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(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Maddie Terry This week I write to support and applaud the so-called illegitimate Middlebury Campus, as well as its' Features editors, in light of a March 13 letter to the editor. I trust that, given what I have always understood to be committed adherence of The Campus staff to those "journalistic standards" in contention, the author of last week's opinion was able to read the editor's official apology this week for a byline misattribution. Further, I believe that the added reservation regarding the newspaper's right to edit any work submitted for publication was clearly delineated. Two separate issues were noted in Molly Dwyer's opinion which warrant address. First, what was described as "publishing graphic sexual comments in the place of world news," and second, "[inappropriate and false attribution] of sexual comments."On Sunday, March 9, the parliament in Kosovo proclaimed its Republic territory to be a new, democratic state in a monumental decision. The now multi-ethnic nation was officially established in defiance of both Serbia and of Russia, and in contextual emergence from brutal conflict that claimed approximately 10,000 lives only a decade ago. One might argue that Dwyer holds The Campus to a reasonable standard - to "responsibly provide accurate and legitimate articles and commentary to the Middlebury community." She simultaneously fails to recognize her own inability to generate legitimate commentary, given that she and her colleague had deemed it appropriate to communicate breaking world news through the "Winners and Losers - What's hot and what's not on campus and in pop culture" column. Consistently humorous and lighthearted in nature, past insertions by Mia Lieb-Lappen included comments ranging from revelry in free online episodes of South Park to gripes about discrepancies in the amounts of printer paper consumed by English majors and science majors who "kill lab rats, not trees." It is my firm opinion, then, that a severe misstep would have taken place if news of Kosovo's groundbreaking independence had ultimately been included in the column. Perhaps the column's authors might have considered taking cues from their own letter to the editor, in which they call for The Campus to "[make] an important statement about its standards." I might suggest undertaking a well-researched, articulately written and carefully considered article which would allow The Campus readers to gain a sense of the decision's impact in Kosovo, as well as its global repercussions. Whether or not an article of that nature will be published in the future, I am relieved that readers were spared the highly generalized "comments about foreign affairs" that would otherwise have appeared on March 13 amongst quirky one-liners about spring break in Vail and Black Friday shoppers.In reference to the "gratuitous graphic sexual commentary" said to "hardly exist" in reputable newspapers, Dwyer accused The Campus of deviating from guidelines of significant print publications. The Features editor is also relegated to a particular category of people, described by Dwyer as being "interested in seeking extraneous sexual content … and [who would] be better off [relying on] pornographic magazines rather than their school newspaper." If the inclusion of subjects such as the recent sex toys workshop and masturbation is termed to be extraneous, it seems that a large number of students on campus might be labeled as extraneous themselves. Dina Magaril regaled February readers with a witty and open account of the workshop, noting the "comfortable and tight-knit environment" that was successfully established amongst "a crowd that reached nearly 100 students." That group, whose members I assume Dwyer would redirect towards pornographic material, is about the same size as my own Feb class. I would argue further that, should the same students who are sexually active and open about sexual issues on campus cease to "rely on their school newspaper," The Campus publication and the College campus culture would pay a price. The Middlebury community, comprised of over 2,000 late adolescents reaching the normal and typical stage of sexual discovery and experimentation, should successfully function in its allowance and encouragement of positive and open attitudes about sex. The attitude towards sex expressed in Dwyer's letter is representative of a general mindset that threatens a critical openness and dialogue at Middlebury. I believe The Middlebury Campus, in fact, to be one of the most "legitimate" and important forums for dialogue relating to all aspects of learning, living and interacting as undergraduates. I recognize that as I sip early morning coffee before class on Thursday and flip through this week's issue, over 2,200 copies in addition to that which I peruse will be read by students around me. Shoppers at Shaw's and the Co-op, as well as print subscribers including parents, friends of the College and alumni will read what The Campus contributors have to say. Many of the paper's registered online users will look as well, and e-mail issues will reach approximately 6,500 readers this week. These numbers reflect a readership that is arguably as committed to the publication as the staff is committed to campus journalism, reaching beyond our immediate geographic vicinity with each successive week of publication. Occasional misattributions, misprints, formatting errors and inaccurate quotations have occurred intermittently this year, and are understandable. The inclusion of stimulating, assertive and relevant topics, which should include sex and sex-related issues at Middlebury, is imperative to maintaining a mature, healthy, campus-wide perspective. To render The Middlebury Campus and its staff as less than professional and accountable is to discredit an incredibly hardworking group of writers and editors, and by extension, to discredit the student body benefiting from The Campus. Maddie Terry '08.5 is a Studio Art major from Concord, Mass.
(03/20/08 12:00am)
Author: Sasha Swerdloff I have always learned best at the table, surrounded by good food and good conversation. I found both at The Inn at Baldwin Creek outside of Bristol, Vt. The Inn hosts the Table Talk Series - a monthly dinner event exploring various food-related topics. The subject of the March 14 talk was "A Celebration of Regional Artisan Cheese" featuring Jeff Roberts, author of "The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese" and a true connosseiur. I descended into a rosy, warm dining room, with a low ceiling supported by robust wooden beams. A wood fire crackled in the fireplace and a pair of antique skis rested in the corner, depicting the scene of a quintessential Vermont country inn. I was ushered to a table where a young couple sat, casually conversing with a portly, gray-haired, balding man with round glasses, who introduced himself as Roberts. It was not long before I learned all about Roberts' fascination with cheese. Sitting back in his chair, belly protruding, lips pursed tight over his teeth, Roberts explained, "I like eating." So do I. Over the course of the meal, we heard Roberts' life story - a non-linear progression from History major studying the spatial patterns of Philadelphia, to Navy meteorologist and veterinarian, through his work with the Vermont Land Trust, and finally to his part-time teaching job at the New England Culinary Institute. Over the low buzz of conversation and jazz music his intonation rose and fell as we savored the rich earthiness of mushroom Wellington and pork loin, filling our stomachs as he filled our minds. Backlit by the fireplace, Roberts delved into the recent expansion of artisan cheese making. He cited the fact that 345 artisan cheeses are now made in 44 states, half of which have emerged in the last decade. In his talk Roberts touched on the link between the artisan cheese market and the growing slow-food movement in a changing economy. Finally the highlight of the evening arrived. Jeff began his survey of seven American artisan cheeses from across the country. Saucers of local honey and jam hovered in the hands of the waitresses before settling onto the table, followed by a round plate with an assortment of cheeses. "Use your fingers," said Roberts and we all giggled with childish delight, letting go of the formalities we assumed throughout dinner. We began with a triple cream from Vergennes, Vt. Each cheese-tasting was accompanied by a brief explanation by Roberts. According to Roberts, this cheese, made from cow's milk, is designated as triple cream because of the level of extra cream added after the whey is removed. I held the morsel of pale, runny cheese between two fingers and inhaled its clean aroma. Popping the entire piece into my mouth, I immediately felt the thick, rich substance coat my palate. My taste buds drowned in the freshness of mushrooms and the bitterness of the rind. Sucking on a crostini dripping in honey, I prepared for the next sample. The second cheese, Humboldt Fog, is a goat's milk cheese from Arcata, Cal. It is made from frozen curd and layered and coated in vegetable ash, changing the ph and encouraging fermentation. Tying in a bit of cheese history, Roberts explained that the ash was originally used to keep flies from destroying the cheese and to separate the morning and afternoon milk. I scooped up a piece and one half crumbled as the other seeped through the tongs of my fork. I rolled it around in my mouth, savoring the tingling saltiness.The third cheese, from Niwot, Colo., is called Red Cloud for its bright orange, undulating, brine-washed rind. "Remember, cheeses are alive," warned Roberts. I inhaled deeply and impulsively recoiled. A typical "stinky" cheese, the Red Cloud suffused the air with a pungent aroma and my mouth with a complex evolution of flavors. Its crystallized texture coupled with spiciness faded into a dry, sticky, sweet finish. Dipped in honey, this cheese enveloped my senses.Ben Nevis was the next cheese. From Craftsbury, Vt., this is a raw sheep's milk cheese with a sweet nutty smell and a dry, crumbly texture. Hints of butter and caramel mirrored the candlelight in the room. The fifth cheese was a Grand Cru Gruyère Surchoix from Monroe, Wis. aged for nine to 19 months. The sweet smell and mild taste morphed into a spicy, sharp finish with every nibble. The sixth cheese was a Smokey Blue from Central Point, Ore. I gingerly raised a piece to my nose and inhaled the sweet, herby smell while examining the blue veins of mold. The mold is inserted into vats of milk, then, once the cheese sets, air pockets are created that help oxygenate the cheese, encouraging the mold to grow and spread. "The Chinese call cheese 'rotten milk,'" said Roberts. I sucked on it, letting it dissolve on my tongue. It left memories of wood fire smoke in the back of my throat.Finally, we came to the mystery cheese. I tasted the dry, sourness of the cheese, but barely had time to guess what it might be before Roberts announced that it was a Grafton cheddar, not yet released on the market. Several things make it unique - it is made in the style of a traditional English cheddar, cloth wrapped and aged for 11 months, it is made with animal rennet and it is heat treated, a process that kills pathogens without destroying the quality of the milk. As the tasting drew to a close, we nibbled on the crumbs of cheese left on our plates, savoring the flavors and immortalizing them in our minds, linking them to concepts and ideas - learning at the table.
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: Austen Levihn-Coon Paul Loeb, author of "The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear," winner of the Nautilus Award for the best social change book, is speaking this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Mead Chapel. Loeb has spent over 30 years working on citizen empowerment and responsibility. His talk will focus on citizen involvement, how individuals get involved in social issues, what prevents involvement and how people keep at it for the long haul. He will also touch on what the presidential election holds for civic engagement in this country and what the global-warming movement demonstrates. In a preview interview, Loeb revealed some of his thoughts on the current state of affairs in student involvement and how to create a culture of civic responsibility.The Middlebury Campus: How do you see the current climate of student involvement and civic engagement in this country?Loeb: Well, it's complicated and there are a bunch of ways to look at it. One is that there are a number of people that are enormously involved. Obviously, with Step It Up coming out of Middlebury, if it weren't for Middlebury there wouldn't have been the 1,700 rallies all over the country. There's also the Obama campaign, for instance. There are a number of younger voters coming out, and not all of them are students. Of all the generations that are oriented in changing the direction of this country from the way Bush has taken it, 18 - 29 year olds are leading the way. I find this very helpful, because something that is historically true is that people who get involved early on tend to stay involved. So for me that is very exciting for the short term, but also very exciting for the long term.But at the same time, on the typical campus there are still a lot of people who feel like it's all too overwhelming and aren't going to get involved because it's just going to break their hearts. Then there are also a lot of people who say, 'Well, I'm not going to sully myself with it, I'm going to hold myself above it.' MC: Now do you just see that as cynicism or is it a difference in personal goals?Loeb: I think cynicism pervades our culture, so even a school that is pretty active is still going to have some resistance. There is a phrase that I use in some of my writing, and it's called the perfect standard. Basically it's the notion that in order to take a stand on something you need to know every fact, figure and 17th decimal place - that you need to be as eloquent as Martin Luther King and as saintly as Gandhi. It gets applied by people on the inside who say 'I don't know enough about this.' But then it equally cuts in as some snootiness towards the people that act. I mean, they are global-warming activists, but they are driving a car, so they obviously must be hypocritical. As opposed to what the activists are doing, which is saying 'We live in a muddy world, and we deal with that the best we can and not everything aligns.' Part of being engaged is that you have to let go of that standard.MC: How do you see schools and especially colleges and universities playing into promoting citizen involvement? Should the students create this culture of involvement or should the administration and the faculty and staff have some role in it?Loeb: Well, I think obviously if it comes from both it's stronger. If I look at the most active college in Seattle, it's not the University of Washington and it's not Seattle University - it's Seattle Central Community College. And the reason is that the faculty is really engaged, and they are really involved in all kinds of political causes, and students see that and they take it as a model. I remember years ago a Dartmouth student who said, 'Armchair liberal faculty create armchair liberal students.' A much more powerful model is the teacher who says, 'This is hard, I don't have all the answers, I'm not certain that our efforts will matter, but I also think that there is a chance that they will, so I'm going to try to do this and I hope that you will too.' MC: What would you say to the skeptical professor or administrator who says they need to keep their distance to remain unbiased?Loeb: I would say that you want to make this an inclusive community - that's critical at both the institutional level and the classroom level. You don't want to be saying 'If you believe with me you're going to get an A, if you disagree you're going to fail.' What you can do is fully expect that not everybody is going to agree with you, and encourage the people that disagree with you, and that itself is going to be a really good lesson. A friend of mine who teaches and happens to be very politically liberal, quite outspoken and teaches freshman English. The head of the campus' Young Republicans was telling me, 'Well there are probably 100 issues that Glen and I disagree on, but Glen has redeemed my faith in humanity - he's my favorite professor.' So what happened? Basically Glen had encouraged the student, reached out in friendship, and they disagreed, but that's okay.Loeb has been brought to Middlebury College by The Alliance for Civic Engagement, People of Addison County together and the United Way of Addison County. The event is co-sponsored by The Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, Wonnacott Commons and the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership.
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: James O'Brien Last week, Daniel Streitfield's op-ed quoted an all-DJ e-mail from "a prominent member of WRMC." According to Streitfield's op-ed, the e-mail read, "It has come to my attention that THIRD EYE BLIND is leading in the online concert survey the Middlebury College Activities Board has sent out … you should take the survey and vote for SOMEONE ELSE." Hmm … what if I don't want to vote for someone else? What if I want Third Eye Blind, because they aren't Cake? Apparently this WRMCer assumes that everyone who works at the radio station shares his/her backwards snobbery. The logic goes something like this - if I can hear or ever have been able to hear your music on the radio, then I hate you.The WRMC member went on to write: "Ozomatli is cool, but they're trailing big time [in the voting], so I'd go for Cake. They're pretty nineties, but they're alright, and they're WAY cheaper than Third Eye Blind, which means that we'll have more money left over for an actually sick spring side concert." What does "pretty nineties" mean exactly? I'm imagining Ozomatli singing Spice Girls covers and playing with Tamagachis on stage while the audience inhales fumes from their Nickelodeon Gak. Also, it makes a lot of sense to me that this shadowy WRMC figure would pick out Ozomatli as the one band to praise. Apparently after scrolling the list, he/she found that Cake only had the second weirdest name, and as a result, gave Ozomatli the station's full moral support. If I could address you directly for a moment, WRMC, I cannot wait for your spring side concert! I wonder what sick band you could get for us. Accidental Goat Sodomy? I hear Aggressive Crotch Display doesn't charge much these days. I'm afraid they may be a little mainstream for you guys, so just make the choice yourself. You are the experts - though Ambiguously Sizeable Tangerine has been getting a lot of critical praise lately. Just a thought.The WRMC station is like a breeding ground for what Nietzsche called "slave morality." I'm sure that the prominent members of WRMC - since they are far too sophisticated to actually listen to the radio like a normal slob - have read the entire Nietzsche collection in their spare time. For those of you who haven't, slave morality is a set of values created in opposition to what the "master morality" sees as good. By "morality," Nietzsche means a set of values that actually create a culture, not just "rules people follow so that their parents will think they're good people" (my definition of morality). "Slave morality" is a great description of the WRMC culture, which we will call "WRMC morality."WRMC morality is based on the idea that everything which is popular is bad, and the opposite of popular must be good. Third Eye Blind is popular? Gimme some Cake. People are wearing what? I will find an outfit that is somehow the exact opposite of that! I'm sure this thinking even dictates their Girl Scout Cookie orders. Thin Mints are popular? I want Lemon Chalet Cremes. Ah, there's nothing like being elite. And by "elite" I mean "different." And by "different" I mean "the same as everyone else who really wants to be different." And Lemon Chalet Cremes are gross.In the online edition of The Campus there is one comment under Streitfield's aforementioned Cake op-ed. In it, the immortal "Dean Ferguson" offered this opinion about the situation. "I would say no, the WRMC concert committee does not have the duty to recruit the band that wins the poll … As cliquey as they are, the committee probably knows music better than you or I." Oh, come on, Dean. I'd say that the professors in the Middlebury music department probably "know music better than you or I," but I still don't want them picking our spring concert. They are old. And I sure as hell don't want WRMC picking my music, because they will spite us. Also, Dean, WRMC did not pick Cake - MCAB did. And I agree with their right to do so because MCAB isn't sending out incendiary e-mails left and right trying to rig their own voting process.It isn't really fair to group all of the WRMC leaders in with the writer of the anti-Third Eye Blind e-mail, but I'm really not about fairness. I'm more about making bold, unsubstantiated claims that have little basis in reality. In that vein, WRMC fanatics, I sincerely hope that someday soon, when you are burning incense and reading up on your 13th-century poetry by candlelight, you knock over an open bottle of imported wine, leaving your clothes stained and your throat dry as you choke down that last bit of caviar.James O'Brien '10 is an English major from Medfield, Mass.
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: Scott Greene The College's Appeals Committee, citing procedural grounds, has upheld the appeal of Assistant Professor of Sociology Laurie Essig following a December recommendation by the Reappointments Committee to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz that Essig's tenure-track contract not be renewed. The decision allows the Reappointments Committee to revisit its previous review and rectify errors made in the original review, though many students and faculty continue to express reservations and skepticism about the review system itself. According to Liebowitz, the Appeals Committee found two procedural errors that require correction."Our rules require that any part of the review that was affected by procedural errors be redone," he said. "The entire review is not done over, but only those two portions that were affected by the errors. Once those parts have been re-done, the [Reappointments] committee considers its recommendation in light of the new information it may have learned from the corrected procedures." When reached for comment, Essig expressed "guarded optimism" with regards to the new developments in her case."I am quite glad that the Reappointments Committee has a chance to reconsider its decision," she said, "and I am hoping that, given that chance to reconsider, they will go ahead and reverse themselves."The review process for tenure-track appointments is three-pronged. A three-person Reappointments Committee solicits input from evaluations of faculty from the department from which the professor teachers in, as well as student evaluations from the professor's classes. The final decision, however, remains with the three individuals on the committee.Because of legal obligations to uphold the confidentiality of the review, Essig could not go into details about the decision itself. Liebowitz also declined to disclose specifics about the two procedural errors. But according to sources familiar with the decision, who declined to be named, committee members disregarded the most recent course response forms in the original review even though the evaluations had become available five days before the final decision was made to terminate Essig's contract.Secondly, the language of Essig's original contract hindered the Reappointment Committee's ability to conduct a thorough review. Though many members of the faculty believed that Essig was employed by both the College's Women's and Gender Studies Department and Sociology and Anthropology Department, the contract for the initial appointment stipulated that she was employed only by the Sociology and Anthropology Department. As a result, the original review only involved feedback from faculty members of the Sociology and Anthropology Department. To rectify this procedural error, the Reappointments Committee's second review will include input from members of the Women's and Gender Studies Department."They were not consulted, and they will be consulted now," Essig said. The members of the Reappointments Committee for the 2007-2008 academic year are Professor of History Don Wyatt, Professor of History of Art and Architecture Cynthia Packert and Professor of Physics Jeff Dunham.The three-person Committee will have the opportunity to make a second recommendation to Liebowitz after it completes its reappraisal of Essig's case. Associate Professor of English and American Literatures Yumna Siddiqi applauded the decision to uphold the appeal."I think it was an excellent decision," said Siddiqi, who is on the Steering Committee of the Women's and Gender Studies Department and was concerned and alarmed, as a colleague, that Essig had not been retained. "I think they must not have looked at the case very carefully and hopefully seen what a poor decision the first one was."Siddiqi noted, however, that the appeal decision overshadows the true problems inherent in the process of reappointments at the College, a process long-criticized for its lack of transparency and an institutional bias towards more progressive professors."I think it is not an ideal system because there should be more people on the committee of review so the decision does not rest narrowly in the hands of three people," she said.The process has also come under fire for what some perceive as a tendency towards departmental bias. Catherine Wright, a lecturer, tutor of writing and the College's acting director of technology, claimed that even the feedback from members of the Sociology and Anthropology Department did not get the consideration it deserved, in Essig's case. "Many faculty have suggested that the review process undergo revision," Wright said. "It has been suggested that the original purpose of many of the guidelines is to protect faculty undergoing a review from departmental bias. In this case, the [Sociology and Anthropology] department was overwhelmingly in favor of Essig's reappointment, yet their recommendations were overturned." Similar qualms emerged in the spring of 2006 when then-Associate Professor of Sociology Marc Garcelon was denied tenure despite widespread support from within the same department.The Student Government Association (SGA) has voted to recommend to the College administration that it conduct a review of the reappointment process. In addition, Associate Professor of Spanish Miguel Fernandez, the head of the Faculty Council, has agreed to meet with students to discuss the process. Wright noted that despite the imperfections in the reappointments system, the success of the appeal is a sign that the system of checks and balances at the College is functioning well. Ryan Tauriainen '08, co-president of the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (MOQA), repeated this view but added that the system of appeals is also flawed."While I am thankful that the appeals board upheld Professor Essig's appeal on the basis of procedural grounds, I am troubled by the system Middlebury uses itself," he said. "It seems innately unfair that all the appeals process does is ask the exact same board that was found guilty of making mistakes, possibly based on discrimination, to re-evaluate the candidate at their discretion."Essig noted that the appeals system does seem more circular than linear, and that the process lacks an adequate degree of clarity and openness."This process is unique in that you do not just win your appeal, you win it and it goes back to the same committee that makes the decision in the first place," she said. "Part of what seems to be problematic about this process is the lack of transparency and that confidentiality can protect some people in some cases, and in other cases it can protect the institution."Still, Essig made clear that she does not judge the College community on such a system."I really think that this decision to not reappoint me does not reflect Middlebury as a community," she said. I do not think it reflects the opinion of students or people in the Sociology and Anthroplogy and Women's and Gender Studies departments, and maybe after reconsideration it will not even reflect the opinion of people on this committee. It would be easy to see Middlebury as a hostile institution that doesn't want me there, but I don't believe that. I think Middlebury and I are a good fit and I hope that I am part of the institution for many years to come.Essig does not know when the Reappointments Committee will conclude their review, though she predicted that a decision will happen after spring break. "I trust the Reappointments Committee to reconsider my case and have the potential of making a different decision," she said. "It would be great."Siddiqi hoped for the same. After she found out about the possibility that a Women's and Gender Studies teacher would be asked about Essig, she personally attended one of Essig's classes an
d was impressed by the level of student engagement and Essig's ability to weave together theoretical analysis on analysis of the films in the class, which studied Walt Disney and the sociology of heterosexuality. Siddiqi believed that a reversal of the original review is the right decision not only because of Essig's ability as a professor, but also because it would be consistent with the College's stated goals. "My sense is that Middlebury should go out of its way to keep excellent queer and minority faculty and my sense is that they have not done so in the past," she said. "It also seems to be at odds with the newly stated commitment to diversity that we see on the part of the College to fire somebody who teaches queer studies."Morgane Richardson '08 echoed Siddiqi's view that the successful appeal gives the College a chance to rectify more than just procedural errors."If the College does not understand the importance of inviting more professors like Laurie Essig, then I fear that it can never become a diverse and progressive institution," she said. "You know, mistakes are made - this was clearly one - now the committee has the chance to correct themselves."
(03/13/08 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] To the Editor:In legitimate newspapers, which adhere to journalistic standards, editors are required to present their changes to each writer before publishing the changes. In legitimate newspapers, gratuitous graphic sexual commentary hardly exists. The Middlebury Campus separates itself from legitimate publications, as it does not adhere to these guidelines. Two weeks ago, the "Winners and Losers" column in the Features section contained a comment about a sex toy workshop here at Middlebury under the "winners" column, and under the "losers" column, a comment about masturbation on lonely Friday nights was written. Although the by-line of the column contained Mia Lieb-Lappen's name as well as my own, we do not own these words or ideas rather, the features editor does. Instead of this highly sexual comment, Mia and I had written about Kosovo gaining independence from Serbia. We had not even attended the sex toy workshop. The features editor did not ask permission before she replaced our comments about foreign affairs with her opinions about sex toys and her assertions about masturbation habits on lonely Friday nights. Not only did this irresponsible action needlessly embarrass me and Mia, but it has also led me to question the legitimacy of The Middlebury Campus and its ability to responsibly provide accurate and legitimate articles and commentary to the Middlebury community. In my opinion, people who are interested in seeking extraneous sexual content would be better off to rely on pornographic magazines rather than their school newspaper. The Middlebury Campus made an important statement about its standards by publishing graphic sexual comments in place of world news, and by inappropriately and falsely attributing the sexual comments to Mia and me. Adding insult to injury, the leadership of The Middlebury Campus has not printed a retraction, a correction or an apology, and has left it to me to correct the record by writing this letter to the editor. I hope these words will be published unchanged.Sincerely,Molly Dwyer '10Editor's Note:In the Feb. 28 issue of The Campus one portion of Winners and Losers, located in the Features section, was written by editors of the section. The Campus apologizes for this misattribution. The newspaper reserves the right to edit any work submitted for publication as it sees fit, but in a manner that accurately reflects the authorship of our content. To the Editor:I'm writing in response to the article written about the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance's (MOQA) involvement with the Red Cross last week concerning blood drives and the discriminatory practice of banning all men who have ever had sexual relations with other men ("Protest, forum clot blood drive," March 6). While I felt that Annabelle Fowler did an incredible job of relating MOQA's efforts to the community, I thought the title (which I have since learned was not her decision) was abrasive and not representative of the article itself. First of all, MOQA did not protest the Red Cross, but instead engaged them in conversation within an open forum to discuss the discrimination they are forced to practice. People who attended the forum know that it was not a hostile environment, and it ended with the Red Cross and Middlebury College planning what activism can be done together to end the FDA's ban on gay and bisexual men. I was especially alarmed by the words "clot blood drive" as if to say that MOQA tried to hinder the drive. As co-president of the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance, I was the organizer of all of our efforts. Part of our activism included recruiting able donors to sponsor a gay student and donate in his honor. Dave Carmichael, the coordinator of blood drives in our area, was impressed with my organization because we promoted awareness to a challenging issue in a new and positive way and also made this one of the most successful blood drives in college history. To quote a letter that Mr. Carmichael sent to me, "We were able to collect 107 productive units of blood from the 125 individuals that presented to donate. That was our first drive over 100 units at the college in our last 4 visits and it was a 40.7% increase over what we did last semester! No doubt, the added attention to the drive that you and MOQA provided contributed to our success." It is obvious to me that MOQA did just the opposite of what that title suggests, and I feel The Campus, which has done such a fantastic job of covering MOQA's events in the past, should own up to this mistake. Sincerely, Ryan Tauriainen '08 Co-President of the Middlebury Open Queer AllianceTo the Editor:We are pleased to learn that the Appeals Committee has responded favorably to Professor Laurie Essig's appeal of her reappointment decision and that the case will be revisited by the Reappointments Committee and the President. This creates a wonderful opportunity for the College to retain a gifted and talented teacher and thereby fulfill a central facet of the liberal arts educational mission.1. Darién Davis, History Department2. Juana Gamero de Coca, Spanish and Portuguese Department3. Gloria Estela Gonzalez, Spanish and Portuguese Department4. Roman Graf, German Department5. Bill Hart, History Department6. Barbara Hofer, Psychology Department7. Jon Isham, Economics Department8. Antonia Losano, English Department9. Ana Martinez-Lage, Spanish and Portuguese Department10. Timi Mayer, Geography Department11. Claudio Medeiros, Theatre Department12. Sujata Moorti, Program in Women's and Gender Studies13. Kevin Moss, Russian Department14. Kamakshi Murti, German Department15. Peggy Nelson, Sociology-Anthropology Department16. William Poulin-Deltour, French Department17. Robert Prasch, Economics Department18. Burke Rochford, Sociology-Anthropology Department19. Patricia Saldarriaga, Spanish and Portuguese Department20. Paula Schwartz, French Department21. Michael Sheridan, Sociology-Anthropology Department22. Yumna Siddiqi, English Department23. Stephen Snyder, Japanese Department24. David Stoll, Sociology-Anthropology Department25. Hector Vila, Writing Program26. Susan Watson, Physics Department27. Linda White, East Asian Studies Program28. Martha Woodruff, Philosophy Department29. Catharine Wright, Writing Program 30. Ellen Oxfeld, Sociology-Anthropology Department
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: James O'Brien After eating off of contaminated dining hall plates last week, I contracted several diseases. These ailments included a double ear infection, respiratory infection, a sinus infection and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. I lied about Maple Syrup Urine Disease, although it is a real ailment. To tell the truth, I actually contracted Imitation Maple Syrup Urine Disease from eating a Ross breakfast.Anyway, during my sickness, I did absolutely no schoolwork at all since I had downed too much NyQuil for my brain to understand the concept of a sentence. I did, however, watch several movies and television shows which taught me some priceless/worthless new information about life. I figured I would share this information with you for lack of a better column topic. The following hypothetical situations, or "Ifs" as I like to call them, will be rather valuable should you ever end up in a movie, but typically completely useless for everyday life.If you are ever in a situation where an evil guy is torturing you for information, be forewarned - he will try to convince you that he will trade you your freedom in exchange for information. Don't listen. He is lying. If you are ever in this position, just understand that unless your name is Jack Bauer or Steven Seagal you are going to die no matter what. As a result, you might as well lie to the evil guy - who will most likely be scowling or wearing an eye patch so that you can properly identify him as evil - about the information he wants. Unfortunately, none of the characters in movies seem to have actually seen a movie within their imaginary world, or they would know this. The movie victims in these situations always seem committed to complete silence. They typically make a determined face, spit on their inquisitor or simply say something like, "I won't tell you anything," in order to demonstrate resolve to their captor and the audience. Ironically, when the captor and the audience see one of these tactics, they know immediately that this character will give up the information because they have the same level of strength and determination as an acting troupe of crack-head gophers. Surprisingly enough, I have never met a troupe of crack-head gophers, but I assume that their levels of determination would not be high, that their performances would often be cancelled because they didn't show up, and then, even if they did make it to the show, their acting would be shoddy because they wouldn't remember their lines, which I wouldn't be able to understand anyway because I don't speak Gopher. I would never pay to see their shows! Ahem.If your hotel room or house happens to contain an unusually large airshaft, you can bet that, at some point, you will have to use that shaft. Either you will have to use it to escape a pursuer, or, unbeknownst to you, there is a large amount of cash or a human body being stored there by someone else - perhaps the evil guy who will be torturing you for information later. Most airshafts are barely big enough for a morbidly obese squirrel to squeeze through, so if you happen to have one of these inexplicable "human-sized" airshafts, beware. Danger is coming.If you are a man who happens to want to marry a very attractive woman, the best thing for you to do would be to become a bit of a loser. Continue to spend all of your time drinking and do not look for a real job for the next twenty-or-so years. Just party and become affable. You will become a lovable borderline alcoholic. Play up the fact that you are a loser. Be goofy and charming about it. Inevitably, a gorgeous woman will recognize your irresistible charm and leave her successful lawyer boyfriend when she discovers that he is a jerk and you are nice. This is more or less the plot of countless unaward-winning movies - "Billy Madison," "Wedding Crashers," "Grandma's Boy," "Hot Rod" and "Baseketball" to name a few. Even the writers of the lovable television show "Family Matters" - in its later years when no one was watching - created a plot in which Laura Winslow falls in love with Steve Urkel. This is where I draw the line. If you take one piece of wisdom from this column to ponder for a few hours tonight before you go to bed (I wouldn't recommend doing this, but hypothetically …), it should be this: No one who plays the accordion and wears suspenders daily could ever get with Laura Winslow. Yet, we still pretend.James O'Brien '10 is an English major from Medfield, Mass.
(03/06/08 12:00am)
Author: Adam Clayton The incredibly risible and somewhat pitiful saga that has engulfed football club Valencia climaxed recently when a judge determined that the club was within limits to tell David Albelda, previous fan-idol- turned villain and long-time club veteran, he was to leave along with other malcontents but could not go to a rival club. What was at stake? Nothing less than the $60 million release clause that Albelda demands Valencia compensates him for refusing to let him revive his career. Albelda and others had backed recently departed director of football Amadeo Carboni against ex-manager Quique Sánchez Flores, leading new manager Ronald Koeman to determine he had to get rid of them as soon as possible. The whole situation arose because club chairman Juan Soler successfully determined the fastest route to football euthanasia was by appointing Valencia fullback and luxury-shopping buddy Carboni, despite the fact he knew nothing beyond how to stop a forward run and spot fake Versacci. Carboni promptly made his presence felt by bitterly refusing to renew outstanding defender and long-time teammate Fabien Ayala's lavish but well-earned contract, quickly turning Valencia into one of the worst defensive teams in the league. He then continued abusing his newly obtained role by exacting revenge on his old manager Sánchez Flores, whom he had feuded with as a player, and attempting to force him out the club. By the end of last season both Carboni and Sanchez had left, but by then Valencia had begun to look more like a fiefdom on the verge of civil war then anything resembling a football club.Unfortunately, Valencia and new manager Ronald Koeman now face the prospect of competing as a team that three weeks ago testified against each other in court. Valencia is currently floundering in ninth place in La Liga and has let in more goals than all but three teams, a shocking position for preseason title challengers and a perennial top four team. Soler, having been the subject of two bouts of spontaneous handkerchief-waving by crazed Valencia fans (a sign of discontent and, apparently, a sight to be feared), has now decided to sell the club and call it quits. Furthermore, 19-year-old phenom Ever Banega failed a roadside alcohol test on Sunday, reviving memories of his recent $26 million transfer when pictures of him naked were published across the Internet. Such a tumultuous week led the bookies to install Valencia as front-runner to receive the Spirit of Sport Award in positively purveying Spanish football's image of unity and responsibility.Somewhat simultaneous to writing this, Arsenal became the first English team in history to beat Milan at the San Siro, scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals. In the process they managed to show up Milan for putting Kalac in goal, arguably the worst player to ever start a Champions League game. A hard list to top considering it includes DaMarcus Beasley. And Landon Donovan. Manchester United also managed to get into the quarter finals courtesy of flamboyant midfielder Ronaldo, who scored his 30th goal of the season. That's only two fewer than Fernando Torres, Obafemi Martins and Carlos Tevez combined. Apparently, Ronaldo's soon-to-be bound for either Barcelona, fellow winners on Tuesday, or their less-illustrious rivals Real Madrid, in a move which would certainly please their core fan group - young Japanese girls. Regardless, the quarterfinals in early April could well turn out to be one of the most entertaining in recent history.
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: Mary Lane and Derek Schlickeisen For some aspiring college students, the long process of applications and anticipation ends the day the coveted "fat envelope" arrives.Yet for others, getting in does not matter quite as much as getting enough - financial aid, that is. For 41 percent of students here at the College (soon to be 43 percent), the question of financial aid was one they discussed with Kim Downs and her associates in the Student Financial Services office, which she directs. While Emma Willard may be the public face of Middlebury's admissions, the folks in Meeker House are tasked with making what has become one of the most expensive colleges in the country affordable for those admitted. Their decisions, The Campus found, offer students in need not only a path to higher education, but also a series of challenges along the way.As the College and its peer schools work quickly to beef up their financial aid packages, need across the nation is rising, whether from the recent economic downturn or from the increase in the socio-economic diversity of the College's applicant pool. Our spread this week examines both the administrative and the student life sides of the financial aid question.Chances are that if you do not receive financial aid, one or more of your close friends does: with one of the nation's highest costs of attendance, the College offers some form of financial assistance to nearly half of its students. With aid taking on an increasingly prominent role in the College's fundraising, Middlebury certainly hopes that better aid offers will draw students to the College.But how will it impact their lives once they get here?Alexandra Fisher '10, a French and Environmental Studies double major, saw the financial aid package she receives from Middlebury impact her decision to study abroad. "I was thinking of going to Madagascar, but you can't use Middlebury financial aid for non-Middlebury programs abroad," explained Fisher, whose total aid each year comes to $27,110, including an $18, 360 grant from the College. Having already taken out a $4,000 Federal Perkins Loan, Fisher was ultimately unable to study in Madagascar. "I decided on France because there's a Middlebury program there," she said. "I would have had to take out more loans to do the program in Africa, so I didn't go." Fisher's family is expected to cover approximately $25,000 of her tuition during each of her four years at Middlebury. The Perkins Loan will not be sufficient to cover all of her costs, she estimates. "For the next two years it's most likely that I'm going to have to take out more substantial loans on my own that are not part of the College's aid," she said. In accordance with the College's policy, all academic and merit scholarship money Fisher received did not go towards reducing the contribution she and her family must make. "I received a total of $3,450 in scholarships, including a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship," Fisher said. "It didn't affect the amount of money my family had to pay but it was subtracted from the grant aid I received from Middlebury."According to Director of Student Financial Services Kim Downs, the College's policy in all situations like Fisher's in which students receive outside aid, such as scholarships and merit grants, is to "replace the self-help component - loan and work - of an institutional award." Downs explained that, "Because Middlebury College meets full need, any 'outside' funding received by the student must be considered in the aid award."Fisher's family will be receiving more aid from Middlebury next year, however, as her brother will be starting Penn State University in fall 2008.Downs emphasized the importance of families such as Fisher's notifying the school of financial changes times, as the College evaluates students' circumstances each year in order to adjust aid packages. "If something changes, for example a parent is laid off, someone is injured, etc., then we look at that and adjust accordingly," she said. "We tell students we want to hear about that and take that into account."When deciding what college to attend, Fisher preferred Middlebury from the start, despite its giving her the smallest aid package. "Pomona, Bucknell and Colby all gave me more aid, but I wanted to go here, much to the dismay of my parents," Fisher said, citing the higher rankings of Pomona and Middlebury as factors separating them from Bucknell and Colby. "I definitely wanted to go to Middlebury all along, because it has such a good and established Environmental Studies program," Fisher said. "It's the oldest one out there." Although her financial situation at Middlebury did not affect her choice of majors, the need to pay back her loans is a factor in Fisher's plans beyond commencement. "I'm going to have to get a job right away rather than going into the Peace Corps or law school, which is what I want to do." Fisher said. "I haven't really thought about what kind of job I'm going to get, I'm just hoping everything is going to work itself out." Zachary Bills '11 does not qualify for financial aid, but receives no help from his parents in paying for his Middlebury education. "My tuition is paid for by my uncle, which is about $22,000 each year," he said. Bills parents paid for his private middle and secondary school education, telling him he was on his own for college. "My father had the attitude that he didn't receive any help from his parents and so he had no problem cutting me loose for college," Bills explained. "I pay $2,960 of my own money each semester for room and board," he said. "I haven't had to take out a loan yet because I worked all summer and devoted my life savings and funds to pay for Middlebury.""The school doesn't have any obligation to help me out," Bills acknowledged of his difficult circumstance. "Yes, I'm going to come out of school with a lot of debt but I'm invested in my education and it will pay back for itself tenfold."Bills sees his financial circumstances as motivation for his academics at Middlebury, particularly his study of Chinese. "I'm planning on doing something profitable, obviously, because I need to pay off my college debt," he said. "I'm not taking Chinese to work for a volunteer program and teach kids to speak English. I'm going with Chinese because I can use it for a lucrative career." Like Fisher, such a payoff after graduation was Bills' reason for attending Middlebury in spite of his lack of financial assistance in avoiding post-graduation debt. "I'm at Midd because they have the best language programs in the world, and it will give me that extra edge in the market," he said.Stephanie Ellis '08, was offered financial aid in the form of a work-study program when she applied in 2003, but later turned it down. "They gave me a work-study offer which they estimated would turn out $1,200 a year," she said of the program which would have made her eligible for on-campus jobs open only to work-study students. "They suggested I use it to pay for the $1,000-1,200 of projected personal expenses each year." Although she initially planned to do the program, Ellis soon changed her mind at the advice of her father. "My dad said, 'What's $1,200 compared to what we have to pay anyways?'" Ellis said. "He said he'd rather have me take advantage of other college experiences than be tied down to work-study."
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Glaessner The distant and vacant eyes of the six-year-old "Newsie in Snow Pathos" bear no marked difference from a pair on the face of any bored and restless kindergartener. But in the context of the Henry Sheldon Museum's current photography exhibit entitled "Let Children Be Children: Lewis Wickes Hine's Crusade Against Child Labor," Newsie's eyes are a window to the dark industrial underworld of early 20th century America - a place where child labor and the deplorable conditions they lived and worked in were acceptable, even encouraged, by American standards.Newsie's eyes, cold and clear in black and white, leave the viewer trembling with a sense of loss at what children in the industrial revolution were forced to give up. Childhood, dignity, opportunity, health and safety were some of the sacrifices children made to support their families during a time when progress and economic achievement were prioritized above justice and social welfare.It was only through the photographic journey of Lewis Wickes Hine, a sociologist with an artist's eye, that Americans opened their own eyes to the child labor movement and created legislation to stop it. And it is those same photographs that create the context for discussion and thought today about child labor then and now, and where we stand in the fight."There are so many issues here that can be discussed, both historical and contemporary, which makes it more powerful," explained Mary Manley, assistant director of the Henry Sheldon Museum, her eyes brimming with excitement, "this has been a great stepping off point - we've had talks, school groups, a concert and there are more programs coming up."The idea for the photography exhibition came from the book "Counting on Grace" by Elizabeth Winthrop, selected for last year's Vermont Reads program, a state-wide community reading program sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council. Susan Peden, education coordinator from the Henry Sheldon Museum, and Carol Chatfield, children's librarian at the Ilsley Library, coordinated and developed programming for the book in conjunction with the Mary Johnson Children's Center and participating schools. The book takes the reader back to the days of child labor in the cotton mills of 1910 Vermont and was inspired by the photograph of Addie Card, a 12-year-old mill girl in Pownal, taken by Lewis Hine. Card's photograph can be found on display at the exhibition.A lanky blonde pre-teen leans casually against a large, looming spinner. Her eyes, like Newsie's, are vacant and dark, wearing the signs of exhaustion, and her limbs, long and slim, are cognizant of a lifetime of standing beside the spinner, working endless hours. "We show art and history here [at the Museum] and this [exhibition has] both. It's considered fine art photography, but it's really photography with a purpose," said Manley, pointing to the image of Card.Indeed, when Lewis Hine's niece and Middlebury resident Mary Williamson gave a talk at the Museum on Feb. 12 on family memories of "Uncle Lewie," she emphasized the fact that Hines was a photographer with a purpose, making a point that Hine was really a sociologist at heart."He was definitely a professional photographer, but the photos were taken through a sociologist's eye," said Manley. "It's not just a portrait of a kid. There is depth to it, you can look at the hands and faces and you can tell what they were doing and how rough it was for them. They're very rich in that way."The soot-stained cheeks of the "breaker boys" and the black barefeet of "newsies" and "bootblacks" echo Manley's sentiment. The photographs do not hide the mud-covered hands and sandy toes of five-year-old Manuel the shrimp picker, and the words culled from Hine's own notes and printed on the label bring the figure to life: "Manuel, the young shrimp-picker, 5 yrs. old and a mountain of child labor/oyster shells left behind him. He worked last year, understands not a word of English." Hine's photographs are vignettes of child labor across the nation, from the Long Island potato diggers, to the newsies roosting on Manhattan street corners, to the sooty breaker boys in West Virginia coal mines, to the mud-covered oyster shuckers in Mississippi, to the little spinner in Pownal, Vt., to the families huddled around the dining room table shelling nuts, sewing suspenders and assembling artificial flowers, forsaking the chance to get outdoors and smell the real ones.The exhibition will be up until April 5 at the Henry Sheldon Museum right in town on Park Street, across from the Ilsey Public Library and next to Leatherworks. In addition to the exhibition, there are more upcoming events that allow further opportunities to continue the dialogue about child labor.Among the upcoming events is a talk by Cheryl Mitchell entitled "Child Labor: Historical Issue or Current Problem?" scheduled for March 11. According to the Sheldon Museum's press release, the talk will discuss the inadvertent and unintended consequences of our "attempts to protect our children from labor exploitation" specifically asking whether we have "deprived our children of connections to family, community, and a sense of meaning in their lives" or perhaps "inadvertently increased exploitation of children in other countries."There is also an upcoming lecture by Joe Manning, the Massachusetts author and historian who set out to identify the children photographed by Hine in the early 1900s, and to locate their descendents. Manning's project was featured on National Public Radio and he will share photographs and stories of some of Hine's subjects in his talk on March 9.
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: Adam Dede Overfilled classes have left many students scrambling for second and third choices in course selections. This is due, in large part, to the size of the class of 2011, and although the long term recommendation of the Strategic Plan to add 25 more faculty members will help as current first years move through Middlebury, the current tightness has caused problems."As soon as we knew that the fall class was going to be big, we knew we had to address it," Dean of Faculty Susan Campbell said. According to Campbell, the difficulty is that her office did not know the size of the incoming class until the summer, which, in the academic community, is very late to hire new faculty members. With last minute efforts, Campbell was able to add classes in English and American literatures, Spanish, economics, psychology and math."We're lucky that we have some talented colleagues who live in the area," Campbell said.Even with the College's efforts to add classes and faculty, the registration squeeze has left many students frustrated. Jeronimo Riefkohl '11, for example, has been shut out of International Politics in both the fall and spring semesters. Riefkohl's spring semester registration has also left him shut out of a Spanish film class and an Islamic history course. Currently he is taking French, Greek Philosophy and Environmental Science."I couldn't find a fourth class that I wanted to take," Riefkohl said.Riefkohl suggested that Middlebury should adopt a registration system similar to Stanford University's in which students are given a certain number of points to effectively bid for the classes they want. Thus, if a student wants a certain class he will put a large portion of his points on that class, while possibly sacrificing his chances to get into other classes.Some have also suggested that faculty should simply allow more students into already full classes, an idea Campbell sees as a step in the wrong direction."We don't want to increase class sizes if we can help it," Campbell said. "Class size influences both student experience and faculty work load." Instead, Campbell is working to hire more faculty to provide for the needs of the swollen student body. "Next year, the number of faculty will be five larger than it is this year," Campbell said. "We'll continue to try and add new courses where we need them."Campbell said she hopes to have Strategic Plan of 25 new faculty positions implemented in five to seven years.Some students, however, will likely still face problems, especially in smaller departments, such as Arabic, geology, and environmental studies, which have been growing in popularity and pose a challenge for Campbell when hiring new faculty."There just aren't many people in Vermont qualified to teach Arabic," she said.Kristoffer Williams '11, who attempted to get into both Conservation Policy and Nature's Meanings, was another student left scrambling for schedule substitutions, but, in his case it was all for the best. "I feel like even though I didn't get the classes I wanted I ended up taking classes that I really like, which I never would have thought of taking before," Williams said.Even with the current scheduling difficulties, however, it is likely that by next year most issues will have been taken care of with new faculty hires, provided the class of 2012 is kept to within reasonable bounds, an issue Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett is currently grappling with."It's interesting, this is kind of an admissions perfect storm in some sense," said Clagett, who went on to explain that with Harvard and Princeton dropping their early decision programs and many colleges taking loans out of financial aid packages the admissions yield will be hard to predict. Clagett also noted that this year's applicant pool is the largest the College has ever seen and the most well qualified. Normally, these factors would cause a lower yield, but last year's high percentage of matriculating students proved that predictions can be wrong. Clagett views the high yield as a good long-term sign for Middlebury."It's a tremendous credit to Middlebury that we had an increase in our yield last year," said Clagett. "It would be great if we got the same yield as last year again, and it would speak volumes for what Middlebury represents."This year the admissions office is preparing for the possibility of another high yield by admitting 250-300 fewer students. Clagett also noted the likelihood that the wait list will be utilized in filling out the class of 2012.
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: Tarsi Dunlop London - In London, American politics is a hot-button topic of conversation. Sometimes snippets are heard in coffee shops, other times politics dominant students' conversations, and occasionally it is background fodder for class discussions. Regardless, as an American abroad - although it is England - the topic of who will win what is a subject of great debate. I find my knowledge of American government, although I'm not anywhere near an expert, enough to explain some nuances to my new friends. Some big questions are: will a new President be able to get the country out of Iraq, who do you think will win the primaries, what about the general election, when do you vote? Yikes. I do not have answers to all questions that come my way, I have guesses, hunches and of course many hopes that some would say are overly optimistic. I did vote via absentee ballot and it did cross an ocean in time to be counted.When glancing at the television screens around the LSE, there is often coverage of the candidates. The LSE College Democrats (no, there is no Republican organization on campus) set up a USA week around Super Tuesday. American politics are alive and well here, and thanks to the constant dialogue, the topic and bigger questions are never far from my mind. After Senator Edward M. Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama, I felt somewhat vindicated in my hopes that this charismatic speaker is not, as many people rightfully speculate, too na've for politics. I am a registered Democrat and while I have the utmost respect for John McCain, as I think many do regardless of their political affiliation, I would like to see the White House change hands. I'm not entirely sure if you can find a huge number of differences between the two Democratic candidates, but each has their flaws and strengths and I am curious about either one's chances when facing John McCain.I think our generation, meaning the newest voting age bracket that is often cited as the least participatory in the election process, is ready to take a little bit of a leap now. It is time for a change. People in England seem pretty pro-Obama, at least many that I've talked to, and it is for this exact reason. They liked Bill Clinton, but there is something about Barack Obama that is significantly appealing to them. Yes, perhaps he is inexperienced. There will be mistakes along the way, after all look at the last seven years. A smooth presidency seems rather impossible to hope for considering the world today. Maybe there is something to be said for taking a safe road with someone familiar who has been around the White House, but it is the discussions that I have here in England that remind me there is a true desire for change. The Clinton Presidency was a good one by most standards, but do we need a dynasty to ensure a return to that? I don't think that is necessarily so, and while I would not object to seeing a woman in the White House, if you are going to look at symbolic choices then there is no need to harp on how either Democratic candidate represents a shift. The British people care about American politics, often times it seems as though they might care more than the average American. It is a significant reminder of how the consequences of our decisions as American citizens do stretch far beyond our borders.
(02/28/08 12:00am)
Author: James O'Brien This week, thin white cards with words on them were placed in those plastic holder things on the dining hall tables. They said "Think about this…" and argued about tiny dining hall budgets. Here are my ignorant thoughts, which I invite you to respond to in op-ed form so that we can fill space in next week's fine edition of The Campus.One of the "Think about this" cards told me that the food budget for each student per day is $3.84. Roughly $1.28 per meal. My reaction to this was: a. Gadzooks! and b. Either Dining Services is performing feats of wizardry to obtain the cheapest food in the Milky Way, or several hundred students are on a hunger strike over the pathetic amount of money allotted to feed them.I think that putting these cards on the tables was a mistake. No student likes to think about how much money their parents are paying so that they can read some books, screw around and eat a daily fill which is equivalent price-wise to a Baconator meal at Wendy's. And yet there it is in front of you - "Comprehensive fee in 2007: $46,910." If we really want to get a conversation started, maybe they could put a pie chart of the entire Middlebury College budget on our dining tables, not just the anemic dining budget.One card says, "You can help by returning any dishes that you see out of place." Completely ignore this request. Thanks to the surge in returned dishware, several tainted cups and dishes are back in circulation. This is bad. For the two months prior to being returned, these plates and cups had been in some kid's closet soaking up stale bong water behind his skis and his didgeridoo. I, King James, do not want to eat off didgeridoo plates. Now, I have to scrutinize each plate and glass like it's a Making the Band contestant before I put anything into it. This month, I decided to "suck it up," and I ended up drinking tea out of a cup that seemed to have traces of someone's hot fudge sundae on the bottom. I am now sick with multiple ear infections. If the dishwasher can't clean these stains, I don't trust it to kill germs. And now I can't hear.Of course, correlation is not causation, so there is no way to prove that my sickness has anything to do with dish-scuzz. In the same vein, the friendly "Think about this" cards are boasting that the removal of trays from the dining hall caused this year's compost output to be .04 percent/meal less than last year's. You can't prove that tray removal lowered the compost output. What if there were just a lot of fat/not-fasting-in-outrage students who graduated last year? And who cares about compost output? The .04 percent reduction in compost has very little to do with our "carbon footprint." If food is in the compost pile, fine. Who cares how big the pile is? Eventually, it all goes back into the ground. If we eat the food and the waste ends up in the septic tank, isn't that actually worse for the environment? To summarize, getting rid of the trays saves dishwasher soap. That's it. Also, I don't like scuzz. As I write this, I am staring at one, two … 10 pieces of dishware that have accumulated in my room. They are all scuzz-ridden, and I'm afraid to return them for fear that, in some cruel twist of fate, I will end up using them at dinner the next night. None of these pieces of dishware are mine. I bring them into my room after some jerk leaves them in the hall bathroom and, more importantly, after I've had to endure a week's worth of our janitor's idle threats written on the mirror in red marker. "Return these or I will talk to your commons dean," the mirror usually says. I always want to write a counter-note that reads something like: "Dear Madame, our commons dean has more important things to do than worry about one dish in the bathroom. I have escorted the dish into my room, and now it can happily accumulate dust and take up shelf space that could have been devoted to a pornographic DVD - or a useless $60 book that I don't feel like selling back to the bookstore for 1/20 of its worth. Ahem. In this lovely shelf spot, your beloved dish will rest, so that I can gaze upon it daily and further develop my attitude problem. Love, James." This note is too big to fit on the bathroom mirror, so I just take the dishes.James O'Brien '10 is an English major from Medfield, Mass.
(02/21/08 12:00am)
Author: Amanda Greene Classes have started. Again. The magic surrounding J-term is definitely gone. It's goodbye to hour-long dinners, extended knitting sessions and pick-up poker games. That whole "really being able to nurture your social life" feeling is as gone as the euphoria surrounding Christmas morning.Yet, the spring semester is accompanied by the anticipation of all things new. Change is exciting and challenging. The spring is a chance to start over, to find new favorite seats in classrooms and to develop new relationships with professors and your gym crush.My recommendation: avoid shyness. You know that girl who says hello to everyone who walks by? Try to be like her! Do you sit next to four unfamiliar faces in your lit class? Make friends. Remember that unbelievably intense midterm that you have in a few weeks? You'll want someone to study with, or at least someone to complain to. Misery loves company and builds a sense of camaraderie.Middlebury students have a tendency to forget that friendships are often the product of unusual circumstances. That person you vaguely remember meeting at a party, who your friend quickly introduced you to, who happens to sit a few rows behind you in bio, could be the person who inspires you to do Teach for America. We are surrounded by a group of students who all chose Middlebury, and our decision to go to school here gives us a connection that cannot be overlooked. You have more in common with the person behind you at the salad bar than you think. I promise. It's never too late to meet new people and to cultivate new relationships.This past Saturday I saw David Coleman, the Date Doctor, and he emphasized the importance of paying attention to the people that you pass on a daily basis, who become part of the background if we are too comfortable with our surroundings. There are so many people that we see, but don't see. Middlebury College, keep your eyes open! It's a crazy world out there, with so much to explore right here on campus, in Vermont. And now for this week's question:Q: I'm a senior so I have first choice when registering for classes. This past semester I had one elective left to fill and had heard from my friends that a particular English class was incredible. The class was something that I was not considering enrolling in, and I had never heard of it before. I signed up for it, and was in line for breakfast last December when I overheard a group of English majors lamenting their inability to get into the class. I felt guilty because I had a spot, but remained in the course until I dropped it last week on BannerWeb. Was it unethical for me to register for and remain in the class when I had little intention of taking it?- Anxious-about-AttendanceA: You are a senior and registration occurs based on class standing. When you were a freshman you registered last and had to take whatever classes had available spots. You are entitled to register for whatever classes you want, and to decide to take them, or not to take them, on your own timetable. After three years the system favors you and is yours to navigate. That said, it would be admirable for you to consider your peers who do not have such desirable registration access. It's not unethical to register for the most popular classes, but I would advise you to be compassionate and to only sign up for classes that genuinely interest you.Want to consult the Ethicist? Send submissions to amgreene@middlebury.edu
(02/21/08 12:00am)
Author: Melissa Marshall 91.1 FM WRMC has tuned-in to a new semester, and is living up to their mission statement of bringing original programming to the Champlain Valley. Online, in the car or in the dorms, dare to set the dial to this spring's most inventive shows. Alphabet SoupTime: Sunday 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.Converging cultures and contemporary music, "Alphabet Soup" serves up an outside-the-box blend of rock from both English- and Spanish-speaking artists. Nostalgic for your days abroad? Check it out, tío. Middlebury Radio Theatre of Thrills and SuspenseTime: Saturday 7 p.m to 9 p.m.Whether they are interpreting classics or improvising original material, this group of students has updated WRMC programming with a vintage feel. Creative, witty and utterly unique, Radio Drama has been steadily gaining popularity both on and off-campus through their devoted fan base and online podcasts. Radio! Arts! Middlebury! Time: Wednesday 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.Entirely produced by sophomore Colin Foss, this NPR-modeled show reviews and previews upcoming events in theatre, music, dance and film at the College and the surrounding areas. A professional style, exclusive interviews and clever segueways add a metropolitan feel to this local lowdown on the arts.
(02/21/08 12:00am)
Author: Rachael Carrasquillo BERLIN - One of the most difficult classes I took this semester at the Freie Universität in Berlin was Introduction to International Relations. I realized after the first two weeks that I was missing something that all of the other students in the class had - namely, years of experience studying and living in the European Union. Examples that were obvious to them flew straight over my head, and I found myself completely frustrated by examples that came as second nature to German students. I was feeling insecure and humbled, questioning if the last 14 years of my education had somehow failed to provide me with a basic foundation, until very recently.It started a few weeks ago at Curry 36, an imbiss, or street-side food vendor, that serves arguably the best currywurst in the city. I happen, by nature, to be a very loud person, and was discussing the upcoming primary elections with my German friend in a sort of German-English mixture while we gorged ourselves on sausage and french fries. Standing next to us was a middle-aged German businessman who put down his Beck's in order to ask which candidate I would be voting for. Berliners are not unfriendly people, but in my experience they tend to dole out withering looks rather than jump uninvited into conversations with Americans, yet he was genuinely interested in my opinion. This conversation quickly evolved into a detailed explanation of the American Electoral College, ending with a discussion as to whether each state should secede from the union and become their own country. When I tried to explain to him that some states had already attempted that, and it led to the American Civil War, I realized that we were all finished eating and the history lesson should probably end.Last weekend at a friend's apartment I was once again engaged in a discussion of American politics. An interest in American politics is not unique to Germany, but there are subjects that are of particular interest for Berliners. They are fascinated with Barack Obama, often comparing him to John F. Kennedy, who famously delivered a speech, saying, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'" Kennedy remains a symbol of hope and freedom in this city almost 20 years after the end of the Cold War and over 40 years after his visit to West Berlin. The Germans dislike of George W. Bush is no secret, and when he famously gave Chancellor Angela Merkel an unexpected and unwanted backrub in a press conference, it was scrutinized in the media for weeks and videos are still circulating on YouTube.As the election in November creeps nearer, friends and acquaintances, as well as strangers who can pinpoint my accent, frequently approach me with a multitude of political questions. Every interaction I have had has been overwhelmingly positive, and I am pleased to say that for each instance in which I have felt humbled and embarrassed by my ignorance concerning the European Union, I have felt gratified by my ability to speak knowledgeably on American history and politics both in and out of the lecture hall.
(02/21/08 12:00am)
Author: James O'Brien I know no one likes negativity (except for maybe me) but I've concluded that this general abhorrence toward nay-sayers is partially based on the media's positivity propaganda. To illustrate my point, let's examine the Nike commercial from a few months back that depicts female athletes talking into a megaphone, trying to get us - and, most likely, themselves - excited about women's sports. First, some old guy - presumably a legendary former coach whom around four percent of the nation can identify - steps up to the megaphone and says, "Female athletes have to overcome the bias that their game isn't as good as the men's game." Then Gabrielle Reece, a professional women's volleyball player, speaks into the megaphone, saying, "Are boys bigger, stronger, faster? Yes. But …" These are direct quotations from the ad and, unless I'm really missing something, there seems to be a contradiction here. Perhaps my definition of "being good" is slightly different than Gabrielle's or the anonymous old guy's, but I think being better, stronger and faster does indeed make the men's game "more good" than the women's game. There's no bias. Now, I know it seems like Gabrielle and the nice old guy are right in this case, but that's just because they're taking the underdog's side, the more popular, romantic position. This is the side that our instincts tell us to take because we want to be known as "open-minded" and "Sesame Street" taught us to be inclusive. But it is actually close-minded to continually take the underdog's side without thinking. I'm just trying to be realistic. I've dubbed this the "300 Complex" - more on that later.As the faux-inspiring Nike commercial continues, women's volleyball star Gabrielle Reese gives the megaphone to a girl wearing a Red Sox shirt and a red backwards hat. This little dreamer proceeds to announce, "I want to pitch for the Boston Red Sox." Why are we getting this little girl's hopes up when we already established that men are better, faster and stronger? Congratulations to America's most dominant shoe company. You have encouraged a young tomboy to "dream big" when you really should have done the responsible thing and told her to play softball. She may be a better baseball player than I am, but, and I say this with confidence, she won't make the MLB.Let me step back from the male-chauvinist angle for a moment. No matter which way you look at it, our romantic culture and looking on the bright side continues to get in the way of our common sense. People just seemed to be inspired by the silliest stuff. Let's take the movie "300." For those of you who haven't seen it, King Leonidas does a great job of holding off the Persian army fighting with only 300 buff dudes, but it really would have been a smarter diplomatic move if he had simply refrained from kicking the Rogaine-deprived Persian messenger into that incredibly deep well at the beginning of the movie. From there, Leonidas makes one bad decision after another until he dies taunting the arrows that killed him. This inspired me about as much as "Requiem for a Dream."The whole movie Leonidas kept justifying terrible choices by yelling, "Spaaaarrrrtaaaa!" and flexing - as if that somehow explained it. Why did they name this guy king? I understand that "300" is meant to speak to our inner-Schwarzenegger, but it's funny to imagine what the movie would be if Leonidas were from Athens. He probably wouldn't have let bone-headed optimism get in the way.On the other hand, America did gain its independence because some whiny loudmouths didn't feel like paying their taxes. They just kept using the words "freedom" and "tyranny" in letters and speeches until they tricked enough American farmers into fighting. Being unreasonable at certain times is only reasonable. It's the principle our country was founded on. And from what I learned about American history in fifth grade, "looking on the bright side" turned out to be the right move in the case of the American Revolution. Just don't tell that to the dead American farmer-turned-soldiers and the rotting British redcoats. They'll tell you we should have just paid our taxes and waited for England to realize it couldn't control a country 40 times its size.Then again, in 2003, when George Bush felt like invading Iraq, he simply used the words "freedom" and "tyranny" a couple hundred times. Other countries argued that the invasion was a bad move, but Bush said, "Patriotism. America." Works every time. After all, who could argue with that? James O'Brien '10 is an English major from Medfield, Mass.
(02/14/08 12:00am)
Author: Tristan Axelrod In an anthropology class last semester, final grades were based on four components: a final exam, a midterm exam, response papers, and participation. The three response papers were graded as check, check-minus or no check, and after receiving three of three checks and a 96 on the midterm, I computed that I could receive a B- on the final and still average above the 93 required for a solid A. Having prepared the readings, attended all classes and made a fair number (two to five) of intelligent comments at each, I could only assume that my participation grade would be an A. Lo and behold, I received an 83 on the final - I had to take it shortly after the final completion of my senior thesis, among other things - and was given an A- for the semester. I confronted the professor, who promised to reconsider the grades and send me the full breakdown. I received only a partial breakdown of my final exam grade, which I had not meant to contest in the first place.Last semester, I took a class with my significant other, and had a different encounter with class participation. Neither of us particularly liked the professor because the grading seemed unpredictable and biased by personal taste. Unlike my significant other, I was unable to conceal my distaste for the professor much of the time, both personally and academically, despite my best efforts to the contrary. Again, I made an effort to meticulously complete each assignment, but my grades added up to a B+. However, this time, strangely enough, participation boosted my grade to an A-.I have more stories such as this, and could provide anecdotal evidence of cases in which gender, prior personal relationships or the professor's professional and personal insecurities led to a perceived bias in class that pushed my grade at the professor's whim. Furthermore, after many discussions with other students and faculty, I know I am not alone in recognizing this phenomenon. Clearly in some cases the ability to verbally engage subject material is integral to an assessment of the student's understanding, for instance in seminars and foreign language classes. However, what about the hard sciences, lower level classes in the soft sciences and the fine arts-? Surely in classes meant to foster factual knowledge as opposed to intellectual engagement - and not always even then - assessment of participation is unnecessary and even harmful.Participation grading provides no incentive for good teaching. If it is the student's responsibility to participate, what incentive does the professor have not to read from a textbook? If the professor cannot engage the information more clearly or deeply than another source, grading based on participation becomes a crutch that sustains professional irrelevance. Participation grading is not quantifiable, and barely accountable. Depending on the syllabus, professors are able to swing entire letter grades in any direction, knowing that a student's demand for accountability will be mauled by hordes of bureaucracy before it reaches his or her doorstep. By the time the student has the grade it may already be the next semester, and chances are the student won't have the time or energy to stand before a committee and deeply analyze their in-class commentary. Seeing as final papers and exams often go unreturned as well, the student often never knows their participation grade. If he or she does figure it out, it's so far after the fact that end-of-semester reviews become irrelevant as well - but if the professor has tenure, they never were in the first place.Participation grading does not necessitate quality. Instead, it encourages students to make their one to four comments per class regardless of preparation or interest. This wastes everybody's time, and unless the professor bothers to reprimand students for lackluster commentary (which I have never seen occur, although I hear it happens), we can only assume that inanity is an acceptable substitute for erudition. What incentive is that for anyone else to try? Furthermore, participation grading encourages students to brown-nose in any way possible by playing to the professor's personal biases - be it to subject matter, sexuality or anything else. When nobody knows anyone else's grades and the professor never bothers to assess quality of participation until the end of the semester, everyone makes stuff up, hoping in whatever way that the participation grade will swing in their favor.Participation grading contributes to a negative academic atmosphere. Besides wasting time with inane commentary, enforced participation can lead to excessive competition and stress. When students feel they must not only understand and engage material but demonstrate that engagement better than others in order to receive a good grade, they often over-prepare. Furthermore, the classroom dynamics of courses such as comprehensive exams and seminars encourage hierarchical feuding among students. Without frequent explanations and assurance from professors, students have no reason not to attempt to demonstrate superiority where mere facility would be appropriate. If students knew they could receive the same grades simply by listening attentively, skipping class when ill or unable to prepare and making only intelligent, well-researched comments, the experience would be more fulfilling for all those involved.For those who don't care about grades, should participation matter anyway? If a person is content to pay $47,000 just for cafeteria food and dance parties, isn't that punishment enough? Why try to force a person to waste everybody's time?Unfortunately, I have little time left before I graduate, and I do not intend to spend it fighting the system. However, it consistently bothers me that faculty members exercise quantifiable judgment on students based on unquantifiable standards and little accountability. As I prepare to leave Middlebury with little more than my memories, papers and GPA, the importance of this phenomenon grows in my mind. We need to ask ourselves what we expect to receive from this experience - and each segment of it - and how and why we are allowing others - paying others -to assess us.Sometimes I find myself saying, "it will be nice to get out of college, where arbitrarily qualified individuals won't have the luxury of projecting onto me their idiosyncrasies, vulnerabilities, insecurities and neuroses in the form of some vague assessment." Then I realize that actually most of life is like that, so it's not so bad. However, Middlebury spends a lot of time and money trying to create a utopia - culturally, environmentally, sexually, academically, etc. - and it seems to me that clamping down on this one issue would bring us just a little bit closer without costing much at all.Tristan Axelrod '08 is a Music and English major from Washington, D.C.
(02/14/08 12:00am)
Author: Adam Clayton In today's globalized world, there is seemingly nothing that can't be done cheaper, quicker or better somewhere else. Profit-maximizing companies scour the world looking for the best places to make and market their products. Apparently, sports teams are no exception. Hidden under a veneer of passion and loyalty, most decisions made by major sports teams are monetary ones. Nowadays, with fan bases reaching across the planet, the decisions made by club executives have to take into account the global demand their success has engendered. Seventy-five percent of Manchester United fans are in Asia, while any top team's Web site is usually available in three or four languages. Players sometimes get brought in more for their exotic name than for their playing ability, the illusion of such a move being a football decision often discarded altogether.Such was the case when the Premier League proposed recently, with little consultation or fan-fare, the idea of tacking on an extra game to an already crowded schedule, one that would be played thousands of miles from either team's stadium but could nevertheless determine the outcome of an entire season. American football already broke boundaries by playing in London, and it is likely basketball and baseball will follow its lead in the near future. Chief executive of the F.A. Premier League, Richard Scudamore, claiming "[the premiership] competes in an entertainment industry," believes this move is good for the prosperity of England's domestic football clubs, as if Chelsea playing Arsenal in Beijing was akin to a Britney Spears performance.But English football is not just entertainment, Dick. For many people it engenders a stronger sense of identity and pride than race, social status or nationality ever will. Football and politics have been intrinsically linked for centuries, causing wars and uniting populations from social unrest. Dictators such as Franco saw football as a pillar of their power, as well as a potential threat if not manipulated correctly. To denigrate football in this way is to overlook the passion and dedication seen week in and week out around the world, both from the players and the fans who invest time and money to support their team. Imagine a Newcastle fan attending every game, braving the most hostile receptions around England, only to find himself watching the culmination of his team's efforts at six in the morning, struggling to understand the Portuguese or Japanese chanting emanating around the stadium. Such a proposal would be comical if it didn't seem like an eventuality.If Scudamore insists on taking his cues from American football, why not play rock music and create cartoonish mascots to parade around at half time? The motive of this is certainly not to give fans the opportunity to watch their idols. The premiership can't even be watched by 1.4 billion people in China because only 20,000 can afford the $100 subscription that pay-per-view TV brought about last season, so they sadly watch Italians and Germans instead. Football is already a domestic fixture in every country around the world, and it will be to the detriment of their leagues if Scudamore gets his way. If profits have to be pursued at the expense of pride and the sanctity of what's right, English football will end up just like that other model of the entertainment industry - Britney Spears - bloated and whoring itself out to whoever hasn't moved on, a shadow of its former great self.
(02/14/08 12:00am)
Author: James O'Brien Most people I know at Middlebury are far more intelligent than me. In order to prove their intelligence, many of them listen to songs with lyrics that I can't even begin to comprehend - lyrics like, "Society is a maggot! You are Bob Saget!/Life is ephemeral! You are a chemical!" Perhaps not those lyrics exactly, but they listen to Wilco and Radiohead, whose lyrics are somewhere along those lines. There isn't anything wrong these bands' lyrics - except that they don't mean anything at all. Yes, they sound deep. Sure, we can parse these lyrics for shades of meaning. We can listen to what the words suggest, and we can do all the things that they train us to do in English class. But the amount of time spent thinking about a song does not decide its worth. If a song has a personal meaning, great, but it isn't important. A much more significant song goes like this: "What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more." (As a side note, there is actually a Web site that provides the lyrics to this song - just in case we can't remember them. That Web site = unnecessary. Also, E=mc².) For intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals alike, Haddaway's lyrics seem less interesting than Radiohead's. This is mainly because anyone can instantly understand them. The "What is Love" lyrics insult our intelligence. They are cliché. But they also tend to bring us together as human beings because, at our core, most of us are cliché. Trite sentiments have been beaten to death for a reason - because they are the most universally applicable human feelings. More power to you if you have a closet-shrine to Crispin Glover and eat nothing but super-organic granola, but you still have the same feelings as the rest of us. Sure, you may respond to these feelings in a different way, but I have a hunch that they are the same feelings. I can't prove this hypothesis, of course - I am not you. But I believe I can sympathize. Then again, R. Kelly believes he can fly, which is ludicrous. Aside from the one time I got trapped in a closet, I cannot relate to R. Kelly.We tend think to our feelings are complicated because we put layer upon layer of our own thoughts and experience on top of them. "Why do we feel this way?" we ask ourselves before we then assign our feelings to complicated personal reasons regarding parental absence, relationship troubles and the subliminal evils of Hanson. But we shouldn't have to search for explanations. We feel this way because we are human. That's the only explanation that matters. In this life, we are biologically secluded within our own separate minds, each watching shadows of an objective world that we can never inhabit, or something like that. Simple song lyrics make us feel that elusive sense of togetherness. It is the beauty of feeling overthought. With pop music, instead of discussing our own interpretations of brooding lyrics, we can listen to a Kelly Clarkson song and more or less know exactly what she is talking about. Then we can all feel like idealistic romantics spurned by a morally reprehensible lover, the premise of just about every Clarkson song. Does this have it downsides? Sure. Young women may gain an unjustified feeling of hatred towards males. This opinion, however, will fade as these young women get older and develop justified feelings of hatred towards males. Songs like Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" may provide an illusion, but it is one we can all share (despite the irritatingly common substitution of "U" for "You" - a trend we can all hate). Most of us recognize that these songs are a mirage, some of us don't, but either way we can all see the mirage. No, we do not know exactly what others are thinking when they listen to Haddaway. They could be remembering a lost love, listening to the beat or imagining Bob Saget and the entire cast of "Full House" naked. But whatever we do when we listen to "What Is Love?" together, we feel that we understand it. It does not depend upon being an idealist or a cynic. It's techno! It's cliché! It's us! What's not to understand?James O'Brien '10 is an English major from Medfield, Mass.
