1

breakthe magazine for yorkies

2008

Going Green Running on

Sunshine

2

to you

I’m thrilled to be back on campus after almost 17 years away. Having graduated in 1991, I thought more would have changed. Don’t get me wrong, things have changed. There is an impressive new science building that makes use of dozens of sustainable technologies; there are fantastic new athletic fields.

I’ve come to recognize, however, that “new” is a relative term. “New” to me isn’t necessarily “new” to alumni who graduated within the last five years. But whether you graduated last year, ten years ago, or thirty years ago, the things that are characteristically York, at least in my estimation, remain the same. The students are as bright and spirited as we were. The faculty is as challenging, engaged, and inspiring as ever. York is still York.

Over the next few months you’ll start to notice this

simply and boldly announcing that the upcoming school year marks York’s 50th, and we are planning a yearlong celebration to commemorate that milestone. Our celebration kicks off in August 2008, continues throughout the school year with a variety of events, culminating with a three-day party in August 2009. I hope you’ll mark your calendars and plan to come back to campus the weekend of August 21-23, 2009.

In the meantime, I encourage you to explore york.org, post news and photos on the class notes blog, search for long-lost classmates, or just read about all the happenings on campus. Of course, if you are in the neighborhood, we’d love to see you here on campus! Stop by anytime.

Camilla Mann ‘91Alumni Relations and Annual Fund

breakthe magazine for yorkies

editor and designerKevin Brookhouser

director of communicationskevin@york.org

Kristine Edmunds director of advancement

kedmunds@york.org

Camilla Mann ‘91 alumni relations

camilla@york.org

Aimee Cuda development associate

acuda@york.org

Zoudensh Stewart development assistant

zstewart@york.org

thank you to all who helped make break possible

Break is published by the York School Advancement office. We would love to hear from you. Please send letters to the editor and submissions to news@york.org. Visit our website at www.york.org.

3

in here

2

4

8

11

14

16

from the hill

going green can a school run on sunshine?

Ibrahim Al-Marashi ‘91 the history and future of Iraq

giving back

student voicestwo students write for the The Salinas California

next alumnisamples of a senior English

project inspired by Vanity Fair

2

from the hill

Auction Gala raises $180,000Thank you to everyone who participated in the February 23rd Auction Gala! Each year the York Auction raises funds to bridge the gap between what tuition covers and the actual cost of operating the school. This year our goal was to raise $100,000 to help fund necessary library upgrades including new furniture; additional computers; new fiction, nonfiction and reference books; new electronic databases; new carpeting; and fresh paint. Together we raised $180,000! We are especially grateful to the following alumni for their involvement in making our auction a success: Lowrey Fenton ’72, Mark Myers ’73, William Harness ’74, Rima Mazzeo Crow ’74, Dan Fenton ’76, Eric Axelsen ’82, Amy Smolen ’88, Benjamin Morgan ’90, Camilla Mann ’91, Marcella Moran ’97, and John Peattie ’01. Thank you.

Student wins trip to GermanyFor his outstanding achievement on the National German Exam, Morgan Paull ‘08 is headed to Germany. The award is given by the AATG (American Association of Teachers of German) who selected him for the senior program to represent Northern California at the next level, which is a great honor. Competing against seniors from other regions across the US, Morgan was one of only five winners of the trip to Germany. This is truly a great reward for four years of hard work and dedication. Morgan will be a fantastic representative of our school, our state and our country as he experiences Germany in this unique program.

Artist wins ACLU contestDiandre Fuentes ‘08 was the first place winner of an art contest sponsored by the Monterey chapter of ACLU. In July at the conclusion of her participation in a competetive program sponsored by the California State Summer School of the Arts, she received a California Arts Scholar Award. Diandre’s art is on display at the Youth Arts Collective in Monterey and in March she opened a solo show at The Works in Pacific Grove.

Mr. Sturch announces “almost retirement”After over 40 years of service to York students and community, Nicholas Sturch has an-nounced that he is “almost” retiring after the ‘07-’08 school year. While the classical language and art history teacher is taking a well earned break from a remarkable career, he still plans to teach at York part time. “‘How dull it is to pause, to make an end,’ Tennyson has Ulysses say. I shall not quite be making an end, as I hope to have an art hitory class a little longer.”

Support York by enjoying award-winning winesVentana Vineyards is a strong supporter of York, especially the work York does to promote and protect the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In honor of this partnership, Ventana Vineyards is making the following special offer: For all York supporters who sign up for a new membership with Ventana Vineyards’ Wine Club, Ventana will make a $50 dona-tion to York School in their name. Go to www.york.org/donations and look for Ventana.

3

U.S. Dept. of Education honors Dr. Durkee

The U.S. Department of Education hon-ored York School biology teacher Pamela Durkee as an American Star of Teaching at the Third Annual Private School Leadership Conference on September 25, 2007, in Washington, DC.

The American Stars of Teaching program, part of the Department of Education’s Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, identifies “outstanding and effective teachers who are making a positive difference in the lives of their students.” Every year, one public school teacher from each state and the District of Columbia is honored with the distinction of being an American Star of Teaching. In 2007, for the first time, the U.S. Department of Education recognized four private school teachers from across the nation.

In 2007, there were 4,000 nominees for the program. According to Maureen Dowling of the Department of Education, “Honorees are representative of the thousands of teachers making a differ-ence across America. Some American Stars have provided rigorous academic opportunities for their students, others are using very innovative classroom strategies, and some have made out-standing contributions to their schools and communities.”

When Durkee received the award, she also participated in a panel that high-lighted promising teacher practices that positively impact student achievement.

York School is not surprised by Durkee’s award since it is not the first she has received. She is known for being both rigorous and creative in her teaching methods — using bingo, for example, in teaching the DNA amino acid translation

code. As division head June Trachsel notes, Pam is a “super woman.” A graduate of Stanford University and Colorado State University, Durkee has been a York School faculty member since 1999. In addition to teaching full time, Durkee has served as York’s science fair coordinator. For eight straight years, a York student represented Monterey County at the Intel Science and Engi-neering Fair.

According to a former student inter-viewed by York about the award, Durkee “is the only teacher I know who would bake banana bread for a class as com-pensation for making us stay late. She’s tough and expects a lot, but she is also fair and understanding. She puts just as much work (if not more) into every piece of work that you turn in.”

Pamela Durkee’s response: “Perhaps some of my students have been motivat-ed to work a little harder because they know that I will always work my hardest for them. But that’s not a secret, it’s what so many of the wonderful teachers that I have known do.”

Biology teacher recognized as an “American Star of Teaching”

4

Yes, the bagpipers who might have played during your commencement meet here on Sunday mornings to practice. A small church also rents our campus, holding services in the gym. The campus is not completely asleep on Sunday mornings, but it is used a little more lightly than on a school day, which is one of the reasons I came to school today. The conditions are perfect for my experiment. I want to see if an electric meter can read zero.

York on a sun day

Not too many Yorkies know what it’s like to be on campus on a Sunday morning such as this one. As I’m writing from the basement of Day Hall, I hear a little traffic from highway 68, songbirds, and bagpipes.

5

It all began last March when the world was planning for Earth Hour. One Saturday evening from eight to nine, cities around the world would turn off their skylines. Imagine the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and the Sears Tower all dark for sixty min-utes. The idea behind Earth Hour was to spread awareness of how we use energy and encourage us to look for ways to reduce our consumption.

Prior to Earth Hour, I approached Kim Kiest’s environmental science class to see if the students were interested in having York participate. Their response was cool. . . and smart. Typical Yorkies. They pointed out that it was kind of a ridiculous and less than inspiring symbol to have a school go dark during an evening in which it would otherwise be vacant and pretty much dark anyway. Kim and her students came up with a brilliant alternative.

On April 22nd York is going to celebrate Earth Day in a completely new way—un-plugged. By the time this goes to press, it will have already happened (check the York Blog to see how it went). Instead of an hour, York will turn off the lights, heaters, and overhead projectors for an entire school day. For one day students won’t research on our databases . . they’ll use books. Teachers will look for ways to continue classes without the high-tech tools upon which we’ve grown accustomed—dare I say dependent? Even Technology and Information Lit-eracy will unplug. TIL is a class all ninth graders take in which they learn basic computer literacy skills and carefully explore the terabytes of information that bombard them daily. On Earth Day, we will all hit control-alt-delete, shut down, and see what happens.

In the excitement of brainstorming the event many great ideas came up. “We could bake cookies from our solar powered oven.” “We could use a sun-dial to determine when classes change.” “We could watch the electric meter run backwards.”

What?

Yeah, we could watch the electric meter run backwards. Watching a utility meter may not be the sexiest way to celebrate Earth Day, but to an eco-geek, eliminating carbon-based electricity and watching clean energy pumped into the grid in real-time . . . well that’s pretty cool. And at York, it could happen. Last fall, two large photovoltaic arrays, or solar powered electrical generators, were installed—one on Day Hall, which can be seen from 68, and one on the Library, which can’t be seen at all unless you’re standing on the roof. These panels augment the solar generators commissioned on the science building five years ago. All three systems are directly connected to the grid and, on a normal sunny school day, produce about 47% of the school’s electricity. On cloudy days, they produce less; and on days when we’re not using much energy, they presumably produce a greater percentage.

So, if we dramatically cut back on our electricity consumption at York, could we squeeze that 53% of power we pull from the grid down to below zero? Last Thursday was a G-day, so during the break period when Jamba Juice shows up to deliver smoothies, I crept into the dressing room of the theatre to seek out

the electricity meter and see whether we could really pull this off.

The room looked as most theatre dressing rooms look. A little haunted. Overlooking a Ganesha sculpture, a non-divine elephant sculpture, and a well-used couch, there it was: a digital electric meter with its cryptic tags, pencil marks, and warnings of horrible things happening if certain switches were switched. It flashed red LED lights and scrolled numbers and units that were pretty much Greek to me (an idiom that is not-so-effective in the York community, I know). So I called the guy I usually call when I have an electrical or technical question: Kim Cohan ‘81, father to Emily ‘02, Sarah ‘03, and Ellen ‘06, all Yorkies. Kim co-owns an electri-cal contracting business. He has been known to have a stash of fireworks that can’t possibly be legal, he makes smok-ing martinis with liquid nitrogen, and he once talked me through the installation of a dimmer switch in my dining room last fall, keeping me from electrocuting myself in the process. Kim patched in Tom, his electrical engineer. I sent them a photo of the meter with my cell phone, and they told me how to read it.

According to the meter, the “Watt Direction” screen read “>>” meaning energy was going from the grid to York. 7.68 kilowatts to be exact. That’s the amount of electricity used to power 76 hundred-watt light bulbs, or 349 compact fluorescent bulbs. The number was smaller than I expected, but then again, it was sunny outside, and those

6

solar panels were offsetting our grid consumption. Knowing how much power we use normally, I could figure out what was realistic for Earth Day.

So here I am at York on a sunny Sunday morning. If we were serious about trying to eliminate our need for grid power during a weekday, I had to see what the meter would read on a weekend. Walking over to the theatre I spot the sun, which looks to be about 45 degrees

south by south east, shining directly on the southern roof of Day Hall. The build-ing is completely covered by dark purple plates of glassy panels absorbing some of the energy needed to power the lights and sound system of the church, four computer servers, exit lights, a couple refrigerators, fire alarms, computers on standby mode, appliances, and what-ever else we don’t even think about.

On my way to the meter, I think of

York’s commitment to living, teaching, and building green isn’t the mark of a school following a trend that began just a couple years ago. For over fifteen years, York has made environmental stewardship a top priority. Who wouldn’t become passionate about the environ-ment after spending a few years living on this scenic hillside campus?

Recognizing the importance of teaching green back in 1990, the School began offering a course on environmental science, which is alive today. This course introduces students to a variety of environmental issues both locally and globally. The emphasis is on solu-tions for living sustainably. Issues are considered from many perspectives to give the students the idea that it takes compromise and understanding from many groups to solve today’s environ-mental problems. The students use critical thinking skills and examine the “big picture.” Students take field trips to local areas of interest including the waste management facility in Marina, which is broadly considered the national leader in environmental sustainability.

But students do more than just study environmental science, they are out in the field working to make a difference. Volunteering for local authorities last fall, envi-sci students hit the streets, painting signs on storm drains informing the public that anything that is poured into the drains end up in the Monterey Bay. Students also work hard to raise money to help protect the rainforests in South America.

When York was in the planning stages of creating a new science building, the fac-ulty asked the board if they could help

design a building that could also be a teacher of smart and responsible design and construction. When the classrooms were opened in 2003, the science building was the first dedicated “green” building in the county. The building has dozens of sustainable elements includ-ing roof insulation made of recycled blue jeans, wall insulation made of recycled cellulose (newsprint), and optimized wall and roof framing. Each stud in the framing is 24 inches apart rather than the typical 16 inches, saving lumber without sacrificing strength. But not only are these innovative designs used in the building, they’re displayed, serving as a teacher of sustainable design. A cut-out in the wall and ceiling gives students and visitors a window into insulation and framing, a peek at the future of sustainable design.

York has also made a strong commit-ment to reduce the amount of resources it uses on campus. We have gone paperless with the monthly newsletter, sending it to parents electronically.

Students participate in an extensive recycling program and the whole school uses recycled paper in the classroom and in publications—like this one.

York’s commitment to sustainability has not gone unnoticed. Recently Represen-tative Sam Farr came to York to present formal Congressional Recognition for being the first school in the county to be certified by the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program.

Our mission is to prepare students for the world they will inherit. That world is not going to look like it has in the past. It will be a world where we have to be smart and creative about how we use resources. A world where Yorkies will continue to be part of the solution.

ways we could reduce York’s electric-ity consumption. I pass a beverage vending machine, cooling juice and water for nobody. I reach deep behind the machine past cobwebs and dust and try to unplug it, wondering if I am misbehaving. Just as I pull out the plug a 110 volts shoot up my arm. The shock reminds me that perhaps I should mind my own business. Vending machines are definitely not my business. I decide not to turn off the loud machine working

Envi-sci student Selina Tanimura ‘10 saving the bay.

Physics students get lessons in:

sustainable designalternative energy

irony

7

away in the boiler room behind the Head of School’s office.

I unlock the backstage door, and grudgingly switch on the lights. I guess it’s appropriate that dressing rooms lack windows. A network router with dozens of Ethernet cables snaking around it purrs. I leave it on.

I walk over to the meter, watching its digital screen scroll through various numbers through the lens of a camera, finger on the trigger. “01 TOTAL 56142. KWH,” “02 MAXIMUM 000.33KW,” “SEGMENT CHECK 01279R KW.” And then I saw it, clicked the shutter on the camera, and felt a jolt run up my spine. More comfortable than the one I got from the vending machine, but just as tingly. “Watt Direction <<” Awesome!

At 11:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, York School producing clean power, not just for York, but for the rest of the community. Because of the solar panels, a little bit less carbon dioxide is sent up through the Moss Landing stacks into the atmosphere. People on campus and beyond were using energy, making

NORMAL SCHOOL DAY

On average, 47% of the school’s energy needs are provided by renewable solar energy. The most of any educational institution in Monterey County!

EARTH DAY

On earth day, we’re looking to have over 100% of the school’s energy needs provided by the sun. Any surplus will go back to the grid. Providing our community with clean electricity!

music and worshiping, but that energy was produced cleanly, right here at York. A baby step in the march to being better stewards of our environment.

So, come Earth Day, we’ll try to do the same thing, while also trying to run a school. It will take some sacrifices. Many of the administrative offices are notori-ously cold, and to stay warm staff who usually use space heaters—appliances that are good at warming small places, but use a lot of electricity—agreed to wear thick socks on Earth Day and turn off their heaters. Some teachers have agreed to teach with the lights off or outside. Some students have agreed to even turn off their cell phones and iPods for the day. It’s enough to make some of us a little nervous. What will we do without music piped into our ears through little white buds? Maybe we can get the bagpipers to play.

Kevin Brookhouser Humanities Teacher, York SchoolApril 6, 2008

8

forthcoming book? I understand that the subject is the history of the Iraqi military – are you making any particular argument? My book is an extension of my Ph.D. thesis. It is a history of the Iraqi military from World War One to the present. The argument is one that has been made many times: “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” It may be trite, but in the case of the US and the new Iraqi military, it is also startlingly accurate. The United States’ hopes that the Iraqi military would be the savior of the “new Iraq” were the same hopes that the British had for the Iraqi military they created in 1921. Just as the American and the Iraqi security forces had met with resistance, the Brit-ish presence in Iraq was also troubled by a similar insurgency.

How was it teaching in Istanbul? What drew you to Turkey? How does the academic/intellectual climate compare to the U.S.?

For years, I had traveled throughout the world, looking for a place where an Anglo-Iraqi-American like myself might fit. A place that was like me, neither

East nor West. I saw myself coming to Istanbul to teach, because Istanbul and I had a lot in common. We both had spent a good portion of our lives trying to define where we belonged. Somehow the compatibility of Islam, democracy, and modernity had already resolved itself in Turkey, even if they clashed globally. I finally realized that my solu-tion to my identity crisis was to move to a place whose identity overlapped with mine.

Now that you are a few years removed from the Dodgy Dossier matter, what do you think are the central lessons to be learned from the episode?

The fact that British government went to my article to pad its dossier announced to the world the British and American justifications for war against Iraq were dubious. My plagiarized article planted the seed of doubt in the public as to the quality of the arguments they were fed before the outbreak of the conflict, and it sent reporters digging. The controversial 45-minute claim in the “Sexed-up Dossier” emerged soon after, and another American intelligence claim that Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon was also proven to be false.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi at a checkpoint in Iraq

An interview with Ibrahim Al-Marashi ‘91“How many professors could say that their research as a student had been used to justify a war? That in itself was nothing to be proud of, but I would tell York students that I was living proof that students can make a difference.”

So writes Ibrahim Al-Marashi from Istan-bul, Turkey, as he prepares for the publi-cation of his first book. In 2003 Ibrahim became the focus of international at-tention when it was discovered that the British government, in making its case for the invasion of Iraq, had plagiarized his work. A briefing document issued by Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Director of Communications and Strategy lifted heavily and verbatim from Ibrahim’s article “Iraq’s Security & Intelligence Network: A Guide & Analysis,” which had appeared in the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs. When the plagiarism was discovered, the briefing document became dubbed the Dodgy Dossier and proved to be an embarrassment to the Blair government, raising questions about the intelligence used in the lead-up to the war.

Ibrahim has been teaching courses on the history of Iraq and Iran and the history of media communication and journalism. In the following interview he talks about his upcoming book, reflects on the Dodgy Dossier episode and the war, and remembers fellow student Kylan Jones-Huffman, who was killed in Iraq in 2003.

Can you provide some details on the

9

Do you see any hope for a military solu-tion in Iraq? What is the best approach for curtailing the violence? What is the future for Iraq; how will/can it look in, say, ten years?

As for a military solution in Iraq, I would say that one should learn from Iraq’s first insurgency that began in 1920. By 1935 the Iraqi military crushed the inter-nal rebellions or what the British termed the “insurgency,” meaning that Iraq’s first episode of internal political violence lasted close to fifteen years. Based on this past precedent it is conceivable that the post-2003 Iraqi military could attain the strength where it can suppress the insurgencies in Iraq. Combined with a political solution, an expanded

libraries, creating a body of research, if in the end I never shared it with any-one?” If I walked away from teaching, then everything I studied and learned up until that moment would walk away with me too.

The strongest memory I now have from York is that of one of my high school friends Kylan Jones-Huffman who was killed in Iraq. Kylan and I had shared several similar interests. We both ran track and field and were members of the Junior Statesmen of America. He was the only member of his graduating class to get an acceptance into the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Dur-ing his time there, he studied Arabic and Persian, just as I did UCLA. He went on

armor in the last moments of his life. It left me with the unsettling feeling that my friend died cleaning up a mess that he did nothing to create. I felt an odd sense of responsibility and even a tinge of shame. If someone had asked the students at York which one of us would be the first to go to Iraq, I would have named myself. If someone had told me that it was going to be Kylan, I might have even been a little bit jealous. Imagine that.

After his military service, Kylan wanted to become a teacher. His life paralleled mine on so many levels. We went to the same high school, we taught ourselves Middle Eastern languages, and we both wanted to be teachers. Something I read in my high school friend Kylan’s obituary came back to me. His father James had said, “It’s a terrible waste. As a teacher he could have impacted thousands of lives.” Kylan would never have the chance to become a teacher, and I try to continue his legacy today.

Al-Marashi, a graduate of York, is now a Research Scholar at The Universityof Pennsylvania, Center for Global Com-munication Studies at the AnnenbergSchool for Communication. His book Iraq’s Armed Forces: An AnalyticalHistory is due out later this year. During the forum Al-Marashi spoke about the future of Iraq and the challenges the United States face in their attempt to withdrawal military forces in Iraq.

Al-Marashi, holds a Ph.D. From Oxford University and is also the author ofThe Mother of All Battles: Iraq’s Wars with the US from the IraqiPerspective forthcoming from Cam-bridge University Press. He has writtennumerous academic papers, and has been published in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times.

Iraqi military with a vast arsenal at its disposal could crush the insurgency in the long term as long as disgruntled Iraqi civilians withdraw their support for the insurgents. However, in the thirties a military solution did not lead to stability in Iraq’s politics. In fact it led to a series of military coups that led to the rise of Saddam Hussein.

Finally, what do you most remember about your years at York? What advice would you give to current York students as regards their future?

My advice to York students is first that they give meaning to their teachers’ lives. It was a lesson I learned when I decided to become a professor. I asked myself, “What would be the sense of having spent all those years sitting in

to serve as a naval officer with a Marine unit patrolling post-war Iraq. He was in the passenger seat of a vehicle caught in traffic in the town of Al-Hilla, about sixty miles south of Baghdad, when a gunman approached and opened fire on him. I was in Kuwait, about to travel to Iraq when I learned of his news. I searched for his obituary in the online version of a local California newspaper. It wrote that he was a budding haiku poet. The last haiku he ever wrote was:

uncomfortable – body armor shifting on the car seat.

More poignant words, I could not imagine. Art reflecting reality. I pictured Kylan, my friend, sitting uncomfortably in his car seat, sweating under his body

“I saw myself coming to Istanbul to teach, because Istanbul and I had a lot in common. We both had spent a good portion of our lives trying to define where we belonged.”

10

A commentary reprinted with permission from Monterey County Weekly, which was based on a presentation Al-Marashi gave at York School in December 2007. You can listen to the presentation through the York Podcast or the York Blog at york.org.

I am a Muslim and Islamic law lays down that no infidel shall rule over me… and because I am an Arab and Arabism forbids a foreign army to corrupt my country.”

The statement above sounds like something that would be declared by an al-Qaida Iraqi insurgent in 2007. However, the quote belongs to an Arab nationalist colonel, Salah al-Din al-Sabbagh, who dominated Iraqi political life from 1937 to 1941.

“We could not withdraw at once and leave chaos. There we were, and there we had to remain and to administer, for the time being at any rate.”

This statement sounds like a press briefing delivered by a Bush administra-tion official in 2007. Rather, it was made in 1924 by B.H. Bourdillon, an adviser to the Office of the British High Commis-sioner in Iraq, a body analogous to the Coalition Provisional Authority that ruled Iraq from 2003 to 2004.

During the British experience of state building in Iraq from the end of World War I to their withdrawal in 1932, the taxpayer public was concerned about the growing costs of putting down an “insurgency,” the term they used to describe the Iraqis employing violence to resist Great Britain’s efforts. The hope in 1924, as it was in 2007, was that foreign troops could leave, and that their role be replaced by an Iraqi military.

I seek to emphasize the significance of the past for the Iraqis.

An article entitled, “Iraq’s Doubtful Future” appeared in the London Times in 1922, but seems to describe Iraq’s pros-pects in 2007. That article featured the subline, “Feisal Bid for Independence,

British Prestige in the Balance” could very well read today as, “Prime Minister Maliki’s Bid for Independence, American Prestige in the Balance.”

In 1935, a British report describes how the members of the Iraqi armed forces often would abandon the military and take their arms to side with the tribes: “Many of the officers are believed to be in sympathy with the government’s opponents, and the majority of the rank and file, being Shi’ah… some few officers actually refused to proceed to the front.”

The report sounds eerily similar to the fighting in Falluja in April 2004, when U.S. forces sent an Iraqi fighting unit comprised of mostly Sunni Arabs to suppress an insurgency, comprised mostly of Sunni Arabs. For the most part, these Sunni soldiers dispatched by the United States disbanded and sided with the rebels.

“Alas, we Americans do not naturally look to history for cautionary lessons about the future. Had we done that, our post-Saddam expectations would have been different.” The preceding statement by Martin Peretz in The New Republic in June 2004 proved to be a sad testament to the valuable history

lessons that early Iraq could have pro-vided to policy makers. A few analysts of Iraq attempted to leverage the lessons of the past to be used in the future.

In an article describing how the history of Iraq had begun to repeat itself after 2003, Haifa Zangana, an Iraqi writer, wrote, “In Iraq we don’t just read history at school–we carry it within ourselves. It’s no wonder, then, that we view what is happening in Iraq now of ‘liberation-mandate-nominal-sovereignty’ as a replay of what took place in the 1920s and afterwards.”

The British experience in Iraq highlights how one needs to understand Iraq’s past if one wants to make sense of Iraq’s present. Granted, there were differences between Britain’s mandate experience in Iraq and that of the United States after 2003. However, by citing the similarities between the two, I seek to emphasize the significance of the past for the Iraqis. My comparisons between the British and American experiences shed light on how Iraqis could use their past to make sense of the present. To understand the Iraqi discontent with the U.S. efforts in Iraq, one only needs to look at the events that transpired in the 1920s and ‘30s when Britain dominated

Look at the past for guidance today in Iraq.

By Ibrahim Al-Marashi ‘91

11

A Challenge to the York CommunityFor Peggy Downes Baskin and Jack Baskin, York is family. Their com-mitment to York runs deep: a son, daughters and a grandson have graduated with pride; a daughter is currently Dean of Faculty and Chuck Downes led York as Headmaster for many years. As a York trustee, Peggy helps govern the school and guide it toward its future. As donors, Peggy and Jack have made a difference in the lives of countless students through their support of scholarships, both endowed and annual. In Peggy’s words, “we are guided by a belief that financial aid lies at the heart of York’s mission.” Last year, Peggy and Jack made an extraordinary challenge to York: They would make a gift of $100,000 for scholarships if we could match their gift dollar for dollar in one year’s time. In December 2007 the York community met that challenge and together, Jack, Peggy and many York donors provided $200,000 in financial aid for students. Building on the success of last year, Peggy and Jack have issued a new challenge. They will provide $125,000—$100,000 for scholarships and $25,000 in honor of York’s 50th anniversary—if we can match their gift dollar for dollar by December 2008. If you would like to be part of this historic challenge and help York raise $250,000, please let the development office know (kedmunds@york.org) or designate your gift for scholarships as part of the Baskin Challenge. Thank you, Peggy and Jack, for keeping York’s mission and York’s students in your hearts.

Mark E. Myers ‘73: Leading Alumnus, Leaving a Legacy

I am a York alumnus from the Class of 1973. When York established its planned giving project, I took advantage of this unique opportunity to make a bequest to the York School through my revocable living trust. Such a bequest works well for both my estate and York in a variety of ways. Most importantly, I am able to give back to the school which helped guide and inform and create who I am today, and in a practical way, laid a foundation for the acquisition of whatever resources I am blessed to have. As such, I feel good about “paying forward” that obligation by leaving a bequest from my estate to York School. Additionally, as York School is a charitable beneficiary, my estate will receive an estate tax deduction for the charitable bequest.

On the York side of things, planned giv-ing provides a wonderful mechanism for ensuring the future stability and growth of the school so that future students enjoy the experience that we shared in the past. If York is to maintain its traditions of diversity and excellence and compete with the major endowments and planned giving which support York’s neighboring schools, then I encourage all alumni to participate in this valuable planned giving opportunity.

Mark is an attorney with the law firm of Grunsky, Ebey, Farrar & Howell, lives in Carmel, and is the proud father of Jack.

giving back

12

York’s unique community is nourished and maintained by a strong partnership and continuing generosity of its members. Donations to the Annual Fund— from parents, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni and others— ensure York can continue to offer academic excellence, increased student diversity, and help solidify the overall success of the school. We are excited to report that alumni involvement in the 2007-8 Annual Fund has been steadily increasing. Need a few more reasons to give? We have a couple of alumni challenges on the table; that means that your participation gives York even more money. Here’s how...

giving back

Elena Rowell ‘09

Lisa Hu ‘10

Ellie Paolini ‘10

Blake Bennett ‘08Robin Clark ‘10

Steffani Campbell ‘08

Zainab Hossainzadeh ‘09

If you’ve received a call from one of our student volunteers, heres a chance to put a face with the name.

MEET THE CALLERS

Chelsea Bates ‘10

the class of 2007 challenge: If you graduated from York in 2007, an alumni parent has challenged your class to donate to the Annual Fund. If 50% of the class gives, this parent will give $2,007 to the school in your class’s honor. No amount is too small and because this is also your first gift to the school, your donation is counted towards the New & Increased Gift Chal-lenge as well!

“As the most recent graduating class of York School, this is our first opportunity to participate in the Annual Fund as alumni. This challenge allows us to do something, as a class, to benefit the school. Bear in mind that it doesn’t have to be a lot of money; this challenge is really about participation. I am prepared to step up to the challenge. I hope you’ll join me and send a donation to the York School Annual Fund. I would love to see our class come together to meet this challenge. Just so you know, a similar challenge was raised to the Class of 2006. They met the challenge their first year out of York. I know we can do it, too!”

Omar Aqeel ‘07 urges his classmates to participate in the Class of 2007 Challenge.

the new and increased gift challenge: We have generous donors who have pledged to match any gifts – up to $4,000 – for first-time givers, or any gifts that are an increase from last year’s gift. If you’ve never given before, here’s a chance to double your gift!

“I was really convicted last night on the real-ity of students getting scholarships to attend York and my direct link to that happening... I was talking with a friend who just received the acceptance letter for her son yesterday. He is so excited he can’t stand it, but now they have to wait to see what their financial aid package will look like. And I’m willing to bet that is directly linked to donations received from all of us! So, that motivated me to go online and make a donation. I’m hoping to be able to do more soon!”

the alumni challenge: If 20% of the alumni community gives to the Annual Fund this year, then a group of alumni and alumni parents have pledged to donate a total of $12,000. Last year 15% of alumni gave to the Annual Fund. Help us reach the national benchmark of 20% and fund one more scholarship for a York student.

Having been a recipient of financial aid dur-ing her four years at York, Jennifer Gonzalez ‘91 is eager to help other students have the same opportunities.

Gabe Quiroz ‘10

Devin Mireles ‘08Thomas Sanchez ‘09

We deeply appreciate the following individu-als whose generosity has made the alumni challenges possible: Patrick Lovejoy ’67, Gar-rett Goldwater ’70, Tom Drendel ’74, Graham Matthews ’77, Christine Lee ’85, Robert Poulin ’85, Mary Kay Basham, Phil Frey, Lou Lozano, Peter Slattery, Michael Tanner, Valerie Woerner…and a Class of 2007 Parent. Thank you very much!

13

Who: All York School Alumni who are currently studying or working in the performing arts

What: Dazzle us with your talents

When: At your convenience

Where: On campus

a couple of invitationsIn conjunction with York’s 50th Anniversary celebration, we are planning two different series for the 2008-9 school year and extending a standing invitation to alumni to come back to campus. We hope you’ll either participate, attend, or pass the word on to fellow alumni we may not be reaching. Who: All York School Alumni

What: Talk to current Yorkies over lunch

When: At your convenience

Where: On campus

and coming back

After four months on the job, one thing has struck me about our community of York alumni: we certainly are a motley crew of creative, independent thinkers. I’ve had fun learning about some of the fascinating things we’re doing. We have professors, a Mac Genius, novelists, a rabid chocoholic who owns 2 chocolate cafés in the San Francisco Bay Area, physicians, a PhD who spent years developing simulation and analytical models of population dynamics before becoming a stand-up comedian, engineers, an interactive media artist, musicians, and so many more. I would love to get you back on campus —at your convenience, of course—to have lunch with some of our current students. You’ll see some changes on campus, some constants, and talk to a group of great kids about life after York School. ~Camilla Mann ‘91, Alumni Relations

Over the years, many fabulous musicians and actors have enhanced life at York with their talents and have moved on to college and careers in the performing arts. If you are one of those people, we’d love to have you back to augment our 50th anniversary celebrations by participating in the Alumni Performance Series. We anticipate several single-artist recitals as well as a gala concert featuring several performers. The series will feature both musical performances and dramatic monologues or scenes. If you would like to participate, please contact Music Director Murray Walker (yes, he’s still here) mwalker@york.org, or Alumni Associate Camilla Mann ’91 (she’s back) camilla@york.org.

Past successful alumni performancesOn January 8, 2005, Laura Anderson ’99, Courtney Taylor ’99 and Lembit Beecher ’98 presented a voice and piano recital. A few years before Laura Haney ’92 played her Master of Music in Piano recital for us.

reunionsSpecial thanks to Tracey Shore Gannon ’86 and her husband Peter who opened up their home in Aptos for anintimate afternoon reception for York alumni in the greater Bay Area. In attendance were alumni from the 80sand 90s as well as current faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni parents. Lots of stories and lots of smiles!

From the Class of 1986:Tracey Gannon, Debbie Torin-Levy, Annie Kantor, and Tim Ditzler

From the Class of 1984: Albion Butters and Sammy Obaid

York, New YorkIn answer to the early February get-together on the West Coast, New Yorkers Greg Littleton ’82, Marianne Gawain Davis ’76, and Kymm Walker ’96 organized a “York, New York” party at Greg’s design studio, Smart Design, in Manhattan. Dozens of alumni from around the Big Apple and across class years attended the event. Many thanks to Greg, Marianne, and Kymm!

York, New York attendees: Scott Nybakken ’86, Greg Littleton ’82, Daniel Long ’98, David Goehring ’97, and Cat Nelson ‘05

14

January 29, 2008

While other students at York School in Monterey were being assigned books such as Hamlet and The Great Gatsby, teachers Joyce Sherry and Cameron Torgenrud handed out colorful volumes of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

The award-winning Sandman series of comic books may not look much like a classic high school English assignment, but its tragic hero faces the same ruth-less and archetypal forces, experts say.

“I think it broadened my horizons,” said Gina Little, 17, a student from Carmel.

Student Morgan Paull, 17, of Prunedale already liked sequential art, but said “the reading in class added a lot to it.”

That’s a message local advocates hope spreads to more classrooms.

“I do think that (comics) are misun-derstood,” said Bobby Gore, owner of Salinas’s only comic book store, Current Comics. “I wish I had that (learning) experience when I was in middle school or high school. Things like facial expres-sions add to the experience, and the images and words put together make it into a brilliant work of art.”

Still, why not just rely on the classics in the classroom? The idea for an alterna-tive came to Sherry at a conference for the National Council of Teachers of English.

“One of the presentations I went to was about the potential power of the graphic novel in the classroom,” she said, “and the fact that it has moved out of the ‘Richie Rich’ comic book stages and into the truly profound (literature) that we read with Gaiman.”

The NCTE even sells a lesson-plan guide-book that assists teachers in sharing the literary benefits of comics, connecting them to more traditional works.

For example, it pairs Dante’s Inferno with an X-Men story.

Many graphic novels are being wel-comed into literary circles with critical acclaim. The Sandman has won a World Fantasy Award and is a New York Times bestseller; Alan Moore’s super-hero thriller Watchmen has won a Hugo

Award; and Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir Maus has won a Pulitzer Prize.

And the movie industry has certainly caught on to both the intellectual and entertainment appeal of comics. Comic book superhero film adaptations have churned out of Hollywood since X-Men made millions in 2000.

Other non-superhero works have also found financial and critical success in theaters: 300, V for Vendetta, 30 Days of Night and Sin City are action-packed blockbusters; more thoughtful stories such as Ghost World or Persepolis attract their own adamant followings.

Either way, it’s clear the film industry has turned the public’s gaze toward a formerly maligned medium.

A majority of educators, however, are still hesitant to introduce comics to their students.

student voicesYork students Devin Mireles ‘08 and Zainab Hossainzadeh ‘09 are student journalists for The Salinas Californian’s “Our Eyes” program. With permission from the The Californian, here are two pieces they wrote, which were circulated to thousands of Monterey County residents.

Not your usual novels Comic books find their way into local English classes By Devin Mireles

15

“Teachers probably have the most misunderstanding,” says Torgenrud. “They’re harkening back to their youth of reading things like ‘The Swamp Thing.’ They were reading it at an age when they didn’t have the guidance to find things that were deeper.”

Gore agrees. “I’m sure teachers would do a great job teaching comic books,” he said, “but restrictions confine them to sticking to the more general subject matter.”

Yet in a country where teens are reading less and less well, according to a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts study, the medium could help young readers turn more pages.

“We’re becoming a non-reading society more and more,” Sherry said, “so anything that entices people back to reading is appreciated.”

But some students remain on the fence.

Sarah Chatoff, 17, of Pebble Beach, said she wouldn’t want to read a graphic novel for class again.

“It’s not my thing,” Chatoff said, but admitted it wasn’t a negative experi-ence. “I went into it hating the concept of reading comics in class, but halfway through I got really into the story.

“I think that it was a good idea to try something different.”

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2002, promoting democracy in the Middle East has been on the minds of many Americans. However, since most of the Middle East is Muslim, the question of whether there is such a thing as an Islamic democracy has been evoked. Since Islam has been used to justify the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Wahabists in Saudi Arabia, and terrorists groups like Al-Qaeda, it is understandable that many people in the West doubt that there can be an Islamic democracy. But, yes, Islamic democracy can exist.

Early Islamic civilizations have been characterized by elements of democracy that were revolutionary for their respective time periods. During the first ten years of Islam, Prophet Mohammad spoke out against the customs of his time: he condemned the socio-economic inequities of Mec-can life; he threatened the traditional, polytheistic religion and power of the prosperous Meccan oligarchy; he denounced false contracts, usury, and the neglect of orphans and widows; he stressed the rights of the poor and the oppressed; and he encouraged the rich to see they had an obligation to help the poor.

From early on, Mohammad set the example of voicing opinions against corruption and also of respecting other faiths. The Quran and traditions

of Prophet Mohammad also encour-age democracy. One element of democracy, such as religious freedom, can be supported with the Quranic verse: “There can be no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Support of equality in society can be proven by the tradi-tion of Prophet Mohammad saying, “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab over an Arab; neither does a white man possess any superiority over a black man nor a black man over a white man.”

Islam also acknowledges the differ-ences among humans and encourages intercultural understanding with the verse, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of you…” (49:13).

Islam views voicing one’s opinion is not only permissible, but an Is-lamic duty. It is recorded that Prophet Mohammad said: “Let not any of you be a characterless person, saying: I do what the people do – if they do good I do good, and if they do bad I do bad.” Altogether, there are numerous verses from the Quran and sayings of Mohammad that support democracy.

On the whole, there is such a concept as Islamic democracy, which can be encouraged in the Middle East.

Democracy possible in Mideastby Zainab Hossainzadeh

16

For the English V Profile assignment, students were

challenged to create a magazine quality profile of

a fellow York senior. Sophisticated composition

elements were considered as students incorporated

photography, journalism, and desktop publishing

skills to capture the “Yorkness” of each subject.

The goal of the final product was to render each stu-

dent in a manner that best captures his or her unique

place in our school while also presenting a flavour of

the future personality. In this, viewers would come

to visually understand each student via a unique

pose within a symbolic campus setting. Viewers

would equally come to better know each student by

reading about accomplishments, recognitions, goals,

interests, and contributions--from the past, present,

and those soon to be realized.

-Sean Raymond, English Teacher

17

next alumni

18

Parents of alumni: Please enjoy this Break and share it. If your child no longer lives there, let us know at www.york.org.

Part of our philosophy is teaching, living, and building green. This publication was produced in an environmentally friendly direct-to-plate process using recycled paper and vegatable based ink. When you are done with this, please pass it on to someone else or recycle it.

9501 York RoadMonterey, CA 93940831.373.4438

Looking for Class Notes?Find them online at www.york.org/?alumni. There you can click on the “class notes blog,” where you can read and post Yorkie alumni news such as weddings, babies, new jobs, and any other reason to celebrate life.

Mark your calendars! Aug. 21-23, 2009 York’s 50th anniversary celebrationFor more information, contact Camilla Mann ‘91, camilla@york.org or 373.4438 x 145

♻