the current - The North Branch School

T h e C u r ren t
February 2015 Vol. 14, No. 3
The Three Mohammeds School Us on Islam
By Marco Caliandro
The Newsletter of The North Branch School
days or commit any sin during the
we don’t hear on the news “a Christian
month of Ramadan.
killed ten people in Alabama.”
This year we have been studying
• Sakah: You have to give three per
The entire class learned about the
Religion. We have talked about many
cent or more of your income to the
devout and dedicated ways of living that
different religions, and one that we
poor every year. The more good acts
a Muslim practices.
hadn’t heard a whole lot about was Islam.
you do, the greater the chances are
Living in Addison County, we are
To become more educated and
you will go to heaven.
often unaware about a lot of what goes
knowledgeable about this topic, Tal
• Haji: You have to make a pilgrimage
on in the world. This talk was informainvited a friend and fellow coach, and
to Mecca at least once in your lifetime
tive about both religion and current
his two friends, to come talk to us.
if you can afford it.
events.
All three visitors are devout Muslims They talked for over two hours. It
The class seemed to enjoy this
and they came to teach us about their
wasn’t a presentation, but more of a conimmensely, and it was refreshing and
religion and what they believe. First was
versation. Leeya asked if they get extra
interesting to have a new culture introMohammad Abdirizak, who is a coach
security checks when they are in airports
duced to the class.
with Tal for Synergy Football Club and
and when they travel. Mohammad from
who also coaches eighth grader Mac
Kenya, who was leading
Francis Nardiello Smith. With him came
the talk, said, “No, it
Mohamed Dalmar, and Yahya Mohamed.
hasn’t been that way,”
The first Mohammed is from Kenya,
but he does not travel
and his friends are both from Somalia.
much out of Vermont. All of them come from families who
But then Muhammad
were refugees from the Somalian wars
said that he travels a lot
in the early 1990s.
and whenever he goes out
They brought a prayer rug, a Qu’ran, of the country, people see
and they spoke Somali to each other, but
his name is Mohammad
read verses from the Qu’ran in Arabic.
and ask him what is the
They spoke very fondly of their
purpose of his travel,
religion, and with deep reverence. Most
what he was doing there,
of the class was very curious about their
and he often has extra
religion, and the three of them were
hassles going through
more than happy to answer any and all
airport security.
of our questions.
We had a discussion
They had all been born and raised as
about why this is and we
Muslims. They had each begun attending
came to the broad conreligious school on top of a standard
clusion that Muslims are
school when they were about five years
often misperceived as
old and started praying five times a day
terrorists because for
around age ten or eleven.
some reason, whenever a
They told us that anyone can be a
crime or act of terrorism
Muslim as long as you follow the five
is committed, it is only
rules of Islam.
said in the news that the
• Shada: There is no god but God and
people who did the act
his messenger the Prophet Muhammed.
were Muslim.
• Salat: You pray five times a day,
We talked about how
early mourning mid morning, midday,
when a Christian man
night time, and nine o’clock
commits a serious crime
• Sawm: As a test of your loyalty of
Mac Nardiallo Smith and Mohammad Abdirizak
or an act of terrorism,
your religion, you can’t eat for 30
The Currentpage 2
Memories, Dreams, and Reflections from Pasta-Mobile Race Competitors...
For my pasta-mobile, I needed to
make a chassis out of pasta that would
allow wheels to turn. I wanted it to survive
at least until the race, so I put capellini
inside bucatini inside tortiglioni and hot
glued the thick tubes together. Obviously
I learned many unique pasta types and
names from this project.
Finding two pairs of functional
wheels was a challenge. I looked through
the myriad of gadgets in the shop but it
took a while to find two that wouldn’t
wobble, stick, or make the car lopsided.
I re-hot-glued the wheels many times,
careful not to let my wheels get stuck to
the axels.
Unfortunately my wheels became
wobbly again the night before the event.
My pasta-mobile had trouble moving
straight so it hardly moved at all.
—Rosemary
I had a lot of trouble making the pasta
mobiles. It was two days before the race
and I didn’t have one made so I teamed
up with Anika because she didn’t have
one either. We ended up forgetting two,
and breaking three, but by the race we
had a small one to use.
It was really decorative and the display
was good, but the only problem was that it
couldn’t roll...so we lost.
But it was really fun to watch all the
other working pasta mobiles race on the
big room table. Although I was frustrated
for part of making the pasta mobiles, it
was definitely worth it to watch them race,
and bet on the cars with Merry.
—Kelsey
My first pasta-mobile failed. So did
my second. So did my third. So did my
really lame fourth and every other one.
I decided to team up with Kelsey,
because neither of us had working pasta
cars. After a couple tries, we managed to
make an all-pasta car that actually worked,
and was decked out in red and green holiday cheer.
I was really excited that it actually
won a race, even if it was only because
my opponent’s car didn’t move.
—Anika
Nick, smiling winner of the competition
I named my pasta mobile “Don’t Drink
and Trike.” It had wheels made out of
Budweiser cans.
A fairy rode on top and I was really
proud of it. I really liked seeing other people’s pasta-mobiles from Nico’s blob of
glue with a few shards of pasta, which
didn’t move at all, to Marina’s all pasta car,
which had homemade pasta wheels that
won over all other cars.
There are many different mobiles,
which made the races nerve-wracking and
exciting.
—Madeline
My pasta mobile was called “The
Preschool Play-Wagon,” and I guess you
could say it sucked, but to me it was my
beautiful masterpiece that gave me confidence on my project.
I worked extra hard on making it look
like a wagon because that was the name of
it. My reason for “preschool” was that my
plan was to stuff Kelly dolls into the
mobile.
The Kelly dolls would be my drivers,
which I would then put on my graded
paper. The preschool play-wagon theme
would definitely give a good theme for my
project.
For my presentation I actually made a
preschool with a shoebox, using wrapping
paper from last Christmas. I had a lot of
fun creating this project, although I lost in
every race. I hope to do this again!
—Juliette
page 3
Into the Woods on Skis
By Angus Schwaneflugel
and dumped it to see two little mice run
off into the woods. Then we carefully
dug out the mice nesting, worried that
there were still mice inside.
The next thing was fitting boots; we
all gathered downstairs and for the next
half hour fitted and tried on boots, then
marked them with our names and put
them in our lockers.
Then Monday came around after
the weekend and with it had come some
snow, enough to go skiing.
But I couldn’t wait any longer. So at
lunch Wesley and I geared up and went
off into the woods on classics.
I hadn’t skied in a long time so we
The Current
On the first day of snow we spent
half the time learning about the equip
Skiing has finally started off after
ment and then we went outside. We were
a long wait. But before skiing could start
mostly all on classics with just a few
we had dry land training on every
exceptions, and we all started skiing
Wednesday and Friday.
around. We did some exercises and
Dry land would normally start off
played some games, then we went into
with a run. This run would usually be up
the woods.
to Mia’s house or just up to Cade’s.
Wesley and I led since we had been
Some ran, some walked. There were
going for the past three days. When we
a few who would run the entire time. I
got to a turning-around point, Eric told
am proud to say that most of our runs I
us that it was too dangerous with all
ran the whole way, but I didn’t run every
these new sevies to go directly down the
time. Most of us would just walk and
hill so we had to go diagonally, which
talk and fool around, and then look
was a total nightmare and seemed far
sheepish the next day when we talked
more dangerous. All of us were crashing
about dry-landers
into trees and hitting
and who ran and
stumps and falling
who didn’t.
all over the place
It was still
since there was no
nice to talk with
resemblance to any
people anyway.
trail at all.
Then after our
Then we all
short run we
went down and got dry
would normally
and then left for home.
go and do some
On Friday,
twerkercise with
most of us were on
Eric. We all
skate skis. We could
would lie down
go much faster and
on yoga mats in
we were zooming
the big room
right along.
and listen to
Cade was there
music while we
that time and was just
did stretches like
kicking all of our butts
planks and
in all the games we
crunches. Some
played. It looked like
of us would do
he’d been born with
them lazily and
skis for feet.
half-heartedly,
I was terrible
others were
at first. I could barely
hardcore.
go fast at all, but then
Now skiing
I started to get the
is in full throttle
hang of it and it was
at the North
much more fun than
Branch School.
classic. It felt much
We started out by
more natural to me. Angus skiing in the “terrain park/bowl/amphitheater”
getting all the ski
We proceeded
equipment out
to play games and do
and on the racks.
only got about thirty feet into the woods
exercises, and then we all headed home
We all grabbed the boots from the
because about every five feet I would
for the holidays.
shed and brought them in to find that one fall, but I still enjoyed spending this time Over the break I practiced a bit in
of the boxes had been infested with mice. with Wesley.
the back yard with my mom’s old skate
Most of the boots in the box had been
The next day came and again, Wes
skis. One thing is for sure, and that is
made into nesting for our furry little
and I went out. This time we got quite far that I can’t wait for the ski trip.
rodent friends.
and had a blast. We did the same thing on
Leeya and I brought the box outside
Wednesday.
The Currentpage 4
Our Own “Conversation with a Stone”
The following poems were written as
part of the annual tradition of seventh
graders reading “Conversation with a
Stone,” by Wislawa Szymborska, and then
writing their own poems. Each of the seventh graders had to find a stone out in the
snow, build a relationship with the stone
over a couple of days, and then talk to it.
“Wow, you’re a dirty rock—
It is surprising because I thought the snow
cleaned you.
But since you were on the deck you froze.
Are you cold, are you numb?”
No words, no sounds,
Only this rock, sitting there still, on the
ground.
This rock wasn’t human,
No communication.
This rock with no life, pure nothing.
Just a simply a frozen stone.
“I want communication,
I want to be free with my words.
If you’re not here, I am not here.
Talk to me,
I need to be free,
I can’t tell anyone,
But I can tell anything.”
But you still don’t care.
You were no frozen
With those who stuck together.
Those who had fun and made
Special doors all for themselves.
You have no pain,
You have no love.
You think you are
Bound by Nature’s boring course.
But who’s to say?
You have no right.
Who’s to say a rock can’t love.
No one is to say that.
You should be free,
But you don’t even care.
You have every single
Long moment to spare.
You’ve been here for years
And you still don’t care.
You’re in this thing,
Like a shell.
Don’t you wonder,
Don’t you hope?
Aren’t you human,
Weren’t you once?
You had fun before,
I see it in your eyes.
Please have it once more,
It’s nothing to despise.
Now can’t you see the light,
A little ray of hope?
Can’t you see anything?
What do you say? Nope.
I’d say this chance was your last,
But it’s not.
But I will not be here forever,
So won’t you please come with me?
Where I will go,
I cannot say,
But let us make a Heaven,
Someday.
—By Anika Shook-Kemp
I keep knocking on the door,
But no one answers.
I want the childhood,
I want the color,
But all I see is black and white.
“Answer me, I’m almost there,
I just need the right key.
I know there is something in the mineral
Body of yours.
I believe in you.
There is nothing much left to grow.”
“Hello.”
—By Juliette Snell
Rock made out of earth,
Is there something wasted
In your heart?
Has Hell met your soul?
You are the most unfeeling,
You are the coldest.
You endure the harshest of winters
Our snowy Buddha, taken in late January by Anika.
(He looks a little like a Sesame Street muppet.)
page 5
The Current
Starting the Play: No Idea is a Bad Idea
By Leeya Tudek
Christmas break came and went,
and soon it was that special time of year
... time to start the NBS play!
It is one of my favorite milestones
along the school year, but also one of the
hardest.
The very first day of play brainstorming, we were all gathered in the big room,
giggling, waiting, and, speaking for
myself, daydreaming about the fun we
would have on stage.
“Okay guys,” Nick called out, quieting everyone down. “For those of you
new to this, we are going to generate as
many ideas as possible for the play, and
even if they are bad, just say them,
because it helps us get going!”
“And remember,” Tal said, “no idea
is bad today, so don’t shoot any down!”
“We could have a special Olympics!”
cried Mac. Several people snorted a little,
but kept quiet, remembering that today,
every idea was a good one, even one as
bad as that!
“What if we were on that planet from
Star Wars?” Wes suggested, holding true
to his Sci-Fi geek side.
“What do you think, Sam?” asked
Nick, prompting usually quiet Sam.
“What if we had two stores having a
competition, like Walmart and Shaw’s?”
he answered.
Although the idea seemed silly at
first, Sam had one thing down. Every
storyline has to have a conflict, and Sam
seemed to intuitively know that from his
acting career at the Lincoln Elementary
School.
We moved on, developing a more
religious-themed plot, and before we
knew it, it was clean up time.
We haven’t had too many days to
work on writing scenes, but we have a
bit down. My latest playwriting was with
Sam, Wyatt, and Griffin, in the math
room. I was so impressed by their focus
and energy. Gosh, I remember last year,
when the boys in my class were in seventh grade, and I’ll tell you, they sure
weren’t like that! But even when we are
distracted, it is still fun.
What I really like about this time
of year is that it showcases the beautiful
chaos that North Branch really is.
Lunchtime at the North Branch School: A Window into Our Souls
By Wren Colwell
I walk through the kitchen at lunchtime at NBS. As I pass the math room, Sam is pestering Rose about a question on
the math test we had earlier today.
“Mice really only live for three years?” he yells.
Angus runs down the stairs with a huge bag of ski supplies. Maxine walks behind him.
“Angus,” she says, “did you really need to take a whole stack of skis?!”
Owen, Nico, and Mac are standing and talking by the cubbies. Owen is playing with a piece of black rubber tubing.
As far as I can tell they are discussing which people in the school they would beat in a fight.
William passes me on his way down the stairs.
“What’s up, Wreeeen!” he says, not
seeming the least surprised when I don’t respond.
“Lunch is over-rated!” Anika says as
I walk into the big room. I don’t know why.
Merry is looking up weird holidays on
her laptop.
“Look,” she says, “There’s a national Make
Your Dreams Come True Day!”
Merry follows me back into the
Math Room, where she proposes that we all
celebrate National Hugging Day, but quickly
backtracks when she hears that everyone in the
school will have to hug everyone else.
Catherine and Anika are now playing
a game of chess when I get back to the Big Room.
“Check!” Catherine says three times before
I have to leave.
The Currentpage 6
Penguin Plungers Raise Many Dollars for Financial Aid
By Maxine Cromis
On January 23, the North
Branch School went plunging
into headmaster Tal’s pond.
He says he’d been chainsawing the hole all day and
it was finally finished. If felt
like a spring day, and it was
somewhere between 35 and
38 degrees when we were
plunging.
When I got there my
mom was already starting to
encourage me, “Come one
Maxine, when are you gonna
go, come on!”
And I would shake my
head “no,” too scared to be
one of the first.
First was Kelsey, who
went first because it was her
birthday recently, and she was
also brave. As she ran up, all
the parents went on hooting
and hollering, and I thought
“Oh my god, how am I going
to run up that hill without
dying of embarrassment with
Scott Bernoudy (father of Maddy) and Tal help a brave Wyatt Thompson in and out of the chilly waters
my mom who is probably
going to scream my name?”
Then Sam and Wyatt came in one
Sevies definitely won the most plunging
Last year, I wasn’t there, so this was
after another, both smiling as they ran up
award, with originally Sam winning the
my first time going in, and I was nervous.
the hill and into the water. And they
record of going in five times, but then
After Kelsey was Anika, and then
didn’t seem very shocked at all after
Wyatt went in one more time to be even
Wren, who looked extremely shocked
getting out, just their normal happy faces. with Sam. Juliette, Anika also went in
after she came out but later said it was
They each ended up going in five
several times. Go Sevies!
fun, then Caroline, who daringly went in
times. Angus came running up the hill
Board member Michael Seligmann
without going in the sauna, being quite
after them, running very speedily, got
said, “The Sevies have taken this to a
the rebel.
into the water, and as he was getting out
whole other art form. I was awe-struck at
She quickly got in, and then, without
it seemed as though he had became a
their performance!”
the help of Tal or Rose, she got out the
full-on spazzy squirrel and just went
Leeya found a living “Toe Biter” (a
wrong way, running barefooted across
sprinting back into Tal’s house, his towel
Giant Water Bug) that had come up and
the field of broken ice Tal had piled up
blowing in the wind behind him.
was lying on the ice. This thing was
while cutting the hole in the ice.
Older Alums like Yana, Monroe,
about 1 inch long, and 1/2 inch wide.
Surprisingly enough, the first set of
Claire, Keeley, and DJ came to plunge
Then Board member Mike Hussey
people to go in were girls, so I guess
in the pond (and Amalia, who came to
ended the show. As he went in, Leeya
we’re not all that wimpish after all.
support).
dropped the toe biter on his shoulder (hee
As there were a couple minutes
Then it was my turn. I went into the
hee). And the crowd gave one last whoop
where no one was plunging, and no one
sauna and procrastinated as long as I
as he casually dropped into the water and
was screaming, Tal asked me if I was
could until I heard Claire telling me it
stood there with his hands up, flaunting
writing cool stuff about him for the newshad been long enough, and it was time
his ability to deal with cold water—very
letter, and I laughed as I jokingly wrote
to get out there.
brave of him! The sun was now low in
down, “Tal is trying to be cool only to
I ran up the hill, and the rest
the sky, and the smell of hot cocoa and
be ignored by most people—he’s a social
happened so fast I don’t even remember
campfire wafted around as people started
fail.” But he really can be quite the
what the bottom of the pond felt like.
to say their goodbyes.
socializer.
page 7
The Current
The Return of ...
The North Branch Blotter
By Anika Shook-Kemp
Wyatt Thompson: Ate half a bag of Pirate
Booty in morning meeting.
Crime: Being noisy while eating junk food.
Wyatt denies the charges, saying that he
only ate a 1/4 bag of Pirate Booty in
morning meeting.
Sentence: A ten-year diet of broccoli.
***
Catherine Schmitt: Stole Wyatt’s iPad
countless times to play “Subway Surfers.”
Crime: Theft, and not beating Wyatt’s
high score.
Sentence: A lifetime in Alcatraz (after
NBS, of course), with no access to borrow
Apple products.
***
Rosemary Thurber: Beats everyone
at Connect4 everyday.
Crime: Winning relentlessly, and making
others feel like losers, which, apparently,
they are.
Sentence: Remedial losing.
***
Angus Schwaneflugel: Brought a large
coffee to school in the morning.
Crime: Being hyperactive.
Sentence: Yoga classes while drinking
chai every day.
***
Wren Colwell : Says “Ya know” in a loud
voice, constantly.
Crime: Inherited informal speech, and
sounding partially like a Valley Girl.
Sentence: Speech therapy for one year.
***
In the Deep Dark Woods, the Sound of Music
By Madeline
In the deep dark woods of Vermont,
there stood a school, shaped like a house,
where a group of two adults and three kids
formed a group to form a legendary music
group.
Angus was the drummer, who could
rattle off any beat at any time. Aidan, the
guitarist/singer/pianist/drummer would play
any instrument that you wanted him to play,
usually with a smile. Madeline, a shy girl
could play some piano, but would much
rather sing.
Peter, the leader of the group, who also
played in the band The Grift, was energetic
and could often be found humming along to
a beat he made in his head. Walker, Peter’s
sidekick, a former NBSer, was a master at
the guitar. He could take any song and play
it just by hearing it, while also adding his
own spin of notes.
This small group of people gathered
into the Science room one afternoon, and
made their first song.
They decided to play some blues, and
since it was their first song, the lyrics didn’t
really matter.
It was the time of year when Vermont
started to get cold, so most Vermonters had
started to stack wood, and that was the topic
of the song. Angus, the hyperactive eighth
grader, started to tell a story of how he was
stacking wood and found a huge wolf spider
under a piece of wood.
Peter, copying all this down in his notebook, was somehow able to put the words
into a song.
It went a like this:
“Huge wolf spider,
Hiding beneath the wood,
Huge wolf spider,
Hiding beneath the wood,
So I took that log
and I threw it into a tree.”
They put the lyrics into a blues rhythm
and started to play. In the end it didn’t
sound too bad for a group of adolescents
with the help of two adults.
Sam Schoenhuber: Going on a suicidal
mission to knock ice off the roof.
Crime: Being an idiot. Or a 7th Grader.
Sentence: If he had continued, we
wouldn’t need a sentence...
***
Leeya Tudek and Maxine Cromis: Roller
skating in the basement during lunch.
Crime: Having way too much fun, and
inspiring Angus to start wearing white
roller skates.
Sentence: Write more of the play.
***
Caroline Kimble: Told Angus he had
committed a crime.
Crime: Blabbing top-secret info from
the NBS FBI.
Sentence: A cell next to Catherine Schmitt
in Alcatraz.
As time went on, more people caught
on the awesomeness of the North Branch
band and decided to join. In the end, there
were eight players in the band, which
included the original three and Kelsey, a
guitarist and bassist, Juliette, a singer, Aine,
a singer, Marina, a singer, and Wesley, who
was mostly a singer but liked to experiment
with other instruments.
They named the band Broken Radio
and came up with many songs other songs
including one about William, a boy in the
school, who got hit in the eye by a sunflower, and one about someone who was feeling
lonely and missing someone who used to
visit them a lot, and one about working up
North.
They did some covers, but they loved
the original songs best and they were always stuck in their heads.
Yes, their name was Broken Radio,
but they weren’t broken, they were just an
interesting radio who made songs, a musical group of adolescents in the deep, dark
woods of Vermont.
PO Box 209
Ripton VT 05766
802.388.3269
email: tal.birdsey@gmail.com
The North Branch School, founded in
2001, is a non-profit independent
school serving middle school age children (grades 7-9). The school is officially recognized by the State of
Vermont and meets or exceeds all
licensing standards. The school is a
501(c)3 tax-exempt entity.
Non-Discrimination Policy
In hiring, admissions and administr
ation, The North Branch School does
not discriminate on the basis of
physical ability, gender, race, national
or ethnic origin, creed, socio-economic
status, sexual orientation or
religious affiliation.
On the anniversary of the death of Amalia’s and Marina’s beloved mom Ana, we all wore red shirts because it was her favorite color.