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(03/12/20 10:00am)
“100 Times” is a compilation of autobiographical vignettes in which the author tells of the many times she has been sexually harassed, assaulted and/or discriminated against from the time of her childhood and up until her mid-thirties. The author is a white, queer woman who is based in Brooklyn and she also spent time growing up in the Midwest. The truth is that the stories are shocking, disconcerting and terribly familiar all at once. Unfortunately, they do not strike me as “out of the ordinary” and likely wouldn’t strike many American women as anomalous. For the record, I’m not proud of this assessment. I’m not proud to live in a society that desensitizes me to sexual harassment, assault and discrimination due to their prevalence, and I imagine this is one of the reasons this book exists: to shake us awake, causing us to recognize, evaluate and interrogate what we have accepted as “normal.”
The work is invaluable as it highlights the multitude of unwelcome and unfair behavior women are socialized to tolerate and endure. It also raises questions regarding public violation of bodily autonomy and personal space. It features moments of gaslighting and the relentless testing of boundaries many women encounter as they assert themselves in interactions with men. In her youth, for example, adults told Woods that boys’ violence towards her was reflective of their interest in her. She recounts experiences in which her expressed disinterest in a man’s sexual advances seem to embolden their pursuits, as though her “no” is not the end of the conversation, but rather the beginning of a negotiation. She has also been iced out of professional enrichment/development opportunities because she is perceived as a threat or a liability on the sole basis of her sex.
I’d recommend this work to any woman who has been admonished for turning down a man’s interest in her — “Go easy on him” — who has been chastised regarding her clothing choices — “She was asking for it” — who has been catcalled in the streets — “It was a compliment! What’s your problem?” — or who has had an appropriately angry reaction to someone disrespecting limits she has clearly set. I’d also recommend it to all men, especially those who liberally use the phrases “It was just a joke,” “I was just kidding around” and/or “Don’t take it so seriously.” Also to any man who has ever uttered the phrase, “You’re not that cute anyway” in an attempt to shake a woman’s confidence following her rejection of his advances.
Readers should know that the book includes retellings of attempted rape, aggravated assault and nonconsensual drugging (i.e., roofie-ing) and I wouldn’t recommend the work to anyone who may be triggered by these themes. Another work in our collection that features autobiographical stories from women who have been sexually vicitimized is “Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture,” edited by Roxane Gay. If the book could grant me one wish, it would be a cursory roadmap that would tell us how to build toward better. But it’s not the victim’s responsibility to also provide the solution.
(03/05/20 11:00am)
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(02/20/20 11:32am)
(01/23/20 11:04am)
InspirASIANal Voices, a storytelling event arranged by the student organization RAISINS (Radical Asians), kicked off with the following question: “What is your first memory of a circle?” Club members distributed paper and markers to the audience members, who anonymously penned their answers. The answers were read periodically over the duration of the event and varied considerably. Some were inspired by family memories, some were connected to the mathematical definition of circle and some pertained to the idea of social circles. This activity introduced the theme of the event: the many connotations of the word “circle.”
The event on Thursday, Jan. 16 was the fifth annual InspirASIANal Voices hosted by RAISINS, a student organization that focuses on “raising Asian and Asian diaspora voices on campus for more visibility and doing activism work through that,” according to Stephen Chen ’19.5. The club operates through horizontal leadership, highlighting the voices of all club members rather than electing a single leader.
The first storyteller to speak was Pim Singhatiraj ’21.5, who began by reading a few poems that she wrote about “her childhood, her trilingualism and her bi-cultural identity.” Next, she told a story about bonding with her four queer aunts last summer while visiting her hometown: the island of Phuket, Thailand. Her story related to the theme of the event in that Singhatiraj felt she had gained a “circle of cool aunts to spend time with.”
Singhatiraj became interested in RAISINS after attending last year’s InspirASIANal Voices event. She has been involved with the organization ever since. “RAISINS helped me find my Asian community and makes me feel like I belong on this campus,” she said.
Rachel Lu ’23 spoke next, conveying the story of her name. She first explained the origin of her birth name, which came from a psychic who predicts which Chinese characters bestow the best fortune. Next, she spoke about a name she chose for herself in second grade after transferring to an international school in Shanghai. Ultimately, she showed how she came upon the name she now goes by, which she and her parents selected by the time she first attended high school in the United States.
“I think of all three names that I have as three circles that don’t fit together, and circles can be boundaries. You’re either in the circle or you’re not,” Lu said. “But when you really think about it, maybe my life is a Venn diagram, and I’m just in the middle.”
Stephen Chen ’19.5 opened by reading the Serenity Prayer and talking about his Christian faith. His story revolved around relinquishing control and passing along leadership knowledge. Themes of accountability and the power of verbalizing one’s thoughts to others also surfaced, with the ultimate lesson being that vocal expression connects the speaker with the audience.
“The circle that you’ve selected to be around you knows how to support you,” Chen said. “Announcing your goals allows other people to enter into your own circle, into what you previously had a tight control over.”
Christine Nabung ’22 performed last, reading four poems that she wrote. The first two were about her grandmothers, one of whom lives with her and the other who lives in the Philippines, where she was born. She addressed her grandmothers’ histories with colonization as well as the inability to digitally contact her grandparents in the Philippines.
Last year, club members collaborated to create a zine titled “The Asian and Asian-American Sexual Experience.” The organization also works to connect students and professors from similar cultural backgrounds. According to member Jasmine Chau ’21, this year, the club has also been working on amassing stories from Middlebury’s Asian residents, culminating in a podcast that will be uploaded to their Instagram account.
(12/05/19 11:01am)
If you’re interested in Fidel Castro’s Cuba of the 1960s, this graphic memoir is the work for you. It covers an era and a culture in which some communist believers willfully exiled themselves to the Caribbean isle to pursue this political ideology. The author is Anna Vetfort and her parents were two of these people who became expatriates there.
Anna’s fair complexion causes her to stand out among the Cubans and she is subject to sexual harassment. These verbal assaults are injurious and disorienting as she maps out her own queer identity in a place and during a time where being a “tortillera” (a word for “lesbian”) was treated punitively. Veltfort participates in government-sponsored labor camps and pursues studies at the University of Havana where she encounters other students from the LGBT community who must live their lives clandestinely. With photographs and other documents from the era accompanying the narrative, readers get a real sense of the times, the political tensions and the socioeconomic scarcity created by rations and quotas. The text can be a bit heavy for a graphic work, but the educational opportunity is nonetheless rich.
For more about the figures that shaped Cuba, see Walter Salles’ film “The Motorcycle Diaries” that covers Che Guevara’s life. For another graphic memoir on navigating queer identity, see “My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness” by Kabi Nagata.
(12/05/19 10:52am)
As a geology professor at Middlebury College, I am proud to be involved with the “Energy2028” initiative, which seeks to switch entirely to renewable energy and reduce overall energy consumption at the college by 25%. A major part of reaching 100% renewable energy is the 5 MW solar array being developed by Encore Renewables on ~28 acres of college land located between South Street Extension and Route 30. The originally proposed site was nearly perfect, situated in a broad valley about a half mile southwest of the road. With mature trees to the east and west, the vast tract of steel and silicon would have been well hidden from all angles. I was pleased with the initial site when I visited it two months ago. Unfortunately, subsequent engineering tests revealed that the area contains shallow bedrock and some wetlands that would require additional engineering work, thus driving up the cost of the project. As a result, Encore is now seeking to move the project eastward, to a site with zero natural shielding and entirely unobstructed sightlines from South Street Extension. Thus our beloved Energy2028 has arrived at what is becoming, for environmentalists, an all-too-familiar conflict — pitting Vermont’s stunning natural aesthetic against the footprint of renewable energy that we so desperately need to fight climate change.
In my opinion, the new site adjacent to South Street Extension is NOT appropriate for a 28-acre solar array. When you drive, run or bike around the area, the landscape takes your breath away. Broad fields stretch to the horizon, dotted with trees and marsh grasses glowing gold under the low sun of a November afternoon. This working agricultural landscape is a nearly 200 year-old historic relic; too large to fit in the Sheldon Museum alongside the linens and rocking chairs, but worthy of preservation nonetheless. Until now these lands have been preserved due to Middlebury College’s remarkable legacy of land stewardship, which began with the vision of Joseph Battell. Battell understood the aesthetic value of landscapes and was not afraid to put real money behind them as he amassed and protected land in the late 1800s before donating vast tracts to the college. He famously said: “Some folks pay $10,000 for a painting and hang it on the wall where their friends can see it, while I buy a whole mountain for that much money and it is hung up by nature where everybody can see it and it is infinitely more handsome than any picture ever painted.” A desire to preserve beautiful landscapes can be more than NIMBYism; instead, it is a recognition that natural aesthetic beauty has value and is worth preserving.
I thus urge the college and town to use their considerable leverage and persuade Encore renewables to build either on the originally proposed site, or a comparably shielded one. They should ask Encore for a detailed financial analysis showing the difference in cost between the two sites. Even a cost well into the six figures would be a relatively small amount of money when amortized over the minimum 25-year lifespan of this multi-million dollar solar array. Although the 28 acres in question could theoretically be returned to pasture in 25 years after the first set of solar panels wears out, it seems more likely that we are constructing a permanent power station that will take one more slice of aesthetic beauty away from our children and grandchildren. Without fighting for responsible land planning, the beautiful landscape that we all value will evolve slowly towards the sprawling suburban development that characterizes other parts of the state and country. Instead, let us accept the extra cost to do this project right and create a legacy (and landscape!) we can be proud of. I am guessing Joseph Battell would consider it money well spent.
Will Amidon is a geology professor at Middlebury.
(11/21/19 11:20am)
Field hockey is headed to its 11th final four
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Second-ranked field hockey triumphed in NCAA regionals after scoring wins against Babson College and Kean University in the first and second rounds, respectively.
The team will advance to the NCAA tournament’s Final Four where it will face off against third-ranked Salisbury on Saturday, Nov. 24 in Manheim, Pennsylvania. Should field hockey win the semifinal and championship matchups, the program will earn its third straight title.
The blue and white’s 2–1 victory against Babson proved to be a close battle. While Babson tallied the first goal six minutes into the first period, the Panthers responded with two unanswered goals in the second, thanks to shots by Erin Nicholas ’21 and Julia Richards ’20. Richards was assisted by Marissa Baker ’20. For the rest of the game, the score remained unchanged.
The Panthers then dominated their following matchup against Kean with a convincing 4–1 victory. Katie George ’23, Meg Fearey ’22 and Baker all posted goals within the first ten minutes of the first period and Emma Johns ’20 extended the Panthers’ lead to 4-0 in the third. Kean, however, managed to strike back four minutes later, settling the score to 4–1.
On Nov. 24, the Panthers will journey into the Final Four with an incredibly talented roster and head coach. Midfielder Erin Nicholas captured her second-consecutive NESCAC Player of the Year Honors prior to the Babson game. Having also won Rookie of the Year for the 2017 season, Nicholas becomes the first NESCAC player to win Rookie of the Year and then back-to-back Player of the Year honors.
Nicholas also earned NESCAC first-team honors along with Baker, while Isabel Chandler ’21 and Katie George gained second-team honors. George was named conference Rookie of the Year and Head Coach Katherine DeLorenzo took NESCAC Coach of the Year.
XC logs solid performance at NCAA Regionals
BY JORDAN HOWELL
The Panthers had the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16. The women were able to capture fifth place while the men picked up sixth.
The top finisher for the women was Talia Ruxin ’20. She was able to come in 22nd place with a time of 22:07.02. Not too far behind her was Meg Wilson ’20 who captured 25th place with a time of 22:16.22. Another top finisher was Cassie Kearney ’22 whose time of 22:19.60 netted her 27th place.
Theo Henderson ’20 led the men with a fourth place time of 24:59.12. Next up was Henry Fleming ’20 in 25th place with a time of 25:34.06. Connor Montgomery secured 40th place with a time of 25:56.47.
Both the women and the men received bids to compete in the NCAA Championships and they will be racing on Saturday, Nov. 23. If the Panthers show up with the same energy and determination that they have demonstrated all season, they will be a tough pack to beat.
Men’s soccer falls in penalty kicks
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Men’s Soccer fell in its NCAA regional final matchup against 12th-ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) after three overtimes and a 5–3 penalty-kick thriller. Both sides played excellent defense during regulation, considering that neither the Panthers nor the Engineers scored during regulation. RPI, however, carried the upper-hand in shots, having attempted 16 compared to Middlebury’s nine.
Ben Potter ’20, Kiernan Bhave ’20 and Shams Mohajerani ’20 each connected with the back of the net for the first three rounds of penalty kicks, matching the Engineers 3–3. RPI’s Michael Harten gave then Engineers the advantage, 4–3, when his shot landed successfully. Liam Sloane’s ’22 subsequent kick was blocked and when RPI’s Paul Silva scored to set the penalty-kick tally to 5–3, the match was decided.
The elimination comes after the Panthers defeated Johnson and Wales University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 2–0.
Women’s soccer eliminated in NCAAs
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Women’s soccer had its season cut short this past weekend with a heartbreaking loss to Stevens in the round of 32. Middlebury advanced to this second round of play after shutting out the University of New England 2–0 at home on Saturday, Nov. 16.
The conditions were tough for the Vermonters on Saturday when they were forced to compete in single digit weather to kick off NCAA tournament play. With a scoreless game with 18 seconds to go in the first half, senior veterans Olivia Miller and Virginia Charman showed their experience when the duo found a way to get past the UNE defense. Miller picked up her eighth assist of the season as Charman awarded Middlebury its first goal.
Despite creating numerous opportunities, it took Middlebury 30 minutes into the second half to bring their total to two. Eliza Robinson ’21 found the left goal post to solidify her team’s win. The hosts’ 10 shots on goal to the visitor’s zero shows the way in which Middlebury dominated the field.
Sunday’s contest was the true test. With Stevens’ 17–3–1 record and 14 game winning streak, the Panthers knew it was going to be a battle. In just the first few minutes, the Ducks got themselves on the board with an impressive shot by Gianna Nitti ’22 on a direct kick.
The game held a score of 1–0 until well into the second half. Once again, Robinson showed up with a well-placed slap to the left post to tie the game. With about 15 minutes left on the clock, Middlebury suffered some bad luck. A shot from Stevens bounced off of a Panther defender and found its way into the goal.
Middlebury seemed to dictate play with its 11 shots on goal compared to Stevens’ three, but just did not have the same luck. The Panthers say goodbye to six seniors, who contributed greatly to the team’s overall successful 2019 year. Among the seniors, Virginia Charman and Ursula Ulwang ’20 were recently selected as First-Team All-NESCAC Honorees.
Fortunately, the Panthers will return plenty of talent next year, when they return First-Team Selections Isabelle Hartnett ’21 and Gretchen McGrath ’21, and Second-Team Selectee Simone Ameer ’22.
(11/14/19 11:29am)
UNDEFEATED FOOTBALL MAKES HISTORY, WINS ‘CAC CROWN
BY LAUREN BOYD
The Middlebury football team made history this past weekend, becoming the first NESCAC team to go 9-0 during conference play. With this historic achievement, the Panthers also secured a solo NESCAC title after defeating Tufts 31-24 on Saturday, Nov. 9.
The Panthers started off their final game of the season with a 7-0 lead, as QB Will Jernigan ’21 drove the ball into the end-zone. Their lead didn’t last long, as Tufts was able to respond quickly, tying up the game by the end of the first quarter.
Maxim Bochman ’20 and Jernigan led Middlebury down the field on the next drive, culminating in a touchdown pass between the two Panthers. Up 14-7 for some time, the Panthers capitalized on two interceptions (Finn Muldoon ’23 and Kevin Hartley ’20) with a Carter Massengill ’20 field goal. Going into the half, Middlebury topped the Jumbos 17-7.
Returning from halftime, the Panthers were calm and collected, which propelled them throughout the rest of the game. Jernigan and Bochman put the next touchdown on the board, with another touchdown pass for the score. The Jumbos answered with a touchdown of their own, but couldn’t defend a response from the Panthers. Middlebury upped the score to 31–14 with a touchdown run from RB Alex Maldjian ’23.
Although Tufts was able to score another 10 points, the contest ended with a Panther win and NESCAC title. Family, friends, alumni and fans made the trek to Tufts to watch the historic event, as the Panthers acquired their fourth overall NESCAC title and first solo title since 2007.
FIELD HOCKEY WINS THIRD STRAIGHT NESCAC TITLE
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Field hockey snatched the NESCAC title in an overtime thriller against Tufts on Sunday, Nov. 10. The victory marked the Panthers’ third-straight conference championship and illustrated Coach DeLorenzo’s hugely successful run in the past several years. Since the 2017 season, field hockey has accumulated a 58–4 record and earned two national championships. The team seeks to pick up its third-straight national championship once it embarks upon the NCAA tournament. The Panthers’ first matchup will be against the winner of Babson/St. Joseph’s (Maine) on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 11:00 a.m. and will be played at Kohn Field.
Last Sunday’s close battle saw no team scoring in the first quarter. The Panthers eventually struck first one minute into the second quarter, thanks to a goal by Emma Johns ’20 and an assist by Erin Nicholas ’21. Momentum quickly swung in Tufts’ favor, however, once they tallied two unanswered goals in the second and third quarters. Middlebury then managed to tie the game with eight minutes left in regulation with a goal by Katie George ’23. The match headed to overtime and captain Marissa Baker ’20 buried a rebound shot into the opposing net with four seconds left in overtime.
Ali Denby ’20 was awarded NESCAC Player of the Week for her grit on defense.
“We played with a lot of heart and energy [on Sunday],” Nicholas said, when asked about what contributed to their championship victory. “Everyone was determined to win and this was demonstrated both on the field and on the sidelines.”
More work, however, still lies ahead for the Panthers.
“To prepare for regionals we want to build off of the momentum from the Tufts game,” Nicholas said. “We learned a lot about our strengths and weaknesses as a team and we want to use these lessons to help guide our practices in the following weeks.”
Men's soccer edged in NESCAC championship, will enter NCAA tournament
BY ERIK ARDVIDSSON
Heading into the postseason with just two regular season losses, the men’s soccer team believed that they’d be difficult to eliminate. Their play backed up their confidence; in the NESCAC semifinals, they took down Amherst, the first-ranked team in the country. The following day, Middlebury faced defending national champion Tufts for a shot at the NESCAC title. Tufts would score a heartbreaking last minute goal to prevail over the Panthers, 2-1.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Panthers learned that their season would be extended when they received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Panthers will travel to Troy, N.Y. to face Johnson and Wales University. After two years of first-round exists, the boys are ready for vengeance.
“I think the key for the game this weekend is to take advantage of opportunities when we are wide open in front of the net,” Jake Labranche ’21 said. “To do that, we just need to shoot the ball, and hope it goes in the goal.”
Volleyball fights in NESCAC play, finishes in semi finals
BY HEATHER BOEHM
The Panthers gave it their all this weekend during post-season play. On Friday, Nov. 8, the women overcame Amherst in a thrilling five-setter before ultimately falling the next day to Tufts to end their run.
After losing in straight sets last time around to Amherst, the Middlebury women knew they had to come in and make a statement- and that is what they did. The Panthers started the match off on their terms, denying a chance to be shoved around by Amherst with a 25-17 first set. The Mammoths found a way to rebound in the second and knotted the game at one set a piece. The following two sets mirrored the first two, and the teams would fight for a chance to keep their season alive in a fifth-set tiebreaker. The score was neck and neck until Laney Sullivan ’23 capitalized on a Mammoth error and brought her team to the NESCAC semifinals with a 16-14 finish.
The Panthers were ready to give the top team in the conference a run for its money after coming off of a big win the day before. Tufts’ early runs defined the rest of the match, with a little help from a home court advantage. The Panthers had a hard time narrowing the large margins and finding their stride. After a tough two sets, Middlebury found its groove a little too late in the third set. Midd was able to get on top briefly with a 10-9 lead, but ultimately fell 25-20 in the final period.
Although the women have a bottom-heavy line up, it will be tough to see some seniors go. Gigi Alper ’20 may be hanging her jersey up for good, but in her four years she made a name for herself in Middlebury volleyball history. The senior captain rounded out her last hurrah by ending up with the third most digs in program history.
Chellsa Ferdinand ’20, an opinion editor for the Campus, will leave her final season tallying 146 kills, 1867 Assists, and 608 digs and Beth Neal ’20 will bow out with 110 digs to her name.
The Panthers close out the 2019 season with a 15-10 record, going 6-4 in the NESCAC. They will look to the off-season to train for next year’s revenge with a young and hungry team.
Women's soccer falls in NESCAC title match, earns NCAA bid
BY HEATHER BOEHM
This past weekend, the reigning NESCAC champion Panthers were looking to preserve their title. While the women moved past archrival Williams to reach the finals, they fell just short of their goal when fourth-ranked Amherst found its way to the back of the net for a 1-0 victory.
The heated rivalry between the Panthers and the Ephs is not new, but tensions were high this season after last year’s battles. Middlebury had previously tied Williams in regular season play and, with a chip on their shoulder, went back to the drawing board in preparation for another fight on Saturday, Nov. 9.
There were opportunities on both sides early on. Finally, Olivia Miller ’20 set Gretchen McGrath ’21 up with a perfectly placed ball that she was able to slap past the Eph goalie. Throughout the rest of the first half Williams threatened the Middlebury defense, but nothing was able to sneak past Eva Shaw ’20.5.
The Panthers remained offensive in the second period. Izzy Hartnett ’21 doubled her team’s tally with a remarkable header off a corner kick from Eliza Robinson ’21. The 2-0 score would hold until the last whistle, and the women would get another chance to pick up a conference title.
The Panthers knew they would have to bring their best on Sunday, Nov. 10 as Amherst had been the only team to topple Middlebury in the regular season. The women did an impressive job denying Mammoth threats early on. But the Amherst offense did not let up and continued to apply intense pressure waiting for their chance to pounce. While the score was tied until the 53rd minute, there was a large disparity between the shots on goal per contender. Amherst rounded out the match with six shots on goal compared to Middlebury’s one from Ellie Greenberg ’20.
The Amherst goal during the 53rd would be the only one scored throughout the contest and give the team its fifth conference title in program history.
Due to the Panthers’ strong all-around play, Middlebury still received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and will host the University of New England on Saturday, Nov. 16.
(11/14/19 10:55am)
Dear Tre,
If you had the power to change one thing about Middlebury College campus culture today, what would it be and why?
-Anonymous
Dear Reader,
If I had the power to change one thing at Middlebury, it would be the sense of entitlement that many students have here. Many students here at Middlebury College are a part of the top 1%. If you don’t know what being in the top 1% means, it means that the students got MONEY!!!! And let me be frank: it isn’t the wealth I’m mad about, it’s the sense of entitlement. However, let’s be honest. Entitlement stems from having a good amount of wealth.
Why would I change the sense of entitlement? Well, many Midd students have a habit of making those without money feel like sh**. Most of the time, they do that through displays of entitlement. Not sure if your behavior is entitled? Here, I’ll break it down for you. When you throw your dining hall dishes away in the trash, you are acting entitled. When you break campus equipment for fun, you are acting entitled. When you are patiently waiting for someone with their hands full to open a door for you, you are acting entitled. None of this is OK.
The amount of money you have does not make you untouchable or somehow above the rest of us. Now, I know some people may make this a race issue, and let me stop you all there. This is not a race issue. Why? Because there is a common misconception that it’s only white students that have this sense of entitlement, but that’s not true. This is a culture issue. Specifically, the culture of being privileged financially. Middlebury students: NO ONE OWES YOU ANYTHING. The staff here does not get paid by you. They don’t work for you — plus, they’re humans too.
If you can’t find the time to learn the names of your custodial team, then you need to do better. Please stop reducing dining hall staff on social media to offensive, vague names, like “Proc lady” and “Ross lady.” We have to do better, both online and in person. Did you know that many of the (dining, custodial and facilities) staff here have to work second jobs just to make a living? Of course not. Stop this sh**!
I realize that this is more of a rant than advice, but the topic is asking for it. If you are not outraged by what I am saying, then I don’t know what else to say to you. We have to do better. I’m going to keep saying that. So make sure that you check your entitlement at the door — and, before you walk through that literal or metaphorical door, open it your damn self!
As always, I look forward to my readers submitting questions to my column. You can submit your own questions at the go link: go/asktre/. My goal is to produce one piece every week for the entire year, so keep the questions coming.
Love,
Tre Stephens
(11/07/19 11:21am)
CROSS COUNTRY
Cross country teams place solidly at NESCACs
BY JORDAN HOWELL
The Panther Cross Country teams are already off to a good start in the championship portion of the season. The men placed third, while the women placed fourth in their respective NESCAC Championship meets on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The top two finishers for the men were Theo Henderson ’20 and Henry Fleming ’20. Henderson captured second with a time of 25:41.8. Fleming followed close behind coming in at 26:00.7 to pick up 10th place.
The top two finishers for the women were Meg Wilson ’20 and Talia Ruxin ’20. Wilson grabbed 10th place with a time of 22:46.8. Ruxin came in right behind her in 11th place with a time of 22:47.1.
Ruxin commented on her team’s performance. “The team had a strong performance at NESCACs,” Ruxin said. “Every Midd runner ran considerably faster than five weeks ago on the same course!”
The Panthers’ next meet will be the NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16.
“The general feeling is that the best is yet to come,” Ruxin said. “Coach Nicole Wilkerson has the training very dialed in for the final few weeks of the season. With her coaching experience and the team’s positive energy, we should be primed for a great performance.”
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball sweeps weekend, ends regular season on high note
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Women’s volleyball closed out their regular reason with dominant play against conference rivals. The Panthers overcame Williams on the road in a five-set nail-biter on Friday, Nov. 1 and swept Hamilton on Saturday, Nov. 2.
“This weekend, the team came in with focus,” said Chellsa Ferdinand ’20. “After disappointing losses to Bowdoin and Tufts, we knew that defeat this past weekend was not an option.”
Middlebury started off the match with a decisive first set. The Panther offense lifted themselves to a 25-16 win that gave them some momentum heading into the second. The Ephs showed resilience in the second set but were edged by the Panthers by two points. The close set gave the Ephs some hope going into the third and they were able to beat out the Panthers 28-26. The next two sets were just as tight. The women capitalized on a few Williams errors, and took home the win in the final period.
The Panthers built off of this triumph going into Saturday’s contest with a 3-0 shutout. Middlebury slid past Hamilton by two points in the first set and eased by in the next two. Sophomore Maggie Wise led the offense with 10 kills, while Senior captain Gigi Alper held up the defensive front with 16 digs.
“Our team has incredible potential,” said Ferdinand. “We were resilient in the face of adversity. We all want nothing more than the best.”
Volleyball’s performances helped the women secure a spot in the conference tournament. Middlebury will fight for a chance to pick up a NESCAC title this weekend on the road against Amherst in a quarterfinal matchup.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Women’s soccer came up big with a 2-1 victory over Wesleyan in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Panthers won the race to the scoreboard within the five minute mark. Simone Ameer ’21 capitalized on a Cardinal opening and slapped the ball to the back of the net. Middlebury’s offense spent most of the game giving the Cardinal defense a tough time but had an unlucky setback in the 61st minute. Wesleyan’s Dani Milovanov snuck her way in to bring some hope to her teammates.
Jinx Charman ’20 commented on her team’s effort. “Wesleyan is always a really tough opponent,” said Charman. “They have had some great wins this season, so we knew we had to get a goal in quickly. When they tied it up, our team really stepped our level up under pressure and we decided to high press their defense, which gave us a lot more opportunities.”
One of those opportunities led the way to sophomore Ellie Bavier’s goal. With time running out, Senior captain Olivia Miller paved the way for her game-winning effort with a well-placed cross.
Middlebury will take some confidence from this triumph but will refocus for their semifinal matchup against long-time foe Williams on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Tufts. After a silent 1-1 draw with the Ephs earlier this season, the Panthers will come out hunting.
“We are really excited to face Williams again, and hopefully we will get redemption for the national championship,” said Charman.
The championship game will be held on Sunday, Nov. 10 at Tufts as well.
FOOTBALL
BY LAUREN BOYD
The Middlebury Panthers improved to an 8-0 record this past Saturday, grinding out a win against a 4-4 Hamilton team. Not only did the Panthers take home the “Rocking Chair Classic” trophy, but also stepped one game closer to an undefeated season, guaranteeing a share in the NESCAC title.
Heading into the game with a 7-game win streak, the Panthers faced immense pressure to perform. The Middlebury squad hoped to extend this winning streak, clinch a spot as NESCAC champions, and honor their seniors in their last home game. The stands, packed with fans, friends, family, and alumni, kept loud and proud throughout the contest.
During the first drive of the game, quarterback Will Jernigan ’21 led the Panthers 60 yards down the field. After a connection between Jernigan and senior Frank Cosolito, Alex Maldjian ’23 punched in the first score of the game.
After a Hamilton response, tying up the game 7-7, the Panthers quickly responded to the pressure. Another drive by the Panthers led to a second Maldjian touchdown, bringing Middlebury to a 14-7 lead.
The Panthers would hold out for the rest of the game, preventing the Continentals from putting more points on the board. In the process, Middlebury claimed (at minimum) a share of the NESCAC title. Rounding out their season with a win against Tufts would mean being sole NESCAC champions and an undefeated season.
The Jumbos will be coming to prevent Middlebury from attaining a 9-0 record, hoping to move above .500 themselves. Falling to Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, and Hamilton, Tufts currently holds a 4-4 record, tied up with the Hamilton Continentals.
The Panthers will kick-off their final NESCAC match on Saturday at 12:30PM.
FIELD HOCKEY
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
First-seeded field hockey topped Trinity, 3-1 at home in the NESCAC Quarterfinal on Saturday, Nov. 4. The Panthers advanced to the semifinals where they’ll face off against seventh-seeded Hamiliton on Saturday, Nov. 9. Middlebury will be hosting championship weekend, including the semifinal game between Tufts and Williams.
Forward Katie George ’23 put the Panthers on the scoreboard early in the first quarter and was assisted by captain Marissa Baker ’20. The Panthers augmented their lead in the second quarter thanks to goals by Audrey Lazar ’23 and Danielle Brown ’21. Trinity managed to score their only goal 20 seconds into the third quarter.
“We changed a couple of people's positions and were able to better utilize some of our strengths in doing so,” said Erin Nicholas ’21, when asked about what clicked for the Panthers, offensively and defensively. “Our new formation allowed us to possess the ball a bit better while also providing us the opportunity to attack from different areas on the field.”
MEN'S SOCCER
BY ERIK ARVIDSSON
The Panther men headed into postseason play determined to get a win to keep their season alive. First up was the NESCAC tournament quarter-finals against Connecticut College on Saturday, Nov. 2. After 110 minutes of scoreless play, a stat line not too uncommon for the Panthers this year, the game headed to a shootout. After the first five penalties resulted in a 3-3 tie, the shootout would be decided by sudden death. With the game on the line, Liam Sloane ’22 stepped up and netted the ball into the left corner. Goalkeeper Marco Kaper ’21 secured the final save to give the Panthers a birth into the NESCAC semi’s next weekend.
When asked about how it felt to convert the game winning goal, Sloane praised the team’s collective effort. “I was very happy to convert that penalty,” said Sloane, “but overall happier about the incredible team effort we put in.”
This weekend the Panther’s head to Amherst to face the top-ranked team in the nation. If they beat the Mammoths they will stay in Amherst for a chance to play for the tournament championship game on Sunday, Nov. 10. After tying the Mammoths during the regular season, Kenan Ulku-Steiner ’22 believes that “the key this weekend will be to run faster and kick the ball farther.”
(10/31/19 10:28am)
CROSS COUNTRY
BY JORDAN HOWELL
Before having this past weekend to rest, the Middlebury cross country teams competed in the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 19. The women finished in sixth place, while the men took fifth place.
The top finisher for the women was Cassie Kearney ’22 as she captured ninth place with a time of 21:41.7. Next up for the Panthers was Talia Ruxin ’20 whose time of 22:09.2 got her twenty-second place. Next for the Panthers was Meg Wilson ’20 who came in twenty-ninth place with a time of 22:18.9.
For the men, Theo Henderson ’20 had a time of 24:50.0 which netted him seventh place. Henry Fleming ’20 was able to finish in twenty-ninth place as he ended with a time of 25:21.5. Another important finisher was Quin McGaugh ’22; a time of 25:40.8 got him fifty-first place.
Up next for the Panthers are the championship meets. This starts with the NESCAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2.
FOOTBALL
BY LAUREN BOYD
Head Coach Bob Ritter attained his 100th career win this past Saturday at, as the Middlebury Panthers extended their undefeated run, improving their record to 7-0. Ritter had also recorded his first win at the same stadium against the Polar Bears in September 2001. Middlebury dominated for most of the contest, starting off the game with a 21-0 run in the first quarter.
Ritter’s 100th win began with a 45-yard touchdown run from freshman Alex Maldjian to open the scoring for the game. QB Wil Jernigan quickly followed with his own rushing touchdown from 23-yards out, after the Polar Bears went 3 and out on their response. With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Jernigan connected with Maxim Bochman ’20 for a 21-0 lead.
While Bowdoin was only able to put one touchdown on the board before half, the Panthers responded with another 7 points of their own, making the halftime score 28-7. By the end of the third quarter, the Panthers tagged on another unanswered 13 points.
The Polar Bears found their groove at the end of the game, but could not put enough points to catch the Panthers. They decreased their deficit by 22 points, and by the end of the contest, the Panthers took home the victory, 47-29.
Next weekend, Middlebury will play the Hamilton Continentals (4-3), who most recently defeated the Tufts Jumbos (3-4), Middlebury’s last competition for the season.
Looking forward, offensive lineman Kevin Woodring ‘20 says the team is focusing on improving the little things, in order to see big results at the end of the season.
“I said this back at the beginning of the season, but the main focus, still, is that we have to be able to do the little things right. It may sound simple, yet it makes or breaks a game. We’re not a team to blow our opponent off the field; we’re a gritty, mentally tough and hard working team that grinds out wins,” Wooddring said, “In order to keep going 1-0, we have to continue to do the little things right. Right now, Hamilton is the best team on our schedule adn we have to do everything we can this week to be extremely well-prepared so that we come out and play a great game on Saturday.”
WOMEN'S SOCCER
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Women’s soccer wrapped up their regular season with strong NESCAC play against Tufts on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Williams on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The Panthers triumphed on the road against the Jumbos, sneaking the only goal in within the last few breaths of the contest. The women were able to hold off the Ephs 0-0 in a physical national championship rematch.
Despite 10th-ranked Tufts’ home field advantage, Middlebury held its own. The women had their share of opportunities, finding six shots on goal to the Jumbo’s five.
The defense protected the net, with senior goalie Ursula Alwang refusing to give the hosts any hope. With just under two and a half minutes of play, it was senior captain Virginia Charman who led her team to victory, nailing a shot past the Tufts goalie off of a free kick from sophomore Ellie Bavier.
After a hard-fought game, the Panthers quickly regrouped for Tuesday’s hyped rematch. The women played a brutally physical game, that ultimately ended in silence.
Charman commented on the team’s season. “It was a very successful season and we are really excited to build on our success,” said Charman. “We are pumped to get another opportunity to face the same teams we have been competing against in the postseason.”
This nearly perfect regular season play will give the Panthers the second seed in the conference tournament next weekend. Middlebury missed the top seed by a half of a point to Tufts.
Charman discussed the team’s mantra and mindset going into the postseason. “Our motto is to go ‘1-0’ every game, so that we can focus on each game no matter who we are playing. We do this so we don’t overlook any opponent or get too far ahead of ourselves.”
MEN'S TENNIS
BY JACK KAGAN
After making an impressive run to the finals in the International Tennis Association (ITA) New England regional tournament, Panther sophomore Stanley Morris punched a ticket to the ITA Cup that took place from Thursday, Oct. 17–19 at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga. The draw was packed with the regional finalists and champions hailing from top schools like Case Western Reserve, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), Emory College and Kenyon College.
Morris, unseeded, shined once again, breaking through to the finals after notching wins against four-star recruit first-year James Hopper of Case Western Reserve and former five-star Jack Katzman of CMS, who was seeded third in the contest.
The final saw Morris up against familiar NESCAC competition: Boris Sorkin, Tufts’ standout junior from Russia who has been causing trouble for the Panthers ever since his arrival in Medford in 2017. Sorkin finished last spring ranked ninth in all of Division III tennis, just two behind former Panthers star Lubomir Cuba ’19. Last spring, no other Panthers cracked the top 50 on this list.
Morris came up just short in the final, taking the fourth-seeded Sorkin to a third set. A tight loss a first set tiebreak led to some momentum as Morris notched a second set win before falling in the third. Morris and the Panthers have to be proud of such a run, which should bode well for the spring and the future of Middlebury tennis.
Back in New England, the rest of the team played in the Bryant Fall Invitational in Smithfield, R.I. in the last competition of the fall. David Vilys ’22, Zach Hilty ’22, and Aleks Samets ’20 all grabbed two wins in the singles contest and will hope to break into the new-look lineup come springtime.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Women’s Tennis concluded the Fall portion of their season by hosting the Middlebury Invitational on Oct. 18-20. The invitational featured Amherst, Brandeis and Williams and took place at the outdoor and indoor tennis courts on campus. The invitational didn’t crown a champion since the format involved teams playing each other in either singles or doubles.
On Friday, all Panther pairs won their doubles matches against Williams. Katherine Hughes ’20 and Skylar Schossberger ’20 sealed victory with an 8-6 set, Catherine Blayze ’20 and Brinlea La Barge ’23 won 8-6, and Maddie Stow ’20 and Amanda Frank ’23 notched a win, scoring 8-4.
Saturday also proved to be a successful day. Against Brandeis, La Barge and Blayze captured a victory at 8-2 and Ruhi Kamdar ’22 and Caitlin Neal ’23 won 8-7. Hughes, La Barge, Schossberger and Frank each tallied wins in singles matches against Williams.
Finally, on Sunday, Stow and Heather Boehm ’20 grabbed an 8-2 doubles victory against Amherst. The Panthers also won all five their singles against Brandeis.
VOLLEYBALL
BY HEATHER BOEHM
This past weekend women’s volleyball fought a tough battle for their seniors at home, but ultimately the women came up just short in their efforts, falling 3-0 to top-15 ranked Tufts. Despite the loss, Saturday was filled with teary-eyed celebrations of the three graduating seniors, Chellsa Ferdinand, Gigi Alper, and Beth Neal.
Tufts came out with a fiery start, dominating the first set right from the first serve. Middlebury showed resilience as the set continued, with flashes of brilliance on defense from Alper, who has preserved her high-ranking number of digs per set. She rounded out the weekend with a solid mark of 5.64, landing her a second place slot in the conference.
In the second set, the Panther offense began to find their stride. Sophomore Maggie Wise made her presence known with 10 kills, with her sophomore teammate Corley Doyle following close behind with 9. Wise, too, topped the conference leaderboards, finishing up the weekend with 3.10 kills per set, adding up to 220 on the season, earning her fourth place in each category. Tufts was able to overcome these impressive performances and steal the first set with a two-point margin. The Jumbos capitalized on their momentum and picked up the following set to close out the contest.
The women still have time left in their season to avenge their NESCAC loss. The Panthers will look to pounce when they travel to Williams on Friday, Nov. 1 and Hamilton on Saturday, Nov. 2 to close out their regular season play.
FIELD HOCKEY
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
First-ranked Field Hockey suffered its first loss of the season at sixth-ranked Tufts, 1-0, on Saturday, Oct. 26th. The Panthers’ 20-game winning streak, which had been extended since last season, has ended. Middlebury’s overall record drops to 13-1 and is tied for first in the NESCAC with Bowdoin. Tufts, meanwhile, maintains the second-best overall record at 13-2 and is tied with Williams.
Middlebury also notched close victories against Trinity and St. John Fisher, 3-2 and 2-1, on Oct. 19th and Oct. 20th, respectively. For their final regular season game on Tuesday, Oct. 29th, the Panthers downed Williams, 2-1.
MEN'S SOCCER
BY ERIK ARVIDSSON
Men’s soccer lost at reigning national champion Tufts, 2-1, on Saturday, Oct. 26. The first score of the game came in the 63rd minute when Drew Goulart ’20 gave the Panthers the lead on a free kick. While the Panthers fought hard to keep Tufts out of the back of the net, Jumbos forward Gavin Tasker scored the equalizing goal with 10 minutes left in regulation, thus extending the match into overtime. Tufts scored the walkoff goal in the eight minute and gave Panthers their second loss of the season.
Regardless of Tufts prowess on the national stage, the loss hurt for the Panthers. “Even though you’re going up against one of the top teams in the country, it was a back and forth fight, both teams had our chances, so it was a disappointing result,” said captain Aidan Robinson ’20.
The Panthers hosted their final regular season game on Tuesday, October 29th against Williams and tied in double overtime. Middlebury’s conference record now stands at three wins, two losses and five ties.
(10/17/19 10:21am)
(10/17/19 10:11am)
MEN'S SOCCER SETTLES FOR TIE AT HOMECOMING
BY ERIK ARVIDSSON
After a brutal double header in Maine, the Panthers drew with Colby this past Saturday in a Homecoming showdown. The Panthers managed to get on the board early as Drew Goulart ’20 connected on a header in the sixth minute to give Middlebury the early lead. Colby struck back quickly when Asa Berolzheimer evened the score at one in the 19th minute.
The rest of the match was tense as both teams pushed hard to find the back of the net. Following regulation and two overtime periods, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Panthers are not fully pleased with the performance, but remain positive about what is to come from the team.
“It was disappointing for us this weekend to drop points,” said Goulart. “But, I think that we had periods of the game in which we imposed ourselves on the flow and maintained offensive pressure well.”
Next up, the Panthers face Trinity at home on Saturday, Oct. 19.
WOMEN'S SOCCER TOPS CONFERENCE RANKINGS
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Women’s Soccer rose to the occasion this past weekend and delivered a win to their enthusiastic alumni on the sidelines, easing past Colby with a dominant 4-0 victory at home on Saturday, Oct. 12.
The Middlebury women remain undefeated in NESCAC play following a successful Homecoming Weekend as they replace Williams atop the conference rankings.
Eliza Van Voorhis ’21 got the ball rolling straight from the first whistle. Within the first three minutes, she finished off an assist by Ellie Bavier ’22 and netted a ball past the Colby goalie. About 15 minutes later, Simone Ameer ’21 followed her lead and picked up the first of her two goals with the help of Gretchen McGrath ’21. Captain Olivia Miller ’20 beat out Colby defenders for one last goal to round out the first half, bringing the tally to three.
In the second half, however, the Mules adjusted, and Ameer was held off until the 56th minute before adding to the total.
Middlebury’s offense was dominant on the field, getting 15 shots on goal compared to Colby’s six.
Eva Shaw ’20.5 protected the net, deflecting all six Mule attempts.
“I feel like we’ve been building on each week’s performances and aiming to build and improve with each game we play,” said Miller. “We’ve been working on our team wide press to win the ball back and counter attack and it was an awesome collaborative effort to improve together.”
The Panthers will look to prolong their winning streak when they face Trinity at Dragone Field on Saturday, Oct 19.
MEN’S GOLF MISSES THE MARK IN SARATOGA
BY JACK KAGAN
The Men’s golf team continued a difficult stretch this past weekend, coming off of a 7th place finish at the Saratoga Invitational in Saratoga, N.Y. The Panthers finished just one stroke behind University of Rochester, and well behind familiar foes Trinity, Williams and Babson.
The depleted group, playing without standout Jordan Bessalel ’21, struggled to keep up with the pack for the third week in a row. With the fall season all but wrapped up, the Panthers are trying to keep their sights focused on righting the ship in the spring. “Those teams [in Saratoga] are just far better than we are. We are trying to prepare the best we can but right now they have a bit of a leg up on us” said Jeffrey Giguere ’20.
The team now begins the long wait until they return to the course for the spring season.
VOLLEYBALL SHOWS RESILIENCE IN SPLIT WEEKEND
BY HEATHER BOEHM
The Women’s Volleyball team split their conference games this weekend, falling to No. 24 Wesleyan 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 11 and rebounding with a 3-0 win over Connecticut College on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Pepin Gymnasium.
Wesleyan opened the weekend’s play with a fiery start, dictating the first two sets with a strong performance by Mia Horgan. The Panthers found their stride in the third set, but not before Wesleyan capitalized on their momentum with a four-point victory.
Panther Maggie Wise ’22 led the offense, tallying five kills throughout the contest, while Gigi Alper ’20 showed up on defense with 11 digs.
The Panthers brushed off Friday’s minor setback and were ready to face another NESCAC foe at home on Saturday.
The women jumped into gear as the first ball was tossed into play, at one point driving the first set with an 11-point spread. After getting a handle on the Camel offense, the Panthers proceeded to take the following sets 25-13 and 25-11.
Wise contributed 10 kills to the Middlebury effort, while Chellsa Ferdinand ’20 found her teammates for 16 assists.
The Panthers will make their way to MIT on Friday, Oct. 18 for the New England Challenge, where they will also take on Springfield and Babson.
WOMEN’S TENNIS FACES TOUGH COMPETITION AT NEWITT
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Women’s Tennis competed in the prestigious New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) from Friday, Oct. 11 to Sunday, Oct. 13, which was hosted by Mount Holyoke and Smith College.
The tournament involved “A,” “B”, and “C” brackets. To advance within a bracket, a team would need to win two of three matches against another team. The three matches included two singles matches, best of 3, and one doubles match, comprised of just one pro-set.
Ruhi Kamdar ’22 and Caitlin Neal ’23 earned the title for the “C” bracket, after having defeated duos from Western New England, Nichols, and Trinity. In the “B” bracket, Catherine Blayze ’20, Amanda Frank ’23, and Brinlea La Barge ‘23 reached the semifinals, but ultimately fell to Wesleyan, 2-1. For the “A” bracket, Maddi Stow ’20, Katherine Hughes ’20, and Skylar Schossberger ’20 swept Trinity in the first round, 3-0, but lost to a duo from Amherst in the second round, 2-1.
FIELD HOCKEY RIDES THE WAVE
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Top-ranked Field Hockey defeated Colby College, 4-1, at home on Saturday, Oct. 12th. Middlebury’s record now stands at 11-0 overall and 7-0 against conference opponents. Colby took the field ranked 17th in the nation and holds a record of 6-3 after the loss.
Erin Nicholas ’21 notched the first goal at the 1:21 mark of the second quarter, burying a shot into the left post. Colby tied the game at 4:48, but the Panthers immediately responded with another goal by Nicholas 36 seconds later. Middlebury would go on to score two more unanswered goals in the third and fourth quarters.
For the most part, offensive momentum appeared to stay with the home team. The Panthers attempted fifteen shots throughout the entire game compared to Mules’ five. Hopefully such momentum continues when they face off against Trinity College at home on Saturday, Oct. 19.
(10/17/19 10:01am)
https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062194268/what-is-the-bible/, 2017 by Rob Bell
Mediocre. Self-indulgent. Willfully evasive.
I was very excited when I initially paged through this book and eyed the story of “The Good Samaritan.” Do you know it? It tells the story of a man who is robbed, beaten and left for dead. And his perceived “enemy” shows him mercy. The author of this work, “What is the Bible?,” Rob Bell, attempted to provide a greater sociocultural context for the animosity between two biblical, neighboring groups and why their contact and a demonstration of mercy would be so unthinkable in Jesus’ time. I was moved.
So when I saw that the Green Mountain Library Consortium (go/gmlc/) owned the work as an audiobook, I was pretty pleased. The Davis Family Library, by the way, owns the print copy. It was on the recording, read by the author, that I learned that Rob Bell is/was a pastor. Amazon revealed that he is the author of over 10 books. He claimed to have no particular evangelizing mission to forward with this publication, but I remain unconvinced. Overall, I found the work to be a weakly cited collection of his impressions of rather randomly selected passages of the Bible — a broadly popular approach I’ve seen towards engagement with scripture from the pulpit across the United States (all shade intended). Let me be clear: the work is accessible and highly readable. Sometimes it’s interesting as it offers newish deductions from biblical stories. But it’s also wildly unthorough, paltry in its feminism and not infrequently self-indulgent. It’s “cute;” it’s popular; it’s certainly not academic.
I think this is part of the reason I stopped attending church: because the presentation of scripture needed to fit the audience’s tastes and what it wanted to hear. And it held little regard for what needed to be heard in our capitalistic, misogynistic, racist patriarchy. Yes, I said it. The messages in the church needed to coincide with the holidays of the year and the sales at department stores. It needed to be palatable and appetizing even when it wasn’t spiritually nutritious. Rob Bell’s book keeps a passive audience in mind and pushes only to the limit of comfort. In that respect, it’s lazy. Or maybe... I’m just not the right audience.
Here are some things the book asserts that I’m way into and deeply for:
The Bible is an edited text, compiled and recompiled over centuries.
The Bible should be read with a vision for the sociocultural context from which it sprang.
Sometimes the interpreted meaning of biblical stories supersedes their credibility.
The Bible is a library: a compilation of genealogies, laws, oral traditions, letters and more.
Religious mythologies can be inspired and incited by the anxieties — political, agricultural, socioeconomic, et al — of the people writing them.
Cool.
Here’s what I’m not into, that the book suggests:
It is not necessary to provide a timeline for The Bible’s evolution, tracing texts that have been suppressed and excluded or to mention what entities sliced, diced and appended the Bible(s) over time.
Citing sources is an unnecessary and inconvenient hassle in forwarding one’s beliefs.
Being thorough is overrated.
Excluding major and minor characters and significant plot points from biblical narratives are subject to the author’s whims: e.g. Sara, Ruth, Esther, Vashti and other women of the Old Testament are easily ignored.
There’s no point in exploring the incest that appears in the [collection of] book[s].
There’s no point in meaningfully engaging the rich tradition of songs and praise in Psalms.
There’s no point in spending time talking about wisdom literature like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job.
As a white man who has founded a “successful” church, the author automatically has the authority to impose his viewpoints on others.
Bell assumes his readers do not care to engage with actual studies of the Bible but prefer a charismatic white man to parse out small doses and selected spoonfuls. And he’s not wrong! This compilation of thoughts will make this man millions of dollars. He’s a good performer and the Christianity he practices has been very profitable. But for a more balanced and less excessively confident work, see Peter Enns’ “How The Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers — and Why That’s Great News.”
(10/17/19 10:00am)
The modern thriller has evolved.
This isn’t to reject the conventions or classics of the genre — in every aspect, “Parasite” belongs under the umbrella of a thriller. The film is interspersed with ominous noises and things that go bump in the dark; it is a sinister tale of inter-familial ties. And yet, there’s something far beneath the surface that makes the viewing experience all the more harrowing.
Middlebury’s Hirschfield Film Series brought “Parasite” by director Bong Joon-Ho to campus last Saturday, Oct. 12. At first glance, the movie is centered around two families at opposite ends of the social ladder in South Korea. Situated at their comfortable, upper-class post of affluence are the Parks; in contrast, the Kims struggle to scrape by. Life almost seems too peachy when a talisman bequeathed unto the Kim family ushers in a new dawn of potential wealth as Kim Ki-Woo finds work as a tutor for Park Da-Hye. One by one, members of the Kim family deceive the Parks into hiring them, pooling together more salaries in hopes of making their way up the social ladder.
The film opens up with a shot of the Kims in their cramped underground home. The internet connection is limited — Ki-Woo waves his phone around in desperation, moving his arm from side to side, knuckles grazing the ceiling. It’s almost humorous — after all, we’ve all had problems with reception. Comedic moments reappear throughout the film as we witness a forgery take place through a quirky brother-sister dynamic, traverse teenage jealousies, and laugh at the gullible nature of a mother.
But the multidimensionality of Bong’s filmmaking is what gets viewers going. From the beginning, the audience feels connected to the Kims. Their poverty draws sympathy as they’re desperate for a way out. Most can understand the simple frustration of cellular reception; most can relate to the simple teenage lovesick drama between Ki-Woo and Da-Hye. It is the simple details that make watching “Parasite” such a rollercoaster as a seemingly normal household dynamic turns rancid. In the midst of wholesome familiarity and relatability, the onset of negativity looms over — slowly, and then all at once.
The film weaves together as Kim Ki-Taek descends into madness through the gradual accumulation of self-deprecation and envy. Song Kang-Ho renders his character incredibly well as he begins to stray from his initial stability, catching viewers by surprise as chaos mirrors chaos in a final climax. Family members are torn apart and the structure is broken — yet the symbiosis between the rich and poor still manages to persist as they are trapped within routine by the end.
Without betraying the plot, it can be said that “Parasite” comes full circle, revealing the shocking, absurd and ugly nature behind the class system through showcasing people at their most vulnerable. From displaying the shallow detachment and haughtiness of upper-class living to narrating dehumanized existences of lower-class individuals in their vicinity, disparity is critically depicted in a portrait of class antagonism.
When one thinks of a thriller, an iconic film like Hitchcock’s “Psycho” might come to mind. Indeed, classic thriller aspects can still be felt in the unsettling atmospheres and discordant notes of “Parasite.” But the film holds a deeper analysis of society, which in contrast to the horror genre amplifies a terrifying feeling of unpredictability. Every decision is volatile. Bong expertly maneuvers the pacing of the scenes as the plot thickens, building upon itself as we are left trying to predict events to no avail. It is this same ambiguity that makes “Parasite” special.
Chilling to the core but tugging at your heartstrings in its portrayal of working class families, “Parasite” redefines its own genre in a jumble of cinematographic beauty, cold-sweat-inducing eeriness and meticulous, relatable detail. Walking out of the film, perhaps viewers will be left with more questions than answers a feeling that only a good mystery can incite.
(10/10/19 10:15am)
Double trouble: Midd beats Amherst in double overtime thriller
By LAUREN BOYD
The Middlebury football team won a close battle against the Amherst Mammoths in overtime, on Saturday, Sept. 5, maintaining its undefeated season. Prior to the game, both teams were undefeated, making this win a decisive factor in NESCAC standings. The Panthers now co-lead the conference alongside Wesleyan, who is still undefeated on the season.
The game’s excitement started with a Middlebury interception on the Mammoth’s first offensive drive. Kevin Hartley ’20 got the Middlebury fans onto their feet with the first defensive turnover on the game. This thrilling atmosphere would keep the Panthers’s momentum going throughout the subsequent three quarters, through a rollercoaster of emotions.
Middlebury started off going 21–0 against the Mammoths, thanks to a rushing touchdown from Alex Maldjian ’23 and passing touchdowns by Will Jernigan ’21 to Maxim Bochman ’20 and Frank Cosolito ’20. After one Amherst touchdown, but two key Middlebury defensive stops right before the half, the momentum was still in the Panthers’ favor. The fans, excited and on their feet, could feel a win within reach.
A complete momentum shift at the second half enabled Amherst to tie the game, 28–28. Motivated to extend their win streak, and overcome a consistently tough NESCAC competitor, the Panther offense trudged down the field with one minute left on the clock. Less than 10 yards from the goal line, and seconds left on the clock, a shocking Mammoth interception led the game into overtime.
During overtime, both teams failed to convert a field goal or touchdown in their first attempts. Tensions were high as the teams switched sides, both looking to maintain their undefeated seasons.
After the Amherst squad could not score during its second OT attempt, the Panthers had a shot to claim the game. On third down, Jernigan escaped a Mammoth defensemen, rolled to the right side, and connected with Maxwell Rye ’20 for a nine-yard touchdown. The fans both near and afar erupted into cheers as the team piled in the endzone, keeping the winning streak alive and exciting.
“It was one of the best games I’ve been a part of,” offensive lineman Colin Paskewitz ’21 said when asked about the atmosphere of the game, “Throughout the second half when they began to come back, our fans and our bench stayed loud and hopeful. By the second overtime, I was as tired as I’ve ever been during a game. On the last play, [Jernigan] tossed the ball up to [Rye] and it felt like the ball had been in the air for an eternity before [Rye] came down with it. Immediately our bench rushed the field.”
The electric atmosphere of such a close battle was felt both at the Amherst stadium, and with the fans back at home.
“Words cannot describe the sense of pride and joy I felt after such a resilient win,” Paskewitz said.
Jack Pistorius ’21 was awarded NESCAC defensive player of the week, accumulating 13 tackles. Kevin Hartley ’20, Michael Carr ’20, Zander Bailey ’21 and Finn Muldoon ’23 each recorded an interception in the game, respectively.
Next week, on Saturday, Oct. 12, the Panthers will be back at home against Colby College (0-4) for an exciting homecoming weekend. Although the Panthers were elated with the results of the game, they know there is more to be done.
“It’s been an electric atmosphere,” Linebacker Pete Huggins ’21 said about the feeling of winning such an intense game. “Winning a game like that after working the entire offseason is such a rewarding feeling. At the same time, we know we’ve got more wood to chop. Our goal going into the season wasn’t to beat Amherst. Our goal is to win a championship.”
Women’s golf places third at conference qualifier
By MICHAEL SEGEL
This past weekend, the Middlebury women’s golf team was one of six teams competing in the NESCAC Qualifier/Williams Fall Invitational at the Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass. After day one of the action, the host Williams led with 312 strokes, Amherst followed with 318, and Middlebury ranked third with 326. On Saturday, Katie Murphy ’23 led the squad by shooting a 77 which ranked her tied for second overall. Blake Yaccino ’20 shot second best on the team with an 80 which ranked her as tied for seventh overall. Chloe Levins ’20, after taking medalist honors last weekend, finished in 12th with an 81.
On Sunday, the girls were unable to reverse their luck as they remained in third place and finishing at 309 strokes for the day. These results put them at 635 overall behind Williams (619) and Amherst (624), but in front of Hamilton (679), Bowdoin (694) and Trinity (898). Murphy led the squad again, finishing with 75 strokes to put her at a 152 and third overall. Levins finished next on the squad with 159 (seventh overall), then Yaccino with 160 (ninth), rounded out by Kayla Li ’23 (164, T12) and Lizzie Kenter ’23 (178, 22nd).
It was a tough end to a very successful fall season in which the Panthers never finished below third place in any of their five tournaments and which featured memorable moments such as the squad’s first place finish at the Phinney Golf Classic last weekend where Levins finished first overall.
Cross country teams divide and conquer
By JORDAN HOWELL
Saturday, Oct. 5 featured two races for the Panthers: the Keene State Invitational and the Paul Short Invitational.
In the Keene State Invitational, the men came in fifth place. Their top runner was Max Cluss ’23 who got eighth place with a time of 26:32.5. In the Paul Short Invitational, the men got 37th place. The top finisher was Henry Fleming ’20 with a time of 24:50.9, leading him to place 142nd.
In the Keene State Invitational, the women captured sixth place. A crucial finisher was Leah Metzger ’20 who place 34th with a time of `19:36.2. In the Paul Short Invitational, the women netted seventh place. Cassie Kearney ’22 was the top runner for the Panthers as a time of 21:30.8 got her 14th place.
The Panthers’ next challenge will be the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 19. The team will have some extra time to prepare for the Invitational. Afterward, the teams will focus on championships.
Women's soccer blanks Bates
By MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Second-ranked women’s soccer defeated Bates College by a score of 5–0 on the road on Saturday, Oct. 5th. Midfielder Gretchen McGrath ’21 began the offensive beatdown when she scored during the ninth minute. Forward Simone Ameer ’21 made two consecutive goals at the 32nd and 44th minutes, while Quinn Rogers ’23 and Ellie Greenberg ’20 tallied goals at the 60th and 75th minutes, respectively.
As always, the Panthers’ defense denied any opportunities to catch up. Bates attempted only three shots on goal, whereas Middlebury had 21. Ursula Alwang ’20 and Eva Shaw ’21 shared goaltender responsibilities and each recorded one save.
The Panthers, however, committed eight fouls penalties compared to Bates’ four.
The squad will get back in action against Colby in a homecoming contest this weekend at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12th. The Mules sit at 1–4–2 in the conference compared to the Panthers’ 4–0–1.
Men’s soccer suffers first loss, splits weekend
By ERIK ARVIDSSON
The men’s soccer team completed a Maine double-header on the weekend of Oct. 5-6. In their first game, the fifteenth-ranked Panthers suffered a close, 1-0 loss against Bates. This heartbreaking loss was their first of the season. Luckily, they had the opportunity to bounce back the next day.
On Sunday, Oct. 6, the team headed to Maine Maritime. After a 1-1 start, Middlebury dominated the match for the remaining 40 minutes of the game. Ben Powers ’23, Brendan Barry ’22, Drew Goulart ’20, and Jacob Charles ’23 added goals to give the team a convincing 5-1 win.
Jack Spiridellis ’21 was impressed with the teams resiliency this weekend.
“It was awesome to get the win on Sunday after a tough loss on Saturday. There’s a lot of fight and hunger this year,” said Spiridellis. “Guys aren’t satisfied with mediocre performances.”
Next, the Panthers will face Colby at home for Homecoming. Get out to the turf and cheer them on!
(10/10/19 10:01am)
Within the last five years, how many works of literature have you read by Asian American authors? Okay, the last 10 years? You’ve already proven my point. If you can name more than two, please come to the Research Desk and claim your free bookmark. I am embarrassed by how few works I’ve cherished/encountered/spent time with/consumed by Asian Americans — not only within the last year but in life. So my approach to Eddie Huang’s work, the same that inspired the television series, was quite an intentional one. The work delivered — and more than I could imagine.
Huang’s back story is extraordinary. There’s so much narrative wrapped inside him. He is a restaurant owner, a law school graduate, a felon, a former drug dealer, a first generation son of Taiwanese/Chinese parents, a die-hard hip-hop and basketball fan, a bilingual, an international traveler, a salesman, a comedian, a foodie and, of course, a writer. His memoir takes readers on a ~27-year journey in which he tries to fit into a society that is rather bent on rejecting him. On his path, readers encounter the foods that accompanied him on his journey from childhood to adulthood, as the work, too, is a culinary adventure.
There is also a strong infusion of music. From a very young age, Huang adored hip hop, its verses and its messages, yet it was his arrival on a college campus that introduced him to formulaic deconstructions of rhetoric combined with exposure to black feminist thought that made him a writer. Navigating college campus culture was a dangerous roller coaster for him, but he found mentors who believed in him and he made it out alive. I’d recommend this work to hip-hop heads, any college student who finds college ill-fitting and to those who adore food cultures.
For similar works, see MK Asante’s “Buck: A Memoir” or Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.”
(10/10/19 9:58am)
Dear Tre,
Thoughts on the use of the n-word by Hispanics and Asians, or people from low-income communities?
— Anonymous
Hello reader,
Thank you for submitting this question to me! It’s so interesting how this question keeps coming up. Well, let’s dive right in, shall we?
Let me start off by saying that I think that ANYONE who is not BLACK should not say or even think about using the n-word. Now let’s get into why. For y’all that don’t know, let me give you a real quick history lesson. The n-word we all know and love today, (and yeah I said “we all” because y’all are fiending to use it), was derived from the n-word with a “hard ‘r’” — a word used to dehumanize my ancestors, disenfranchise my people and allow bigoted white Americans to ingrain in my people a false sense of inferiority. Now, as terrifying as that must sound, my people decided to reclaim the word and make it something positive for our community. The n-word has been reclaimed and used with an “a” instead of a hard “r.” It’s used in the black community in many different ways; it’s used as a term of endearment, a curse word and a call out in an argument. Regardless of its ambiguous meaning, however, if you are not black then don’t use the word.
“But Tre, my black friends let me say the word all the time and they don’t have a problem with it.”
Well, I think you should find some new friends. Let me explain something to all the non-black people that will read this. Being a person of color does not and never will give you the right to say the n-word. Why? Because the word does no harm to you. When I use the n-word it’s always between me and another black person, and it’s usually because we are using it as a term of endearment. Y’all wanna use the word because you think it’s cool, because you think it will make you better friends with us, or because you hear it in music. My advice is to just STOP. You don’t get to say a word that was used against us.
“Tre, if black people are so offended then why do y’all say it to each other?”
BECAUSE WE CAN! I shouldn’t have to explain to you why using a word that my people have reclaimed is okay for us to use and not for you to use. More importantly, because you can’t. I can’t speak for all black people, but I personally enjoy knowing that so much reclaimed power can be held in a word, and seeing all non-black people squirm in their seats because they want to use it so badly. Well, you can’t. Look, the point I’m trying to make here is that no matter what you say or how you feel, if you are not BLACK do not say the n-word. There are so many reasons why only black people are able to use the word (honestly too many to explain in a college newspaper column) but I hope this gives you the idea.
Love,
Tre Stephens
As always, I look forward to my readers submitting questions to my column. If you don’t know, you can submit your own questions at the go link: go/asktre/. My goal is to produce one piece every week for the entire year, so keep the questions coming.
(10/03/19 10:56am)
Men’s soccer
BY ERIK ARVIDSSON
This past weekend the Panthers faced a daunting test, a home and away double header. The Panthers managed to take down Conn College 2–1 on Saturday in Middlebury, and finished up a solid weekend with a 1–1 draw against Amherst College on Sunday in Amherst, Massachusetts.
On Saturday, the game resulted in a 1–1 tie after regulation. In overtime, Max Drazen ’22 was taken down in the box; Liam Sloan ’22 managed to convert the penalty kick to give the Panther’s an exciting walk-off finish.
On Sunday, in a physical and hard fought battle, Henry Wilhelm ’20 put Midd on the board in the 30th minute. Amherst managed to tie the game in the 81st minute and the scoreline would not change.
Ben Potter ’20 commented on the team’s effort this week.
“I think we showed how deep of a team we are,” Potter said. “All 31 of our guys played a role in taking four points this weekend.”
The Panthers will face Bates and Maine Maritime in an away double header this upcoming weekend.
Women’s tennis
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Middlebury hosted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women’s Tennis New England Regional Championship on the weekend of Sept. 28–29. The Championship included a singles and doubles bracket and players from NESCAC and non-NESCAC schools. The winners of each bracket would receive invitations to the ITA Cup in Georgia happening on Oct. 17–20. Both brackets involved 32 players or pairs.
Unfortunately, no Panthers — only Cardinals — will be attending the ITA Cup. Wesleyan University’s Yu and Henderson took the doubles tournament, while Jin took singles.
In doubles, Heather Boehm ’20 and Maddi Stow ’20 ventured as far into the semifinals before falling to Yu and Henderson. The pair of Skylar Schossberger ’20 and Katherine Hughes ’20 played into the quarterfinals.
For singles, Boehm, Schossberger and Hughes played into the second rounds of their brackets.
The Panthers will return to the court on Friday, Oct. 11 when they compete in the NEWITT Tournament at Smith College and Mount Holyoke College.
Women's golf
BY MICHAEL SEGEL
It was a big weekend for the women’s golf team as the Panthers came out on top in the George Phinney Classic at their home turf, Ralph Myhre Golf Course. They finished six strokes ahead of Amherst with a total of 634 over the two days.
After the first round, Middlebury was on top with 312 shots, five strokes ahead of NESCAC rivals Amherst and Williams. Chloe Levins ’20 led the team, finishing one stroke out of first with 74 and Katie Murphy ’23 followed up last weekend’s strong showing with a slight 75 stroke performance on Saturday.
On the second round, Middlebury shot for a 322 in total, again led by Levins who would take home medalist honors for the third time in her collegiate career.She had to do so in a playoff with Amherst’s Morgan Yurosek, with the two girls having tied at 153 shots apiece. Both parred the first hole, but on the second hole Levins parred again while Yurosek bogeyed, giving Levins the title.
In other notable performances, Katie Murphy came in third overall with a score of 155 (75–80), Blake Yaccino ’20 in a tie for 13th with a 161 (78–83). Kayla Li ’23 ranked next with a 166 (86–80), while Anna Zumwinkle ’20 finished with a 170 (85–85). Middlebury will compete in the NESCAC Qualifier/Williams Fall Invitational next weekend.
Men's tennis
BY JACK KAGAN
The Men’s Tennis Team is returning from Waterville, Maine this week after an individual’s tournament at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships. Colby College hosted the event featuring teams throughout New England.
Of the draw of 64 players, Middlebury sent six of its own, testing out some new doubles pairs and showcasing younger singles play. Panthers Stan Morris ’22 and Robby Ward ’23 were seeded in the 9–16 group.
The tournament proved to be full of upsets, as only two of the top eight seeds remained by the quarterfinal round. One such upset belonged to Morris who took out the No. 3 seed, Brandeis’ David Aizenberg in straight sets. Ward had a strong showing of his own, making it to the quarterfinals before falling to Wesleyan’s Noah Lilienthal in a tight three sets.
Despite falling to Tufts’ star Boris Sorkin, Morris earned a spot at the ITA Cup on Oct. 17–18 at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.
Field Hockey
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Top-ranked Field Hockey continued to assert their dominance by toppling Skidmore College, Connecticut College, and Amherst College. Holding on tight to the only overall undefeated record in the NESCAC, field hockey now stands at 9–0. The Panthers are also 5–0 in conference play, but aren’t the only ones undefeated in that category; No. 5 Tufts University’s conference record lies at 3–0.
The Panthers showcased their defense with a 3–0 victory against Skidmore on Tuesday, Sept. 24. Skidmore did not produce a single shot on goal compared to Middlebury’s impressive 16.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, an offensive onslaught ensued against Connecticut College when the Panthers breezed by 6–1 and attempted 23 shots on goal. Despite allowing one goal, the defense performed solidly having limited Connecticut College to three shots on goal.
On the following day, Sunday, Sept. 29, the Panthers secured a 2–1 win against Amherst. The Panthers maintained a 2–0 lead until halfway into the third quarter when an Amherst shot deflected off a Middlebury defender and entered the goal.
Football
BY LAUREN BOYD
In a widely anticipated contest, the Middlebury Panthers defeated the Trinity Bantams this past Saturday on their home turf. Improving their record to 3–0, the Panthers took home a clutch win against a NESCAC football powerhouse, tallying the most points out of any other conference team against Trinity, since 2011.
The Panthers appeased their fans from the very first whistle, scoring 12 points right off the bat. Trinity didn’t fall far behind, taking the lead with minutes left of the first half, after scoring two touchdowns back to back. By halftime, the Bantams took the 14–12 lead over the Panthers.
A series of interceptions, fourth-down stops, and penalties culminated in the second half for the Panthers’ benefit. Characterized by back-and-forth play, the second half became a race to the finish. In the end, Middlebury came out on top, 32–27.
Will Jernigan ’21 and Alex Maldjian ’23 controlled the offensive game, Jernigan passing for 127 yards and Maldjian posting 90 yards rushing. Four Panthers recorded interceptions on the game: Zander Bailey ’21, Michael Carr ’20, Kevin Hartley ’20 and Finn Muldoon ’23.
Carter Massengill ’20 was named NESCAC special teams player of the week, picking up 12 out of the Panthers’ 32 points. Alex Norton ’20 also received NESCAC player of the week honors for his work on the defensive line, tacking two sacks for 16 yards loss.
Next week, the Panthers will take on the Amherst Mammoths for their second away game of the season.
Cross Country
BY JORDAN HOWELL
The Panthers competed in the Purple Valley Classic on Saturday, Sept. 29. The women were able to achieve fifth place while the men captured fourth.
Notable finishers for the women include Cassie Kearney ’22 who finished in eighth place and Talia Ruxin ’20 who finished in tenth place. Kearney’s time was 23:39.0 and Ruxin’s time was 23:41.2. Notable finishers for the men include Theo Henderson ’20 and Zander Kessler ’22. Henderson finished in 14th place with a time of 27:10.0, while Kessler was able to come in 21st place with a time of 27:15.6.
Next up on the Panthers’ schedule is the Paul Short Invitational and the Keene State Invitational. Both races will occur on Saturday, Oct. 5.
“Starting this week we will be doing threshold and tempo workouts to get some speed in as we progress with our season,” Sophie Nardelli ’23 said.
Men's golf
BY JACK KAGAN
The Men’s Golf team made their way down to Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland, Massachusetts this past weekend to compete in the NESCAC Fall Qualifier. The top four teams would receive a bid to the conference championship tournament — and the Panthers came up just short with a fifth place finish behind Williams, Tufts, Hamilton and Trinity.
The Panthers finished day one just one stroke behind then-third-place Hamilton, but they slipped on day two as other teams upped their game. Middlebury rounded out the tournament seven strokes behind Trinity, ending their conference title hopes.
Leading the pack for the Panthers squad were Jordan Bessalel ’21 and Phinneas Choukas ’22, tied for eighth shooting five above par.
Co-captain Jeffrey Giguere ’20 was missed atop the rankings. After finishing day one in third place, he fell to 12th at six above par.
The Panthers will have to motivate the squad after being shut out from NESCACS and look to garner some positive results for the Saratoga Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12–13.
Volleyball
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Middlebury Volleyball suffered a tough conference loss to Amherst on the road on Friday, Sept. 27. The women fell in a three-set battle with tight scores throughout the first and last sets. Amherst is 10-1 overall with an undefeated NESCAC record.
The Panthers came out swinging, leading the first set 16–12. But Amherst refused to stay silent and retaliated with eight out of the next nine points. The Mammoths capitalized on their momentum and used their home court advantage to seal the win with solid offensive plays.
The Panther defense is looking better than ever, with Gigi Alper ’20 leading the NESCAC in both digs per set and overall digs with a dominating 6.53 and 235 respectively. The next highest in each category was a mere 5.36 from Wesleyan and 202 from Bowdoin.
Maggie Wise ’22 represents the offense with 3.32 kills per set, the third highest tally in the conference. Chellsa Ferdinand ’20 also made some waves this weekend with 14 assists, carving out a space for her in MWV history pushing her total number of assists to 1,619, the sixth most in program history.
Middlebury will look to find some redemption this weekend when they travel to Trinity on Friday, Oct. 4 and Endicott on Saturday, Oct. 5.
(10/03/19 10:03am)
The Fall Faculty Forum is an academic event hosted every year during Fall Family Weekend. Featuring faculty research and innovation, the forum consists of different panels centered around themes of exploration where professors can present their projects to students, parents and members of the community.
"New Modes of Communication" forum
EMMA AUER
At first glance, Japanese classical literature, data science, analysis of the hit TV show “Breaking Bad” and computer-aided language learning platforms don’t seem to have much in common. What brought these disciplines together for the Fall Faculty Forum, however, were the innovative ways Middlebury professors are teaching and researching them. Christopher Star, Professor and Chair of the Classics department, moderated a forum entitled “New Modes of Communication,” which drew together presentations by Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies Otilia Milutin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Alex Lyford, Professor of Film & Media Culture and Jason Mittell and Gabriel Guillén, Associate Professor of Language Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Each professor detailed their fascinating research and the implications of their work in the classroom. Milutin, for one, described her method of teaching Japanese classics through contemporary forms of Japanese media, like manga and anime, that typically draw her students to the department. In class, she often asks her students to determine the accuracy of recent depictions of classical Japanese literature by comparing them to their original counterparts. As she declared, “The past does not stay in the past,” a statement which has led her to develop a course and publish two articles about contemporary retellings of classical pieces. Her work, she said, has been embraced by her colleagues.
Other professors are challenging the pedagogical norms of their respective fields as well.
Over the past few semesters, Lyford has introduced groundbreaking techniques to his courses at Middlebury by teaching data science in the form of a college writing course. Though the task of developing this course was daunting, his students can benefit from the opportunity to delve deeply into the discussion, writing and peer review inherent to college writing courses. According to him, this sets them apart from other data scientists, and their assignments — apps, for example — generally tell better stories about data than their peers who are not taking the class for college writing credit.
While Lyford explores the promise of writing as a form of communication, the next presenter discussed the merits of diverging from writing into an entirely new form of communication.
Mittell hopes to change the way people study film and media by developing a new form of film analysis: videographic criticism. In these audio-visual publications, critics are able to present their conclusions using actual scenes from films and TV shows, instead of having to recount this evidence in long paragraphs. He presented his fascinating video essay of “Breaking Bad,” a 12 minute piece that delved into the racial elements of Walter White, the protagonist of the show. Mittell also discussed the peer-reviewed videographic journal he founded, called [in]Transition, the first of its kind. Mittell is dedicated to bringing videographic criticism into his classes, and hopes to see it flourish as a critical form.
The digital world is also of interest to Guillèn, who presented his research of language learning sites. Through his extensive investigation, Guillèn seeks to find out if online language learning platforms, like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, actually work. His study revealed that most apps and platforms lack one of the three essential components of language: form, use and meaning. Guillèn argued that students need lexical breadth and depth to move towards speaking ability. According to Guillèn’s data, the classroom remains the most effective place to learn a new language.
The research and pedagogy of these professors — just four of many who presented on Friday — reveal the thriving scholarship at the college. They also prove that there is room for exploration and experimentation in their fields.
"Searching for Answers" panel
EDYTH MOLDOW
As children we were natural “wonderers”: exploring, experimenting and letting our inquiries guide our growing understanding of the world around us. Sometimes, however, this child-like curiosity seems to waver — put on a low-heat simmer in the stovetop of our day-to-day lives. The Fall Faculty Forum panel, “Searching for Answers,” challenged this simmering quest for new knowledge, and instead turns up the heat to inspire intellectual pursuit.
Professor Michael Olinick of the Department of Mathematics weaved together a captivating presentation titled “Suicide, Accident or Political Assassination? The Enigma of Alan Turing’s Death.” He opened the lecture by quoting Marvin Minsky, who argues that “Turing is the key figure of our century.” Not only did Turing famously crack the German’s enigma code at the height of World War II, arguably shortening the war by two years and saving millions of lives, but he also founded computer science, artificial intelligence and mathematical biology. In 1952, Turing was “convicted of gross indecency,” and was given the option to go to prison or undergo treatment to “cure” him of his homosexuality. He was chemically castrated as part of this conversion therapy. The details of his subsequent death remain a mystery that falls in the hands of scholars such as Olinick, who unceasingly research each and every detail, stringing together the facts in hopes of one day reaching the truth.
Following the conspiracy-lover’s delight was “Of Trenches and Tombs: Experiential Learning in Field Archeology, Cyprus, Summer 2019,” presented by Professor Pieter Broucke of the History of Art and Architecture department and Meagan Tan ’21, an Architectural Studies major. Professor Broucke introduced the location of study, an island off the southwest coast of Cyprus that resides in the eastern Mediterranean ocean. The island is named “Yeronisos,” which, broucke revealed, translates to “holy island” in Greek.
“Holy island” indeed. Broucke pieced together, figuratively and literally, remnants of an ancient Greek civilization dating back to the “time of Cleopatra.” By diligently measuring corner blocks, he worked to “reconstruct the counters of the island,” discovering their function as the roof of a temple dedicated to Apollo. Tan flourished under the advising of Professor Broucke by embarking on a summer voyage to Yeronisos where she excavated shards of pottery, explored tombs and took part in field study courses alongside her peers. Intellectual curiosity can take you far and, if you’re really lucky, far enough to be under the ethereal glow of a Mediterranean sunset.
[pullquote speaker="Oratory Now! student coaches" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Self-consciousness must be replaced by audience consciousness[/pullquote]
Rounding out the history-heavy forum was Assistant Professor of Theatre Dana Yeaton’s presentation “Have We Found the Secret to Better Speaking?” Yeaton professed that his “passion for oratory” led him to go through innovation funding from the college to create Oratory Now! This student-driven group has become a “training program for our students who then train students in public speaking.” He then posed a question to the audience: “So…have we discovered the secret to better speaking?” His solution: Let’s find out!
As an experiment, in came Oratory Now! coaches Matthew Fliegauf ’22, GiGi Hogan ’22 and Kate Hilscher ’20.5, who proceeded to lead the audience in a 15 minute exercise. They acknowledged that we are “afraid to look silly” when speaking in public, but that our “self-consciousness must be replaced by audience consciousness.” We must first connect with our bodies, and then with our audience. The coaches commented on why they coach, suggesting that one “can always keep improving.”
And improve we shall when influenced by scholarly events such as these. As the forum drew to a close, all three presenters commented on the purpose of a faculty forum and what they personally gained from presenting. Professor Olinick sees the forum as a way to “generate ideas” in a liberal arts context, which Professor Broucke believes is “exploration in nature,” and that exploration “binds [the liberal arts education] together.” Professor Yeaton shared that for him, the faculty forum is a “genesis of teaching something else” where he “becomes a student” again, describing this process as “freeing” and “fulfilling.”