More help for vets...

I WAS THERE = IWT

IWT Founder/Executive Director Benjamin Patton spoke at the Omega Institute's conference "Veterans, Trauma & Resilience: What's Next" at the Society for Ethicial Culture in NY last weekend.

The conference was attended by several hundred veterans and caregivers. Ben's panel focused on individuals and organizations developing innovative ways to bring frontline veteran care from the clinic to the community. It was moderated by BG (Ret.) Loree Sutton, currently NYC Commissioner of Veterans Affairs. Panel members along with Benjamin Patton were:
Scott Thompson, MS, LMHC (Director of Veterans Outreach, Steven & Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center at NYU Langone Medical Center)
Eva Usadi, Founder and Exec Director or Trauma and Resilience Resources and director of TRR's Warrior Camp.
Joe Bobrow, PhD: Founder of the Coming Home Project.

Thank you so much to the Omega Institute and everyone who attended for making this important event happen!

Photo (from left to right in photo): Loree Sutton, Scott Thompson, Eva Usadi, Joe Bobrow and Ben Benjamin Patton

DA's Von Auersperg Art Gallery

As part of my recent visit to campus I was treated to a tour of the current exhibit in the new art gallery. Three students walked us around the exhibit - which was the brainchild of faculty member Tim Trelease. (BIO) Called "Human Impact" the show highlight examples of the interaction between humans and nature and features a central sculpture created by two local artists.

The white sweatered student is the daughter of Jeff Louis '81!

A home in Detroit overrun by nature

A Sarajevo structure with a staged moment with residents and random passersby and wild dogs

Student photographs and student writing line the exterior of the walls of the art gallery.  The writing was created in response to the gallery show and is further evidence of the myriad of ways that classes beyond the arts can use art as a writing prompt or new perspective.

This final image was spectacular and haunting and is not for the faint of heart when remembering 9/11.  The artist needed to escape the NYC environs with his family post 9/11 so he went to Hawaii.  Outside his hotel window were hundreds of vacationers floating in the ocean.  He later removed all but one floating woman in the expanse of ocean and produced this large image.  Is the person floating? Still among the living? (especially in the context of recent immigrant deaths on the shores of Europe).  The artist quickly realized he wasn't escaping his demons at all.  Additionally, see how it gains even further stature as the glass reflects the sculpture in the middle of the room, and even the light entering the gallery window.  The sculpture "skyline" reflection grabbed me and made me take this picture.  To me it was powerful.

Longevity

I'm pretty sure Leigh Guyer played in the IHL.  And while it rarely leads to a pro contract, the "love of the game" was definitely an outcome for many.  Fast forward many years and those who have kept their love for the game enough to lace 'em up with regularity, can reap considerable rewards.  Like this FB post from the bearded Leigh Guyer:

"Got to skate today with Leigh Guyer" wink emoticon
-Igor Larionov

New Text-to-Subscribe - SHARE

Text "da1983" to 781.262.3877 and get the blog subscription link.  Share with other classmates u see!

Go Blackhawks!

As Head of School at Fairfield Country Day, John Munro travels to the places that his graduates attend - to bolster the chances for his current charges but also to check up on their preparation and success.  And sometimes he fondly remembers traditions of old like the IHL!  He said howdy to Chris Flagg's daughter (a soph) and met with top officials.  How are his kids doing at DA?  One is the current school President!!

Preparation and timing leads to big moment...

From a too modest Mark Beaubien on the record setting recent hurricane and equally record setting flight to collect data. "A story on our flights last week over/into Hurricane Patricia (a.k.a. Hurricane super-bad).  Many firsts, for example, we caught 188 MPH winds in a 60 MPH updraft, there was basically a tornado at her center!"

"Lining the plane up with the storm was “kind of like shooting a bullet with a bullet,” says Mark Beaubien, an engineer who was in the Houston control room during the flights. “It was extremely stressful.” That alignment was key because every 15 seconds, an automated system in the WB-57’s bomb bay dropped a state-of-the-art sensor called a dropsonde, specially designed by Beaubien for high-altitude hurricane flights.

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/a-flight-to-the-top-of-the-most-powerful-hurricane-ever/

See photos of:

1. Me with NASA WB-57 pilots after return from flight (who fly up in space suits while I sit on ground pushing buttons)
2. Our Dropsonde exiting at 450 MPH while cruising at 62,000' with light clouds 10 miles below us
3. Me loading dropsondes under WB-57 in 105F heat index day in Houston
... my remote "office" while we chase storms

Knight added to EC

Following in the footsteps of of previous member (and former President) PB Weymouth, John Knight is pleased to announce that he has been added to the Executive Committee of the Deerfield Alumni Association for a three year term.

The EC consists of up to 26 alumni distributed across the decades who work to engage their brethren with information about DA and excuses to congregate like Day of Service and Choate Day.  Seems like a natural for JK, right? He even sat next to his replacement in the Alumni/Development Office, the terrific current parent Noah Blake who had worked at Canterbury, in order to be as helpful as he could.

The EC has Committees for Regional Clubs, Communications, Young Alumni, Governance and Nominating.  JK currently serves on Nominating since he knows a lot of alumni and works on Communications as well.

Fun to be with other rabid DA supporters from across the years, especially Paula Griffith Edgar '95 and Dave Hagerman '64 (pictured), and Syd Williams '85.

One nice thing about the EC is that it also benefits from the Generative Discussions that the Board of Trustees now make routine as part of their meetings.

We heard from Marjorie Young, Director of Inclusion, about her role in helping all students and faculty create a positive learning atmosphere for everyone.  On the face of it it sounds a little contrived but as we know from the media the definitions of typical roles in society seem to be blurring.  At the end of the day one thing seems clear, if a student is feeling out of place at DA, its important for them to know there is support nearby, either on the corridor or at an office.  I'm pretty sure that was just as important back in our day.

Recent Campus Photos

I was on campus on October 31 and took some snaps.  Foliage was almost over but it certainly felt great to drive down Old Main Street again.  

The Memorial Building has transformed into the Hess Center for the Arts, with a fresh palette of colors apparent just beyond the crisp white lobby.  The auditorium now has side balcony seats to accommodate the 638 students now enrolled plus faculty and guests. There is a new concert hall (incredible) and a new art gallery (more next week).

The Library is currently gutted for a complete renovation as a learning commons, with maker and collaborative spaces planned etc.  As these core academic buildings are renovated to rise to current and future educational standards, we will more often get the feeling that "we're not in Kansas anymore" when we go back to reunions etc.

Some may be glad to know that the (reproduction) Audobon books in the case from the library are safe in the basement of the Hess until the renovation is complete.

Men Make Dinner

Just learned that today is "National Men Make Dinner Day".  You could probably get a mulligan for finding out so late and cook tomorrow!

http://www.menmakedinnerday.com/home/index.php?nl=morning-briefing&em_pos=large&emc=edit_nn_20151105

Cuzco calls it quits...

Cuzco is the handle for a professional poker player.  On his best day he made the final table on PokerStars TV and ultimately walked away with $92K and a third place finish.  But that and another $44K payday are the two highs in an otherwise "mundane" career of 24 years.

See his big day described in blog fashion HERE

It also makes for an interesting entry in one's LinkedIn profile:

Professional Poker Player

Self Employed

February 1989 – April 2013 (24 years 3 months)USA and Peru

Used advanced game theory techniques to earn a living playing poker in a highly competitive environment. Played Texas Hold’em in both casinos and online poker sites. Introduced on PokerStars TV as an accomplished player when one of my final table appearances was broadcast on that internet channel.

Congrats to Frederick Chase on his successful reentry to the marketplace as: 

SIEM Platform Engineer

Hewlett-Packard

July 2014 – Present (1 year 5 months)Palo Alto, CA

Lest you forget, Fred was our class Math Scholar, won backgammon tournaments as a student at Stanford and was clearly able to survive on number theory as a poker player.  Awesome!

Remembering the Veterans

Ben Patton continues to find ways to serve veterans as his I Was There film workshops are expanding to include work with military families.  From HuffPost:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-patton/family-filmmaking-a-creat_b_8401858.html