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Documentarian Ken Burns, notable for directing The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), and The Natural Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009), will answer questions in an open session hosted during an upcoming faculty break by History Department Chair Joseph Lyons. Mr. Burns’ most recent work was a series on Prohibition, released by PBS in 2011. He has received 12 Emmy awards and two Oscar nominations for his work and has been awarded over 25 honorary degrees. For those familiar with videography, Mr. Burns is also known for popularizing “the Ken Burns effect,” in which a frame pans across a still picture to create the illusion of movement. “Probably any student who has taken history here has, whether they know it or not, seen a clip of his work in class,” said Mr. Lyons. “He’s really the best in his field.” Mr. Burns will visit Deerfield on February 23, 2012.

In the past few years, male Canadian hockey recruits have crossed the border to attend DA as new juniors. When asked “Why Deerfield?” the boys all had different motivations. Jay D’Amour ’13 said his decision to enroll was based on more than just hockey. “I decided to come to Deerfield for the experience. I never really liked change and was always afraid to step outside of my comfort zone. Now that I’m here, anything is possible.” Jarred Kubas ’13 explained, “I decided to come to Deerfield because of the educational opportunities it offered and how accommodating the people were.” Varsity hockey co-captain Ben Masella ’12 said, “Coming to Deerfield gave me the best opportunity to play high level hockey while having a great education. It’s really one or the other back home. It’s the best of both worlds.” The athletes may not share the same reasons for coming to Deerfield, but they did unanimously agree on missing poutine , a Canadian food dish. “It’s French fries with gravy and melted cheese,” Masella explained. When asked if the Canadians were a clan, Masella clarified, “We like to think of ourselves as a clan, especially because people single us out in the classroom and around campus. ” Though Kubas was new this fall, he predicted what Masella expressed. “It’s early in the year, but I definitely think we will have a close group of guys.”

Is younger faster? This year, boys’ varsity swimming, one of Deerfield’s most successful teams, seeks to explore that notion, with new and returning underclassmen making huge contributions to the team in points and work ethic. Captain Austin Bridges ’12 spoke positively about the young blood on the team. On top of contributing crucial points in swim meets, “They bring a tremendous amount of talent to the program,” he said. “They work hard in practice and inspire some of the older swimmers by setting a fast pace.” Quinn Smith ’14 is the fastest swimmer on the team for the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter breaststroke. Last year, he placed fifth in the New England Championship in the 100-meter breaststroke. As Smith put it, “The team didn’t have young swimmers last year, so having new incoming, talented swimmers is helpful to both this and future seasons.” The new underclassmen also add some much needed depth to the team. Freshman Matt Hrabchak ’15 comes to the team with impressive swimming experience. Last year he won the New England Championship for his club swimming league in the 1,000-yard, mile, and the 500-yard freestyle, qualifying for the Junior National Championships. This year, he is the number one swimmer for the 200 and the 500-meter freestyle events. So far, Hrabchak has had a positive experience swimming in the Koch Pool. “It’s a good team, good guys, and everyone’s willing to put a lot of effort into our ultimate goal of winning New England’s,” he said. Motts “Pistol” Warnock ’14, who swims the 50-meter freestyle, also adds young talent to the roster and has already improved tremendously over the course of the season. Travis Russell ’14, along with Warnock, adds another degree of breadth to the talented group of sprinters. Newcomers Alan Lam ’15 and Alan Tang ’14 build on the strength of the long distance swimmers. Both Smith and Hrabchak give an enormous amount of praise to their coaches, including Head Coach John Burke and Assistant Coach Wayne Berger. Hrabchack proclaimed, “Our coaches are very passionate about their coaching positions and help us strive to do better.” The team, young and old, is enduring long practices and competitive meets as they strive to achieve their overall goal of taking home the gold at the New England Champioship on March 3.

On the bus to a game, you can find new sophomore Maryanne Iodice ’14 mentally preparing or reading on her Kindle. On the ice in a hockey game, however, her intensity shows. Iodice (pronounced E-OH-DEE-CHEE) hails from Montreal, Canada, and her vicious slap shot has created a buzz on campus. This new addition to the girls’ varsity hockey team is the fear of female hockey goalies throughout the NEPSAC. Her confidence with the puck and absolute bullet of a shot, thanks to years of dedication and practice, make her a standout on a team that has been successful thus far this season. “I started playing hockey when I was eight years old because I wanted to be like my brothers,” shared Iodice. Eight years later she ended up at Deerfield. Even though Iodice is new to New England, hockey here seems to be pretty much the same. “My favorite part of the team so far is just being able to do what I love all of the time,” she said. Her slap shot could be labeled the “shot heard round the world.” When asked how her shot is humanly possible, Iodice answered, “My father made me shoot buckets of pucks in the garage. If I didn’t shoot properly, he would make me redo it. He is the one that made my shot what it is today.” Though her shot is feared, most survive it. “I gave my goalie a concussion last year, but other than that I think a lot of girls just have bruises,” Iodice laughed. All laughing aside, Iodice has high goals for her career. “My dream is to play at a Division One college and make the Canadian national team.” In the meantime, you can look for her working on her stick skills outside of Mac or indulging in another one of her hobbies, reading hockey stories. With a ferocious shot and a kind heart, Iodice could have her own great story here at Deerfield.

Slightly Ajar , the newest student campus publication, took a comical standpoint on a range of different topics related to Deerfield. Editor-in-chief Casey Butler ’13 plans to have three issues a year. Explaining her motivation behind creating Slightly Ajar , Butler said, “My sister went to Hotchkiss, and she showed me her comedy magazine. We didn’t have one, and I thought it was a shame. I thought it would be really fun, as well as a de-stressing tool.” The magazine ranges from an editor’s introductory note to several cartoons, which some people consider to be the most controversial and amusing part of the publication. Cartoons depicting “the neo-hipster,” “the prep school princess,” “the lax bro,” and “DA Hookups—the board game” poke fun at various aspects of Deerfield social life. The first issue of Slightly Ajar generated amusement among some as well as conversation among others. It encouraged discussion, with strong feelings harbored on both sides. It allowed students to question and laugh at the social “norms” of DA. Wyatt Sharpe ’13 commented, “Defining stereotypes can be controversial. People shouldn’t feel like they need to be one of those three people. Instead, people should rep their own style.” Of the cartoons, Laura Quazzo ’13 said, “I thought they were funny because many of the specified aspects of the cartoons were accurate.”

Students looking for a winter workout program have begun to look past Special Exercise and swimming to the intense sport of Nordic skiing. The team provides students who are serious athletes such as team captain Muriel Solberg ’12, newly recruited to Brown University for rowing, with the opportunity to train at an intense level in a relaxed environment. “I fall all the time, but I still love the sport,” Solberg exclaimed regarding Nordic skiing. Former Associate Admissions Director and boys’ varsity crew coach Ben Hamilton, who rowed lightweight at Yale University, founded the Nordic team during the winter of 2009-2010. Mr. Hamilton now works at the Fessenden School in Boston. English teacher Ada Fan runs the program and hopes that Deerfield will soon compete against the more established teams of Andover, Putney, and Northfield Mount Hermon. Ms. Fan stated, “It would be great for the team to have the opportunity to compete against schools like Andover, who have at least one ranked skier.” Deerfield’s team consists of eleven students, more than half of whom use the demanding winter sport to train for crew in the spring. No members had previous competitive skiing experience before joining Deerfield’s team. In order to limit the size of the team, only juniors and seniors are allowed to participate. Ms. Fan is an advocate for the small size and describes cross country skiing as a “responsible sport,” since she allows the team to divide themselves into groups based on talent and fitness. She trusts the team with their workouts and allows members to develop their own schedules. The two captains, Brad Hakes ’12 and Solberg, were elected based on their abilities to develop training schedules. The team meets three days a week for five or six hours of skiing, hiking, walking, exercising, or community service. Hakes, who will row at Stanford University next fall, joined Nordic skiing last year. He said, “The team is very fun loving and messes around a lot, even though it is composed of dedicated athletes.”

Sizzling with passion and murderous revenge, Medea , the winter theater production, is the perfect play to see on a blustery night. A Greek tragedy by Euripides, Deerfield’s production of Medea has a twist to it. Rather than setting it in a traditional Greek theater, “We set it in this mythical and eastern landscape, which highlights the exotic and foreign nature of the play,” described Theater Director Catriona Hynds. In addition to the unconventional setting by Technical Director Paul Yager, the technical crew is employing special lighting and sound effects. Both the lighting (by Andrew Bishop ’14) and sound designs (by Simon Moushabeck ’12 and Brandon Coulombe ’13) are, according to Ms. Hynds, “characters of their own.” “I chose this play because it’s fabulous, and the translation I’ve chosen is very accessible. Most importantly, at DA we currently have the talent to explore such a challenging play,” said Ms. Hynds. Ms. Hynds added, “ Medea also allows a lot of involvement, with a cast of sixteen, including two faculty children and a host of other students in creative roles.” Though Ms. Hynds doesn’t want to give away too much about the production, Medea is about a woman who takes revenge upon her husband for his infidelity. Of her character, Sarah Woolf ’12 says, “Medea is a clever, passionate, loving, and strong-minded woman.” Woolf explained that this production of Medea is “one of the barest pieces I’ve ever done. There are no props to rely on. It is really all you.” She also noted that since the setting was not naturalistic, she had “this crazy liberty where anything could happen and liberty to dig into the character.” Ms. Hynds warns her audience, “The physical set has a twist. Look forward to a new configuration in the Black Box and much more.” The play runs in the Black Box Theater from February 15 to 18.

With an idea borrowed from Taylor University, seniors Luke Aaron and Nic Mahaney organized a school-wide Silent Night event at the Friday night varsity basketball game against Pomfret. On game day, the seniors sent a school-wide email explaining the plan and made an announcement at lunch. From tip-off until the fifth point was scored, the crowd was to remain silent in their seats. Once Deerfield reached five, everybody was encouraged to go absolutely bonkers. Controlling hundreds of students at a sports game is a challenge, but the plan worked. “There was a little murmuring here and there, but overall everyone was silent,” explained Aaron. “Then, at the fifth point, we all went nuts.” All in all, the Silent Night received positive reviews. “It was great for the whole school to come and back the guys up and I think we should do stuff like it more often,” said Cyrus Moghadam ’14. “I thought it was great execution overall from Luke Aaron, my role model and inspiration,” added Patrick Hadley ’14. Junior TJ Randall, who played in the game that Friday night, said that having a Silent Night was helpful to the team’s morale. “It got our team more pumped for the game,” he said. Randall also mentioned the effect that it had on Pomfret. According to him, “Silent Night was a success because the other team didn’t know how to handle it. No one was cheering and then everybody started going crazy. They just thought it was a weak crowd…They were confused.” Attendance at the game was greater than usual as the Silent Night attracted more than just Deerfield students to the East Gym. Parents, faculty and students all came to show their support. “Even Tieray Moore, my ‘little,’ a basketball fan by no means, showed up to support the team,” stated Nolan Doyle ’12. Aaron displayed enthusiasm for the continuation of Silent Night in years to come. “I would love to do it as a tradition,” he said. “Maybe we could carry it on and do it once a year for a Friday night game.” “I think they should do it again,” agreed Hadley. “I thought it was a great way not only to involve the whole Deerfield community and raise awareness for a game, but also to give the home team a little extra motivation.”

The Green Cup Challenge this year is not only a competition between dorms and other schools. “The town of Deerfield is running a 12-12 Campaign this year to reduce energy usage by 12% in 2012,” said new Sustainability Coordinator and science teacher Jeff Jewett. “As a part of that, I would like to see us get a 12% reduction during the Green Cup.” The challenge started on January 18, and until February 15, dorms will compete against one another and, overall, against Andover to see “who can reduce their energy usage the most, compared to what they were using before,” explained Mr. Jewett. Each week, the boys’ and girls’ dorms with the greatest reduction in energy use will earn a dress down day. At the end of the month, the leaders will earn a restaurant feed. The grand prize will be a late curfew on the weekend night. Harold Smith and Louis Marx dormitories won the first week of competition. Energy use is measured electronically by dorm.

Most students have thought of taking a semester abroad, but rarely do they actually get the gumption to pack up their bags and move to another country for a term or more. The fear of missing a considerable number of Greer nights and hockey games tends to lurk in the back of students’ minds, preventing action, but four students who threw this caution to the wind had the experience of a lifetime. Daniel Rivera ’13, Tess Donovan ’14, and Alyssa Moreau ’14 spent their three months away from campus hiking and skiing in the Swiss Alps. Their base was a hotel at the edge of the town of Zermatt, where they had class, ate, and slept. They managed to keep up with the rigorous curriculum, as well as take four to five hours each day to go hiking and rock climbing, a feat of gigantic proportion. Paragliding, helicopter-assisted ascents, and trips to Italy were all included in the routine. Taking her own path, Katya Yudin ’12 spent the fall semester in China. With Beijing as home for three months, Yudin really got to know her way around. “Sometimes we’d take the subway to a random stop and then explore. We would also spend a lot of time talking to strangers, which was probably my favorite part of the experience,” Yudin said. Fully immersed in the culture, she took two Chinese courses a day, but said that the thing she missed most were the teachers and classes at Deerfield. Three of the four students returned to campus at the beginning of the 2011 winter term. Rivera returned in 2010 and immediately got back into the groove. “I have a lot of free time now,” Moreau commented. “I never realized how much we did at Swiss Semester.” They now find themselves doing their homework and everything else much more efficiently. Donovan remarked that she is “more relaxed when handling something that’s just thrown at you.” Apparently scaling Swiss glaciers has helped them keep their feet on the ground at Deerfield. Although learning all the current names and faces is tricky, Donovan and Moreau are slowly getting back into the swing of things, reflecting that the first few days “didn’t feel real” and that they missed the excitement of waking up on international turf. Donovan commented that their time away gave them a “different perspective of DA,” as three months without computers and phones was a bit of a wake-up call about their dependency. “Going to Deerfield, you’re in a bubble, and you don’t even realize it,” Rivera said, smiling. All four students emphasized how much they have learned to appreciate the opportunities they have. “I met a lot of girls around my age who had to stop going to school after middle school so that they could help support their parents and help pay for their brothers’ education,” Yudin said. “I can’t imagine being in that position. I knew I was fortunate, but didn’t truly realize the extent until I went to China and learned about the hard lives these other people have.”

This year, for the first time, Deerfield diving has a junior varsity team consisting of only three students who have been practicing with the varsity team, but participating in their own meets. While it is a small group, those on the junior varsity diving team have found it both fun and beneficial. “Being on the junior varsity diving team is pretty awesome,” said Annie Klink ’13. “I’m learning new dives and having a lot of fun. It’s a great opportunity to learn without the pressure of being on a varsity team.” Klink, whose favorite dive is a back-flip-straight position, is new to the sport. “I have been swimming on a summer club team since I was little, but this is my first time diving. I started because it was something new that I had always wanted to try.” Michael Walters ’14 is also new to diving, but not to the pool. “I’ve only been diving for the past few weeks, but I’ve swimming since I was two,” he explained. Walters is enjoying diving and finds it a great way to stay in shape: “I dive because it’s fresh and keeps the abs on point.” Tess Donovan ’14 is a returning diver. “This is my second year diving. Since I was a gymnast, it is easy to transition between the two sports.” said Donovan, adding, “It’s nice being on junior varsity diving because it is not as competitive or stressful as varsity but I still get to dive.” All three junior varsity divers feel very fortunate to be working with Coach Mary Ellen Clark, the varsity diving coach and an Olympic medalist. “She is amazing,” said Klink. “She taught me how to do five dives in about two days! We’re so lucky to get to work with her.” Coed practices with the junior varsity and varsity teams have created a tight knit group of divers. Captains Taylor Clough ’13 and Danielle DeNunzio ’12 are excited about the introduction of the sub-varsity team. “Overall, the program has expanded and we look forward to having more depth next year, since three of the six varsity divers are graduating,” said DeNunzio. She, Kellam Witherington ’12, and Marina Vranos ’12, all key divers whose points contribute to the many victories of the Deerfield Swimming & Diving team, will leave a void in the diving hot tub next year. Clough added, “The junior varsity divers’ improvement has been unbelievable and we look forward to seeing them progress throughout the rest of the season.”

With the 84th Academy Awards ceremony approaching, here are the top contenders for success on Oscar night: The Artist: Returning to the era of black-and-white, dialogue-free entertainment, The Artist portrays the fading age of silent films and the emerging industry of the talkies. The Descendants: Set in Hawaii, this movie stars George Clooney in this a dramatic-comedic story of a fractured family’s attempt at reconciliation when a man discovers his comatose wife has had an affair. The Help: Set in the 1960s, this film adaptation of the book of the same name voices African-American views on Southern social conditions. Midnight in Paris: In this romantic-fantasy film set in Paris, a man is forced to face his problematic relationships when he nostalgically begins to explore Paris at midnight with some of the city’s greatest historical characters. My Week With Marilyn: Colin Clark, a minor film assistant, gives Marilyn Monroe the chance to escape from the pressures of her Hollywood lifestyle for one week in the English countryside. The Iron Lady: A portrayal of the most influential woman in the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, in the midst of a male-dominated society. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: A film adaptation of the Swedish novel chronicling sleuth Elizabeth’s investigation into a girl’s disappearance. The Tree of Life: Revolving around a man’s memories of his past and childhood, The Tree of Life visualizes where our lives really begin. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, and Max von Sydow star in this film adaptation of the best-selling novel. On September 11, Thomas Schell ( Tom Hanks) dies in the attacks on the World Trade Center. His son Oskar (Thomas Horn) embarks upon a mysterious scavenger hunt after finding a key in his father’s closet. The Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 26, 2012.