Spoke too soon!

More (actually less) LBH....

Little Brown House lost the north roof today.  On purpose.  Looks like they will rebuild that roof around the new chimney.  Check out the second (larger) pic.  The rafters are actual trees with one side flattened so the roof boards could be nailed on!  That's old school baby!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Kevin Bresnahan and John Knight connected at Fenway Park last night, with 100 other DA alumni and friends, and had a great time even if the Red sox lost to the White sox 7-5.  Most importantly though, they took a moment to wish Brian Steward a happy birthday!  Don't forget 30th reunion June 14-16, 2013!  Then you can get all this quality info in person!!!

Double Trouble

Hannah Williams keeps the hijinx to a minimum with her presence because John Munro stopped by to see Brian after seeing yesterday's post. Cocktails at Knights house in hatfield.

Steward returns!

Brian Steward used the excuse of his wife's conference in Manchester, NH to fashion a 3 day return 

to western, MA.  Hannah had never been north of New York City and is eager to soak up some nostalgia from Brian's stellar high school career (that's what she's being told anyway...) They are keeping their plans flexible, but blueberry picking at Nourse Farm has been mentioned more than once!  Brian and Hannah live in San Antonio, TX and have a new dog (their third) named Cameron (see his FB page) after some building on the Duke campus...Great to see you two!

Little Brown...renovation

An alumnus recently fretted that the aging fieldstone foundation and moss laden shingles of the Little Brown House would eventually lead to the demise of the LBH, home of many english and math tutoring sessions.  So he did something about it and donated the funds to pour a foundation and rebuild the rotting roof. Just in time I think!

Deerfield Inn still undergoing repairs

Deerfield Inn still undergoing repairs

Flood damage from Tropical Storm Irene last year will keep most of the historic Deerfield Inn closed at least until the end of this year.

Read more: http://wwlp.m0bl.net/r/13f8fl

Sent from the WWLP.com<http://WWLP.com> iPhone App.

School Men

Helping the Class of 1983 gear up for its 30th Reunion (June 14-16, 2013) sometimes means taking the message on the road.  What better way to start than connecting with two great educators in our class who both lead schools.  Thanks again to Eric Peterson (8 years as Head at St. George's in Newport, RI) and John Munro (Head at Fairfield Country Day School the last 2 years) for welcoming me to your offices!

Both are in full command while also navigating necessary evolution in infrastructure and pedagogy.  Eric's school was built on an old sheep farm overlooking Newport in the late 1800s.  John's school moved to a former Fairfield CT estate in the 1940s.  Both have seen changes, but John is certainly in the thick of it!

Here's Eric and a picture of the SGS dining hall...

 and here's John holding the model of the new Middle School building going up right outside his window, and the scaffolded main building getting a much needed facelift.

End of an era...

The massive green and white tent used for commencement and reunions is down...and out.

Legend has it that then Prince Abdullah graduated under it when it was new in 1980, but the unofficially 32 year old canvas tent is now retired. This roughly 24" X 24" piece will be preserved in the Deerfield Academy archives.

A new, vinyl tent will begin its service next year and the color scheme is TBD!

Any suggestions?

Deerfield Rows to National Championship

Coached by Wayne Berger '84, four Deerfield rowers are now National Champions in the Men's Youth 4+ division of the US Youth Rowing Championships just completed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. GO BIG GREEN!!!

Speaking of Reunions

DA is gearing up to welcome the 2s and 7s this weekend.  OUR 30TH REUNION is June 14-16, 2013.  Put it on the calendar!!!

Want to help?  Email jgknight83@gmail.com...

25th Reunions...

I was able to say hello to 3 of the 4 classmates from Deerfield who went to Princeton the same year, just by attending my 25th reunion!  Bruce Gregory, Doug Cruikshank and I are pictured - sorry to miss Jeff Peters in his finery but did see him the night before this photo was taken.  Don't think Dave Madden made it from the West Coast but huge apologies to him if I just missed seeing him.

Any other 25th reunion photos to share?  send to jgknight83@gmail.com or post as comments!

Handling with care

Here's Spence Brown cradling the newly adopted daughter of Brian Tenenbaum - looks like it might be in a secret location to keep the paparazzi away...
Regardless, congratulations to Brian!!!

More than a book

I had the chance to hear the author of a debut novel, Beatriz Williams, while also seeing old friends Syd Williams '85 and George Knight '85 in Madison, CT.  Good people...and no doubt "Overseas" will be a good summer read.  How did those guys get taller than me?

Harris Family helps Deerfield Remember

At today's Memorial Day gathering in Old Deerfield, the three local schools participated in a moving ceremony of remembrance.  Thanks to Bement School and Eaglebrook School and Deerfield Academy students...here pictured leaving the cemetery.

It was heart wrenching to hear from a Gold Star Mother and Deerfield resident whose son was lost in Iraq in 2003.  Freedom is indeed not free...

What made it even more special was the Address by Commander Shane G. Harris, brother of our own classmate Chris, here pictured in the Caswell Library with their mom who is Deerfield Academy Class of 1941!

David Howell - Final Class after 43 years

Memorial Day Message - from a Patton

Ben shared his timely Op-Ed from the Huffington Post.  Our Deerfield Days weren't as traumatic, but we're still a band of brothers...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-patton/this-memorial-day-listen_b_1540745.html

Ziccardi looking out for Philly

From FB: Last night, while riding to dinner, I noticed a guy passed out in his car that he had started to pull out into traffic. I went back tried to wake, him, but couldn't, so I called 9-1-1. His head was back and he was having trouble breathing. Then I noticed needle marks on his arms. Sure enough, he had ODed. The medics gave him a shot of something up his nose and he finally woke up. The cops told me I likely saved his life and maybe others since the a-hole was going to hit the streets. 

Additional Comment: One passerby told the cops he had seen him 30 min. before in the same state. The lights were on, his feet were on the pedals and he had clearly tried to pull away from the curb, but the hood was cool, suggesting that it had stalled out (manual trans) some time ago. The cops found prescription painkillers in his car with his name on the bottles but no illegal drugs so they didn't arrest him. Medics were going to take him to the hospital. Eileen and I wondered why he had gone out in a t-shirt with all those needle marks. While we were waiting for the cops, his phone rang. It showed the name of Jess. We tried calling her back in case he had a true medical condition like epilepsy, but the phone was locked. In the car the cops found an envelope with the name Jessica on it. Probably his girlfriend. Wonder if he was on his way to pick her up from somewhere and didn't expect to be seen by many/anyone. Since he had apparently been passed out for some time she had probably called wondering where he was.

It seemed worthy to this editor...

DA Boys Track - First NE Championship!

Congrats to the 4th seeded track team for "finishing up strong" to defeat Loomis Chaffee by two points and taking the NE championship - our first in 73 years!

http://deerfield.edu/2012/05/deerfield-boys-track-new-england-champions/

Field Notes

It was raining on the way home today so I stopped by Nourse Farm to see how Nate was doing. He said business was good, having suffered none of the ill effects of the hurricane and flood waters last fall, the effects of the Halloween snow storm or any of the freezes of budding fruit plants of this spring.  The center of the country has not been so fortunate he says (pictured) and there will be a lack of local apples and peaches especially in the Great Lakes region.

From the Ministry of Silly Walks...

Hank LeMieux is a winner!

Click to see BloomReach's Hunger Games 

"Tortilla Head" Champion

in action on Facebook....

Helping '85 a little

Remember all those rugrat sophomores when we were seniors?  They were the Class of '85.  One of them, Syd Williams, was wise enough to marry a motivated and aspiring author who has just published her first book, Overseas.  The book tour starts May 10th in Greenwich and will often feature DA alumni as the "Charlie Rose type interviewer". Appearances in NYC, Madison, CT and Peterborough, NH follow in May and the rest of the schedule is here: http://www.beatrizwilliams.com/appearances.

Maybe not '83 news, but at least its another good book!

83 Works ADC in NYC

Thanks again to Flagg, Wolf, Schmidt and Wareck for making calls last week at the NYC phonathon.  We talked to a bunch of classmates, reminded them of our next reunion in June 2013 and had a lot of laughs.  We even raised some money for the Annual Fund during the April Donor Challenge (there's still time!).  Early in the evening, Chris Flagg called Wareck, and when Jim realized we were calling from 44th street, he delivered his donation in person (pictured).  Jim was 3 days from finishing shooting his second movie (this one not written by him).  Jim and Brad Weir are working on their next screenplay...

Will Wolf is at CSFB but travels so much we were thrilled to have him with us before he caught his train back to DC.  Flagg is in real estate in NYC and Schmidt is a self proclaimed "business maker", putting people with ideas in touch with people with money.

A better cast of characters you couldn't ask for!

A banker and a movie producer have lunch...

Cruikshank and Wareck.
It's not hard to see where this could lead!

Good on ya, Ben.

Maybe Ben is getting his 15 minutes, but good for him.  This link sent to me by JJ Briones '82.  Sorry for the ad at the start - its a fun 8 minutes or so with regular hosts on Morning Joe and added guest - Tom Brokaw.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp/46903683#46903683

Ben Patton interviewed on his new book

Ben Patton interviewed in the NYT - click for full story


Corey SipkinBenjamin with his mother, Joanne Patton, holding a photo of General George S. Patton Jr. with John J. Pershing and members of the Punitive Expedition to Mexico in 1916.


with thanks to Whit Sheppard for the heads up.  Whit is "putting the wraps on a 45,000 word history of the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, which I'm doing for Heritage Histories, the provenance of Tim Noonan, Deerfield class of 1970. Great guy and indulgent boss/editor."


Team Kudos '83 style...

Best Spring Break ever...

Saw FIVE Deerfield alumni in one week....

First, Jack Cooley '84 and his wife Jenny (both schoolteachers in NYC) turned up with their family at the same resort in FL...

then I zipped over to Nassau, Bahamas to take all four DA alums on the island to lunch!

L to R: Dave Morley '83, Sean Nottage '83, Jamie Nottage '87, Sean Farrington '87.

My kind of "vacation"!

It's always sunny in...LA

Andrew Stewart (L) and Alex Kerr (R) attended the recent DA event in LA.  They were both lucky enough to sit next to Alex's lovely wife, Alexandra.  That said, they opposed the taking of this snapshot on the grounds that it would be used for this blog.  Oh well...

In other news, Paul Magee checked in from his home 2 hours NW of Mexico City and reported that his 16 year old daughter is getting her license and will be looking at colleges soon.  Pray for him!

Dr. Andrew Nash - Old School Doc using New School tools

I hope u can view this video of classmate Dr. Andrew Nash - if not, go to Square Inc.'s testimonials page at https://squareup.com/#!everyone
Drew points out that this video led him to be asked by Goldman Sachs to be in a video for their feature on SanDisk.  He's a movie star too (and a great musician don't forget).

Eddy D'Alessandro at Superbowl with huge grin...on his FB page

Couldn't figure out how to paste the FB picture but Eddy D of The Big Blue Bus fame, posted a picture of himself at the latest Giants Superbowl victory.  Congrats!

Suher goes country...

Country Club that is...Congrats to Eric on his pending purchase of Holyoke Country Club!  Seems like Friday morning of Reunion next year could get interesting!!!

Cost Award presentation

 

Ross '13, from San Francisco, presenting at school meeting today about his summer service project which was funded by the Charles Piper Cost '83 Award.  He spent a month in Dakar, Senegal and with his $2,500 stipend worked with two local schools (after winning over the imams and chiefs of those towns) and purchased for them each a laptop, a multi-function printing device and a case of paper.  He spent the rest of his time teaching computer skills and English.  Two of the educators from the towns will be visiting scholars at Deerfield this Spring - working with the Arabic and French classes.

A life changing experience delivered by the Cost family.  Thank you Charlie.

Growing Up Patton

Here's more info on Ben's forthcoming book.  NYC launch at the Armory is March 7th.  Be there if you can!



for more: http://www.growinguppatton.com/

That's all folks

Gretchen Miner retired as switchboard operator at Deerfield Academy today.  Forty-four years after she started!  One of Boyden's last hires - we wish her well in retirement!

from my iPhone

Good Times

So great to connect with Whit Armstrong, Doug Cruikshank, Doug Schmidt, Ben Patton and Will Wolf last night.  Did you remember all those names from the faces?

Will wins for best surprise guest - he lives in DC and runs Human Development for Credit Suisse First Boston, spending half the month in Switzerland, a week in DC and a week in NYC.  He was headed to the airport to fly home when he stopped by for a burger and some hearty laughs.

Whit continues to paint, Doug S. continues to deal and Doug. C continues to keep the banking industry on the straight and narrow.

Ben has written a book, due out in March.  Stay tuned for the NYC event announcement.

Jon Gottscho called in to lament his own absence at the soiree and others emailed their disappointment at not being available. 

When Will saw me raise my phone to take his picture he lamented, "Please - no pictures for the blog."  When I reminded him that is was BECAUSE of the blog that he even knew we were gathering he replied, "true enough John, fire away!"  Let that be a lesson to us all - that sharing a moment of ourselves makes our class community stronger.  Or just gets you a free burger and a beer!

Guess we'll just have to do it again...Feel free to host a gathering in your area, like Don Hindman did in Denver - i can get you some names and emails...

DA83 "Beers and Bravado" - Thursday @ PJ Clarke's

Join Schmidt, Knight and anyone else who can make it,

THIS Thursday night from 6-8 pm at

PJ Clarke's (915 Third Avenue, 55th St New York, NY 10022)

Pass it on and see you then!

JKnight cell is 413.522.2555...
--
John G. Knight

jgknight83@gmail.com

S&P affirms Deerfield's AAA bond rating

In case you missed it, on Janury 17, Standard & Poor's affirmed the AAA rating for Deerfield's $39MM in bonds.  Strength of fundraising, evidenced in part by strong alumni participation in the Annual Fund, was a factor in their decision.  Thanks to those of you who have participated this fiscal (ends June 30), and "join us" to the rest!

Van Dusen and Leland...

Charlie Van Dusen was on campus today, doing the prep school tour with his oldest daughter.  He was happy to see that the Stanley Can is safe and secure in my office.  Charlie and I were teammates on the 1983 Championship Maple Leafs squad.  His daughter wondered why we were talking slowly and had watery eyes...

Charlie sent his best to Jeff Leland when he heard that Jeff will have hip replacement surgery tomorrow.  Charlie had both hips done at the same time about five years ago.  Speedy recovery to you Jeff!

Nottage makes Super Bowl commercial

it's actually for the Doritos contest to be selected for showing at the SB, but fun nonetheless!

here's the Youtube link too: http://youtu.be/nw1sfjhJov4

Dave Madden is a WorldMaker at CES

Whately Wisdom from Nate Nourse...

Here’s to fat portfolios and skinny bottom lines. 

I am glad Willy corrected Mark on the Potato issue, there is way too much misinformation on foods. A little sour cream or butter is fine, it is the cheese and bacon that make them very bad. I’d also resonate Willy’s comment on buying the best, but don’t stop eating something if you can’t get organic, the health benefits of all fruits and vegetables are huge whether conventional or organic. The importance of eating 5 or more servings per day can’t be over emphasized. Berries will provide some of the greatest benefits. 

One of my strategies includes never eating the same thing for lunch or dinner two days in a row and eating/treating myself to a sushi lunch at least once a week. Eating different foods every day causes the digestive system to be less efficient and decreasing the amount of food adsorbed. 

All the best for 2012!

Barcelona Beefcake muses on food

From Scott Pryce: Thanks for this.  I remember fondly the days when I was trying to gain weight by lifting and eating as much as possible (say double full English breakfast with pie).  This was after getting out of the marine corps and in my first grad degree.   How times have changed!    And I have double Mark’s issue with the fast eating thing:  in the Marines we had no time to eat literally.  You ate when you thought you had a few minutes in which you wouldn’t move or be tasked with something.  So if you opened up a ration and didn’t wolf it all down quickly, you were likely to get interrupted and lose what you hadn’t finished.

Singapore Slim - Piersol weighs in

"Mark’s comments are pretty much spot on—eliminate all processed/fried foods—this is your biggest enemy. If it’s possible—particularly from a time perspective—make your meals at home from scratch with the best ingredients you can muster. These will be the biggest initial hurdles.


Mark’s claims about carbohydrates are accurate. Despite what “experts” claim and the claims of carbo-heavy FDA food pyramid—carbs are what will kill you weight-wise as it catalyzes into sugar and eventually leaves you hungry. One aspect Mark doesn’t discuss is eating proper proteins. You need fat to satisfy your hunger—otherwise it will be more challenging to lose weight sustainably. If you are eating high-quality meats, fishes, and poultry this should fulfil your hunger, and prevent you from snacking between meals. Even consuming low-fat yogurt, drinking skim milk, eating no butter—has the opposite effect in my opinion. You’ll be hungry in a few hours time.

If you are eating the proper proteins and fats, it should keep you from being delirious by 3pm. A diet of denial is difficult to sustain. Eating smartly is. And you should be able to keep the weight off sustainably with this type of balanced approach.


I do disagree strongly on his claim for potatoes. Potatoes –buy quality if you can (i.e organic)-- have Vitamin C and B complex, as well as potassium, calcium, and iron. The skin is full of fiber as well, and the potato itself has chloragenic acid which some believe has anti-cancer properties. It is true, in some people like diabetics, potatoes induce blood-sugar levels to rise, but the pros outweigh the cons IMO and you better served to forgo white rice, white bread, etc.
My best to you and your family for 2012—the Year of the Dragon. Tell anyone who is coming to Singapore to look me up.

Last thought on the diet discussion: exercise is important but it's secondary in importance to a proper diet, A proper diet will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you."

Engineering a diet...

Mark Beaubien had thoughts on my recent post about Ben Davis and health...Love to see an engineer's thought process on the page...

"I dropped from 245 to 185 ... here's my secret: GET SICK. I lost 30 lbs due to viral pneumonia, then starved myself for another three months. 12 lbs a month for five months. First, go to Walmart and get a $34 digital weighing scale with memory - essential to tracking your progress on a daily even hourly basis.

Here's my simple easy to remember dietary method, which is basically my twist on the Atkins that I find easy:

1. Here are the No's: bread, pasta, factory food of any kind, fast food, ice cream - as it's tough to resist, rid the house of such junk and stay out of convenience stores. Eat nothing in bags, or from a counter in a store. Period.

2. You'll start by eating  only a banana or apple for breakfast. You'll find apples are your friend, but bananas are filling. If it's fructose it's OK. Work out in the AM and eat a second apple at around 11AM to maintain blood sugar.

3. At lunchtime but not later than 1PM  eat a half a chicken sandwich on a wrap (that's it for your bread).Tomatoes, lettuce, veggies etc are all fine. You can also eat as much salad as you want but NO dressing.  Buy one sandwich and make it last two days.

4. You're going to be delirious about 12 and 3. At ~3PM eat another piece of fruit, but I'd avoid oranges, they spike too much

5. Now for the good part: at dinner you can eat as much protein as you want, and as much fruit and veggies as you want.

Also, as it is so hard to resist, you shall have no more dinners out until you reach a goal, say every 10 lbs. What you will quickly learn is that you work hard to reach those 10 lb increments on the scale that you don't want to go back and do it a second time. Exercise is great, but it's really all about conservation of energy laws and calorie counting. When you don't eat much your body metabolism shuts down into winter hibernation mode and it's then quite hard to have the energy to work out. If you do work out, you can eat more, just pay close attention to your calorie balance sheet, which I find hard to meter. If you eat very little it's easier to drop fast.

As for alcohol, it's all carbs but a drink a day (beer or wine) is fine before bedtime. Avoid mixed drinks until you're way down in weight.

I actually started gaining weight because I eat so fast at Deerfield. Why? The damn food was so good but at lunch we were only given a few minutes to eat it. I used to literally shovel and I never lost the bad habit. I am always the first at the table to finish, and so I ate more than I should have. All it takes is 10 calories a day.

 a few other things I forgot:

1. RULE #1: NO fried foods for the rest of your life ... and yes this means French fries. Moreover, potatoes of any kind are empty calories, (the white veggie is like white bread) avoid them. For chips see section on bagged factory foods. Again, if it comes out of a factory don't eat it. And alcohol comes from a factory my friend..

2. RULE #2: Positive reinforcement is key (see the digital scale tip). Give yourself a real non-food reward as you make progress. Mine was learning to fly ... something I'd always wanted to do. It also helps to make the reward gradual as it keeps your mind on a goal. If you buy a car that's a one time hit. You will get people noticing the change just around the time you cross the 50 yard line (you have written down a concrete loss goal and target date, right???!)

Now that the fat is off your body is at a super low metabolic rate and this is the hard part: keeping weight off. Almost all people gain back the weight in a year. Fat is like an organ, the body fights to put it back, and for men this is always belly fat, which is terrible for heart disease. The main key to keeping it off is behavior modification to stop what started it. All you need to eat is a mere 10 calories extra each day to gain 10lbs in a year. That is hardly anything, think about it. You must change the way you think about food, which leads to other benefits. Oh, and you'll save money by not eating out.

Exercise is key but if you're fat it's hell on your knees. As you drop the first 30 you'll find it easier to sit up, stand etc."

Umass Dining Shows Community Spirit via Van Sullivan

Umass Dining: Community Spirit from WGBY on Vimeo.


Great job, Van!

Happy New Year to '83

Like most resolutions at this time of year, I had hoped this post would have been flashier, more dramatic...MEMORABLE.

Alas, this post is one of those that has to sink in, and is slow to take hold and even then usually at some personal low point.  Take my dinner guest of a few days ago, Ben Davis.  Two years ago he weighed 350 lbs, then his grandma asked him if he was happy - he wasn't so he did something about it...he ran...and ran.  It's a good story and Ben has chronicled it at bendoeslife.com. He's a good guy too.

So now I'm running the treadmill a few times a week.  I'm happy, but still fat.  Here's hoping you reach your milestones in 2012.  Just take it one step at a time...

Jesus, Mary and Chris Davey

Seasons Greetings!!!

Tis the season

DA students go on break today. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Head of School visit

That's Head of School at Fairfield Country Day School (Happy 75th Birthday FCDS!) to you.  John Munro was on a Choate to Suffield to Deerfield drive getting to know the Admission Offices and trumpeting the skills of his applicants.  Always a treat to show an 83er around his old stomping grounds and talk a little shop.

Eric says Beat Choate!

Visiting the newly sodded fields less than 24 hours before Choate Day, Eric hopes to see you if you are on campus for the festivities!  Some areas are still dirt, some are seeded.  Don't forget you can watch the football game online by clicking here starting at 1 pm tomorrow.  BEAT CHOATE!