it
and use it this way. Otherwise
you’d just keep making the
same mistakes over and over
again. There’d be no progress.
Flow: Do you see history
as a tool in some way to help
Provided photo
Emma Guyette was one of 25 accepted into Smith’s summer
women’s history program. “The girls I stayed with bonded
immediately because we had so much in common,” she says.
shape the future? Particularly through a gender lens?
Emma: Women’s history
isn’t taught a whole lot in high
school. I know Mohawk is
trying to get one [the curriculum] in place because it’s
such an underrepresented part
of history, and that’s what
Smith wanted to teach us: all
this great women’s history
that gets ignored. Women’s
voices are silenced a lot. It was
taught a bit through a feminist
approach but it wasn’t inyour-face feminism, which can
scare some people. They don’t
understand the movement
enough to understand it.
Flow: OK, then what is
feminism, in your view?
Emma: I think that feminism is equality between men
and women, not one being
higher-standing than the other
— which isn’t everyone’s view.
Flow: Is that how it still is
or have things changed?
Emma: I don’t think our
history books focus [exclusively] on men in history but I
would say, in my experience,
teachers have been very good
at including a variety: Yes,
it was male-driven, but look
at all these women who also
participated.
At Smith we touched the
letters, diaries, photographs
and manifestos that chronicle
personal and political revolutions over the past 150 years.
We touched the lives of Sylvia
Plath and Virginia Woolf,
Alison Bechdel and Sojourner
Truth. I was so excited!
Flow: Sometimes people
think of history as something
that’s over and done with
and dead in a way, and dry,
but I suspect you think of
history as being very much
alive and interesting.
Emma: I constantly make
connections between different
historical periods and today,
much to my parents’ dismay.
Like, I’ll tell them at the dinner
table, “So! Do you want to
learn about this historical
figure?” And they’ll be like,
“Probably not.”
I like to connect today to the
1920s. I think a lot that went
on then is relevant today in
regard to people and how they
acted and completely changing
from their parents’ generation. WWI was the catalyst for
changing that in the 1920s and
I think the Internet is what did
it today. There are a lot of parallels. I mean, we don’t have
flappers but there’s a pretty big
divide between generations.
Their parents never did anything. When you think of the
1920s you think flappers and
Prohibition and crazy, wild
parties. But when you think
of the generation just before,
the 1870s, post Civil War, it’s
not like that: It’s very prim
and proper … and then their
kids came along. Their parents
just didn’t know what to do
with them. I feel it’s similar
to now when everyone’s on
their phones and everyone’s on
Facebook and their parents are
like, I don’t know what to do
with these kids!
Flow: Women weren’t
given the vote until they
demanded it relatively recently and now they’re still
not being paid fairly. Social
issues are still resonating.
Is that what you mean by
connections from the past to
the present?
Emma: You can definitely
draw those lines. You can take
slavery and follow it all the
way to the present with how a
big part of it was how African
American people had extreme
economic disadvantage even
after slavery and have had to
work so hard to overcome that
and are still not even there
yet. So it keeps going. And you
can draw other lines. Women’s rights go way, way back.
Women are still fighting for
equality. In the Sixties it even
branches off because women
were very empowered then
and it keeps going through
today. Honestly, I think we’re
very close to equality. I’ll maybe see it in my lifetime.
Flow: For young kids,
what is cool about history?
Emma: They shouldn’t think
of history as something that’s
dead and in the past. It was
kind of presented that way to
me when I was younger, and I
was always, “But that sounds
like it’s so much fun to learn
about.” Why present it like it’s
written in stone and not try to
think about getting more out of
it? Just think of it as something
you can use to benefit the future. And think of it as a living
part of society.
My biggest thing is that
people touched this 200-300
years ago and now I’m touching it, so it’s like a little bit of
a connection to them through
just touching the same paper.
Alumni Spotlight
B5
Must
Read
MAP FROM ‘The
Phantom Tollbooth’ (Random
House, 1961), the
classic liberal arts
fantasy adventure
by Norton Juster,
illustrated by Jules
Feiffer.
Parents name favorite books,
authors from childhood
Walker family photo
BSE ALUMNA and Mohawk sophomore Ashley Walker (above, with sister Kate) is driven to
help others. Volunteering at the West County Community Meal at Trinity Church has been a
huge part of her life, as are field hockey, lifeguarding, and scholastics, and she plans to go on
to the Air Force as a critical care nurse.
Ashley Walker aims to
inspire community service
MOHAWK—Sophomore
Ashley Walker is approaching her 10th year of volunteering at the weekly Friday
night West County Community Meal at Trinity Church.
She tells her friends, “The
good feeling I get after volunteering is indescribable.
Oftentimes it’s a struggle
for families or individuals
to enjoy a healthy, homecooked meal and good
company. I’ve developed
memorable relationships
with each of the diners, and
we treat one another just
like family.”
For anyone new to the
supper, she promises a
warm welcome:
“We’re always looking for
more volunteers and workers. Feel free to contact me
about lending a helping
hand.”
Ashley attended BSE
from pre-K through 6th
grade and says she loved it,
particularly the community
service aspect.
T
Asked her views on
community service during
a break in her lifeguard
duties at the Buckland Rec
one day this summer, she
said participating in BSE’s
recycling program, where
students took the initiative
to go room to room collecting recycling bins at the
end of every day, made a
lasting impression.
“I was inspired by so
many people. I looked for
ways to contribute to the
community ever since, and
the community meal is so
big to me.”
She credits her elementary school teachers for
leaving her with the drive
to get involved.
“I loved BSE. Teachers
still stay in contact with
me. If they see me on the
street or something they’ll
have the biggest grin on
their face.”
At the community meal,
Ashely says, volunteers
serve 40 to 60 people a
week. She puts in four to
five hours a shift. The meals
themselves are prepared
by different West County
groups.
Ashley also gives her all
playing field hockey but
makes sure to fit the community meal into her schedule. It’s tough but I love it.
I’ve written several articles
[for school] on community
service and the community
meal,” she says.
Her life plans include
joining the Air Force as a
critical-care nurse, and she’s
taking advanced coursework now to prepare.
Naturally, she’s also
focused on doing good right
here at home, hoping to
inspire kids to get involved
where they can:
“I don’t think many people realize how much the
community needs your help
— teenagers especially.”
Trinity Church is at 17 Severance St. For more information, call 625-2341.
W
e asked parents: Which
books did you
love to read
when you attended elementary school? Several
volunteered their early —
and lifelong — favorites:
• The works
of John Bellairs, Roald
Dahl, and
Madeleine
L’Engle; the
“Anne of
Green Gables” series
by L. M. Montgomery; “The
Island of the Blue Dolphins” by
Scott O’Dell;
“To Kill a
Mockingbird” by
Harper Lee;
and “A Tree
Grows in
Brooklyn”
by Betty
Smith.”
— Schuyler Bogel
• “Where the Sidewalk
Ends” by Shel
Silverstein,
“The Jungle Book”
by Rudyard
Kipling, “The
Baby-Sitters Club” series by Ann M.
Martin, and the Nancy Drew
series.
— Lori Chase
Grant
• “Anne of
Green Gables”
by L. M.
Montgomery,
“Farmer Boy”
by Laura Ingalls
Wilder, and “Little Women”
by Louisa May Alcott.
— Cindi
Jensen
• “A Wrinkle in Time”
by Madeleine
L’Engle (and
now there's a
graphic novel
version).
— Marissa
Tenenbaum
Potter
Call of the
Wild” by Jack
London.
— Catherine
Maletz
• “The
Phantom
Tollbooth” by
Norton Juster,
illustrated by
Jules Feifer; the
“Danny Dunn
Scientific Detective” series
by Jay Williams
and Raymond
Abrashkin; and
everything by
Ray Bradbury!
— John
Snyder
• “Charlotte’s Web”
by E. B. White,
“From the
Mixed-Up Files
of Mrs. Basil
E. Frankweiler” by E. L.
Konigsburg,
“The Happy
Hollisters,”
and Nancy
Drew.
— Jackie
Walsh
• “‘The
Happy Hollisters’ had a
real innocence
I appreciated.
What they did
was fun, and I
liked that the
family working
together gave it
more depth.”
— Amy
Maffei
• The Nancy Drew and
Hardy Boys mysteries, “Julie of the Wolves” by Jean
Craighead George, and “The
Compiled by Flow staff
World of Egyptian mythology lives on!
he ancient Egyptians had
a rich, complex mythology.
These stories helped them
try to understand where they
came from and how their world
worked.
The National Geographic
“Treasury of Egyptian Mythology,” by Donna Jo Napoli and
illustrated by Christina Balit,
sets the stage for all that would
follow:
“In the beginning, before there
was time, water spread in every
direction, though there was no
direction really because there
was no up, no down; no east, no
west; no inside, no outside. This
water lay cold and colorless. A
wet nothingness that hummed
nunnnnnn. Nun. Nun. This was
the cosmos.”
Think about that: nothing but
water, everywhere. Pretty crazy
right? Well, suddenly, waves
started: at first pretty small ones,
but then they started to turn
into tsunamis all in a rhythm:
thump-thump, thump-thump. A
heat formed around this pulse, a
heart with a thought in it:
“Ah, the first profound disorder: thought. This single thought
rubbed faster and faster until
it warmed and finally ignited
language. The god Ra sprang
into life with a word already in
his mouth.
“More bubbled up. Words
now crowded his mouth. They
trampled his tongue and pushed
against his teeth, his lips. He
had so many words to enunciate. The need hammered at him.
From that very need came lungs
and a voice box and muscles to
make it all move. Ra shouted the
first word over and over, and
‘MYTH’-TIFIED?
By Eliza
BOGEL
those shouts formed lava and
spewed forth through the waters
of Nun in a fiery explosion. That
was the first thing Ra made.
A mound of creation that Ra
called benben.”
Ra’s words held the power
of creation. This myth allowed
humans to name things, worship things, and have a theory
of how everything around them
was made.
Tefnut, goddess of moisture,
had two children, Geb and Nut,
the sky and the Earth. Knowing
where these things came from
allowed the Egyptians to know
what the Earth and the sky
were. It allowed them to explain
the existence of the sky and the
Earth. Through this story the
mortals were able to learn how
and when the universe was created, and they wanted to know
more — which was important
for ancient scientists. They used
this information to further study
both sky and Earth, later leading
to discoveries that have formed
our science world now.
Tehuti is the god of knowledge. He is why the Egyptians
made each year have 365 days.
A myth is a traditional
story, especially one concerning the early history
of a people or explaining
some natural or social
phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.
Its synonyms include
“folk tale,” “folk story,”
“legend,” “tale,” “story,”
“fable,” “saga,” “mythos,”
“lore,” “folklore,”
and “mythology.”
These stories started in Egypt at
least 6,000 years ago.
He is the one who ensured that
mortals can solve problems. He
gave people spoken and written
words, numbers, reason, and
science. Tehuti gave people the
tools and ability to understand
the world. He ensures the cycle
of night and day by bringing Ra
across the sky every morning.
This is a good book! Check it out at the library.
For the Egyptians, without
Tehuti there was no night and
day, no sun, no sunsets or sunrises. They worshiped him for
fear that if he got mad the cycle
of day and night would be lost
forever.
These are the ways that Egyptian mythology played a role in
ancient Egyptians’ lives.
This is the first in The BSE
Flow’s occasional series on world
mythology.
B6
What If It Were True?
One Day Remains to Save World as Cursed Cats Conquer
‘Chosen One’ with rainbow
rash sought for quest
By HANNAH CHASE
Cat Times
GREENSKY HILLS—If
you are the Chosen One,
the world depends on you!
You are our only hope!
The world might have as
little as one day left!
Local residents screamed
in terror as a thief from
Screamville — widely
known as an evil place
that brings doom — first
killed hundreds of dogs
and cats as he stole the
town’s “Cat Eye” jewel.
All residents were found
killed in the incident.
“Apparently cats are
now taking over,” former
Greensky Hills resident
Jerry Algert told Cat
Times. “Now that cats are
taking over and slaughtering humanity, the world
will lose balance and then
our precious world will be
destroyed.”
Algert, who happened to
be away on vacation when
a dangerous journey that
takes you on a path and
go against cats, “which
means you have a 99
percent chance of being
killed,” he warned.
He added, “Beware:
The cats are armed with
scythes, swords, daggers,
bows and arrows, and
— last but not least — a
death-ray machine.”
Anyone who gets shot
by the death ray machine
will automatically die,
Schnike warned.
He said that only the
Chosen One can survive
this madness. The dangerous journey will take three
days to get to the end of
the path unless you’re the
Chosen One, who will be
known by a huge rainbow rash on his or her
forehead.
The Chosen One is asked
to report to Cat Times by
calling 555-1908.
his town was destroyed,
said he returned to find he
has lost his parents, sister,
grandmother, dog, and
job as a mechanic.
The thief is in jail
but the jewel is still
lost. According to
magical-item
specialist
John Parker,
the Cat Eye
is magical and
controls cats all
over the world. If anyone takes it, Parker said,
“the cats take over and
after five days the world
will be destroyed. That
means we only have one
day left to set things right
again.”
Screams in the background almost drowned
out Parker’s comments to
this reporter.
According to Garry
Smithman Schnike, a
worker in Cat Times, the
only way to return the
natural balance is to go on
Flow photo illustration
DOOMED? The Earth is in
peril after a stolen gem
leads to near-certain
catastrophe.
Cow Finds Beef at Sherry’s
Bridge Street Vegan Café
By AINSLEY BOGEL
and ELIZA BOGEL
The Greenfield Bugle
SHELBURNE FALLS—
On Saturday, Sept. 12,
2034, a cow was having a
nice meal at Sherry’s Vegan Café on Bridge Street
when he had to go to the
bathroom.
“I directed him to the
hall and told him to
take the first door
on the left,” waiter Wren Savoy
told the press. “I
forgot cows don’t
know their left and
right.”
Owner Sherry Anderson
added, “He must have
taken the first door on the
right, which leads to the
freezers.”
And in those freezers he
made a grisly discovery:
beef.
The cow was shocked
by that discovery and now
says he plans to sue the
café for false advertising.
Health Department
head Andrew Parkhull,
who later inspected the
café, told reporters, “We
Bessie Greenfieldman photo
UPSET STOMACHS. This cow just wanted
to enjoy a simple meal...
also found shrimp and
several expired chicken
breasts inside. We tend to
agree with the cow that
the café at least appears
dishonest.”
According to Anderson,
the beef might have been
hanging in the freezer because of employee error.
“It might have been one
of my interns. They seem
very secretive lately,” she
told the Bugle.
According to the café’s
attorney, Stephen Schmitt,
“the cow has the right
to sue the company for
$20,000.85, but first this
will have to be taken to
court.”
Judging from the aggravated way the cow said
“Moo!” we think he is
quite angry at this restaurant, reported Sharon
Brown, a local cow language director.
Store owners everywhere said they are
appalled by what appears
to be dishonest business
practices, as the café
promises “There is never
any beef on our premises.”
“We agree this is making a bad reputation
for all our town restaurants, so we will have to
straighten this out,” said
Tom from Tom’s Seafood
by the Sea. “We plan to
further investigate this
and get our reputation
back to normal.”
The cow’s favorite food
at Sherry’s reportedly is
tomato soup and Caesar
salad. He said through an
interpreter that he is so
appalled at what he found
that he swears to never
eat those foods again.
The cow’s farmer told
reporters, “He seems very
disappointed that they
let him believe they were
actually vegan.”
If you have any inside
information on this case,
please call the Health Department at 555-3657.
Hogwarts Closed, Maybe For Good,
After Friday Blast; No Injuries Reported
By DIANA YASEEN
HOGWARTS—A student’s spell exploded
Friday, seven days before
the Halloween feast, and
destroyed a classroom.
Sources say the famous
wizarding school might be
closed forever.
John the Ghost witnessed the explosion:
“The whole potions class
exploded! There were pig
feathers everywhere. Ron
was finishing an experiment for a quiz, and
kaboom!” he said.
According to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,
nobody was hurt or killed.
There were 36 students in
class at the time, led by
Professor Severus Snape.
Classes are cancelled
for at least a year while
Snape’s classroom is being
repaired. A spokesman for
Renalde Repair Company
Pottermore
KABOOM! Professor Severus Snape (inset) reacts as he describes the explosion that destroyed
his Hogwarts classroom on Friday. A repair company said the school might stay closed.
said Hogwarts might be in
for many repairs or “might
be closed forever.”
Ron Weasley, covered
in ashes, told reporters he
was still shaken up by the
incident.
“I was just doing a
potions quiz, and as usual
just added stuff in and
hoped it wouldn’t blow
up. But it ended up as a
colossal problem,” he said.
This is not the first time
a student has burned or
exploded a classroom,
Dumbledore told reporters. “Once it happened in
February, when the classroom was burned to the
bone. In March 16 desks
were in flame. In April the
walls were dented beyond
repair. But this time,” he
said, eyeing Weasley grimly, “it’s colossal.”
ABC TV
‘EASY, KITTY... NICE KITTY...’ Injured Chimpli Zoo Manager
Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses reporters on Friday
as Army troops search for the final two escaped kittens.
“The people should not panic! We will bring back all of
the dangerous creatures,” Schwarzenegger said.
Hunt On For Deadly
Zoo Kittens
Following Escape
By BENNETT SNYDER
The Bennett Times
CHIMPLI—Two victims are dead and several others are hurt after
the zoo’s wild kittens
escaped Friday. All but
two of the kittens have
been captured. Officials
are conducting a search.
The kittens are
wild, venomous, and
80-clawed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the manager of the
zoo, told reporters, “It
was horrible! People
had no chance of survival until the military
arrived in their helicopters with tranquilizer
darts!”
Mayor John Chimpli
told reporters the escape
is so bad because these
cats can mistake humans
for long play toys.
“Don’t hold any cat
items, just for good
measure,” he added as a
precaution.
Chimpli said that an
estimated 1.2 people are
clawed by wild kittens
each millennium.
Schwarzenegger says
that theories of how
this happened are the
animals’ feeder, Gary
Schmidt, opened the
gate to feed the kittens
but then the felines
charged out.
“Another theory,” he
said, “is that the key to
the gate was carelessly
left in the keyhole” and
the cats were curious
and turned the key to
get out.
Schwarzenegger said
zoo staff will hire more
careful staff and build
sturdier gates to prevent
this from happening
again.
WE HOPE YOU LIKED these
pretend news stories. We had
fun developing them as part
of our units on breaking news,
story structure, colorful quotes,
and hip headlines. What do
you think might happen next
in each of these pieces? Let us
know at [email protected].
B7
Comics!
Today’s comics, graphic novels educate, inspire, dazzle
I
t was always Melissa
Lewis-Gentry’s dream to
run a comic store. Growing up on the adventures of superheroes such as
Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s
Amazing Spider-Man and the
angsty, cosmic Silver Surfer,
her tastes grew to include
the likes of Neil Gaiman’s
layered Sandman series and
other titles that took their
stories — and readers —
more seriously.
She worked 10 years
in finance then took the
chance to follow her dream.
She’s been managing
Modern Myths Comics &
Games in Northampton for
nearly a year and enjoys
spending her time in a
wide, bright, rich, beautiful
— and sometimes shadowy
— world where anything
can happen.
Often that involves helping families and libraries
help kids get into reading.
“I’m really big into education and using comics as
education. Whether it’s for
family members or through
the Springfield library
system, I provide comics
and give recommendations
at different reading levels,”
she told the Flow.
She also said she’s “really big into having comics
where the content crosses
any kind of gender stereotyping,” so kids can feel
free to enjoy the adventure
without being told it’s for
them or not for them.
Asked for her top picks
for elementary and middle
school readers, Lewis-Gentry makes a bee-line for a
colorful section devoted to
all-age readers.
Here are a few of the
titles she said kids, families,
and teachers have told her
they’ve enjoyed:
‘Amulet’
Amulet, a graphic novel
series by Kazu Kibuishi
published by Scholastic in
six volumes since 2008,
offers what Lewis-Gentry
calls “a lot of life lessons
and beautiful, lavish art. It’s
not the comic strips you’re
imagining from being a
kid,” she says.
‘Bone’
Bone, a critical and commercial smash, is an independently published comic
series written and illustrated
by Jeff Smith. There were 55
FLOW PHOTO
Melissa Lewis-Gentry, manager at Modern Myths in
Northampton, says today’s comics and graphic novels can
bring many more kids into the world of reading — and can
open up many more types of adventures than did comics of
yesteryear. For more information visit modern-myths.com.
irregularly released issues
from 1991 to 2004.
After being run out of
Boneville, the three Bone
cousins — Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone
— are separated and lost in
a vast, uncharted desert. One
by one they find their way
into a deep forested valley
filled with wonderful and
terrifying creatures.
Lewis-Gentry hails this as
a new classic especially awesome for younger readers
struggling to read.
“There are a lot of words
but you can tell what’s going
on with the story [through
the art] and it really encourages kids to keep reading.
“It’s a fantasy story, a
quest. He’s this silly kind
of kids’ cartoony creature
but he’s going on this epic
adventure, meeting dragons, fighting monsters, and
making friends. There’s a lot
of text and a lot of context
clues as well.”
Lewis-Gentry cites academic studies that she says
show comics engage different parts of the brain that
stereotypical or standard
reading does not.
“So people who might
have difficulty reading,
whether it’s a learning dis-
I
ability, dyslexia, or anything
like that — can read comics
and understand the same
level of content as someone
who’s reading just prose.
Books like Bone are really,
really great for things like
that.”
‘Sisters’
Raina Telgemeier delights
with Sisters, her Eisner
Award-winning companion
to her comic memoir, Smile.
“This is awesome. The
art is interesting; it’s about
family dynamics; there’s a
decent amount of reading
level in it; and the content
is great,” Lewis-Gentry says.
And her store does sell
superhero titles by the
shelf-full, as well as games
and gaming modules.
“But,” she says, “not
everyone is interested in
superheroes. And there’s
this stereytope that graphic
novels for girls have to have
princesses in them; that’s
gone away. Now there are
more expansive options out
there. There’s lots and lots
of good stuff.”
— John Snyder
Try these!
read a lot of comic
books, and I’m sure you
do too. Here are some
of my favorites you might
enjoy. What are yours?
FoxTrot
By Eliza
BOGEL
FoxTrot (Andrews McMeel
Publishing) is written and
illustrated by Bill Amend. As
of December 2006, FoxTrot
was carried by more than
1,200 newspapers worldwide.
The strip launched on April
10, 1988.
This dramatic ending was submitted
by Hannah Chase
The first, and my favorite, is the FoxTrot series
by Bill Amend. It’s about
a family of three kids and
their parents. The youngest child, Jason, is the
smartest kid in his class
and constantly getting into
scrapes. He is obsessed
with computer games,
Jurassic Park, and tormenting his sister, Paige,
the middle child.
Paige is really into
fashion and all that other
teenage girl stuff. There
isn’t really much to say
about her but she plays a
huge role in the comics.
Last but not least is
Peter, the oldest. Peter is
really into sports and is
always trying to get Jason
to play baseball — or any
other sport — with him,
though Jason usually
refuses.
Roger Fox, a.k.a. Dad,
loves to play chess and
golf. There isn’t much
more to tell you about him
so let’s talk about Andy
(Andrea) Fox. She loves
to cook but she is still in
what scientists might call
the experimental phase.
She works at home and is
really into all that family-bonding stuff.
Some readers know FoxTrot from its Sunday strip
but it’s also collected into
books, and I recommend
these for people 8 and up.
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes (Andrews
McMeel Publishing) was syndicated from Nov, 18, 1985, to
Dec. 31, 1995. At the height
of its popularity, Calvin and
Hobbes was featured in
more than 2,400 newspapers
worldwide. As of January
2015, reruns of the strip
still appear in more than 50
countries.
Calvin and Hobbes, by
Bill Watterson, is about
a 6-year-old boy named
Calvin and his (stuffed)
tiger, Hobbes, pronounced
Hobs. Calvin and Hobbes
form a club in which they
are the only members:
G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of
Slimy girlS). Calvin hates
going to school and gets
in trouble a lot because of
that.
Hobbes is a sarcastic yet
lovable tiger who is alive
in Calvin’s eyes.
My favorite part in
these comic books is when
Calvin pretends to be the
brave Spaceman Spiff,
who is always encountering aliens whenever
Calvin is in trouble in the
real world.
Calvin and Hobbes are
good for all ages.
The Far Side
The Far Side, syndicated by
Universal Press Syndicate,
ran from Jan. 1, 1980 to
Jan, 1, 1995. It was carried
by more than 1,900 daily
newspapers, translated into
17 languages, and collected
into 23 compilation books.
One of my favorite
comic book series is The
Far Side, by Gary Larson.
It’s basically a bunch of
one-panel comics that do
or do not have captions.
The comics are usually
based on animals but
there are a lot of them
based on people too.
I hope some of you will
try to find and read some
of these if you haven’t
before. Let me know what
you’re reading and maybe
we can discuss that in a
future column.
B8
Last Word
Cheryl’s farewell message is a recipe for our success
Former Buckland
selectman reflects
on lessons learned in
serving town
D
ear Buckland and West
County residents,
Thank you for helping
me to be a Buckland Selectman these past four years. My
success (and failure) is reflective of your investment in me.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
Responsibility=response
able. It’s an ironic reality
in life that most of our best
learning happens when we
are least prepared and hardly “know” anything. Moving
By Cheryl L.
DUKES
through ambiguity and making
decisions despite uncertainty is
hard to do.
Decide to choose. Sometimes the correct answer is
no. Take responsibility for
the choice – whatever the
outcome.
Give the benefit of the
doubt and seek first to understand. Relationships matter
and caring about others impacts our collective well-being.
The real work comes in caring
for and about unlikable people.
Usually we know very little
about “those people” because
we put our own narrative and
assumptions upon them. When
we listen to their stories we
get different perspectives of
our collective reality with a
broader understanding of our
place in the world and impact
on one another.
Understanding=curiosity+empathy+critical thinking+deep listening.
Apologize and forgive.
When we make a mistake
affecting another, take responsibility, remember the lesson,
and apologize in order to grow
the relationship, forgive the
mistake, and have compassion
for the other person.
Be brave. In most of life
we do the best we can with
what we’ve got. We step in and
figure it out as we go. If we are
fortunate, we will have people
who can assist. If we are courageous we will admit we need
help, we will ask for help, and
we will receive help.
Be generous. Ask if assistance seems to be needed.
Sometimes the answer is No,
thank you. If the answer is yes,
then give cheerfully.
Do the work. Having a seat
at the table is OK. If we want
to be effective then get in the
kitchen. Decide the menu.
Cook. Bake. Sweat. Clean up.
Serve. The outcome — some
people will complain about the
cooking. Be grateful and eat.
Transformation requires challenge and time.
Cake=butter, sugar, eggs,
salt, vanilla, and flour. Cream
together butter and sugar. Add
eggs; mix until incorporated.
Add salt and vanilla. Fold in
flour. Put batter into prepared
pan. Bake at 325 degrees for
90 minutes. Creating batter
requires beating together
ingredients. Heat and time
transform batter into cake.
Gratitude and humility.
Be grateful and give thanks.
Sharing the credit matters. Do
it often and freely.
Trust and respect are
earned and are mutual. We
choose to learn, grow, and rise
to become our best selves.
Community. Our success as
individuals depends on our interest in one another succeeding and building our collective
capacity to prosper and thrive.
Thank you.
The author declined to seek
re-election this year for another
three-year term on Buckland’s
Selectboard. She gives her new
title as Curious Human and
Buckland Citizen. We thank her
for sharing these views — and
welcome your letters, too,
at [email protected].
Advertisement
“AT PEACE” (1935-’36). Woodward noted, “Large maple
out back of Mrs. Griswold’s in
November. “
“THE FARMYARD” (1941),
Buckland. “Repainted winter
1941-’42. A small canvas repainted from a very old one
the same size as in Grand
Central Art Galleries of N.Y.”
“JUNE CORN” (1933), Buckland. “Purinton Farm (now
Leon Goodnow's) painted
from the back of old Strohecker House, (now Mr. Wise).
Largely exhibited as one of
my outstanding canvases.
Awarded 2nd Landscape
Prize at Albany Inst. of History and Fine Arts, 1937. Finally
bought by Bartlett Arkell
(owner of Beechnut Products) 15 West 10th St., New
York City, for the Canajoharie
N.Y. Museum, but I believe
hung instead in his N.Y. business office."
“SLANTING SILO” (1947),
Buckland. “Mary Griswold’s
gray barn facade and ell and
slanting silo with band of
trees in full autumnal color
to the left. Vivid green mowing with suggestion of road
as foreground, part of an apple tree, with yellow apples
on it, stopping the picture
to the right. Sold in December, 1949, to Elmer Hallett of
Shelburne Falls.”
2016 Buckland Historical Society calendar
now for sale, makes perfect gift
BUCKLAND—The Buckland Historical
Society offers a beautiful, full color 2016
calendar of Robert Strong Woodward’s
paintings, “Heart of New England.”
Woodward was a New England artist
from Buckland, 1885-1957. While with
us he painted around 600 oils and produced 285 known chalks. Through his
landscapes, barn paintings, and window
pictures Woodward documented a passing New England.
These calendars can grace your home
or office, or that of a friend or relative.
The calendars cost $20. Proceeds benefit
the Buckland Historical Society.
Purchase online with credit card or
check, or at select local stores:
• Andy’s & The Oak Shoppe, 352 Deerfield St., Greenfield;
• Boswell’s Books and Sawyer News,
Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls;
• The Buckland Public Library, Upper
Street, Buckland;
• https//store.bucklandmasshistory.
org.
About Robert Strong
Woodward
Woodward was born in Northampton
in 1885. At 21 he sustained an accidental
gunshot wound and was permanently
paralyzed from the waist down.
He settled in Buckland on his uncle's
farm and turned to painting. During his
career he would lose three studios to fire.
Some of his works were purchased by
celebrities George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr., poet Robert Frost, and actress Beulah
Bondi.
Woodward’s Southwick studio in Buckland is lovingly maintained — virtually
unchanged from how he left it when he
died of stomach cancer in 1957.
About Buckland
Historical Society
Buckland Historical Society, Inc., is a
501c3 non-profit dedicated to collecting
and preserving any and all articles, documents, and relics of historical interest
connected with the town of Buckland,
Mass., and to promoting the interest and
knowledge of the history of Buckland.
Donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.
You can join the Society as a supporting annual member. Members:
• Receive priority invitations to the Society’s exclusive art shows, museum and
program events;
• Get priority buying rights to the
annual Robert Strong Woodward wall
calendar;
• Vote at the Society’s annual meeting;
• Get a real, paper newsletter in their
postal box once a year.
For more about Robert Strong Woodward,
visit www.robertstrongwoodward.com.

THE BSE FLOW Vol. 2 No. 4

Transcription

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