The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Courtesy The stud of Midd Confessional loves a Hawaiian-themed gala. [Click to enlarge]

If you have been frequenting www.middleburyconfessional.com since the controversial Web site went live last week, you have probably had at least a few good laughs. You might also be grappling with certain important questions regarding the darker, more vicious elements at work on our seemingly cordial campus. Still, despite these weighty concerns about our sensitivity as a community toward issues like cheating and diversity, one query has pretty much superseded the rest in the mind of the casual confessor - who is Kyle Howard, and how do we separate the man from the myths?

"It's all true," Howard, a San Francisco, C.A.-native, joked over dinner at Ross Dining Hall. "I think it got started because I have this habit of answering every question with the word 'party.' I should warn you that you're probably not going to get very far with this interview."

Indeed, Howard's cyber-celebrity was originally borne of the thread naming the "Biggest Party Animals" at the College, though his name immediately began to pop up in almost every other context imaginable. "Kyle Howard played Beirut on a 1000 ft. table with Yahweh and won." "An asteroid didn't wipe out the dinosaurs - Kyle Howard did." "Kyle Howard makes mean backcountry pizza." And, as part of a deleted conversation about attractive non-white students, "Kyle Howard's mom is one-eighth African." (Howard maintained that he is at least as African as Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film "Blood Diamond.")

The identity of the phenomenon's instigator is unconfirmed, though sources close to Howard believe the perpetrator is none other than "Bob Dylan kid" himself (real name - Matt Shandorf '10). Howard, for his part, is taking it all in stride - he noted that his friends have always seemed to get a rise out of messing with him and that he is "happy to be along for the ride."

Thus far, his newfound notoriety has been treating him well. One of Howard's professors, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Film and Media Culture Jason Mittell, recently engaged Howard and classmate Steve McCombe '10 - the prolific "I'M A DINOSAUR" poster - in a lively verbal contest. Howard has also witnessed a dramatic swell in the ranks of his female admirers.

Continued...

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