Sarah Woolf, Deerfield Class of 2012, has begun a process to help draft a portion in the employee handbook concerning student sexual identity, and how faculty should go about addressing this delicate topic. The first draft of her proposal, which she has sent to Dean of Students Amie Creagh and Dean of Faculty John Taylor reads, “No authority figure may address a student regarding their sexual identity unless that student has independently decided to share that identity with the entire community.” Woolf was inspired to draft this proposal after an incident last spring. “I found myself on a chair in an office with a closed door,” Woolf said, “facing the suggestion that I was dating my best friend.” Woolf said she was concerned with the possibility of any authority figure, in her case an administrator, approaching students to ask about their sexual orientation. “In no context is it ever acceptable for somebody to out a student, to make them feel cornered like that and forced to reveal their sexual identity. Ever,” she said. Ms. Creagh agreed there is a need for “some sort of guideline for how we can support questioning kids in ways that are not intimidating and forcing them to identify their sexual orientation.” She said the policy would support students “in that process without it feeling intrusive or heavy-handed in any way.” Woolf added, “I want to put this rule into place to protect people who are struggling, so that they don’t refrain from expressing themselves or discovering who they are for fear of being asked point blank what their sexual identity is.” Woolf has met with Ms. Creagh to help draft a proposal to put into the employee handbook, and hopes the policy will be finalized and introduced by the end of the winter term. “[Sarah] is looking to engage the school in a collaboration on the development of policies that support our questioning or outing gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual students,” Ms. Creagh said. Gay Straight Alliance President Julie Harris ’13 responded to the proposal. “Coming to terms with one’s orientation is a very personal and confusing process, and being questioned about it only adds to the confusion. This would be a great addition to the faculty handbook,” she said.

With over 400 “Likes” on Facebook and as many daily views, senior Matt Cunningham’s music blog We Once Had an Empire (WOHAE) is quickly making an impact. “I’ve gotten 1000 downloads on a single song before,” Cunningham said. Cunningham, Walt Gahagan ’13 and Jon Victor ’14 started the blog two years ago, when Cunningham’s friends started requesting copies of his music. “People would come to my room and ask me to put my music on a hard drive for them,” Cunningham said. “We decided to create a site to spread music more easily and give people a chance to download it.” Cunningham’s favorite genre is house music, and his blog includes primarily house, electro, hip-hop and remixes of songs by emerging artists. He uses the site Hypem to get the most popular songs from the past couple of days and sometimes to collect music from other blogs. “I appreciate that Matt posts a diverse selection of music,” Jordan Montour ’13 said. “I personally listen to a ton of different kinds of music, and WOHAE provides me with my house fix consistently. He puts the time and energy into finding less well-known songs and artists of house music’s subculture.” Nick Goss ’13 said, “He finds music that nobody else can find. His blog is special because of its unique music and self-customized look.” “A lot of the music on my blog is pretty obscure—songs that people don’t really know. It’s probably not the top iTunes list,” Cunningham said. “I do have some Ke$ha songs, though.” While many Deerfield students send songs to Cunningham, people outside of Deerfield, even those he does not know, send him songs to post as well. When Cunningham posted 5 & A Dime’s song “One Last Dance,” it received 22,000 views. Cunningham designed the graphics, album artwork, and banners using Photoshop and WordPress. “I have about 48,000 total views since I converted to WordPress late last year,” Cunningham said. “On October 17th, I had 485 views; it was one of my busiest days.” He has also DJ’d many of Deerfield’s dances including the Blackout dance, Hoe Down, the class of 2013 Stepping Up dance and several Greer dances. Afterwards he posts many of the playlists on his blog so others can download them. Of the time involved in updating the blog every day, Cunningham said, “It’s time consuming, but it’s worth it, especially when I see my music on other people’s iPods or hear it playing in dorms.” Fitz Bowen ’13 said, “[WOHAE is] the site that house music fans need because, one, it takes a bunch of great songs and puts them in one place, and two, every song is free and easy to download.”

After the recent re-accreditation process, with its focus on the need to address pace of life, the school is cutting in half the number of Deerfield Diversity Alliance (or DDA) meetings. The DDA is an umbrella term that includes all culture-oriented groups at Deerfield, such as the Asian Student Alliance (ASA), the International Student Alliance (ISA), the Latin American Society (LAS), the Jewish Student Alliance (JSA) and the Deerfield Black Student Alliance (DBSA). Previously, each individual diversity club had two meetings a month. “The new plan,” Ashley So ’13 said, “is for each small group to meet once, then come together with other clubs for a big DDA meeting at the end of the month. Separate club meetings are great, but we are trying to create more dialogue between the alliances.” She added, “Ultimately, yes, I do think that having one less meeting will help slow down the pace of life here at Deerfield, but at the same time, diversity meetings gave me a break from the rest of school life.” LAS President Chris Ortega said, “Instead of making everyone focus on their own problems, this makes the diversity groups more community-based. The DBSA’s first meeting last year had a sizable group, but then the numbers kind of died down. So I think having only one meeting a month will make them seem more special and worthwhile.” However, not everyone was pleased by that change. “We need more meetings because we need to have opportunities for discussion without tiptoeing around regulations like these,” said Tan Sertthin ’13. “Diversity group meetings are also an essential place for open discussion and real connection.” Sarah Sutphin ’13 agreed. “It’s ineffective because the effort was directed to slowing the pace of life, but such a small fraction of the population attends these meetings that all it does is impede the progress of the groups. Furthermore, the people who go are people who want to go to the meetings. It’s nonsensical. The people who do go relieve stress and find people who they can talk to about issues that affect them. It’s literally taking away a support group.” “This year, the DBSA had a list of topics to cover over 16 meetings,” Co-president of the DBSA Abby Cacho ‘13 said. “But with only eight meetings, I don’t think we are going to get through what we planned. We were so excited because our first meeting had the biggest turn out we’d ever had.” “We really needed those other meetings,” she said.

Homosexuality is a tricky subject at Deerfield. Most people say that they are okay with people being gay, yet there are those situations where someone utters, “That’s so gay”, or says, “You look like a total flamer”. Many times the whole subject of homosexuality is suppressed. Both students and teachers are often hesitant to mention the word “gay,” and coming out to the community is a large hurdle to jump over. I mean, does the community really exhibit openness and acceptance if only three guys are openly gay here, along with a handful of others along the LGBTQ spectrum? I don’t mean to be too critical in this article since Deerfield has made progress since the incident of the letters and the guys who went around in the dorms and beat people up. Yet, even being out of the closet, I still don’t feel comfortable enough to express my sexuality completely. And a lot of people want to come out but they’re scared into the closet by homosexual slurs spoken by their friends. I do believe that in general Deerfield is open and accepting community and that it does have its redeeming moments. I just think we have to show this acceptance. If we want members of the LGBTQ to be comfortable people have got to stop with the slurs and the undertones. It is not okay to say, “that’s so gay” or “you look like a flamer” or anything else that targets homosexuals or makes fun of a stereotype in a negative way. It does not matter where it’s said or who’s around. It’s 2012. It’s unacceptable. Homosexuality also should not be a scarcely talked about topic. It should not be ignored or intentionally failed to be recognized.

Deerfield constantly stresses its tight-knit community is based on traditions and respect; from sit-down meals to all-school meetings, we strive to be worthy of our heritage. It was only during performing The Laramie Project that its message really hit me. This play is not meant to eradicate homophobia, or as Father Schmidt says, condemn LGBTs to perfection. Neither is it meant to make gay rights supporters feel like heroes, and the undecided feel coerced into becoming gay rights activists. During the post-show discussions, I realized this play is meant to help us see what it means to live in a community. As one of my characters, an Islamic feminist Zubaida Ula, laments, “We have to mourn this and be sad that we live in a town, a state, a country where shit like this happens. These are people trying to distance themselves from the crime. And we have to own this crime. We are like this. We ARE like this. WE are LIKE this.” Just because you were not the ones wielding the butt of the gun as it hit Matthew Shepherd tied to the fence, just because you don’t use the words “gay,” “fag,” or “dyke,” just because you don’t describe yourself as homophobic, doesn’t mean you don’t have a role in what happens in the community. It isn’t our job to change Deerfield so we all have uniform views; but standing up in a discussion, and speaking up against calling a gay person a “fag,” or labeling something as “so gay,” is something we all have to do. This play wasn’t only about homosexuality or hate crimes, but about being able to live in a community that accepts you, whether you be gay, Asian, blond, or otherwise. It’s about being able to trust yourself to be you; because you won’t be automatically stereotyped, judged, or ignored; because you’re an uncomfortable aspect of the community that hasn’t been smoothed out and perfected. Our views will always differ, and it is not our role to conform; but unless we don’t ignore what we believe is uncomfortable or not our responsibility to change, our community will never be anything more than a motto, rather than the belief that one day we will be worthy of our heritage.

Although I think Deerfield is becoming increasingly tolerant of homosexuality, I feel as though we are not as accepting as we could be. A contributing factor to this could simply be that we are a largely heterosexual community, and gay students in the community are a very clear minority; but I think the true issue is that homosexuality is not accepted as “normal.” As was pointed out on Coming Out Day, the day itself only highlights that the students who gathered the courage to stand in front of the entire school are different from most of the people in the audience. It was fantastic to see how supportive the community was of those who came out, but also unfortunate to see that we feel the need to label people as gay or straight. I think that the definition of “normal” has changed immensely in recent years, and it would be beneficial to see Deerfield accept the “new normal” and move forward.

I became a Christian last year, something that I believe has saved my life, shown me the power of unconditional love and given me courage. That said, I’m still new to the religion, and it’s both heartbreaking and surprising to hear gay friends worry that you will hate them because you’re Christian. The Laramie Project brought up issues that I think Deerfield doesn’t want to talk about. As a Christian, I find Matthew’s murder unjust. For me, the most tragic part was how the so-called Christian voices in the play dealt with the aftermath. I think much of the confusion many people go through comes from the media and a popular portrayal of Christians that I don’t agree with, coupled with a community that asks for tolerance to the point of silence. To see others, especially those claiming to be sharing the Word of God, disrespect and discredit Shepard’s murder was more than distressing; it made me angry. In my opinion, God does not draw lines between homosexuals and heterosexuals, just like he doesn’t draw them between anything else: race, gender, age, socioeconomic background. Sometimes the line between us and any group we believe to be excluded from is a line we draw. The beauty of Christianity is that it’s open to anyone, no exceptions. Yet we hardly hear this in the media; it often becomes an “us vs. them” issue between extremist Christians and gay rights activists, and often the media gives those with the loudest voices the spotlight. Deerfield in many ways doesn’t challenge the popular perception; we’re so caught up in our own politeness that we don’t ask difficult or personal questions. Without these questions, we see only the views the media shows us, instead of the views of our own friends. I think as a community we are incredibly afraid of offending people on an issue as personal and complicated as sexuality. Deerfield doesn’t want to talk about this, because we define tolerance as everyone agreeing. This is both dangerous and impossible. As a community, disagreeing and living together peacefully is possible, but that doesn’t mean the difference in opinion doesn’t matter. Instead of trying to make others think like you, I hope that the Laramie Project continues to do what it has already: spark conversation. And I don’t mean the vague conversation when we repeat the words “tolerance, acceptance, compassion” over and over. If we ever want to solve problems of intolerance, we need to ask real questions, and treat those with views we don’t understand with love, as well as patience.

Charlie Pasciucco ’13, Contributing Writer I believe we already do a great job of supporting all sexual orientations. I have always felt that Coming Out Day has been pertinent, considering it allows students to understand that one’s sexual orientation should not define them. For instance, on Coming Out Day, many members of our community on stage are straight allies, or simply supporters of one’s right to a certain sexual orientation. This helps to demonstrate that our Gay Straight Alliance is truly represented by all members of our community; something that is very encouraging. I also believe that many members of our community are still “straight allies” even though they were not actually on stage. Maggie Shilling ’14, Contributing Writer With the recent Deerfield theater production of The Laramie Project, discussion about homosexuality and gay rights has spread throughout campus. A big question brought up is whether or not the Deerfield community is accepting of all sexual orientations. In three years in a dorm, I have never seen or heard blatant anti-gay acts or comments. If anything, I have only heard comments of acceptance and praise for those who bravely present themselves as gay or a gay-ally. Deerfield is a very accepting school in regard to homosexuality – clubs like the GSA open up free discussion about topics that are uncomfortable to some and provide support to students in need. When I think of Deerfield acceptance, I think of Coming Out Day, when students show their support to those struggling with their sexuality. Students on that stage open up to the community and reveal a part of them that may be concealed to some people. This takes a lot of courage, and the student body applauds those who show that courage. Coming Out Day is not a day for our student body to find out who is gay and who is straight – it is a day for our student body to come together and accept each other for who they are. Deerfield is a tolerant campus; however, I think there is one more thing that we have yet to accomplish as a school. Next time on Coming Out Day, and every day, for that matter, all students should be on that stage. No matter who people are, or what their sexual preferences are, all students should lend their support. Praise your peers, support each other, and soon Deerfield will be more tolerant than it is now.

Xiaofeng Kelly and Cindy Feng share much more than working in the same language department. They are a literal example of the Deerfield family, sharing parents as well as a younger brother. Both sisters were born in and Beijing and spent the early years of their life there, then moved to Ingxia, a small city in the northwest part of China, when Ms. Kelly was three and Ms. Feng was four. Their parents were college professors, so they spent much of their childhood on a school campus, which Ms. Kelly described as “a very safe and happy experience.” She added that she had the “best world because there is nothing better than being at a school surrounded with very motivated and smart people.” Growing up in a country full of change and turmoil, Ms. Kelly and Ms. Feng had a childhood that was shaped by Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1977. Ms. Feng explained that there was a “big difference between the rich and poor, and everyone worked for the government.” However, because they lived in a more rural area, they were less affected by the Revolution itself. The declining economy, corrupt government, and rise in warring factions hit the entire country. While Ms. Feng and Ms. Kelly felt the effects of the period, they said they were lucky to have the opportunity to receive educations and escape the country, unlike many other members of their generation. “My childhood was very simple, and life was pretty hard because you had to do everything yourself,” Ms. Feng said. “At that time you did not have anything, but had more freedom to play.” “Although every family saved and life was very simple,” Ms. Feng added, “it was very fun and safe. But the government only gave you 30 pounds of food a month, and if you wanted water you had to go to the well yourself.” The sisters both continued their schooling in China through college. Ms. Kelly came to the United States in 1992 through a teaching exchange program with the University of Maine, and Ms. Feng come in 1993 for graduate school in Detroit. Ms. Kelly was the first to come to Deerfield, after various jobs at schools such as Colby College and Northfield Mount Hermon. Ms. Feng, after an interest in education bloomed through volunteering to teach at her daughter’s weekend Chinese school, followed suit eight years later when Deerfield needed another Chinese teacher. Both women have stayed. Ms. Kelly has taught here for 13 years and Ms. Feng for five. With upbringings so closely knit and rich in culture, Ms. Feng and Ms. Kelly hope to provide students a view into a completely different part of the world.

The sudden, unexpected outbreak of injuries on the boys’ varsity football team this term far exceeds the record from any football season in Deerfield history. Head Coach Michael Silipo said, “In the past forty-five years, I have never seen so many kids hurt.” Even before fall term began, the varsity football team had high expectations. For this season, the team welcomed eight new recruited postgraduates, along with many returners who all contributed to the formation of a strong team. Coach Silipo said, “In the beginning of the season our team was looking much superior to last year’s team. The players worked well together, and we were looking to go to the championships. ” In total, this year’s team is composed of ten postgraduates, twelve returning seniors, nine juniors, and eight sophomores. J.R Mastro ’13, Ray Horgan ’13, and postgraduate Damien Vega ’13 are the captains of the team. Twenty players out of the thirty-nine on the team were either injured enough that they were not able to play in multiple games or injured enough that they had to get surgery or be out for the remainder of the season. Furthermore, this list of twenty included all three of the captains and five of the eight recruited postgraduates. The first player to get injured was one of the captains, Ray Horgan ’13. Horgan badly hurt his knee during a scrimmage against the Salisbury School before the first game took place. Due to his severe injury, he had no choice but to go into rehabilitation, and then go on hiatus from playing for the rest of the season. Damien Vega ’13, a recruit and starting quarterback for the team was also forced to sit out the rest of the season. During the second game of the season against Taft, Vega suffered from a Jones Fracture on his right foot and had to have surgery that will require six to eight weeks’ rest. After Vega got injured, the only back-up quarterback, Harrison Lane ’15 also had to step out for a couple days due to a minor concussion. Having lost both quarterbacks, Coach Silipo turned to Billy Smith ’13, a wide receiver, to play quarterback during the game against Hotchkiss. Smith was not the only player who was moved to another position. Because of concussions and injuries, other positions also lacked players. Coach Silipo was deeply worried,: “Split end, tight end, fullbacks…we’re missing many line-backers.” According to the coaches, due to the lack of players, the team has no choice but to play simple, basic offensive plays in games. However, this misfortune did not seem to change or deteriorate the players’ positive and passionate attitudes. The players could be seen training rigorously, if not more rigorously than they had before the athletic accidents. Injured players like Colton Dana ’13 and Tyreak Richardson ’15 were eager to rejoin the team out on the field. Captain J.R. Mastro said, “Our players are trying twice as hard in order to fill up the parts we lack. We will still have more games and we will try until the very end.”

On September 29 a group of students led by Head of Community Service Board John Lee ’13 and sustainability coordinator Jeff Jewett took part in the multi-state Connecticut River Cleanup Initiative. “My group removed more than a dozen vehicle fuel tanks from the woods, a parking meter that washed down in a flood, and lots of litter,” Mr. Jewett said. “We found a mattress, box spring and a TV,” Destine James ’16 added. Math teacher and event chaperone Andrew Freda said that despite the muggy weather, “overall morale was fantastic – much better than in some of the 70-minute math classes I teach.” Christie Jok ’16, who attended the event with her reserve volleyball team, admitted, “I wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, but in the end, it was a very rewarding experience.” Lee had a feeling of personal fulfillment at the end. “I felt good seeing the fruits of our work on the bed of the pickup truck, filled with mattresses, televisions and broken glass.” Mr. Jewett predicted a domino effect of future acts of service after an experience like the cleanup. “Once someone takes time out to care for a place, they are more likely to care for it in the future and encourage their friends to care for it.” After a successful day on the banks of the Connecticut, the Community Service Board plans to sponsor more environmentally-related service projects in the future.

Daniel Rivera ’13 has taken a co-curricular exemption this fall to produce his second music video for a song he wrote this summer called “With You.” “I did something similar in the spring,” Rivera said. “I had written a song about a year ago, and I wanted to film a video for it. I came up with a storyline that was kind of true to what the song was about, and then we got cracking. I loved doing it, and I really want to see something similar this year.” He added, “In the spring of my junior year, I had no time, and neither did anyone else, so it was really stressful. This fall I talked to Ms. Creagh, and I applied for an exemption and got it. I’ve had more time to work on this one, and there are so many more people involved.” Rivera has asked Sofi Taylor ’13 to help direct, film, and edit the play. “Daniel knew that I had gone to film camp this summer and that I wanted to take an exemption to make my own movie, and so when he asked me about his video, I thought it was a good idea,” Taylor said. “Daniel had a basic idea of what he wanted, so we went and talked through it and changed a couple of things.” The music video deals with a love triangle between three high-school-aged boys, and is based on Rivera’s true experience. “In the other song I did, there is a sort of storyline that follows along with it, but this video doesn’t really have anything to do with the song. We wanted to make it funny and cute,” Rivera said. In addition to directing the video, Rivera stars in it alongside Colton Dana ’13 and Adam Philie ’13. “Daniel pulled me aside and asked me to be a part of his video, and I said I would, because he’s my friend and I wanted to help him out with his project,” said Adam Philie ‘13, who plays a lead role. “I think there will be admiration for both Daniel and Sofi’s artistic talent. They both worked really hard to direct and set this whole thing up.” Nick Goss ’13 plays the role of one of the bullies in the film. “I responded to [Daniel’s] mass email and said I was interested,” he said. “I ended up being the tough guy who beat up the nerd.” Rivera plans to have the video completed after Thanksgiving break and will probably release it sometime during Christmas break. “I’ll put it on Youtube and Facebook and hope that the other cast members share it too,” he said. “If people like it, then maybe I’ll show it at the Widdies, “but I don’t know yet.”