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(04/22/10 4:00am)
PARIS — I set out on my year abroad with a lot of expectations, one of which was, of course, to become “multicultural.” Little did I know just how personal this multicultural experience would become for me.
My abroad year has been a little out of the ordinary in that I spent my first semester in Moscow and am now studying in Paris for the spring. I went into the Moscow program with no knowledge of the language, which grew frustrating. I found myself wishing that I could leave Moscow and go to Paris where, at last, I would be able to communicate.
I was unaware of how my small knowledge of Russian language and culture from that experience would enrich my stay in Paris until I got home for Christmas and my mom had me write a letter to my French family, most of whom I had never met, announcing my arrival and expressing an interest in meeting up with them.
As it turns out, this French family comes originally from Russia and has kept the language, traditions and religion very much alive throughout the years.
After a few brief brunches in and around Paris with my newfound cousins, I was invited to a Russian Orthodox Easter service and celebration.
The service was mostly incomprehensible to me, but the few words I was able to pick up and the general atmosphere of the church and the people surrounding me brought me back to Moscow for a moment and I felt a mix of the excitement of being in Paris and the nostalgia for Moscow, so much so that I finally was able to make the connection between the two experiences, a connection that was finalized at the celebration that followed.
The after-party was a lively event filled with Franco-Russian people speaking mostly French, drinking mostly like Russians.
I found myself listening to conversations in a fluid mix of Russian, French and English and even when the Russian was wordy and complicated, I understood what was being said.
I even tried my hand at conversation in Russian, switching back to French when I had difficulty, and everyone around applauded my efforts, however pitiful they were.
I feel so lucky to have had two unique and different opportunities this year in my studies abroad, but what is even more fortunate is the chance I have had to reconnect with my origins and, in doing so, find the link between these two semesters.
(04/22/10 4:00am)
At Middlebury College, we are constantly aware of value: the value of an education (whether in thousands of dollars or in worthwhile experiences), the value of a course and curriculum, the value of friendship.
Endowments, ranking and affiliated pride construct value placed on the College, but it also possesses extremely fascinating and valuable items. What are these items worth? How much does a first-edition copy of “Walden” go for? These questions are difficult if not impossible to answer, and highlight the history and expansion of a remarkable collection of rare materials that the College has acquired.
“Special Collections is a recent phenomenon in that, through most of the 19th century, there was so much focus on classical education at the College,” explained Andy Wentink, curator of Special Collections and Archives. “The focus was, though admirable, to train educated Christian men, and that was it, but not in terms of special research collections.”
As the policies of the library began to expand, and alumni began to donate rare materials, the fuzzy idea of Special Collections began to develop. A first edition of the Diderot Encyclopédie, with gilt-edged binding and delicate fleur de lis patterns, was given anonymously in the mid-19th century, cataloguing the height of Enlightenment thinking. Around the same time, Noah Webster also left the College a collection of books.
The 20th century brought a heightened awareness of specialized material, and in 1923 Julian W. Abernethy left the College his library of 19th-century American literature.
Wyman Parker ’36, whom Wentink fondly calls the “father of Special Collections,” returned to Middlebury as a librarian, with the goal of building a repository of representative books.
Special Collections has grown immensely since the introduction of the Abernethy Room, and dealings with the Friends of the Library as well as the establishment of a Rare Books Fund have helped the collection expand significantly — and of course, an abundance of alumni and patron gifts have elevated the collection.
Currently comprised of five rich collections, Special Collections includes the Julian W. Abernethy Collection of American Literature; the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection; the College Archives, Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Vermont Collection. Wentink estimates that Special Collections now houses over 700 broadsides and over 60,000 rare books, as well as an array of other specialized material: dead theses, audio files, alumni scrapbooks and so on.
“We are format-blind,” he said. “If it has value, we collect it.”
One of the most affordable sources that Wentink uses in collecting is eBay.
Eight years ago, Wentink was perusing the site, looking for items relating to the College itself or the town of Middlebury, when he stumbled upon six letters to a minister from Brattleboro with many references to Middlebury. He e-mailed the seller asking about the provenance, condition and content of the collection and was surprised by the response — the seller possessed more than 300 of these letters, and was a former trustee of the College.
The seller agreed to sell the letters to Special Collections for one dollar apiece. When Wentink obtained the letters, he noticed that many of the letters were written in the same beautiful, prominent script and eventually discovered that these were from Benjamin Labaree, the fourth president of the College.
In letters dated from the 1860s, Wentink read an exchange between the minister and Labaree, who was writing to urge the minister to encourage the Congregationalist ministers of Vermont to fight a change that was brewing: the possible merger of Middlebury College and University of Vermont (UVM).
“Nowhere do you see this possibility [of a merger with UVM] expressed,” said Wentink. “Some of the most knowledgeable College historians had no idea.”
“I bought these letters for 300 dollars, but for the Middlebury history the detail is priceless. The question I ask is, ‘How important is the material to the intellectual life of the College and to the cataloguing of our history as a College?’ I would have purchased those letters for thousands of dollars, had I had the funding.”
Wentink is an adamant pursuer of items that will benefit the academic and educational life of the College, but his decisions depend on curricular versus monetary value.
“I found myself looking for the first-edition copy of “This Side of Paradise” [in the Abernethy Collection], only to realize that it was not there,” said Wentink. “I found out that the selling price was $15,000! Part of my job is to say, ‘Am I going to throw away $15,000 for “This Side of Paradise” or use the funds to find many other valuable items to add to our collection and benefit the College?”
It is the curricular value — that is, how much students can learn from and explore the material of Special Collections that mean the most to the curators and staff members.
Sometimes keeping curricular materials can be challenging, and Special Collections employs an in-house curator, Ginny Faust.
Wentink gave the example of “The History of the Indian Mutiny:” the binding was breaking, pages were falling out, and the remarkable piece was unable to be used by students.
“I believe in the ‘Use it or lose it’ philosophy. Why have these extraordinary materials if they can’t be used?” said Wentink.
Now “The History” is a beautiful, sturdy book, which Faust scanned, mended and replicated so it can be used again.
“I call her the miracle worker,” said Wentink. “I say, ‘You made it a book again!’”
Resources, research and revitalization all go into the building and preservation of Special Collections. The staff members of Special Collections, as well as members of the College community who utilize and appreciate the collections, agree with the sentiment that the long-term value of the Collection is priceless and could never be marked by a solely monetary estimate.
“Walden”: Thoreau’s personal first edition with holographic notes
Clifton Johnson, in an introduction to Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” wrote that “few spots are more satisfying to the literary pilgrim” than Walden Pond. Special Collections is lucky to own a first edition copy of the great Transcendentalist work with holographic notes decorating the margins.
Acquired in 1940 by Viola White, who was the Abernethy curator for more than 20 years, “Walden” was purchased in the hopes of building the Abernethy collection in the spirit of its donor, who cherished American literature — especially Transcendentalism.
White purchased it for $1,000, but its current insured value, according to Wentink, is “way more than that.”
“I love the thrill of the search in working with primary materials,” said Deb Evans, visiting assistant professor of American Studies, who takes her 19th century American literature classes to Special Collections to view “Walden” and other materials.
“I’m always thrilled to see how readily students respond to holding these texts in hand,” said Evans.
“To be able to see a sample of Emily Dickinson’s handwriting, for example, helps understand the energetic quality of her writing — how she uses that ubiquitous dash — in a unique way. Or to be able to look at every edition of Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” and notice the size of the first volume he self-published — its a notably large book — and be able to see, side by side, the images of Whitman himself that preface these editions, gives you a sense of how the poet wants to project his own image over the years.
There’s no replacing the experience of seeing this first hand.
“The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes”
In 2004, Wentink held a panel of four different faculty members from varying departments to discuss the significance of Special Collections.
Each professor was allowed to choose one book that Special Collections would then track down and purchase. Timothy Billings, professor of English and American Literatures, chose Edward Topsell’s “The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes” (1607) and “The Historie of Serpents” (1608), which were bound together in the 17th century.
“[‘The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes’] is a big beautiful folio edition with impressive woodcuts of all the creatures described therein, ranging from the house cat, the salamander and the rhinoceros, to the gorgon, the basilisk and the chimera,” described Billings.
Inspired by the primary source compendium of Renaissance-age knowledge on beasts both fictional and real, Billings centered a Winter Term course called “Renaissance Zoology” on Topsell’s work.
“What’s wonderful about this work is that even the sections about real creatures often contain fantastical traditional ideas mixed in with reliable information from direct observation, such as that the chameleon eats only air, or that our own beloved panther has a sweet breath that it uses to attract its prey but a visage so fierce that it must keep its head turned away in order not to scare it off until the last minute when it snaps its head around for the kill,” said Billings.
During the duration of the course, students had to work with the original work and compose an essay on one beast they were drawn to in “Foure-footed Beastes.” They were given the option to use EEBO (an electronic version of first-edition books), but all 15 students chose to work directly with the original.
“Once we get them here, students are transformed,” said Wentink. “They become invested.”
Billings, who tries to utilize Special Collections materials whenever possible, agreed.
“There is nothing more exciting when studying 16th- and 17th century England than having the chance to touch a rare book like that, to turn the pages, and to read for oneself what it contains — indeed, to hold in one’s hand the very object that someone 400 years ago once held who was also eagerly reading to learn about such creatures,” he said.
Eric Tunis Antique Map Collection
When an alumnus of the College from the late 1960s was looking for a place periodically to display his collection of maps, he first contacted the Monterey Institute. His contact at the Institute passed on his interest to Middlebury College, and Special Collections eagerly accepted the gift.
The still-in-progress collection of maps — over 48 in total — includes maps from the 15th-century that depict the Middle East and Asia.
“The value of the entire collection [which the College receives in yearly installments] on the market would be phenomenal,” explained Wentink. “[The alumnus] had been building it up for about 40 years.”
“The Tunis collection, as well as maps from other collections, such as the Omar Pound collection, can be valuable resources that help us understand how the world was seen in the past,” said Ian Barrow, associate professor of history.
What gives the collection even more meaning is that Eric Tunis, while a student at the College, was so inspired by one of his professors of geology, Rowland Ilick, that he made this great contribution in his memory.
“[Ilick] had invested in his studies and his students and passed this great passion on to Tunis,” said Wentink.
“This is a great example of ‘What goes around, comes around.’”
The excitement can be contagious and inspiring, for students past and future.
Handling the maps from the Tunis collection is an easy way to be excited about history; the maps display copperplate engraving and hand-coloring of the territorial borders. Some have titles and place names inscribed in Latin and Dutch, with bright colors lining the borders and territories that beckon the viewer to fall into a historical perspective that is often lost in looking at glossy print-offs of modern maps.
“There is no quicker way to get excited about history than to hold a 17th-century map in your hand,” said Barrow.
(George) Catlan’s North American Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America (Portfolio)
When this collection was purchased in 1934, Special Collections bought it for $157.50.
Wentink, who was unable to reveal what it would be worth on the market today, only said, “Believe me. You couldn’t even look at it for that amount of money today.” (After some online browsing, specifically at the William Reese Company, I noted that one edition of this portfolio sells for over 160,000).
George Catlan’s North American Indian Portfolios are a product of his years of painting, living and traveling with Native Americans in the Great Plains region. In a preface to the material, Catlan wrote, “The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian.”
From 1832 to 1837, Catlan sketched tribes, and eventually painted over 600 portraits of Native Americans, capturing their dress, culture and lifestyle with great detail.
Special Collections owns a portfolio from 1834, which includes 25 over-sized hand-colored lithographs capturing both the lifestyle of the Plains Native Americans and the passion of an eager historian.
The rich colors of the excellently-preserved drawings, the straight-grained morocco cloth and title label, with elaborate borders and precise detail, make the collection of plates come alive even 176 years after the drawings were completed.
Wentink values the collection at much more than that original $157.50; culturally and historically, the drawings are invaluable.
“The way these materials were first seen by the public in our collection — that connection with the primary source is completely unique,” said Wentink.
Hemingway Gift (2007)
In 2007, Anne Hemingway Feuer and Hilary Hemingway Freundlich, two nieces of Ernest Hemingway, were on the lookout for a repository to house their family archive, which was the product of a project undertaken by Ernest Hemingway’s younger brother Leicester in the process of writing “My Brother Ernest Hemingway” (1962).
However, the nieces had not been having much luck finding a repository that would keep the entire collection together, which they had wanted to do out of respect for their family.
“They were afraid of continuing to hold it in their home in Florida because they thought that the big one was coming and would wash it all away,” laughed Wentink.
Hemingway Freundlich had actually married a Middlebury alumnus, who contacted John Elder, professor of Environmental Studies and English and American Literature. Elder passed on Wentink’s contact information, and sure enough, he received an e-mail.
“I saw that I had received an e-mail from Hilary Hemingway, and I thought, ‘Oh, yeah right,’” said Wentink. “I thought it was spam!”
Wentink was glad that he opened the e-mail and when he responded eagerly to her request for a repository, he said the collection “would be the single greatest acquisition for the Abernethy Collection of American Literature since the purchase of ‘Walden’” in 1940.
“She sent me an e-mail back that read: ‘Who said anything about buying it?’” said Wentink. “It was a donation!”
The collection itself includes original letters, diaries, notes, stories and drawings of Hemingway’s family, including over 700 family photographs. Items of particular interest, as described on the Special Collections website, include: diaries of grandfather Anson Hemingway dating from the 1850s; family Civil War letters; courtship letters of Hemingway’s parents, Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway, prior to and after their marriage; and revealing letters to Grace from Ernest’s four wives, (Elizabeth) Hadley Richardson (1921-1928), Pauline Pfeiffer (1928-1940), Martha Gellhorn (1940-1945) and Mary Welsh (1945-1961).
One noteworthy item is the 15-page carbon copy typescript of the original first two chapters of “The Sun Also Rises,” which were excised before publication at the recommendation of Hemingway’s good friend F.
Scott Fitzgerald. The only other known copy of these two chapters (with slight variances), which do not appear in the novel as we know it, is in the John F. Kennedy Library.
However, in sifting through photographs of Hemingway with his siblings and parents, it becomes obvious that this collection is more than a literary one.
“It goes beyond capturing and cataloging the literary history,” said Wentink. “It tells the story of a Midwestern family out of which the artist emerged.”
(04/22/10 4:00am)
When I heard from friends and teachers that John Elder would be retiring from Middlebury College, it was at the beginning of my junior year, late in 2008. It was not the first time I’d heard that it had come time for him to leave after some three decades, an amazingly long tenure. At the time, posters had been put up around campus advertising a lecture that Elder would be giving, based on the premise that it would be his final lecture ever. On the night of the event, I went down to Bicentennial Hall on anxious, hurried feet.
I wasn’t sure who John Elder was; only that he was something of a fabled man around here, an author of several books about literature and landscape. My parents had seen him speak in New York City, where I’m from, and afterwards told me that if there was anything that I should do in my years in Vermont as an English major, it should be taking one of Elder’s classes. I soon learned that those classes were very hard to get into, and were not always being offered. I thought that seeing Elder that night would be my only chance to get to know the man, and being in the familiar rush that consumes us here as Middlebury students, I took only a pen and whatever piece of paper was free on my desk. I walked into a full lecture hall, where things had not quite settled. I’ll always remember Elder as he began to speak at the podium. Something about his presence, the air of humility that surrounded him, the unadorned, earnest and eloquent way in which he spoke was palpable, a brilliant light in the room.
John had passed around a short packet, where he’d pasted several passages from different writers and thinkers across disciplines that had given him insight over the years. Among the most memorable of these was a poem by Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day.” The poem describes a small, seemingly innocuous moment, in which the speaker holds a grasshopper in her palm and, by chance, begins to ask some simple questions in its presence.
Like the grasshopper from the poem, we are bound to feed upon life’s sweetnesses. Life is generous with us, and, like the grasshopper, there will be times along our journey when we are forced to depart from that old sugaring ground and to move on, remaining strong along the road, nurtured by moments of insight like the one offered to the speaker in the poem by the simple, enigmatic grasshopper.
As spring melts into summer, John Elder leaves us with a wealth of insight, language, and inspiration that will remain passionately scribbled in our notebooks — you know, the kind of notebook you hold on to for years and years to come. Perhaps the greatest lesson Elder has taught me is that the truest forms of wisdom, the kind of wisdom that radiates from him, is wisdom that asks questions, and challenges us to see further, beyond ourselves. “What is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?” John has taught us that the best classroom discussions are the ones where nobody has the answers, and instead, students and professors alike are inspired to build off each other’s ideas in an effort to see deeper into the questions of our hearts, minds and souls. “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.” But we do know one when we hear it, and we do pray, trusting that higher force of love when we need it. Thank you, John, for all that you’ve taught me — and for reminding us that sometimes, the mystery is more important than the answer.
(04/22/10 3:59am)
On April 16 and 17, sold-out audiences in the MCFA Dance Theatre were treated to “Walking the Curb,” featuring senior independent work from Elizabeth Boles ’10, Philippe Bronchtein ’10 and Sophia Levine ’10.
One was immediately introduced to the ethereal, surreal quality that would carry throughout the evening by large, billowing white constructions rigged from the ceiling. Designed by joint Environmental Studies and Architecture major Evan Daniel ’10, these cloudlike paper objects greatly contributed to the overall visual success of the first piece. Levine’s choreographic work
“And then there were three.” opened the show. Soft gold and lavendar-colored lights rose onto the choreographer in a pink dress, squatted in a deep, strong plié. Throughout the piece I was moved by the contrast of her almost childlike costume to her graceful, mature, intentional movement style.
The piece featured Otto Pierce ’13 and Michael Baker ’13 as aesthetic complements — they wore white shirts and beige slacks, and generally functioned as support and as interesting counterparts for Levine.
Tahis was reaffirmed in Levine’s solo, co-choreographed by her and Kathleen and William F. Truscott Professor of Dance Andrea Olsen, which was a series of quick phrases, repeated and subverted for almost 5 minutes. Levine’s dancing was truly impressive — graceful, skillful, and overall a real joy to watch.
Pierce and Baker entered stage left, and concluded the piece with phrasing from the beginning and then three simultaneous solos that seem almost unrelated save in movement quality and style. Levine finished in the same downstage right corner, looking back over her shoulder.
Seemingly a study in physical and visual counterparts with Levine as the anchor, “And then there were three.” should have perhaps been titled, “And then there was one.”
After a pause as the sculptural stage was disassembled, “COM,” Bronchtein’s choreographic effort, began.
Immediately impressive when one noted that Bronchtein had composed the music in addition to the dance, this piece was perhaps my favorite of the evening. With a near-perfect ensemble featuring Christian Morel ’11, Lilah Leopold ’12.5, and Hannah Pierce ’13, Bronchtein explored the juxtaposition of atypical and traditional movement styles. The dancers behaved robotically, sometimes finding themselves mechanically stuck in the same movement for several seconds, and sometimes becoming almost human with expressive faces and relationships. The blend of human emotionality and mechanical, programmed apathy is confronted in the most affecting moment of the piece, when, center stage, Morel malfunctions, revealing his actual vulnerability and helplessness, and Pierce tenderly comforts him.
Bronchtein’s accompanying music provides an excellent addition, sometimes simply complementing the dancers, while occasionally building until it overwhelms the action on stage and manages to redirect the movement onto a new dramatic level. Overall, the choreographic motifs and themes present in “COM” were impressive and complex, acting as a poignantly appropriate culmination of Bronchtein’s academic focus on the relationship between technology and humanity.
Levine and Bronchtein took the stage next, with “An Improvised Duet.” It was a brief and enjoyable piece, with both dancers clearly in tune with one another, physically fit and experienced in improvisation, but what was most impressive was the collaboration between the improvisation of lighting design by Jennifer Ponder and music program created by Bronchtein.
The program recognized the presence of light and dark in different portions of the stage, so Ponder’s lighting decisions directly informed the music that the dancers worked with. This original setup was both interesting to watch, and technologically mind-boggling.
The final piece was Boles’ “pilgrimage of all things broken,” featuring a large cast consisting of Boles, Sarah Chapin ’12, Sonia Hsieh ’10.5, Jessica Lee ’13 and Catherine Miller ’11. A real theatrical production, the work included elaborate costumes, spoken word, a large trunk and several violin interludes played onstage by Hsieh. The dance functioned as a culmination of Boles’ Anthropology and Dance joint major, considering the physical embodiment of culture. Less traditionally pleasing than the other three pieces, this work involved a repeated Urban Dictionary definition of the word ‘bitch,’ the occasional growl, and complex, seemingly disparate characters and story lines.
One is still led to believe that the five women embody something complete and unified — perhaps all exaggerated aspects of one woman. The presence of spoken word in both English and Spanish detracted from the complex movements that were taking place as one’s focus necessarily had to switch from one to the other.
The overwhelming content, however, acted as a statement in itself, boldly declaring the dancers women proud of their many facets, whether we like it or not. As the shirtless dancers walked to the back of the stage, one couldn’t help but appreciate Boles’ expository, albeit over-stimulating, vision.
(04/15/10 4:00am)
Last Friday evening, gathering between the “Middle Readers” and “Gardening” shelves at the back of the Vermont Book Shop on Main Street, an audience looked to whet their appetite for poetry. In conjunction with the Arts Walk, and in celebration of National Poetry Month, Friday evening’s poetry jam brought together six local poets, scholars and general lovers of poetry to read selections from their favorite works.
Jennifer Bates, events coordinator at the Vermont Book Shop, conceived the idea when the Vermont Book Shop was invited to participate in the Middlebury Arts Walk. She admits her approach to the event was unusual.
“The convention nowadays in readings is, people read their own work and not the work of other writers, and in fact I think one of the great pleasures is hearing wonderful poetry read out loud,” said Bates.
Bates wished to organize the poetry jam primarily because of her belief in what she perceives as the universal power and importance of poetry.
“I think poetry itself is really essential stuff for getting by,” said Bates.
With this in mind, Bates asked six friends and acquaintances from various community groups to read at the poetry jam. Friday’s audience listened to readings by David Weinstock, Mary Pratt, Ray Hudson, Elizabeth Stabler, Stanley Bates and Becky Dayton.
Bates hopes that these voices from the Middlebury area will further the community’s embrace of poetry.
“I think there’s a perception these days that it’s all this very esoteric specialty that’s relegated to university life where students of poetry write poems that are read by fellow student poets and they try to get them published in journals that are edited by former graduates of MFA programs and go on and get jobs,” said Bates. “In fact I don’t think that’s really the truth of it.”
Bates sees events like the poetry jam, which make poetry more widely accessible, as metaphorical rescues from the ivory tower.
“There’s just something really wonderful about a small room of people listening to great writing,” said Bates.
Friday’s offering of great writing spanned a diverse spectrum, including works by Richard Wilbur, Theodore Roethke and Alfred Noyes.
Although he doesn’t count himself among these wizards of wordplay, Stanley Bates has a long-fostered appreciation for poetry. Jennifer Bates recruited Stanley Bates, her father and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the College, to participate in Friday’s reading.
“I used to be the administrative director of the [Bread Loaf] Writers’ Conference and I knew a lot of poets and I’ve been to a lot of poetry readings,” said Stanley Bates, who has, at last count, attended over 700 similar events.
“I actually tallied it up one time because I was thinking, ‘I’ve been to a lot of readings,’” said Stanley Bates. “Most of the time, it’s been enjoyable.”
For those looking to compete with Stanley Bates’ total, the Vermont Book Shop plans to host another reading in the middle of this summer. Again, it will feature local poets, but organizers will augment the program with authors from the Bread Loaf School of English. Anyone seeking “the essential stuff for getting by” is encouraged to attend.
(04/15/10 3:59am)
On April 11, the Stonehenge competition for 12 finalist applicant groups was held in McCardell Bicentennial Hall. The event lasted from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and was open to the community. Four out of the 12 finalist groups — out of an original 20 groups — were chosen to win $3,000 Stonehenge grants.
Stonehenge is the College’s idea competition. Winners not only receive a generous grant, they are also awarded an office space in the Old Stone Mill for the summer, as well as alumni mentoring. This year, the competition included four areas: Vermont public policy, business, arts and environment. For each of these four areas, an individual session was held.
The finalists in each session presented their proposals for 10 minutes each, and then engaged in a public question-and-answer dialogue. After all finalists finished this process, a panel of judges made up of faculty, alumni and community members left the room to discuss who to choose to win the grant. When they returned, they announced their decision to all of the finalists and then gave the other groups feedback.
Bianca Giaever ’12.5, who, along Will Bellaimey ’10.5 and Aiden Arata ’12.5, won the Vermont public policy grant along with for a proposal titled “Outsourcing Justice: Private Prisons and the Future of Vermont Corrections,” said that the whole day was exciting and nerve-wracking.
“The process was really intense,” Giaever said.
“I was extremely nervous and I was quivering in my boots. It was so suspenseful when the judges came back into the room to tell us who won.”
Giaever thought that all of the applicants were great, so she did not want to express just how excited she felt about winning while sitting next to the other groups.
“But Aiden just lost control of her emotions because she was so happy,” Giaever continued, laughing.
Giaever, Bellaimey and Arata plan on creating a radio documentary about the Vermont State prison system. They will collect interviews from prisoners, their families, and politicians. Part of their summer will involve traveling to private prisons in other states, such as Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, where many Vermont prisoners have been sent because of overcrowding in state prisons. To do that, the three students plan on making some arrangements before the summer begins.
“We have to start making calls and setting up interviews,” Bellaimey said.
“Obviously the biggest and most difficult prizes will be getting interviews with the prisoners in Kentucky and Tennessee. I just want to make sure we get the chance to talk to everybody.”
McConnell Franklin ’11 won the business competition with his proposal to build the Web site
“Bicycle2Bicycle.com.” Franklin says that this Web site, which he has already begun to program and design, will help the cycling community by making it easy for cyclists to connect with one another, find cycling events in their area, and share photos, videos and race results.
It will also include event registration, an online marketplace for buying and selling used cycling equipment and a coaches’ section where coaches can view and edit racers’ training schedules online.
“I think that Stonehenge is one of the best things that’s happened at Middlebury,” Franklin said.
“It’s something we need even more of, with even more categories. These activities and individual projects are really important at Middlebury and are what help the College be what it is — a liberal arts school at the front of innovation.”
Juan Machado ’12 won the arts competition with his proposal to translate Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis’ book “Contos Fluinenses” from Portuguese to English. This book has never been translated to English before. Machado, who lived in Brazil for part of his life, is very excited to work on this project. He has already begun to translate one story in the book, and will seek guidance from language professors and experts at Middlebury College and elsewhere.
“This project I’m doing is very labor intensive and time consuming,” he said. “It will require me to spend time working, locked in a room. Without funding from the College, there would have been no way for me to do it!”
Elias Alexander ’12, winner of the environment competition, will work on a project called “This Valley My Home: The Power of Story to Awaken an Environmental Ethic.” He will create a performance piece with folktales, songs and poems that will investigate the cultural and environmental issues of the Rogue Rover Valley in Oregon and, by extension, American society.
Through this project, he hopes to help people understand themselves, create community, and foster a land ethic.
The week prior to the competition, program coordinators Caroline Towbin ’10.5 and Director of Project on Innovation in the Liberal Arts Elizabeth Robinson worked with student organizers in each competition area to select the Stonehenge finalists. Once the Stonehenge finalists were notified of their status, they were invited to attend a public speaking workshop with Mike Kiernan, a local doctor who is also involved with Middlebury’s town hall theater.
Towbin, who was present for the full day of the Stonehenge competition, said that she was very happy with how supportive the finalists were of one another.
“The competitors watched each other and worked together,” Towbin said. “There was not a single moment where you felt like people were competing against each other … The judges gave great advice during the question and answer sessions and during the follow-ups. They have been a great resource and it’s wonderful to have them.”
(04/15/10 3:59am)
Both the jokes and Ele Woods’s ’11 oppressively colorful tunic in “Beyond Therapy” appear equally anachronistic for today’s world, and yet both still elicit the most uproarious of laughs.
Though the gags might have been a bit worn-out, the sense that the homophobic and “crazy people” jokes were, in fact, once original comes through. It’s not often that works from the 1980s seem like “period pieces,” but the Christopher Durang play shown in the Hepburn Zoo over the weekend of April 8-10 manages to hearken back to that era of Madonna cone-bras and “The Breakfast Club,” and not-too-subtly remind us of how long it’s been.
Through seemingly dated, the ’80s setting of “Beyond Therapy” remains central to the comedy. Durang, often having encountered suggestions to update the play, has steadfastedly refused. After all, the time period does not interfere with the looking-for-love-while-lonely relationship farce’s main purpose — it wants nothing more than to make you laugh. There is no great moral, tragic twist or dramatic ending.
Overtones of the hackneyed theme “we’re all crazy!” instigate the humor. And while overused, the ridiculous situations nevertheless are carried forth by a cast ridiculously pleasing enough to overcome the tired script.
Woods, playing a word-fumbling, narcissistic, kindergarten teacher-like therapist, commands the stage, and it is not only because of the overwhelming brightness of her outfits. She trips over her words with purposeful, delightful ease, and her disorderly use of the English language combining with her sickly sweet smiles could not play to any soundtrack but that of spectators’ boisterous laughter. Other cast members portray their characters just fine, but Woods surpasses “just fine.”
Woods plays Mrs. Wallace, a therapist who ironically needs therapy herself. In this comedy of errors, Mrs. Wallace “helps” Bruce (Reilly Steel ’11) overcome his relationship problems, while also partly engendering them. (It turns out that her encouragement of Bruce placing personals ads in the paper for women annoys his gay lover, Bob (Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13). Who’d’ve thought?) When Bruce meets Prudence (April Dodd ’13), they irritate each other until they like each other enough to start dating. Prudence’s masculinity-challenged therapist, Dr. Stuart Framingham (Dennis Wynn ’13) and a cute waiter (Grady Trela ’13) complete the love hexagon.
As Bruce and Prudence try to make their relationship work, it becomes abundantly clear that the affair is a travesty in the making. Their idiosyncratic therapists’ interfering fingers make the tightrope of modern love all the more daunting. Bruce only wants to marry Prudence and live in a house in Connecticut with an apartment over the garage for Bob, but his simple wish is hampered by, among many other problems, Dr. Framingham’s constant (and illegal) attentions towards Prudence.
In portraying the back-and-forth between Framingham and Prudence, Wynn and Dodd are perfectly matched — that is, their chemistry is nonexistent. The undercurrent of disgust threaded through her rebuffs only encourages his slimy notice, and Wynn’s mastery of what men think of as “smooth” makes their scenes even better. Similarly, the character of Bob makes the comedy all the greater, with even Koplinka-Loehr’s gait communicating his amusing annoyance at his boyfriend’s new girlfriend.
“Beyond Therapy” turns out, after all, to be good medicine. Submitting to the absurdity of the comedy, to Woods’ ribald yells of “cocksucker,” to Steel’s repetitive speech patterns about his “feelings” and to Wynn’s amusing Napoleon complex, means releasing those veins bulging from the accumulation of college stress and giving into the ease-inducing hilarity.
Some students might find the new contortions of their face muscles a tad overbearing and unfamiliar, so unused to laughter as the end of the semester’s workload begins to amass upon them, but that just shows how utterly necessary its pure silliness is.
“Beyond Therapy” might be a relic from the ’80s, but in its nature as a farce, it accomplishes its aim better than a good tickling ever would. Utterly undemanding, the comedy forces its audience into a release through laughter, ironically manifesting a therapeutic role even as it shows just how bad some therapy can be.
(04/08/10 3:59am)
On April 11 and 18, the members of the recently admitted Class of 2014 will arrive at Middlebury for Preview Days, having been selected from a pool of applicants 16 percent larger than last year’s. The admit rate this year stands at about 17.5 percent, making the Class of 2014, the product of Middlebury’s most selective application season process yet. This increased competition allowed admissions to be even more specific in crafting a class.
“Since we admitted this class from the largest pool that Middlebury has ever had,” Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett said, “we were able to be even more selective in ‘shaping’ the class in terms of the intellectual, geographic, socio-economic, racial, extracurricular and all of the other kinds of diversity that we want to have represented in the student body.”
Clagett cites the academic programs at Middlebury as a possible factor in the increase in applications.
“I believe that we are resonating especially deeply for many right now, perhaps because of the increased interest [in] some of Middlebury’s historically-strongest programs in languages, environmental studies and international studies,” Clagett said.
Applicants showed broad interest in other natural and social science programs as well, Clagett said. The most popular professed interest of the admitted class was biology, followed by international studies, English and environmental studies.
In addition, the elimination of the supplemental application made applying to Middlebury easier and more accessible.
“The new information that we gleaned about the applicant [through the supplemental essay] was pretty marginal, and it had little, if any, impact on our final decisions,” Clagett said.
The additional staff needed to read all the extra essays and the time spent on this aspect of the application also made the essay relatively time- and cost-ineffective. The deliberative process behind admissions is already intensive, occupying a full-time admissions staff of 17, several part-time readers and staff assistants, and five faculty members from November until the end of March.
About 350 to 400 students and their parents are expected to attend Preview Days on April 11-12 and 18-19 this year, and the program for Preview Days will be quite similar to that from last year. Students will hear talks by Clagett and President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz as well as having the opportunity to attend panels on Feb integration and student/faculty research, among others. The financial aid office has organized a Q&A session as well as one-on-one sessions with families concerned about their aid packages. Prospective students will have the opportunity to stay overnight with Middlebury students with the number of prospective students able to do so depending on the number of students who volunteer to host. The most popular aspect of the Preview Days, according to Admissions Counselor Chrissy Fulton, is the ability to sit in on classes.
The professed goal of Preview Days is to allow admitted students a glimpse into Middlebury life, including classes, food, dorms, and the people.
“We want to help our prospective students picture themselves living and learning on this campus for the next four years,” Fulton said. “We want to help them test out the match to see how it fits. The Admissions Committee has spent the last three months poring over the almost 8,000 applicants to pick out students who we believe would thrive on our campus and contribute in so many ways; Preview Days turn the table and allow those same students to evaluate Middlebury and the offerings here.”
(03/18/10 4:59am)
“One never feels like a famous poet,” said C.K. Williams, a reflexive chuckle quickly falling from his lips. His audience laughs; but while Williams may not feel like a famous poet, his impressive host of accolades tells another story.
Having authored nearly 20 books of poetry and received the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, among others, Williams’ prestige alone would have been enough to fill the Abernethy Room for his reading on the afternoon of March 10. In his introduction of the speaker, D. E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini joked about the necessity of “crowd control at a poetry reading,” as eager listeners continued to trickle in, resorting to crowding in groups, sitting or standing or leaning in alcoves after each of the 60 seats had been filled.
Often giving context for the poems, Williams nestled anecdotes and glimpses of insight into the life between the words, as if creating a new pattern, a storyline of images and memory canvassing his 73 years. Williams chose both old and new poems, at times leaving their titles by the wayside or interrupting his own beginnings to give his listeners bits of the story behind the lines. His casual straightforwardness and warm reflexive humor made the hour seem less a reading and more a discussion, his audience made up of scores of silent, active conversers.
The poems ranged in subject matter and tone, from the somberness of “Jew on Bridge,” to the playful reflection of “The Singing,” and ended with a piece finished the day before, written in joyful and loving appreciation for his wife.
Each he treated with its own earnest urgency, his tall frame curving down to cradle a book in hand, which at times he read from, and which at times he would depart from and cast his gaze, with lens of the poem, to the audience. He delivered the verse as if its rhythm were occurring to him anew, as if the words themselves held the energy of the events of their inspiration.
In his voice, each word seemed to reach as if balanced in space upon the next, as if leaning on each line. He seemed possessed with “a kind of being in the world spontaneously” that he defined as “grace,” and he inhabited both the reading and the poem with its sense.
The words themselves seemed to exist outside their story, outside their context and just in the moment he delivered them, with the wisdom of assessment and acceptance and the eye of the amused, affectionate and sad.
He sounded constantly as if he were letting the audience in on a secret he felt should be universal, a kind of verbal embrace that could only be described as warmth.
A question-and-answer session followed the reading, in which Williams mostly discussed questions about his writing.
He mentioned that for him, a poem begins with a “sound, idea, [perhaps] the sounds of a few words . . . it’s like a process. I get into it.”
As far as difficulties go, he claims he feels that he’s “in an eternal writer’s block. Except when [he’s] writing,” with a chuckle, he continues, “It’s actually not a pleasant way to live . . . When you’re a poet, the next [poem] is the only thing that exists.”
The reading was hosted by the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English and American Literatures. Williams’ newest collection of poetry, titled “Wait,” will be published sometime this year.
(03/18/10 4:59am)
On March 10, in association with Chellis House’s programming for Women’s History Month and Women of Color’s “What is Color?” event series, Writer-in-Residence in English and American Literatures Julia Alvarez ’71 spoke to a lively audience in the Chateau Grand Salon, highlighting the distinctions between racial and cultural notions of “heritage” — between the color of one’s skin, which is “biologically determined,” and the color of one’s politics and behavior, which is a “moral choice.”
Mentioning the word “color,” Alvarez explained, always tends to heighten the anxiety in a room and make people feel “uncomfortable,” so her intent was to embrace that level of discomfort and try to confront it by simply acting as a “Daniel in the lions’ den.”
Alvarez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, began by reading an essay titled “A White Woman of Color” — originally written in 1996 for Latina magazine and featured in the bicultural-themed anthology “Half and Half” — which chronicles the mixed responses she faced after her work first gained success several decades ago. Despite the fact that her “heart skips to a meringue beat,” as she quipped, she often sensed that her relatively light skin made her “the wrong type of Latina” and somehow lessened her claim to being a woman of color.
In truth, coming of age in the ’60s and early ’70s, Alvarez admitted that she had often identified more as a woman than a woman of color — “I was more aware of my gender as a mark against me, knowing that I would be seen first as a woman,” she explained — and ultimately transitioned back into a discussion of the still prevalent machismo and marianismo (that is, the encouragement of purity and other traditionally feminine virtues) boundaries in Latin culture to show that the gender struggle has yet to be eradicated. Alvarez read a passage from her book “Once Upon a Quinceñara,” which delves into those issues as they relate to the traditional female rite of passage. The gender handicap, explained Alvarez, is often perpetuated by mothers who never experienced the prosperous childhoods of their daughters, and ultimately carry with them the gender biases of their native countries.
After reading her essay, Alvarez shared the results of an informal survey she had conducted pertaining to racial attitudes in her own homeland, where there are at least 22 different ways to refer to race in the popular parlance and 75 percent of the country claims mixed racial heritage. Alvarez asked friends who work at the coffee farm she owns with her husband to describe their coloring and heard a different answer from almost every employee, ranging from “cinnamon Indian” to “burnt Indian” to “dark Indian.” Alvarez maintained that there is still racial discrimination, but that the unique level of diversity in the Dominican Republic necessitates that discussion of race at least be more open, particularly because most families are made up of members with a range of colorings.
In Alvarez’s view, the solution does not involve “quilting [experience] into one whole” — i.e., an approach of colorblindness — but rather requires “developing a new type of consciousness that makes room for all that we are.”
“If we could just look at [these varieties] in the way we might look at people’s different talents, instead of using [them] to create a paradigm that decides who is ‘better’ … If we can look at [that element of difference] and name it and get comfortable talking about it, [then] there might come a day where we get off [our current] grid” — a grid that we absorb even if we do not intend to — “altogether,” she explained.
Ultimately, Alvarez’s presentation ended on an auspicious note, evolving into an honest exploration of race among the faculty and students in attendance. At times the discussion became heated and “uncomfortable,” but the general openness of the atmosphere was undoubtedly encouraging, particularly in light of one of Alvarez’ concluding statements about the importance of engaging in a genuine dialogue about “color”: “If it can’t happen at a college like Middlebury, where is it going to happen?”
(03/11/10 5:00am)
Holly Stark, the work-study coordinator at Mary Johnson Children’s Center, has traveled a long, winding path from Vermont and back again.
“When I was growing up I was just like some of the kids you may see here at the high school, just thinking, ‘I gotta leave!’ And I did leave,” Stark said.
Stark grew up in Westford, Vt., “a small farm town,” and she went to Essex High School, which Stark described as “one of Vermont’s bigger high schools.” After graduating, Stark, who did gymnastics, track, cross-country and soccer as a high-school student, hopped on her bicycle and rode across the country. She first went down to North Carolina, and then she made her way to Washington State, traveling back and forth between the two places for a few years and taking some time to explore the world before settling down for college.
“Nowadays there’s some of that stigma surrounding those that take some time off between high school and college,” she added. “I started college four years after high school.”
After receiving her undergraduate degree in French from the University of Utah, Stark spent time in both Vermont and Colorado working as a bike tour leader. She went on to receive her graduate degree from the Monterey Institute back before it was affiliated with the College, intending to teach either French or English as a Second Language, but she was not finished roaming the globe.
“I taught at a lot of colleges,” Stark said, including the University of Denver; Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland; the University of Pittsburgh; and even Yale. “That’s my big résumé-builder,” Stark said, laughing.
So what finally brought Stark back to Middlebury and Vermont?
“In the Asian economic crisis, a lot of ESL teachers got laid off and I was among them,” Stark said. “My husband was working for a dot-com and when that bubble burst, he got a job at Midd.”
Her husband, Bryan Carson, is now the Electronic Services Librarian at the College, while Stark started working for Mary Johnson Children’s Center, which her now eight-year-old son, Max, attended six years ago. With Stark and her husband finding job stability, Middlebury became their new home.
Stark’s job includes interviewing and hiring work-study students from the College as well as substitute teachers.
“I also do a lot of communicating between the office and the teachers,” she said. Her job also includes “a lot of clerical and administrative stuff” such as answering telephones, organizing paperwork, and managing the long wait-list for children to get into Mary Johnson.
Working at Mary Johnson, which accepts children from 18 months to five years old, has given Stark a lot of experience with local families from all parts of the socioeconomic spectrum here in Middlebury
“We have children of professors and children of parents with other professional jobs,” Stark said. “But about 50 percent of our children here receive subsidies from the state. There is definitely a difference.”
Stark attributed some of the broad range in income levels to the College’s presence, a factor which contributes diversity and opportunities to the town.
“I’ve lived in lots of different cities and so I really appreciate being in a small town — and yet having the addition of the College really enriches a small town experience,” Stark said. “There are really different elements here that you normally wouldn’t get in a small town.”
After living and teaching in so many different places, Stark has finally come home to stay, where Middlebury represents a compromise between the urban aspects of a place like Pittsburgh and the farm-town-feel of a place like Westford, Vt.
“I spent most of my adult life elsewhere — most of it in the United States, but some time in Europe as well,” Stark said. “And coming back, it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is really a good spot.’ So you grow to appreciate that. Spending a lot of time away makes you appreciate Vermont more. I no longer feel that ‘Oh, I gotta get out of here’ feeling.”
“I really enjoy living in Middlebury,” Stark said. “It’s a great place to raise a child.”
(03/11/10 4:59am)
Over 200 students will participate in this year’s Student Research Symposium on April 16, an increase of 50 percent from last year. The event has been expanded for the first time to include performances in the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts and presentations in foreign languages.
The symposium is a day-long event in which students present original research that they have completed for a variety of purposes ranging from internships and study abroad programs to classes at Middlebury and senior theses. Students may present using PowerPoint presentations, posters, demonstrations and performances.
“Having a full day has just meant that all departments have really embraced this as the program of the day, so it’s drawn more attention,” said Associate Dean of the College Karen Guttentag, one of the main organizers of the event.
“This year, I’ve found that there’s a lot more department advocacy and involvement in making sure their department is represented.”
Since its inception four years ago, the symposium has sought to encourage students to pursue their academic passions and allow faculty and other students to learn about their peers’ interests. Although there is an application process, the symposium isn’t selective; the only requirements are that students have a ‘mentor’ — for instance, a faculty member to a boss from a summer internship — and have some kind of “inquiry-based” project.
The goal is to ensure that the symposium isn’t “competitive and cut-throat,” Guttentag said. For seniors presenting theses, the symposium is voluntary and doesn’t count as their thesis presentation. Although the vast majority of the participating students are seniors, there has been a marked increase this year in the participation of first-years, sophomores and juniors. When the symposium was originally launched, there was discussion as to whether it should be open only to senior presenters. However, the committee decided to open it to all classes in the hope that it would provide an opportunity to students to practice their presentation skills year after year.
“This is about sharing what you’re passionate about,” Associate Dean of Undergraduate Research and Professor of Geology Pat Manley told participating students at a meeting on March 4. “This is not going to be graded … it’s a good feeling. The main thing is for you to smile and enjoy the day.”
Organizers of the Symposium also hope that the presentations will allow students to share interests with each other that they might not generally discuss in social settings.
“Students don’t always have an opportunity to present to their friends and peers exactly what they have been researching,” Manley said.
The oral presentations are grouped into four-person sets by a single uniting factor in the presentation, rather than by department. For example, the “Women of the World” grouping will include topics in English, Economics, History and International Studies, while the “Marketplace” grouping will include presentations in Political Science, International Studies, Geography and Economics.
“We find that it’s a more interesting way to present; it means that economists aren’t presenting to an auditorium of economists,” said Karen Guttentag.
“Coming at the same issue from a variety of perspectives not only gives you a 360-degree lens on the topic itself, but you have an audience that is hearing about their area of interest from a completely different perspective.”
The Center for Teaching and Learning Research (CTLR) will work with oral presenters to ensure that their presentations are polished and professional by offering public speaking workshops. For the first time, the school will offer “media tutors” to ensure that students can properly utilize all technology available to them.
Students who set up posters about their projects stand by their posters and answer questions about their research, and a handful have interacting elements. This year, an 11-foot wind turbine and glass blowing display will be presented.
Gruia Badescu ’07 will give the keynote address for the event. Badescu was a geography major who has continued to do research since his graduation. The symposium tries to choose Middlebury graduates who have graduated in the last 10 years as keynote speakers because they “bridge the gap between a full-blown career of accomplishment and where students are right now,” Guttentag said.
“The topics themselves are so broad and so fascinating,” Guttentag said. “Seeing students at the top of their game in this way is really inspiring for all of us. It’s a snapshot of some of the most exciting work that goes on here at Middlebury and a celebration of the learning process in the purest sense.”
(03/11/10 4:59am)
ALEXANDRIA — Prior to traveling to Egypt, I had never been out of the United States (Canada doesn’t count), so I really wasn’t sure what to expect from a land as exotic as the Middle East. When I arrived, culture shock was my first reaction, but, like all who go abroad, I had expected this.
What I didn’t expect was that I would turn into an Egyptian. I have, indeed, become an Egyptian.
This phenomenon became apparent when I visited Jordan this past week, and the natives told me: You don’t look like an Egyptian, but you must be from Egypt.
Why this reaction?
First, I have an Egyptian accent, according to the Jordanians. For those of you who don’t know Arabic, this includes pronouncing “ga” instead of “ja,” a glottal stop sound instead of the much prettier “qa” sound, and a million other little differences in terms of colloquial words and sayings.
But my Egyptianness doesn’t stop there. Oh, no.
An avid coffee drinker since I was about three years old, I have only ever used milk in my coffee occasionally, and never sugar.
I now use more milk than coffee, and four sugar packets per cup.
There’s more:
1. I have watched approximately 20 soccer matches in the last two months. Soccer is bigger here than football is in the state of Georgia (it is huge there, by the way).
2. I eat ful (bean paste) and falafel for breakfast. Ful is amazing. I will be attempting to cook it in the fall — find me then.
3. I use religious words in daily conversation (i.e. “if God wills it,” “thanks be to God,” “oh, my God,” etc). These expressions have a million meanings. Sometimes, they are used for general emphasis. In other cases, they are actually an answer to a question, i.e., “How are you?”— “Praise be to God.”
4. I yell at foreigners for wearing inappropriate clothing. What are the hewagat (foreigners) thinking when they wear mini skirts and tank tops in a mosque, or even in the street? And, yes, I actually have yelled at them (but in Arabic, so they didn’t understand).
5. This is the best yet. I ignore lines in restaurants. Instead, I push through the crowd and scream out my order to the cashier. Any Egyptian (like me) knows that if you want food, push your way to the front and flash your money. It also helps that, while my speech is Egyptian, my looks are foreign.
Unfortunately, in addition to this lighter and funnier side of my study abroad experience, there have been negative changes in my personality. I took a lot for granted in the U.S., including my ability to walk down the street alone, talk to anyone I want, or even something as simple as smiling at a stranger.
Some not-so-nice aspects of my Egyptianness:
I never smile at people in the street; I don’t wave “thank you” when cars stop for me. I ignore hellos. I am pushy when I haggle prices in stores and markets and, the biggest difference yet, I yell obscenities (Arabic and English) at impolite men in the street.
It’s a little cheesy — but definitely honest — to admit that these past two months have changed me. But thanks to my newfound Egyptianness I am learning that I can handle this extremely different world, and in the process, I am finding a path to understanding and hopefully changing the negative aspects of my experience here— “if God wills it.”
(03/04/10 4:59am)
Every Thursday Laura Jesson (Tanya Lehman) takes the train from her small English hamlet to the big city; London awaits. She does the week’s shopping, exchanges her library book and goes to the pictures.
Her life isn’t incredibly interesting, by anyone’s standards — including her own — but it’s enough.
In her own words, she is a happily married woman. She has a husband. Her children are upstairs in bed. She has a house. This is her whole world and it is enough. Or rather, it was.
What happens when the humdrum of her existence putters to a sudden stop? This is the subject of Noel Coward’s 1935 play “Still Life,” recently put on by the Middlebury Community Players at the Town Hall Theater, Feb. 17-21.
The curtain rises on the end of an affair. It is Laura’s affair, and she is saying goodbye to her lover, Alec Harvey (Ken Tichacek), for the last time. He is going to Africa, partly to avoid her — at her behest — partly for a new beginning. They clasp hands across the teashop table.
He says: “I love you.”
She says: “I want to die.”
Then, they are interrupted by a gossipy acquaintance of Laura’s and their last moments are relegated to a brief handshake and a meaningful glance. The train toots and chugs away. That is all.
Through a series of sparsely sketched scenes the play traces the genesis of Laura and Alec’s relationship, from a chance meeting and immediate repartee at the station to a sputtering end. They are both married, and the complications of their affair are contrasted with the comfortable if dull love between Laura and her husband Fred (Tom Noble), as well as the simplicity of a budding romance between shop girl Beryl (Catriona Bechtel) and Stanley (Jonah Lefkoe).
Part of a larger production, “Still Life” is one of 10 one-act plays written by Coward and meant to be performed in groups of three over the course of several nights. Several of the plays were later expanded into movies, including this one which inspired the 1946 film “Brief Encounter.” The playwright is reputed to have preferred the shorter form, citing his ability to sustain a mood for the duration without it becoming stilted.
He certainly succeeds here. The play is a snapshot of suburban mores — a “Still Life” based almost entirely in the train station’s teashop. Cheap tables, pasties and mugs become the constant backdrop for the many forms, sometimes awkwardly packaged, love takes.
Boisterous exchanges between shopkeeper Myrtle (Kendra Gratton) and her would-be lover, comfortably middle-aged ticket collector Albert (Wendel Jacobs), as well as the tentative romance between Beryl and Stanley act as a counterpoint to the frustrations of Laura and Alec’s affair, which must necessarily end in goodbye.
Although the play capitalizes on Lehman’s strong performance, the steadfast character of Alec also translates well in Tichacek. Both are insistent on the inherent niceness of their characters, making the affair that much more poignant — according to middle-class British values, it is not a nice thing to do.
The Middlebury Community Players continues to put on strong amateur productions, drawing on local talent and building a diverse repertoire. Recent efforts include last year’s “The Music Man.” They will return to the Town Hall Theater April 22 through May 2 for “The Sound of Music.”
(03/04/10 4:59am)
It has been two years since Middlebury College student Nick Garza went missing, since the College and the town joined together in search parties, since the surrounding community felt the first pangs of his absence, the uncertainty of his disappearance and eventually the news of his death.
Garza’s absence, and the process of searching, are the subject of a new book of poetry by Gary Margolis ’76, executive director of Mental Health Services at the College and associate professor of English and American Literatures. Margolis’ fourth book of poetry, called “Below the Falls,” deals with these heavy themes.
Even though Nick Garza is never mentioned by name, the poems are intended to reflect the sensation of “unknowingness” that surrounded his disappearance.
After graduating from Middlebury, Margolis went on to graduate school at SUNY Buffalo, where he took courses in the counseling education program, but also dabbled in creative writing courses. Living on an urban campus with a dynamic student body, and interacting with a circle of great writers opened up Margolis’ experience.
He finished his graduate career by producing a dissertation on the use of poetry in counseling, which included an anthology of poems he collected that related to mental health issues and a discussion of what he deemed “the curiosity and healing nature of metaphor, which acts as a bridge and broadens our experience.”
“I don’t think art necessarily makes us feel better,” said Margolis, “but it makes us feel more deeply. For me, healing doesn’t necessarily mean that we fix something, but more that we are with things of meaning — both experiencing situations of depth through our own interactions but also to stand witness to them.”
Though he did not personally know Garza, in a way, writing the poems as time passed during the time of his absence was a healing process for Margolis himself.
“It was, in a sense, my own response — as a counselor, as a teacher, as a parent, but also from hearing how a variety of people were feeling: shop owners, faculty, students,” he said.
“In those months I tried to write poems that reflected and responded to his being missing, and these are scattered throughout the book. A number of the poems wrote themselves” said Margolis.
Though he wrote the poems as events were panning out, Margolis has spent the last few years drafting and revising the poems, as well as collaborating with The Addison Independent, which has published a handful of his poems in the past, and integrating other poems into the collection that would help readers experience and respond to his shaping of metaphor, language and the process of dealing with grief.
“The potential of expression and healing through art comes in being a creator, but also the power comes to those who receive the creation,” said Margolis.
Those who pick up a copy of “Below the Falls” will find sharp, strong imagery and layers of discovery within single poems, which is characteristic of Margolis’ work.
In “The Missing,” Margolis writes: “No one can wear a coat / of ice. When a boy is gone, / he becomes my son. Can he / find a way to be found? / What’s the ground for, / if not to give back / what it can’t hold, tonight / a boy gone cold?”
The internal and intense rhymes within some of his poems were influenced by poet Frederick Seidel, whose rhymes Margolis found “so striking and edgy that they sort of gave me permission to use rhyme in my own poetry, which I’d never done before.”
He also hopes that his poems “start in one place, but quickly develop in a variety of different directions.”
For example, in the poem dedicated to Mickey Heinecke, Middlebury’s former football coach, “What We Thought We Didn’t Say,” Margolis describes a south-bound drive with Heinecke, beginning with the bold lines: “I can’t say, coach, what we’ll think / to say about the deer / we saw dead on the ride / to the championship game.”
His poems weave like the journey down to the game, finding new meaning and understanding along the way.
Margolis referenced Robert Frost, who said that “[he has] never started a poem yet whose end [he] knew. Writing a poem is discovering.”
“You want the poem to gather itself,” said Margolis.
He gathered his poems internally, but also combined other interwoven themes. Margolis estimates that perhaps only 10 poems are sharply focused on Garza. Some poems deal with what it means for a nation, and as people, to be at war, such as “Taking Inventory,” while some develop and connect to the Vermont landscape and still others grapple with the intricacies of human relationships.
The cover of the book evokes memories of that spring, a scene of waiting and watching touched on in the poem “Below the Falls.” Margolis’ son-in-law, Josh Moulton, is an artist in Chicago, and while Margolis was thinking about cover design, he remembered one of Moulton’s paintings, inspired by a photograph he actually took in Italy, though the feel and structure of the painting is very evocative of Otter Creek.
As the book appears in the College bookstore and stands on tables in the local shops, and fingers begin to leaf through the pages beyond that cover and soak in the words, people will begin to re-experience the tragic events of Garza’s absence. Some of the poems in the collection are bound to hit home for many in the Middlebury community, and Margolis has not formulated expectations as to how they will react.
“The goal is not to predetermine or have an expectation of how people will feel; the goal is to have the poems clear and evocative so that people can feel and come to their own experiences,” said Margolis.
“Hopefully [the book] will support and validate whatever it is that people feel.”
(03/04/10 4:59am)
The competition was fierce and spicy at the Second Annual Middlebury Chili Festival, with over 40 entrants this year vying for the glory of having the best chili in Middlebury. Contestants competed in one of two arenas, Amateur or Professional, and they were then divided up into categories based on the type of chili they were serving (vegetarian, beef, game, poultry, pork or kitchen sink). These chili aficionados entered the contest for a variety of reasons: the honor of winning the esteemed “Best Chili” title in their category, to attract customers to their restaurants and businesses or simply to have fun and share their delicious food with the community.
Shoreham Inn
The Shoreham Inn was entered under the professional category and served a traditional pork chili. It was the Inn’s first year at the festival, and it was clear that the participants were very excited about the experience. Representing the Shoreham Inn was Shannon Bohler-Small, who explained that the inn opened six years ago, but it does not often advertise its services, so the chili festival is a great event for the inn to gain some publicity in Middlebury. Bohler-Small also wanted to wait and see how the inn fared at this year’s festival before it expanded its chili horizons. “We’ll see how it goes this year. We can branch out maybe next year,” said Bohler-Small. She even hinted at the possibility of a vegetarian chili next year.
Bohler-Small on the festival: “I think we’re in it for the fun, to hang out with other people in town. We’re in it to advertise for the inn.”
Two Brothers Tavern
One of the more well-known professional businesses represented at the festival was the Two Brothers Tavern. It was the restaurant’s second year participating in the festival, and already it had staked out a name for itself: the vegetarian chili (which is on the regular menu) won second place in last year’s ‘professional vegetarian’ category. This year, the return of the regular chili was accompanied by venison chili made with local meat and complemented with maple sour cream. The tavern also served chips and guacamole to cut the chili’s spicy aftertaste. John Davignon, head chef at Two Brothers, had confidence in his dishes. “Last year was a big hit,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue on.”
Davignon’s chili-cooking tip: “Low and slow.”
Inn on the Green
Bruce Grove and his wife spent 20 years in Austin, Texas before coming to Middlebury. They came to Vermont in hopes of opening up an English-style country inn. Their search came to an end in October 2008, when they bought the Inn on the Green in the middle of town. Though he is now a New England resident, Grove still brought a taste of Texas to Middlebury in the form of his “Texas Red” chili, a traditional Texas chili with a solid beef base. The dish is one-third beef and one-third tomato products. The remaining third is made using different kinds of spices and chili peppers. This is Grove’s second year cooking chili at the festival, and though he did not win in his category last year, he is still in it for the fun.
Grove on his chili: “Real chili has no beans. They’re a fixing, so put them on after. Real chili isn’t made with hamburgers, only handcut beef.”
The Farmers Diner
Tod Murphy of The Farmers Diner presented his Vermont Beef and Bean Chili, a hearty traditional chili made with local beans and beef, in front of the National Bank of Middlebury. It was the diner’s first year cooking for the chili festival, and like so many other business contestants, Murphy’s goal was not necessarily to win the contest, but instead to attract more customers to the Farmer’s Diner, which is conveniently open 24/7 on the weekends in case a chili craving strikes in the wee hours of the night. Adding to the stand’s quirky appeal was a giant chicken mascot strutting around, though there was no chicken to be seen (or tasted) in the diner’s chili. Murphy was quick to explain the fowl’s significance: “It’s a chicken. People like chicken.”
Murphy on his chili: “I just want to win the customers’ hearts.”
Larry Naylor
Larry Naylor came as a local independent amateur entrant, meaning he was one of the few amateur contestants with no commercial business to promote. Still, the fact that this was Naylor’s first chili festival and that he was going solo neither deterred his enthusiasm for cooking chili nor impeded the quality of his dishes. Naylor had entered two types of chili in the contest: vegetarian and moose. That’s right — moose. In this unique dish, the moose meat and chili had a deep game taste. Samplers were so quick to try the interesting dish that barely halfway through the festival, the moose chili was nearly gone. Naylor had confidence in his moose chili, and he said that the only chili that could beat his moose chili was his own vegetarian chili — maybe.
Naylor on his chili: “Moose is one of the better game meats. It is more flavorful than others.”
A&W
Gail Daha, manager of the A&W stand on Route 7, was serving up A&W Cheeseburger Chili, a chili made with vegetables, lots of cheddar cheese and a little bit of cream cheese. With a mild flavor and a hint of the oh-so-familiar A&W cheeseburger, this chili is an experimental dish for A&W. They do not serve Cheeseburger Chili at the stand just yet, but if the chili is a success they intend to introduce it there once the stand opens early on April 21. It is the A&W stand’s first year participating in the chili festival, but Daha’s goal was to not worry about winning and instead enjoy the festival experience.
Daha on her chili: “Great on a hot dog, like a cheeseburger on a hotdog. Lots of extra flavor. It’s all about the cheese.”
Middlebury Fire Department
The Middlebury Fire Department entered the festival as last year’s reigning amateur champion. It claimed the prize last year with its Firehouse Beef Chili, and the firefighters were raring to cook more styles of chili and win again this year. They were serving four types of chili: venison, garlic, Southern-style pulled pork and pepper chili. The first three were mildly hot, but the pepper chili was easily the crowd favorite — it was a dish spicy enough to draw tears. Tom Sullivan, who was helping to run the fire department’s stand, recommended all four chili styles as potential winners before the results were announced. As last year’s amateur division winner, the department was hopeful that it would claim the title again this year.
Sullivan’s chili cooking tip: “Try different spices.”
Orwell Fire Department
This was the Orwell Fire Department’s first year participating in the festival. One of many fire department entrants in the festival’s amateur division, the Orwell Fire Department was serving Southwestern BBQ pork chili made with a blend of maple syrup, tomatoes and barbecued pork. They also served white turkey chili complemented with diced cornbread that was baked at the department. Louis Hall, the Orwell fire chief, was supervising the stand and helping serve chili to samplers. He expressed an amazed confidence in his dishes: “I’m surprised about the number of people who have raved about our [chili].” However, he added that the Department’s goal was not to win, but to enjoy the experience.
Hall on the festival: “We’re in it for the fun.”
(02/18/10 5:02am)
On Dec. 29, 2009, the New York Times ran an article by Kate Zernike titled “Career U: Making College ‘Relevant.’” The article outlined the changes that liberal arts schools across the country are making, seeking to prepare graduates for careers and to eliminate seemingly “irrelevant” or “inapplicable” majors such as philosophy. The author ultimately comes down in favor of the liberal arts, arguing that one’s major is far less important than one’s degree, but not before she details many applicable and appealing alternatives. If you have the time and the energy to seriously question your last four years and your parents’ $200,000, I suggest skimming the myriad of comments left in response. The respondents range from the bitter and jobless to the defensive and idealistic.
With graduation in sight, I have been having a similar liberal arts crisis. My friends and I have started playing the “what would you have done differently?” game, and sometimes I am surprised by the dubious reviews that come out of my mouth. Feeling the pressures of the job hunt, I often respond, “I would have studied something more pertinent.”
But then, I look at my cover letters and I bite my tongue. I want to spend the rest of my life reading, writing, editing, speaking and teaching, all pillars of the liberal arts. At Middlebury, I have learned the value of conversation over canned responses, and I would argue that this knack for liberal arts discussion makes us all more interesting people, regardless of our starting salaries. Here, I have met economics majors who also care about the environment, math majors whose true passion is cooking and ENAM majors who double as varsity football players. Despite the difficulty of judging a person by his or her major, you can always count on the fact that he or she will chat your ear off about what he or she cares about. And it is this fact that makes me proud to wave a liberal arts degree. As a publisher recently advised me, “All we really look for is passion and a commitment. The rest is teachable.”
Still, this crisis of confidence is understandable. It is intimidating to stand in an applicant pool next to someone who is “professionally trained,” especially when that “professional” is also well-dressed and well-spoken. Yet, I think we liberal-arts kids can bring something unique to the table. We can talk about paintings and world hunger in the same conversation, recall sports stats and census reports on request and, perhaps most importantly, we know that a full life exists in a delicate balance between work and play, right brain and left, old and new, applicable and just plain interesting.
So, Kate Zernike, I feel you on this one. I make bitter sarcastic comments about my education all the time — my favorite of which is asking relatives if they would like to donate to the “H.Kay majored in English and religion fund” — but I would never trade my experience here for a tech degree or a B.A. in journalism. Call me irrelevant, but I think that the comments and the conversation that the article inspired proves that the liberal arts tradition still stands strong, even if our classics department represents less than one percent of the student body.
(02/18/10 4:54am)
With the beginning of second semester comes new classes, the start of team sports, different schedules and the fabulous first-year Febs. After months of setting aside their education to see and experience the world, they have finally come to join the rest of us in Middlebury, Vt. — but not without a few good stories. Despite their conspiciousness on campus, the Febs are enjoying stepping in to their new lives at college. “Being a Feb,” said Damon Hatheway ’13.5, “is probably one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me. I feel bad for everyone who’s not a Feb!” A special group of kids who have all taken the time to acquire unique experiences, the Febs are able to connect with each other in a different way. “It’s like having our own little clique on campus,” said Jake Springer ’13.5. Despite that connection, coming into school when everyone else has already been there for a semester is a difficult thing to do. “It’s kind of frazzling,” said MacDonald “because I don’t know where I am, but everyone has been really helpful in showing me the ropes.” So as spring semester continues, let the Middlebury student body open its arms and welcome the new Class of 2013.5.
— Michelle Smoler, Staff Writer
The Teacher
Jake Springer ’13.5 of Brunswick, Maine was not the least bit excited about being a Feb when he was given notice December of 2008. But all of that changed when he stepped off the plane in northern India. For three months Springer volunteered at a school in a small Indian village where he taught English to kids from first grade through 10th grade. “My favorite part,” Springer said, “was working with the little kids. I’d never taught before so it was a new experience.” While volunteering at the school, Springer lived with its principal, who was glad to open his home up to a volunteer. “I lived in a house with all four generations of their family. Only two of them spoke English, which was tough, and they were really traditional Buddhists,” Springer explained. “I would sit on the side and watch as they went through their chants.” After his three months volunteering in the village, Springer traveled through central India to places such as Delhi and Agra, and even saw the Taj Mahal before preparing to return for school.
The Conservationist
Traveling across oceans down into southern Africa, Damon Hatheway ’13.5 of London spent the first part of his Feb-mester in Namibia with the Cheetah Conservationist Fund (CCF). A conservationist organization, CCF is dedicated to maintaining and saving the cheetah’s habitat. The CCF has 250 hectares of land and is home to 52 cheetahs whose parents were shot and killed by farmers. “Farmers find the cubs of the cheetahs they’ve killed and they call the CCF to rescue them,” explained Hatheway. While in Namibia he did everything from lab work to cleaning out the goat chorale, even once assisting in an operation on a young cub. “I’ve always loved Africa and cheetahs and I’d never been to Namibia before, so this was a great experience for me,” said Hatheway. His next two months were spent interning with Fox Sports radio in Seattle. “I worked for a morning radio show from five to eleven. I set up interviews with journalists who would come on to talk about the game from the night before.” After weeks of work, he even got his own weekly segment — an update on a unique high school football team in Arkansas. “Working there was like a dream come true.”
The Patriot
For Joaquin Marandino Peregalli’s ’13.5 Feb-mester he remained home in Montevideo, Uruguay, but not without purpose. He spent his time working for Foro Juvenil, a non-profit NGO which aims to bring help to children in areas of inequality in Uruguay and the public institutions that exist in those sectors of poverty. “I did workshops in schools in both the city and rural areas,” explained Peregalli. “The topic was culture in different parts of the world.” These talks happened every 2-3 weeks in schools all in and around the Montevideo area. “I also worked in a center for teens with ‘problematic’ families. It was really nice because I was able to live at home.” Though accepted in September as a Reg, Joaquin had other intentions. “I deferred my acceptance because I wanted to give back to my country,” said Peregalli, “I wanted to help my people before leaving for four years at college in America.”
The Deep-sea Diver
Devin MacDonald ’13.5, of Portland, Conn.swapped her first semester at college for a few incredible months at sea. Deep in the Caribbean, on an 88-ft schooner, she and nine other students got a new kind of education. Starting in Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands, her sea voyage first took her to Nevis to pick up supplies, and then on a 2.5-day passage to Grenada from where, for the next 70 days, she would proceed to island-hop her way back to the British Virgin Islands. This was not simply a lesson in sailing. MacDonald participated in research on coral reef health, earned her science research diver certification, helped a woman get her Ph.D and hiked all of the mountains in the Caribbean. “If there was a mountain or volcano nearby, we were climbing it,” said MacDonald. Her explorations also took her beyond the ocean floor. “To try to immerse us in the culture, they would just drop us off on a dock and we would wander around the towns for hours on end.” As a student on board, MacDonald was also required to take classes such as marine biography, oceanography, student leadership and development and basic seamanship. Yet, every morning and night she was confined to the classroom. MacDonald’s favorite part was all of the diving, which was totally new to her. “We did it literally every day and I would see amazing things like shipwrecks and plane wrecks.”
The Adventurer
Leaving the shores of Martha’s Vineyard to venture into the wild, Sophie Lew ’13.5 spent the first three months of her Feb-mester trekking through the Himalayas with the “Where There Be Dragons” program. “I applied to be a Feb because I really needed a break before going to school,” explained Lew. She and the 11 other kids accompanying her flew into northern India where they explored and trekked through the Himalayan Mountains, helped build a nunnery and participated in service projects such as working with orphans. “My favorite part about my whole experience,” she said, “was learning [about] and experiencing a new culture.” Her explorations into Nepali culture included immersing herself in a home-stay with a Nepali family, spending time in a Buddhist monastery and meditating. She then spent the next month before school in France. “I’m half-French-Parisian, so I went with my sister to visit family.” From the rich culture of the Himalayas to the cosmopolitan streets of Paris, “my whole experience,” said Lew, “has been great.”
The Coach
Taking a break from his busy city life, New York, N.Y. native Craig Thompson ’13.5 spent his Feb-mester in beautiful Santiago in the Dominican Republic. Though he was not originally excited about being a Feb, his outlook changed over the next few months in the DR. His time there was based in community service. He taught English at local schools and volunteered in the local baseball league, where he spent much of his time as a coach. But it was not all fun and games — Thompson was required to take a Dominican class, which involved learning Dominican slang and getting to know the city. “We would basically go through the city and talk to random people on the streets,” explained Thompson, “It was really fun.” Other classes that were required were history class and dance class where he was taught such native dances as meringue, bachata, salsa and reggaeton. While in Santiago, Thompson stayed with a host family consisting of a single mom and her 16-year-old son, both of whom he described as “fantastic.” I didn’t spend much time with them, but when I did they were both incredibly nice and I really enjoyed my time with them.”
(02/12/10 11:31pm)
In a landmark address on Friday, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz outlined a sweeping new vision for Middlebury’s future that would raise the profile of the College’s affiliates while reducing the financial burden carried by students and families. Liebowitz’s remarks reflect a growing recognition among administrators that the College’s historical business model has become unsustainable.
“Demand for a four-year liberal arts degree, while still great, is not inelastic,” Liebowitz said. “There will be a price point at which even the most affluent of families will question their investment.”
In addition to striking out the possibility of any further staff layoffs, a move that drew standing applause from the audience, Liebowitz announced proposals to keep future increases in the student comprehensive fee to within one percent of general inflation and to increase revenue drawn from Middlebury’s most successful partner programs – including the Bread Loaf School of English, the Language Schools, and the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy, among others.
If the Board of Trustees upholds Liebowitz’ proposals at its scheduled meeting next weekend, the College will likely see the broadest reorientation of its strategy since implementing the Commons residential system almost two decades ago.
Written by ANTHONY ADRAGNA and GEORGE ALTSHULER
(02/11/10 4:59am)
As Valentine’s Day approaches, campus couples will frantically try to make reservations at the same restaurants located in downtown Middlebury.
However, if you think that your dinner date options are limited to the Storm Café or Fire & Ice, just venture 25 minutes north of the College to downtown Vergennes for an exciting date in its beautiful historic district. Downtown Vergennes — accessible by Route 7 North — is a charming village located along Otter Creek that has a multitude of restaurants and specialty stores.
3 Squares Café, 221 Main Street
http://3squarescafe.com
“Put this on your table so I’ll know where to find you when your food is ready,” said the charming counterwoman as she handed me an oversized clothespin.
This was the first of many quirky surprises that 3 Squares Café had in store. The café serves paninis, salads, sandwiches and coffee in a delightful atmosphere complete with rustic wood tables and mismatched chairs.
As I sipped my coffee, listening to the chatter of local gossip and gazing at the powdery snow fluttering outside, I felt a sense of comforting familiarity and hominess even though I’ve never eaten at the café before. The relaxed ambience of 3 Squares is highlighted by a faded sign which declares the café’s philosophy:
“Eat Now, Pay Later.” Customers can make their own coffee drinks, grab a muffin or some fresh fruit as they please without paying until they leave.
3 Squares Café is owned by Matt Birong, a Vermont native who studied at the New England Culinary Institute. After an internship at the prestigious Rainbow Room in New York City and becoming the sous chef at the Boston restaurant Aquitaine, Birong returned to the Green Mountain State and opened 3 Squares Café in 2007.
The café is a member of the Vermont Fresh Network, an organization which is “dedicated to promoting and publicizing Vermont chefs and restaurants that use Vermont grown and produced foods.”
Options ranging from the turkey, bacon and swiss panino, grilled chicken Cobb Sandwich and roasted asparagus sandwich are sure to please carnivores and vegetarians alike. I ordered the massive Al Panino (capicola, ham, provolone, roasted red peppers, red onion and oil and vinegar) which came with a delicious side salad of mixed greens for only $8.50.
If you bring a date and it is going well, extend your conversation over organically grown coffee and share one of the many scrumptious dessert options such as biscotti or cheesecake. A homey atmosphere and reasonable prices make 3 Square Café a great alternative for couples seeking a unique Valentine’s Day meal.
The Daily Chocolate, 7 Green Street
http://dailychocolate.net
Chocolate — said to be an aphrodisiac — is a surefire way to please your special someone and the scrumptious treats at Daily Chocolate do not disappoint. Walking into this tantalizingly fragrant chocolate store is like stepping back in time.
The 19th century milled beams, exposed stone walls and rich aroma give Daily Chocolate a charming, old-fashioned ambience. As the store’s name suggests, the chocolate is made fresh every day using organic and local ingredients.
The selection varies from traditional (almond dark chocolate bark and english toffee) to the more eclectic (green-chile pistachio dark chocolate with cranberries). I decided to try cherry and hazelnut dark chocolate bark and peppermint Patties — both of which were delicious choices. So instead of going to Rite Aid and picking up a packaged box of Russell Stover chocolates, impress your date with a custom-made box of fresh chocolate tailored to their specifications — and hopefully you can find out if that old rumor about chocolate being an aphrodisiac is true.
Your Turn Resale Shoppe, 151 Main St.
Seal the deal with your special someone by buying him or her a unique Valentine’s day gift at Your Turn Resale Shoppe This consignment store has a vast selection of one of a kind trinkets and clothing that cannot be found anywhere else.
How about keeping your girlfriend warm with a fashionable Kinney Drugs winter jacket? Or treating your boyfriend with the “Presto Electric Burger Maker” he’s been eyeing? For an extra splash of class (the store’s name is spelled with two “P”s and an “E,” after all) treat your date to a faux fur jacket that is sure to bring a bit of Park Avenue sophistication back to campus.
And for adventurous types, there is a vast selection of sporting equipment ranging from wooden tennis rackets to hand-me-down ice skates for future dates.
