Chapel Talk: Simply, appreciation.

English teacher Matt Roach reflects in a chapel talk on Moses, Gatsby and how to be truly happy.

Before I begin, I should probably point out that part of my talk to today is going to sound a little anti-God—God, not in a general sense but specifically the God presented in the Books of the Torah or, if you prefer, the Old Testament.

And the reason I say this and tell you that I don’t really mean this talk to come off like that, up front, is that when I was in high school, one of my classmates gave a chapel talk. And her talk was supposed to be about how God didn’t exist. And so she totally goes for it, and really lays the whole case out, and she gets to the end, and she’s like, “And that’s why God. Does not. Exi—“ and right there, on the pulpit, she fainted. Truly. She did. Just—boom. Right down.

And somehow, the chaplain was suddenly #blessed with superhuman speed, and he somehow ran and caught her before she crashed to the ground. And ever since then, even though I’m not particularly religious, I’ve been mindful to not be too sure of myself. Because that was like, something.
[Editor's note: Do yourself a favor and click on the "Continue reading" link below!]

The Daily Dose Loves Your Mom

The Daily Dose is a student-run, informal e-newsletter sent to students and faculty each day. On Sundays, a faculty member 'guests" as Dose author. Today's Dose was written by Science teacher Eva Shultis.

"Men are what their mothers made them." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

In basically every movie/sitcom with a psychotherapy scene, the stereotypical opener is "tell me about your mother..."

Freud's kinda pervy ideas notwithstanding, this question makes a lot of sense. Fundamentally, biologically, your mom is responsible for the way you interact with the world. Mostly because, she showed your tiny infant brain what it feels like to be connected to another human being.

When you fall in love, your brain goes chemically crazy (if this sounds familiar, maybe see here for a graphical rundown). Some of the most well-known changes involve levels of neurotransmitters like Dopamine, Oxytocin and Vasopressin skyrocketing, lighting up pathways for bonding and reward. And it's pretty telling that all of these signals converge on the Nucleus Accumbens, also known as the 'pleasure center' of the brain - which explains why love and addiction can have a lot in common.

Every significant relationship you have in your lifetime will physically rewire your brain - and your relationship with your mom laid down the neural circuitry that all the rest of them will tap into. This similarity is most striking when you look at fMRI comparisons of brain activity (nerdiest Picture of the Day in DOSE history? maybe)

 

So, if you love your girlfriend, or your boyfriend, or your group of best friends - thank your mom. And if somebody lovesyou, thank their mom. Most obviously, for bringing them into existence - but also, for teaching their brain what love feels like.

Happy Mother's Day.

, the DOSE.

Tip: Call your mom (or whoever takes care of you).
Pro tip: call your Grandma, too.

Moms of the Day:

Jimmy Fallon & Michelle Obama

Lucille Bluth

This Cat

Bike Boogie? Mother's Day? Or...both!

English teacher Pat Clements (also Summer Signature Director, Sophomore Bike Trip Master, Guitarmy Guru, and generally King of Peddie Enthusiasm) often invites the community to ride with him on one of his famous bike boogies. The conundrum this Sunday: it also happens to be Mother's Day...

Dear Peddie:

We'll have a Bike Boogie!! Sunday, probably heading to Englishtown (where there's food!!). This will be a 20+ mile round trip, and thus qualify SOPHOMORES! for their bike trip shakedown requirement (and to score a jersey!).

In order to help accommodate as many Mothers' Day plans as possible, we'll leave early 9:00 and return earlyish. Grab something to eat before we leave (I'll have some bagels and bananas for blood sugar back-up.)

Interested? Reply.

Oh, and if you haven't recently, call home. Talk to your Mom. Do something nice for her. Maybe even before Sunday ... (ah, good move, kid)

Finally, if your decision on the day is "either/or." / that is, I can do something swell for Mother's Day or I can go on the Bike Boogie, Mom wins. Got it? .

How to play fair (?) on Heads Day

Courtesy of the Daily Dose's "Muffin Man"
 

 HEADS DAY 2013 

Heads day has always been competitive, so here are a few tips to make sure that your team wins certain events.

Softball/Kickball: make sure you always add an out to the other team. So if they have 2 outs, say they have 3 outs and get your whole team to start walking into bat, this way they will think you’re right and will believe you.

Poker: Feel free to have a few Aces up your sleeves, they’ll come in handy.

Hide and Seek: Hide in your dorm room and lock the door, you’re guaranteed to win.

Ultimate Frisbee: Every now and then, add a player to your team. No one will notice and you’ll have the advantage. Or, if you want to be more subtle, get some of your friends to sit on the sidelines, but as soon as your team has possession, have them get up and stand in the endzone. This way you will always have someone there to catch the bombs you throw.

Football: Pay off anyone who plays football to play on your team and tell them that it is full contact.

Canoe Races: While racing along side of an opponent’s boat, get close enough to the other team’s boat so that your partner can tip their boat over while you row.

Movie Tennis: Make up actors and movies. If someone questions whether the movie exists just say some big director’s name, like Steven Spielberg, and say it was one of his earlier films.

Quidditch: Pull out your wand and straight up attack the other team with spells n stuff.

Dodgeball: When no one is looking, go for the face, otherwise, follow the 5 Ds of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.

Egg Toss: Use a hardboiled egg

Soccer: Utilize your elbows and knees to temporarily cripple the opponents

Scooter Race: Pimp your ride, you’ll win in style.

Digital Video class: Just Breathe

Digital Video is a course designed to combine students' creativity with the endless potential of digital filmmaking. Students are exposed to the process of shooting film, editing footage, mixing audio and building original narratives. During the course students complete a short documentary film with one of their classmates, shoot footage for another film on location in New York City, and develop a final film developed based on students' personal interests. Below is a sample from the class produced by Ali Valentin '13.

 

 

How to express yourself: My biggest lesson at Peddie

Wenting "Chloe" Tao is from EFZ, Peddie's sister school in Shanghai. This spring, Chloe, along with 11 classmates and their teacher, spent two weeks visiting classes at Peddie, staying with a host family and also in a dorm, and visiting Washington, D.C. and New York City. Following is a reflection on her experience.

 

Four months ago, on Christmas Day, I was on the biggest stage in EFZ. I was there for a singing contest. I was extremely nervous, chose a song that’s completely not my style, broke a note, shivered with a completely blank mind and, in the end, lost the contest.

 

When I was standing there singing, in front of the giant, intimidating crowd, I was so nervous that I could hardly think. But I do remember searching in the audience, one by one through the two hundred people, carefully examining everyone’s face - for a smile.

 

One smile. One tiny , gentle, encouraging  smile. But I didn’t find it.

 

I was a very introverted person, who spoke softly, and was terrible at expressing how I felt. Everything was not right at that moment. I felt lonely.

 

Then I went on this wonderful trip to Peddie. I don’t mean to sound too dramatic, but the week here really changed me. I’ve never been to a place where everyone’s so friendly and the environment is so positive.  In class, the teacher encourages everyone to think; at lunch, the kids talk actively about various topics; at home, Mrs.Robinson  exchanges her opinion with me about  the history and obligations of both countries. I received five times the smiles I could get in a year.

 

I've gradually opened up. I learned to talk to people, to listen and to understand, to tell people sincerely about how I feel. It was hard at first, but thanks to all the encouragement, now I feel much more confident.

 

Now I’m spending time in DC. It’s a great trip, thanks to all the efforts of Peddie faculty members, especially Ms Hogarth and Mr. Clements. I got to talk to a lot of people in this trip, including a doctor, a protestor, a few students, and a wonderful Indian who travelled all the way from New York to Washington for cherry blossoms. Isn’t that fantastic? J

 

Life opens up for you when you embrace it. Thank you, Peddie.

 

Goodbye Beijing, thanks to gracious hosts, and hello EFZ students

     Friday morning, Danny, the father of Kevin Zhou ’15, met us, and we walked from our hotel to the north end of the Forbidden City.  There we took our first bus of the entire journey to the entrance at the south end, just across from Tian’an Men Square.  As with so many places that we have visited, it was hard to anticipate what we would see.  I had been able to look down on the Forbidden City the day before from the Wanchun Pavillon in Jing Shan Park, but the day was misty, and I could not see much more than the golden roofs.  From a distance, it is hard to get a sense of the immensity of this place and the feeling of solidity that it conveys because the height of the buildings harmonizes so well with the length and width of the walls, which are very long.