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(04/17/14 12:00am)
In the past few weeks, students have helped the SGA fulfill its mission — to serve students! As we returned from Spring Break, MiddCourses, a course review site created by the SGA, made its debut. The site features over 1,300 courses, and it aims to help students share information and register for classes confidently. The site was built by Teddy Knox and Dana Silver, who serve as SGA Directors of Technology. Since the site went live, students have written almost one thousand reviews. That’s incredible. On top of that, we have received useful feedback from students. Your help is essential as we roll out this new website, so we thank you for taking the time to post reviews and to send us your ideas. We hope that by the end of the year we will have as many as 2,500 reviews on the site. It will take time to build up a base of reviews, but with your help, we can create a tool that aids future generations of students.
This week in Senate, Emma Kitchen ’14.5 spoke about the non-profit she founded, Concussions Speak. Concussions Speak is “a community dedicated to providing empathy for all those affected by concussions,” according to its website www.concussionsspeak.com. Emma came to the SGA to discuss her new initiative to place lights on all bikes on campus. Not only will her work help you avoid a traffic ticket (riding a bike at night without a light violates Vermont law), but she also hopes to prevent accidents and, by extension, concussions.
Also this week, Ben Clark ’16, co-president of EatReal, visited to tell the SGA about the student group’s effort to bring more “real” food to the dining hall menus. “Real” food, as defined by the Real Food Challenge, is food that belongs to two of the four following categories: humane, ecologically sound, local and fair. Ben and his co-president Noah Stone ’16.5 have been meeting with Dining Services and the administration to see how best sustainable, or “real,” food can be brought to campus.
The SGA food survey was a huge help to Ben when he began meeting with Dining Services and discussing the topic with President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz. Furthermore, an internship during J-term, sponsored by the Environmental Council, had students examine the dining budget to find ways in which local or ecologically sound alternatives could be sourced in Addison County. With the support of the SGA, Ben is planning to pass the bill next week to bring the whole initiative home and show President Liebowitz the student body supports EatReal’s goals.
Lastly, the administration recognized a resolution that the Senate passed last week to reform the AAL distribution requirement. The bill—sponsored by students Daniela Barajas, David Ollin Pesqueria, Adriana Ortiz-Brunham, Jiya Pandya, and Amari Simpson—asked that the AAL requirement be removed and that new requirements focus on a larger set of cultures and civilization.
When President Liddell forwarded the resolution to Dean of Faculty Andi Lloyd, the resolution was met with gratitude. Dean Lloyd commented it was a good piece of legislation. While Dean Lloyd’s comments do not determine the future of this bill, she assured the SGA it would be shared with the faculty Education Affairs Committee (EAC). The EAC plans to discuss distribution requirements next academic year and we hope that they will consider the resolution in their discussions.
Thanks for all your help! Don’t forget to vote in the upcoming SGA Presidential election on April 29 and 30.
(04/16/14 5:29pm)
This past Friday evening, the Swing Dance Club took the stage for their first official performance in McCullough Social Space, lighting up the room with energy and dance moves. The show, featuring nearly 50 dancers with a wide range of experience, attracted a full house of students and community members. The club brought levity and laughter to the crowd, leaving the audience with impressed smiles and the repetition of, “I wanna swing dance!”
The pre-performance process began in December when the three co-directors shared a MiddRides shift. As Melanie Dennis ’14 drove the van, Eleni Polychroniadou ’14 and Tim Fraser ’16 alternated as driver’s assistants, using the time to brainstorm the show, which would take place a few months later. Through collaboration and hours upon hours of choreography, rehearsal and logistics, they pieced together The Swing Express.
When Polychroniadou and Dennis first joined the Swing Club their freshman fall, neither of them thought that they would be sitting in these seats, having just completed such a successful production.
“I never anticipated being a swing dancer,” Polychroniadou said. She decided to join the Swing Club her first semester after discovering swing dance in Greece just prior. Polychroniadou said she “fell in love with the movement,” but felt that the dance community she had found in Greece was lacking on campus.
The club was small in 2010, with a core group of around ten people and not a strong sense of camaraderie. As she took over the club her freshman year, Polychroniadou worked to change the system to one that fostered stronger relationships. With the implementation of biweekly meetings, club dinners and a continual effort to reach out to the wider Middlebury community, the club began to progress. Although Dennis has stepped down as president of the club this year, it is now run by Fraser, Dennis and Lindsey Hunt ’14, and flourishes as a community, welcoming one and all to come join the fun.
Last weekend’s show started to develop this January during the J-term Swing Workshop. The workshop advertised both the club and the performance and gathered a group of dancers that spanned across all departments and campus activities. Fraser explained that the show and club have provided a space for students from all sectors of campus to collaborate.
“That’s the best part about swing,” Polychroniadou added. “It brings anybody and everybody, people who think they can’t dance, people who think they can and people who would not have any other overlap.”
Through word of mouth and a fruitful workshop, the club collected nearly 50 students for their large-scale production.
Consisting of 14 routines, the swing show proved adaptable to various tunes and forms of footwork. From the ‘20s Charleston, to Jazz to Fusion dance, the three co-directors evenly split the choreography, with the exception of a few performers choreographing their own pieces. Part of the choreography included a handful of elementary school girls from Bridport. Dennis and Fraser, the pioneers of the elementary routine, visited the school in Bridport once a week for six weeks to teach the dance. Dennis said that they learned faster than they had expected, and even picked up difficult moves visually without having to be taught. The young girls’ routine proved to be one of the highlights of the evening, and one of Dennis’s favorite parts about putting on the show.
The Swing Club’s value on involvement with the wider Middlebury community was demonstrated by the donation of all of Friday night’s proceeds to the Charter House, Middlebury’s local homeless shelter. The tie came from Polychroniadou’s decision to fuse dance with The Charter House’s need for a fundraiser. With a nearly sold out show, Polychroniadou proudly stated an estimation of $1,500 in donations. Fraser explained that looking forward, they hope to continue community engagement through frequent visits to local nursing homes, participation in Puppets for Education, (a Burlington based non-profit) and further investment in local schools.
So, what’s in the near future for Swing Club? For starters, come one and all to McCullough on Monday and Wednesday nights at 7:30; Mondays for lessons, Wednesdays for free dance. Then, make sure you don’t miss the first ever “Swing Fest,” May 2-4. If you like to dance, and even if you don’t, this is another Swing Club event you simply cannot miss.
(04/16/14 4:06pm)
Last week’s Op Ed piece on “Connecting the Dots with CCI” raised some valid points but also included some misrepresentation of the facts. The invitation from The Campus to respond and help set the record straight prompts me to take advantage of this space to do a little “myth busting” and provide a sense of what the Center for Careers & Internships is up to these days, all in the service of 2500+ students who could not be more diverse in their four-year paths to their post-graduate pursuits.
We get what students want and think they need, and we are working hard to deliver on that. But what do we want? We are ambitious for our students and ambitious for our center. It is our goal to create a signature career education planning experience that is interwoven throughout the undergraduate years and provides ample guidance and opportunity for exploration, reflection, and decision-making. We’re looking for students to be partners in the process. To be engaged with CCI early and often. To be open to possibility. To stop deleting e-mails when they may have just ignored an opportunity of a lifetime. To understand that it is their future to embrace — and that planning for it needs to be as much a part of their undergraduate journey as choosing their major, studying abroad, playing a sport or volunteering.
We have a deeply committed staff here to work with students throughout their time at Middlebury, from their first semester to Senior Week (and beyond!) to provide advice on opportunities; review cover letters and résumés; conduct practice interviews; offer self-assessment tools; run workshops, career action groups, career conversations, and employer information sessions; and much more. In the spirit of encouraging independence, exploration and aspiration, we are working hard to engage students earlier in their time at Middlebury to make the process of personal and career development less stressful, more intentional and even exhilarating. It’s a partnership we are striving to develop with each and every student on this campus.
President Liebowitz, Dean Collado, the Board of Trustees and College Advancement could not be more supportive in their commitment to make real-world experience a touchstone of a Middlebury education. Three summers ago, the College provided approximately $125,000 in internship funding; this summer it approaches the half-million-dollar mark. And in terms of overall experiential funding provided directly to students (including PCI, URO, academic departments, etc.), last year College support hit $1.5 million collectively, primarily for summer and Winter Term experiences.
There is not a career center among liberal arts institutions in the country that is not undergoing or considering profound change in how it best serves students (and future employers). Conversations about the cost and relevance of a liberal arts education are occurring on campuses everywhere. Despite economic recovery, graduates still must address an uncertain job market. Students face pressure from family members who challenge them on “what in the world can you do with a history — or fill in the blank — degree” (by the way, for a great answer, check out go/alumprofiles). Employers still laud the benefits of hiring interns and employees who are the product of a liberal arts education but bemoan their lack of practical experience and even workplace etiquette — not to mention unrealistic expectations for a first job. Parents and students carry a greater debt load than ever. Most faculty continue to support traditional pedagogy, acknowledging that internships have their place — but never as a credit-worthy extension of the classroom experience. So, what’s a Career and Internship Center to do?
Here are a few steps we have taken already. Last year, the College created a new Director of Employer Outreach & Development position, with Jeff Sawyer joining us this summer. We have already added 25 new employer organizations and 125 new “Midd-friendly” opportunities to MOJO, ranging from the arts to media & entertainment to healthcare. We have developed an in-depth plan for future development in this area that addresses both the interests of Middlebury students and “where the jobs are.” To complement these efforts, we have created several new programs. “UpNext” (which debuted in February with a focus on Media & Entertainment), brings together students, employers and faculty over two days, building student awareness of the breadth of pathways within various industries and to help them prepare to compete for these opportunities. The “Field Guide” series works with departments to bring back alumni for panel discussions on the paths they took to a wide range of careers (in the spirit of “major doesn’t necessarily equal career”), followed by a dinner for further in-depth conversation and advice; the first was held in March with the Geology Department, with one student saying that “this event was the single most practically valuable experience we have had at Middlebury.” We currently have finance advisory and mentoring groups that include both monthly phone calls and ongoing individual summer meetings in New York and Boston. In addition, we’re working with the new “Middlebury in DC” office to set up a mentoring program for our summer DC interns with young alums. And we’re in the process of setting up two new advisory boards in Technology and Media & Entertainment, again to provide a network of real-world advice and mentoring.
One initiative in our efforts to meet students “where they are” is to hold drop-in hours and appointments in BiHall, in the Commons and in the evenings. We have also reached out to academic departments to meet with faculty to determine how we might work together to connect their majors to career exploration in special evening working sessions; our work with the Psychology Department is a great example of such a collaboration. In September, we will be launching a new integrated and inclusive advising model, providing students with highly individualized and cohesive academic and career advising. This focus will increase the depth and breadth of our individual advising content expertise, improving the quality and relevance of our programming, our outreach efforts and our work with faculty and students. In addition, a new online appointment scheduling system will enable students to make their own appointments with the advisor best suited to their needs. But we will still serve those students with the quick question and those who are in exploratory mode, the many “undecideds,” looking for general advice. CCI will never become a place just for those who already have determined their paths.
Some other clarifications regarding concerns voiced by the Campus:
Opportunities in areas other than finance and consulting are hard to find on MOJO — and when do, they are often outdated: We have posted more than 500 internships this year (a new record) in every field. The Campus mentioned just a “smattering” of postings, with particular concern about the lack of media opportunities, yet there were more than 100 postings in Media & Entertainment alone this year, including dozens of new ones at NBC Universal, ABC Disney, Sports Illustrated, CBS, The Christian Science Monitor, PBS, and more. And the comment that MOJO postings are often outdated by a few years — that’s impossible, as all postings are automatically deleted from the system within two days of the application deadline.
We’re out of touch when it comes to internships and student needs in terms of funding deadlines: Over the last four springs, we’ve gone from one deadline to three to two and now back to one again. Despite advice throughout the year regarding starting the internship search early, so many students wait until the last minute. Because we are responding to student feedback for full funding to be awarded (i.e., in their bank accounts) by June 1 to enable them to buy airline tickets, put a deposit down on a sublet, etc., we therefore need to have hundreds of applications reviewed by staff and faculty committees and then multi-step paperwork processed and pre-departure workshops held — all done in time to hit that June 1 goal and which necessitated the April 6 deadline. It is no easy feat — and it’s worth noting that it was very clear in the Funding FAQs that if there were extenuating circumstances, a student just needed to e-mail or meet with me to discuss — as a result, 20 extensions were granted. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that our funding has more than tripled in three years and the number of students supported quadrupled. It is also worth noting that paid internship postings on MOJO have increased by 50 percent in the last two years. And one last point: students who got their unpaid internships through MOJO absolutely do not receive funding priority as stated in the Campus piece.
The deluge of e-mails and why we need a weekly newsletter instead: Two major points here: 1) We do have a weekly newsletter — it’s called CCI Connect (visit go/connect), and it is sent out every week to all students and department coordinators, with all new MOJO postings, upcoming deadlines and events, etc., and is categorized by industry field. 2) The recent deluge of e-mails is due to the number of deadlines tied to the end of “internship hiring season” — and both student surveys and focus groups told us that students wanted to be reminded of upcoming deadlines three days in advance. Believe me, we would love to eliminate these e-mails and all the work they involve and have students use their weekly CCI Connect as their primary source of information on opportunities. But the fact that the Campus editorial board didn’t even know of its existence demonstrates why the reminders are important — and that we need to do a much better job in communicating about our resources.
CCI has limited effect with the exception of a few fields: Since September, we’ve had 2,500+ student visits in drop-ins and appointments, with interest in every field. On the recruiting front, we held 80+ employer info sessions in a variety of industries and 29 related special events, with more than 400 on-campus interviews to date. Our record number (500+) of MOJO internship postings in every field has generated 2,900 applications to date. More than 2,600 students have attended a variety of dozens of CCI workshops and programming, including a series of sophomore dinners focusing on summer internships, LinkedIn workshops, The ABCs of Finding Work in the Government, Grant-Writing for Not-for-Profits, Preparing for Your Finance Interview, The Business of the Arts, and many more
We are happy to respond to constructive criticism and welcome new ideas on how we can better work with students and faculty to “connect the dots.” But we ask that the critique and ideas reflect an accurate understanding of what is already in place and what lies ahead. Meanwhile, on behalf of my CCI colleagues, I’d like to remind students that there is nothing we would rather do than work with them throughout their time at Middlebury on the creative process of inventing their futures.
PEGGY BURNS is Director of Internships and Interim Director of the Center for Careers and Internships
(04/16/14 4:01pm)
I was eating breakfast outside Proctor on Sunday when I got a phone call from one of my friends.
“I’m making calls for the Senior Fund, and you’re on my list of people who haven’t donated. The money goes to a scholarship fund, and if 68 percent of the class doesn’t donate, we won’t have much money for Senior Week.”
Putting aside the fact that I’m not even graduating until next February, a couple things here rub me the wrong way:
1. The fixation on percentages. I know there’s evidence that shows that if people start giving money right when they graduate, they are more likely to give money when they are older and have real sums of money to give. And I know more kids give money to their college at Amherst and Williams. And I know a high percentage of students giving back reflects where we stand in the U.S. News and World Report rankings (which merits its own oped about what goes into that formula). But if you don’t care about how much we give, just the percentage, and you’re raising money for a scholarship fund, this seems misguided. Middlebury costs almost $60k a year. Percentages alone just aren’t going to get us there. Say we all give $5 and say our class has 700 kids, then we’ve raised $3,500. We can pay for 5 percent of one student’s tuition for one year. The other goal is far less publicized: raising $10,000 for this scholarship fund. That number starts to actually put a dent in the Middlebury price tag, though still not a huge one. The percentage strategy is they are employing is all so that we can say “more than two-thirds of our senior class gave money this year” and so maybe our alumni giving will give us that extra boost from number four to duking it out at the top with Amherst and Williams.
2. The scholarships ask. Now I definitely want all money I would theoretically give to go to financial aid, and I’m glad that’s what we voted on supporting, but our ask does not reflect what we’re trying to do. See the math breakdown in point one. While we’re on it, in March, all the seniors received an email that said if 1,800 seniors and alumni donated, a board member would donate $100,000 to financial aid. Subject line: “It’s all or nothing.” That means that almost two years of Middlebury for a student who couldn’t otherwise come here is contingent on other alumni giving money. Why are we hedging bets on someone’s ability to afford college? If you have that much money and you plan on giving it to Middlebury, don’t hold it hostage until 1,800 others pay. Just give the money you want and have to give.
3. The Senior Week thing. So we spent more of our budget than planned on 100 days because we had to hire more security because so many people were hurt at 200 days. All good. I don’t need a cruise on Dumore to feel like I’m graduating from college. What bugs me here is using senior week as a pawn to get people to give to that magic “more than two-thirds.” It’s sensationalizing, especially since donating doesn’t even mean we have access to more money for Senior Week. It just means we can begin fundraising other money. The money being raised, thankfully, goes to a better cause than our pre-grad drinking, but incorporating this ask is pretty ridiculous. And the pint glasses we received for donating $20.14 before April 1? Also ridiculous. Those glasses probably cost almost as much to custom order as the amount we donate to get one. And what’s even more sad is that this works. I’ve heard that donations have jumped since Senior Week was worked into the ask. If we hit 68 percent, it does not reflect the “school spirit” the U.S. News and World Reports thinks alumni giving shows. It just shows how easy we are to bribe.
4. But what bothers me most is that giving to Middlebury is a personal choice. Maybe I don’t want to give because we haven’t divested. Maybe I’m directing my money to a nonprofit or institution that doesn’t have nearly the resources we have. Maybe money is tight because I’m about to graduate and the job market is tough. Maybe I do plan to give money to Middlebury and just haven’t gotten around to it. But these fundraising tactics lose sight of the complexity and personal decision that is philanthropy. Instead, this strategy of fundraising is manipulative and distorts the reasons we should be giving money. While it still goes to a good cause, the intentions are off. If I give money to Middlebury, it’s not for a pint glass that will soon break or an open bar that we’ll all promptly forget. It’s because of the things I’ve loved here and the opportunities I’ve had. It’s because I want others to have the same experiences. It’s because of everything I think Middlebury has to offer. And as we get ready to graduate, we shouldn’t lose sight of that.
Artwork by AMR THAMEEN
(04/16/14 2:56pm)
The track and field team spent Saturday, April 12 in West Point, NY where they competed against five other teams in the Army Six Way meet, going up against a mix of schools that included four Division-I programs. The Panther squad as a whole took home five event victories and completed the day with a handful of other top finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides.
The men’s side saw three victories on the day, including a win by the 4x400 meter relay team of Alex Nichols ’17, Bryan Holtzman ’14, Fritz Parker ’15 and Peter Hetzler ’14. They look to continue the success achieved during indoor season when they qualified for the NCAA finals. The team brought home a decisive victory, besting the field by over four seconds as they crossed the finish line in a time of 3:19.09.
“The relay was pretty tight after the first two legs,” Nichols said. “But when Fritz got the baton he put a lot of distance on the only team that had kept up with us to that point. The ultimate goal in that race was to run a time that would seed us well for NESCACs. We would have liked to run half a second or so faster than we did, but we’re pretty content with our time considering we ran it without having someone in front of us to chase.”
Nichols also brought home the win in the open 400 meters, where he ran a time of 49.28.
“I think I got out a little slow, but I was able to make up a little time in the second half of the race, and I ended up running my fastest college time so far,” Nichols said. “I’m pretty happy with how well it felt, and I think I’m set up pretty nicely for NESCACs in two weeks, which is of course when I would like to run my fastest time.”
The other men’s victory of the day came from Wilder Schaaf ’14.5, who tied for the win in the 1500 with a time of 3:54.23. Other top finishers for the Panthers included Nate Sans ’14, who took second in the 5,000 meters in 15:14.73 and Hetzler, who finished in second behind Nichols with a time of 49.62 for the 400 meters.
Holtzman added a third-place finish to his day with a 22.55 performance in the 200 meters, and Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 also notched a top-three spot when he tied for third in the high jump with a mark of 6’ 2.75”.
On the women’s side, Alison Maxwell ’15 brought home the victory for the Panthers when she won the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:37.96.
“My 1,500 was a lot of fun, but at a meet like this, a non-championship meet, a win doesn’t mean anything more than a little morale boost,” Maxwell said. “I am still hoping to drop another four seconds this season so I can show up some of my times from last year.”
Lauren Pincus ’14 continued her dominant season with a win in the javelin, posting a toss of 132’ 9.25”. Other Panther women to propel themselves to a top finish included Katie Rominger ’14 in the 5k, where she ran 18:10.44. Teammate Lottie Hedden ’14 ran 18:27.14, a finish good for third. Hannah Blackburn ’17 continued her successful first-year season with a second place finish in the long jump, in which she posted a mark of 17’11”.
“Army was a great opportunity for all of us to see some really high quality competition for the first time this season, and it manifested itself in a number of outstanding lifetime [personal records],” Maxwell said. “But NESCACs is right around the corner, so no matter what, everyone has at least one more stellar performance in them.”
The Panthers will return to action when they compete this weekend at the Albany Invitational before traveling to Colby on Saturday, April 26 for the conference championship meet.
(04/10/14 2:30am)
Vermont’s education may be in for an historical overhaul if legislation passed in Vermont’s house of representatives last month passes at the end of this legislative cycle.
The proposed bill, H.883, would radically consolidate public education in Vermont by reducing the number of school districts in the state from 273 to 50 in the next five years.
Historically, the Vermont public education system has struggled to reconcile impulses for local governance with the financial benefits of consolidation.
In 1777, Vermont’s state constitution was the first in English-speaking North America to mandate universal public funding for education. This initial mandate led to the creation of a number of tiny, independent village elementary schools.
The importance of agriculture in the early development of Vermont’s residential landscape created a highly diffuse population across the state — and a highly diffuse network of public schools across the state to provide education to all corners of the state.
In the nineteenth century, migration to Vermont swelled due to increased prosperity and the success of Vermont’s agricultural industry.
The simultaneous increase in agricultural productivity and overall population led to an increased school-going population that remained spread out through the state due to the continued importance of the agricultural sector.
The diffuse network of tiny schools and school districts in Vermont persists in modern Vermont. The average number of students per Vermont school district is just 313 students, which is less than one tenth of the national average, according to a 2009 report.
Opinion on school board consolidation is mixed in Vermont, and each side of the argument has vocal advocates and opponents.
Proponents of school board consolidation argue that pooled financial resources will enable small schools and school districts to diversify the educational offerings available to students.
“Are you going to cut your music program or are you going to cut your art program?” asks Dan French, superintendant of the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union. “That’s where [Vermont] is heading if we don’t do governance change.”
Proponents think that consolidation will afford students in rural districts the opportunity of sharing teachers and other educational resources that individual districts would not be able to afford them individually.
Critics of consolidation are equally vocal. Most detractors of school board consolidation cite the loss of venerated schools and of local influence on education as detrimental byproducts of consolidation.
Vermont schools may be generally small, but they are reliant on the input of local people for educational policy. Critics of consolidating policy measures argue that eliminating school districts would undermine local control by putting undue power in the hands of representatives from larger towns — at the expense of students in small towns who would have benefitted from specialized education.
“Access to decision makers and local community involvement is what makes Vermont successfully tick and our schools succeed,” said Debra Stoleroff, director of the Renaissance Program at Twinfield Union High School in Plainfield, Vt.
In addition to the argument that small schools are more attuned to the needs of students, opponents of consolidation have also voiced concerns over the lost social benefits of small-town schools. Stoleroff says that small, local schools serve an important social function by fostering higher graduation rates, discouraging risky behavior and mitigating the divisiveness of poverty.
The H.833 Bill does not mark the first time that Vermonters will consider consolidation at a large scale, however.
In 1892, Vermont’s state legislature required that Vermont schools — which all functioned as independent school boards unto themselves and thereby constituted more than 2,500 school boards across the state — to consolidate into localized school districts.
These original districts were created in accordance with historical settlement patterns in order to maintain cohesive local value systems.
In most cases, settlement patterns lined up neatly with town boundaries, and therefore the 1892 legislation had the effect of incorporating numerous schools within towns into a single school district — thereby reducing the costs of operating up to 8 school districts in a single town.
In 1896, the state passed legislation that enabled individual districts to form “supervisory unions” in which individual districts still continued to control hiring, budgetary decisions and policy decisions while jointly electing a largely nominal “superintendent” meant to liaise between school boards and federal tax purveyors.
Beyond the town-scale consolidation, however, Vermont schools have resisted any attempts to further merge administrative bodies.
Since the 1896 decision, though, the many large-scale attempts to continue the process of consolidation by merging school districts have floundered. The school district landscape has remained largely unchanged, therefore, since the 1892 consolidation.
In 2010, the state legislature passed Act 153, the Voluntary School District Merger Act, which offered town school boards a number of incentives to consolidate. An interim report published by U.V.M.’s Jeffords research center in 2013, however, confirmed what many education commentators had already realized — that the act was ineffective at encouraging consolidation.
A number of school boards have already issued formal statements in response to the passage of the H.883 bill in the house. On March 26, the Rutland Northeast and Rutland Addison supervisory unions passed resolutions formally rejecting the consolidation bill.
In a statement issued by the Rutland Northeast and Rutland Addison supervisory unions, the board stated their belief that “eliminating local school board governance is not conducive to promoting our democratic ideals and fostering social capital.”
The Vermont Superintendents Association endorses the bill, but the Vermont School Boards Association has declined to adopt a formal stance due to the diversity of opinion among members of the association.
The conversation about consolidation is far from over. Steve Dale, head of the Vermont School Boards Association, reminds his colleagues and fellow citizens that “[the consolidation conversation] requires us to strike a balance between the students and the taxpayers [and] balance that with our deep love of our very, very local democratic processes.”
The bill still has to go through the state’s Ways and Means and Appropriations committees before it undergoes final deliberation in the house — and then the state Senate must still deliberate on the bill. The huge surge in debate, however, seems to foreshadow continued consideration of educational consolidation and perhaps a dramatic shift in Vermont’s school-board landscape in the near future.
(04/09/14 4:32pm)
Do you have plans this summer? This stressful question resounds across campus far beyond the signs posted by the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI). As students scramble to pull together summer plans, post-graduation plans and funding proposals, many engage with the CCI or their resources for advice and opportunities.
Despite their reach and funding, the CCI seems to have limited effect with the exception of a few fields. While tracks like consulting and finance have a clear career path and hire early, for students looking to go in a different direction, we have often been disappointed – from limited internships on MOJO to being repeatedly referred to MiddCore, which if done over the summer is an additional $9,500. We know the CCI makes a great effort to provide programming and other opportunities that are under-attended. We see this as a disconnect between what students need and what is offered and hope to make this resource with tremendous potential more useful for all parties involved.
Funding deadlines are one example of the discrepancy between the CCI’s plans and the reality of the job market. While many students have not yet heard back from potential employers, the funding deadline was April 6, leaving students who need this already limited funding to pursue an unpaid internship searching for other opportunities. This gives internships with earlier notification deadlines, which tend to require a more formal application process than opportunities discovered through more unconventional routes, priority for funding. This is a give-and-take, for students who have secured internships early need to know if they can commit, but students who have not yet decided also need these funding options.
The appointment system is another example of a system out of touch with student needs. Instead of being able to choose the advisor who most closely reflects our career interests, we have to go to a drop-in meeting, hope the CCI is not busy and hope we get a useful advisor, who will likely just tell us to return for a longer meeting with someone else. This becomes an inefficient use of everyone’s time.
The smattering of options on MOJO also reflect a very narrow swath of pathways. We have noticed, for example, a lack of media opportunities. Moreover, they are not often updated, with students on our Editorial Board going to discuss a posting with advisors, only to discover it was a few years old. These MOJO internships are also prioritized in the funding process, leaving students who want an internship outside what is available on MOJO with fewer options. Students could also use more support for careers with complicated application processes and tests, like certain military career paths and the foreign service, just as we have pre-professional advising for careers in medicine and law.
We all receive a deluge of emails from the CCI to the point where we tune them out, leaving us uninformed about the useful workshops and opportunities. Better coordination among the CCI’s platforms would help address this problem, so students receive one relevant newsletter a week that they know to read. A more streamlined, judicious use of email would help us pick and choose what is useful. Better coordination with departments and clubs would also help push these opportunities through different channels so we receive relevant information.
Take the Campus for example. Many of us are interested in useful discussions about careers in media, but we have very little contact with the CCI. Career discussions co-hosted by the Campus and other media outlets on campus could help draw a bigger audience and make the programming more dynamic. There is a reason the Goldman-Sachs information sessions can pack a room and that most other career paths cannot. People see value in attending finance events. We should make other events equally beneficial and soliciting student organizations is a good place to start.
The Project on Creativity and Innovation (PCI) has done a great job trying to address many of the problems outlined above, working to provide a pathway for students to enter innovative and creative fields or organizations post-graduation. They held their first call last month with five different alumni working at startups to discuss their experiences with interested students. This kind of consolidated call in other fields sponsored by the CCI would allow for students to prioritize just one call with five different people instead of attending five different career conversations and would bring a broader group of people in who cannot necessarily travel to our remote campus.
As students, we must do a better job of engaging with the resources the CCI has to offer, but by adapting the program to be more relevant to what we are looking for and what our schedules require, we can enhance the value of the CCI and make the internship and job search process less stressful for all involved.
Artwork by NOLAN ELLSWORTH
(03/19/14 3:08pm)
As the political situation continues to develop in the Crimean peninsula, there have been frenzied calls among American politicians to break Russia’s energy dominance in the region. The principle idea is to leverage the burgeoning North American shale revolution by exporting natural gas to continental Europe and weaken a key facet of Russian power. However, though there is abundant natural gas in North America, the complex export infrastructure in America that is needed to ship liquefied natural gas is still years away from being completed at any meaningful scale. In addition, many of the terminals that are closest to being completed have already inked long-term gas contracts with customers. Even if European politicians wish to flood their markets with cheap American gas — as the ambassadors to the United States from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia asked for in a letter to congressional leaders — they would still have to compete with Asian customers who are willing to pay nearly 50 percent more than Europe. Fundamentally, regardless of the political posturing, gas producers would never choose to leave money on the table in order to further American geopolitical aims.
As I talked about in an earlier column, with an eye towards the long-term, the shale revolution has the potential to alter political and economic policies around the world. But with regards to the current circumstances in the Ukraine, America simply cannot help besieged allies by making it easier to export natural gas. This does not mean America has no way to exert influence through global energy markets. There are two separate and specific tools that the U.S. can immediately lean on to disrupt the current status quo in Europe.
The first of these tools is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) located in both Louisiana and Texas, which currently holds 696 million barrels of government-owned crude oil. With oil and gas making up more than half of Russia’s budget revenues and a budget that is only balanced when oil remains at $110 a barrel, Moscow is vulnerable to price shocks. By releasing a mere 500,000 barrels a day from the SPR, prices could fall by about $10 and cost the Russian government roughly $40 billion in annual sales. The U.S. government could maintain this for years if it wanted to, and could drop about 4 percent off Russia’s GDP.
The other option is something we are already doing and have been doing for years but is not high on the Obama administration’s agenda nor is it palatable to his counterparts in Europe: cheap, plentiful American coal. As natural gas prices fell in the U.S. and electrical generation began to switch to cleaner, more efficient gas, King Coal lost its leading role in the American electrical generation portfolio. The U.S set a record in 2012 for coal exports – with the majority already going to Europe’s remaining coal-fired power plants. The infrastructure for exporting coal is already in place and, unlike natural gas, coal is not governed by antiquated and complicated U.S. export regulation. The obvious downside to increased coal consumption is that when burned for power it releases roughly twice the amount of greenhouse gas as natural gas does.
As Europe continues to struggle with shifting power structures and long-term questions about their energy security, European leaders cannot rely on these stop-gap measures. In order to reestablish economic competitiveness and continue to set the benchmark for climate change goals, Europe needs to look within its own borders to find the solutions to these problems. However, right now, in this current situation, American and European leaders need to be examining all of their options to see what will have an effect at the negotiating table.
(03/13/14 1:09am)
Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA), and the Teamsters Local No. 597 reached a settlement last Sunday, narrowly avoiding a strike that would have shut down Vermont’s largest bus service. The nineteen-hour-long negotiation session occurred in the CCTA headquarters and was mediated by the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service.
The union cited wages, part time drivers and burdensome ‘split-shifts’ as critical issues that CCTA needs to resolve. Teamsters Local No. 597 agreed not to strike until it has reviewed CCTA’s most recent offer.
CCTA buses buses serve approximately 9,500 residents across the state, including local schools and many LINK bus routes. Over 2,000 students of Burlington Public Schools, or roughly 60 percent of those enrolled, rely on CCTA buses.
On March 5, voters rejected 35 school budgets, the largest defeat for education in Vermont in over a decade. The agreement came on the heels of this defeat, relieving many districts already facing budgetary dilemmas.
The agreement allowed Burlington Public Schools, whose budget was defeated just two days before the negotiations, to avert a weekly expense of roughly $10,000. The district had considered shuttling students to school on Green Mountain buses.
“I’ll have to find maybe a carpool, or maybe bike, I guess,” reflected student Natalie Kenney of Burlington High School before agreement was reached. “But I usually have a lot of stuff with me so that’s kind of a difficult route to take.”
With the buses back in service, Natalie and her classmates won’t have to find that new route.
In March of 2013, the Union voted 53 to 4 to reject CCTA’s contract offer, and negotiations throughout the summer produced no results. Talks finally collapsed when contract negotiations broke down in September of last year.
New CCTA drivers earn approximately $42,000, and veteran drivers can earn upwards of $70,000, including overtime and benefits. Although this is the second-highest rate of compensation in northern New England, both parties expect wages to increase in an acceptable settlement.
According to Union members, ‘split-shifts,’ or morning and evening shifts divided by a break, result in driver fatigue and unsafe riding conditions. More drivers are necessary to accommodate the increased number of commuters during these times, but hiring part-time drivers could reduce full-time positions. Bill Watterson, CEO of CCTA, says the drivers are compensated appropriately for these shifts.
“To increase the number of full-time Union jobs, CCTA has agreed to a Union proposal to change the maximum span of a split shift to 13.5 hours,” states the CCTA website.
Onboard cameras are another contentious issue, which drivers cite as proof of the CCTA’s mistrust.
“We drive these buses every day, with cameras pointed in our faces,” said driver Mike Walker at a rally last Thursday. “All responsibility rests with the drivers and all authority rests within the management. You delegate authority, never responsibility.”
Before the meeting, CCTA General Manager Bill Watterson stated, “Our focus is on sitting down together with the driver’s union and reaching an agreement, and having another 3 year contract.”
CCTA officials remains optimistic that the union will soon accept their offer.
(03/12/14 7:01pm)
I have to admit that when I received my tuition bill I felt guilty. With my parents nearing retirement age, suddenly they have to put me and my twin brother through college. It was not just the price of college I felt guilty about, however. It was the price of Middlebury — my brother’s tuition bill was a little over half of mine. Now, I understand that Middlebury is a prestigious, world-class institution and I understand that that’s expensive to maintain; my point in this article is not a broad discussion about the inflated college price tag. But with the reality of the burden to my family on my back, I set out to find ways to make money.
I found a job as tech support at Children’s Hospital and started working about 40-45 hours per week over the summer. It was long, exceedingly dull, and incredibly tedious. But everyday I swiped in at 8:00 a.m. and swiped out at 5:53 (the first time that counted as 6:00 on the time card). Then I applied to and received several local scholarships from my church, high school, and town committee. By the end of the summer I had generated $7,500 toward my own education.
That is why I was so discouraged when I went to file one of my scholarships for $1,000 and all it did was lower the financial package that the college gave me. My family had turned down the loans because they didn’t want me to graduate with debt, so the scholarship came out of my financial aid package and didn’t help me at all. In order to understand how this works let’s pretend that my family had a total financial aid package of $20,000 after declining all loans. Then, when we filed the $1,000 check with our first deposit of $5,000, my account read that I had a package of $19,000 and that our first payment was $1,000 short. Essentially, my family still had to pay $5,000 despite my outside scholarship, and the college received $6,000 — $5,000 out of our pockets and $1,000 from my scholarship.
This is called the Outside Institutional Aid Policy. It is when the college feels a student has been “over-awarded”. The logic behind it is, as Michael Mclaughlin, director of financial aid operations, puts it: “Since Middlebury meets the full demonstrated need of students as determined by our office, we do not allow outside aid to reduce or replace the expected family contribution.” I understand that Middlebury is expensive, and while we are a rich institution, we do have a limited yearly budget that we can funnel into financial. But this logic also strikes me as distinctly flawed.
My first issue with over-awarding is just the principle of the thing. It prevents students from using one of the onlyw means we have of making money to offset the cost to our parents. Shouldn’t the College be encouraging its student body to contribute to their education? Our brains got us into Middlebury. We should be allowed to use them to lessen the burden on our families rather than working for hours for minimum wage to make the slightest dent in our tuition bills. I don’t see why it should matter to the college where the money comes from.
Secondly, this “full need” strikes me as distinctly arbitrary. First of all, why is my family’s full need at my brother’s school twice what it is at Middlebury? And second, if what Mr. Mclaughlin says is true and “the maximum Perkins or College loan a student will borrow over a 4-year period is $12,000” and it is also true that Middlebury meets full need, then why do I have senior friends graduating with closer to $30,000 of debt?
Thirdly, as I’ve mentioned, I have a twin brother. My parents are paying for two kids’ college educations. Middlebury’s policy for families with another sibling in college, as is apparently the industry standard, is to make my family pay sixty percent of the original parent contribution. Not fifty percent, which would meet full need as they define it, sixty percent. So when it comes down to it, Middlebury is not even meeting my full need in the first place. And still I cannot use outside scholarships to improve my situation.
Finally, if you are on aid, outside scholarships essentially can in no way improve your financial situation, unless you earn more than your grant in scholarships. But if you have no grant, there is nowhere for Middlebury to take the money out of. Therefore, students here who are not on financial aid can benefit from outside scholarships. In other words, the well-off can use scholarships to decrease their tuition, but less wealthy students, who are on aid, cannot.
I’m not saying the college needs to redefine full need, though honestly that wouldn’t be a bad idea. I know that higher education is a tricky business and there are limited funds each year. I’m just saying that they need to give me the chance to add to my family contribution with the only access to significant sums of money I have: outside scholarships. It shouldn’t matter where the money I pay to Middlebury comes from. As it is, I don’t see any point in applying to scholarships this year. But, should I receive a scholarship, and should it be made out to Middlebury, I think this year I’ll tear it up and throw it away, because if I can’t use the money I earned, Middlebury certainly isn’t getting their hands on it.
Artwork by JENA RITCHEY
(03/12/14 2:22pm)
The Middlebury track and field team rounded out the final week of competition before the NCAA championships by taking part in the Tufts Last Chance and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECACs) meets.
One relay and two individuals ran in the Tufts Last Chance meet on Thursday March 6 at Gantcher Center.
The 4x400 meter team of Peter Hetzler ’14, Fritz Parker ’15, Alex Nichols ’17 and Bryan Holtzman ’14 entered the meet looking to better their season-best time of 3:16.82 and secure one of twelve NCAA qualifying spots, in the end finishing with a time of 3:23.64 on the flat track.
“Tufts was a unique experience,” Holtzman said. “There was originally another team entered in the 4x400m but they scratched out. This meant that we were the only team on the track in the last event of the night. Given that we had no competition, we all ran a bit slower than we wanted to and were capable of, but we weren’t upset with our performance.”
The rest of the Middlebury squad was rounded out by Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Luke Carpinello ’16, who headed to the line in the mile and the 800, respectively. Schaaf won his race in a time of 4:14.89 and Carpinello took 11th in 2:02.16.
Saturday, March 8, brought another day of competition for a small group of Panther athletes as the team participated in the ECAC championships at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The men’s contingent consisted of Brandon Cushman ’16, who took 17th in the 500 meters with a time 67.69, as well as Diego Galan Donlo ’14 who finished 19th in the high jump with a mark of 1.88 meters.
The 4x400-meter relay team took to the line for the second time of the weekend to attempt to better its chances of qualifying,. They ended up finishing in third with a time of 3:20.56.
“Our goal going into ECACs was to win and to improve upon our time from last week,” Holtzman said. “We did neither, but the winning team (SUNY-Oneonta) didn’t come close to our best time so we knew we were safe from being passed by any East Coast teams.”
On the women’s side, two Panther athletes competed. Hannah Blackburn ’17 finished off a successful first collegiate indoor season in the long jump with her second best jump of the year, taking 12th with a mark of 5.08 meters. Alex Morris ’16 emerged from the day victorious once again, winning the 400 meters in a time of 57.89 and earning herself the title of ECAC champion in the event.
The team now looks ahead to NCAA Championships, which will take place on March 14 and 15 at the University of Nebraska.
The Panthers will send three individuals and two relays to the meet, including the men’s 4x400-meter relay team which, despite not improving their time this past weekend, ended up hanging onto the 12th and final relay spot for the upcoming championship meet.
“As the 12th and final seed, we could surprise some teams and do some damage,” Holtzman said. “We all run well in big meets with good competition.”
The other Panther relay will be the women’s distance medley team consisting of Alison Maxwell ’15, Morris, Jackie Kearney ’16 and Erzsie Nagy ’17, who qualified in the sixth-place spot.
“Watch out for them,” Head Coach Martin Beatty said of the team. “They may surprise people.”
Individuals to compete include Schaaf in the mile and Morris in the 400, both of whom enter their meets as the 11th seed.
Schaaf ran the mile last Thursday at Tufts in order to lower his time, in the hopes of qualifying for NCAAs. Despite being unsuccessful at Tufts, he was able to slip into one of the qualiying spots when all of the entries were in.
“I’m really excited to have really fast girls that will pull me through that first 200 meters right to the breakline because a big weakness of mine is not pushing myself that first lap,” Morris said. “After that, I’ll just be focused on holding on to that speed and trying to pass as many girls as possible. In both championship races I’ve won this year, I only secured the lead in the last 50 meters, so I’m confident in my strength right to the finish line.”
Laura Strom ’14.5 is the final Panther athlete and sole field eventer, entering the meet with the highest ranking of anyone on the team. She is in a three-way tie for the best jump in the country this season at 5’8.5”.
“It’s a great group going and we are all going to be cheering for each other, and I love having the runners around because they are so insanely impressive,” Strom said. “We just support each other even though we don’t do the same events.”
“In this meet, the records get thrown out the window, and it depends on who shows up that day and wants it more,” Beatty said.
(03/05/14 11:37pm)
A pain as heavy as a half-dozen hockey players followed Middlebury’s season-ending 6-3 loss to Bowdoin on Saturday, March 1. The Panthers saw an early lead slip away before the game became out-of-reach late.
Louis Belisle ’14 led the Panthers on offense, scoring two trademark power-play goals, fellow seniors Robbie Donahoe ’14, John Barr ’14, Michael Longo ’14, Ben Wiggins ’14, Nick BonDurant ’14 and Thomas Freyre ’14 all skated in their final game for the Panthers.
Playing in front of a packed house, the Panthers came out fast and loose from the puck drop. Youngster Mike Najjar ’17 lofted a creative pass over some Bowdoin defenders for a good chance, and minutes later Robbie Dobrowski ’15 freed up Longo on a break with a no-look dish in the neutral zone. Eventually, Derek Pimentel ’15 forced a Bowdoin hooking penalty and the power-play unit cashed in for the first goal. The quick release of Belisle beat the Bowdoin goalie on the blocker side, the puck snatching just an inch of his jersey on its way through.
The lead would be short-lived, as two minutes later Bowdoin intercepted a breakout of the Middlebury zone and unluckily the defender who dove to break up the shot tipped the opportune attacker’s shot perfectly under the cross bar. As Middlebury took the goal, Bowdoin quickly gained a power-play and one minute later surprised Panther goalie Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16 with a wraparound goal from behind the net.
Middlebury went into the second period with an extended six-on-four advantage, and did not disappoint. Belisle threaded a wrister through a quarrelsome traffic jam and past a hopeless Bowdoin goalie to even the score.
Once more, Bowdoin responded immediately. For Moorfield-Yee, the width of his stick handle was enough to parry away the first point blank shot on goal, but Bowdoin’s fore-checking pressure forced another costly turnover that led directly to a go-ahead-goal for Bowdoin just four minutes into the period.
Middlebury called a timeout to rally its skaters, but the team would fail to muster even a single shot on goal for the remainder of the period while surrendering a pair of goals. Two well-struck Polar Bear slapshots from the top of the zone would find open twine and vault Bowdoin ahead 5-2 going into the third period.
While the Panthers showed renewed energy in the third period, it was too little too late. Longo and Jake Charles ’16 delivered some strong body-checks and Barr worked hard on the offensive boards to open up chances for his teammates. Eventually, George Ordway ’15 would come steaming across the blue line and snap off a bullet that brought Middlebury within two.
As time wore down, Bowdoin battened down the hatches and the Panthers had trouble setting up sustained pressure in the offensive zone. With seven minutes left, a power-play opportunity arose for the Panthers, but Bowdoin snatched an unexpected two-on-one rush. As the Bowdoin players criss-crossed in front of BonDurant, the puck jarred loose, but one player with his back to the net found it again and whirled it past Bondurant to seal the game.
“It was a disappointing way to go out, for sure,” Freyre said. “Having played the way we did the past two weekends, this wasn’t what we were expecting...In the third period...we were thinking, ‘This will be our last period unless we do something here.’”
The Panthers finish the season with an 11-11-3 record, the first time since 1989 that they have failed to finish above .500. The team battled through doubts and adversity all season long, and then saw their schedule cut short as things appeared to be moving in a positive direction.
“This team had a lot of potential,” Donahoe said. “But in the end it was just potential most of the time. There were some times when we played great: versus Norwich, in the third period versus Hamilton and last weekend too.”
With an 8-4-1 record at home, the 2013-14 team gave the Kenyon crazies plenty to cheer about. While the leadership, camaraderie and on-ice services of the seniors will be missed next year, the core of returning players certainly possesses enough scrap and skill to let the goal horns roar in Kenyon next season.
“There is a lot of talent on this team still,” Donahoe said. “But, they have got to find a vehicle to realize that potential more consistently.”
(02/26/14 11:18pm)
The dedication of a new Steinway concert grand piano brings President of the Julliard School, Dr. Joseph Polisi, to the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts on Saturday, Mar. 1 for a public lecture on “The Arts, Education and the Human Experience.” Awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the College in 2010, Polisi has served as the sixth president of the prestigious conservatory of dance, music and drama for 29 years, establishing a revised curriculum with an emphasis on the humanities and the liberal arts.
Polisi’s history with the College started decades ago. He worked at a summer festival at the University of Vermont in Burlington, frequently making trips to Middlebury to shop, dine and tour the College. His wife, a French teacher, was well aware of the prestigious language programs at the College and his daughter eventually attended a Language School program at the Vermont campus over the summer. Upon receiving his honorary doctorate, Polisi became better acquainted with the President, his wife and the Middlebury community.
“I’m very honored to be asked back to inaugurate this new instrument,” Polisi said.
Polisi looks forward to discussing the lasting positive impact the new piano will have on the College in years to come, as well as exploring the relationship between conservatory and liberal arts study. Julliard’s 600 undergraduate and 300 graduate students thrive in the world renowned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, but Polisi sees many possible connections between his school and Middlebury’s rural community of around 2,500 undergraduates.
“I’ll be talking about the value of the study of the arts in the context of a liberal arts education, but also how the arts are an important part of the fabric of our society,” Polisi said.
In 2005, Polisi wrote The Artist Citizen, discussing the responsibility of the artist to present their art to communities around the world and to make people understand the importance of the arts in any environment.
“I’m very passionate about the idea that within the context of a liberal arts environment like the wonderful program at Middlebury that students, faculty and administrators understand how the integration of the study of the arts and the appreciation of the arts on campus can really enhance the entire environment, not just the artistic environment,” Polisi said. “People who can participate in a serious digestion or understanding of the arts really are more empathetic, more involved in their own society and more able to have a positive influence on everybody in their communities.”
An accomplished scholar of music, public policy and the arts with two books to his credit, Polisi is also a successful bassoonist with a solo recording of 20th century bassoon. In addition to holding three graduate degrees in music from Yale University, Polisi also has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Connecticut and a Masters of Arts degree in international relations from Tufts University. Frequently speaking on issues of arts and education, Polisi has founded many programs that focus on mentorship and the importance of an interdisciplinary education. In 2006, he helped to found the Carnegie Hall/Julliard Academy, a program designed to prepare post-graduate musicians to be leaders in the arts and education.
“I’m always speaking to our Julliard students about their sense of mission and their need to really be effective advocates of the arts once they get off stage,” Polisi said. “The performance is one thing and that’s extremely important, but then they have to be active as missionaries, so to speak, for the arts.”
President Polisi’s free lecture will take place on Mar. 1 at 4:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts. An evening concert will take place at 8 p.m. on the same day.
The concert will be a festive celebration of the new instrument featuring performances and discussions from several members of the College community. Audience members will first be shown a short film describing the selection of the piano at the historic Steinway factory in Queens, New York.
The Steinway model D concert grand piano arrived at the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts on Nov. 26, a gift of the Ray, Meredith and Nathaniel Rothrock ’12.5 family in honor of President Liebowitz and his wife, Jessica. The 9-foot, 990 pound piano will reside in the Concert Hall for use by faculty, students and performers participating in the College’s Performing Arts Series.
Chair of the Music Department Greg Vitercik is excited about the new musical opportunities created by the piano.
“It opens up a sound world that is simply not available on the instruments any of us encounter in daily life,” Vitercik said in an email. “And that new sound world offers a range of expressive and coloristic effects that cannot be produced on lesser instruments, as well as possibilities — and challenges — of control that only exist at the rarified level.
In January and February, President Liebowitz sent out a campus-wide email inviting students, faculty and staff to register for ten minute slots to play the Steinway over the second week of J-term and the first week of the spring term.
Steinway enjoys the reputation of being the concert piano of choice around the world, with each instrument containing over 12,000 parts and taking over a year to manufacture by hand. A selection committee of concert soloists Richard Goode and Paul Lewis, Middlebury Affiliated Artist Diana Fanning ’71 and Gwendolyn Toth ’77 traveled to the legendary New York factory in late October, testing five potential candidates that might suit the acoustics of the Concert Hall.
Nathaniel Rothrock was an active participant in theater, musicals and the College Choir in his time as a student.
“Middlebury actually approached us about acquiring a new piano,” Rothrock said. “The old concert piano in the hall was close to 15 years old, maybe more, and the school had decided that it was time to get a new one. We discussed it and decided to help fund the gift. As we thought about it, we realized something important. President Liebowitz and his wife, Jessica, who is a concert level pianist, have been and continue to be huge supporters of the performing arts at Middlebury. So with the proviso that the piano be named in their honor, we decided to make the gift.”
The concert will showcase the piano’s versatility by presenting a unique mix of genres. Cameron Toh ’17, Shannia Fu ’17, and David Heschel Liebowitz, all students of Fanning, will perform works by Barber, Debussy and Satie, while Gwendolyn Toth will present early keyboard pieces by Beethoven. Affiliated Artist and Director of Jazz Programs Dick Forman will pair with Felix Klos ’14 to play jazz selections. Bass/baritone Rothrock will close the program with songs by Schubert, Lerner and Loewe and Sondheim, accompanied by Associate Professor of Music Jeffrey Buettner.
Vitercik thinks that both performers and audience members will benefit from the high quality craftsmanship of the Steinway.
“We have a long record of bringing some of the finest pianists in the world to our stage, and to have an instrument of this quality will allow them to perform at the highest level of their artistic potential,” he said. “Audiences, too, will experience an unparalleled richness, subtlety, and expressive range in those performances.”
The concert will be followed by a reception in the Mahaney Center lobby. The event is free but requires the reservation of tickets through the Box Office.
The community has an excellent opportunity to hear Dr. Polisi’s lecture and watch the combination of arts and education in action at the concert celebration of the new Steinway piano. The dedication marks what is sure to be just the start of many years of enjoyment for the College.
(02/26/14 6:55pm)
If I were to try to describe it, I would root my answer in dichotomies: overwhelming yet exhilarating, unknown yet expected, intimidating yet motivating, and most importantly fearful yet rewarding. No, I am not talking about skydiving or meeting Will Ferrell, but rather the trials and tribulations, the rewards and frustrations of being a new kid.
This communal experience is not only something I can relate to, but is my current way of life. As a freshman feb in my first semester at Middlebury, my life is rooted in awkward eye contact, the hey-hi-how-are-you millisecond conversation, the endless scan of the dining hall, and the looming question of how my voice will blend into this unified college community. Therefore, my friend (yay to making new friends!), we are truly in this together.
If I were to be meeting you for the first time, I would show you my widest smile and make sure I made welcoming eye contact. I’d probably talk about growing up in Westchester, NY, coming from a divorced family and having three siblings. I would not forget to mention my love of doing anything outdoors and my passion for photography, even if I do not do it as much anymore. Anything with peanut butter, 500 Days of Summer, and Brett Dennen would be my responses to all the basic food/movie/music questions, with my voice cracking as little as possible. I’d try to make a joke. I’d hope/wait for you to laugh. We definitely would not talk about my fears of being alone or not knowing what I want to do with my life… at least at first. I would give you a hug goodbye because I am a sensitive person and would walk away wondering what that first encounter meant.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
I am here to uncover what happens once the preplanned meet-and-greets and orientations come to an end and all you are left with is your room key, class schedule, and a deep knot in your throat that is encased with fear. How do we as human beings learn to socialize, adapt, and co-exist with our environment? How do we create relationships and friendships out of thin air without letting preconceived notions cloud our judgment? Do we ever transition out of new kid status into seasoned professional? If we all come from different backgrounds, how do we all eventually homogenize into “Midd kids with our Nalgene low?” Why, if everyone at some point has experienced it, is being new so hard?
I want you to be the primary witnesses to the unsung heroes of this campus: those who are willing to put themselves out there and truly be themselves in an environment where cliques and reputations are the status quo. Those who are willing to trip and back track and even momentarily lose faith are the role models I want to focus on, because if the end goal is finding your niche in college, the road is going to be bumpy.
This column is for everyone; it’s about anyone who has been that someone with no one to sit with, or no one to rely on, and yet does not get discouraged. In the end we all find our people and our place and laugh at the time when we did not know whatwhowherewhenwhy, but that is not what I want to focus on. Continue reading if you can handle the awkwardness, the insecurities and the questioning that is crucial to finding your identity.
Believing that “not all those who wander are lost,” I introduce you to a New Kid on the Block who is eager, excited and nervous to meet you.
Artwork by CHARLOTTE FAIRLESS
(02/13/14 12:16am)
In September 2015, the College will welcome 10 new Posse students from Los Angeles who have shown an interest in pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. The Posse Foundation announced its decision in Jan. 2014 to double the number of Posse partner schools focused in the STEM fields. These new Posse students will be added to a class of 20 Posse students from the College’s existing partnerships with the New York and Chicago Posse programs.
This addition stems from President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to improve the training and education of STEM students across the country. The College was one of five new colleges and universities selected to join an existing five schools partnered with STEM Posses. Over the next five years, these ten schools will provide 500 urban students of different backgrounds with four years worth of full scholarships. The funding will total $70 million and come from a variety of institutions.
“I’m really honored as a Posse alum and as Dean of the College that we were picked by the Posse Foundation,” said Dean of the College Shirley Collado. “They have over forty colleges that they could have picked and they looked to Middlebury as a place where Posse scholars are thriving and as a place that was demonstrating deep commitment to wanting to improve what we’re doing in the sciences and for STEM students.”
The Posse foundation recruits students who exhibit excellent leadership and academic promise from nine urban locations across to the country and matches them with top tier institutions, to provide an otherwise unattainable academic experience for students.
“[The Posse students] have leadership qualities that they bring to a campus; they bring a diverse background because they come from many walks of life; they bring a commitment to education, social justice, and they bring an eagerness to work with people,” said Professor Hector Vila, mentor for the New York 12 Posse.
According to Collado, a STEM Posse was proposed when the Chicago Posse was added in 2011. This allowed for discussion in the science program about the need for diversity and where improvements can be made and the initiative to diversify the sciences has been well received at the College.
“Nationally, underrepresented students tend to major in disciplines outside of the sciences,” said Director of the Sciences, Bob Cluss. “Ideally, our majors in the sciences should reflect our society at large which will make our learning environment richer because everyone’s perspective will be adequately represented.”
New York Posse 11 Mentor and Professor of Chemistry Roger Sandwick believes that, “to add 10 students in [the sciences] of different backgrounds will add to the culture and can only help. It will start to encourage the current students of color to take the chance and be in there.”
Middlebury has been working to strengthen the Science program for a while according to Cluss. This has included a National Science Foundation grant dating back to the 1990s that brought high school students to campus for science programming and to engage in research with our faculty. Another grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute later in the 1990s supported a program that is similar to that of Posse.
The new LA STEM Posse will help to both diversify the science program and to provide feedback on the structure of the science curriculum.
“We’re very enthusiastic about what we’ll learn, what we’ll do, and how we’ll support [the STEM Posse scholars],” said Collado. “They will also play a major role in helping us make sure that we strengthen the STEM program and that things go well
Many of our faculty are eager to allow this to be a vehicle for them to also do what they need to do to make sure that our classrooms are inclusive and are allowing all of our students to do well.”
“The [new Posse students] will be arriving at a time when change is taking place,” said Cluss. “We are already using or planning new pedagogical approaches and re-evaluating the way that gateway courses are taught in the sciences.”
Along with its role in helping the science program, the new Posse will add to what the existing New York and Chicago Posses are doing to enhance the college community.
Posse student Biniyam Estifanos ’14 commented that, “the Posse program has been effective on campus in a mission to bring diversity to this campus, but I think it still lacks diversity, whether that be racial diversity, ethnic diversity, any type of diversity
I think Middlebury could do better with the amount of potential that we have and I think that this third Posse coming is a huge step towards achieving this diversity goal.”
According to Collado, the Posse program is neither a minority-based program nor a need-based program and so it brings diversity to a campus in the broadest sense of its definition.
“All of these students are part of this community that we are trying to diversify and figure out even if it sometimes feels messy and uncomfortable,” she said.
This new Posse will also bring demographic changes to the campus. Collado explained that Middlebury was allowed to choose the new Posse from a range of locations and decided on LA because of the opportunities that will arise from ties to the West Coast.
According to Dean of Admissions Greg Buckles the Posse program in Chicago has already proven effective in increasing the exposure of students involved in urban and outreach programs to the College.
In the class of 2017, about 19 percent of applications were from the West Coast and about 11 percent were from California. Of those from the West Coast 32 percent enrolled and of those from California, 30 percent enrolled.
“We feel like we already have a good foundation [in California] so we thought we could better leverage what presence we already have there with this STEM Posse,” Buckles said.
Buckles claims the new Posse in LA is a “tremendous win for us” because, “We anticipate that it will help for probably all measures; for creating access for traditionally underrepresented students, for helping us in LA and the greater LA area in general, and then certainly for generating interest in STEM related fields.”
Out of the twelve schools that are partners with the LA Posse, the College will be the only STEM Posse and so according to Sandwick, the College will most likely receive the strongest science students from this area.
“Posse is providing a way for us to communicate to a larger public school system that Middlebury is a place where you can thrive in the humanities, in the social sciences, in the actual sciences and be a STEM student,” Collado said. “And I think that many students out in the world don’t know that and public school students in urban schools don’t know that.”
“I think that the Posse Foundation is redefining merit and how we think about academic excellence at this country at the most elite institutions,” Collado said. “I think that Middlebury is better and stronger because it decided to look at leadership as something that is valued.”
Said Estifanos, “I’m excited to see a third Posse coming. I think the worries that some people have about the third Posse are very similar to those we had when Chicago came. They might be seen as a third wheel but it’s my hope that there’s this open arm that’s extended from the current Posses on campus to just welcome them.”
(02/12/14 9:31pm)
The Town Hall Theater presented its eighth J-term musical, the legendary Les Miserables, to four packed crowds Jan. 23-26. This collaboration between the Town Hall Theater and the College Department of Music showcases well-known vocal and theatrical talents as well as student actors and singers from a variety of other academic disciplines. The intensive nature of J-term allows students from any department the opportunity to focus their undivided attention on the production of a fully staged musical in just three weeks. The results have proved wildly popular, with tickets to all four performances of Les Mis selling out on the first day of sales.
Full disclosure: as a musical junkie, Les Mis is one of my top five favorites. After countless hours spent listening to various cast recordings, one attempt to read the English translation of Victor Hugo’s original 1,500 page novel (currently paused at page 372) and a viewing of the 1998 dramatic adaptation with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush, the music and story of Les Mis are extremely familiar to me.
The musical is one of the longest running in history and has been seen live by an estimated 65 million people in 42 countries, not to mention the millions of new viewers first exposed by the highly-publicized 2012 Hollywood production featuring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. Following the life story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who finds redemption through faith, honesty and hard work, Les Mis discusses heavy themes plaguing revolutionary France, such as prostitution, rampant crime, political unrest and poverty. The over 20 major and minor characters and extended timeline surely present any creative team with a unique challenge when adapting Les Mis.
As I took my place in the audience, I was excited and a bit nervous to see how the College would contribute to the long list of productions.
There is a brief, electric moment in a theater when the lights dim as the murmur of the crowd makes way for the tuning of the orchestra. Violins and violas play their final practice notes before the conductor raises her arms, and the audience takes a collective breath, waiting for the first measure to prompt the opening scene. In Les Mis, this anticipation of the unknown made way for the male members of the ensemble singing the first notes of ‘Look Down’, each sporting a prison uniform as they worked together to pull an off-stage ship. This scene also introduced the tense relationship between the main character, Jean Valjean, and Javert, the strict and intimidating police inspector who spends his life searching for the escaped Valjean in order to exact the justice he thinks is deserved.
The nine principal characters were excellently cast, with Quinn Bernegger ’13.5 tackling his last role at the College with nuance and determination. As the lead, Bernegger was required to be on stage for almost every scene, and his clear, powerful tenor was extremely well-suited for the wide range and emotion of song necessary to play the ex-convict turned honest man. The intensely emotional ‘Bring Him Home’ and ‘Who Am I’ were understandably met by rousing applause. Bernegger conveyed the heartbreak and morality of Jean Valjean through his advanced ability to shape words and music into an expression of complex character.
An imposing Javert appeared in the form of Mike McCann ’15, his height and black inspector costume combining beautifully with his strong vocals to create a believable antagonist to Valjean’s reformation. Especially powerful was ‘Javert’s Soliloquy,’ when McCann conveyed the inner turmoil of a man who realizes that his unfailing reliance on the morals of the law is no match for the genuine compassion and honesty of Valjean.
A few key props cleverly positioned on the grid of metal pipes at the back of the stage addressed the issue of conveying the many scenes and locations of Les Mis, allowing for the illusion of even more action off stage. A stained glass cross and a clock were just a few of the many props placed on the grid to indicate a change of time or place, and old doors were positioned in the second act to build the battle barricade between the on-stage revolutionaries and the off-stage French soldiers. Risers remained in the same U-shaped position throughout, allowing more opportunities for depth and travel without additional scenery. At times, the stage seemed incredibly sparse, sometimes only sporting one or two objects, but the smart blocking and captivating, colorful costumes allowed for the minimalist set design.
Evann Normandin ’14.5 played Fantine, a factory worker shunned by society and forced into prostitution to raise funds for her daughter’s care. Eventually selling her luscious locks for money, Fantine’s tragic downfall is captured in the iconic ‘I Dreamed a Dream,’ a song that reflects on the hopes of youth erased by the harsh realities of single motherhood and working class life in 1860s France. Fantine’s death and request of Valjean to care for her young daughter, Cosette, dictate the direction of the plot for the rest of the musical. A fan of Les Mis since she was 11, Normandin said that playing Fantine was a dream come true.
“She is such a complex and tragic character, and I enjoyed the process of pushing myself and being pushed and directed by Doug to find ways to let go of myself more in each rehearsal,” she said. “It was emotionally draining to play a character who falls so deeply into despair, and to access those emotions every night in rehearsal and then eventually performance definitely took a toll. She’s a character who is very much a victim and reacts to the often abusive treatment she receives, but the challenge for me was finding moments of strength, especially in ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ which is much more interesting for me when it doesn’t stay on one emotional note.”
Indeed, Normandin brought the sorrow and despair of Fantine alive in her short time on stage before her character’s death, her skilled voice cracking appropriately with emotion as her character declined physically and emotionally.
Costume designers Danielle Nieves ’10 and Krista Duke ’15 crafted exquisitely detailed, visually stunning costumes that provided an excellent complement to the powerful music of Les Mis. From the silver buckles on Javert’s police uniform to the garish floral print on Thenardier’s pants to the intricate rouching and layering on the prostitutes’ dresses, details propelled the costumes from good to phenomenal.
Adam Milano ’15 used his experience as a member of the Otter Nonsense Players comedy group to inject laughter into the occasionally somber themes of the musical, prancing onto the stage as the crooked innkeeper in ‘Master of the House,’ and delivering the complicated, quick lyrics of the song with ease.
Dana Tripp ’14 proved the perfect pairing as the innkeeper’s wife, showcasing strong vocals and comedic timing as she proved her wit and intelligence while lamenting her position as the partner of a lousy criminal. Together, Tripp and Milano formed a well-loved pair, garnering a rousing cheer from the audience as they took their final bow.
The 24 members of the ensemble added immensely to the work of the principal characters, contributing to the gorgeous harmonies of ensemble songs such as ‘Lovely Ladies,’ the whimsically choreographed ‘At the End of the Day,’ and the central ‘One Day More.’ The high quality performances were telling of the exceptional talents of each cast member.
Adding even more to the polished product was the subtle presence of the orchestra, comprised of twelve student and community musicians and conducted by Hannah Rose Rommer ’08.5. The sweeping, enchanting melodies of Les Mis are the backbone of the piece, some themes repeating many times throughout the show to tie specific events or characters together. The orchestra was relatively small but powerful, adding a captivating layer of dimension.
As the second act progresses, Fantine’s daughter, Cosette, grows into a beautiful, refined young woman under the protection of Valjean, and her innocence and foray into first love were captured by Julianne Wieboldt ’14, whose high soprano voice easily met the challenges of the score. Cosette falls for a brave young revolutionary, Marius, played by Thomas Scott ’15. Scott’s understated, soothing voice matched well with his character, who must grapple with the death of his fellow revolutionaries after finding his ‘one true love.’
Watching the young lovers from the sideline is Eponine, daughter of the low-class Thenardiers who has known and loved Marius for some time. Alyssa Dillon ’15.5’s smooth, wide-ranging voice portrayed the heartbreak of unrequited love beautifully; love and regret combined in songs ‘On My Own’ and ‘A Little Fall of Rain,’ in which Eponine dies in the arms of her beloved, comforted in her last moments by Marius’ proclamation of platonic affection.
Not to be left out is Mohan Fitzgerald ’14, whose powerful vocals and expressions lent themselves nicely to Enjolras, Marius’ best friend and brave proponent of the revolution.
Eryn Diehl, Lillea Isham and Tyler Giorgio were excellent as young Cosette, young Eponine and Gavroche, the three children’s roles in the musical. All three displayed high levels of professionalism and talent as they sang of hopes for better days and showed maturity beyond their years.
Normandin, who is a double major in Theatre and English, notes that the J-term production experience is distinct from a typical semester-long schedule.
“I’ve been exposed to theatre that makes me think deeply and critically for an entire semester in faculty shows,” she said. “The J-term musical has been an entirely different experience in terms of the somewhat universal appeal of Les Mis and the expedited work schedule. We work so quickly that sometimes you’re still finding important moments in dress rehearsal, and that freshness can be exhilarating.”
Director Doug Anderson, Music Director Carol Christensen and the over 60 involved students presented a fresh, engaging adaptation that proved equally accessible to long-time fans and first-time viewers of the 25-year-old musical. Les Miserables is full of death and despair, but ultimately has grown in popularity because of its messages of hope and strength in the face of adversity. Middlebury’s adaptation was ambitious, powerful and ultimately, a huge success. In my mind, there is no question as to why the J-term musicals have proven so popular after watching Les Mis.
(01/19/14 11:01pm)
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On Sunday, Jan. 19 hosts IAN STEWART and GRETA NEUBAUER spoke to four of Vermont's migrant workers.
Estimates put the number of migrant workers in Vermont at 1,500. For those migrants the long, dangerous trail across the southern border and up to the Green Mountain State isn’t the end of their troubles. The threat of deportation looms even as they form an integral part of Vermont’s iconic dairy industry.
This weekend in the first annual Student Symposium at the Rohatyn Center organized by Molly Stuart and Fernando Sandoval, their rights and struggles were at the center of the conversation. Four of the workers – Jose, Lorenzo, Danny and Jose, who all work on farms in the State – spoke with us recently about their experiences, their work with the Vermont-Based organization “Migrant Justice” and what changes they’d like to see in America’s evolving relationship with its immigrants.
(01/16/14 1:39am)
Students were faced with difficult travel conditions caused by Winter Storm Hercules and a polar vortex while attempting to return to the College for the start of J-term, forcing instructors to make accommodations for those who were absent because of travel delays.
The storm, which battered the Midwest and Northeast from Jan. 1-3, has been cited for at least 16 deaths and complicated travel for several days thereafter. Illinois experienced up to 17 inches of snow, while New York was hit with anywhere from six to 11 inches, and parts of Massachusetts received almost two feet of snow.
According to a Fox News report, on Jan. 3 alone, almost 1,500 flights were cancelled due to Winter Storm Hercules. Such cancellations snarled the travel plans of students such as Colleen Harper ’14, a member of the Women’s Swimming and Diving team who spent 48 hours travelling from her home in Chicago to Middlebury in order to dive at the team’s meets at Bates and Colby on Jan. 4 and 5.
“My flight to Burlington [on Thursday] was cancelled, so I took another flight to Newark that was delayed, causing me to miss the last flights to Burlington until Sunday,” Harper said. “I ended up taking a train from Newark to New York and then on to Burlington, and then drove to Middlebury, arriving at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning after leaving Chicago at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.”
Delays also forced some instructors to make accommodations for missing students during the first few days of classes. Philip B. Stewart and Sarah F. Cowles Stewart Professor of Chemistry Jeff Byers is currently teaching Organic Chemistry I, which meets five days a week for over five hours each day, putting students who miss even one class at a great disadvantage. Byers turned to new technologies to aid those who were unable to return to campus on time.
“Two students missed the first lecture, and I was recording my full lecture on a Smartboard, so they had full access to everything,” Byers wrote in an email. “They got caught up pretty much immediately.”
C.V. Starr Professor of Russian and East European Studies Tom Beyer, whose Beginning Russian course meets for three hours every day, also leveraged technology to keep an absent student up to speed in the class as travel troubles kept her at home.
“We used FaceTime to let her participate fully in our intensive language where she was able to view, listen and respond,” Beyer said. “In the past for reasons of weather and personal emergencies, I have also used Skype to stay connected with class members.”
Other professors opted for replacement or make-up class meetings. Sasha Whittle ’17, whose flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was cancelled, missed the first class in her J-term course “Infectious Disease: Historical Epidemics, Current Dilemmas, and Emerging Problems.” She was not alone in her absence, however.
“About 15 people missed our first class, so the professors [Visiting Professors Andy Hale ’06 and Russell Johanson ’06] held a make-up lecture so we could catch up,” Whittle said.
(01/15/14 10:15pm)
Only the few and the lucky end up in Jernigan Pontiac’s cab. And, only the fewer and the even luckier end up in his stories.
Jernigan Pontiac, who requested that only his nom de plume be used, has lived and driven cabs in Burlington for 37 years, documenting 17 of those years in a bi-weekly — or, fortnightly, as he likes to say – column, “Hackie,” in Seven Days, a newspaper in Burlington. Yet, even with nearly 500 columns, two books, loyal followers and a minor-celebrity reputation, Jernigan Pontiac remains elusive and tries to maintain a low profile.
Originally from Brooklyn, Jernigan Pontiac began his career as a cab driver in Manhattan. Although he didn’t write back then he said, “isn’t it true that every writer, from the time that they’re a tyke, is always thinking about the world and observing?”
His sister, an “original hippie,” left the City and went to Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Jernigan visited her once and fell in love with both Vermont and another hippie, who is now his wife. So, he moved to Vermont and started being a cabbie in Burlington.
He started a company, Morf, which “pioneered the use of vans as cabs in Vermont.” After growing the company, he sold it and went back to his original love — driving cabs. And then, after he kept telling his friends about all the interesting people he met through work, he started writing his column.
“99 percent of the time they’re thrilled to be in the paper,” said Jernigan Pontiac of his subjects. “One time I drove a young man up from Burlington who was breaking up with his UVM girlfriend … and he wrote a letter to the paper saying that I got a bunch of things wrong.”
Normally, though, Jernigan Pontiac and Seven Days don’t receive angry letters.
“My rule of thumb is, except in rare cases, I always change the names and I’ll also change where they’re going,” he said, explaining his writing process. “I’m in an odd dynamic — my purpose is not to invade the privacy of others — and the truth is, every two weeks I invade the privacy of others. The way I justify it, or the way I rationalize it, is that I try to write about whoever I’m writing about with as much compassion as I can muster.”
Along with his determination to write with compassion, Jernigan Pontiac believes that everyone’s life is important and interesting.
“I wrote in one story … ‘every person’s life could be an epic novel,’ and it’s true,” he said. “A lot of people say that’s not true, but they’re wrong. If you survived childhood, you’ve got a novel. I like to find the hidden gems and hidden gold which is in everyone’s life.”
Looking through Pontiac’s second book, “Hackie 2: Perfect Autumn”, a collection of his Seven Days columns, this creed is clear — he writes about everyone from a 91-year-old woman going on vacation to Florida, to Dave Mamet (a famous screen-writer and playwright), to a man whose construction business is going down the drain in the midst of his divorce. All of the people in Jernigan Pontiac’s stories are people all around us every day. They are all fascinating and interesting, yet most people don’t take the time to get to know them. Or, most people don’t open up as they do to Jernigan Pontiac.
“I think the heart of the ‘Hackie’ stories is the beauty or the sadness or the poignancy of everyday people and everyday life … these are really fascinated, interesting, wild people but the vast majority are not people who, if you took a cursory look at their life have a lot going on there.”
(01/15/14 10:12pm)
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, Gov. Peter Shumlin utilized his State of the State Address to tackle an issue that had not previously been addressed. Shumlin used all 34 minutes of his address to voice his concerns regarding the heroin and other opiate-based drug addictions that are pervasive in the state of Vermont.
Governor Shumlin declared the epidemic a “full-blown heroin crisis.” He also expressed concern over the state’s future if things continue the way they are, stating that the addiction “threatens the safety that has always blessed our state.”
Governor Shumlin pointed to the fact that last year, the number of heroin-related deaths doubled from the previous year. Additionally, since 2000, there has been a 770 percent increase in the need for treatment for this addiction. Governor Shumlin stated his intention to shift the focus from a punitive reaction to a more rehabilitative response.
“We must address it as a public health crisis, providing treatment and support, rather than simply doling out punishment, claiming victory, and moving on to our next conviction,” he said in his address.
Shumlin explained that there is a severe lack of treatment facilities in the state and that this is a problem considering how many people are struggling with opiate addiction. He recommended that the Legislature allocate $200,000 to this cause immediately. In doing so, he pointed to the upwards of 500 citizens who have expressed a strong desire to receive treatment but are sitting on waitlists for programs.
There has been ambivalence in some communities regarding the construction of new treatment facilities, but Shumlin called on officials to enact change on this front.
“The time has come for us to stop quietly averting our eyes from the growing heroin addiction in our front yards while we fear and fight treatment facilities in our backyards,” he said.
The governor introduced another element of his plan that would allow those already convicted of possessing heroin the chance to forego incarceration and instead seek a structured treatment program. Again, this initiative is dependent on the construction of new facilities.
However, Shumlin’s proposal did not only seek to ease penalties. It also suggested coming down harder on individuals guilty of selling heroin, which, as the governor said, should “help ensure that high volume dealers who bring drugs into our state to prey upon Vermonters in pursuit of profits will suffer the consequences.”
The proposal seems to have generated mixed results. Most Democrats are pleased with Shumlin’s ideas, and most Republicans are not as thrilled about the fact that he devoted his entire message to a single issue.
Representative Heidi Scheuermann from Stowe, Vt. is one such Republican. “We do have to tackle addiction, but people day after day are asking me about healthcare,” Scheuermann told the New York Times. She felt that Shumlin’s address was mostly a distraction from the confusion surrounding the current healthcare chaos.
On the other hand, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont released a statement on his website praising Shumlin’s proposal.
“I commend the Governor and the Vermont Legislature for making this a top priority for the new session,” Leahy said.
“We need all hands on deck to fight heroin and opiate addiction in Vermont, and the Governor has proposed answers that can draw strength from all parts of our community.”
The proposal will now be evaluated by the Judiciary committees in the House and Senate, both of which have Democrat majorities.
