Network Amherst: The Lehrer Report

By Phyllis Lehrer

Published on October 02, 2009

Bob and Jackie Tuthill of Amherst sent a card from Amherst, S.D., the last of the four midwest Amhersts they were visiting. In Wisconsin, they were greeted by local dignitaries. They found one Amherst that had a closed general store and nothing much else and one with a thriving shipping center.

Barbara and Gordon Freed of Amherst sent a card of the old city wall in Jerusalem where they volunteered at the Trudi Berger Dental Clinic that treats poor Jewish, Arab and immigrant children.

* * *

October birthdays: Steve Puffer, Anne Clark, Gladys Ambrose, Keith Dragon, Rosemary Kofler, Mamie Ciotti, Tony Gawienowski, Jonathan Salvon, Mary Hough, Scott Hill, Eleanor Reid, Gertrude Laurin, Charles Drake, Josephine Davidson, Randall Dettmers, Cory Doubleday, Todd Downey, Yaseen Elghorfi, Daniel Emerson, Jane Farrington, Bert Fernandez, Mary Chutkowski, Richard Ferro, Andrea Fitzpatrick, Dianne Gallo, Blaine Garson, Lucy Gertz, Julio Guarcax Cuc, Robin Harrington, John Hersey, Gerald Joseph, Jaana Cutson, Christie Rosen, Robert Mack, Hana Rivkin, Matthew Sadof, Carol Magoon, Susan Reisman, Madeline Campbell, Orca Giarrusso, Jagtar Singh, Marla Solomon, Donald George.

* * *

Area young people named to first honors on the dean's list at Clark University in Worcester include: Phoebe Cape, the daughter of Tony and Mary Tibbetts-Cape of Paige Street in Amherst; Laura Faulkner of Amherst; Madeleine Henefield, the daughter of Holland Hoagland of Packardville Road in Pelham and Joe Henefield of Amherst; Kaitlyn Sephton, the daughter of Graeme and Helen Sephton of Wendell Road in Shutesbury; Margaret Broad, the daughter of Michael Broad and Rita Farrell of Briggs Road in Shutesbury; and Hannah Perlmutter, the daughter of Dave Perlmutter and Colleen Kelley of Wendell Road in Shutesbury.

* * *

Natalya Weinstein, daughter of Janine Roberts and Jerry Weinstein of Putney Road in Leverett, was recently in town to play fiddle at her mother's party to launch her poetry book, "The Body Alters." Tracks from the latest album Natalya recorded, "This Piece of Ground," can be heard at iTunes music store.

* * *

ARHS junior Liza Morse, the daughter of Alice and Richard Morse of Mount Holyoke Drive in Amherst, is the second ARHS student in 10 years to spend a semester at The Island School in the Bahamas. She was selected from 250 others for her spot and garnered a substantial scholarship in order to attend, according to an email from her mother. The program, founded by a Navy Seal and an educator from The Lawrenceville School, has a big sustainable living and community service component. In the first weekly phone call Liza said that thanks to being "a country girl," she is adapting to the bugs as well as the challenges of sustainable and outdoor living better than some of her city-reared classmates. Academics are rigorous. There is not a single class that is taught in the traditional manner. For example, trigonometry lessons come by way of using a sextant out on the beach for celestial navigation.

Alice Morse said she wants the school to get more publicity. "I think the kids from the Pioneer Valley have some unique perspectives and experiences to bring to the program and would get a lot in return," she wrote.