October's This, That & Other
St John Academy
"You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones."
~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
Friday Greetings
October 26, 2018
Happy Friday!
A special thanks to the PTO leadership team, especially Carlo Singson--who took the reigns--and to so many parents who made the Trunk or Treat a blast. It was an impressive array of costumes, treats, and trunks (except for that one featuring some kind of Norseman-like purple football team, ahem)--ok, even that one!
I'm sure for some little ones (and not-so-little), this was a welcome day to sleep a tick or two past the 6 am hour. The faculty had an interesting and inspiring day, featuring a guest speaker, Pat Love who presented on jazz (and performed--accompanied by James Senson) while using the musical form as a metaphor and guide to the art of teaching. (Pat will lead a Jazz Happy Hour on the Feast of All Saints--see the note below).
We also had an expert natural history teacher, Eric Heil, present on nature study and keeping a natural history journal--leading all of us out to observe some of the fine and varied trees on campus and begin our own journals. The workshop concluded with a time for stillness, a beautiful meditation by Fr. Pollard, and private Mass for the faculty. A fine day to conclude the week.
Enjoy your weekend!
Jeff
Jeffrey P. Presberg
Headmaster
Saint John Academy
What's Up...Next Week and so
VETERANS DAY CELEBRATION
Box of Joy boxes are due by October 30th. Please support this wonderful outreach program to supply needy families in Haiti with a Christmas box of gifts.
St. John Academy will celebrate all Veterans and active duty personnel with an assembly on Friday, November 9th, at 10:15 a.m. Please invite your family and friends! We will provide light refreshments prior to the program. Our program will include patriotic songs, poetry, and a special guest speaker. We will also present a slideshow of photos of your favorite Veteran/Active Duty Personnel. Please send any photos (with name and rank) at your earliest convenience to Mrs. Maleski: jmaleski@stjohnacademy.org.
We hope to see you all there!
Veteran's Day Flag Sales will take place this year beginning on November 5th. Flags will be $5.00 a piece. You may choose to take a flag or have the flag staked on our school/parish grounds to honor our veterans. 8th grade students will be available at dismissal to sell the flags or you may send an envelope to school with your donation and name and we will make sure a flag is sent home. Anyone choosing to have a flag staked may ask for the veteran's name to be acknowledged on the flag. You may send your loved ones name in an envelope or to ktessier@stjohnacademy.org. The 8th grade will be placing the flags on the grounds beginning November 8th.
So Others Might Eat: Saint John Academy will be participating in the SOME's (So Others Might Eat) Thanksgiving Basket Drive. Each homeroom will be asked to provide Thanksgiving food items to assist a family with a Thanksgiving dinner. A Sign-Up Genius will be provided for each class starting Monday, October 29th. SOME some.org/turkeydrive also provides the ability to contribute to buying a turkey for a family. If you would like to donate in addition to your designated item(s) please send cash or a check made out to SOME in the amount of $15.00 and we will deliver it to the organization. We are asking that items be brought in by Friday, November 9th. If you would like to volunteer to drive the items to SOME, please contact ktessier@stjohnacademy.org.
SOCCER GAME
We are also announcing a Girls game against the Potomac School for October 29th away at the Potomac School at 2:45pm.
Come and support our SJA Soccer Teams!
MISCELANNEOUS & MARCHING IN TO A FESTIVE NIGHT OF JAZZ!
We have an 11:30 a.m. DISMISSAL on October 31st--Halloween!
We will attend 9:00 a.m. Mass as a school on November 1st--All Saints Day--which is a Holy Day of Obligation.
We are pleased to announce a special JAZZ HAPPY HOUR on the Feast of All Saints, Thursday, November 1st. From 5 - 6:45 pm, Pat Love (sax player and music teacher) and a handful of other wily and skilled jazz "cats" will perform at the school. It is a casual "bring-your-own (wine, beer, etc.)" adult-only event, and will be limited in capacity. (A separate flyer with a rsvp link will be sent out, meanwhile please let Gracia know if you plan to attend).
Picture retakes will be on December 7, 2018. This is a change from what was originally posted. Candid and club pictures will take place on February 8th and Spring pictures will take place on April 16th.
Uniform News
While we review uniform changes we would like to implement a uniform policy that will help us transition into the new uniform.
Current changes to our school uniform for grades K-8 will begin on Monday, October 29, 2018. The SJA blue knit sweater will no longer be necessary this winter (but may still be worn). Going forward students may choose to wear the following in lieu of the blue knit uniform sweater or vest: Navy Blue, Red, Grey of Off White Fleece, Sweater (V-neck or Crew Neck) or Cardigan (zip or button is acceptable), or vest with their regular uniform jumper, skirt, skort, pants and shorts. These items may have a simple logo or no logo, hood free, and free of large lettering on the front, back or sleeves.
Long or short sleeve polo, and oxfords may be worn anytime. In addition to the classic khaki and navy pants in place, gentlemen may choose to wear blue or khaki corduroys. With parental discretion boys in grades K-5 may wear shorts up to Thanksgiving holiday and begin after President's Day.
Final decisions regarding the new school uniform will be communicated to you as selections are finalized.
Examples for colors and style are pictured.
A Little Nature Note (by Mister Stone)
As I walked outside on Monday, I witnessed something I had not yet seen this year--frost on my windshield. As the car was defrosting, I began to ponder whether the temperature change was permanent and the precise location of my wool winter coat. We can feel the season changing from summer to fall as the temperature begins to drop. We can also see the season changing as the leaves begin to turn from green to red, purple, crimson, yellow, orange, or brown. This happens as trees begin to stop producing chlorophyll in response to the decreasing temperatures and less daylight.
Trees need chlorophyll to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into energy. The chlorophyll is what gives leaves their green color. As leaves gradually stop producing chlorophyll because trees are preparing to go to sleep for winter, the leaves lose their vibrant green hue. With chlorophyll no longer being produced, green is no longer the dominant color and substances called carotenoids (think "carrots") can make the leaves yellow, orange, or brown. Or, maybe substances called anthocyanins (e.g., strawberries, cranberries, cherries) can make the leaves red, purple, or crimson.
Eventually, the tree will shed any plant tissue unable to survive the cold of winter. The tree will stop sending nutrients to the leaves, causing them to die, and eventually, fall. Then, we get to experience another of the joys of the season--raking fallen leaves. But, until trees begin to succumb to the onset of winter, we can enjoy the multicolored canopy of trees beginning to experience the decreasing temperatures and shortening days of fall.
Nick Stone
above painting: Autumn in North America by Frederic Church
Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.
~ Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
(1867) by Mark Twain
In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth; that my friend never knew such a personage; and that he only conjectured that, if I asked old Wheeler about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me nearly to death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the design, it certainly succeeded.
I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the bar-room stove of the old, dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel's Camp. I added that, if Mr. Wheeler could tell me any thing about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was any thing ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. To me, the spectacle of a man drifting serenely along through such a queer yarn without ever smiling, was exquisitely absurd. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once:
There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of '49 or may be it was the spring of '50 I don't recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn't finished when he first came to the camp; but any way, he was the curiosest man about always betting on any thing that turned up you ever see, if he could get any body to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't, he'd change sides. Any way that suited the other man would suit him any way just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solittry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and -take any side you please, as I was just telling you. If there was a horse-race, you'd find him flush, or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, he'd bet on it; why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first; or if there was a camp-meeting, he would be there reg'lar, to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and so he was, too, and a good man. If he even seen a straddle-bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys here has seen that Smiley, and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to him he would bet on any thing the dangdest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warn's going to save her; but one morning he come in, and Smiley asked how she was, and he said she was considerable better thank the Lord for his inftnit mercy and coming on so smart that, with the blessing of Providence, she'd get well yet; and Smiley, before he thought, says, "Well, I'll risk two- and-a-half that she don't, any way."
Thish-yer Smiley had a mare the boys called her the fifteen- minute nag, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race she'd get excited and desperate- like, and come cavorting and straddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust, and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose and always fetch up at the stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down.
And he had a little small bull pup, that to look at him you'd think he wan's worth a cent, but to set around and look ornery, and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him, he was a different dog; his underjaw'd begin to stick out like the fo'castle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him, and bully- rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson which was the name of the pup Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up; and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog jest by the j'int of his hind leg and freeze on it not chew, you understand, but only jest grip and hang on till they thronged up the sponge, if it was a year. Smiley always come out winner on that pup, till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs, because they'd been sawed off by a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he come to make a snatch for his pet bolt, he saw in a minute how he'd been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he 'peered sur- prised, and then he looked sorter discouraged-like, and didn't try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He give Smiley a look, as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't no hind legs for him to take bolt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, and then he limped off a piece and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him, and he had genius I know it, because he hadn't had no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances, if he hadn't no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n, and the way it turned out.
Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-tarriers, and chicken cocks, and tom- cats, and all of them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'klated to edercate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut see him turn one summerset, or may be a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. He got him up so in the matter of catching flies, and kept him in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly every time as far as he could see him. Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do most any thing and I believe him. Why, I've seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog and sing out, "Flies, Dan'l, flies!" and quicker'n you could wink, he'd spring straight up, and snake a fly off'n the counter there, and flop down on the floor again as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd been doin' any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightforward as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair and square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit, you understand; and when it come to that, Smiley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Smiley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had traveled and been everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see.
Well, Smiley kept the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him down town sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a feller a stranger in the camp, he was come across him with his box, and says:
"What might it be that you've got in the box?"
And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, "It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, may be, but it an't it's only just a frog."
And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, "H'm so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?"
"Well," Smiley says, easy and careless, "He's good enough for one thing, I should judge he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."
The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, very deliberate, "Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
"May be you don't," Smiley says. "May be you understand frogs, and may be you don't understand 'em; may be you've had experience, and may be you an't only a amature, as it were. Anyways, I've got my opinion, and I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."
And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad like, "Well, I'm only a stranger here, and I an't got no frog; but if I had a frog, I'd bet you."
And then Smiley says, "That's all right that's all right if you'll hold my box a minute, I'll go and get you a frog." And so the feller took the box, and put up his forty dollars along with Smiley's, and set down to wait.
So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to hisself, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a tea- spoon and filled him full of quail shot filled him pretty near up to his chin and set him on the floor. Smiley he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he ketched a frog, and fetched him in, and give him to this feller, and says:
"Now, if you're ready, set him alongside of Dan'l, with his fore- paws just even with Dan'l, and I'll give the word." Then he says, "One two three jump!" and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off, but Dan'l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders so like a Frenchman, but it wan's no use he couldn't budge; he was planted as solid as an anvil, and he couldn't no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted too, but he didn't have no idea what the matter was, of course.
The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out at the door, he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulders this way at Dan'l, and says again, very deliberate, "Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, and at last he says, "I do wonder what in the nation that frog throw'd off for I wonder if there an't something the matter with him he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow." And he ketched Dan'l by the nap of the neck, and lifted him up and says, "Why, blame my cats, if he don't weigh five pound!" and turned him upside down, and he belched out a double handful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was the maddest man he set the frog down and took out after that feller, but he never ketchd him. And-
[Here Simon Wheeler heard his name called from the front yard, and got up to see what was wanted.] And turning to me as he moved away, he said: "Just set where you are, stranger, and rest easy I an't going to be gone a second."
But, by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of the enterprising vagabond Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.
At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he button- holed me and recommenced:
"Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yeller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and "
"Oh! hang Smiley and his afflicted cow!" I muttered, good-naturedly, and bidding the old gentleman good-day, I departed.
Time Out: A Fistful of Poetry...
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
The Peace of Wild Things
WENDELL BERRY
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.