the walrus - saint sebastian's school...st. sebastian’s school the walrus the time has come,...

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St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. - Lewis Carroll NEWS SPORTS Vol. LXIX ,No. 1 October 2015 In late September, the St. Sebastian’s community was privi- leged to welcome the Improbable Players to our school for a powerful performance. The Improbable Play- ers are an acting group, comprised of actors who are currently in long-term recovery from various addictions. The mission of these actors is to set the stage for prevention by educating the public about the dangers of addic- tion and to help others recognize situ- ations in their own lives and seek the necessary help. The performance began by diving into the personal lives of the various actors. As each of the four ac- tors introduced themselves, they told their emotional stories about their battles with addiction. From cocaine addiction, to constant drinking, the Improbable Players had seemed to have been in situations that would be tough for most students to imagine. The heartfelt reflections of their lives led the audience to connect to each of the actors on a deeper level and vali- date each actor’s claims and opinions on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The Improbable Players played a big emphasis on what we typically per- ceive an alcoholic or drug addict to be like. Dressing up in trench coats, ski masks, fingerless gloves, and heavy boots, the actors stomped around the stage speaking in distorted voices and even causing laughter within the crowd. Following this, they re- moved their costumes, and revealed to the crowd what a drug addict and alcoholic really look like. This tactic dramatically revealed the harsh truth about how common it is for people to have these battles with addiction. It was made clear that many people that we wouldn’t expect or assume to battle this disease are fighting every day. This thought was also brought up within the last skit. The last skit told the story of a girl who had an alcoholic mother. From a young age, her mother’s addiction was prominent and her actions re- flected that. In this family, the daugh- ter was the most affected by her By Jack Kerwin ‘17 Improbable Players’ Moving Performance mother’s disease. It had seemed to her that this addiction had taken over her mother and ultimately taken her mother from her. The girl often times tried to express her feelings about how she believed that her mother had a drinking issue, but whenever she attempted to speak of it, she would instantly be shunned by her father and brother, as well as be told to stop giving her mother such a hard time. It got to a point where she decided to speak to her guidance counselor at school about this issue. The coun- selor shortly told her that her mother was an alcoholic and when she went home to explain this to her father, she was further reprimanded for speak- ing about this issue to other people. The purpose of this skit was to show how it is easy for somebody to be delusional about a family member or loved ones addiction. The Improb- able Player’s showed us that battling with addiction is an extremely com- mon thing and that it is important to recognize situations similar to these. The Improbable Player’s touched upon many circumstances that although may seem distant, are very pertinent to our lives. The ac- tors talked and theatrically displayed the dangers of even going near these substances. Oftentimes people will use excuses such as “I only drink on weekends” or “I only drink when I’m with my friends.” Using exag- gerations and irony, the stupidity of these excuses was made obvious. It became clear that it is much easier to completely stay away from these substances than to try them, like them, and then have to resist such ex- treme temptations. Through personal accounts of their lives as well as their perfor- mances, we were able to see the pos- sible tragedies that can arise as a re- sult of abusing these substances. The Improbable Players’ performance also encouraged students to recog- nize these situations in their own lives and not shy away from looking for help. This moving performance further informed us about the danger of substance abuse and become clos- er with one another about issues that are very relevant to our lives. some of her father’s personal items and found old memorabilia from his rowing days. She did a lot of research for the book, including finding Joe’s rowing teammates and talking to them, going the extra mile to make sure she got every detail, and recall- ing things she experienced with her father. She knew that the story of Joe and his teammates needed to be told to the world. People who hear the tale have to be inspired and understand that anything is possible and that, no matter where you start off in life, you can still accomplish greatness like Joe Rantz did. One of the many intrigu- ing aspects of Judy’s presentation was the visual depictions. When she started talking about the rowing and the men on the team, she showed pictures of all the men on the team and provided details on each of their stories before college. Something that stuck out when she was talking about the other men on the team was that none of them had any prior rowing experience before college, which makes what they accomplished even more exceptional. Judy even had video from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Seeing this footage was amazing. We got to see for our own eyes the whole race and how intense it was. Judy also read a passage from the book that goes on during the race from the per- spective of some of the Washington fans and media. The voices brought to life the footage and what they were saying in the book was so accurate for what was actually happening in the race. It was also fascinating just to see how much technology has evolved since then. Judy also addressed her personal experiences with her father and what he was like around her. You could tell how much she respected her father by the way she was speak- ing about him. She told us stories about Joe and what he was like as a father, how interactive he was, and how he always wanted to spend quality time with his children. The bond of family was very important to Joe. Judy also told one story about a time during the winter when Joe took Judy and her siblings sledding. She described how the roads were cov- ered in snow and how they had a sled that all of them could fit on at once. She described her dad’s excitement to take them to the top of the steep road and take them down the hill. He was a fun guy and wanted to have good times with his kids, which he did. He loved his family very much and would do everything he could for them. When Judy was a little girl she had a horse and Joe made her a cart that attached to the horse and she could sit on it to help train the horse. She talked about how Joe didn’t want his kid’s lives to be anything like his was and they weren’t because of how good of a father he was. We learned a lot more about Joe from Judy speaking to us. Her comments were heartfelt and delivered fully and clearly. She gave us a more complete image of Joe and what an image it was. It was great after reading the story to hear more about it and learn things that were not in the book. This past summer the St. Sebastian’s community had the great pleasure to read and learn about one of the greatest American stories in our history. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, features main character Joe Rantz and his incred- ible life story, along with eight other Americans and their tremendous journey ending with gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Earlier this year we had the honor of hearing Joe Rantz’s daughter Judy Willman speak about the book and her father. Judy went over the story in detail. She specifi- cally addressed her father’s horrific childhood. I think this part touched a lot of us and made us rethink what we consider “problems” in life because we are so lucky to have lov- ing families and attend such a good school. Judy told us how she really wanted people to see everything her father overcame. She explained how she needed people to be able to read the book and be able to truly picture what happened. She wanted it to be an inspiration for people and to even give people courage. She selected Daniel James Brown to be the author because she thought he would do the best job at printing her father’s story. And even though she was not considered the author, she played a huge role in the making of the book. She shared with us how she got the inspiration for the book when she was looking through Sebs Gathers for All-School Read Assembly By Matt Aisenberg ‘16 HEAD WRITER Meet Supreme Leader Owen Finnegan By Peter Murphy ‘18 I was honored to speak with the most important student in our school President Owen Finnegan, with Trevor Yandow in a close sec- ond, and had the rare chance to inter- view him. He was able to eloquently answer some of the burning questions his subjects have for him in the in- terview. Obviously we all need to re- member what would happen without him, which is just a less enthusiastic senior chapel speech ceremony. How- ever, we wouldn’t get to have dances and get to see girls, which is pretty cool, so we all should treat him with the utmost respect. To start off the interview our leader stated his goals to im- prove Sebs: “I think I want to make the school a better place, I want to be the best president ever (well, I can al- ready check that one off) and I want to be someone the kids look up to and just be a good guy.” The President can check all these items off his list because he has already done all of this. Although with a modest guy like him, I wouldn’t ex- pect any other answer. I then asked him who he would vote for in the next American Presidential Election: “I’d write my- self in as a write in, and I tried to get into the republican debate the other day and they wouldn’t let me in for some reason. I don’t know why. I also encourage you all to vote for me.” My question is, who doesn’t want some pretty good inside jokes most Sebs students understand at a Republican debate? It is a given that we should support our Presidents un- official campaign for president. He obviously would improve our inter- national connections with other coun- tries with his witty comedy, so why not vote for him. Next, I asked him what he would change about Sebs: “The im- mediate promotion of Trevor Yandow to co-headmaster of the school along with Mr. Burke, like a dual headmas- ter program. Every Monday instead of me doing a speech, Trevor would just stand behind Mr. Burke while Mr. Burke said something really cool and then we would have Trevor just stand at the podium for two or three minutes and we all sit in quiet contemplation while we just sat and watched Trevor arms spread out in front of everybody and step off the podium. Bring back Mr. Craven. Also, the installation of moving sidewalks from class to class.” Our Vice President David Korzeniowski (is that how you spell it?) then chimed in on the subject: “We should replace Unity day with Mr. Redpath just singing Ed Sheeran songs in a concert for the whole day.” All great ideas for the im- provement of our school that will un- doubtedly soon become a part of our already great daily lives at Sebs. Also I firmly agree with the dual headmas- ter program. We really need an icon, like Trevor Yandow, to look up to in wonder and fascination. Next, Brian Craven asked him what his thoughts on Smart Cars were: “I think anybody who owns a smart car is making a terrible financial choice and safety choice.” This really shows us what comes first to him, the people’s finan- cial stability and the people’s safety. As my precious time with him was coming to a close I asked him my last question which was what he would miss about Sebs: “I’ll miss making bad jokes and people being obligated to laugh at them and I’ll miss Nicos.” As he said that, Nicos Tapu- los was summoned by the intercom as if the President were some sort of or- acle. There couldn’t have been a more St. Sebastian’s way to end an intrigu- ing interview with our leader. As another great year starts at Sebs, I have confidence that Presi- dent Owen will lead us in the best year of our life so far. He always has some crazy ideas up his sleeve, so I am confident that we will have the op- portunity to be a part of some exciting events throughout the year. Hopefully someone will be bold enough to try to fill the shoes President Finnegan will eventually have to step out of at the end of the year. Until then we should all appreciate the time we have with him as our President. Seniors earn their paddle Page 4 Does Not Appear in Photo: Quiet 7th Graders Homecoming 2015 Page 8 Owen “Barack” Finnegan, with his massive ears, addresses the most important issues facing St. Sebastian’s School today as a bastion of moral education and leadership. The Improbable Players answering questions from the crowd following their poignant performance in Ward Hall Judy Rantz and her husband with Mr. Burke following the all-school read assembly. They are achieving swing.

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Page 1: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

St. Sebastian’s School

The WALRUSThe time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things:Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. - Lewis Carroll

NEWS SPORTS

Vol. LXIX ,No. 1 October 2015

In late September, the St. Sebastian’s community was privi-leged to welcome the Improbable Players to our school for a powerful performance. The Improbable Play-ers are an acting group, comprised of actors who are currently in long-term recovery from various addictions. The mission of these actors is to set the stage for prevention by educating the public about the dangers of addic-tion and to help others recognize situ-ations in their own lives and seek the necessary help. The performance began by diving into the personal lives of the various actors. As each of the four ac-tors introduced themselves, they told their emotional stories about their battles with addiction. From cocaine addiction, to constant drinking, the Improbable Players had seemed to have been in situations that would be tough for most students to imagine. The heartfelt reflections of their lives led the audience to connect to each of the actors on a deeper level and vali-date each actor’s claims and opinions on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The Improbable Players played a big emphasis on what we typically per-ceive an alcoholic or drug addict to be like. Dressing up in trench coats, ski masks, fingerless gloves, and heavy boots, the actors stomped around the stage speaking in distorted voices and even causing laughter within the crowd. Following this, they re-moved their costumes, and revealed to the crowd what a drug addict and alcoholic really look like. This tactic dramatically revealed the harsh truth about how common it is for people to have these battles with addiction. It was made clear that many people that we wouldn’t expect or assume to battle this disease are fighting every day. This thought was also brought up within the last skit. The last skit told the story of a girl who had an alcoholic mother. From a young age, her mother’s addiction was prominent and her actions re-flected that. In this family, the daugh-ter was the most affected by her

By Jack Kerwin ‘17

Improbable Players’ Moving Performance

mother’s disease. It had seemed to her that this addiction had taken over her mother and ultimately taken her mother from her. The girl often times tried to express her feelings about how she believed that her mother had a drinking issue, but whenever she attempted to speak of it, she would instantly be shunned by her father and brother, as well as be told to stop giving her mother such a hard time. It got to a point where she decided to speak to her guidance counselor at school about this issue. The coun-selor shortly told her that her mother was an alcoholic and when she went home to explain this to her father, she was further reprimanded for speak-ing about this issue to other people. The purpose of this skit was to show how it is easy for somebody to be delusional about a family member or loved ones addiction. The Improb-able Player’s showed us that battling with addiction is an extremely com-mon thing and that it is important to recognize situations similar to these. The Improbable Player’s touched upon many circumstances that although may seem distant, are very pertinent to our lives. The ac-tors talked and theatrically displayed the dangers of even going near these substances. Oftentimes people will use excuses such as “I only drink on weekends” or “I only drink when I’m with my friends.” Using exag-gerations and irony, the stupidity of these excuses was made obvious. It became clear that it is much easier to completely stay away from these substances than to try them, like them, and then have to resist such ex-treme temptations. Through personal accounts of their lives as well as their perfor-mances, we were able to see the pos-sible tragedies that can arise as a re-sult of abusing these substances. The Improbable Players’ performance also encouraged students to recog-nize these situations in their own lives and not shy away from looking for help. This moving performance further informed us about the danger of substance abuse and become clos-er with one another about issues that are very relevant to our lives.

some of her father’s personal items and found old memorabilia from his rowing days. She did a lot of research for the book, including finding Joe’s rowing teammates and talking to them, going the extra mile to make sure she got every detail, and recall-ing things she experienced with her father. She knew that the story of Joe and his teammates needed to be told to the world. People who hear the tale have to be inspired and understand that anything is possible and that, no matter where you start off in life, you can still accomplish greatness like Joe Rantz did.

One of the many intrigu-ing aspects of Judy’s presentation was the visual depictions. When she started talking about the rowing and the men on the team, she showed pictures of all the men on the team and provided details on each of their stories before college. Something that stuck out when she was talking about the other men on the team was that none of them had any prior rowing experience before college, which makes what they accomplished even more exceptional.

Judy even had video from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Seeing this footage was amazing. We got to see for our own eyes the whole race and how intense it was. Judy also read a passage from the book that goes on during the race from the per-spective of some of the Washington fans and media. The voices brought to life the footage and what they were saying in the book was so accurate for what was actually happening in the race. It was also fascinating just

to see how much technology has evolved since then.

Judy also addressed her personal experiences with her father and what he was like around her. You could tell how much she respected her father by the way she was speak-ing about him. She told us stories about Joe and what he was like as a father, how interactive he was, and how he always wanted to spend quality time with his children. The bond of family was very important to Joe. Judy also told one story about a time during the winter when Joe took Judy and her siblings sledding. She described how the roads were cov-ered in snow and how they had a sled that all of them could fit on at once. She described her dad’s excitement to take them to the top of the steep road and take them down the hill. He was a fun guy and wanted to have good times with his kids, which he did. He loved his family very much and would do everything he could for them. When Judy was a little girl she had a horse and Joe made her a cart that attached to the horse and she could sit on it to help train the horse. She talked about how Joe didn’t want his kid’s lives to be anything like his was and they weren’t because of how good of a father he was.

We learned a lot more about Joe from Judy speaking to us. Her comments were heartfelt and delivered fully and clearly. She gave us a more complete image of Joe and what an image it was. It was great after reading the story to hear more about it and learn things that were not in the book.

This past summer the St. Sebastian’s community had the great pleasure to read and learn about one of the greatest American stories in our history. The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, features main character Joe Rantz and his incred-ible life story, along with eight other Americans and their tremendous journey ending with gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Earlier this year we had the honor of hearing Joe Rantz’s daughter Judy Willman speak about the book and her father. Judy went over the story in detail. She specifi-cally addressed her father’s horrific childhood. I think this part touched a lot of us and made us rethink what we consider “problems” in life because we are so lucky to have lov-ing families and attend such a good school. Judy told us how she really wanted people to see everything her father overcame. She explained how she needed people to be able to read the book and be able to truly picture what happened. She wanted it to be an inspiration for people and to even give people courage.

She selected Daniel James Brown to be the author because she thought he would do the best job at printing her father’s story. And even though she was not considered the author, she played a huge role in the making of the book. She shared with us how she got the inspiration for the book when she was looking through

Sebs Gathers for All-School Read AssemblyBy Matt Aisenberg ‘16

HEAD WRITER

Meet Supreme Leader Owen FinneganBy Peter Murphy ‘18

I was honored to speak with the most important student in our school President Owen Finnegan, with Trevor Yandow in a close sec-ond, and had the rare chance to inter-view him. He was able to eloquently answer some of the burning questions his subjects have for him in the in-terview. Obviously we all need to re-member what would happen without him, which is just a less enthusiastic senior chapel speech ceremony. How-ever, we wouldn’t get to have dances and get to see girls, which is pretty cool, so we all should treat him with the utmost respect. To start off the interview our leader stated his goals to im-prove Sebs: “I think I want to make the school a better place, I want to be the best president ever (well, I can al-ready check that one off) and I want to be someone the kids look up to and just be a good guy.” The President can check all these items off his list because he has already done all of this. Although with a modest guy like him, I wouldn’t ex-pect any other answer. I then asked him who he would vote for in the next American Presidential Election: “I’d write my-self in as a write in, and I tried to get into the republican debate the other day and they wouldn’t let me in for some reason. I don’t know why. I also encourage you all to vote for me.”

My question is, who doesn’t want some pretty good inside jokes most Sebs students understand at a Republican debate? It is a given that we should support our Presidents un-official campaign for president. He obviously would improve our inter-national connections with other coun-tries with his witty comedy, so why not vote for him. Next, I asked him what he would change about Sebs: “The im-mediate promotion of Trevor Yandow to co-headmaster of the school along with Mr. Burke, like a dual headmas-ter program. Every Monday instead of me doing a speech, Trevor would just stand behind Mr. Burke while Mr. Burke said something really cool and then we would have Trevor just stand at the podium for two or three minutes and we all sit in quiet contemplation while we just sat and watched Trevor arms spread out in front of everybody and step off the podium. Bring back Mr. Craven. Also, the installation of moving sidewalks from class to class.” Our Vice President David Korzeniowski (is that how you spell it?) then chimed in on the subject: “We should replace Unity day with Mr. Redpath just singing Ed Sheeran songs in a concert for the whole day.” All great ideas for the im-provement of our school that will un-doubtedly soon become a part of our already great daily lives at Sebs. Also I firmly agree with the dual headmas-

ter program. We really need an icon, like Trevor Yandow, to look up to in wonder and fascination. Next, Brian Craven asked him what his thoughts on Smart Cars were: “I think anybody who owns a smart car is making a terrible financial choice and safety choice.” This really shows us what comes first to him, the people’s finan-cial stability and the people’s safety. As my precious time with him was coming to a close I asked him my last question which was what he would miss about Sebs: “I’ll miss making bad jokes and people being obligated to laugh at them and I’ll miss Nicos.” As he said that, Nicos Tapu-los was summoned by the intercom as if the President were some sort of or-acle. There couldn’t have been a more St. Sebastian’s way to end an intrigu-ing interview with our leader. As another great year starts at Sebs, I have confidence that Presi-dent Owen will lead us in the best year of our life so far. He always has some crazy ideas up his sleeve, so I am confident that we will have the op-portunity to be a part of some exciting events throughout the year. Hopefully someone will be bold enough to try to fill the shoes President Finnegan will eventually have to step out of at the end of the year. Until then we should all appreciate the time we have with him as our President.

Seniors earn their paddlePage 4

Does Not Appear in Photo: Quiet 7th Graders

Homecoming 2015 Page 8

Owen “Barack” Finnegan, with his massive ears, addresses the most important issues facing St. Sebastian’s School today as a bastion of moral education and leadership.

The Improbable Players answering questions from the crowd following their poignant performance in Ward Hall

Judy Rantz and her husband with Mr. Burke following the all-school read assembly. They are achieving swing.

Page 2: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUSPage 2

“I live on the dark side.” -Mr. Lynch

“Petro, I’d like to remind you that Stephen King tweeted me.” -Mr. Tremblay

“Up rolls the white van, and here comes Latin 5!” -Mr. Ferguson

“These editors will be my death.” -Mr. Drummond

“I’m like 70/40 on that one.” -Paul McAuliffe ‘16

“WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!” -Mike Calabro ‘16 to Hen-ry’s Corner following the end zone rush after Seidl’s touchdown

QUOTES of the MONTH

October 2015

Mr. Diggs

By Thomas Hovsepian ‘17

The Walrus is the official student newspaper of St. Sebastian’s School. The Wal-rus seeks to provide news and entertainment for the St. Sebastian’s community, as well as to provide an open forum for students to offer opinions on issues related to world, na-tional, and school affairs. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect opin-ions of the faculty advisors or senior editors of The Walrus or of St. Sebastian’s School. Correspondence to The Walrus should be addressed to The Walrus, c/o St. Sebas-tian’s School, 1191 Greendale Avenue, Needham, MA, 02492. Senior Editors and production staff reserve the right to reject, edit, or admit any or all submissions. To submit an article, visit the Walrus page, found on the student portal of our beautiful school website.

The WalrusA St. Sebastian’s Publication

Senior Editors: Greg DeMatteo ‘16, Owen Finnegan ‘16, Paul Keady ‘16, David Korzeniowski ‘16, Jimmy Ryan ‘16

Apprentice Editors: Mr. Digan, Mr. Cavanaugh, Mr. Craven

Editors Emeritus: Jack Adams ‘15, Edgar Escobar ‘15, Ryan Lee ‘15, Angus O’Rourke ‘15, John Ryan ‘15

Faculty Advisor: Mr. Dan Drummond

Head Writers: Matt Aisenberg ‘16, Cole Aldrich ‘16, Miguel Espinosa ‘16, Matt Karpowicz ‘16, John McManmon ‘16

The Walrus is the official student newspaper of St. Sebastian’s School. The Wal-rus seeks to provide news and entertainment for the St. Sebastian’s community, as well as to provide an open forum for students to offer opinions on issues related to world, na-tional, and school affairs. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect opin-ions of the faculty advisors or senior editors of The Walrus or of St. Sebastian’s School. Correspondence to The Walrus should be addressed to The Walrus, c/o St. Sebas-tian’s School, 1191 Greendale Avenue, Needham, MA, 02492. Senior Editors and production staff reserve the right to reject, edit, or admit any or all submissions. To submit an article, visit the Walrus page, found on the student portal of our beautiful school website.

Mr. Salomone

By Jackson McKeigue ‘17

Mr. Moriarty

By James Orscheln ‘17

New Faculty Faces at Sebs, 2015-2016

Every year the big dogs of the Sebs faculty rustle up some of the best ladies and gentlemen from all around to compete for a posi-tion on the St. Sebastian’s Varsity Faculty roster. The Sebs faculty squad is a very difficult team to make, and this year the big dogs have picked an elite few teachers to join the team. One of the teach-ers, that could prove to be one of “the most interesting men in the community,” Mr. Salomone. Mr. Salomone teaches in the Theology department. Teaching five classes, one freshman class, three sopho-more classes, and a senior philoso-phy class, the man is everywhere. Whether it be at the prestigious West Point United States Military Academy, or in the classroom at BC High, or in the halls of Sebs, Mr. Salomone is seeking to make a difference anywhere he goes.

Prior to his teaching ca-reer, Salomone attended the West Point United States Military Acad-emy, and served in the United States Military. Mr. Salomone, in an interview, explained how West Point and the military was a “big influence on the ways [he] learned leadership skills, what it means to be dedicated, and certain things that [he] would want to hold onto for the rest of [his] life.” In the military, he explains how he was able to discover a greater sense of community and, similar to Sebs, a brotherhood. This community that he experienced, he illustrates is a group that is all “about service and trying to do something bigger than yourself, [...] this commu-nity is much like the one we have here at St. Sebs.” In his time in the military, not only did he learn the feeling of a deeper community, but he also learned that tough tasks can’t be accomplished without support from the community, or as

the West Point graduate phrased it, “you can’t grow alone”.

Having been involved in the military, it is very interesting that Mr. Salomone now works in the Theology department. When asked how he was influenced to enter into teaching religion and philosophy, he replies, “Faith has always been important to me. It has always played a huge part in my life.” He explains how his largest influences were his two high school religion teachers. He viewed his teachers as great role models. He also enjoyed the idea of being a mentor which encour-aged his desire to teach younger men how to excel spiritually.

Through many year of teaching religion at different schools, including BC High (1 Year) and Bishop Hendricken (5 Years), Mr. Salomone has encoun-tered many different challenges that have come along with teach-ing. When asked what the hard-est part of teaching for him is he replied, “trying to present the material in an interesting way so that students feel like they have a stake in their learning, for it to be something more than the passing of information. [...] Teaching is an adventure, you never know what is going to happen. I should be in some way shape or form helping my students get to heaven, and hopefully they’re helping me get to heaven too! And that is the mean-ing of community, all going down this same road together.”

Furthermore, as is with starting any new adventure for the first time, comes the challenge of adapting and learning how every-thing works. Mr. Salomone and all the other new teachers are cur-rently experiencing a period where they are adapting to the Sebs community as well as learning what they themselves like and dis-like about the school. I asked Mr. Salomone how he was adapting to the St. Sebs lifestyle, to which he responded, “Besides getting use to the day-to-day things at a new school, which is something that every school does a little differ-ently, but other than little stuff like that, and getting to know every-body, it’s been great! I am very happy to be here, great community that is very tight, that is one of the reasons I wanted to come! So far, so good!” I also proceeded to ask what he loved most about the

school so far, to which he ex-plained was his love for the sense of community and each student’s desire to do well themselves, but also for their friends to do well. He loved how there are “no strangers” at Sebs, everyone knows everyone and there is no getting around that fact. “There is also a sense of collegiality, not just amongst the teachers but the students too. For example, the breakfasts that were occurring these past weeks between the Seventh Grade and Ju-nior Class, as well as between the Eighth Grade and Senior Class,” explained Mr. Salomone. How-ever, on the contrary, I also asked the religion teacher what his least favorite part of the school is. “My least favorite part of the school as of now is that I have such a small amount of time to meet with my classes, especially compared to past schools, I feel that I don’t get enough time with my students.”

As an esteemed Indepen-dent Catholic all boys school, St. Sebastian’s pursues this sense of community and “brotherhood”. This concept of “brotherhood”, during the admissions season is probably one of the most used and heavily emphasized terms. The school advertises this idea almost as much as anything else that the school offers; however, many applicants ask and are uncertain to whether or not this “Brother-hood” is legit. As a new member of the school, I closed the interview by asking Mr. Salomone how he thought the advertisement of this community compares to what it is actually like to be a part of the St. Sebastian’s Brotherhood. “Prior to applying for the job, I had heard great things about Sebs, and I was especially impressed by the school’s motto, ‘Love God, Work Hard, and Take Good Care of One Another’. Other schools don’t have anything like that, they don’t say stuff like that, and it is clear in the month that I’ve been here, these aren’t just words, you all care so much about each other, and I find it amazing, so as far as brotherhood goes I believe that it does match up pretty well!” Mr. Salomone clearly is one of the more interesting men to walk the halls of Sebs and proves to be another great addition to the St. Sebs family.

Question: How are you today?Mr. Diggs: I’m great, how are you?Q: Good, thanks. How do you feel your first month of school at Sebs as teacher has been?MD: As, a teacher it’s been great. I have a great group of kids. They make it easy for me in terms of getting adjusted. Everyone has been welcom-ing. Kids are all in, focused and ready to go. Q: What classes do you teach?MD: I teach seventh grade religion. One section of seventh grade religion and it’s pretty cool. Q: How hard do you think you are on your seventh graders?MD: I don’t think I’m hard enough. I might have to turn it up a notch. Q: What went better first month as teacher or first month as a student?MD: I’ll have to say my first month as a teacher. Just because I knew what to expect. You know, just knowing the school itself, I felt a step ahead in the game. Whereas when I came as a student, it was more of a foreign atmosphere for me. It was cool as a teacher because I could do what I want as a teacher.Q: Is it weird being back as a teacher?MD: It’s not as weird as I thought it was going to be. You know, the faculty and my former teachers have been great about helping me transition into becoming a teacher. They’ve been really supportive about it. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year with assistance from the other teachers and faculty. Q: What made you want to become a teacher in general and back at Sebs?MD: In general, I just like the idea of helping kids. I like to provide any mentoring when I can. And as far as being back at Sebs, Sebs was a great place for me as a student. So, it would be a great place for me as a teacher too. Providing some assistance for the guys from the city, too. It’s a transi-tion for them and it was a transition for me as guy from Dorchester. Just giving any assistance that I can in that aspect. Q: What activities did you do at Sebs?MD: I played football, basketball, and I was in MPA as well as the art club. Q: Which of those is your favorite activity that you took part in?MD: That’s hard, I’m gonna have to put sports aside for this one. I’m

gonna say the art club. Ah Well MPA was great too. I’m gonna say MPA. It’s a toss up they were both great! Im saying MPA because I felt I played a really big role in it. I was able to provide and help a lot of younger guys a lot. Which is part of what I like to do today. I like to give as much help as I can to the younger guys. I was president also so that was nice.Q: Activities you’re participating in as a teacher/faculty member?MD: Football, basketball, MPA, admission tours. I’m primarily admis-sions so that’s a big part. Also coach-ing lacrosse. Q: What was your favorite lunch when you were here and is that still your favorite lunch?MD: The chicken sandwich, and it is still my favorite. I always say I’m gonna eat a salad and be a good person when it comes to eating healthy. But when the chicken sandwich comes it just ruins my day. Its great!Q: Favorite memory here at Sebs? MD: My favorite memory was receiv-ing an A on my mouse trap car. That was great because it was a toss up, fin-gers crossed type of thing. I just went for it and got an A on my first hit. Q: Favorite class?MD: Mr. Lynch’s senior writing class. It allowed me to be creative. I feel like a lot of faculty members are going to come after me with this. But yea that class was cool because of how creative it let me be.Q: What’re you most excited for?MD: Just getting to know everybody. I don’t just want to know the seventh graders or just the athletes I just want to know everybody. And being able to provide as much assistance as I can with the student body. Q: When did you know you wanted to become a teacher?MD: I was in a teaching program. So fall of my sophomore year. I always had the idea of teaching in my mind. I went full force with it, getting that ex-perience, it provided me with enough confidence that is what I wanted to do. Q: Where did you go to college?MD: Stonehill, Skyhawks!Q: What activities did you do there?MD: I played football for two years. I was a part of mosaic club, similar to MPA. I worked in IT, which was cool, also campus police. I did an internship in D.C. that was very cool. Q: Favorite pro teams?MD: Patriots and CelticsQ: Favorite players past or present?MD: Rondo. I was a big Rondo fan when he was with the Celts. Edelman because he’s the man.Q: Thoughts about Deflategate?MD: Silly. Obnoxious and unnecessary but it happens when you’re winning. Q: Superbowl Prediction?MD: Patriots vs. PackersQ: Athletic role model?MD: On the basketball court I would say I’m Lebron James-esque. But that’s just me. I’m a big body. But that’s just me fantasizing.

Perhaps you’ve seen him roaming the hallways of the math and science wing because he does not have his own classroom. Perhaps you have seen him making his freshman football players run sprints on the grid after practice. Perhaps you’ve seen him in the hit TV series Sherlock. Yes, we are talking about Mr. Moriarty, the new math teacher. This freshman football coach and former college baseball player is a really cool guy, so we decided to stop by and ask him a few questions about how he is fitting into Sebs so far. Q: Can we first have a little background info about you, where you grew up, where you went to school, sports you play, hobbies, etc.? A: Well, I grew up in nearby Newton Mass, and attended Roxbury Latin over in West Roxbury. I then went to Hamilton College, where I studied math and played baseball. I spent the last year teaching in Wash-ington DC, and now I am here at Sebs. Some of my hobbies include playing piano, and playing sports. Sports and music really are the big ones for me.What influenced you to come to Sebs/how has your transition been so far?I had looked at Sebs before, and I even spent a day here during my senior year in college. I was very interested in Sebs, but I ended up teaching in DC because I found a teaching job down there, but I didn’t like that as much and wanted to be back in Boston. I really liked the sense of community, the welcoming environment, and how everyone was working hard at Sebs, so I interviewed here and ended up teaching a sample lesson in an Algebra 2 class last year. I recall meeting Evan Reddick and Thaddeus Kennedy. They

were studs in that class, and that made me want to come teach here even more. My transition to Sebs has been awesome. All the students are wicked good, very funny, and really motivated to do well which makes my job easier. I’ve been teaching more classes this year so it’s a lot of work, but it’s really fulfilling to see all my guys doing well. Q:Which teachers have helped your transition to Sebs go smoothly? A: Definitely Mr. Piacenza, he’s helped out a lot with co-planning some Algebra 2 stuff. Mr. Rest has looked out for me a lot, and helped me get all set up over the summer. Mr. Drummond has been great with all the new teacher stuff, and all the administration like Mr. Burke and Mr. Sullivan have been awesome. Mr. Eaton and Mr. Diggs have both been great because we coach freshman football together, so I get to spend a lot of time with them. But really I can go on and on, everyone has just been so welcoming. Lots of teachers have just taken time to check in and see how my first few weeks have been going because they understand it can be hard to transition to a new place. Q: You mentioned freshman football, but what other sports/activi-ties are you planning to run/coach? A: Yeah so right now I’m coaching freshman football, and I plan on helping out with freshman baseball in the spring. I don’t have any intimate plans, but I’m very open-minded to getting involved with community

service or theatre, which I did some of in college. I like the community at Sebs and how everyone is involved in everything, so I’m going to join in. Q: What has your favorite lunch at Sebs been so far? A: Hmmmm there’s been some really good fish dishes, but I usu-ally just make a monster meat wrap with either tuna or buffalo chicken salad, then I supplement that with ham and sometimes salami, so those are awesome. Q: Is it true that you are a Sherlock Holmes villain? A: Direct descendant. Q: Who’s your World Series pick this year for the MLB? A: Gotta go Astros. Actually, Durham Bulls. Yeah, say the Durham Bulls. Q: What do you see yourself doing in five years? A: I want to make sure I’m using this word right. (Looks up word biopic) Definitely will be screenwrit-ing the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson biopic. I’m a huge DTRJ fan, I find him amusing. He always just plays a muscled-out tough guy in every movie, it’s awesome. There you have it folks. If you see Mr. Moriarty in the hallways or on the field, make sure to say hi to him, and maybe ask how his DTRJ biopic is going. We hope that his tran-sition into Sebs continues to go well, and expect to see him here doing great things for the years to come.

Page 3: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUS Page 3October 2015

THE RARE QUESTIONNAIRE

Aidan Har-rington

Baseball Love Netflix Mr. Foley Mr. Foley

Mike Tressler Lonely Guyo 7th grade science

Mr. Foley Lincoln Chaffey

Liam Murphy Fun No Clue Hockey Mr. Lynch Trump

Kyle Licameli Energetic Holy Soccer Mr. S. Cressotti Mr. Foley

Johnny Piatelli Interesting Religious Netflix Mr. D. Cleary Trump

Paul Canavan Borderline Foreign The Great Dia-logues of Plato

James Ferguson James Ferguson

Mr. Nerbonne Peace Holy Teach Jesus William L. Burke III

Your Summer in One Word

The Pope in One Word

______ and Chill Favorite Teacher Your Vote for President

Mr. Redpath

By Will Phelan ‘17 and Thomas Wasynczuk ‘17

Ms. DiMeo

By Jimmy McCabe ‘17As is the case with every new

school year here at Saint Sebastian’s, a fresh batch of young ambitious teach-ers are among us. It’s always impor-tant to reach out to these new members of our community and show them why this school is so special. I had the pleasure of interviewing my current Spanish teacher, Señorita DiMeo, and I hope you guys can learn something interesting about the successor to the great one (Señor Digan).Q: Where did you grow up?A: I grew up in Needham, actually, right around the corner from here.Q: How big is your family?A: I have two brothers and one sister, my two parents, and my grandfather lived with us growing up. So we had a very busy household.Q: Are you the oldest, youngest, or middle child?A: I am the oldest.Q: Where did you attend high school and college?A: I went to Needham High School, and then after that I went to Union College in Upstate New York.Q: What was your favorite part of Union?A: It’s a beautiful campus, everywhere you go everything is just very well made and thoughtfully designed. And I loved that it’s a small community and everybody knew everybody, kind

of like here, everybody supported everybody and wanted you to succeed and it was a really great environment to learn in.Q: What did you do in between college and coming to Saint Sebastian’s?A: I moved to Spain for a year. Last school year I spent in Madrid. I was teaching English at a bilingual immer-sion school and I taught preschool and primary school, so my youngest kids were three and my oldest kids were about 12.Q: What was that experience like?A: It was crazy, but it was incredible. It was different in a lot of ways from what I expected. From an American standpoint, there’s zero organization in anything and everything to do with the Spanish school system. So that was frustrating sometimes, but it was a learning experience and I really ap-preciated it and it was great.Q: How has the transition been for you coming to Sebs?A: There’s definitely a learning curve, but everybody here is so willing to help and so willing to answer ques-tions. People will genuinely ask if you have any questions and want to sit down and ask and figure things out, and they mean it, which is really nice! I’ve definitely been taking advantage of that.Q: Who influenced you to come to Sebs?A: (laughter) I went to college with Señor Beaule, who’s also a Spanish teacher here. He and I did a Span-ish major so a lot of our classes were together and we were classmates and I saw him several times a week. So when I came home (from Spain) I shot him a message and said, “Hey I heard you’re at Sebs, I grew up in Needham, that’s so weird! How did you end up there etc… PS: Do they need a Span-ish teacher,” and he said yes! So I was very lucky.Q: What teachers have helped with the transition?

A: Everybody I’ve met has helped. All of the teachers in the Spanish depart-ment have been really helpful to me. Trying to figure out where all of the students are, what they’ve learned, and what I still need to teach them has been a challenge. But talking with everybody else has been really helpful. Mr. Drummond has been really, really helpful with this, too.Q: What is your favorite aspect of school so far?A: I love that the classes are really small, and I know that our class (my class) is thirteen. And that feels big in that room, but the classes I was teach-ing last year had around 30 students in them. The students were about three years old, which was total insanity. So I really appreciate that there’s about half the people in the room. You can really run a better class that way.Q: Favorite lunch meal at Sebs?A: I’m obsessed with the fruit in the salad bar. It’s always really fresh and really good (thanks Cisco dining). It’s really lame, but that’s my thing!Q: What extra-curricular activities will you be running or assisting in this year for Sebs?A: I know for certain that I’ll be help-ing coach the swim team. I was a very competitive swimmer in high school. I’m really excited to get back into that because it’s been a long time. I also have been told to expect to coach a sport in the spring, but I don’t know which one yet. So that’ll be a surprise for all involved!Q: What do you like to do outside of work?A: I love to travel. I love to knit, my friends make fun of me because I need to knit things. And I really like to bake.Q: Dogs or cats?A: Dogs. And that wraps up my inter-view with Ms. DiMeo. Be sure to say hi to her in the hallways and make her feel part of the Sebs community.

Little is known about Mr. Z. Redpath of the Varsity Soccer team other than his fiery hair and that he might teach a class during the day. We sat down with the coach to interview him with the hope that we might reveal the true character behind the Path. What we learned will make you laugh, cry, furrow your brow, exhale through your nose a little more than usual (because something was kind of funny, but not that funny), and it will even spark your interest in conversing with the Sneaky Scot himself. The first thing that he wanted the read-ers to know was that he could “[Beat Mr. Wilbur and Mr. Ferguson in a fight 2 vs. 1]”. That is a direct paraphrase. When asked to elaborate, Redpath said nothing at all. In order to truly understand the kind of person he is without cornering him with specific questions, we asked him a series of open ended ones that he could take in any direction he might choose. His soccer coach “thinking-on-feet” lifestyle helped him excel

The cool breezes have replaced the sticky humidity, and hot, sunny days are few and far between. Oh yeah, it’s Fall again, and as the leaves begin to fall, Seb’s has started again; it is time for that school grind. School is well on its way, but let’s step back and remember a frightening time only months ago when we were without our beloved school for three whole months. We’re all sure that everyone was devastated over summer break as you all missed the great things about Seb’s, because you never really appreciate things until they’re gone. So, without further adieu, here are the top ten things that we missed about Seb’s over the sum-mer: 1. Henry’s Corner: Henry’s is one of the most amazing experiences at Seb’s. There’snothing better than rambunctiously cheering for our sports teams at every outing. We truly have a home field advantage. In all serious-ness, the support shown by fellow Arrows is something greatly missed over the summer. Sports and other activities just aren’t as interesting if none of you classmates are there hoot-ing and hollering for you. Keep up the good work, Henry’s. 2. The Plays: Not everyone likes drama here, but most people can agree, the Seb’s plays are truly a worthwhile experience, even if you just watch. Whether it’s a comedy about a misunderstood baby put on by the middle-schoolers or a spectacular musical acted out by the entire club, you can guarantee that watching it will be a good time and, since it’s Seb’s, there’s sure to be some hilarious mo-ments. (Plus, just between us, there’s GIRLS in the Fall Play!) 3. The Lunches: Every new student has felt it: the huge change from the gross food from elemen-tary and middle school to the superb cuisine that Seb’s offers. No matter how dreary the day, a student can always count on the meal to lift their spirits. Whether it be as intricate as the amazing General Tso’s chicken or as simple as some pizza and french fries, we can never say we haven’t had a meal we didn’t enjoy. Plus, the entire experience is great, between the panini maker almost burning down the school, the chaotic churro riots that leave many injured, or just a nice conversation with your friends, it’s undeniable that the Seb’s atmosphere is truly unique. 4. Churros: After the Great Churro Stampede of 2014, a tragic moment in which certain members of the student body ruined dessert for ev-eryone, the churro system has changed greatly. Churro days are more rare, but they are just as great, especially with a

new “every table gets a plate” system in place. However, over the summer we’ve noticed that the churro market just isn’t the same in real life as it is at Seb’s. Somehow, the mad stampede to grab as many churros as possible is just lacking at churro stands during the summer. Maybe the idea of having to work for your cinnamony delicious-ness is what makes it better? 5. Monday Morning An-nouncements: Waking up on a Monday and preparing for a rough week can be brutal, but Seb’s has some ways to brighten your day. Whether it is Mr. Stefan Cressotti trying to avoid dreaded Schedule Xavier during his Chess Tournament speeches or President Finnegan talking about how turtles are green and Usain Bolt is black or his sixth period Calculus test, there is rarely a dull moment. So if you ever consider dozing off on a dreary Monday, just remember that you’ll be missing out on some prime entertainment. 6. Chipotle/Five Guy’s: Ev-erybody loves carpooling to the near-est fast food restaurant of their choice, or just ordering pizza to be delivered to Seb’s. It could be Chipotle, Five Guys, Qdoba, Domino’s, or anywhere else that you go to, and that’s okay. It is not just eating there that makes it memorable; it’s the funny conversa-tions and experiences that you share with your fellow bros from Seb’s that makes the difference. It is just not the same when going there in the sum-mer, so make sure you partake in these food-runs. 7. Staying Absurdly Late: Admit it, at Seb’s you enjoy staying at school later than you have to. Whether it’s play practices that end after dark, debate meetings to attend, or just the lack of a ride that keeps you at Seb’s until the late hours of the night, many students stay late into the night. But why do Seb’s students like to stay at school until they’re ready to fall asleep? Isn’t that the opposite of what you’re supposed to do? It might have something to do with the comradery, since there’s always a game of chess to be played or a friend to hang around with or even a new student you’ve never met before to talk to. All of us late night guys agree: the Tuesday night grind is that much more monoto-nous if you don’t stay at Seb’s until at least six-thirty. 8. Dan the Security Guard: Most of you young kids, and maybe even older ones, have yet to meet the mysterious Dan the Security Guard. Dan makes sure events like Homecoming run smoothly with parking, student behavior (he keeps Henry’s from storming the field after every play), and he locks up every night. Also, he’s just a normal guy who, if you have the chance to stay late and talk to, is a pretty interesting character with humorous stories and

maybe even some advice. So if you’re ever bogged down with homework at six-thirty or later, you might encounter Dan, who might just make you laugh or forget about your work for a time. 9. Father Paris’ Whistle: Who doesn’t love the sound of an elderly priest tweeting his whistle right next to your ear? No one can seriously say they enjoy Fr. P bursting our eardrums at 7:40 in the morning while he tells us to “Go to Homeroom” or “Assembly. Time to Go”, but Fr. P just wants us to be on time in the morning. Finally, who else do you know that speaks fluent Latin? Without Fr. Paris, the Library just wouldn’t be the same (or as clean) in the mornings. 10. Mr. Burke: To cap off the unique things we miss about Seb’s, we could never go without mentioning everyone’s favorite bowtie-wearing Headmaster: the amazing Bill Burke. While many schools have a boring Headmaster who has little involvement with the students, we can say that we have just the opposite. Many-a-time we’ve seen Mr. Burke wandering the halls, greeting every student by name and asking them how whatever extra-curriculars they may be engaged in are going. Mr. Burke has even been spotted dancing through the library, saying, “Hey guys, how many other ISL Headmasters do you think are do-ing the moonwalk right now?” And, as if Mr. Burke isn’t amazing enough, he wears a bowtie to school that matches his mustache perfectly. Our Headmas-ter’s unique style is the perfect ex-ample of how Seb’s is a unique place: Its greatness starts at the top and goes right down to the seventh graders. So there you have it- our list of the things we missed the most about Seb’s. If you are unfamiliar with any of them, try to learn more about them, because they could grow on you. It may be a bummer that summer is over, but we can look forward to these awe-some things.

Top 10: Things We Missed About SebsBy Marty White ‘18 and Patrick Ryan ‘18

during this part of the interview. Q: “If you could only have one?” A: “One billion.” Q: “If your life was a piece of lined paper, and the blue lines were all that is constant and stable in your life, what is the one red line that runs perpendicular to everything you believe in?” A: “Rainbow sprinkles in Vanilla ice cream” Q: “Favorite?” A: “Crest toothpaste” Q: “Worst?” A: “Forgetting Deodorant” Q: “Hero?” A: “Kyle McCarthy” Q: “What’s that big shiny thing on your key ring [and what is its metaphorical significance]?” A: “It’s a broken compass [and it reminds me that I won’t always know where to go, but I can’t let that deter me from moving forward]” Q: “Favorite kitchen uten-sil?” A: “NOT a whisk. An elec-tric whisk” Q: “Where [are the bodies hidden]?” A: “Mt. Rushmore” Q: “Name of your biogra-phy?” A: “Knock on Wood” Each question revealed something new about the mysterious Redwood. He likes large quantities, he has great taste in toothpaste and heroes and he can’t stand bad hygiene. He’s as deep as the Romanche Trench (25,453 ft below sea level), He’s very particular with his words and should probably write a biography. He has earned a Student Seal of Approval and the respect of millions.

have the most-cutting edge comput-ers, all equipped with Windows 10, the “final evolution” of the operating system family, according to creator Microsoft. In addition to a keyboard, these computers were revealed to also have touchscreens, to the surprise of many students. Of course, at first, the adjustment to the PCs took some time as students had to gain familiarity with the operating system. By now, how-ever, pupils have become comfortable with the PCs, and the computers have streamlined the morning “computer-rush” each day. With these new com-puters and tech systems, a noticeable improvement to the inner-workings of our school, the responsibilities of students, faculty and staff have been made slightly easier and much quicker. Lastly, coming around the bend of the science building’s rotunda, a small garden has sprouted due to the work of students led by Mrs. Colton, with the technical help of Mr. Ludwig and the designs of Mr. Rob Olson. Throughout the summer, students watered and tended to the garden twice a week in their pursuit of hortatory perfection. The garden consists of four raised beds and four large plant-ers. Most noticeably, bright sunflow-ers bloomed just before the start of school, welcoming new students with an exuberant reminder of the summer they had only just lost. Of course, aesthetics were not the main benefit of the garden, as the club plans to harvest their well-deserved produce this week. The products of the garden, which will be used in the school’s kitchen and display, including melons, cucumbers, basil, thyme, mint, chives and kale. Overall, the summer changes to our school enabled our school to better function as a place of both learn-ing and recreation. Each year St. Se-bastian’s improves upon the already-excellent resources at the community’s disposal, improving the atmosphere of the community as a whole. And with such excellent tools within our school, it is both a privilege and a duty for St. Sebastian’s students to take advantage of these opportunities.

By this point, the summer with its glorious weather is but a dis-tant memory as we enter the drudgery of everyday school life. But while most students were spending their summers by the pool, beach or golf course in well-deserved relaxation, a handful of faculty, staff and students were working hard to improve the functionality of our school. Due to the work of these people, our school has received a handful of much-needed improvements. Besides the herds of roaming seventh-graders blocking our hallways, summer additions to our school include a new Student Com-mons, touchscreen PCs with Windows 10, and a school garden. As the most noticeable ad-dition, the Student Commons were donated generously to the school by the recently-departed Class of 2015, a fitting monument to their years here at St. Sebastian’s. The Commons were originally restricted to use by seniors but after the inauguration, full-school access has been gradually phased in. Having such a privilege, it is the responsibility of the students to show utmost care for condition of these commons. With this in mind, the Commons leaves little to be desired. Immediately on passing the Com-mons, one notices the grandeur of the glass French doors and wood paneling. Glass cases will highlight the past, present and future achievements of our school community. As for student en-joyment, the lounge is equipped with a ping-pong table, which is already a center of student activity after school. And with all of this, in addition to sleek furniture and a state-of-the-art LCD TV, the Class of 2015 Student Commons provides a fitting place for students to both learn and socialize in a modern setting. An equally important update to our school, however, takes place in the library under the guidance of Mr. Deschenes, Donovan and Rossini. After years with relatively-old PCs, the library and computer labs now all

Sebs Summer ChangesBy Sam Cullen ‘17

Page 4: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUSPage 4 October 2015

An extraordinary amount of swagger, unrivaled paranoia, and a missing touch of class are the three qualities that are ideal for the main character of a crime movie, like Black Mass. After being banned at Harvard two years ago, Black Mass has finally been released, but it seems to be a different black mass. The only downside to the movie is that the trailers were a bit misleading to the overall tone of the movie. The movie, brings the viewer into the tale of Whitey Bulger, an infamous Bos-ton mobster. There was no way the movie could fail simply because it was based off of the compelling story of Whitey Bulger’s rise and decline among the other gangsters in Boston at the time. The downsides of the movie were not that upsetting and didn’t affect the movie’s enjoyability, but are worth mentioning nevertheless. The trailers of the movie, as men-

tioned a moment ago, were a little bit misleading. The trailers mainly show scenes of Johnny Depp’s Whitey Bulger shooting guns and beating people up, giving a sense that the movie will have an action-based tone. The movie, however, only had a few violent scenes, and focused more on the mental state as well as the rise and decline of Whitey Bulger. This small downside has very little effect on the enjoyment of the movie, for after seeing the film one realizes that the focus on the story enhances the movie much more than the action scenes. The movie was also pretty long which can be bad, but if time isn’t an issue this obviously has no downside. Overall, the downsides barely play a factor when compared to the positives. On the positive end, the acting was unbelievable. Johnny Depp did a phenomenal job playing the role of Whitey, and the way in which he portrayed Whitey’s insanity and paranoia was unbelievable. The focus on not only his crimes, but his

involvement with the FBI and his family life truly enhanced the life of the story. The scenes involving his girlfriend and son were often very comical due to the life tips Whitey gives to his son. Whitey’s family life is also very interesting when focusing on his brother and his mom, who meant a lot to Whitey. The involve-ment with the FBI was very interest-ing for the movie often focused on this portion of the story, and explain-ing how Whitey’s childhood friend, John Connolly, did whatever he could to keep Whitey safe throughout the years. The story itself was the best part of the movie, and being able to understand everything that was going on at the time was very entertaining. Overall, the movie was amazing and was definitely worth the time to watch. The characters were amazing, and maybe even more in-teresting since they were real people. The setting of Boston was very nice to see, because it’s always good to see a place you know in movies. I give the movie an impressive FOUR Casey faces out of FIVE.

Casey’s Cinematic Corner “Black Mass”

Judgement Upon the Cursed Senior ClassBy Declan Walsh ‘16

The Prophet: Senior Chapel Speech Predictions 2015

NATHAN AKUKWE: To be deter-mined by the 2016-17 Walrus Staff.JOHNNY BEHMAN: Guitar, gui-tar, and maybe some brothersKEVIN BOLAND: Writes about the lacrosse showcase he attended last fall, attempts to justify his decision. Fails.WESTON BRACH: Writes about how his senior slide consists of tak-ing three APs instead of five.JACK BRUGGER: Discusses how he peaked during freshman year.MIKE CALABRO: Wearing his nicest football jersey, gives 15 page report in defense of Tom Brady and his role in Deflategate.PAUL CANAVAN: Gives play by play of this year’s town hockey season. RYAN COLGAN: Announces sponsorship deal with Herbal Es-sencesGREG DEMATTEO: Apologizes to Mr. Nerbonne.JAMES DRISCOLL: Calls everyone out for giving him the nickname “Booster”, a la Timmy Murphy.MATT ELDRIDGE: Tries to make textual connections from the corpo-rate chapel reading.MIGUEL ESPINOSA: Reveals to the school that he is from the Philippines.BEN FACHETTI: Expresses deep, deep desire to fake the punt.CAM FINNEGAN: Writes about his back-brace related nightmares.OWEN FINNEGAN: Gives very deep, intellectual speech about marine biology that no one under-stands except Dean.MAYNEL FUENTES: Talks about adjusting to life at Sebs without Moreno.SEAN HARRINGTON: Talks about the lessons baseball has taught him about baseball.SONNY HUANG: Reminds us that Sebs was his last choice.ERIK JONES: Launches into long argument with Mr. Thomasy about the multiple choice format of the test.JOHN KAPPLES: Too cool to actu-ally speak, stands at podium and combs hair with his hand.MATT KARPOWICZ: Talks about how he never stopped sweating throughout all of senior year. Also discusses being careful about what you write about other people in the Walrus and the consequences it might have.PAUL KEADY: Accepts our nomination for the President of the United States of America.HARRY KELLEHER: Reposts a chapel speech about hockey with his two cousins.CASEY KELLY: Exposes long covered up conspiracies going on inside the Sebs administration. Somersaults off altar.DAVID KORZENIOWSKI: Talks about how technology changed his life. Mr. Connolly and Mr. Richter notably absent.ROB LEMONE: Doesn’t tell Alejo about his speech.CHRISTIAN LOCURTO: Lists top 3 memories of getting up at 3:30 in the morning and commuting to school.

JAKE LOUGHBOROUGH: Writes about how his job in Nantucket prevented him from getting

recruited to play DI college football.BRENDAN LUTCH: Speech seems to start well until he starts laughing and can’t stop laugh-ing. Excuses himself.RYAN MACEDO: Makes fun of Slayne.MIKE MACKINTIRE: Gives school good nutritional tips and hands out samples of granola.FRANKIE MAHONEY: Talks di-rectly to Ms. Uhlman the whole speech.PAUL MCAULIFFE: Can’t make it to corporate chapel, has Draino’s.JACK MCCOOL: Tries not to talk about hockey, talks about hockey.JACK MCLAUGHLIN: Explains decision to take a gap year and live off the land.JOHN MCMANMON: Lists 10 nicest cars he parked over the summer.PATRICK MULDOWNEY: Talks about the day he got to spend with Tom Brady.PETER MULLIN: Organizes school wide predictions on what he will write about. Makes $50.MIKE MULLOWNEY: Talks about not getting into BC. JOHN NILLES: Writes about the difficulties of being both a player and the putative head coach of the soccer team.LIAM NOONAN: Explains why the past year has been the best year of his life. NNAMDI OKWEREKWU: Ar-gues that J Cole is a better rapper than Drake. Takes out phone at some point and records speech for his Snapchat story.NICK O’NEIL: Talks about his cape house.AUSTIN O’SHEA. Grinds. Talks about love of East Milton. Tells his kids.RYAN PARKER: Explains the difference between freshly cooked bacon and bags of bacon. Falls asleep at the podium.PAT PETERS: Tells everyone where he’s been for the past four years.DEAN PIERSIAK: Writes about all the rocks he climbed in the Bahamas.CHRIS POTVIN: Gives speech about nuclear physics in Latin.JACK RAGNONI: Explains why TJ is the superior Ragnoni brother.MIKE ROZEKSKI: Claims that he is in fact a member of this community.JIMMY RYAN: Gives account of his family’s summer trip to the Notre Dame State Fair.WILL SLAYNE: Talks about why Grandparent’s Day is his favorite day of the year.ALEJO SOTO: Writes about how much he learned from Eldridge as a leader during soccer season.NICO TOPULOS: Writes about how being a Beckett man in-spired him to study Karl Marx. Reads speech off of giant phone screen to save paper.CJ TURNBULL: Announces he will be opening a new Dunkin’ Donuts in the peace garden. DECLAN WALSH: Writes about being the only member of the swim team. Wears bolo tie.AARON WOLFSBURG: I hon-estly have no idea.

On September 1st, 2015, the seniors were tested to their limits by retired Army Staff Sergeant Sam Cila. Sam wasted no time with introduction before grilling the 2016s on their work ethic, teamwork and toughness. As is tradition here at St. Sebastian’s, Jimmy Ryan stunned Mr. Cila by answering Sam’s question, “What is the most important goal for the team?” without hesitation Jimmy raised his hand and answered, “Accomplish the mission.” Jimmy is the only person Sam has ever taught to answer that question cor-rectly. Well done, Jimbo. Sam began his lecture telling how many of us would “crack” or puke amidst our strenuous workout, surprisingly enough nobody did. After a rigorous ab circuit which left Matt Barron cursing Taco Bell for his “dad bod”, the rest of us hoped the tasks would not get harder. Sam asked for six able-bodied men to accept the role of captain and six brave, tough, witty, and attractive seniors stepped forward: Jack McCool, Kevin Boland, Sullivan McLaughlin, Doug Calabro, Karp Kar-powicz, and myself. Like monarchs, we were chosen by God. Sam gave us

a strict task, assigning us to a group of seven of our peers whom we had to lead and instruct for the task at hand.

Each boy was assigned a paddle. If that paddle ever got in the hands of Sam or his partner, then the captains would be punished. Though a pretty simple task, that did not prevent Mike Rozewski from losing his paddle early on. Along with the paddles, each group was given an inflatable boat and four pumps. Sam left each team with task of figuring out how to work the pumps and get air flowing freely into the boats without it leaking. Sam gave us 8 minutes on our first trial to fully inflate the boat. Each group worked hard to fill their boats. But when time was called, not all boats were com-pletely filled. Wise and merciful Sam did not punish us for our early failure but instead advised us to share tips and techniques we learned in our first trial.

For the rest of the trials, if all the boats were not filled to his standards, the entire class would be punished with “four-count groiners”, an exercise so basic that Sam felt it necessary to make impossible. One group learned a more effective method of using the pumps, while another group became so unified that they

finished nearly a minute before the other boats and spread themselves out to help their classmates. When asked about his experience with the boats, Owen Finnegan said, “You know Declan, by the end of the day I don’t think we were inflating boats. I think we were inflating the lungs of God Himself.”

After several trials, we finally achieved the goal of pump-ing each boat to its max. Sam had us recall what we learned from the experience and for most everybody the answer was teamwork. During our first trials, the groups were more focused on their own success than the group’s, even though we would all be punished if a group failed to complete the task; however, during the last few trials, each boat started focusing less on their own boat and more on the other five boats. When I asked David Korzeniowski about his experience at Judgement Day he said, “I learned a lot about real teamwork. It’s not just the glamorous stuff you see in movies where people share successes together. It’s holding your teammates account-able so that you can be the best you can be.”

Ping Pong Fever Infects Senior ClassBy Jake Loughborough ‘16 and

Brendan Lutch ‘16FEATURE WRITERS

take as many phones as possible. At any time during the school day you can find seniors in the middle of a heated ping pong match, and depending on who’s playing, they are usually accompanied by a crowd of spectators. One of the most en-tertaining players to watch is Mike Mullowney. After every big point Mike gives a Tiger Woods style fist pump and yells “Come on!” He is probably also the most annoying player to play against because when he wins a point, he makes sure you know that he just won the point. Another interesting player to watch is the crippled Peter Mullin. Since breaking his wrist, he has had to play left handed, but he adapted surprisingly fast to his injury and is still among the top players in the grade.

One of the best players in the grade is Weston Brach. This year we learned that Weston’s tennis skills are not restricted to the court. It’s actually believed that the only reason he plays tennis is to get better at table tennis. Let your guard down for as much as one hit, however, and Weston will slam the ball back on your side with enough speed to make Jack Frisoli look slow. Many people have challenged the lanky righty, but none have been able to reach 21 points by a minimum of a two-point lead.

The rules of the table are simple: games to 21. Two players switch out after every game. To be next in line you must call it, and it

The Class of 2015 senior class gift was a complete remodeling of the student lounge. When news spread that the student lounge would be turned into a more sophisticated place to hang around during and after school, many students were worried that it would be too nice. What made the student lounge so great was that there were no rules. It was a jungle. Various items of clothing could be found strewn across the room, along with the pillows of what we can only assume to have been couches at one point in time. Single shoes would be wedged in between vending machines. Apple cores and orange peels resided underneath the couches in the cities of dust, crumbs, and god-knows-what. It was mayhem and remarkably filthy, yet I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The lounge was the autobahn of Sebs, and students wouldn’t have it any other way. That being said, the new lounge has been a nice addition and the transition has gone smoothly. The one thing that has remained the same in the new lounge, from the one we had last year, is the ping pong table.

The commons has been par-ticularly appealing to seniors because they are allowed to use their phones… during the day. This means that when Mr. Sullivan walks by and looks through those windows, he has to fight every urge in his body to run in and

doesn’t matter how recently you have played. CJ Turnbull always walks into the lounge and yells out “I got next game” with no knowledge of the line, which is usually roughly three games long, yet often ends up on the table for the next game.

Believe it or not, some matches rival playoff varsity hockey games for most entertaining sports event at Sebs. When Paul McAuliffe squares off in a game against a right-handed Peter Mullin, not only is it near impossible to look away, but the lounge becomes a 17 and older room, as words only allowed in R-rated movies fly from the mouths of the two competitors nearly every point. In the career series, I believe Paul has the slight edge over Pete, but anything can change. Matt Karpow-icz likes to think that he’s a top dog on the table, and that everyone has a desire to play against him, but such is not the case. Is the future Eph a good ping pong player? Of course; some would even venture not incorrectly to say great. However, his nearly seven-foot wingspan makes him an undesirable opponent as no shot can be guaranteed to get by him. The big-gest rivalry out there, however, exists between three players: Lutch, Frankie and Lemone, though none of them play in the lounge a lot.

A question brewing in the mind of the reader right now might be whether or not younger kids are allowed to play. It’s not illegal, just frowned upon. Mitch Heffernan of the Class of 2015 - oops, my mistake - 2017, has entered the lounge to

challenge somebody three times. He’s lost all three. Mitch is bringing down the junior, and all younger grades for that matter, stock at the table. It’s like when Middlesex asked Sebs to play in football this year: yeah we’ll play against you, but you’re gonna get Tommy Seidl’s younger brother in the second quarter because we’re worried about embarrassing you. Mitch was not ready to play and it showed.

As the school year progress-es, there have been improvements in some players as they secretly practice into the wee hours of the night at home with their folded-up tables. I have some predictions for this year’s ping pong. First, Mr. Wu will enter the lounge, challenge somebody to a game, take a 10-0 lead (one point away from the infamous skunk), then, as mysteriously as he came, will

leave the Commons, and Sebs, for-ever. Second, much like his beloved Peyton Manning, Mike Mullowney’s age will ruin his season. No Arrow has ever been able to win consistently at the age of 45, and I strongly doubt that Mike will be able to break that streak. He’s also been complaining that he can no longer feel the ball on his fingertips. Finally, using the paddle that the people from “The Program” gave to the senior class, Mr. Sullivan will defeat Mr. Ner-bonne in a game to 11 in the much-anticipated matchup of the Deans.

The ping pong table has created a near-dangerous distraction to the seniors, as they should be fo-cusing on college applications rather than searching for a weakness in Cole Aldrich’s game, only to find out that there is none.

By Matt Karpowics ‘16HEAD WRITER

seeing Johnny Depp’s expression and the headline of the article below makes me wonder what article this picture truly accompanies. It’s called planned ambiguity, folks!

By Casey Kelly ‘16FEATURE WRITER

Two paddles and a ping pong ball: Enough to distract 65 seniors from college applications and homework

Page 5: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUS Page 5October 2015

As you walk into Ward Hall

and avoid stepping on a girl crawling on the ground with a leash around her neck, you realize that it is that time of year again: the St. Sebastian’s Fall Dance. Despite sounding like a scene out of 50 Shades of Grey, the Fall Dance was chock-full of question-able attire, eyebrow raising dancing, and fun times all round. With one of the highest turn-outs in recent dance history, everyone was in for a treat on the evening of September 25th.

This year, the girls of Newton Country Day did not disap-point with their outrageous and controversial costumes. Lining the wall as you entered into Ward Hall were members of the secret service, dressed head to toe in all black suits and sunglasses. With thick gold chains and cornrows, another group of NCDS students unveiled their tougher sides as gangsters during the dance. Despite other competition from a mariachi band and a group of grandmothers, the NCDS Varsity Soccer Team took home the top prize with their 101 Dalmatians themed costume that consisted of the seniors dressed as Cruella DeVilles leashing around their “Dalmatians” (the fresh-

men, sophomores, and juniors on the team) across the floor of Ward Hall. Although receiving some flak for the leashes, the seniors’ fur coats and teased hair were spot-on costumes for Cruella DeVille, and were sure to cause some of the freshmen dance-goers to quiver.

As 8:30 approached and all the pre-dance anxiety drifted away, Ward Hall began overflowing with mingling couples, ecstatic dancers, and fun-loving students from far and wide. Maybe it was the almost full moon that night; perhaps someone pumped a powerful opiate into the air vents. However it happened, this dance was the liveliest and most crowded in recent Sebs history. Even the ninth graders, making their first appearances at Sebs dances, joined the upperclassmen as a large circle formed, with the bravest venturing into the middle to show off their moves.

While he was no Cam Rivera (“DJ Ranger”), the DJ for this dance had a top-notch playlist, with Silento’s “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” and Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” headlining. Other musical highlights included the traditional “I Love It” by Icona Pop, and DJ Snake’s new hit “Lean On.” The mu-sic was, of course, a key component

Kid To Know: Dana Tate “What’s one thing you’d like people to know about yourself?” “I get buckets. That’s all you gotta know.” Even after hearing these words emerge straight from the mouth of one Dana Tate Jr, we’re still not entirely satisfied. No Dana, this is certainly not“all we gotta know.”

With a figure as dynamic as Dana Tate, it is nearly impossible to comprehend everything about him. However, with the assistance of David Korzeniowski and Dana Tate himself, we can all inch just a little bit closer.

As most members of the student body know, Dana has a strong passion for rap music. He can typically be heard sounding off in the library, calling 2 Chainz “booty cheeks” or saying Drake has “bars” on his new mixtape. However, Dana is particularly fond of rap artist J. Cole. If you’re bored to tears with positively nothing to do, just approach Dana and tell him J. Cole isn’t a top ten rapper of all time. This will probably spark a full blown three hour roast session, if you’re into that sort of thing. Initially it may seem difficult to believe, but Dana is also fairly opinionated in the world of politics. When asked what he would do if Donald Trump was elected president, Dana responded, “I don’t know...I’d probably move to Guatemala for four years, and then come back and vote for Kanye.” With respect to President Barack Obama, Dana called him, “my guy,” and said that if Obama could run again he would vote for him. Since his arrival at St. Sebastian’s, Dana has ingrained many of his habits throughout the school’s community. First off, he is infamous for walking at a very leisurely pace. If you ever find yourself caught behind Dana in the hallway, it is like getting caught behind a school bus in the heart of its pickup route. He will undoubt-edly take his time, occasionally stop-ping to say hello to his boys or talking to teachers about the day’s class. Dana has also become known for taking his time while walking to Dunkin’ Donuts. When I asked him approximately how long it took him to trek to the nearby Dunkies, he answered, “Ah, probably an hour. You gotta kick back and enjoy the beauty of the birds...and just walk slow.” Dana says this, but legend has it that he stops every few seconds to check Instagram and Twitter. Throughout the school, Dana has become well known for his constantly varying hairstyles. When I asked David Korzeniowski, one of Dana’s close companions, if there was any way to predetermine Dana’s haircut on a given day, he responded, “What I do is I roll a pair of dice in the morning and whatever it lands on, that’s the number of sides of the poly-gon that his hair will be shaped like that day. I’m right 93% of the time.” Even with this freak explanation from David Korzeniowski, I am still not convinced that there is a definite way to determine Dana’s cut. Even with all of the passions

and interesting habits aforementioned, there is one that conquers all others: basketball. Dana is a such a fervent basketball player that he spends very little time focusing on other sports. For example, when asked if he could name five NHL teams, Dana replied, “Nah...wait, actually, just five? Bru-ins, Penguins, Capitals, Dodgers...wait no, that’s not right.” Contrastingly, there is no doubt in my mind that Dana could name all 30 NBA teams without skipping a beat. Also, it seems as if he has a personal relationship with nearly every player in the league. Interested in his opinion on the matter, I asked him who has the best sty in the NBA, to which he answered, “Russell Westbrook. By far. BY FAR. He’s so swaggy bro.” Personally, I would say Scalabrine has the best sty in the NBA. Although he usually shows up to the games in the same apparel one would wear to the ninth and tenth grade semi-formal dance, I still love what he stands for. He’s great for the game, but I digress. And you probably don’t care. Finally, it is clear that Dana’s favorite part of basketball is dunking. He is not an advocate of just any nor-mal dunk, though; Dana loves nothing more than throwing down in the face of an opponent, watching them bend over in devastation because they know they’ve just been absolutely mixed. When I asked David Korzeniowski who he would want to see Dana dunk on, he quickly responded, “Joseph Stalin. Simply because if I saw Dana dunk on the face of communism and do an absurd celly, I could die know-ing that I lived a full life.” Although he appreciated David’s thought process, Dana had something a little different in mind. “I can dunk on one person in the history of the world?” he asked. “Oh, it’s definitely Andy Carr. He’s always sayin’ basketball is a bad sport, and he never gives me pounds in the hallway. Plus he talks SO much trash, bro.” As I reread Dana’s answers to these questions, I can’t help but shake my head with laughter. Any-body who has been lucky enough to know Dana understands that he is a completely unique individual, unlike anybody else at St. Sebastian’s. Al-though I am positive nobody will ever truly understand all of Dana’s manner-isms, I believe it is important that we all take steps to further understand not only Dana, but all of those around us. Now excuse me, I have to schedule this dunk on Andy.

By Matt Wolpe ‘18

Being new. Just by hearing those two words, one is filled with anxiety. Who will I be friends with? Will people like me? What if they think I’m a loser? Questions like this arise when anyone thinks of being new, especially at a school. For most people in our world, anything new in their lives always presents a fear of the unknown and the normal jitters that come along with it. At Sebs, the jitters are very evident on the first day of school when an experienced student, like myself, sees all the new kids jumping out of their cars, usually some type of Range Rover, Porsche, or Beamer (which is a power move but hey I respect it.) These kids jump out and appear cool, calm, and collected, but have their eyes locked on the front door, not showing any emotion, and not knowing what to do when they get inside the school. These moments are when the jitters first set in and continue until each student feels comfortable. Like Mr. Burke says, “You won’t feel new for long.” However, after having my own personal experiences from being at Sebs for four years and talking to oth-er fellow sophomores, I’ve collected three major tips for new students.

At first, if one starts in 7th grade or even 8th, 9th, or 10th grade, he clings to the people he met on the retreat as his life vest to help tackle the first few days with. They seem to be friends for the first month or two and help ease the transition, which isn’t a bad thing. However, I learnt that clinging to the same few kids can prevent you from making friends with people you never knew before. In my experience, it’s these people who I didn’t get to know at first that became

my best friends. Give the kids you think are schleps or the ones that are way different than you a chance before you shut them out. As Katy Perry would say, “You’re a firework, go and let your colors burst.”

Next, in the wise words of James Mooney ‘18, “Don’t say anything stupid. I hate stupid people.” As you first read James’ words, they come across as harsh. As the writer of this article, I am surprised they didn’t get edited out. However, what James means by his statement is: “Yes be yourself, but don’t go around trying to put yourself above everyone by bragging about how many houses you have.” In the words of Mr. Thomasy, “I hate people who have more than one house.” I guess that means half of Sebs, but either way, don’t be the kid going around flaunting your wealth trying to get people to like you. Even though that might have worked at your old schools or for the Kardashians, Sebs kids want to know you for who you are as a person. We only want a brother-to-brother relationship of love and care for each other.

Finally, the last piece of advice was the only thing everyone at Sebs agrees on: work hard. Work-ing hard doesn’t mean getting straight A’s. Instead, it means dedicating your entire being into the grind. Whether your grades are good or not, you will be much happier as a person. Yes, the word hardo is tossed around frequently at Sebs, but it is a lot better to be the hardo than to be the kid struggling along with C’s and no effort. Plus, you get the added bonus of keeping your parents off your back.

Therefore, even though be-ing new might seem daunting, follow these three tips and the transition will be much easier.

of the popularity of this dance, and the frenzy of dancing that ensued was nothing short of a miracle. Even Rich-ard Gallo, in perfect St. Sebastian’s dress code, danced the night away with hundreds of teenagers chomping at the bit to dance near him.

As the dance was winding down, and Mr. Tull was about to kick Junior Laura out for being unable to not touch anyone for more than fifteen seconds, the infamous “You already know who it is” of “Watch Me” blasted from the speakers, sparking the remaining dancers to circle up and whip the remaining energy out of their bodies. Many kids were there right up to the last song, when the floor was wet with sweat and abandoned water bottles; and colorful light was replaced by its uglier florescent step-sister.

This dance was no doubt a smashing success, and no attendee was disappointed. There are numerous people to thank, from Owen Finnegan and the rest of student council to Mrs. Atwood and the other teachers who had the uncanny patience necessary to stay at a high school dance late into a Friday night. In addition, the proceeds from the many water bottles sold went to a great cause, The Memory Project. Thanks to everyone, the dancing stu-dents included, who made this dance so special.

Advice for New Sebs StudentsBy Alex Gainey ‘18

Early NFL Injuries: What’s the Deal?By Robert Lemone ‘16

FEATURE WRITER

Fall Welcome Dance: A Night for the AgesBy Stevie Karol ‘17 and

Sam Gordon ‘17

Dana Tate getting buckets

ATTENTION FRESHMEN: Note how John Travolta and Uma Thurman are leaving room for Jesus when they dance. The Walrus Editors (all of us) encourage you to do the same.

The 2015 NFL season is yet again off to a solid start. There have been nail-biting games that have gone right down to the wire. Thrilling come-back victories and big time plays. However, some teams are not off to the best of starts. Injuries are a major component to this. Seven quarterbacks have sustained injuries so far in this short season, four of them starters who have injuries that will keep them out for longer than one week. Ben Roethilisberger has been out since week three due to a MCL strain which has him projected out for four to six weeks. For the Indianapolis Colts, the quarterback position is nothing short of a debacle. Andrew Luck is out with a right shoulder injury which forced him to miss one game and as of now he remains questionable for future weeks. His replacement Matt Has-selbeck filled in for Luck adequately but now he is questionable for week five with an illness. This and their rough start is certainly not what the Colts were expecting. For the Houston Texans, quarterback Ryan Mallet, who is still battling for the starting position, has missed some time with a chest injury. Perhaps the most devastating injury was sustained by Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys, who broke his collarbone and is on the IR designated to return list. He is expected to be out at least ten weeks. Romo would have been out even longer if he had elected to have surgery, but instead he chose to forgo the surgery to try and plan again this year. The last thing an organization wants especially only a few weeks into the season is for their starting quarterback, the center-piece of the franchise, to sustain an injury. Losing the starting quarterbacks for multiple weeks is certainly a devas-tating blow that can alter the teams’ seasons. No one wants to watch backup quarterbacks, especially on

teams like the Steelers, Cowboys, and the Colts where Roethlisberger, Romo, and Luck are considerably the top players on the team. These crucial injuries are still occurring even after the NFL emphasized the importance of quarterback safety by implement-ing new rules. These major rules have changed over the years and as of today they are: “No defensive player may run into a passer of a legal forward pass after the ball has left his hand (15 yards). The referee must determine whether the opponent had a reasonable chance to stop his momenetum during an attempt to block the pass or tackle the passer while he still had the ball. No defensive player who has an un-restricted path to the quarterback may hit him flagrantly in the area of the knee(s) or below when approaching in any direction. Officials are to blow the play dead as soon as the quarterback is clearly in the grasp and control of any tackler, and his safety is in jeopardy” (NFL.com). The NFL clearly is favor-ing the quarterback position, and this is evident in games from the last few years where harsh penalties have been enforced on defensive play-ers. Ndamukong Suh has received $420,699 in fines from quarterback hits, hits on defenseless players, and unsportsmanlike conduct which have also resulted in suspension. Even with these intense rules that protect the quarterback, players are still getting hurt. It’s not just the quarterback position that has multiple injuries so far. 137 NFL players have already been placed on IR this season. A truly astounding number consider-ing the 2015 season is only in its fifth week. To go along with these absurd numbers are the nineteen players that are on the PUP list (physically unable to perform), which means they are out until at least week eight when they are eligible to return. What is upsetting to the common NFL fan is that some

of these players are stars, players that everyone looks forward to watching and some of them are already out for the year. Players like Terrell Suggs, Tony Romo, and Jordy Nelson are the three biggest stars, but there are multiple starters that are also out for a decent amount of time, some of them the year. Injuries to players, particu-larly star players, can ruin a seasons even in week five. To put this in perspective in 2008, the first game of the year when Tom Brady tore his ACL, the season was essentially a lost cause because of how important he was to the team. Of course no one really gave up on the Pats team, but no one truly had big expectations for Matt Cassel, rightfully so because he was unexpectedly thrust into the offense in total chaos. The many injuries of Rob Gronkowski also casted doubt on the Patriots’ season because of how key he was to the team. Early season injuries to star players are potential season-ruiners. The injuries over the years have continued to rise, even with these rules meant to protect the quarterback and defenseless players. Not to men-tion the mission to lower concussion rates. Unfortunately, early into this season, injuries have already hampered many teams. But that’s just a part of the violent game that is football. Injuries happen, and the teams that best adapt to their injured rosters and stay the healthiest are often the teams that go deep into the playoffs. Injuries give other players a chance to step up and often these players turn into big-time players. So sometimes injuries aren’t the end to a team’s season. They just might be the opposite depending on if another player can exceed their expectations. The most important thing is to keep hope, because anything can happen in the NFL.

Colts player personifies the Colts 2015 season thus far. Still hurting after that beatdown in the AFC championship, perhaps, as they try to recover from the shame of the century.

Page 6: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUSPage 6 October 2015

“Look at da flick of dat wrist.” -Chedda Da Connect. KanJam came into this earth in the 1980s, created by two men named Charles Sci-endra and Paul Swisher, in Buffalo, New York. It all started when Charles and Paul were throwing a disc towards a trashcan and decided to make it into a game. In the beginning, KanJam was main-ly played in the Buffalo area, but now has spread worldwide and is being played in all 50 states, all across Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, across Europe and many other places around the world. Now, enough with the history lesson, let’s get into the logistics of the game. The rules to this sport, and yes I do say sport, are quite simple. You have a yellow Frisbee and two topless cylinders that have a 14x4 inch slot two-thirds of the way up the “kan.” Set up the kans approxi-mately 50 feet apart. There are two teams of two and you and your partner stand at opposite kans. The positions in this sport are the “hurler” and the “deflector.” Teams take turns whirling the Frisbee towards the can, each aiming for either the slit or where they think their partner can successfully tap the Frisbee into the kan or have it hit the kan. The point system is as follows: if the deflector de-flects the Frisbee and it hits the kan, it is worth one point. If the Frisbee hits the kan without being touched, it is worth two points. If the deflector de-flects the Frisbee into the kan or into the slit, it is worth three points. If the Frisbee goes into the slit without being touched, also commonly referred to as a “chog,” the team automatically wins. Teams compete until someone scores exactly 21 points, no more, no less. If a team exceeds 21 points, the points they scored over 21 are subtracted from their previous score. Now that you understand the rules, let’s talk about why KanJam is such an unsurpassable sport. I remember the first time I saw people play-ing this sport, and thought to myself: “There’s a sport with the potential of becoming world fa-mous.” KanJam mixes the sports of Ultimate Fris-bee and basketball all in one. What greater thrill is there than getting a “chog” or slamming that Fris-bee into the kan and receiving those beloved three points? Not only is this a backyard sport where ei-ther teens or adults can play at a barbecue or a tail-gate, but KanJam even has its own professional league. According to the official KanJam League

By Neil Melley ‘18By John McManmon ‘16

HEAD WRITER(AKA the KJL), there were more than 100 teams who competed in the KanJam World Champion-ship for the coveted title of “KanJam World Cham-pions.” Also, the team that was the KanJam World Champions two years in a row was named the Stal-lion Survivors. Where can you find a sport with a team name like that? Only in the KJL. This sport is not child’s play. And not to mention, there are such things as “mini KanJam,” “tabletop KanJam,” and even “KanJam Splash.” These are made by the same company as the original KanJam company, so obviously they are going to be top notch. Imagine this: you are sitting in the library after school at one of the long tables in the lower library with three of your friends. Out of your bag you extract mini Kan-Jam. The mood changes from complete boredom to complete bliss. You and your buddies are hav-ing so much fun playing that you totally disregard the buzzing of your phones, which are your mothers telling you that they are here to pick you up. You notice that it has become dark outside and might ac-tually be time to go home now, and so you slip the portable and accessible mini KanJam back into your bag to be removed at a later date. “The one. The only. KanJam.” The main rival of the KanJam company is the up and coming game of SpikeBall. But what SpikeBall enthusiasts don’t understand is how fee-ble, fragile, and frail their sport really is. SpikeBall is played with a soft rubber ball and a miniature trampoline. KanJam, on the other hand, is played with a hard Frisbee and a tough plastic kan. The soft rubber ball used in SpikeBall might as well have been taken out of my baby cousin’s toy box. The miniature trampoline seems like something my grandmother could have knitted in under five min-utes. SpikeBall is an effortless game. You merely tap a squishy ball towards a soft mesh as the ball slowly bounces back up again, then wait for your opponent to do the same. Where is the fun in that? It doesn’t seem like there really is any fun. In Kan-Jam, you flick a hard Frisbee towards your partner, who does everything he possible can to redirect this Frisbee towards the kan. Sounds a little manlier to me than the ladylike sport that is SpikeBall, doesn’t it? KanJam tests all the necessary characteristics a true athlete must have, quickness, hand-eye coordi-nation, toughness, while SpikeBall can be played in a daycare facility.

Ebola. The Ice Bucket Challenge. “We’re on to Cincinnati.” Bobby Shmurda. These are just some of the iconic memories of 2014. In between running through their checks till they passed out and putting the ice in their bucket five seconds before they dumped it on themselves, people were playing a hot new beach game called Kan Jam. After a few good summer months of play, the honeymoon phase between Kan Jam and America was over as quickly as Bobby Shmurda’s rapping career. But it wasn’t weapon charges that brought along Kan Jam’s demise: it was Spikeball. Kan Jam is a lazy man’s game, plain and simple. There’s no fire, no spirit in the game. I guarantee you have never heard some-one say “I had the most insane game of Kan Jam,” and it’s probably due to the fact that Kan Jam is just not hard. If you fail to get any points on a turn, it’s honestly embarrassing. All you need to do it throw the Frisbee in the same zip code as your teammate and he can knock it into the Kan with a really unathletic slap. That’s the other problem with Kan Jam: anyone can play it. You don’t have to sweat, and you defi-nitely won’t roll an ankle or tear an ACL. It’s the kind of game that you play with girls and let them win. Old men can play. When you’re in your prime, you can’t be wasting your youth on lazy, “lifetime” games. Spikeball requires ath-leticism, hand-eye coordination, and creativity. It’s no-holds-barred, absolute madness. There are no friendly Spikeball games. Also, if your teammate is unathletic, you lose ten times out of ten. You can survive in Kan Jam with a bad teammate, as one player can put the team on their back. I have never heard anyone say “I en-joyed watching that Kan Jam game”. There is zero excitement as a spectator. Sure, hitting a slot might be kind of interesting, but that hap-pens once every few games, assuming the play-ers are actually good. Spikeball, however, is awesome to watch. Seniors packed the rotunda during exams and early this year to watch and play Spikeball. Editor David Korzeniowski says that Spikeball accounts for “four of the top ten moments of [his] life.” He went on to say that “Kan Jam immediately took a backseat when Spikeball came into the limelight. The

days of casually tossing a Frisbee were over. Every point in Spikeball is crucial and poten-tially an unbelievable rally.” As technology im-proves, we need games that keep up with that pace, and Spikeball is that next step. Also, Kan Jam is probably one of the most unwieldy, obnoxious things to move around. If you flatten it out, it’s absurdly long and keeps curling back up. When you’ve got a billion chairs, three full size coolers, and way too many people in your car, guess what you’re not bringing? Kan Jam, that’s what. No chance you’re going to waste space on those annoying plastic Kans. And having to actually put the Kans together? Who has time for that? You only have so much daylight, and it can’t be wasted assembling your game. Spikeball is stored in a convenient box, and is ready to play as soon as you pull it out. Then you have to figure out how far you want to place the Kans apart, a source of great and unnecessary debate. This distance has to factor in wind speed, as well as how bad the players are.Another point that should be brought up is the fact that Kan Jam is a completely unoriginal idea for a game. When you think about it, it’s basically Frisbee Cornhole. Imagine playing Cornhole, except you can throw the beanbag to your teammate and he can slap it onto the board. That’s basically Kan Jam. Meanwhile, Spikeball is just on another planet. It’s by far one of the most creative ideas for a game out there. The founder walked into Shark Tank and got half a million for 20% from the FUBU guy. You think Kan Jam could’ve pulled that off? Mark Cuban would have emasculated Kan Jam if he walked into that Tank. The founder would walk out with empty pockets and possibly miss-ing a limb or two. They would’ve gotten a pity deal from the old lady, at best. Kan Jam had a good run, but times have changed. Fetty Wap has moved into the hole in the universe left by Bobby Shmurda, and turned the Summer of Fetty into the Year of Fetty. Ebola is history. The Patriots aren’t “bad” anymore. The people who still play are just scared of change, or they tried Spikeball once and realized they’re terrible and went back to the comfort of the Kans. It’s Spikeball’s time in the spotlight, and there is no end in sight.

POINT / COUNTERPOINTSpikeballKanJam

V.

Celebrity Look-Alike

Mr. richter senator rand Paul

We are still 13 months from Election Day, but it is already evident that the presidential primary races are going to be two of the most entertaining contests in recent history. On the Republican side, there are so many contestants that it is difficult to remember them all, and that’s with two candidates having already dropped out. On the Democratic side, we have a front runner, being successfully challenged by a socialist and the sit-ting Vice President, who hasn’t even jumped into the race. At this point, both races have a long way to go and are impossible to predict with any confidence

The Republican race has been dominated by “outsiders” or peo-

ple with no political experience. Real estate magnate and entertainer Donald Trump, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and business executive Carly Fiorina are leading the field of about 15. These three politicians are benefitting from the fact that Republicans are gener-ally fed up with the government and those who have served in office. This distrust of the establishment is so deep that it has propelled Donald Trump to the top of the field, even though polls show that he would be the least suc-cessful in a general election against a Democrat opponent.

The Democratic race is equally bizarre. For several years, ev-eryone has assumed that Hillary Clin-ton would coast to a primary victory. This assumption has been seriously questioned as Mrs. Clinton has been plagued by a controversy surround-

ing her use of a private email server. Her initial denials and questionable assertions about her emails as well as the fact that classified information may have been accessible to hackers may be enough to end her political career. This sounds unbelievable but she is trailing Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire and losing her lead to him nationally. Additionally, Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden is said to be close to entering the race, as many prominent Democrat leaders and fundraisers are encouraging him to run.

Both of these races have already been incredibly entertain-ing, but most of the news coverage has followed the Republican contest. This race has already had the two most watched primary debates in history, largely because of Donald Trump. Since he jumped into the race, Trump has dominated the airwaves with his larger than life personality. The Celebrity Apprentice star has

told everyone over and over again how rich, smart, and lovable he is. Clearly, he is a very accomplished entertainer and real estate investor, but his volatile temperament and questionable policy suggestions limit his appeal among Independents and Democrats. Ben Carson is extremely intelligent and thoughtful, but has had trouble with various questions from the media. Carly Fiorina has been the best debater and has an impressive record in the business world. Trailing

these three candidates in the polls are many prominent and accomplished politicians, including: Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and several others.

The Democratic race has largely been about Mrs. Clinton and her email server, but also the surpris-ing strength of Bernie Sanders and the potential entry of Vice President Biden. If Mr. Biden enters the race, then the contest will become much more interesting, as the battle between the two would almost certainly be a long and difficult fight. If Mr. Biden doesn’t enter, then Mrs. Clinton should be able to fend off Mr. Sanders and gain the nomination.

As I mentioned earlier, both of these races are almost impossible to predict. For the Republicans, I think that Trump will fade despite his leadership in the polls. Some combina-tion of Carson, Fiorina, Rubio, Bush and Kasich seems most likely to me at the moment. Some say the Democrats fear most a Rubio-Kasich combina-tion. Both men came from extremely humble beginnings and are appealing to independents. For the Democrats, it all comes down to whether Vice President Biden enters the race which many are saying is a toss up at this point. If he doesn’t enter, then Mrs. Clinton should outlast Mr. Sanders. If Vice President Biden enters, then the Democratic primary should be a close race. No matter what happens, this set of primary runs will go down as one of the most memorable in history.

By Cole Aldrich ‘16 HEAD WRITER

Trump on one side, Clinton on the other in a seesaw battle

Election Hype Hits Sebs

Page 7: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

THE WALRUS Page 7October 2015

Beyond 1191 Greendale ave.

By Pat DuFour ‘18

Impressive Pope Francis Visits US

The MLB Playoffs are as wide open as ever this year. The boys of summer plunge into October led by a cast of familiar heroes, up and coming youngsters, dominat-ing aces, and some of the highest powered offenses in the history of baseball. With a field so loaded with talent, it is almost impossible to single out one clear favorite. With the highest seeded teams losing in the first round and the two wild card teams squaring off in the World Series last year, anything can happen. One thing is for sure: every team will be tested to the very limit, and only one will come out on top. In the new bracket format, the two Wild Card teams will meet in a one game playoff series for the right to play the top rated team in each league. In the American League, the New York Yankees, a team very accustomed to the postseason, will line up against the Houston Astros, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2005. The Bronx Bombers, affected by injuries to their core lineup, will have to rely on an injured Masahiro Tanaka to start on the mound. The Astros, however, will wheel out Cy Young Finalist Dallas Keuchel, who has been practically unhittable this season, boasting a 20-8 record. Look for the Astro’s young stars, led by Carlos Correa, to overcome the aura of Yankee Stadium and squeeze out a victory over the seasoned veterans of New York. In the National League, the Chicago Cubs will challenge the Pittsburg Pirates. Although the Pirates have a reputation for a rambunctious atmosphere at home, expect Cub’s ace Jake Arrieta, who has been untouchable since June (0.86 ERA), to out-pitch Pirates ace Gerrit Cole and help the Cubs ride their eight game winning streak into St. Louis. The American League divisional matchups feature the top

ranked Royals versus the Astros, and the Texas Rangers versus the Toronto Blue Jays. The Royals feature a squad with past World Series experi-ence, as well as one of the best bull-pens in the majors. Their dynamic position players, including Eric Hos-mer and Lorenzo Cain, will ultimate-ly push the Royals past the youth of Houston. Home field advantage and the bitter taste of a second place finish last year will help as well. The Rangers against the Blue Jays feature two great rotations: one headed by Cole Hamels, and the other headed by David Price. Both pitchers are newcomers to their respective teams. The deciding factor in this series will be Toronto’s quadruple threat of Troy Tulowitzski, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion, who have all put up historic numbers this year. The Blue Jays will bash their way past the Rangers and surge into the American League Champion-ship with bats ablaze. The National League Division Series includes the St. Louis Cardi-nals against the Chicago Cubs, and the New York Mets against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cardinals possess that killer instinct developed by postseason veterans, which often times proves to be the difference in an otherwise evenly matched series. However, they are also weighed down by injuries, particularly their ace Adam Wainwright, and will have trouble silencing the Cubs, who might be the hottest team in baseball right now. Look for the Cubs to sneak out an upset, probably in five games, as they continue to chase the possibility of a World Series win for the first time since 1908. On the other side, the Mets’ deep rotation, topped by Matt Harvey, faces two of the best pitchers in the MLB: Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke. Although this dynamic duo has not been as particularly effective in the postseason, expect them to turn it around this year and dominate as they

On September 22nd, Pope Francis made his first official trip to the United States since being elected Pope in 2013. It is the first United States visit from a Pope since Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2008. Since being elected, Pope Francis has made many groundbreaking religious decisions that have caused not only Catholics, but also outsiders to respect the Church’s highest leader. However, the Pope lives a very toned down reli-gious life compared to past popes. He does not wish to receive all the flashy accessories that come with being the Pontiff. When the Vatican announced his visit to the United States, American citizens were very excited to help wel-come the Pope to the United States.

The Pope started his trip in Washington, DC. He met President Obama and the First Lady for the second time in the Oval Office. They had previously met at the Vatican. Af-terwards, the Pope paraded around DC in a Popemobile-like Jeep, greeting the millions of on looking Catholics. He ended his parade by giving mass outside of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He gave this mass in Spanish, and throughout his trip he mainly spoke in Spanish, but he also spoke in English. The next day the Pope made history by speaking in front of a joint meet-ing of Congress, which was the first time a pope had ever spoken in front of Congress. He stressed the need for the United States to help take in more immigrants, for we are all immigrants of somewhere. He also spoke about his concern of climate change, and how we need to take care of our planet. Later that day the Pope left for New York City.

In New York, the Pope spoke to the United Nations Assembly, which has been common for Pope visits to the United States. The Pope also gave a very emotional service at the 9/11 memorial. He prayed for the victims of the very tragic event, and for the love ones they left behind. The service

was multi-religious, and therefore was not exclusive for Catholics. The Pope’s decision of making the service multi-religious was met with some criticism, but only supports the Pope’s openness to others. The Pope then pa-raded through a very crowded Central Park. Later that night he gave mass in Madison Square Garden to a very packed arena. There was not an open seat in the sports arena, and the crowd was very excited to hear the Pope give mass. Throughout his trip in New York there were incredible crowds for the Pope.

The Pope then arrived in Philadelphia for the last stop of his three stop trip. He first gave mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter, and St. Paul. The Pope then made an appearance at Independence mall, and was greeted by many enthusiastic Catholics. Later that night, the Pope met with the World Meeting of Fami-lies, and the event was full of many devout families, who traveled very far just to get a glimpse of the Pope. The next day Pope made the very power-ful decision to visit a local prison. He hugged, kissed, and talked to many prisoners who needed his guidance.

The Pope inspired the inmates to not lose hope, and he gave them hope by visiting them. The Pope also gave another mass for the World Meeting of Families, and once again there were incredible crowds. Sadly, his trip even-tually came to an end, and late that night he boarded a plane for his flight home to Rome.

Throughout his trip to the United States, the Pope inspired many different varieties of Americans. He met with the President, senators, prisoners, and everyday Catholics. The Pope truly demonstrated what has made him so popular. His trip also gave Catholics more faith in the direction the church is headed under Pope Francis’ discretion. His trip to a prison was not necessary, but the Pope went beyond what was expected of him. He was able to make so many Americans happy just by visiting. He also impressed many non-Catholics by his ability to love others outside of the faith. Overall, the Pope’s visit to the United States was an incredible suc-cess, and we look forward to his next trip to the States.

Thousands of miles away from St. Sebastian’s, conflicts rage all over the world. Currently, no conflict is more heated right now than Syria in the Middle East, as they are more than four and a half years into a brutal civil war. While many people are aware of the major terms in this conflict, such as ISIS, Assad, or Hammas, it’s important to understand the background of Syria due to the recent events that have been coming out of the country.

Syria has always been in the thick of things in the Middle East, being constantly involved in contro-versies over the years that have lead to instability in the region. Syria, from a statistical standpoint, has about the same population as Australia (23 million) and is surrounded by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. The government of Syria has been long been ruled by the Assad family: first by Hafez al-Assad, and now by his son, Bashar al-Assad. When he came to power in 1971 Hafez al-Assad created the Baath government, calling for the unification of the Arab World (the Middle East and some of North Africa) into a single state. While Syria’s government is not connected to an extremist branch of Islam, they are still ruthless against political opposi-tion and have repressed their people over the years. They are also noted for being against any sort of peace with Israel, funding militias such as Ham-mas and Hezbollah.

In knowing the recent history of Syria, we can understand more about the causes of this civil war. While the exact start of their current civil war is vague due to multiple con-flicts, many point to the Arab Spring protests that erupted around Syria in places like Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. In 2011 and 2012, major protests against the regime of Assad began in Syria. Assad put down the revolts with tanks and military force, crushing the protesters yet alienating the general

public. As a result of this war on the current government, multiple groups have risen to the scene.

The major opposition party, the Syrian National Coalition, is a legitimate party recognized by the United States. While being an ac-credited party, their progress has been pushed down by Assad as he remains in control. In addition to the National Coalistion, the group that has made the most noise in the media has been ISIS (Islamic State of Israel and Syria).

ISIS is obviously not consid-ered an actual party by the U.S., due to their acts of terrorism as well as acts born from radical Islamic ideals. ISIS has also been one of the first groups to use social media and the internet to try to spread a sense of fear to those who opposed them, specifically the United States. The growth of this group has been rapid.

As a result of all these groups, the war has continued to escalate on all fronts resulting in more than 100,000 deaths. More than two million Syrians have recently fled the country for safety, possibly causing major imigration issues for the coun-tries that take the refeguees in.

Currently, countries are scrambling to take advantage of the civil war. Russia recently decided to show off its power right in front of NATO (Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization) by launching missle strikes at ISIS targets in Syria. Russia supports Assad’s government and as a result of assisting Sryia, has taken action against the parties against Assad and Syria. However, these missiles, launched by Russia, passed through Turkish Airspace, violating the agrem-ment Russia and Turkey had. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, Russia took action against Turkey as well as the other countries in NATO (most of Europe and the United States). With this recent development, you wonder how President Obama and Congress will respond, as a tricky situation is about to only get trickier.

Breaking Down the Chaos in Syria and the Middle East

By Jack Ragnoni ‘16 FEATURE WRITER

have done in the regular season. The two will help the Dodgers jump out to an early series lead and then eventu-ally finish off the Mets, who’s lineup features Yoenis Cespedes as their only real offensive threat. It is now down to the final four. The Toronto Blue Jays will take on the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers will square off against the Chicago Cubs. Again, the Blue Jays will come out swinging, looking to overwhelm a weak starting rotation in Kansas City. The Royals’ unparalleled bullpen will not be able to stop the power in Toronto’s lineup: David Price and Marcus Stroman will silence the Royals’ bats. The Blue Jays will escape the top seeded team in the AL with greater ease than ex-pected and enjoy rest before the World Series. The Dodgers will again feature Kershaw and Greinke. The two have the potential to be unstoppable as long as they can handle the young power of Kris Bryant and others in the top of the Cubs’ order. Although Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester will put up a fight, they will not be able to hold off the likes of Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzales, and the Dodgers will head toward the World Series. Now it is time for the final dual, where it all counts. Both teams include dominant starters and power-ful lineups as well as high payrolls and huge aspirations. While Kershaw and Greinke might out-pitch Price and Stroman, the Blue Jays will jump off to an early lead using their bats, a tool that they have used repeatedly in the regular season. Look for Josh Donaldson to have a breakout series, as well as Troy Tulowitzski and Jose Bautista. David Price will be steady as usual, and with Stroman’s recent improvement, the Blue Jays should be able to overwhelm the Dodgers. The Blue Jays will win in six games, hoisting the trophy across the border and celebrating their first World Series Title since back-to-back victories in 1992 and 1993.

MLB Playoff Predictions: Blue Jays Win?By Will Fox ‘18

As we approach the midpoint in the college football season, there are several controversies that are swirling. One that has emerged from the rest is the issue of targeting and ejections in college football. In 2013, the rule was changed in college football so that if a player was penalized for targeting, that player would not only be ejected but suspended for one game. The contro-versy is that if the player is penalized for targeting and the play is reviewed and overturned, then the player is still ejected from the game however does not have to serve the one game suspen-sion. The rule was modified in 2014 by wiping out the 15 yard penalty if the penalty was overturned however the ejection rule was still in place. Many key players in close games have been ejected for essentially being innocent which is why this rule is so controver-sial.

Targeting in college football is defined as a “player who targets and hits a defenseless player above the shoulders.” This is a 15 yard pen-alty for the team and as stated before results in an indefinite ejection and possible suspension if the call is not overturned.

Personally, I am split on this rule. There is no doubt that head injuries in football are a huge issue. As we have seen in instances such as the death of Junior Seau, brain damage can lead to serious depression prob-lems. Football as a whole has been put in the spotlight as of late because of the problem of concussions. While there is no proven way to prevent a concussion, there must be adequate measures taken to account for them. Prior to the scientific knowledge about concussions, there were many players telling personal horror stories about their own head injuries. For instance, legendary Steeler’s safety Troy Polamalu, who now appears in several Head & Shoulders shampoo commer-cials because of his trademark hair, told sources that he would on some occasions suffer multiple concussions in a single practice yet continued to play because he wanted to keep his job. Many players are desperate to distinguish themselves at a high level, yet measures must be taken consider-ing players health which is why this rule was created.

That being said, if a player is proven innocent by conclusive video evidence, there is no reason for them

to be ejected. Occasionally, because of the nature of a hard hit, referees might be too quick to throw a flag and call it targeting. I do not want to take away from the fact that if a player is guilty of the penalty there is no doubt that an ejection and one game suspension is adequate. However it seems ludicrous to penalize a player who is innocent. The rule which was created in 2013 has caused turmoil and has affected teams because of the loss of a key player who is proven innocent.

For instance, thus far in the college football season in 163 games played, 19 players have been ejected for targeting. Although few have been overturned, many worry that the referees side with player’s safety as opposed to simply making the right call. For example, several weeks ago, Wisconsin lost two key players in their 28-3 win over Troy. While Wisconsin linebacker Joe Schobert understood the sides of the referees saying that it is their judgment call, Wisconsin coach, Paul Chryst had a different opinion.

Chryst was quoted saying, “There’s always the gray, and yet it’s been clear, the officials are always going to err on the side of player safety” (espn.com). While there is a lot of judgment left up to the officials, they obviously have been put in the spotlight for protecting players from head injuries which is why they make the call so often. Some older students may remember an assembly given by Dr. Zafonte about the danger of head injuries. Not only are there many painful short term effects, but there are even more long term issues. This explains the referees logic so it can be concluded that the referees are not to blame. The BCS has been said to be unorganized and is infamous for making some ludicrous decisions. This is shown here as they have a rule that clearly needs amending so the blame falls on them.

While there is no doubt that head injuries should penalized and that player safety is paramount, this rule has had a negative effect on too many innocent players and teams. So, in my opinion, the correct course of action would be to keep the targeting rule the way it is for guilty players yet repeal the ejection rule if a player is proven innocent by conclusive video evidence.

Targeting in College FootballBy Jack McLaughlin ‘16

FEATURE WRITER

Mets, Cubs, Jays, Royals, Astros. All are small-market teams who have made the playoffs. Will one take home the trophy, or will traditional powers like the Cards and Dodgers take it?

Pope Francis gives thought-provoking speech to the US Congress as John Boehner thinks about how he’s

going to resign from office the next day

Page 8: The WALRUS - Saint Sebastian's School...St. Sebastian’s School The WALRUS The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages

ARROWS SportsSt. Sebastian’s School

Varsity Results

v. Berkshire W 31-21@ Middlesex W 30-6

v. rivers T 3-3@ BB&N T 1-1@ Governor’s W 4-0v. Milton l 0-4

@ Governor’s l 25-30 Groton l 19-36 Nobles l 15-50v. Belmont hill l 26-30v. Belmont hill W 31-7

Vol LXIX, No. 1 October 2015

Football: soccer:

Cross Country:

Despite mixed outcomes on the sports fields, Homecoming was an unmitigated success on the side-lines. From the paths of Caryl Park to the football field, from the opening ceremony before the football game to the storming of the field afterwards, everything was well-executed by the St. Sebastian’s faculty and volunteer-ing parents.Homecoming began on Friday, Oc-tober 11th, at the end of the school day. The school handed out pink wristbands with the letters EVF em-blazoned on them, mourning the loss of Erin Van Flandern, sister of St. Se-bastian’s student Michael Van Flan-dern ’20 and a student at NCDS who died tragically and suddenly at age 17. They also gave out red foam strips with the Seb’s logo and the words “Go Arrows, Homecoming 2015” on them. Both were well-received by the student body.The first event took place under a light drizzle at Caryl Park with the cross country race. The St. Sebastian’s Cross Country team came out val-iantly, losing by a narrow 4 points to Belmont Hill--to put that in perspec-tive, if one of our runners in the top five had finished one place higher, we would have come out on top. Kevin Moore ‘17 and Paul Keady ‘16 fin-ished in the top five. Henry’s Corner

turned out in full force to the race, as well. The festivities continued the next day, Saturday the 11th, with the football and soccer games. Even before the sporting events began, the fields were bustling with fans and players alike. Parents generously do-nated their time to treat fans with con-cessions and art. Around 10:30, with the crowd growing, the events began. Mr. Burke gave an opening speech to the assembled fans, mourning Erin, saying that she “Didn’t have a lot of years in her life, but she had a lot of life in her years.” The address was both moving and delivered eloquent-ly. After the speech ended, the Arrowheads, the St. Sebastian’s a ca-pella group (that is, singing unaccom-panied by music), sang the national anthem for the crowd. The group, composed of Will Evans ‘17, AJ San-tosuosso ‘18, Will McGovern ‘20 and Niko Derrien ‘21, directed by Mr. Grohmann, performed beautifully, all the more notable due to the relative youth of the group. The fields were filled with all kinds of fans, from recent graduates, to little siblings, to parents, to former St. Sebastian’s Spanish teacher An-drew Digan. When the Arrowheads finished their performance, the crowd broke into applause, ready to support the Arrows. Then began the meat of the day: the sporting events. JV soccer

played the Milton Academy JV team. It was a tough matchup against an outstanding team, and the Sebs goalie was injured. It began poorly and did not pick up much, ending up 7-0 in favor of Milton Academy. Michael Finucane ‘17 had the sole shot on goal on a free kick, which was just barely deflected. Mr. Thomasy declined to watch most of the game. Varsity Soccer also com-peted against the Milton soccer pro-gram. They had just come off a win against Governors at 4-0, with Adama Kaba scoring all 4 goals, and were feeling confident. Some juniors got haircuts to hype themselves up for the game: Peter Rowe, for example, got a mohawk and dyed it, and Michael Ragnoni shaved the sides of his head. Overall, the soccer team came into the match ready to play, and it showed. However, Milton is currently consid-ered one of the best in the nation, and were a tough team to beat all around. The Sebs soccer team played their hearts out, but lost 4 to 0 at the end of the day. Despite the Sebs loss, though, it was a fun match to watch and an inspiring display of sportsman-ship in the face of defeat. Football came into their game against rival Belmont Hill red hot, starting the season 2-0. They had beaten Berkshire 31-21 at home, and traveled to Concord to defeat Middle-sex 31-6. Belmont Hill, on the other hand, came into the game winless, de-

Sebs has seen its fair share of Arrows turned professional athletes. Notable examples include Mike Grier, who had spent more than 10 years in the NHL; Brian Boyle, who has ap-peared in the last two Stanley Cups; and most recently, Noah Hanifin, who has just been taken 5th overall in the NHL Draft. As the school year com-menced, another Arrow stepped up to the big show, poised to leave his mark.On September 14, the Houston Astros would call up Matt Duffy ‘07 from their Triple-A Affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies. Duffy would make his debut two days later against division rival, the Texas Rangers. Before playing under the big lights, Duffy’s path was rooted in the athletic fields of 1191 Greendale Ave. His tenure at Sebs dominated the In-dependent School League. In 2007, he led Varsity Baseball to an impressive 13-2 record, hitting at a tremendous .542 batting average. His seven home runs and 21 RBIs awarded him ISL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. Duffy’s most memorable moment don-ning the black and red was a shutout pitching performance in 2007 against Roxbury Latin. The win clinched St. Sebastian’s the ISL Championship, and it brought home a banner. After high school, Duffy at-tended the University of Vermont and was named his conference’s Player of the year. However, his time at Ver-mont would be cut short; the school decided to eliminate their baseball pro-gram. He then transferred to play ball

at the University of Tennessee, where he started at 3rd Base. Duffy posted solid numbers, hitting .304 his Junior season. Playing 55 out of Tennessee’s 56 games, he recorded a team leading 17 doubles, and managed to collect 40 RBIs. Duffy was then selected by the Houston Astros in the 20th round of the 2011 First Player Draft. At 26 years old, Matt’s ar-rival to the big leagues didn’t occur at an instant. For the next five years, he would play in the minors, drifting be-tween Single-A and Triple-A. At the lower levels, he found success, win-ning All-Star Honors for Texas, Cali-fornia, South Atlantic, and New York Penn Leagues. Just prior to his Major League call up, Duffy was named the Pacific Coast League MVP for 2015. This year for the Fresno Grizzlies, the former Arrow batted a .295 average. His 102 RBIs and 90 runs led all PCL hitters, and the two statistics were re-spectively the fourth and ninth most in all of minor league baseball. Further-more, Duffy’s success helped lead the Fresno Grizzlies to their first playoff appearance since 1998. Duffy’s September call up has already made contributions to Houston’s playoff push. On September 19th, deep into the pennant race, the Astros found themselves trailing the Oakland Athletics 6-4. At the bottom of the 6th inning, with a man on first, manager A.J Hinch decided to pinch hit Duffy in hopes of sparking the offense. The rookie responded just as he hoped: a high, leftfield shot would bounce off the wall, bringing home Luis Valbue-na to cut the deficit to one run. Duffy reached second to the cheering of an ecstatic Astros faithful. Houston would go on to win the game, 10-6. The next challenge for Duffy and the Astros: a divisional series against last year’s defending AL cham-pion, the Kansas City Royals. The As-tros, who had just beaten the Yankees in a one game playoff, invited the Class of ‘07 alum to join their postseason roster. As Houston battles deeper into the MLB Postseason, we are proud to have a member of our community rep-resent our school in this competitive spectacle. Through years of hard work, Matt Duffy has undoubtedly earned participation in the exciting situation he finds himself now.

Although we are only in the first few weeks of the seasons, the teams are off to the races. From Coach Redpath and the soccer team, to Coach Souza and the football team, all the way to coach Ryan and the cross country team, each team looks to extend their victorious seasons. With lots of young new talent, the teams have overcome adversity and won some key victories. First off, let’s talk football. According to prodigies Billy Daniel and Nate “Matt Slater” McCarthy: “Our team is not chips, we’re going 9-0. However, our motto going into Homecoming weekend is: ‘We can’t go 9-0 without going 3-0.’” In their first game of the season, the Arrows looked to improve to 1-0 against Berk-shire. They led Berkshire 31-7 at half. The first half surge continued into the second as the Arrows went on to win 31-21. Next, they headed into Middle-sex knowing they needed to focus in to guarantee their victory. After scoring 30 unanswered points, Middlesex add-ed 6 of their own, but were not able to take down the Arrows. Now standing at 2-0, the Arrows football team prepares for Homecoming where they will try and dominate Belmont Hill from key distributions from players Blake Gal-

lagher, Austin O’Shea, and Tommy Seidl. Next up is soccer. After a strong showing against St. Georges, putting up four goals, the team’s con-fidence rose considering they started last year 0-11. Next, they faced one of the best teams in New England, Worcester Academy, but suffered a harsh 2-0 loss. After that game, the team dialed in for Tabor, but lost an-other tough one. Next was the excit-ing night game, the first of its kind in Sebs history. With the lights turned on and the student section filled, the team looked to bounce back after their two losses. After falling behind by one goal, Soree Kaba notched in the game-tying goal, electrifying the fans. However, soccer powerhouse Nobles knocked in two goals, resulting in the third lost of the season. Next on their schedule was Rivers. A 0-0 game at halftime, the game increased in ex-citement as goals came piling in dur-ing the second half. With a late goal, the Arrows left the game with a 3-3 tie. Next was BB&N, which was an-other tough game for the arrows. After scoring early, BB&N bounced back with one of their own. As the game carried on, a late foul caused BB&N to get a penalty kick. However, Matt “Tim Howard” Eldridge miraculously saved the rocket of a shot, causing the

game to end in a draw. As sophomore Tim Kiley says, “The potential of this team is great. We have numerous amounts of young talent just waiting to get the nod.” The nod he is refer-ring to is getting called up or to en-ter the game. After another interview, Soree Kaba explains, “We got a nice looking squad. The freshmen play very key parts in our system.” Finally, junior defenseman Peter Rowe said, “Our bench is very deep, meaning anyone could go in at anytime and get the job done.” The Arrows look to pull the upset against powerhouse Milton Academy this Saturday. Last but not least, cross country. Science teacher by day, run-ning prodigy at night, Coach Ryan has successfully led the team to its first victory against Lexington Christian Academy. As senior Co-Captain Jim-my Ryan expressed, “This is the best team we’ve had in a while, including a middle school dream team.” The Ar-rows look to get another victory un-der their belts this upcoming Friday at Homecoming, where they will face Rivers, St. Mark’s, and St Paul’s. All and all, the Arrows fall sports teams look to do some damage in the upcoming games, and love the support from the fans. Keep up the good work!

Fall Sports Show Their MettleBy Peter Julien ‘18 and

Chris Sebastian ‘18

Alumni News: Matt Duffy ‘07 in MLB

By Miguel Espinosa ‘16HEAD WRITER

Grand Homecoming 2015feated by New Hampton and BB&N. Confident after their two recent wins, St. Seb’s kicked off to start the game. Belmont Hill drove into Arrows ter-ritory, threatening to score the open-ing touchdown. However, Belmont Hill fumbled late in the drive, and Arrows’ Declan Walsh ‘16 recovered to give St. Sebastian’s the ball. The Arrows took advantage, and quarter-back Tommy Seidl ‘17 broke out for a phenomenal run to give the Arrows an early 7-0 lead on their first offensive play. Later in the first quarter, running back Mike Colabro ‘16 scored to give Seb’s a 14-0 lead. Until late in the second quarter, both teams played well on defense, not allowing any more scores. Then, with 6 and a half minutes remaining in the first half, Arrows’ kicker Ben Fachetti drilled a field goal to give St. Sebastian’s a 17-0 lead. In 5 minutes, Belmont Hill was able to respond with a touchdown of their own, making the score 17-7 going into halftime. After halftime ended, the Arrows returned to the field, ready to continue their impressive showing. Tommy Se-idl was especially ready, as he ran for yet another touchdown to give Seb’s a 24-7 lead. Keeping up the excellent play, freshman Bryce Gallagher inter-cepted Belmont Hill to give the Arrow the ball. Not satisfied with the inter-ception, Bryce impressed the crowd by running the ball hard for a goal line touchdown early in the 4th quarter, putting the Arrows up 31-7. Hoping to

By Andrew Elcock ‘17 and Jake O’Neil ‘17

Henry’s Corner has already proven as enthusiastic and supportive as ever. Above, the Arrows rush the field to celebrate the football team’s Homecoming victory over Belmont Hill.

@ st. Paul’s l 15-47 st. Mark’s l 15-49 rivers W 25-30

score at least one more time, Belmont Hill drove up the field, only for Mike Calabro to make a great read and inter-cept the ball. St. Sebastian’s held on to defeat Belmont Hill 31-7, making that their second consecutive Homecoming win. After the final horn sounded, the students were ready to storm the field. Waiting for the teams to finish shaking hands, the crowd was slowly inching closer to the middle of the field. Just as the final handshake ended, the students began to rush towards the center of the field, surrounding the players in a fren-zy of excitement. The celebration went on for a while, then the crowd broke up to give coach Souza time to speak to his players, congratulating them and making sure they were ready for their upcoming matchups. The spectacular performance from the Arrows football team promises a successful season, with talent at every position. In all, despite losses in cross country and soccer, this year’s Home-coming was one for the books. Re-turning alumni, parents and, students from Sebs and other schools, packed the sports events and banded together to cheer on the boys and remember those who we have lost. We’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate the players on the sports team and thank all those who made it possible, especially Coaches Ryan, Souza, Redpath and Cressotti, and everyone who took time to come out and cheer on Sebs.

Duffy rocks the astros orange and blue, although we’ll always remember him in black and red.