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(11/15/07 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] The southwest part of Vermont was racked with violence on Nov. 1-2, when a series of murders stunned the towns of Brandon, Rupert and Rutland. The violence began late Wednesday night in the small town of Rupert, Vt. when Benjamin Ploski, 32, engaged in an argument with his girlfriend, Felicia Armstrong, 29. A five-year-old child, who was in the house at the time of the murders, woke in the morning to find the two bodies, after what was apparently a murder-suicide. She proceeded to go to a neighbor's house to call the police, and is now safe. "She's a very, very intelligent young lady.," said Lt. Timothy Oliver of the Vermont State Police. "She was able to give us every bit of information we needed. She's the only witness."The typically safe and sleepy town of Brandon, Vt. was stunned by a murder-suicide on Nov. 1. Todd English, 32, of Forestdale, entered the home of his ex-girlfriend Amanda Corey, 27, where she was currently living with Richard Griffin, 35. After a period of quarreling, English shot Griffin in the stomach with a revolver, with Griffin sustaining wounds from which he would die later at Rutland Regional Medical Center. English then turned the gun on himself to commit suicide. Corey and her two children are safe. In a third murder, John Baptie, 24, was stabbled in the neck on Thursday night in a parking lot behind Wal-Mart while quarreling with another man over money. Johnathan Bruno, 23, is being detained on second-degree murder charges. "It just seems crazy," said Brandon Police Chief Christopher J. Brickell, of the slayings. -The Boston Globe
(11/15/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts Every Thursday when The Middlebury Campus newspaper comes out, a truly woeful process of misery unfolds.Basically, every kid that walks into a dining hall grabs a paper from the rack, regardless of whether or not they plan to read it.Each person brings the paper to the table and reads maybe one or two articles. Then they get up, leave the paper on the table and hurry off to class. Immediately, a dining hall employee swoops in and proceeds to crumple up the discarded paper and throw it in the trash.The result is that by Friday night at dinner time there are no more papers to be found anywhere in the dining halls, and yet almost no one even got a chance to read it. The copies have disappeared. Where did they go? They relocated to their new homes - trash bins - where they will enjoy retirement with other residents of the trash, including Forth 'n Goal postcards and dining hall comment cards that beg for juice at dinner.This is not the fault of the dining employees who trash them, but the students who carelessly leave them on the tables. Is it so difficult to return the paper? The dining hall employees already think we are spoiled brats - this stuff doesn't help.With so much paper and money wasted, it almost seems The Campus should be online-only, and if people want to read it, they can visit the Web site. Of course, we all love having a hard copy of the paper in front of us, so that wouldn't work. I guess people just have to cut down on their waste.This all relates to a larger problem at Middlebury of increasing waste. I myself am guilty of the "food waste" that happens when I finish my lunch or dinner and I go up to get more. I always re-fill my entire plate, return to the table and sadly realize I was only hungry for a little more - not an entire second plateful. Inevitably I fork around with what I've got and then bring the dish to the window. Big waste, and I'm guilty about it, but it still happens. Then there is "Halloween waste." I'm talking about pumpkins - the ones people harvest only to have them painted or carved and placed on a doorstep until they rot. Sure, it's a fun tradition to make jack-o-lanterns but (sorry to be such a Debbie Downer) it's a huge waste of food. Wikipedia says a pumpkin can be boiled, baked, roasted or mashed into a pie or soup. Pumpkins are even a sweet delicacy in many Middle Eastern countries. I bet in those countries people would never dream of wasting food the way we do, by growing pumpkins only to carve them up.Finally, we also see financial waste at Middlebury. The College, for example, spent $20,000 to fund "Solid State Change." Let's just say that money could have been better spent and leave it at that. Yes, visual art is stimulating and important, but it should never be as important as giving students the basics. That is to say, certain items available in the past (trays, juice at dinner) should not be taken away in order to "save money" if the College has so much green to spend on fancy art. "Different funds," they insist, but fine, take some "funds" from the College's art wallet and slip them into the dining wallet.I'm just saying that we waste a lot here. Let's work on it - I'll waste less food, and everyone else, for the love of Ron, fold that freakin' newspaper and put it back on the rack.Daniel Roberts is '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.
(11/08/07 12:00am)
Author: Scott Greene LeRoy Graham named new College registrarThe College announced the appointment of LeRoy Graham to the position of College registrar on Nov. 4. Graham, the former senior associate registrar at Dartmouth College, will be guide the operations of an office responsible for registration and record-keeping for 2,350 undergraduates and about 1,800 additional students enrolled in the Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Bread Loaf School of English.Graham is a native of North Springfield, Vt. and a graduate of the University of Vermont. He replaces Pamela Anastassiou, the former registrar who left in June to pursue other opportunities. Dartmouth College, where Graham worked for eight years, uses the same information management system as Middlebury College, called "SCT Banner." Even before working at Dartmouth, Graham worked for SunGard Higher Education (SCT) as a consultant in the development of the Bannerweb system. "Leroy has an impressive knowledge of the Banner student information system and of technology in general," Dean of the Faculty Susan Campbell said in a press release. "He also has demonstrated skills in working effectively with students, faculty and staff. I look forward to working with such a qualified and capable professional."National media revives "Picking up Butch"The recent republication of "Picking up Butch" by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated has generated a renewed buzz behind one of the longest-running and deeply respected College traditions, in which two or three first-year athletes pick up Butch Varno from his Middlebury home and transport him to and from every home football and basketball game.Varno, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been the subject of the Middlebury tradition "Picking up Butch" for the past 48 years. After he and his mother were flooded out of their apartment in town and forced to relocate to temporary housing, the College responded by paying for half of a house on South Street. The other half of the payment was raised through a college initiative.Following the second publication of Reilly's column, ESPN ran a feature on Varno during an edition of SportsCenter, and millions more saw his story on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." Butch was also featured in Steve Hartman's "Assignment America" segment for the same show, which aired on Friday, Nov. 2. In addition, the Boston Globe Magazine will run a feature story about Varno on Nov. 11.WRMC to play mashup contest entries on-air The College's radio station, WRMC, 91.1 FM, is holding a mashup contest and will devote airtime to the submissions it receieves between now and the contest deadline on Nov 23. WRMC General Manager Ernest Russell '09 said that the station is looking forward to this contest and expects it to generate a good amount of submissions."We're inviting people to make their own songs using other artists materials and submit them," he said, "similar to something Girl Talk does."Entries may be no more than four minutes long, and genre or genres are up to participants. Winning entries will be added to the radio station's rotation and broadcast accross the Champlain Valley. In addition, the winning entries will be streamed on both the WRMC Web site and its blog.
(11/08/07 12:00am)
Author: Tess Russell After Rana Husseini received her Master's degree from Oklahoma City University (OCU), she found herself in a predicament that will be shared by many Middlebury seniors come next spring - she was finished with her formal schooling but was not sure what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.She did know that she wanted to help advance the cause of women's rights, an interest she had cultivated while working for the newspaper at OCU, and so she returned to her home country of Jordan in 1994 and took up a job as a reporter. Covering the crime beat at The Jordan Times, she was fatefully assigned, during her early days on the job, to investigate a local "honor killing." Husseini was so moved by the young woman's plight that it inspired her to undertake a career of activism that would ultimately earn her international recognition as a pioneer in the field of human rights.An honor killing is the murder of a girl or woman at the hands of a male relative - often a minor, who will face more lenient legal repercussions - perpetrated with the intention of "cleansing the family's honor." Adultery, or even idle rumors of it, is enough to condemn a woman, as is her refusal to waive her rights to an inheritance. These atrocities occur mainly among poor, lower middle-class populations where reputation is of the utmost importance."In my country, people live for what their neighbors think of them," Husseini told the audience. "This is a fear that we need to get over, and that is something that we are working towards."Still, despite the fact that her coverage focuses primarily on occurrences in Jordan, Husseini is quick to stress that region, and religion, have no bearing on the incidence of honor crimes. She has written about this tragic fate as suffered by both Christian and Muslim women within her country and believes that the phenomenon - rooted in the male quest for dominance - is universal, citing the Salem witch trials and more recent events in rural areas of Italy and Spain as evidence.These sociological factors are covered extensively in Husseini's upcoming book "Murder in the Name of Honour." The 2008 release of the book in English and Arabic (it has already been published in Dutch) is highly anticipated, but Husseini has been receiving attention from media outlets around the world ever since she became the first woman to receive the prestigious Reebok Award in 1998.In the late 1990s, her writings began to attract the support of women's rights NGOs based everywhere from the neighboring Egypt to faraway Sweden, where activists started to put pressure on local governments to reform law enforcement policies. For her part, Husseini is optimistic about the prospect of legislative changes - particularly after her recent receipt of Al Hussein Decoration for Distinguished Contribution of the Second Order, which was the first public backing she received from the Jordanian royal family. Still, she feels that it will take a more grass roots approach to truly change what is in people's hearts and minds, and that this strategy should begin with reforms to Jordan's system of education."If our teachers are closed-minded and inexperienced, and sometimes even have extremist thoughts, then we become victims of our education, and are deprived of our ability to think critically," Husseini said. She pointed out that many of the young males forced to commit honor killings are essentially brainwashed, but she has witness a positive trend on that front."In the past when I would lecture, I would often see young men standing up and asserting that they would kill their own female relatives if they were called upon," Husseini said. "Now they are asking what they can do to avoid that responsibility. I think that is an important shift."
(11/01/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts As I write this, the Boston Red Sox have just finished off a World Series that, in truth, was a four-game joke. Sorry, Colorado fans, but even when it was close, it felt like watching a major league baseball team play a bunch of eighth grade Pony Leaguers.Ironically enough, I was in Ohio while the Sox were beating their previous opponents, the Cleveland Indians. In fact, on the night of game 5, I went to a big party at Bowling Green. I showed up wearing a Sox shirt and hat. Pretty dumb.As soon as I arrived, some guy peeing outside saw my Sox shirt and promptly called me a name that I think members of MOQA would not have been pleased to hear. Nice, huh? Yet when I entered the party, it all changed. Yes, everyone was wearing Indians gear, and at first I got some dirty looks. But then I defended myself by saying, "I'm from Boston." This apparently changed everything, and soon everyone there wanted to meet me. I was representing my turf, and I was not doing it just to rile people up, but because I genuinely care about the performance of sports teams from my city.Back on campus a week later, I went to Deborah Fisher's proto-Apologia for the tire sculpture. At her lecture, she showed us an earlier artwork of hers called "New Orleans Elegy." She had created it after Hurricane Katrina. It was basically a craggy slab of steel, with rusted bronze rivulets meant to symbolize roads that had flooded. She told us that on her blog, after posting images of the work, she received angry posts from New Orleans residents berating her for depicting their city as dead or dying, and reminding her she had "no right" because she did not live through the catastrophe, and she was not from New Orleans. Fisher argued that the destruction of New Orleans was a "shared experience," but once I considered it, I agreed with the angry Louisianans (Louisianers?). Fisher even admitted she has never been to New Orleans. As I recalled my time cheering the Sox over in enemy territory, I felt that no outsider could truly know what it is like to be from a certain place.There is an undeniable sense of identity that comes with one's geographic roots. Katrina victims are right to not want their city portrayed by a warped, outdoor slab of corroded brown trash. It is just like how people now see the Red Sox as a villainous team with some of the best players in baseball, but in Beantown we still think of our boys as the same lovable, underdog team they have always been - one World Series win in 2004 has not changed that. So the book "Maximum City" can get hot in the states, but American readers would never truly understand what it is like to live in Mumbai. Or I could hurry up and finish "What is the What," the latest Dave Eggers novel about one man's childhood as a Sudanese refugee, and I can feel politically informed and intellectual - but still, I would really have no idea of how it felt to live through the Sudanese civil war.Hometown pride is why my friend Mark adores "Mystic River" and "The Departed" and cannot wait to see "Gone Baby Gone." It is why my first-year roommate Siddharth loved hearing about my cab ride with a guy from India over fall break. Hometown pride is why, even though we all love Middlebury, we go home for short breaks during the year and always feel reluctant to come back. And all of this proves why Hillary Clinton, who is from Illinois and grew up in Chicago rooting for the Cubbies, cannot possibly claim to be a Yankees fan!Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton Mass.
(11/01/07 12:00am)
Author: Tess Russell Theodore May '08 is a man with a plan. He is doing his part to correct what he sees as a drastic flaw in Middlebury's policy - namely, our escalating efforts to decrease the College's carbon footprint."Who wants to attend a school with such tiny feet?" May, a History major and Manhattan, N.Y. native, joked during our recent interview at The Grille. (And by "interview at The Grille," I clearly mean "Trivia Night" at Two Brothers.) If you are interested in joining the initiative to "consume more," there are some simple steps you can take. May pointed out that one easy way to get involved is to leave that "mystery switch" in your room on at all times. Hey, you never know - you could be igniting the main energy source of a small country somewhere. I have known the "Theologian," as he has been dubbed by his suitemate Rowan Morris '08, since our prep school days, when we used to practice our shotgunning technique on Vanilla Cokes (sad but true) while he forced me to watch hours of C-SPAN against my will. Actually, I am pretty sure I owe every bit of my limited political knowledge to him, and trust me, I know things - there is a woman running for President!All kidding aside, when May puts his mind to something, he is pretty much impossible to deter. That dedication, coupled with his natural mischievous streak, served him well last spring when he worked as a journalist in war-ravaged Lebanon. He and his fellow reporters would rent cars in Beirut and journey to the country's rural areas, encountering bombed-out bridges, rogue cows and mounting anti-American sentiment as they traveled south. May recounted the story of one such mission to a Shi'a village in the region. When he and a Lebanese colleague attempted to ask the employee of a local drugstore a question about condom sales, they were literally run out of the shop as the man screamed "Shoo! Shoo!" at the top of his lungs. (Shoo translates to loosely to our "what," though the English meaning seems equally appropriate in this case.) The pharmacist later explained that he had not wanted to offend the women and children in the store, and put May through an exhaustive background check, only to ultimately reiterate his original position that he knew "nothing" about the administration of contraceptives.Similarly challenging, but perhaps more illuminating, was an interview he conducted in one of the most conservative nations in the Middle East, with a "progressive" Yemeni≠ - so labeled because he had dared to request a face-to face meeting (chaperoned, of course) with his fiancÈe before their wedding. The man explained that foot fetishes are absolutely rampant in his homeland, because while virtually all of his countrywomen cover their bodies and faces completely, they do leave one small section of skin exposed by sporting sandals on a regular basis.In addition to Lebanon and Yemen, May visited Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, where he tested out Dubai's famous indoor skiing facilities. He also spent the fall 2007 semester studying at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he gained notoriety as a rodeo champion, at least where the local amusement park was concerned. "I noticed a crowd of veiled Egyptian woman wildly cheering on their sons, who were lining up to ride a mechanical bull," May said. "But the kids were hanging on for probably 3-4 seconds maximum! I figured it was my duty to uphold the stereotype of the rugged, all-American cowboy."Sure enough, May ended up shattering the previous record, and was even offered a free ride by the operator, who appreciated the large crowd his performance had attracted. May celebrated his victory with a "triumphant roar of strength," which he claimed was a big hit with the Egyptian mothers. (By the way, he did the whole thing wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word "khuwaga," Arabic for "foreigner.")Still, the highlight of his year abroad is uncontested - he was able to successfully unite Beirut, his beloved city, and Beirut, his preferred contest of imbibing."My Lebanese buddies were amazed that there was an American drinking game named after their hometown," May said. "I decided I had to make it happen, so we organized a massive celebration after I finally tracked down Ping-Pong balls, plywood and Solo cups (albeit mini ones)."The finishing touches? A rousing rendition of the Lebanese national anthem, team "uniforms" of traditional Lebanese garments and plenty of local beer."Basically, everyone burst out laughing when they saw that the game was played by dropping 'bombs' over the formations of cups," May said. "It was epic."
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Ashley Gamell and Maddie Oatman "English literature lives on translation, it is fed by translations, every new exuberance, every new heave is stimulated by translations"- Ezra PoundArt is a powerful universal language, especially when it evokes emotion that can be recognized by those in all walks of life. But visual art has a clear advantage over creative writing - it doesn't require translation the same way language does. And though it benefits from some visual techniques, such as in poetry, the written word demands linguistic comprehension for it to attain its artistic relevance. Enter "Words Without Borders," an online magazine dedicated to the translation of poetry and other genres from various languages into English. As the Web site announces, "In an increasingly interdependent world, rife with ignorance and incomprehension of other cultures, literature in translation has an especially important role." Especially at a school as language-focused as Middlebury, "Words Without Borders" is an inspiring resource for anyone interested in the intersection between foreign language and creative writing. An interesting fact garnered from the website shows that while 50 percent of today's translated books are translated from English, only six percent are translated into English. Even if the English world has produced a myriad of talented writers, it can hardly hope to account for this discrepancy when English isn't even the most popular spoken or read language in the world (that would be Mandarin Chinese). "Words Without Borders" hopes to introduce some of the most exciting international writers to the English world, and it also allows bilingual writers to try their hand at the art of translation. The Web site allows you to search by language, country, genre, topic or region, and also displays a central feature article or region every month. The organization also occasionally produces anthologies, such as Literature from the Axis of Evil, featuring writers from Iran, Iraq, North Korea and other "enemy nations."The lack of translators who also appreciate literature as an art form has certainly been a concern for organizations such as this one. Luckily, Middlebury often produces well-versed linguists who have a passion for literature. For his senior thesis, Tyler Cotton '08 has decided to translate the 9th Century Chinese poet and essayist Yuan Zhen. Cotton focuses on the poet's "yanshi," or "poems of seductive allure," which supposedly contain parallels to the poet's own love life. His biggest obstacle so far, he says, is the time it takes to prepare to even begin translating the poems. He not only has to translate from the complicated Chinese characters into English, he also must deal with an ancient version of Chinese that contains alternative characters and obsolete expressions.One of Cotton's main interests is in the balance between trying to stay true to the material and wielding some artistic license. "One of the big tensions I'm dealing with is what is referred to as 'barbarizing' and 'naturalizing' - whether my translation comes off as exotic to the English-speaking reader or is naturalized into more 'comfortable' rhythms of English," explains Cotton. For those who think translation might be simple, perhaps an example will dispel this assumption. Before he could begin to arrange it for the English-speaker's ear, one of Cotton's initial translations of Zhen's poetry read "no follow/catch up (sound-sound) my-/him/her-/itself follow charming/tender/delicate." Try converting that mayhem into meaningful poetry!Cotton points to a Middlebury alumnus' own online journal of translation, Cipherjournal.com, as a great resource for those trying their hand at the tricky process. And though he alludes to the reality that translation can be a frustrating, sticky, and time-consuming ordeal, Cotton still seems to enjoy the process. "I really feel poetry is the most intimate form of expression, and when we can experience another culture's poetry, we can bridge the divisions to find our common humanity." In an increasingly globalizing world, maybe we need more organizations like "Words Without Borders" and individuals like Cotton who will willingly dedicate their intellectual power to the perpetuation of the written art form, no matter what linguistic obstacle might stand in the way. The "Words Without Borders" Web site can be found at www.wordswithoutborders.org.
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts In addition to the heightened consumption of alcohol, there are other elements that make the daily schedule of an average college student radically different from that of anyone not in college. It's undeniable - we don't live like normal people.Now, perhaps some of you go to class in the morning and then go straight to the library. By the time you eat dinner, you have completed your homework and you relax for a bit, then ease into bed by 10 or 11. What are you, 40?Here's how the rest of us spend a day - Get out of class around 2 or 3. Return to dorm room and waste time (popular choices include hallway wiffle ball, DVDs, napping). Suddenly, it is time for dinner.Then, soon enough, it is midnight and thanks to various "exciting" distractions (iChat, baby) you have killed three hours since dinner doing absolutely nothing. The worst part is that you were so busy thinking about doing work that you have become extremely hungry.It is 11 p.m. and your only option is The Grille, creator of some holes (in your wallet), filler of other holes (your arteries). Thanks a lot, Doctor Feel Good-now-but-sick-later! The problem is that the dining hall schedule is unrealistic. I eat dinner at 7 and then I go start my work, and by 11 or midnight, I am hungry enough for another meal. How do I know I am not the only one who experiences this aching late-night starvation? I know because every guy on my hall emerges from his room at the same time each night like clockwork. We go eat sandwiches, quesadillas and burgers. Whatever you order, it does not matter - rest assured that you will not be getting something healthy, and you will be spending green. Could you even imagine having gone out to eat every single night of the week back in high school? You would have thought the idea was absurd. Yet you probably did not have a restaurant a mere 30 steps from your bedroom. Why can't one dining hall re-open at night, just for an hour, for those of us who are awake and hungry? I know the campus would rejoice if this were to happen. When I have proposed this in the past, people claim that the school does not have the money to pay dining hall employees to come back late at night, and they laugh like it's a ridiculous idea anyway. C'mon, no money? How did we find the cash to buy those old, used tires? That had to be pretty expensive. And so worth it!But fine, let's just say we buy that "no money" line. Well, how about Dolci or the Gamut Room? These are student-run eateries. There are student employees already in the dining halls. It may not be a stretch to think that a few of them, if paid, would work a one-hour "snack time" shift. Right?Just imagine - it's midnight, you've reached an impasse in your paper and sitting at your desk zoning out isn't helping the creative juices flow. So hey, you head over to Proctor and have a little steak, maybe some soufflÈ, perhaps even a couple sushi rolls. Then you return to Gifford rejuvenated and ready to analyze that Dick named Moby once and for all!I'm kidding. That would be outrageous. But if you forget the sushi and cake, this idea is pretty logical. Just get a couple of kids to show up at Proctor every night around 10 - don't even open up the kitchen area - and put out some fruit, cereal, bagels and ice cream. This could be the greatest Middlebury innovation since the murder of the Midd Montreal Maple Leaf logo.Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] On Monday Oct. 15, Bill Littlefield, the host of National Public Radio's "Only a Game" came to Middlebury as part of the College's "Meet the Press" series. He read excerpts from his most recent book Only a Game, answered questions on Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez and the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports and signed copies of his book at the conclusion of the event. The talk was sponsored in part by the English Department, Atwater Commons and the Athletic Department.
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Sara Black Associate Professor of English Kathleen Skubikowski's voice called out from the podium, climbing through the clouds of hope and anticipation that filled the air above the anxious crowd, "Every year faculty watch for outstanding writing by first-year students in every course they teach..." Oct. 12 marked the presentation of the 29th annual Paul Ward '25 Memorial Prize for outstanding writers from the Class of 2010. All first-year work, either from seminars or other classes, is eligible for submission. From a field of 44 nominees, the largest in the prize's history, Emma Cline's '10 short story "What is Lost" took top honors, followed by essays from runner-ups Beth Connolly '10 and Halley Ostergard '10."Her story was amazing," Connolly said. "I was totally knocked out. It was so powerful."The Ward Prize was not the first accolade Cline has received for her prolific prose. Her stories have been published in Tin House, a Portland-based literary magazine, and Cline's professor, David Bain, has said that she is on the "fast-track" to becoming a writer. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Cline took a year off before coming to college. During her hiatus she worked on a farm as a freelance reporter and took lessons to obtain her pilot's license. Cline's talents provide her with infinite possibilities, within and outside the realm of traditional schooling."I'm taking time off next semester and don't know if I'll return to college at all," Cline said. "If I were to return to college, I'd be interested in studying architecture, bioregionalism, landscape and narrative and the West." Presently immersed in the prose and poems of such writers as Stephen Millhauser, John McPhee and Leonard Cohen, Cline draws from her own experiences as well as the ideas and experiences of others. In addition to working on a piece with professor Don Mitchell, lecturer in the English Department and Program in Film and Media Culture, about her travels this past summer, Cline is also training to be a writing tutor."I'm just now getting into the possibilities of creative nonfiction," Cline said. "I went to Burning Man this summer and am working on an essay about that."Nominations for the Ward Prize come from all departments throughout the school year and are then deliberated over in the summer months, before a decision is finally reached in September. This year's selection committee was comprised of Professor of Political Science Alison Stanger, Assistant Professor of Biology Catherine Combelles and Lecturer and Tutor in Writing Barbara Ganley. "It's fun reading 35-45 A papers one after another," Skubikowski said. "You learn so much, and they are all so engaging. But you do, sometimes, find yourself trying to compare fabulous apples with fabulous oranges, and that can be work."The Prize was first ensconced in Middlebury tradition in 1978 when Ward's widow, Dorothy Cate Ward '28, offered the idea and funding for the prize as a way to commemorate Ward's life. A renowned journalist and diplomatic reporter, Ward was honored by the French Legion and even received a Pulitzer Prize for his series on postwar Russia.Visiting Assistant Professor of English and American Literature James Berg, a member of last year's selection committee, outlined the qualities found in a standout paper. "The writing that stands out in terms of argument and content usually has great stylistic potential as well," Berg said. "I think Cicero said that the virtue of eloquence can only emerge in one who has taken possession of the subject matter." When Skubikowski took over direction of the Writing Program in 1989, the prize was a paltry affair, largely confined to the English Department. The winning student, who received two checks for $100 each, usually had little or no idea that he or she had been nominated. Unsatisfied with the state of events, Skubikowski took it upon herself to make some changes."I decided we needed to make the whole process more visible and have it reflect the commitment Middlebury has made to teaching writing across the whole curriculum," Skubikowski said.After securing a larger donation from the Ward/Meehan family, Skubikowski was able to hold a more fitting ceremony with substantial prizes. By moving the event to Fall Family Weekend, the families and friends of the nominees are now able to attend the occasion. "It's a surprising honor, because coming in as a freshman you have no idea about this [prize]," Sarah Bray '08, a past winner, said. "I had to look on the website to figure out what it was."Bray, an international studies major and Virginia Woolf fan, cites the Ward Prize as a subconscious turning point in her academic career."It's a prestigious award coming from a school like this with such a strong writing background," Bray said. "I think, for me, it really opened my horizons. I came to Middlebury thinking I wanted to be an art historian and I'm leaving thinking I want to be a writer."Based on the successes of recent years, the Ward Prize seems to be a barometer of success among young writers. For her part, Cline is poised to take her rightful place among the ranks of those past winners, and even Ward himself.
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Scott Greene The 2007-2008 academic year will see more than 350 Middlebury students study abroad in more than 40 countries at more than 90 different programs and universities, including 30 current locations for the C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, which have been in operation for over a half-century. The College reports this much on its Web site, which is loaded with information about the various limbs of excellence which drive its global vision, a vision unveiled on Oct. 6 with the launch of The Middlebury Initiative. The College's Schools Abroad, an integral part of this vision for the future, employ the same strategy that has facilitated success at its Summer Language Schools: complete immersion.But does the concept of complete immersion have the same affects abroad as it does here in the summer? "It is clear that students going abroad do not necessarily make gains as significant as those made by students in the Middlebury immersion program," wrote Benjamin Rifkin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a 2005 study of Russian language acquisition, specifically referring to Middlebury's Summer Language Schools.The College's Schools Abroad also require students to abide by the same language pledge as its summer programs, which requires that they speak only the target language while enrolled in the program. Still, members of the College recognize the limits of enforcing the pledge in an abroad setting."We can't expect [students] to observe the language pledge at all times in the way that we expect them to do here," said Michael Geisler, vice president for Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Graduate Programs, "because here on campus we can create a somewhat simulated environment where you really don't need to use English." It is not uncommon for Middlebury students who study a foreign language to first attend one of the College's summer language schools before going abroad. Many students claim that the abroad experience to them is more about learning the culture and expanding their personal horizon, while at summer school the most important thing is language learning. Geisler conceded that students likely do not follow the pledge as strictly while abroad, but that the College's standards remain unchanged."There are certain pockets because we can't control the environment the way we do here," said Geisler. "That's why we call it a modified language pledge when we explain it to the students. That being said, they are expected to abide by the language pledge and we do take it seriously and we do go after them when they don't observe the language pledge abroad. But no, we don't follow the students around to see that they're following the language pledge at a disco at 11 o'clock at night."Administrators in the College's abroad programs reflect similar stances."Students do break the Pledge, but they are very skilled at keeping all Pledge-breaking under the radar of staff and teachers," said Jeremy Friedlein, resident director of the C.V Starr - Middlebury School in Hangzhou, China. Still, Dean of Schools abroad Jeffrey Cason said that students by and large adhere to the pledge."One of the interesting things that I have found when I traveled abroad to our sites is that students from other institutions who come on Middlebury programs (about 35 percent of all students) tell me that one of the most important reasons they come on Middlebury programs is the language pledge," he said. "They know that Middlebury takes the language pledge seriously, which is why they choose to come on our programs."In his article, Rifken noted that the pledge and immersion are important components to a successful abroad experience, but that the abroad environment itself is often not conducive to a perfect adherence to the pledge."Cultural differences (dormitory or home stay, dining, health and fitness, etc.) require cognitive processing during study abroad, reflection that often must be carried out in the native language than in the target language," he wrote. Furthermore, he claimed that "the study abroad program requires students to interact with a broader range of native speakers, not all of whom are sympathetic to the learning process."Many students echo Rifken's findings, adding that just a short time of speaking in their native tongue helps them maintain their sanity in an otherwise unfamiliar setting."Were I able to make a change in the language pledge, I would give students a day off once a week, or allow discussion groups to be formed, really anything that would allow our brains to once again function at anything close to 100 percent," said David Wrangham '08, currently studying abroad in Kyoto, Japan. Wrangham attended the College's summer Japanese School this year, and his current program does not require students to sign a pledge. He spoke of the advantages to not having a pledge while abroad. "What is nice about the program now, is that we can help each other in English when we find ourselves stuck, or have the nuances of a grammar point explained fully instead of just having a tenuous grip on it," he said. "But we still speak in Japanese whenever there are Japanese kids around.Ultimately, according to Friedlein, the pledge will only survive as long as the students want it to survive. "There is a common misconception that just the right set of rules and just the right balance of reward and punishment can usher in a Pledge that holds for an entire semester," he said. "This is simply not the case. If a group comes and they are not prepared for and excited about the Pledge, there is nothing we can do to make the Pledge happen."
(10/18/07 12:00am)
Author: Matt Doyle HANGZHOU, P.R.C - In Leonardo DiCaprio's latest movie, "Blood Diamond," Leo's character, Danny Archer, explains the insanity that is the African diamond trade by simply stating, "T.I.A. This is Africa." Here in Hangzhou, China, a few of my classmates have adopted this saying and applied it to their experiences here in China. Friends and family call us, e-mail and Skype, asking questions such as, but not limited to, "How is it?", "What have you done?", "Any cool stories?" and so on and so forth. The best answer, honestly speaking, is simply, "T.I.C. This is China." Frankly, how am I supposed to accurately explain the feeling of being chased through Shanghai's largest knock-off clothing market? Sales people and beggars alike were chasing after us, while Mike West egged on our pursuers, screaming, "Can someone sell me a DVD? Who has a watch they'd like to sell to me?" Or the pure joy that one receives from not only attending the 2007 Women's World Cup here in Hangzhou, seeing the U.S.A. play (losing unfortunately 4-0 to an otherworldly Brazilian team) and then stopping traffic at a major intersection by singing the "Star Spangled Banner," with 10 of my classmates to the cheers of hundreds of Chinese pedestrians, drivers and police officers. How do you categorize that experience? There are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe that story, so honestly, why bother? The semester is almost halfway over for us. Although some of us will not return to Middlebury until February, our time here seems to be running short. I'm sure that the leaves have started to change in Vermont and that nice brisk feeling of fall has settled into New England. I can speak for many of my classmates when I say that we miss Middlebury and you all very much, but we have much more to do here before we meet back up with our fellow "Midd-kids" in the spring. As you're reading this we're probably sitting for one of our midterm exams that hit us with full force this week. However, afterwards we have a well-deserved week off. During this time most of us plan to travel either alone or in small groups around China. Yet, I'm going to take a different path and head up north to Mongolia via Beijing with Will Clary, Zach Woods and Brendan Campbell. The entirety of the trip will be by train, a total of 42 hours each way. Yet, if past experiences are at all indicative, that might be the most interesting part of the trip. My traveling cohorts and I have already tracked down a shooting range in Beijing, where you can pay to shoot a tank, stayed at a Yurt hotel (picture those roomy tents from Harry Potter) out on the Mongolian steppe and have bought tickets for sleeper cars on said trains (read "Euro Trip"). What is the point of trying to guess what is going to happen on this trip let alone the rest of my time here in Hangzhou? All that needs to be said is, "T.I.C. This is China."
(10/10/07 12:00am)
Author: Grace Duggan Here are four creative young directors who have taken it upon themselves to realize their artistic conceptions in three up coming all student productions. After last year's non-departmental theater successes, this year bodes well on the student front. The three plays range from comedy to drama to musical, taking full advantage of Middlebury student acting, production and technical talent. The Campus talks to the directors about the ups and downs of putting on a show.Production: "The Zoo Story"Dates: Nov. 8-10, Hepburn ZooDirector: Dawn Loveland '09Major: Theatre, Music and Philosophy minors E-mail oloyo@middlebury.edu for tickets The Middlebury Campus: Can you describe "The Zoo Story?" Dawn Loveland: "The Zoo Story" takes place in Central Park in New York City. Originally, it was between two guys, but we are doing it with two girls. They have opposing personalities and [the play] is about an hour-long conversation between the two. The set and costumes are minimal - it is really about letting the actors shine. TC: Why did you choose "The Zoo Story?"DL: For me, this is a great introduction to directing at the college level, as well as something I am really interested in doing and practicing for myself. It's a very well-written play, and it definitely goes on a journey that I find mesmerizing and fascinating. TC: What has been the most difficult thing about directing so far?DL: One thing is the fact that the play is not about the blocking or the movement, which is something I am more used to, having done some choreography. It is really about getting the actors to be believable - to connect with each other. For me, that has been the hardest to direct. You want to give the actors enough to go by, but not too much that you are telling them what to do. It is important to find that balance. TC: Why did you choose to change the cast to women?DL: First of all, I feel like there are so many talented female actors on campus and that it is harder to find a really well-written female part. When I saw this play, I thought it would be a really good opportunity for female actors on campus. I wanted to explore how a modern-day woman would understand the world and how they would interact with another female using a text that may have originally suggested masculinity, as well as how changing gender roles in our society have made people see the world in a different way.Production: "A Certified Organic Musical"Date: Oct. 11-13, Hepburn ZooDirectors: Adam Levine '09.5 and Mallory Falk '09Major: English E-mail mfalk@middlebury.edu for tickets The Middlebury Campus: What's the premise of "Certified Organic Musical?"Mallory Falk: It is set at a small liberal arts college, very much like Middlebury. A guy and a girl meet at a panini machine. It turns out the girl is from the environmental house and the guy isn't much of an environmentalist. He starts developing this relationship with her and starts to take on the environmental perspective. It is about where the relationship and the school go from there.Adam Levine: We wanted to incorporate something involving the environmental issue on the college campus. Mallory and I are not environmentalists by any means, but because of all of the tensions that have been occurring on campus and the movement towards a more environmental campus, we knew we wanted to do something involving it. TC: What has been the most rewarding thing so far?AL: For me, it has just been seeing our work coming into form, literally seeing the music that I wrote being played, seeing Mall's lyrics being sung and seeing our dialogue being said.MF: I agree, especially since our process involved doing things a bit separately - Adam wrote the music, sent it to me and I did the lyrics. It has been amazing to see how it can go from sitting by yourself writing something to all these people involved into turning it into something real. TC: How has it been directing something you wrote yourselves?MF: We didn't start this show with the goal of direction. We were focused on creating the show, but we decided we wanted to take a hands-on approach with it. AL: We have no experience directing and, as a result, we've been relying heavily on the cast to make this a collaborative effort. Because of that, we have been able to bring together a piece of work. You don't really know how hard it is to direct until you do it yourself.Production: "The Country Club"Date: Nov. 15-17, Hepburn ZooDirector: Starret Berry '09Major: Theatre and EnglishE-mail aguerror@middlebury.edu for tickets The Middlebury Campus: What play are you directing? Starret Berry: I'm directing "The Country Club" by Douglas Carter Beane. It's a satire on WASP-y New English culture. On the surface, it mainly mocks the amoral nature of relationships and how everything taboo is never addressed. There is a lot of circuity in the play's language. Ultimately, the message of the play is the emptiness of the "American dream." Beane attacks that whole idea by taking people who have everything and exposing them as having absolutely nothing.TC: Why did you choose "The Country Club"? SB: I originally was not planning on doing "The Country Club." I wound up talking to some people and they recommended this show. I read it over, liked it, and saw that it was a good fit for beginning actors and a beginning director. TC: What has been the most difficult thing so far?SB: The whole process has been unbelievably difficult. Originally it was a lack of people coming to the first audition. Then it was a lack of one character that I couldn't find anyone to play, then it was a lack of a set designer and then finally the budget for the show. As of right now, I am producing the show as well, until I find an alternate source of funding. TC: Are you enjoying the experience?SB: I think it has given me a bigger apreciation for what all the faculty do in the Theatre Department because having a show on my shoulders all of a sudden means my life revolves around this show. You find that you start putting a lot more into the show than you expect when you start. What is great about a student show is that everyone is working together. The show doesn't just become my show. It becomes our show.
(10/10/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts Last Friday night I was at the Grille, about to enjoy the Chicken Club that somehow, when I have been drinking, tastes like food cooked by Emeril himself. I have no doubt that you all know exactly what I mean about the bliss of Grille food at 1 am on a weekend.Anyway, a girl I know was getting hit on by a guy I kind of know. The girl could barely stand up, and she was even subtly raising her hand to her mouth, about to boot. Not a pretty sight. Meanwhile, the guy was sober, and seemed to be convinced he was engaging her in a riveting conversation. When he turned his back for a moment, I went to say hi, and the tequila breath emanating from her mouth was so thick I felt like I had downed a couple of shots myself. This girl was on another planet, and the best I could do was hope she didn't walk out of there with "The Todd" from Scrubs, who was creeping by the condiment station waiting for her.I realized the next day that this girl (who is a perfectly nice, pleasant person) represents the behavior of most students when they drink. The "drinking style" of college kids involves taking multiple shots until the desired level of obliteration is reached, or chugging multiple beers until the walls start melting and the floor is wobbling. Whatever game or funnel you use, "cheap beer" is the key, and the drinking is more like a race. I saw this contrasted Sunday when I was driving back from Burlington with some friends, and we noticed the Magic Hat sign on Rte 7. None of us had ever been to the brewery or even knew it was there, so we spontaneously decided to stop. From the moment we parked, an aura of joy was felt. Vermonters were lifting empty growlers out of their trunks for refilling, and drinkers old and young were excitedly waiting at the bar for samples. It was a dim, dank, magical atrium of beer. We even caught up with a tour, and noted the sparkle in the eyes of everyone present as we saw the hops being churned and the beer being bottled. It was pretty interesting to see people excited about beer, savoring the flavor. Sure, perhaps seniors reading this are thinking, "What an idiot. I do that all the time." Welp, good for you, Mister High-and-Mighty. Good luck getting a job with that condescending attitude!Seriously though, the brewery reminded me that in most cases, you don't often hear about a group of college kids casually enjoying "nice" beers, like the new Magic Hat "Night of the Living Dead" ale (yes, I'm being paid for that plug). Instead, you run into friends at Hannaford buying thirty-racks of Busch Light, ready to kill a whole case in an hour. Where is the leisurely enjoyment? It is totally cool to chug some watered-down, cheap beers and get hammered with the boys, then go out and do some hammering of your own. Still, I think it might be a refreshing break to spend one Saturday evening sipping a fancier beer, musing on life. I know, who has the time, when there are better things available, like beirut? Trust me, I know. And yet, the time can be found. You just have to desire that moment of clarity brought on by slowly draining a nice, delicious six-pack of something great. And hey, I bet if that girl at the Grille had been sipping on some Magic Hat for a few hours, instead of slaughtering a bottle of Cuervo with her friends, maybe she would have had an easier time standing up.Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.
(10/10/07 12:00am)
Author: Derek Schlickeisen Students who stopped by Saturday's Orange Crush concert in Kenyon Arena may have noticed ways in which the event differed from their usual weekend fare: uniformed catering staff served hot food to guests who at times found themselves mingling in the decked-out gymnasium with administrators, donors and members of the Board of Trustees. The revelers were in fact catching the tail end of an evening-long launch extravaganza for the College's five-year, $500 million fundraising effort, the "Middlebury Initiative." The day's festivities - following the theme of a "journey," complete with novelty passports for guests - included presentations on student life by organizations like the Sunday Night Group and the Riddim dance company, as well as a formal dinner at which speakers previewed where the school hopes its journey will end."We are on our way to becoming the first truly global liberal arts college," wrote President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz in the event passport. "Our new strategic plan is our road map, and the Middlebury Initiative is the vehicle that will take us there."The $500 million campaign represents not only a record-breaking fundraising commitment, but an attempt to re-brand the College and its many affiliated schools as a unified global entity. The effort comes at a time when Middlebury's rise in nationwide college rankings places the school in a bracket with institutions whose endowments more than double its own on a per-student basis."The Middlebury Initiative is about a communications and fundraising plan to help us reach the goals of the Strategic Plan," said Mike Schoenfeld, vice president for College Advancement. "There are many things in the strategic plan that do not require gift support, and those are part of the Middlebury Initiative as well. But our top priorities will absolutely require philanthropic support."Of the $500 million to be raised, $180 million will increase the endowment to support the gradual replacement of student loans with direct grants. Another $150 million will provide support for the salaries of 25 new faculty to keep down average class sizes and allow for more student-faculty research opportunities. The Strategic Plan identified the two goals as the most important for the College.The remaining $170 million will finance building and renovation on campus and provide for an "institutional flex fund" to pay for speakers, seminars and other unforeseen expenses.While the journey towards the $500 million mark may seem like a daunting one, the atmosphere at Saturday's kick-off dinner was not one of setting out, but rather of arrival. And the president and trustees did have something to celebrate - after three years of planning, the campaign has already secured 47 perecent of its goal at $234 million. Schoenfeld explained that major capital campaigns tend to hope for around 40 percent of their total by the time they are officially launched."The reason we had this event here at Middlebury is that it was really an insiders' celebration of how far we have already come," he said. "This was a family-style launch of the Initiative for those who have gotten us to this point in our planning, and in the incredible amount of money we have been able to raise so far."Rather than simply celebrating their fundraising work, however, those present for Saturday's festivities were also looking to mark what they hope will be the College's arrival at a new, higher level for a liberal arts institution. In her opening speech for the launch dinner, Class of 2007 salutatorian Astri von Arbin Ahlander '07 noted the "exceptional" nature of the College's many educational opportunities, and Liebowitz wrote in his passport remarks that Middlebury will "define the future for liberal arts colleges in an increasingly interconnected world."Yet together with the success so far in achieving the Initiative's financial goals have come signs that the re-branding portion of the campaign may prove more challenging. Despite the College's rising academic reputation and the strength of its affiliated schools, Liebowitz said in an e-mail that he believes the complete nature of what Middlebury has to offer is "not fully understood.""Despite about 150 Middlebury undergraduates going to the Language Schools each summer, how many students and faculty know that they award 175 M.A. degrees a year?" he asked. "Or that they are the most well-known part of the College around the world? How many know that the Bread Loaf School of English is the largest graduate English literature program in the country?"Linking the many respected institutions that comprise the greater Middlebury - from the C.V. Starr Schools Abroad to the Bread Loaf School to the Monterey Institute for International Studies - will, as Liebowitz acknowledged, require more work.Students at the College took issue with a part of that linking effort earlier this year when they snubbed an attempt to make the "Middlebury leaf" logo and its "Liberal Arts, Global Action" motto the official representation of the College. According to Vice President for Communications Michael McKenna, the logo in a single image attempted to represent Middlebury's "roots in Vermont and our strength in environmental affairs" and to symbolically point outwards "toward the four points of the compass, symbolizing [Middlebury's] aspirations to be the global liberal arts college for the 21st century."It never got the chance, however - at least not on the scale the College had hoped for when it announced the new image. After a Facebook protest and numerous e-mail complaints, the logo was applied only to materials printed for the Middlebury Initiative itself."The theme of 'Liberal Arts, Global Action' began to tell the story of the great ripple effect Middlebury creates in the world," McKenna explained at the time. "No logo ever defines an institution. It is up to what the institution is and does that gives meaning to the logo. The place defines what the graphic means, not the other way around. I think over time the Middlebury Leaf, always linked with the word Middlebury, would have become a symbol that people would have actually liked."Time will likely make clear whether the Initiative will represent merely a significant fundraising campaign or something more meaningful in terms of defining the school's place in the world. For now, however, the most measurable indicator of success will be the rate at which the College moves towards accomplishing the financial goals that will support the programs upon which its reputation is based. Schoenfeld spoke plainly of the need to hit the $500 million mark within the five-year timetable."The fundraising component of the Middlebury Initiative is a clear five-year goal, so we absolutely hope to have it raised by June 30, 2012," he said.
(10/04/07 12:00am)
Author: Ashley Gamell and Maddie Oatman Best of Bread Loaf:Part II Robert Cohen's New Novel Reviewed by Ashley GamellRobert Cohen is that gangly, profusely-bearded English professor who swoops impressively around the fringes of campus, looking like a bird of prey conspicuously native to New York City. He has published three novels and a book of short stories, and has received several awards, including a Pushcart Prize. The last novel he published, the best-selling and highly-praised "Inspired Sleep," was described as an "all-consuming" consolation of the human condition by The New York Times.On the last evening of this summer's Writer's Conference, Cohen ducked onto the stage of the Little Theatre and wrapped his long, knobby hands around the podium. With a smirk, he expressed his relief that Michael Collier would be closing the final reading and announced that he would leave the deep stuff to Collier. Over the next half-hour, as Cohen read from his forthcoming novel, the audience howled and cackled like a pack of adolescents. However, just as often, the theatre rang with the prized communal sigh that comes after a perfectly devastating phrase. Cohen's nearly-finished book, whose title is in the works, will be a triumphant manifestation of his career-long doctrine that, in fact, "the highest form of seriousness is humor." Cohen's newest protagonist is a variation on his archetypal hero, a fumbling victim of the existential universe with whom we empathize only too much. This endearing champion attempts to consummate a failed relationship, wades through the deafening thralls of solitude and performs a series of comical and painfully familiar mistakes.The novel is the fruit of five long years of fastidious craftsmanship. Cohen reflects that he has never written "so intuitively, so slowly and graspingly before." Showing his usual panache for metaphor, he explained, "As I get older I find I can't let certain sentences out of the house without their mittens and their gloves and galoshes." Indeed, Cohen is the master of detail. At Bread Loaf, he lectured on the minutiae of character-naming and tackled the art of sentence construction with the precision of a neurosurgeon. His 2002 book of stories, "The Varieties of Romantic Experience," was perhaps too much the product of this carefulness - Cohen can wrap up a story's themes and images as neatly as a Christmas present from Bloomingdale's. The Newness feels more jagged around the edges. It will be a phenomenally hilarious and brutal read."Babylon" by Alix OhlinReviewed by Maddie OatmanAlix Ohlin, blonde and bright eyed, stood out at Bread Loaf this year. Luckily, Ohlin boasts the brains to back her petite good looks. Her latest collection of short stories, entitled "Babylon," explores quirky characters in slices of a world that seems to be moving beyond the edge of her stories. Her unpretentious style leads us straight to convincing portrayals of flawed individuals that are immediately compelling. Their small triumphs and moments of compassion allow Ohlin's characters to endure the grit of growing up.Ironically, Ohlin's elatedly-titled Babylon is often a realm of failure and disappointment. "It was a summer of disasters," begins Aggie in "The King of Kohlrabi." The story dwells on a teenager who endures the sting of seeing her father run off with another woman, undergoes the extraction of her wisdom teeth and gets a new job at shady Dejun Enterprises where "everyone ... seemed to be ducking something - clients, spouses or accountants," only to watch her mother become involved with the boss. Throughout this summer of humiliation, though, we have faith in Aggie as she rises above the tactless adults in her life. We are content to see Ohlin's characters lead mundane, sometimes slow-paced lives, and "Babylon" falters only when Ohlin grows impatient and attempts to skip too far ahead into the future. The momentum created by a romantic encounter between a teenage girl and an exchange student from Russia in "Land of the Midnight Sun," for example, fizzles when the narrator jumps ahead in her life and, already married and for some unknown reason in Russia, reminisces about her charged run-in with the exchange student Yuri. Yet, Ohlin dazzles us with simple shocking prose - "his fingers brushing against hers, furtive, barely there, yet electric" that fills the absences created by spotty plot development. While the title suggests an escape to a fantasized realm, "Babylon" turns out to be the name of an ordinary town in Long Island. By grounding us, humoring us and surprising us, Ohlin's characters persuade us to accept an imperfect paradise on Earth.
(10/04/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts Apparently this past week was Yom Kippur, the most significant Jewish holiday of the year. This had completely slipped my mind until I was walking out of the dining hall and Josh Wessler (you may know him as the Reel Critic) saw me munching a bagel and said, "You're not fasting?" Oops.In truth, when I began college, I pretty much forgot about religion. I was never especially religious to begin with, but I did grow up going to temple services on the high holidays and attending Hebrew School twice a week until I was 15. Compared to some people, I suppose I might look religiously active. Hebrew School sounds serious, but it was really more of a social event. I spent every Wednesday night enjoying the most constructive activities Judaism had to offer, such as flirting with cute Jewish girls (there were only a few), eating pizza with cute Jewish girls and annoying all the teachers (one of whom was my older brother) so as to impress the cute Jewish girls.Something about the nature of college truly made me forget about religion entirely. And you know what? I'm not even guilty about that. When I'm not in class, I'm doing homework. If I'm not doing homework, then I must be playing beirut. If I'm not doing any of that, my attention has got to go to a cherished pastime - you know it, we all love it, come on, people - yes, it's sleeping. Where in that busy schedule do you see time to go to Hillel or sit in Mead Chapel?I know it's not just me. For the most part, I see a major lack of religion at Middlebury (and, I would bet, at most Northeastern liberal arts colleges). Out of 20 juniors I asked, only four of them said they have been to religious services more than three times in their years here.Yes, I know, this does not apply to all Midd-kids (God, I hate that term) but I am confident it describes most. Something about college is fundamentally secular. Most college students pray to the god of beer. For athletes, their god is the track, or the pigskin. Still other hard-working intellectuals who focus on schoolwork use their favorite library cubicle as an altar of worship. Let's investigate why this abandoning of religion may be occurring at lovely Middlebury College, where we have such beautiful false idols as the Hillcrest trash monster, a clear symbol of divine duality when compared to the more Satanic "Smog" demon at McCardell Bicentennial Hall.Personally, I think my own lack of interest in practicing Judaism at Midd is because religion was a family affair for me. I associate temple with my older brother, sister and my parents, and I have "fond" memories of sitting through services with my mom on my right (nursing a purse full of cinnamon candies) and my brother on my left (constantly teasing me or ignoring my side comments). Without them here, I have very little motivation to throw on a suit jacket and head over to the chapel.For others, it may just be a lack of time or energy. At the end of a class day, I think wiffle ball, TV, a DVD or napping are all more appealing choices than praying. Attending the South Asian Club event at Palana is what inspired me to tackle religion this week. There were delicious samosas and exotic sauces, but many people there were happily telling me about how they were fasting from sunrise to sundown every day for a month. I was impressed, and suddenly wondered if I should get back into religion. But will that happen? Nope. I'm pretty happy staying a godless heathen like most of the students here. At least until I graduate. So, what do you think? Are we going to hell?Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.
(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Mike Tierney LONDON - The only time that I had ever left the United States was for a brief stopover at the Canadian border to use the bathroom. As you can probably imagine then, leaving Boston, where four generations of my family have lived and died, would provide me with more than just a cultural awakening. Don't get me wrong - my parents have traveled (my Dad even met the Pope), but their days of jet setting became something of a distant memory when two baby boys came into their lives. Growing up, my global education came more from the pages of National Geographic and social studies class than from actually wandering the far-off sands of Araby. However, when the opportunity arose for me to study abroad, I happily jumped at the chance.As a double major in Theatre and English, I'm afraid I'm one of the few Midd-kids who does not spend all day at language tables. As such, my travel choices were quite limited. I certainly wouldn't be bartering with the local merchants in Marrakesh anytime soon. But one day when I was walking back from class, a friend of mine suggested that I might benefit from a theatrical conservatory program after college. Remembering that I still hadn't decided where or how I would spend my next fall semester, I returned to my dorm and consulted the all-knowing Google, which, with its all-knowing ways, divined a place in the U.K. called the British American Drama Academy, where students work with leading members of the London stage to hone their craft for a semester. From that moment, I was pretty much sold.I suppose I wouldn't be writing this now if I hadn't been accepted to the program, but after many takes with my Dad's old movie camera, crossing my fingers and a bit of Irish luck, I mailed off an audition tape and am currently sitting here in a London flat just south of Regent's Park. I live in a section known to the locals as 'Little Arabia.' (I know what you're thinking. At least here, I can barter in English.) Well, there probably won't be too much of that going on. My great sense of savoir faire has already managed to get me scammed out of five pounds by some of the local fruit vendors. And with that little experience under my belt, and at an exchange rate of more than two to one, I can assure you that I have at least learned well the value of a dollar. Yet, despite the high cost and sometimes shifty people, I love London.In just the two weeks I have been here, I've worked with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, watched "The Merchant of Venice" come to life in the Globe Theatre, seen more West End musicals than I've seen on Broadway and still managed to play the part of a tourist rather convincingly over the past few weekends. Tonight, I'm going to a production of Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan" at the Royal National Theatre to see one of my professors in one of the leading roles. I guess you could say that when it comes right down to it, if you're going to go someplace, get there and don't stop going.
(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Molly Dwyer Walking up the hill towards Mead Chapel, trekking to distant student parking lots and dashing between classes are but minor inconveniences for the majority of Middlebury students. However, for some members of the College community, these inconveniences are magnified by physical disabilities.Though Middlebury has taken significant steps towards increasing handicap accessibility, the campus still remains and obstacle to some. Ellie Moore '10.5, suffered a significant leg injury this summer when a boulder landed on her knee while hiking. And while Moore half expected her daily life to be somewhat compromised by her injury, she never imagined that her injury would affect her academic life here at Middlebury. Upon arriving on campus this fall, Moore, still on crutches, was forced to reevaluate her course schedule. Due to the lack of elevators in Munroe, she had no choice but to switch out of her 19th Century English class, which happens to meet on the fourth floor. Because most English classes are held on the upper floors of Munroe, Moore struggled to find an alternative English class to satisfy her major. She finally settled on Literary Theory. However, while lectures were held in an accessible building, discussions were not, and as a result Moore was unable to attend the weekly discussion section. As a compromise Moore's professor asked her to write weekly responses en lieu of class. "It's kind of a bummer that there's 'no space' for one class to change the location of the discussion," Moore said.Despite some of the challenges Moore and others still face, in the past few decades Middlebury has made an increased effort to accommodate the various needs of disabled students. The push for these efforts comes largely from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.The Middlebury College nondiscrimination statement says, "Section 504, where applicable, generally prohibits discrimination against qualified handicapped individuals, in educational programs and employment, on the basis of handicap."American Disabilities Act Coordinator Jodi Litchfield strives to meet the needs of disabled Middlebury students in accordance with the College's nondiscrimination statement. When asked what recent steps the College has taken to become more handicapped accessible Litchfield replied, "The most recent examples that come to mind are the accessible entrance to Stewart Hall, the new sloped entrance to Wright Theatre, the amazing changes to Hillcrest and the beautiful stone ramp on Mead Chapel." "Middlebury is constantly taking steps to improve accessibility on campus," Litchfield said. "The new buildings are designed with accessibility in mind, and Facilities Services frequently take steps to improve the accessibility of pre-existing buildings on campus as well." Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah had more to add to the list of improvements. "The card access system incorporates door openers that can be programmed to work with an individual's card or from a push pad when the doors are unlocked for the public. Sidewalks are created so that the grade is appropriate and either join other sidewalks or has a curb cut when it comes to a street. Emergency phones are placed at a universally accessible height for callers and elevators or lifts have been added to buildings during renovations." When questioned regarding the inaccessibility of certain classrooms like the ones Moore came across, Litchfield cited the inability to find a new location on such short notice. Despite the improvements Moore recognizes that there remains a long ways to go before Middlebury will be truly handicap accessible. "Lots of the storm doors are too heavy for me to open on my own and only a few select places on campus (i.e. McCardell Bicentenial Hall) have those automatic, handicap door-opener buttons and some of them are even broken!" said Moore. "The bathrooms are the slipperiest/scariest places for me to navigate but people have been really nice and are trying to find some sort of rubber mat to put on the ground to prevent slipping on the puddles from the showers."Despite her frustrations, Moore has been appreciative of the welcoming and helpful attitude from the Middlebury community, "Midd kids have been awesome about helping me.," said Moore. "[This appears to be] the only way that Middlebury seems equipped for dealing with handicapped students. The general vibe I've been getting from the administration is they are very friendly and eager to help but they just aren't equipped to help handicap students on this campus. At least not yet."
(09/26/07 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Roberts Because I have seen my car towed a record four times in two years, costing me $90 each time, I feel I have a special bond with Public Safety. I have dialed ext. 5911 so frequently in my time here that I even have the number on speed dial.Somehow, no matter where I park, it turns out to be a restricted space. Even on the final night of exams last year, when I parked in the Hepburn circle overnight, they got me. It's a "fire lane," so I was towed on the last night of the year.With cash made from parking violations, the administration could probably purchase a new trash sculpture, even uglier than the current Hillcrest tire monster.When I pulled into a spot at the CFA a few nights ago, I felt confident that for once, there was no way I could earn a fine or be towed. Right? Wrong. The next day, I found a ticket, with a fine. I was shocked. All the cars around me were fellow student vehicles. I called Public Safety and a man calmly told me that, of course (didn't I know?) juniors are not allowed to park at CFA lot. No, sir, I did not know, and I am shocked. "It's clearly written in the parking pamphlet," he scolded. Come on, no one reads that. My friends, also juniors, could not believe this news. As upperclassmen, we had the most convenient lot taken away, rather than gaining additional privileges? I thought older kids are rewarded with more places to park, not less.When I arrived this year, I got my totally rad, silver sticker with the 'S' on it, and pleasantly asked, "Can I park in any cool new places now?" She gave me a friendly grin and said, "Yes, in addition to Kenyon and CFA, you may now park at Ridgeline and Atwater!"This did not excite me so much, since I still live in Hepburn, and CFA is far closer to me than the Mods or Wright Theatre. So, no big deal≠ - I'll just continue to park at CFA. Or so I thought.After stuffing the ticket in my car door's trash bin, I drove to Wright, where every spot was taken. Next, at the Mods, the first five rows were all full, so I parked at the very back. The metaphorical rod had been jammed up my rear end, and my Jeep's rear bumper - we got shafted.This incident came after I had already heard complaints from other kids about how many rows of student spaces have been cut off this year and changed to "Faculty Only" at both CFA and Kenyon. What's the deal?With all due respect to Public Safety, we need more parking, or a change in the system. I would never suggest tarnishing our beautiful campus with another big parking lot, but something's gotta give, and I ain't talking about that Diane Keaton romantic comedy for elderly people.What if we did away with permits based on class year, and instead gave each vehicle owner a sticker based on their dorm? CFA could be only for kids in Stew, Hep or Gifford. The Mods could be for any residents of the housing down there, including Palmer, Brooker, Prescott, etc. People who live in Coffrin or Allen would get to park behind Wright, and so on. Even Proctor hippies could get stickers to park their yellow bikes behind Hillcrest. Everyone would be happy!Some defensive Public Safety officer might even write a letter about why my complaints are stupid, or why my idea cannot work. Okay, but at the school that educated legions of innovative thinkers, such as Nick Janson and the Ross Toucher, students and staff should be able to work together and resolve any problem. So how 'bout it?Daniel Roberts '09 is an English major from Newton, Mass.
