This year’s seniors say goodbye to the school they have come to know for the past four years of their lives.

As the seniors file out of AB to face the outside world, the empty halls will echo with their stories, their thoughts, and their memories. They will be leaving much more than a two-floored building, an empty auditorium, and the 47-minute, eight-period schedule that has contained them the past four years. When the seniors graduate from high school, they leave the very place that has grown, shaped, and molded them into who they are today. Five hundred seniors leave a place that has sown, weeded, and nurtured their lives.

The senior class has come a long way since freshman year. The seniors’ hard work last year allowed them to not only fundraise significantly but also bond as a class. “The spaghetti supper we had last year was great,” says president Connor Maher, “it was so successful and has become a tradition.” Apart from this event, the seniors also sold class sweatshirts and lanyards, organized several car washes, and hosted dances. “We worked together really well,” comments senior Josh Kelly.

The seniors also participated in the annual Senior Community Service Day, in which they gave back to the community as a final act before their graduation. “[It was] a day for seniors to give back to the community and show people how much we appreciate them,” says Maher. The seniors cleaned up parks and schools, raked leaves, and participated in other acts of service. Beforehand, the teachers cooked the seniors a breakfast in the cafeteria. “It was a rewarding experience,” says senior Bhushan Deshpande, “and it was our chance to thank the community one final time before heading off to our futures.”

On the Monday before senior finals, the seniors enjoyed free food, ice cream, mini golf, bumper boat rides, a driving range, and tug-of-war at their Kimball Farms outing. Senior Alison Wu commented in retrospect, saying, “The senior out ing at Kimball’s was awesome! It was the reward for our hard work.” Indeed, the event was a highlight among the final days the seniors had left. Senior Kristen Reichlen sums it up, saying, “It seems like all the seniors become united towards the end of the year because we all realize this is one of the last times we will see each other.”

Carrying memories onto college, Sarah Teebagy shares the same sentiments as many graduating seniors: “I’ll definitely miss the friends that I have made here along the way at AB who have been there for me through thick and thin.” She adds, “I’ll especially miss being a part of varsity volleyball and basketball.” For many, the strongest memories were made as a team. At AB, finding a niche to belong in, whether it be the basketball team or the math team, forges friendships and memories that time cannot replace.
Likewise, Eddie Livshits’s feelings on graduation are not without sadness over the sacrifice of the people he must leave. He comments, “As a member of Envirothon and the math team, I regret having to leave both behind as I move forward, but I will continue to root for them.” Reminiscing, he adds in a shout-out, “I’d have to say my best memory would be disking with Mr. Dempsey after Envirothon competitions.” Livshits plans to continue both of his interests in college.

Expressing a similar view that is tinted with sorrow and optimism, senior Mo Zhou shares, “Leaving Math Team is a bittersweet experience for me. On one hand, I am sad since I will miss the feeling of victory when we dominated Lexington. However, I’m satisfied knowing that our math team is in good hands under the leadership of sophomore Xiaoyu He.” Recalling one of his favorite memories, he jokes, “At the Harvard-MIT math tournament, February 2009, we had to sprint back to Porter Station from MIT under five minutes or else we would’ve missed the train ride back. I thought it was a pretty funny sight… a bunch of math nerds sprinting across Cambridge.” For the seniors at AB will carry bundles of little lasting snapshots like this through the doors of AB.

Today, on June 4, all seniors congregate for one last time as they graduate on Leary Field. They take their final step together out of AB. With their backs facing the high school, gazing forward towards the world, the seniors will hold their heads high with AB pride. Many will go on immediately to colleges and universities, but even those who will not will be embarking on the second journey of their lives. Their futures, wherever they lead them, will never be without the colors, blue and gold. The rest of it is for them to create. Reichlen parts with these words: “Don’t worry about the drama and just enjoy the ride. There’s much more to life than AB.”

We wish you the best of luck, seniors of 2010!

Around 250 tickets were sold, and with the money made from the auction, the juniors raised a total profit of around $3000. Highlights from the auction included a bidding war for a tennis lesson from social studies teacher Ms. Carp. Other interesting things up for auction were a weekend at Ms. Buffum’s Rhode Island house, music lessons taught by students, a golf outing at Quail Ridge, and even a fish tank.

“I loved the spaghetti supper because it has been hard to motivate our class, but our class pulled through for the spaghetti supper with so many juniors attending,” says Nathalie Gruet, junior class president. “Everyone was having fun eating pasta with their friends and family. The auction was very successful and allowed us to fundraise more money for our class because all auction items were donated from individuals and local businesses,” she said.

Before the spaghetti dinner, the Class of 2011 welcomed a comedian to the school to not only raise money for the class, but also have students enjoy an evening of fun and laughter. “Nathalie Gruet and I were trying to think of an event that people would really want to come to, like Student Council’s Hypnotist,” said junior Marie Margolius. “After that, the event became my project for the next year, and I loved organizing it.”

After much research on different comedians in the Boston area, Margolius discovered Paul Nardizzi, the winner of the 2001 Boston Comedy Festival and HBO’s 1997 U.S. Comedy and Arts Festival. “Paul was hands down the best – he was hilarious at the show; everyone loved him!” Margolius raves. “He’s performed on Comedy Central and is one of the most popular comedians in New England, so we’re really hoping to get him to come back next year.”

The event was extremely successful. The total amount of money earned added up to around $1,000. Margolius continued, “It’s an event that’s never been done before, [so] we had no idea what to expect – but I’m so happy we did it because we’ve really put our class in such a good position going into senior year.”
That is not all the juniors have done. They have created and published a cookbook as well. Mr. Green, advisor for the Class of 2011, realized that the junior class’s normal fundraiser, the magazine drive, earned less and less revenue each passing year, so the 2011 class’s officers decided to change the fundraiser. The class officers and cookbook committee put in a lot of effort into making the final product. Starting in the fall, the officers and committee worked together to create the book. “The cookbook required a lot of organization and time commitment, as members and officers on the committee had to each take stacks of submitted recipes and type them up,” comments Gruet. Shohet adds that they typed the recipes themselves “because by doing so, we didn’t have to pay the extra fee to the cookbook company.”

Hundreds of students, teachers, and parents submitted their family recipes to the class cookbook, and the result was a good one. They have almost sold out of the first batch of 200 cookbooks, and they will order more come fall. To buy a cookbook, ask the class officers, the committee members, or the class advisors, Mr. Green and Ms. Buffum. Each cookbook is $10 each.

The Class of 2011 has really pushed the envelope this year with its creative fundraisers. The comedian show was an unprecedented success. Cookbooks appeal not only to students but also parents, so by reaching different demographics, the books have raised a good amount of money for the class. Finally, at the spaghetti dinner, people did not just enjoy good food; they got to bid for auction items too! With all the work that was put into planning these activities, the class officers have proved their dedication to benefiting their class. With all the success that has come from these events, the Class of 2011 is proving that it has worthy leaders ready come September to bring the seniors to victory.

Throughout the evening, CHC held many acts. The show included AB junior Charlie He raving and showing off his Rubix cube skills, sophomore Alex Hau playing the yang qing, a Chinese instrument, AB graduate Ashley Barcliff playing the guitar and singing some original songs as well as a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” junior Elliot Lee playing the violin, and junior Steven Robertson singing solo. If that was not enough, AB juniors Rachelle Vang, Tanyel Dirik, and Monica Zhao danced to the Korean song “Replay,” and the band No Soap Radio performed some of their songs. Even CHC’s own Gracia Lei sang a cover of Leona Lewis’s “Happy,” and sophomore Jason Pao performed his famous Chinese yo-yo stunts.
Snacks and drinks sold in the lobby. It is wonderful to be able to put together a talent show that exhibits student talent while donating money to charitable causes.

Children Helping Children raised almost $450 for those in Haiti affected by the earthquake. As the event came to a close, everyone celebrated in the main lobby of the Parker Damon building, congratulating the performers and talking to friends.

Children Helping Children’s Third Annual Talent Show was a success, and, along with the money fundraised from this year’s Poker Night, its proceeds will all go to help the families in need in Haiti. to everyone who attended!

The United States Academic Decathlon, often shortened to AcaDec, is one of the premier high school academic competitions in the United States. The ten-part competition consists of seven multiple-choice tests, a speech, an interview, and an essay. The nine team members are split into three divisions based on a modified unweighted GPA: Honors (3.75–4.0 GPA), Scholastic (3.00–3.74 GPA), and Varsity (0.00–2.99 GPA). Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded to the three highest scoring students in each event within a division.

Due to the Academic Decathlon team’s hard work and dedication, AB has placed first at the Massachusetts state competition for ten consecutive years, granting the team a well-earned trip to the National Championship. This year, the national competition took place in Omaha, Nebraska, though locales as exotic as Hawaii, Anchorage, and last year’s competition site of Memphis, Tennessee hosted past Championships.

At Nationals this year, AB did not do as well as it had in previous years, finishing in eighteenth place overall out of the thirty-six states and the United States Virgin Islands that were represented. However, the team members performed well individually.

Bhushan Deshpande finished first in mathematics, fourth in economics and the essay, and fifth in the Super Quiz event: history of the French Revolution. Michael Ren received a silver medal in science and placed fifth in economics. Michael Wu received both a gold medal in science as well as a bronze medal in mathematics. Tony Huo placed fifth in science and economics, and Martin Ma placed fifth in mathematics.

Diana Miao received as many medals as everyone else combined. She received a gold medal in economics and science and a bronze medal in music. She also received a bronze medal in Super Quiz, the first Super Quiz medal the team had ever received at the National level under the coaching of Mr. Crick, who had an enormous grin on his face for the rest of the events ceremony. Diana, as the highest scorer on the team, also received a scholarship for her work.

The trip did not end with the awards brunch on Saturday morning. Afterwards, the team drove up to a wildlife preserve, where they saw dozens of animals as well as someone almost getting gored by a bison. The team also visited the Strategic Air Command’s museum near Omaha, which has several dozen decommissioned fighter jets, bombers, and support planes on display in massive aircraft hangers. When the team returned to the hotel that night, everyone decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to go on their annual formal dinner, paid for by their coach. After waiting around for a while watching movies in formal attire, taking a walk around the convention center, and perhaps crashing a prom, the team headed off to a very nice Italian restaurant.

The following day, Mr. Crick and Mrs. Steeves decided to take the team back to the zoo, part of which they had seen part of with other teams after the competition on Friday evening, but not had a chance to fully appreciate. The team spent almost six hours at the Henry Doorly Zoo, where they saw orangutans, sea lions, pythons, and two bears wrestling each other, among many, many other animals.

Returning to their hotel armed with three stuffed animals as presents for Mr. Crick, the team revived a tradition of forcing Mr. Crick to watch bad movies with them, although oddly enough, the movie ended up being so terrible that the team eventually ended up watching the phenomenal The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Monday morning, the team awoke at 4:00 a.m., ready to depart back home. Unfortunately, the van driver was not so prepared, and the team had to acquire other means of transportation to get to the airport, making it on the plane just two minutes before the doors closed. After taking a much-needed day off from school on Monday to rest, the team returned to school on Tuesday, scrambling to study for AP exams but also wishing to be back in Omaha together. The AcaDec team loved its time in Omaha and looks forward to the 2011 National Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The English Senior Project class differs from normal English classes. Each senior starts the project process in the fall by beginning to develop an essential question that has to do with his or her chosen topic. The standard English IV curriculum is condensed into three terms, and the fourth term is devoted almost entirely to the senior projects. During the fourth quarter, the class only meets on Mondays. Individual students meet on a weekly basis with their teachers, either Ms. Lenington or Ms. Kuhn, to discuss their progress. The project offers seniors a chance to explore an area of personal interest, and the students put in an immense amount of work into their projects.

Seniors Nick Naraghi and Venkat Mathiyazhagan, who produced a music CD for their project, said that only a fraction of what they worked on made it into the final product. In total, Naraghi said that each song on their CD took between four and eight hours. Another senior, Julia Bellotti, took on the challenge of learning the violin. She spent months learning the basics and then worked towards perfecting her technique. Even though Bellotti said the project was “really challenging,” her views on the project as a whole are positive. “I had always wanted to play the violin, and now I have accomplished that dream!” she said.

Chris Altieri, who did his project on the effects of sports on culture, described the process as a “large time commitment” and a “test of your self-motivation…because the project is almost entirely self-driven.” This assignment necessitates initiative.

Each senior later presents his or her project in a twenty-minute presentation. All in all, the senior project showcase was a diverse grouping of projects that reflected the seniors’ interests and curiosity. “Students take a lot of pride in the evening,” says Ms. Kuhn. “It is hugely rewarding to see the projects resulting from the efforts of students pursuing their passions with creativity, self-discipline, newly developed research skills, and tremendous energy.”

On May 22, nearly 550 residents of Acton and Boxborough, adding up to 58 teams, set up camp at NARA Park draped with loose t-shirts in a variety of colors, tie-dyed and custom printed with team names and slogans, each design the product of an eager effort to stand out in the rainbow of team uniforms. The shirts are not the sole area into which students have put effort. Participants have spent hours fundraising by going door to door with baked goods, holding car washes, and asking for donations by e-mail. Sophomore Aneri Shah shares that her team “fundraised at the Boxborough dump, Roche Bros., and Donelan’s” together, offering much of their time to this worthy cause.

As usual, the Relay ceremony started with the Survivor’s Lap, where cancer survivors and caregivers both triumphantly took a lap around the pond at NARA, the former walking one way and the latter walking the opposite way. As the two groups met in the middle on the opposite side of the lake, the crowd applauded. Survivors of this terrible sickness were celebrated and were seen as inspiration for everyone present at Relay, because one of the main reasons to participate in Relay for Life is to increase the number of cancer survivors and lower the number of victims.

A few hours later, when the sky was just beginning to fade into darkness, the Fight Back ceremony brightened everyone’s spirits with an explosion of upbeat and inspirational music, complete with skillful beat boxing in the background. Relay organizer Gia Coratti and sophomore Shipra Arjun spoke to the crowd and reminded participants of why they were there: to fight back against the illness that claims too many loved ones every year. Afterwards, everyone was encouraged to sign the banner with a resolution, a personal commitment to take up the fight against cancer.

When night descended upon NARA, preparations for the Luminaria ceremony began. Little white paper bags were placed on the path around the park, spelling out the word “HOPE” on the grassy hillside above the beach. Each Luminaria bag had the name of someone who passed away at the hands of cancer and was weighed down inside with sand and a candle burning brightly to light the way of participants ABRHS’ own a capella group Downbeat sung a haunting song of remembrance, and then everyone took a lap in silence around the park to remember loved ones lost to cancer and to pay tribute to the taxing fights survivors have had to endure.

Though Relay’s purpose is to “celebrate, remember, and fight back,” it was also a chance to bond with team members and to have fun. Volleyball games were held on the sandy beach, a moonbounce was set up, and a live band was playing. Scary stories were told after nightfall, and team members took leisurely laps around NARA under the welcoming sunshine. As sophomore Allison Wang claims, “Relay is a great way to have fun with your friends and to support the fight against cancer at the same time.”

Relay for Life was a huge success. Each year, the event brings together those whose lives have been touched by this disease and those who want to lend a helping hand. The hopefuls raised over $117,000 with their time and energy. For many years now, Relayers have supplied cancer patients with the hope and strength to fight back against the life-threatening disease. This cause is a great for everyone and will continue for many years to come.

Junior Andrew Engber anxiously sat through his eighth period trigonometry class as he awaited the student election returns. “I was freaking out all math class,” recalls Engber. Then, five minutes before the 2:18 p.m. bell, the familiar voice of Lani DeRome echoed throughout the hallways as she announced the results. For Engber, this was a huge relief: he had been elected vice president of the senior class of 2011.

Engber was one of 48 students running this year for an elected position serving their respective class. These annual elections have been a long-time tradition at AB. Every spring, all students in good academic and behavioral standing may run for a student government position, whether it be class officer, representative to the Regional Student Advisory Council, School Committee representative, School Council representative, or Student Council representative. For those students yearning to become more involved in the school community, participating in student government allows them to take responsibility as leaders and have an impact on ABRHS. “[The elections] provide learning opportunities that will shape students well into the future,” remarks Kay Steeves, the Student and Faculty Support Coordinator. “The lessons learned through working with other students to accomplish goals, developing communication leadership skills, or even losing an election and figuring how to proceed are important life lessons.”

As the date of the student elections slowly approached, so began the campaigning. Posters adorned the walls of the hallways, and candidates blitzed their constituents with Facebook events and groups. “You really just have to get your name out there,” says junior Yang Liu, an elected Student Council member, “and show people you care.” But after all the online messaging and incessant e-mails reminding people to vote, the election can ultimately come down to one thing. “The speech,” Liu stresses, “is the most important part. It’s when you can address everyone in your grade.” Simply put, the speech in the election process is irreplaceable. Sophomore Janu Sonthi, the newly-elected vice president for the junior class of 2012, adds, “Giving a speech is really terrifying. I was shaking all over.”

Many get involved in the student government because they want to make an impact. “I honestly thought that I could make a difference,” says Sonthi. She continues, “I thought that I would be an asset to the officers and that I could bring new ideas and fundraisers to the table.” Likewise, junior Chris Pullerits, the secretary for the senior class of 2011, adds, “I knew I wanted to be a part of making [the incoming senior class’] last year at AB fun and successful.”

With the elections having passed, the newly elected officers can only look forward now to their upcoming year. Already, ideas are in the work for next year. “We are talking about doing a senior scavenger hunt,” says Engber. But all of these events are not possible without the support of the entire class. He firmly adds, “Really, we want to get people involved on committees to just build class spirit and unity.”

Without a doubt, the officers have their work cut out for them. “Being an officer is very time consuming,” Pullerits says, “but also very rewarding.” Indeed, it takes countless hours and an immense amount of planning to sustain an entire class. Still, students are eager to get involved and, as Liu puts it, “serve the school which has given so much to [them].” Lani DeRome, the principal’s assistant, offers her thoughts on the student elections: “Student elections at ABRHS have become more exciting and competitive in the past few years, and we are grateful for the thoughtful effort that all of the candidates put into their campaigns.”

As suggested by its name, Academic Decathlon consists of 10 different categories including art, economics, literature, mathematics, science, social science, and music. Each student also writes an essay, gives a speech, participates in an interview, and takes part in the Super Quiz. The events are all connected to an individual theme; this year’s theme is the French Revolution. In the fall, the AB Acadec Team had no problem qualifying for the state tournament, easily outscoring the other school’s teams. Since that time, the team prepared and studied for its competition in March.

The preparation for the tournament was a rigorous process in itself. The members of the team first competed against each other by taking tests to determine who would do the best at competition. In the end, the final scorers were senior Diana Miao, fellow senior Tony Huo, and sophomore Martin Ma in the Honors Division. Senior Bhushan Deshpande and juniors Michael Wu and Michael Ren were in the Scholastic Division. Juniors Yang Liu and Max Blankenship were in the Varsity Division. The three seniors had competed on the National team last year; all others were brand new to the team and Academic Decathlon.

The morning of the competition was filled with excitement. The team members awoke at 6:00 a.m., dressed in formal attire, and drove to the high school to assemble in front of team coach and English teacher Andrew Crick. Before getting on the bus to Ashland High School, Mr. Crick gave an enthusiastic speech, confidently declaring that he did not see how the team could possibly be beaten after the hard work that everyone put in. The bus ride to the competition was filled a sort of intense calm, as each team member quickly reviewed a small sample of the material that they would need to know for the upcoming tests.
After arriving at the high school, the team soon began testing, starting off with economics. Each of the objective tests was a half-hour long, with the last test, music, taking place after lunch. Normally, the essay, interview, and speech portions of the competition would have followed the music exam, but the state director had told everyone the week before that those three events would be canceled this round. After the dramatic Super Quiz round, where each team member answers five questions and is given just seven seconds apiece to do so, the final scores were tabulated and announced.

Each member of the team won at least one medal. Diana Miao scored first in the state for the Honors division, while Bhushan Deshpande scored first in the Scholastic division, both winning medals in six out of seven total subjects. Other members also received gold, silver, and bronze medals. Among these students were Michael Wu in science, Max Blankenship in math, and Yang Liu in art. However, the event culminated in the dubbing of the team as state champions. As senior Bhushan Deshpande put it, “Even though we all personally won many medals, we could agree that the best feelings came when we walked up together and received the first place trophy. The hard work that the entire team had put in since September finally paid off.”

Satisfied with their work, the team went out to celebrate. Even before the competition, the team had already planned to go out, showing the confidence that it already expected to win. The night itself was filled with laughs and odd stories, but most importantly, the team obtained a much-deserved break from its studies. “Agent Crick,” in such an exuberant mood after the victory, picked up the tab at dinner.

After winning the state competition, the team will moved on to the national stage in Omaha, Nebraska from April 21 to 24. The National Championship includes teams from nearly all fifty states in the nation and international schools from around the globe. AB has historically performed well at Nationals, consistently placing in the top 15. Being at the competition in Omaha was a great experience for the team.

On Wednesday, March 17, every seat in the auditorium was filled with eager AB students waiting to hear the recipient of the Robert Creeley award speak of his poetry, his travels, his experiences, and his inspirations. They were there not only to listen to the voice of an experienced, renowned man, but also to witness young, distinct voices emerge in the poetry of fellow high school students. They were there to listen to a dialogue that transcends prose; a dialogue that connects all walks of life – a dialogue shared between four Massachusetts students, a room full of high schoolers, and a man who has seen more of the world then the rest of us combined.

The Robert Creeley Foundation, established ten years ago, has honored poets nationwide, from its first recipient, Acton’s own Robert Creeley, to Sonia Sanchez last year, and now to Gary Snyder. English teacher Maria Anthony works with a committee of local scholars, community members, and students to bring poetry to high school students through readings at Acton-Boxborough, the Helen Creeley Prize competition, and the broadside project, which merges art with literature. Open to all high school students, the competition selects two young winners to share their poetry along side one of the most celebrated poets in the nation.
This year, Melanie Wang from Wayland and Andy Vo from Boston Latin had the honors of receiving the coveted Helen Creeley Prize for high school students, with Hopkinton’s Alice Beecher and AB’s own Wendy Chen as the runners-up. Their poetry, taking inspiration from loneliness to first love and from God to the cultural relationship between an immigrant mother and her daughter, riveted the audience. Many were unaware of the beautiful language in which their peers were capable of expressing themselves; the poems revealed the emerging styles of each poet. Sophomore Elana Richmond was excited that her creative writing classmate, Wendy Chen, was selected to share her work in front of more than a thousand students, commenting on her way of making “words flow like painting on canvas.” In contrast to Wendy’s use of imagery, she also enjoyed the “different flavor” of Andy Vo’s poetry, which was “more story or song-like.”
Finally, the stage was given to the great man himself. Snyder is more than a man with trophies to fill his shelves; he is a man cut from the outdoors, shaped by his love for mountain climbing, and molded by the miles he has walked on the earth.

Choosing poems about work and love, Snyder began by speaking about bucking hay at Yosemite National Park, where he found his inspirations for “Hay for the Horse.” Sharing a poem from his time working on an oil rig in the Persian Gulf, he addressed issues years ahead of the time, with the realization that “fossil fuel energy is a drug for society.” Years later, he traveled to an entirely different landscape, facing a wholly contrasting culture in Kyoto, Japan, where he studied Buddhism at a local temple for ten years. It was there that he dared to dabble in different styles of poetry influenced by his environment, and his poems became characterized by the tranquility he found in the temples. Some of his poetry took on a more youthful tone, like in his poem “The North Coast,” in which he conjures up nostalgic memories of having picnics and swimming on the beach during graduate school.

“Prose comes to me by flogging myself,” Snyder lightly noted. While discussing his visit to the Warm Springs Native American Reservation in Oregon, where poetry and prose were in equal use, he called poetry “the one outside of the fence… outrageous and beautiful. Poetry has to have music. And it has to have magic.”

Whether everyone enjoyed Snyder’s poetry and style, he certainly made an impression on AB. For English teacher Mark Deming, expectations were more than upheld. “Snyder is one of my favorite poets,” he says, “so it felt surreal to have him standing before me in our auditorium. It felt even more surreal when I got to ask him about my favorite poem and he explained in detail what he envisioned when he wrote it.” Junior Ryan Schumacher, thought the assembly was definitely “a unique experience with poetry,” and that expectations were fulfilled in unexpected ways. He adds, “It was far from what I expected.” Sophomore Sienna Valente-Blough was inspired to say, “I like how he started writing poetry because he had a passion for a part of life rather than just for love or from suffering.”

Snyder’s outlook on life resonated with the audience beyond the limited sixty minutes he spoke in the AB auditorium. Imparting powerful advice, he commented, “I like any place on earth that I find myself, because I face life with excessive curiosity and an open mind. There are veils within veils and depths beyond depths. I’ve been having dinner with my neighbors for 40 years, and I’m still beginning to get to know them.”