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M SPRING 2016 PEARLS AND SEAWEED NUMBER 53 Let the daily tide leave some deposit on these pages, as it leaves Garden Hill Fund Recipient: Megan Shutzer s05 sand and shells on the shore...This may be a calendar of the ebbs and flows of the soul; and on these sheets as a Documenting Social Change beach, the waves may cast up pearls and seaweed. By Gemma Sack s16 –Henry David Thoreau hen Megan Shutzer s05 attended the Mountain School, Shutzer’s project received funding in Spring 2015, and her screen- Wshe saw a documentary called “Ghosts of Rwanda,” which ings and clinics in Zanzibar sparked debate, changed minds, and sparked her interest in global citizenship and fi lm as a catalyst for empowered women. change. Years later, she set out to make her own documentary, “New Generation Queens: a Zanzibar soccer story,” which follows At one particular screening in the town of Paje, Shutzer and Zanzibar’s only women’s soccer team and explores the culture and Ohama witnessed change fi rsthand. The village chief of Paje had history of women’s soccer in Zanzibar. refused to let Shutzer set up a soccer clinic in his village because he believed that women’s soccer is immoral. After the screening in Shutzer played soccer in high school and has continued ever since. Paje, there was a heated debate in the audience about the morality When she was working in East Africa, setting up a study abroad of women’s soccer. Many adult males in the crowd were adamant program for the Harvard Summer School in Zanzibar, she noticed that they would never let their daughters play soccer, while others that, though most men played, many people viewed women’s soc- defended the girls who play. And when the conversation came to cer as immoral due to cultural gender norms. For the women who an end, the village chief rose to have the last word. In front of a did play, soccer was very em- hushed crowd he stated, “Soccer powering, as it had been for her is a sport and religion is some- in high school. thing inside of you,” and then welcomed the women’s team and Although Shutzer had no for- fi lm crew to return the next day mal fi lm training, her interest in for a girls soccer clinic. Though documentaries and international Shutzer doesn’t expect every- issues inspired her to make a fi lm one’s opinions to change as dra- about the women’s soccer team. matically and quickly as that par- Recognizing that Muslim Afri- ticular chief’s, the experience was can women are rarely allowed to gratifying and an outcome of the tell their own stories in the me- garden hill grant that she is most dia, she wanted her fi lm to focus proud of witnessing. on the subjects’ own perspectives and voices. They (and she) hoped After traveling in Zanzibar, the documentary would expand New Generation Queens: Shutzer and Ohama came to the the women’s soccer movement in Zan- A Zanzibar Soccer Story Mountain School in Fall 2015 to show zibar. the fi lm to current students. One of the students cried after seeing the movie because she was so moved by Shutzer spent one month fi lming while she was in graduate school, the women on the Zanzibar soccer team who were overcoming so one year translating the footage from Swahili, and one year edit- much to make change in their communities. ing with Corey Ohama f84. After fi nding Ohama, a professional editor, through a shared connection on linkedin (Marilyn Covey!), Shutzer continues to screen “New Generation Queens” in schools Shutzer reached out for help completing the fi lm. and fi lm festivals across America and in various communities abroad (most recently in Sudan, where she hopes the fi lm will One of the soccer team’s (and Shutzer’s) priorities was to screen empower women there who face similar challenges to the girls the fi lm in Zanzibar to show other girls that they could be Muslims in Zanzibar). She now lives in San Francisco and works for an and soccer players at the same time. With this goal in mind, she ap- international development consulting fi rm. She still recalls how plied for a grant from the Garden Hill Fund to travel with Ohama engaged everyone at the Mountain School was, and that desire to to screen her documentary and to offer soccer clinics for women. be conscientious citizens informs the work she does to this day. 1 Letter from the Director The First Week By Alden Smith The opening days of the Mountain School can be more brutal for together and chatted. You felt bad for him afterwards because you some students than we like to admit. In the essay below, Director Alden didn’t reveal a thing, and he’d tried so hard to get you to talk. Smith imagines the fi rst week from the point of view of an anxious student. His English class read an early draft of the piece and suggested On Thursday you wrote in your English journal mostly about gathering edits. The voice borrows from Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Your Life as a Girl,” eggs from the chickens and just a little bit about feeling alienated, and an essay in our English anthology. in the wrong body. You were proud of the chicken part because you hadn’t missed your chore once or cracked an egg. One of the farmers ou had a panic attack the fi rst day of Mountain School. You even said you might have a future in farming. You couldn’t tell if she Ywere on Garden Hill and there were trees as far as you could was serious. see. It was cold and beautiful and terrifying, and you wanted no part of it. You walked toward the dining hall with some other kids, trying Your English teacher read aloud an excerpt from everyone’s journal to breathe. You pulled your hood over your head to hide the tears. during Friday English class. You expected him to read about chickens, Nobody noticed, thank God, not even your roommate. She was busy but he only shared the feelings part of your journal. You looked down, talking and laughing with the others. She knew everybody’s name. felt yourself go red, and you knew everyone was looking at you. Two other students wrote about sad things too. One classmate’s father had You fi nally smiled for real at supper that night. The Spanish teacher’s died earlier that year, and you wondered who it was. kids were sitting at your table making faces. You made faces back. The teacher said you had a way with kids. After the meal, you went Saturday evening some kids hosted an improv activity. They were to your dorm to organize your room and ended up reading notes that funny. You only had to participate once. Afterwards, a big group former students had scrawled in your desk drawers. You are so lucky. headed to Garden Hill. You almost joined them but opened your Don’t worry if it’s hard at fi rst. Cherish every moment of this place. laptop instead and saw that your best friend had fi nally broken up with Your roommate walked in and you went to use the phone. You didn’t her girlfriend. You should have called her, but instead you scrolled call anybody, just cried a few minutes in the phone closet before through the rest of your facebook feed. People seemed to be wearing walking back to the library. more makeup than usual. You laughed at your mom’s video of the dog and cringed at your uncle’s comment about your little sister’s new Monday you learned that everyone was a genius. Your math teacher profi le picture. Half an hour passed and you realized it was too late to asked you and a partner to roll a can down a ramp and calculate its go to Garden Hill. velocity at a given point. She praised your work, even though your partner pretty much did it all. After history class, you looked up the That night your roommate told you the stars from Garden Hill were word “hegemony” because a kid from New York had used it twice amazing. She said everyone was lying in the snow together, and her during the discussion. In Environmental Science, the teacher said head was resting on some guy’s stomach. You started crying and your something that blew your mind, but when you called your mom that roommate hugged you. You didn’t even know what was wrong. You night, you couldn’t remember what it was. You told her instead about had walked back to the dorm on your own, shuffl ing along the dark your humiliation during supper when your English teacher had to road, the stars guiding your way. You were confused thinking about remind you to sit at the dish crew table. it now—the walk had been lonesome and peaceful. Your roommate didn’t ask you to explain. You both just sat there, listening to Taylor Tuesday afternoon you had wood crew. You learned you weren’t so Swift. Later, she told you about her aunt’s cancer. bad with an axe. You were paired with this hilarious kid Sam. He could hardly hold the axe and talked nonstop. Your cheeks hurt from You woke up early on Sunday and ended up in the kitchen. One of the laughing.

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