Shenanigans Embracing the change

Author: Alex Garlick

The last couple of miles of the drive on Route 7 into Middlebury have never been more enjoyable for me than this year. The warm sun was shining on my face as the wind whistled through the open windows, bringing in the slightest stench of cow manure indicating Middlebury's proximity. But this fall was different because I was driving towards my senior year, which after a spring studying abroad in Europe and a summer at home in Massachusetts, was a welcome destination. (Let me get this out of the way first: I am a Feb, so currently this fall is the second half of my third academic year, but for everyone's sake, I will refer to my '08.5 classmates and myself as seniors.)

Upon arriving on campus, I was struck by how it has changed since the Class of 2008 started here in 2004. There have been structural changes with Atwater Dining Hall, the Axinn Center and the new Environmental Studies building opening their doors. Even the administration is unrecognizable from the McCardell regime. Most notably however, there are lots of freshmen, or shall I say "first-years," running around.

Moreover, these aren't just your regular 13th graders. From what I gather I think they have average SATs of something like 2300. That alone makes me feel old. When I was an incoming freshman our SATs were counted out of a mere 1600.

Just as amazing is how much the world outside of Middlebury has changed since the fall of 2004.

In international politics, there's a new president in France, a new prime minister in the U.K. and a new whatever they have in Canada.

In the celebrity world of 2004, Britney Spears was hot, Christina Aguilera was trashy and Lindsay Lohan was respectable.

On Capitol Hill there's a woman presiding over the House of Representatives, and on the 2008 campaign trail Democrats are seriously mulling for the first time in the party's history nominating an African-American or a woman.

Even our fine state of Vermont is represented by a Socialist in the Senate and there are rumblings of secession that haven't been heard since the ill-fated attempt of the Confederate States in 1860.

But then again I'm struck by a line from Paul Simon: "After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same." There may be cosmetic differences, but true progress is not evident.

Just like in 2004, our country is mired in a conflict in Iraq, one that has just recently shown signs of having an end in sight.

We have over a dozen declared presidential candidates vying for the nomination of their respective parties, but not a single one has truly been able to inspire the populous (Sound familiar? John Kerry?) Regardless of the nominees, we are most likely heading towards a general election that produces nothing by a split Electoral College, and many talking heads shouting about how our nation is divided by Red States and Blue States.

On Capitol Hill, the Democratic Party blew its opponents out of the water in last fall's mid-term elections, but since assuming power has had as much of an impact as Xanadu has on the Middlebury social scene.

Even on the world stage, the European Union is moving sideways at best in its effort to ratify a constitution and Canada hasÖ lost a baseball team.

Even Middlebury, with all its aesthetic improvements, still has the habit of decorating new buildings with public art that isÖ wellÖ (I'm going to actually refrain from trashing the public art, that's just clichÈ.)

So for you seniors out there, before you comment on how outrageous the first-year class is, see if you can recognize a little of your first-year experience in their actions, and imagine what your score would have been in this juiced ball era of standardized testing.

Alex Garlick '08.5 is from Boston, Mass.