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(10/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Edward Pickering Wilfred Thesiger, one of the 20th century's greatest explorers, died this summer at age 93 in England, far from the remote and inaccessible lands where he spent nearly all his life. Thesiger is considered by many to have been the last in a long and illustrious line of English explorers, a breed of men that has gone the way of the British Empire. Thesiger leaves behind a number of books, from which his unparalleled reputation for exploration shines forth, including his memoir, "The Life of My Choice." A virtual compendium of adventure, this book records a life as astonishing as any you will encounter in print.Thesiger was born in Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) in 1910, the first British child ever born in that land. He spent his childhood in the hills above the capital city of Addis Ababa, where his father was British consulate. Though he lived and travelled in myriad lands, including western and southern Sudan, the Empty Quarter of Arabia, the marshes of southern Iraq and the uplands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Thesiger always identified with the country of his birth, a land that during the opening years of the 20th century preserved intact ancient traditions and tribal cultures. The defining moment of young Thesiger life's occurred when he witnessed a celebratory procession occasioned by the of suppression of a rebellion:"I believe that day implanted in me a life-long craving for barbaric splendour, for savagery and colour and the throb of drums, and that it gave me a lasting veneration for long-established custom and ritual, from which would derive later a deep-seated resentment of Western innovations in other lands, and a distaste for the drab uniformity of the modern world."After attending school and university in Britain (Eton and Oxford, respectively), Thesiger returned to Abyssinia intent on finding the source of the Awash River, believed to originate in the Sultanate of Aussa, a region unexplored by Europeans. Thus, at age 23, Thesiger became the first white to venture into this forbidden land, on his journey passing through the territory of the Danakil, a tribe that kills almost indiscriminately. Manhood, among this fierce people, is gauged by number of men slain. Having accomplished his remarkable journey, Thesiger next set out for the Sudan, where he earned an appointment in Sudan Political Service. Fortunately, Thesiger's superiors stationed him in the far western reaches of the country, in an arid land populated by camel-riding, Arabic-speaking nomadic tribes. Thesiger's account of his years among these people, which were among the happiest of his life, is captivating. Here, Thesiger's love for the desert, with its vast realms and silent, proud peoples, became ingrained. From his base in Darfur, Thesiger ventured into the virtually unexplored mountains of Tibesti in eastern Chad. After a stint in the marshland of southern Sudan, among pagan black Africans, Thesiger joined the British army poised to liberate Abyssinia and reinstate is rightful ruler, Emperor Haile Selassie, formerly Ras Tafari. This great man, to whom the book is dedicated, was a loyal friend of Thesiger's. The fate of his country, which Mussolini's Italians had brutally conquered in 1936, agonized Thesiger throughout the late 1930s. Thesiger follows his account of this little known theater of World War II with a chapter on his exploits as a member of the SAS in the deserts North Africa, where he harassed and raided Rommel's Germans. The memoir's last chapters describe the author's travels through the Middle East (for greater detail see his other books, "The Marsh Arabs" and "Arabian Sands"), northern Abyssinia and Kenya.Always, Thesiger despised modern conveniences, travelling instead on mule and camel, speaking the dialects around him - integrating himself into the foreign cultures that ultimately became his home. His narratives of desert and mountain exploration, of battles and clashes and of the big game hunting of which he was so passionate (Thesiger tracked and killed over 70 lions in five years) are simply astonishing. The companionship on which he thrived, the terrains that he revered and the absolute freedom in which he revelled spring to life under his pen. Thesiger led an exemplary life, unquestionably one of the 20th century's most adventurous and captivating.
(10/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Matthew Clark Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up. There are IVs and drips and tubes coming from every pore. Curious, he rises, unlocks the door and peers down the hallway. Tables are askew, chairs over-turned, gurneys flipped and vending machines smashed. Despite the chaos, it is utterly quiet. No friendly chatter, no coughs, no ventilation systems whirring. "28 Days Later," directed by Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting"), puts us there with Jim, walks us through the hospital and onto a street with dramatically overturned cars and old trash twisting across the road like tumbleweed. Even Big Ben has stopped ticking. "Rage," a deadly, vampire-ish virus, has infected the planet. Glimpses of the experimental virus show it instantly infecting the victim with an unquenchable bloodthirst. Headlines read, "EVACUATION!" Bodies of those who didn't escape are deposited in alleys. An infected priest stumbles and gargles, clawing towards Jim. Graffiti on the church wall proclaims, "THE END IS EXTREMELY F-KING NIGH." It feels like it is here already. Celina (Naomi Harris), a father and daughter are Jim's eventual companions. They tune into a radio signal and dodge red eyed, epileptic zombies they make their way towards the signal anticipating salvation.You can't help feeling small, realizing how helpless we really are without our running water, credit cards, cell phones and government - "There's always government!" Jim insists. A gas station provides an opportunity to siphon fuel and offers the last cheeseburger for 60 miles. Except for the French fries, nothing wholesome is left. Customers lie dead on the floor. Jim is charged by a shirtless, blood-dripping boy and we wonder briefly as he puts a boot on the child's neck and we look into his infected eyes, when do we lose our humanity? When is our own survival more important than the survival of our companions? To save herself, Celina kills her buddy as soon as he is bitten. As Jim gauges out an army general's eyes, we wonder what makes us so different from those infected? They are still people killing people. Is there a difference between the "Rage" virus and the feeling in our belly when we are knocked down by an unexpected snowball?The cinematography juxtaposes the beauty of English pastures and twittering birds with the horribly red gore of man's violent nature very well. However, I was exhausted by Boyle's insistence on showing man's ability to endure even the most traumatizing situations with humor and lightness. During an excursion to the supermarket, the four travelers smile at moldy fruit and run past empty cash registers, laughing like a bad Mobil SpeedPass commercial. Often times I wanted more vampires, more questions to be raised and fewer cheesy quips and scenarios.Yet the horror of "28 Days Later" was refreshing. It was more than just the suspense and blood soaking of the predictable "I Know What You Did Last Summer." The horror was an all-encompassing fear - an awe at the insignificance of our own existence. The film reminds us that the world has turned for billions of years before the first human beings appeared and it will continue to do so after the last have vanished.
(10/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Abbie Beane Each year the College finds an increasing number of ways to explore what a liberal arts education is all about - comparing and contrasting a variety of subject areas to create interdisciplinary programs, projects, performances and symposiums. Most recently the arts and history departments did just that, collaborating to piece together "St. Peter's Dream" for the annual R. Clifford Symposium, and on Oct. 30 the sports program and the arts departments will do it again, joining forces to present the first symposium on "Inspiration and Perspiration." Scholar-in-Residence in environmental studies Bill McKibben will convene a group of experts to discuss the theme of endurance, where an eclectic group of athletes, scholars and artists will offer their varied perspectives. Not only will the symposium feature the American record holder in the 100-mile run, a reason in and of itself to attend, but also a couple of renowned biographers and authors and the College's Dance Company of Middlebury. According to McKibben, who also serves as faculty advisor of the college's Nordic ski team, he wants to more tightly weave together the College's "high-caliber athletics and world-class academic program." McKibben told The Middlebury Campus, "The idea came to me because, as a relative newcomer to Middlebury, I was struck by how seriously people took both their studies and their athletics and also by how little those two worlds seemed to overlap. When people went down the hill to the gym they left one part of them behind, and vice versa when they walked back up to the classrooms."When asked about the most trying experience personally on his endurance, McKibben remembers skiing the Norwegian Birkebeiner one March a few years ago. "It was perhaps the toughest big ski race in the world, 45 miles or so with immense uphills. But 10,000 people ski it and some of them are in their 80s or 90s. I remember skiing alongside them thinking that many of these people were skiing in these woods as a part of the Resistance in World War II and they've kept at it, year after year - not because they're going to win the race, but because we're all finding out things about ourselves, cataloguing our strengths and weaknesses more thoroughly than we've done before. It's this process of self-discovery that's so interesting to me."It's particularly interesting to talk with McKibben about the nordic ski team, an extremely serious bunch of athletes, which frequently triumph over numerous schools with Division I programs that recruit from overseas. McKibben boasts that they are also "some of the most reflective people I know, perhaps in part because they spend many hours every week out in the most beautiful world I can imagine, the world of Addison County in its winter glory."The symposium will also feature a talk by Jay Parini, professor of English at the College and renowned biographer, on "Endurance and the Writing Life." Parini has just recently finished a biography of William Faulkner and is also known for his biographies of Robert Frost and John Steinbeck, who, according to Parini raise fascinating questions about endurance and how writers pace themselves through a lifetime of hours at work with the pen and typewriter. "I think the idea of endurance is fascinating," Parini says, "How did Faulkner, for example, manage to write so well for so long, to produce so many masterworks. To go back to the desk day after day, in good and bad emotional weather?" Parini also mentions his admiration for author Charles Dickens, who had a capacity to keep inventing and transforming his vision throughout his entire life, and poet William Butler Yeats, who "never stopped thinking and working, writing and rewriting." This is not to say that Parini is any stranger to athletics either. Being an avid basketball fan and author of an essay titled, "No Tenure in the Gym at Noon," Parini claims that he has always loved athletes who overcame some sort of obstacle - "the Lance Armstrongs." He mentions Michael Jordan in particular, a man who has the "ability to create shots on the court, even when double or triple-teamed," and a man who played in "that big game (the finals) in 1997 when he was sick with the flu, scoring at crucial moments. That is somehow heartening." Parini played quite a bit of basketball himself, and though he admits to being a terrible player, he keeps at it, knowing that no one cares if he's good or not in his prime. "I think athletes have a lot to teach us about how to conduct our lives (on the court that is). If we're talking about NBA players, they often show no restraint off the court," he wittingly reminds us. One other important Middlebury representative who will be getting in on this game is Associate Professor of English at the College Gary Margolis, who will read one of his works out of his collection of "American Sports Poems." Many may not know that Margolis is also a Middlebury alumni who played football, basketball and lacrosse back in his day as well, while at the same time allowing poetry writing to creep into the mix. "The language and drama, as well as the body-centered aspect of athletics, has always felt of one fabric to me. So I have a number of poems where football, basketball, lacrosse, golf and swimming are the central themes and metaphors." One of Margolis's works, an ode to Michael Jordan, was even lauded by the former Bulls star himself. "The Burning Bush of Basketball" tucked into his new book, "Fire in the Orchard," focuses on the playoff game between the Celtics and the Bulls during which Jordan broke the all-time play-off record by scoring 63 points. Margolis told The Campus that the poem was published in Middlebury Magazine where a Chicago Midd alum discovered it and carted it back to her health club where Jordan received whirlpool treatments. "She took him the poem, he read it and said that he liked it," said Margolis, so he then "signed the poem and asked her to bring to me. I have it in my office here in Centeno and it is one of my treasures."Personally, I would reserve courtside seats for this symposium, which will not only feature these talented athletes, but a score of others, lending themselves to one of the most interesting interdisciplinary symposiums of the semester. Besides, wouldn't want to get in on a little discussion about stamina?
(10/23/03 12:00am)
Author: Edward Pickering Title: "Brideshead Revisited"Author: Evelyn WaughFirst published: 1945Celebrated for his satiric novels of the 1930s, English novelist Evelyn Waugh wrote "Brideshead Revisited" during the Second World War while recuperating from a minor parachuting injury. Waugh's fourth and probably best-loved novel is largely serious, concerned with themes of class, religion and social change. The novel, whose full title is "Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder," reads as an elegy, a tribute to irretrievable loves and attachments.At Oxford University, Charles Ryder befriends a fellow first year student, the eccentric and captivatingly beautiful Sebastian Flyte. Following Sebastian's lead, Ryder enters into a life of blithe hedonism. Absorbed in their friendship, the two abscond from responsibility and spend their time in the pursuit of gratification: they eat, drink, dress- even furnish their rooms- in style. Eventually, Sebastian invites Ryder to his home, the magnificent estate of Brideshead- an ancient center of English Catholicism. Here, Ryder meets the family with whom his life will become inextricably linked. A welcome guest, a close friend, a confidant, Ryder witnesses the disastrous outcome of the Flyte's attempts to redeem Sebastian. Effete and fragile, Sebastian spins away from his friend and family. In the ensuing years, with all their vagaries and severances, Ryder never escapes the aristocratic family whom he came to know as an undergraduate. The Flytes are members of an ultra-privileged but dwindling social class and are the pious followers of a demanding and restrictive religion. Ryder subsumes the incidents of his personal life (he becomes a noted architectural painter) under the larger drama of Sebastian's family. Their dysfunction, leading to demise, involves both Ryder's platonic and sexual love. Like an undercurrent, a sense of loss pervades the novel. Those passages in which Ryder pauses to reflect, to explain, to justify, are often sublime. Waugh is not a 'familiar' writer, maintaining instead a distance from the reader, a reserve from which he produces magnificent prose:"Now, that summer term with Sebastian, it seemed as though I was being given a brief spell of what I had never known, a happy childhood and though its toys were silk shirts and liqueurs and cigars and its naughtiness high in the catalogue of grave sins, there was something of nursery freshness about us that fell little short of the joy of innocence."The event that triggers Ryder's memory and thus begins the novel is his chance return to Brideshead, years later, as an army captain. Arriving in the dead of night, Ryder's unit takes possession of the deserted estate and transforms it into a military camp. Here, amidst the bureaucratic bustle, Ryder confronts the defining relationships and loves of his past.
(10/23/03 12:00am)
Author: Megan O'Keefe In a discussion on the merits of Winter Term held during an open meeting of the faculty on Oct. 13, a majority of the faculty present criticized Middlebury College's 4-1-4 calendar and encouraged the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) to eliminate Winter Term. Approximately 65 members of the faculty and administration attended the meeting, which was moderated by Dean of the Faculty, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English Alison Byerly. Byerly welcomed the faculty, explaining, "The purpose of this meeting is really to have an informal discussion." While seven faculty discussion groups met at Bread Loaf earlier this fall to "take the pulse of the faculty" on the issue of Winter Term, Byerly added, the EAC hoped that the Oct. 13 meeting would target "the largest conceptual issues." The common themes from the Bread Loaf discussion groups were summarized on a handout that separated the "valuable aspects of Winter Term" from "concerns about F/W/S calendar and Winter Term." The handout asked faculty members to consider three major questions: "1) What is the purpose of Winter Term now? 2) Do we expect Winter Term to be as rigorous for all students as the fall and spring semesters? 3) Which characteristics of Winter Term are unique to its intensive, four-week format? Which of these characteristics seem central to our academic mission?"Director of Off-Campus Study and Professor of History and Russian David Macey began the discussion by stressing the significance of Winter Term in the structure of study abroad. Macey noted that the flexibility of the 4-1-4 schedule allows Middlebury students to enroll in rigorous foreign universities where the fall term of study may conclude at the end of January.Professor of History Paul Monod started a flood of criticism for the current calendar, admitting that he has been an opponent of Winter Term for many years. Monod argued that there is no pedagogic reason for maintaining the month-long term and expressed doubt that anything meaningful can be taught in four weeks alone. Student Government Association President Samuel Rodriguez '04 announced later that a Winter Term course taught by Monod in January 2003 in Salzburg, Austria, Religious Conflict in the Hapsburg Lands, 1500-1800, was among his most meaningful and enriching academic experiences as a Middlebury student. While budget constraints have currently suspended off-campus Winter Term courses, the future of these programs remains unclear.Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Murray Dry was an outspoken proponent of Winter Term during the discussion. "I have always enjoyed Winter Term at Middlebury," said Dry. He noted that he would be hesitant to teach the range of courses he has taught at Middlebury if Winter Term were abolished. Reacting to the plethora of Winter Term criticisms voiced by his colleagues, Dry wondered out loud whether the faculty present comprised a representative sample of the whole body. While Dry admitted, "It's going to go one way or the other and most of you have probably made up your mind," he invited colleagues with an open-mind to speak with him about his positive Winter Term experiences.Many faculty members expressed a agreement that should Winter Term remain a part of the academic calendar, teaching requirements must be uniform for all members of the faculty, regardless of seniority. Byerly assured the faculty that the EAC would present detailed alternative academic calendars before calling for a faculty vote. A move to a two-semester calendar will elongate the fall and spring semesters to 14 weeks from their current 12. According to Secretary of the College and Professor of Political Science Eric Davis, this can be accomplished without moving the fall final exam period. Chair of the Student Educational Affairs Committee Steve Clarke '04 briefly presented the student-case in favor of Winter Term at the conclusion of the meeting. Clarke emphasized the importance of Winter Term, not only to the Middlebury academic experience, but also to the athletic, cultural and social experience that students consider to be an integral part of college life.
(10/10/03 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Gissing "The College fosters connections between students and between students and faculty through a variety of cultural, academic and social events - some of which span from the classroom right into the residence hall," says the Middlebury College 2003-2004 Prospectus. Indeed, with a student-to-teacher ratio of 11 to one, students at Middlebury have many opportunities to interact closely with their professors, both in classroom and laboratory settings as well as around campus. However, the number of student-faculty lunches, normally a popular way for students and faculty to meet outside of classes, has been reduced this semester to just one meeting a week per faculty member.In a memo sent out Sept. 8 to all faculty and staff members, Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson and Dean of the Faculty, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English Alison Byerly invited professors to join students for lunch or dinner in the dining halls, "in keeping with [the College's] goal to strengthen our academic community." As the faculty members would be considered a guest of the College when eating in the dining halls, Byerly and Hanson requested that the meals be limited to one a week and that a student was present at the meal. This limitation on student-faculty meals has been hard to swallow for some members of the College community. In an Oct. 2 letter to President John McCardell, Hope Stege '04, Student Advisory Committee (SAC) Chair of Geography 2002-03, and Andrew Howard '05, SAC Chair of Geography 2003-04, wrote, "We feel that this request harms both faculty and students, and detracts from the experience of the residential college.""This is a residential college," said Stege, "and to my understanding, the whole goal of that is to form an academic community that spans all aspects of life. By limiting shared meals to one per week, the College is essentially quantifying interaction between students and faculty. It is also saying that there are certain, prescribed ways in which students and faculty should interact." According to Stege, shared lunches have always been a positive aspect of her Middlebury experience. "I have gotten to know my professors on a much more personal basis, and for me, that makes it much easier to participate in class, as I know that they have a sense of where I am coming from and that they will be supportive."Howard agrees, " [The lunches] are a great way to know professors outside of class, start conversations outside of class, discuss term paper topics - it is a nice way to bounce ideas around and a great way to dive into the discipline. My interaction with the professors has deepened my interest in the subject."This change is not intended to curtail student-faculty interaction. When faculty members eat in the dining halls their meals are paid for by a purpose-made fund in the Dean of Student Affairs office. "A few years ago we budgeted $5,000 for faculty to have lunch with students," said Hanson. "We increased the budget to $16,000, [however] last year the budget was considerably overspent."Byerly expressed a similar concern about the motives and monetary support for the mealtime meetings. "[The] fund is intended to encourage faculty-student interaction," said Byerly, "and has generally been quite successful in doing that. There have been enough instances of disproportionate use by a few individuals, however, to call into question the wisdom of offering unlimited opportunities for subsidized meals.""We feel that offering one meal a week through this program allows for regular contact between faculty or staff and students over lunches," Byerly continued. "If individual faculty or staff, or entire departments, wish to eat with students more often, they are certainly able to do that, just not at the College's expense." Assistant Professor of Geography Peter Nelson, Associate Professor of Geography Guntram Herb and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Specialist William Hegman have found that the decrease in student lunches has been noticeable. "These lunch meetings have become an important component of the cultural landscape at Middlebury. During the first week of the semester, students immediately noticed the change in behavior and were quick to ask, 'Why are we not going to lunch together?' While we now may have more time to work through lunch and prepare lectures and write research papers, it is our role as a mentor and advisor that has been most affected by the reduction in student-faculty interaction," they said. The change in the student-faculty lunch policy has impacts beyond the Geography Department, they were quick to point out. "The change affects all faculty members across the College." "There have been much fewer informal interactions between students and faculty," said Vickie Backus, associate in science instruction in biology. "There are probably other ways they could cut funding, especially considering the gains [from the lunches]." These gains include closer student-faculty relationships, an informal forum for conversation and an opportunity for an exchange of ideas that extends beyond the classroom environment, she said.Stege and Howard's letter to McCardell has asked for the change in policy to be reconsidered. To date they have not received a response, but Hanson said that the change in policy is "on an experimental basis and we will reassess at the end of the semester."
(10/10/03 12:00am)
Author: Sadie Hoagland Laced with the eloquence of renowned poet Charles Wright's own voice: I've always liked the view from my mother-in-law's house at night,Oil rigs off Long BeachLike floating lanterns out in the smog-dark Pacific,Stars in the eucalyptus,Lights of airplanes arriving from Asia, and town lightsLittered like broken glass around the bay and back up the hill.From "Looking West from Laguna Beach at Night" (in "Negative Blue").In celebration of Ralph Waldo Emerson's birthday, the American Literature, English and Creative Writing Departments, as well as faculty sponsor Brett Millier, Reginald L. Cook Professor of American Literature, welcomed renowned poet Charles Wright to the Chateau Grand salon last Thursday. Wright gave a powerful reading to a capacity audience of students and others present, who acknowledged that one should never miss the opportunity to hear a poet read his own words. Wright, born in Tennessee in 1935, has received many awards for his poetry, including the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize (1993), the National Book Critics Circle Award (1998) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1998). Middlebury College's D. E. Axinn Professor of Creative Writing Jay Parini, a poet himself, introduced Wright as "among the best of this country's poets" and named him in following with Frost, Whitman, Dickinson and Emerson as an integral figure in American poetry. Wright has also translated Italian poetry and extensively studied Chinese philosophy. He currently teaches at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.Though Wright's poetry often reverberates with a more pessimistic tone, he surprised his listeners with a sharp sense of humor when he asked how loud he should speak, joking that his poems are "best when whispered." (However, he also mentioned that he would not be held responsible for the consequences of his whispered words.) His southern accent rolled smoothly into his poetry as he read selections from his works "Negative Blue" and "The Appalachian Book of the Dead" among others.Wright's poetry can perhaps best be described as a presentation of the natural world. And as Parini explained, this world then becomes a vehicle for understanding the spiritual world. Wright often describes his concrete surroundings, which in turn reflect the poetic narrative's more abstract emotion and theme. The lines of his poems balance each other across the page, breaking half way across and hugging either margin - a technique Wright employed "so the line won't break with its own weight" and tension could remain strong in both parts of the line. He then added lightheartedly that he also thought the line breaks simply "looked cool." Wright includes in his poetry everyday colloquialisms as well as references to country songs, Chinese poetry, James Joyce and even golfer Sam Snead. He confessed he really just wanted to make a Sam Snead allusion as well as use the word "heliotrope" (though he claims to have no idea what the word means), in his poems. He succeeded in doing both. When asked what led him to become a poet, Wright described a moment when he was in the army in Italy at the age of 23. As he sat under an olive tree in Verona reading Ezra Pound's "Blandula, Tenulla, and Vagula," he became inspired. He realized that with poetry, "I didn't have to tell a story, I could be associative." Wright's poetry is deeply personal and tells of his experiences in Tennessee, Italy, Montana and Laguna Beach, Calif. His poems describe photographs, readings and specific people in Wright's life, "You all have the same people in your lives as I had in mine," he said. Indeed, Wright's poems evoke emotions familiar to all of us - fear of mortality, grief and loss.His collections read almost like journals of experiences and stand as a good example of Wright's tendency to use the physical world as a reflection of the spiritual world. This tendency, as was appropriate for the occasion, reflects the influence of Emerson on Wright's poetry. Another common theme of his poetry present in "Negative Blue," as Parini pointed out, is recognition of the absolute permanency and inevitable connectedness of our world. His verse is none other than a slow melodious collection of average and unusual words. For those interested in reading Wright, "Negative Blue" is a collection of his latest poems, including the "Appalachian Book of the Dead" (about a character approaching death).
(10/10/03 12:00am)
Author: Chris Grosso The title of artist-in-residence projects an image of an individual who excels in a certain discipline. This honor suggests talent, creativity, passion and dedication. Middlebury College is fortunate to attract these artists and give them the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences. For the past four years, the College's Dance Department has had the privilege of hosting Amy Chavasse. A native of Raleigh, N.C., Chavasse has been successful in her field and looks to make an even larger impact. Her performing career includes work with Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, Bill Young and Dancers in New York City and many independent projects across the country. The director of Chavasse Dance & Performance, a solo artist, a choreographer and a professor, Chavasse has made an indelible mark on the campus, as well. She teaches an array of dance classes, yoga and deep stretching sessions, advises the Riddim dance troupe and has introduced a class on the history of political dance. Her enthusiasm and devotion has definitely rubbed off on her students. Last week, The Middlebury Campus had the opportunity to chat with Amy and learn about what inspires and nourishes her creativity.The Campus: When were you introduced to dance?Chavasse: I danced when I was very young. Starting, like a lot of kids, at three or four: jazz, tap, ballet - kind of the typical after school stuff. [Doing this] seriously but never thinking I was going to be a dancer because I was involved in a lot of other things, mainly horseback riding and tennis. At some point, I guess when I was around 13 or 14, I had to choose because I couldn't split my focus up between these activities. Dance was the first to go, oddly enough. I didn't dance at all from 15 until I went back to college. I was around it because I had a younger sister who danced, and I come from a very artistic and athletic family. My mother and older sister were trained singers. So I was always cursorily aware of it, but not involved in it. The Campus: How did you get back into dancing?Chavasse: I was actually an art and English major in college and I needed a P.E. credit, so I went in to take a dance class. It was a type of modern dance class. It was very emotional. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was really great. So I started taking a lot of dance classes. I was doing all my other work independent study so I could be in the dance studio. Then when I was within a year of getting my degrees in art and English, I transferred to a conservatory, the North Carolina School of the Arts.The Campus: You earned your M.F.A at the University of Washington in Seattle. What persuaded you to go back to grad school after dancing professionally for some time?Chavasse: I was living in D.C. at the time and I was an adjunct faculty at George Washington University. The woman who had hired me there told me that if I liked to do this, I would have to go back to school. But then I was dancing professionally for 12 years. I had toured all over the world. At that time, dancers needed graduate degrees to get a job in academia. Up until then, your experience in the field had always been sufficient. There has been a lot of debate about that in creative art academia.The Campus: What was the transition like from professional dancer to teacher? Chavasse: I tried to maintain a life where I would keep a foot in both doors - professional and academic. I started taking similar positions to this one, like guest artist. I was also trying to maintain my own performing career. Recently I have [acquired] a company. The Campus: I read on the Internet that you are director of the Chavasse Dance and Performance Company.Chavasse: My younger sister, who is an actor/writer by training and profession and I in 1995 collaborated on a piece. Shortly after that I decided that I wanted to start a company. So I founded the company with her, and I got my non-profit status in '98. I have a core group of dancers that I have been working with. We've gotten scattered, though. I've been here for four years - the longest time I've been anywhere for quite awhile. The company has a great group of people, though. Hopefully this will be the year when I will try to figure it out. The Campus: How would you define your style of dance as a performing artist and choreographer? Chavasse: The word postmodern is often used to describe the work of artists of my generation. I'm interested in theater dance in the way I'm interested in bringing some sort of narrative to dance. I use text often and my sources often come from things that I read or texts that I find particularly compelling. Last year, for the Cuba Project, I was working with a piece I had actually started quite a long time ago, based on the paintings and life of a Cuban-American Juan Gonzalez. During my time in New York, I got to know him quite well. He was a very successful artist who passed away in '93. His family and the gallery were very generous about me using his images. One of the pieces, "Death, Beauty, and Flying," was based on my time with him and his work. As a companion piece to that, and being interested in Latin American art - visual art and also literature, I started reading Reinaldo Arenas. I settled on "Farewell to the Sea," a very short, bizarre and abstract dream-like story. The second piece, which is called "The Fruit Axiom," accompanied it. These were the two pieces we took to Cuba. They show that other forms of art are moving.The Campus: Who has inspired you as an artist?Chavasse: When I was dancing in New York, there was one teacher who pushed me quite a lot in class. She made me understand how feeling vulnerable and scared and being in places of uncertainty were very important to be a creative and artistic person. It wasn't about being in control, which is a terrifying thing to learn. It wasn't about gaining certain facilities or learning how to do this step really well or getting your leg higher - those were the mechanics of it. She made me almost feel like I didn't know what I was doing anymore. It was a remarkable approach. After the company I was working with at the time in New York was mentioned in The New York Times, I remember being in the class. She noted, "You're starting to figure it out a little bit." That was kind of a turning point. The Campus: How has your time with Gonzalez affected your career?Chavasse: Definitely my time living with Juan Gonzalez was influential, watching his dedication and passion and his compositional tools. The deliberation of choosing each thing and focusing on that so intently, I began to see how important it was to devote that much time and energy to every decision or choice.The Campus: What about at Middlebury?Chavasse: Since I've been here, Peter Schmitz, my colleague who just retired last year, has inspired me. Certainly along the way there have been people I collaborate with, my students and peers. Every project makes you see things in a different way. It makes you challenge yourself. The idea of pushing edges for artists is important and finding a new way to say what has already been said.The Campus: Now you have the role as teacher. How do you share your love for dance with your students?Chavasse: I try to embody the things I believe in and be myself. I push them the way I was taught. I try to be supportive and challenging. Later in life, I realized it is helpful to watch the way your instructors move through the world - what happens to them when they are doing what they love.The Campus: Thank you very much. I'm looking forward to seeing your performance. Amy will be performing a solo in "Paul Matteson and friends: In Concert" on Nov. 7 and 8. She has choreographed the 5th Annual New Comer's Piece, which will be presented on Nov. 21 and 22 at "New Dances: a Fall Dance Con
cert."
(10/10/03 12:00am)
Author: [no author name found] Each week The Middlebury Campus will take one member of the Middlebury College community. to a local thrift store to revolutionize the way they look at life, liberty and personal style. This week, we celebrated the oncoming Halloween holiday by whisking away Campus Arts writer Laura Rockefeller '04 to Neat Repeats, the local thrifty known for its kooky costume collection. As a double major in Theater and English, Laura has lots of experience with costume, character and charade, so it was only appropriate that she decided to take part in this week's TSM Halloween extravaganza. As you can see, Laura is nothing less than petite sophisticate in her everyday look, so the challenge in making her over was to add flair, pizzazz and sass in a most outlandish, overstated way. Admittedly, Laura tried a few "trauma" outfits, but she was a good sport, and I know one little squaw who won't have to worry about her costume come October 30.function openSlideShow660(){window.open(slideshowpath + 660,'selectUser',config='scrollbars=No,resizable=Yes');}The Makeover!
(10/02/03 12:00am)
Author: Grace Armstrong Twelve-hour days - if you get out early. Working early in the morning, through lunch and late at night. An environment even more intense, competitive and high-pressure than Middlebury College. If this doesn't sound like your cup of tea - or even coffee - that's all right. The "Wall Street 101" lecture in Bicentennial Hall Room 104 was crowded enough. Students interested in careers or internships in financial services and investment banking, or simply wanting to learn more about Wall Street, filled the chairs and floor to hear two representatives from financial services giant Morgan Stanley talk about investment banking.John Greenwood, who has worked at Morgan Stanley since 1976, and Nicholas Apostolatos '97, an associate at the firm, visited campus as part of a series of "Wall Street 101" events organized by the Career Services Office. The events aim to help students learn about opportunities in finance-related businesses, as well as what skills employers look for and how to position themselves in the current tight job market. Although the two representatives emphasized the competitive nature of finding employment in the finance sector, they pointed out at least one encouraging trend. More than before, said Greenwood, "you will see firms looking for people coming out of college. It's a 180 from a year ago... [when] the ratio of associates [new employees with MBA degrees] to analysts [college graduates] was four to one."Although Greenwood and Apostolatos did not deny that working on Wall Street involves pressure, they emphasized that for many people, investment banking is fascinating and rewarding. "You'd be surprised by how much rope these firms will give you," Greenwood said. "They do not hold people back.""This isn't rocket science," Apostolatos said. "This is all stuff you can do, and with training, can do very well."The lecture answered questions such as what an investment bank does and who will excel there. The speakers provided an overview of the departments within Morgan Stanley and the most important qualities for employees in each. Firms need many different types of employees, with strengths ranging from interpersonal skills to number crunching. And it isn't just economics majors who are hired. Graduates from disciplines such as history or English with strong writing or analytical skills can also land a job. "Think about where your personality would best fit into this," Greenwood said. For example, "if you can't wait to get out of Middlebury and head to the nearest casino, you'd probably enjoy trading."Finally, the presenters gave students advice about the job application process. Apostolatos emphasized the value of Middlebury connections. "Create a dialogue... it's about being more than just a resume and a cover letter," he said. "Are you someone they can envision working with in the office until 3 a.m.?" The hours may be trying, the atmosphere highly charged, and the cups of coffee extra tall. But both Greenwood and Apostolatos agree that the rewards are worth the challenges. "Yes, it demands long hours," said Greenwood. But in the end, "the exposure ... the platform you can leap off of is what is important."
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Michael O'Brien Two of my most beloved English teachers consider "Tender is the Night" to be the greatest American novel ever written, so I was shocked to find Edward Pickering's dismissal of the book as one in which it is "hard to finding any real meaning" ("Literary Picks", Sept. 11, 2003). I feel that this position is all but indefensible, whether one considers it the greatest American novel, as my teachers did, or just a keynote work by one of the greatest 20th century American writers, as I do.Pickering notes that the novel bears many similarities to Fitzgerald's own biography, but I think it is a fallacy to read any work of literature merely along the lines of parallels to an author's life. No writer can, or would, escape the many demands which writing a fictional work places on the author, including the intricacies of plot and characterization, allusions to larger spheres and universal meaning, of which Fitzgerald has generously granted his readers. Even if the novel were only an autobiography, anyone who has been part of a dysfunctional relationship can find numerous parallels in "Tender is the Night", bringing with them the comforting knowledge that "You are not alone," a key task of the writer in the opinion of the Jewish writer Harlan Ellison.Before one is even introduced to Nicole and Dick Diver and their tragic relationship, the reader is given indications of higher, "real meaning." Nearly all of the main characters are men and women occupying a unique position, rich American tourists and expatriates in a Europe economically destroyed by war. One character's name, Abe North, is a clear reference to Abe Lincoln and a clue to one of the novel's main strains - the linking of the (American) Civil War to the (European) First World War. Like "The Great Gatsby," "Tender is the Night" is a novel concerned with America, this time on the global scene. Post-WWI America is shown to be the newest and greatest player on the world stage, yet one which even then was beginning to show signs of corruption and eventual decay, something that seems quite prescient in the America of today. America's decay is clearly seen in the decay of Nic and Dick Diver's relationship. The psychological complexity of the relationship is something I would never try to summarize in 700 words or less, but I will give some indication. The first character introduced in the novel is neither of the Divers, but rather Rosemary Hoyt, a very young American actress guarded by her mother, the beginning of a parent-child theme that becomes even more striking when Nicole's past is revealed. Rosemary is destined to fall in love with Dick, and become the outlet for all of the much older Dick's less virtuous inclinations and frustrations toward Nicole, who is still a frightened child at middle age. The parallels to Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" become more and more apparent.Along with universal meaning, it is important to note the effect the novel had on the reading public at the time of its publication in 1933. "Tender is the Night" deals with psychological problems in a way that America, land of the confident self-made man (and woman), was not prepared to deal with. The thoroughly European notions of Freudian psychoanalysis, and especially the decidedly crude notions of the Oedipus/Electra complexes, caused quite a stir. Without giving away the central secret of the novel, the root of Nicole's problems is one that even today is considered taboo in the land of the Puritans.In closing, I have to question the focus of the "Literary Picks" column. Certainly I admire and respect the novels that have been the subjects of the Mr. Pickering's articles. However, it seems that they consist of books and authors that any serious reader of literature already knows he or she should read, and any non-serious reader would not touch outside of fulfilling a core requirement. It would seem more valuable to choose either lesser-known, marginal works or works more pertinent to the current cultural or world situation, given the temporality of a newspaper.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Daniel Phillips No longer will Middlebury College students have to wait two to three weeks to find out if they have secured placement in a class. The College will switch registration programs from the Middlebury Automated Registration System (MARS) to BannerWeb beginning with November registration for Winter Term 2004 and spring term 2004. The new BannerWeb system is a real-time registration which differs from MARS in that students will now be able to tell instantly during their Web session whether or not they will be granted placement, explained Secretary of the College Eric Davis, who is overseeing the transition to the new registration system.When students access BannerWeb for the first time, they will encounter their own registration "window" in which to build their schedules for spring and fall terms. The registrar will notify students by e-mail of the time they can register, which will be based on class standing. Upon activation, the windows stay open for the duration of the registration process, allowing students to freely add and drop courses until the web registration closes. Students can still drop classes after their BannerWeb sessions end, but doing so will require an add card along with the signature of the course instructor. Another deviation from MARS is that students entering their second, third and fourth semesters at the College will now be required to enter an alternate PIN number, which will be given out during meetings with their advisors before the registration period begins. The PIN number will be the only way to access the online registration page. As Davis explained, students will be required to see their advisor before the possibility of study abroad in order to determine how studying outside of the College will fit into his/her undergraduate education. Although juniors and seniors will not have to enter the alternate PIN for registration, they are still encouraged to see their advisors before the BannerWeb sessions commence. BannerWeb also provides students with the added feature of searching for courses within a possible variety of criteria they can impose. If an English major desperately needs a course to satisfy a DED requirement that meets on Tuesday and Thursday, the new system can immediately identify every possible option. The new system will first be put to use during the spring term practice session lasting from Oct. 28 until Nov. 14. The purpose of this session, explained Davis, is so students can familiarize themselves with the system, but also to encourage students to check the enrollment restrictions of their desired courses so the appropriate faculty members can waive certain prerequisites or major restrictions. Professors can waive course restrictions for students through the touch of a button on the Web interface.Registrar and Assistant Dean of Enrollment Kathy Weiss noted, "Because the time to register is shorter, students need to find out in advance if they have time conflict issues, have the necessary prerequisites or if they need approvals." She added that the registrar's office would like to emphasize that "students will need to take advantage of their seniority-based registration windows in order to benefit from this new first-come first-served system." However, the administration strongly urges students to use this practice round to check restrictions because waivers must be granted before the actual registration process begins, otherwise classes are likely to fill up if students seek professors' permission the day of registration.As usual, registration for Winter Term will last only three days, taking place from Nov. 5 through 7, and the individual registration windows will be assigned in the normal winter term order of priority offering sophomores first choice for registration, followed by first-years and then juniors and seniors. Spring term registration will begin the first week of Nov. 17 through 21, and students will register by seniority, with seniors in their final semester registering first, followed by first-semester seniors, juniors, sophomores and then first-years. With one day assigned to each level of seniority, Weiss is relieved that "spring term registration will now be complete in five days instead of being a distraction from students' current coursework for over two weeks."Weiss also pointed out that since registration is still a Web-based system, "it will continue to meet the registration needs of the students abroad." Davis added that the time of registration windows opening was specifically chosen to accommodate abroad students while they are still awake. The windows will open at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, which is 12 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time for all students overseas. Davis also noted that students will no longer have to go all the way to the field house to register for physical education classes.The administration talked about the registration system switch last spring with the SGA, but Davis believes "it is now time for more general publicity about them for all students."The College administration made the intial decision to adopt BannerWeb as the overall administration system three years ago. The College started rolling out the modules with finances and budget, followed by human resources and then admissions this past spring, leaving registration for the next module to come online. Davis said that the administration decided in the fall of 2002 that the first registration under the BannerWeb system would begin in Nov. 2003 for Winter Term of 2004."There will be plenty of information out there," claimed Davis, as he elaborated that e-mails, table tents, Web-pages and forums for Junior Counselors (JCs) are all part of the plan. To avoid problems during registration, the administration recommends that students read all correspondence from the registrar's office, declare majors before the October deadline and verify their class standing, as it determines the seniority-based registration window, alternate PIN assignment and room draw.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Charlie Goulding Middlebury College is a lot like the National Basketball Association (NBA). Middlebury distinguishes itself amongst its peers with its strong international influence. Indeed, for a small college, Middlebury is largely cosmopolitan. Similarly, for the past decade, the NBA has embarked on a campaign to cultivate the game of basketball overseas. Today, basketball has pioneered its way to the far reaches of the earth, and maintains a global influence rivaling soccer. The wild success of this world-wide expansion, and the differing ways in which basketball has reshaped cultural norms in various countries, was the topic of Alexander Wolff's lecture: "Why Michael Jordan is a Revolutionary Hero in China."Alexander Wolff, writer for Sports Illustrated (SI) and neighbor of Karl Lindholm, dean of advising and assistant professor of American Literature, spent a one-year hiatus from SI touring the globe "in search of basketball." His travels led him to countries such as Lithuania, Angola, and China - nascent hotbeds for basketball - and culminated in his book: "Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure." Wolff's lecture was largely anecdotal - he recounted tales from a selection of the countries he visited - and used them to suggest how sports play an integral, unique and often unappreciated role in cultures around the world.At first arousing confusion, Wolff wrote down two Chinese words on a blackboard alongside their English definitions. "Qiao" (pronounced "Jor"), he informed the crowd, means "skillful and clever." "Dan," he added, means "lucky and strong." He then asked the attendees to repeat the words one after the other and to do so with increasing rapidity. The lesson in linguistics soon took a sociological twist, however, as the punchline quickly became apparent: "Qiao Dan." "Qiao Dan." "Jordan." China has taken to basketball, and they revere its most celebrated star with a regal admiration - Michael Qiao Dan.Basketball, according to Wolff, is not "packaged up like a Happy Meal and served to an international market like a Big Mac or a Starbucks coffee." China, for instance, makes basketball its own game. The Chinese idolize "Qiao Dan" because he is seen to embody the qualities of a true king - strength, prowess, and an equanimity indicative of invincibility. Other American stars who lack Jordan's "aire" are not nearly as well-received.In this sense, the NBA enjoys its global expansion insofar as the international community can contribute to the redefinition of the game. This is reflective of our own community here at Middlebury. The College enjoys worldwide prestige that is mirrored by an increasingly cosmopolitan campus."I think [the speech] fits well at Middlebury both because of the focus on international studies/cultures and the popularity of athletics on campus," said Jason Mittell, assistant professor of American Civilization and Film and Media Culture. "It really spoke to the key ways in which sports are tied up with various national cultures and the processes of globalization."Indeed, the speech identified the importance of sport at Middlebury on both an individual and social level. Wolff's discussion of women's basketball in Iran elucidated how access to sport is often limited by cultural norms. "I came away from that talk with a greater appreciation for the opportunities that are so readily available for us to partake in sport," said Kris Sukanich '05. "I know that sport has had a profound impact on my life."Socially, sports like basketball have begun to bridge international gaps and will continue to play a key role in globalization. "[The speech] really highlighted the differences between each country socially, politically and culturally, while emphasizing the fact that sport is common to all of them," said Sukanich. Comprised of students of the world, Middlebury can reference both its love of sport and its international constitution in understanding the global development of sport and working to build on its achievements.
(09/18/03 12:00am)
Author: Caroline Stauffer The ease of getting into classes this fall seems to depend on the class, the department - and on who you talk to. "Historical data from MARS registrations over the last three years show that between 80 and 85 percent of classes never close," Secretary of the College Eric Davis said. "Those classes with enrollment pressures tend to be concentrated in a few departments - Spanish and psychology are good examples." Indeed, five departments made up 36 percent of enrollments in the entire College for the 2002-03 academic year, according to Davis. These departments are economics, history, political science, English and psychology. Yet, students in such departments do seem to encounter difficulty enrolling in courses, as do students who have their eye on specific "popular" courses in other departments. These courses constitute what Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alison Byerly calls "pressure points." Interdisciplinary programs, which attract more students because they often satisfy more than one requirement, comprise one pressure point, according to Byerly. For instance, some English courses satisfy requirements for women and gender studies, and some history courses satisfy requirements for environmental studies. Other pressure points occur within departments for very popular courses."We try very hard to make sure there are enough slots so students wishing to do so can take Introduction to Psychology sometime during their first year at Middlebury," Professor of Psychology Michelle McCauley said. "There is not a lot of room for first year students in upper level courses, but this is not a problem with regard to finishing the major."Psychology major Larissa Robtoy '04 agreed that students are able to get the classes they need to finish their majors, but said that it is harder to get into classes as an underclassman. "I can certainly say that I haven't experienced any trouble getting into classes as a senior, but due to the ever increasing popularity of psychology as a major, there are often many freshmen and sophomores who are shut out of classes," she said.According to Davis, the increased size of the class of 2007 did not significantly impact students' chances of getting into classes. "While I was not at the registration for first-year students held in Kenyon Arena earlier this month, colleagues report that most first-year students were able to get the courses they wanted, even though the first-year class was larger than anticipated," he said.Some first-years beg to differ. "At the academic forum, one of the psychology department representatives told me, after hearing of my high number, that I didn't really have a realistic chance of getting into Intro to Psychology because it quickly fills up, but to try and get on some sort of a list to give me a better chance of getting into the class next semester," said Ben Wiechman said. "After I shared this news with my advisor, she helped me pick a class that I had a more realistic shot of getting into."McCauley confirmed that the Psychology Department has grown steadily in popularity over the last 10 years, reflecting a national trend. Furthermore, the Teacher Education and Neuroscience programs have become popular as well, bumping up enrollment in psychology courses. The nature Middlebury College students' courses of sutdy also affects class enrollment. Byerly reported that students are taking on a "more complex schedule than five or 10 years ago." More students are now choosing to complete double and joint majors, requiring a specific selection of courses in more than one department. "Some other liberal arts colleges are more restrictive than Middlebury in not permitting students to major in more than one subject, or requiring students who want to do double majors to present their case for double majoring to a faculty committee," Davis said.Davis and Byerly believe that the majority of students who reported trouble getting into classes this fall were returning students who had not registered using MARS in the spring, or waited to contact faculty over the summer when their classes were already full. "If students register with MARS, we can add new sections of courses if necessary," Byerly said. "Some problems arise when students don't register, and then are disappointed if they can't get into courses when they show up at the beginning of the term." Because the process of hiring faculty must begin well in advance of classes beginning, it is imperative that students enroll accurately in MARS in the spring to allow for the adjustment of the number of sections of classes offered in the next term.The Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) is responsible for recommending new faculty positions to the College, and takes enrollments into consideration in order to decide which departments should receive new positions, along with the administration. "Situations in which students are consistently closed out of classes are taken seriously, and the EAC and the academic administration will attempt to address those situations," Davis said. "At the same time, we have to be mindful of the need to offer a full and balanced liberal arts curriculum that appeals to students with a wide range of academic interests, and to keep the size of the faculty within the overall 11-to-1 student-faculty ratio that has been established as a College policy by the Board of Trustees."It remains to be seen whether getting into classes will be made easier or more difficult when the new Banner technology is implemented for winter and spring enrollment. At a recent psychology social event, students were encouraged to become well versed in the new technology. "The comment was basically that since the registration process will be in real time, the difficulty of getting into classes is expected to increase, and if you don't have a waiver or pre-approval already set up with a member of the psychology department before class registration begins, it might be too late to get a seat in the class if you have to wait a day to get a hold of a faculty member," Robtoy said.Byerly claims that the new technology is "much smoother and provides students with the 'instant gratification' of knowing whether they got into a course right away." It also means students will need to be prepared for registration since it will happen quickly. "Although everyone knows a few anecdotes about students who couldn't get into a specific course the specific term they wanted it, in general this was not a particularly problematic registration period, and there aren't 'too few' courses or professors available," Byerly said. "The teaching resources allocated are appropriate for the number of students registered for courses this term, and consistent with our 11:1 student/faculty ratio."In terms of recommendations for registering classes, Byerly encourages students to be familiar with requirements and try to determine what classes best fit their interests in time for registration to avoid changes during the first week. "Middlebury students have very broad interests, and students should use those interests to look at the curriculum as a whole. If a particular course is full, look at other courses, in the same department or in other departments, that satisfy the same requirements," Byerly said.
(05/07/03 12:00am)
Author: Lucie Greene The range of talent at Middlebury College is often taken for granted or at least forgotten in our hectic day-to-day life. It's funny to hear people drop into conversations that they were the Olympic finalist for gymnastics a year before or the chief founder of an organization to help disadvantaged children learn English - achievements spoken of as nonchalantly as if they were describing having gone on vacation or taken a senior seminar. This was particularly striking upon meeting Christopher Richards '03, a lead in the faculty show "The Memorandum" and director of the recent adaptation of "4.48 Psychosis." With casual banter, between discussing coffee favorites and English slang (after his time spent in England), he mentioned just a few small facts about his accomplishments. These being (of course mentioned very modestly) that he was the highest paid actor in Minneapolis before coming to the College, that he's acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England during his year abroad and that he gained admission to Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts acting program. Over the aforementioned coffee and banter, The Middlebury Campus wanted to see if any more of these little instances would drop into conversation. Oscars? Golden Globes? Who knows.The Middlebury Campus: So Chris, where are you from? Christopher Richards: I've lived in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minn. all of my life. The Campus: And how did you first get interested in acting? C.R.: Minneapolis has a fantastic theater community. They used to have the most theaters per capita of any city in the United States, with the exception of New York City, of course! When I was little my parents would take me to the theaters in town. They just seemed to be these incredible, magical places.The Campus: When you got to Middlebury, how did you first get involved?C.R.: I worked for the Guthrie Theater when I was a senior in high school and was being recruited by some theater conservatories. However, I had been doing shows so much that I was at the risk of being an actor whose art imitated art. You know? Since I didn't have many experiences outside of the theater community. The director of casting there recommended Middlebury, based on its reputation for turning out intelligent, skilled actors. Once I got here I wanted to do things right away but I couldn't get cast to save my life! It was really depressing after doing so well in Minneapolis. In my first semester as a freshman I hadn't been cast in the freshman show but I had a call asking me to return to Minneapolis to do a new work by John Guare, the playwright behind "Six Degrees of Separation." (Translation: a big deal.) Part of the problem was that I looked so young, and I have a very specific type that doesn't work well for a lot of shows that students were doing here. Andy Mitton, a great playwright, though, and young director, took a chance on me during my sophomore year though. And things took off from there, I suppose.The Campus: You've also spent time abroad haven't you? How did you find that? What sort of experiences did you gain?C.R.: Part of the reason I decided to go abroad and not take the role I had been cast in the faculty show was that I was offered the opportunity to study with Royal Shakespeare Company in England (through my connections with the Guthrie Theater). But going abroad I knew would be a fantastic experience no matter what. I didn't know how much theater I would end up doing, but once the year was over I did three shows there: Wilde's "Salome," "Spring Awakening" and "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." Actors and directors tend to go about things a bit differently there. There's less of this obsession with emotional commitment and honesty and a different, more relaxed approach. American actors seem to have better training but they aren't pragmatic like the Brits are. There's often too much "going back to that painful moment in your dead grandmother's kitchen" and not enough of what actually works onstage. Theater in Britain I think is a bit more vibrant than the mainstream theater here. It seems very socially conscious, progressive and engaging. I was really excited by the community there, and I'd like to go back and work. The Campus: You just finished the run of "The Memorandum," the faculty show. Did you enjoy doing that?C.R.: "The Memorandum" has been an interesting experience for me. I prepared the role in a way that was very outside-in. I would start with certain gestures and motions, as well as specific actions, physically discovering the character first before informing those choices with emotional justification later. Usually I work in the opposite direction, but partially [Director] Richard [Romagnoli's] style and the chameleonic qualities of the character I was playing dictated this as the way to go about it.The Campus: Where do you see yourself headed? C.R.: Next year I'll be at Columbia in New York pursuing my MFA in acting. It's a great program and I'm excited to be a part of it. Anne Bogart, Andrei Serban and Kristin Linklater - three very important progressive theater minds - are the main teachers in the program. The program is based on experiment and play. I doubt that I'll be one of those actors headed for film or TV. Theater is what I love and what I think is the most fulfilling for me. I would like to work in a socially conscious theater - something I think Broadway and the mainstream repertory theaters avoid too much. I mean, how can we have a theater for the people when Broadway tickets cost over 100 bucks for the cheap seats? I also worry that theater isn't establishing itself as enough of a separate and distinct art form. Strict naturalism and other elements are often something that can be better achieved by film. Theater has specific abilities that make it unique and vital as an art form and part of its the collective experience it has with its audience. I want to do work that both serves and provokes the audience.The Campus: Well, good luck.C.R.: Thanks.
(05/07/03 12:00am)
Author: Edward Pickering From 1914 until 1931, Danish aristocrat Baroness Karen Blixen owned and operated a coffee plantation in Kenya. Like Elspeth Huxley's "The Flame Trees of Thika," previously reviewed in this column, Blixen's "Out of Africa" pulses with life as the author transposes the rhythms of the African landscape into words. Fairly serious in tone, Blixen's memoir outweighs Huxley's. In the scope of its subject matter "Out of Africa" surpasses "The Flame Trees of Thika." Unlike her English counterpart, Blixen (who wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen) was an adult during the years her memoir encompasses. Blixen, the reader quickly learns, was an exceptionally capable woman, managing the plantation herself, adjudicating disputes among the native workers, eradicating predators and handling the thousand different exigencies which an African planter must be prepared to face. Comprised of chapters that are often short in length and almost always narrowly focused on specific incidents, Blixen's memoir covers a lot of ground nonetheless, figuratively and literally. Blixen collocates descriptions of wildlife with accounts of her African workers, a shooting accident with an exploration of the Masai Reserve adjoining her property. Throughout, Blixen's narrative voice is meditative, her eye perceptive as a painter's. See if Blixen's opening doesn't grip you right off the bat:"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across the highlands, a hundred miles to the North, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evening were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold."The geographical position, and the height of the land combined to create a landscape that had not its like in all the world. There was no fat on it and no luxuriance anywhere; it was Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong and refined essence of a continent."The British colonial government, under whose aegis Blixen and Huxley lived and prospered, plays a far greater role in the former's memoir than the latter's. Blixen addresses the interaction between native and colonist; the clash of cultures is palpable.A note of sadness, suggested by the memoir's title, underlies "Out of Africa." This note swells in the fifth and final volume, the chapter headings of which read, "Hard Times," "Death of Kinanjui," "The Grave in the Hills," "Farah and I Sell Out" and "Farewell." A meditative elegy to Africa, Karen Blixen's memoir reflects as positively on herself as her adopted home.
(05/07/03 12:00am)
Author: Edward Pickering Natalie Howley '03 and Associate Professor of Mathematics & Computer Science and Co-Faculty Head of Ross Commons Steve Abbott have been announced as the student and faculty speakers for the Senior Awards Ceremony. 313 seniors voted in the final election, selecting Abbott from a list of six faculty nominees and Howley from a list of five student nominees."I was surprised and honored to be given the privilege of addressing an audience of senior award winners," said Howley, a mathematics major. "It is nice to get a pat on the back from your professors but even better to get one from your peers. I will try to make my speech entertaining and concise," she said. Kaitlin Gregg '03, originally listed as a nominee for student speaker, was named the Phi Beta Kappa speaker.Student nominees this year included, in addition to Natalie Howley, seniors Fahim Ahmed, Julia Fein, Quynh Nguyen, Katharine Ott, Jill Parsons and Michael Unger. Faculty nominees aside from Abbott included Assistant Professor of English Antonia Losano, Professor of English David Price, Benjamin F. Wissler Professor of Physics Rich Wolfson and Pardon Tillinghast Professor of Religion Larry Yarbrough.
(05/07/03 12:00am)
Author: Erika Mercer Picture the rural landscape of the Scottish Highlands - rolling green hills spotted with purple and gold wildflowers. White and gray rocks poking from mounds of dewy grass. Hidden glens enclosed by dense, misty fogs. Billowing clouds casting spotted shadows in the valleys. Tiny houses with faded red roofs leaning into the soft hillsides.Through his folk songs, Glasgow native Alasdair Roberts takes his listener through a tour of this very Scottish landscape. Along the way, he points to isolated houses, telling tales of each home's inhabitants - mournful tales of painful loss, unrequited love, desperate passion and lingering hardships. He shows that these tales are not new, but have been passed from generation to generation, a long tradition of the handing down of sorrow. Since his beginnings as a musician, Roberts has embraced his Scottish heritage. Previous to releasing his two solo albums, Roberts became known as the vocalist in his band, Appendix Out, with which he recorded three albums, "The Rye Bears A Poison" in 1997, "Daylight Saving" in 1999 and "Night Is Advancing" in 2001. Additionally, Roberts collaborated with the band, Songs: Ohia, making appearances on several of their albums. Roberts' first solo release, "The Crook of My Arm," debuted in April 2003 on Secretly Canadian, marking his departure from Appendix Out. Drawing on traditional English, Scottish and Irish ballads, Roberts innovatively interpreted and adapted their melodies and lyrics to appeal to a modern, indie-rock audience. While still respectfully preserving much of the pure beauty of the traditional folk compositions, he transported the songs to the present day, proving the timelessness of the ballads and their dark, sad themes. "The Crook of My Arm" presented songs that were, as one critic termed it, "rooted in the past, but alive in the present.""Farewell Sorrow," Roberts' second and most recent solo album, released in April 2003 on Drag City (Caroline), continues the tour through the Scottish landscape and folk songs begun in "The Crook of My Arm." While he does not make as direct use of the traditional ballads, he still borrows melodies and lyrics, evoking the same heritage of music and culture. Despite that some critics have attacked Roberts for twisting traditional songs to fit a modern audience, and others have scorned his use of outdated song material, Roberts holds fast to his music. He explains this catch-22: "Such tactics are, of course, likely to infuriate certain sections of the 'traditional music' orthodoxy. "On the other hand, underground rock music (a genre to which this record may or may not belong) places such a premium on the notion of artistic 'originality' and 'innovation' that many fans might dismiss the relevance of playing this supposedly long-dead music." He provides an answer by stating, "I would liken the subtle re- or de-formation of the songs in individual performances to the way years of footsteps gradually and imperceptibly wear down and remold a staircase." His reinterpretations of the time-honored ballads are not strained or corruptive, rather they stand for the natural progression of such music - of the stairs getting gradually worn down and reshaped. In addition, Roberts' proves that his songs are not antiquated, but timeless. They simply "remold" the traditional to fit to modern listeners.Through soft, minimal guitar picking and sparse back-up instrumentation (performed by Tom Crossley, Gareth Eggie, Bill Lowman and Rian Murphy), Roberts recreates the simplicity of the age-old songs, bestowing them with an intimate and pensive quality. His thin, woeful voice compliments the songs further, enhancing their purity and delicacy. His songs remain unadorned, graceful, and understated, paying an homage to the beauty and sadness of the original ballads. The lyrics, while not the contemporary, lingo-based lines of today's artists, still boast, in Roberts' words, "themes that are age-old, the situations and characters universal, archetypal. They gain their power from the fact that we have all experienced the beauty and sickness of love; and so each listener breathes his or her own life into the phantoms which populate the songs."He continues, "Similarly, the performer is charged with the task of reanimating their dark and ancient heart, and in this regard I am greatly indebted to the many fine Scottish, English and Irish singers whose interpretations of the songs inspired my own.""Farewell Sorrow," with its fusing of past and present, proves to be a fresh and rewarding listen, one abounding with subtle passion and shy but desperate longing. It gracefully weaves musical simplicity with emotional complexity, creating an album that is as timeless as the music from which it draws.
(04/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Caitlin Vaughn and Emily Lord We honestly can't remember the last time we felt completely alert, functional and eager to attend morning, afternoon or even evening class, and we're sure we're not in the minority. Many students have tried combating morning sleepiness with a big old mug of dining hall coffee, which is really only valuable for half a dose of alertness and then a thorough cleaning out of your digestive system mid-morning. If you belong to the no-breakfast club, or just grab a quick muffin or scone from Ross (which, if you haven't noticed, have gone from being large sized to munchkin sized as the year progresses, and might be the size of peanuts by graduation) you might feel as though you have been captured by the Lethargins, and become completely unproductive in your comatose state until lunch time. But then after both lunch and dinner "food coma" sets in full force and everything from class to exercise is strictly off limits until your system launches its digestion crusade and begins to battle your food fatigue. And that will certainly not help you in this last great push to the finish for the semester. In a time of late-nighters (or all-nighters for some), it is especially important to keep your eye on the ball, your nose to the grindstone, and your tummy in check from its more unfortunate dining-hall over-indulgences. One thing that will definitely help is the sad demise of the panini machine. In search of maximum variety and individual style, we Creative Cuisiners have become increasingly reliant on this hallowed object for our creativity, but along with that great variety comes a temptation to make dishes that are against the long-term interest of our educational enlightenment. In other words, living from the panini machine encourages us to choose ingredients that hinder rather than help our alertness level and brain power. But, never fear! We have explored the brain-food literature and have come up with some helpful suggestions. First of all, we have to talk about breakfast. That muffin/scone/bagel/English muffin we all gobble in the morning is probably less helpful than the average MiddKid would hope. In fact, loading on the carbohydrates, especially simple carbs such as white bread, has a soporific quality that most of us are trying to avoid before 8 a.m. classes (or worse, that sneak up on us in the post-lunch hours, when we're unprepared). That cup of coffee may have the temporary affect of a caffeine boost, but loading it with processed sugars actually contributes to the sleepiness. Ditto on processed sugars in candy, especially chocolate. Chocolate (though it may be a good stress reliever) is a double no-no because it also has high saturated fat content, which slows down the brain and hurts us when we need to be helped. Another double-offender is pizza, because of its high fat content and its heavy white-bread crust. No wonder I'm always sleepy after I go to dinner!Well, great, you think, what am I supposed to eat, then? In essence, the key to keeping your mind alert is (shockingly) to eat healthfully. As the Romans said, "mens sana in corpore sano." A sound mind in a sound body. This means eating a lower-carb diet with lots of veggies and high-protein, lower fat options like fish and beans. Fish is especially good because it contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which are supposed to boost brain power (and here we thought that Omega-3 was a term reserved for science fiction TV shows...). The Tilapia that the dining halls have recently been serving goes great on salads and sandwiches, is a nice, fresh alternative to tuna, and is environmentally responsible. So, you can do good for yourself and for the world. Try substituting fruit like apples for chocolates. Fructose, unlike processed sugars, doesn't dull the senses as much, and a diet high in vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin C, also boosts the immune system. Since no one can really afford to be sick during the last two weeks of school, it's a good thing to build into your dining hall visits. Thus, even at the moments when we most want to eat comfort foods, we should keep our resolve. It adds up to less stress later, because we'll be more alert and responsive now! Here are several good recipes to make that will hone our brains for the great push to finals. Good luck!Variations on the Theme of the Tuna Sandwich:Instead of the traditional tuna salad (tuna, mayo, celery, salt and pepper), try mustard and relish as your condiments. Or, if you are feeling Mediterranean, try hummus. If you like a lighter salad, try a few dashes of white vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil, and add a few chopped red onions. Or, if you're a die-hard mayo fan, try including apple pieces, raisins or broccoli florets along with the celery. Salad NiÁoise:In a bowl or on a plate, combine salad greens, tuna fish, green beans, sliced onion, green peppers, olives, sliced boiled eggs (if available) and roasted potatoes cut into small pieces. In a separate cup, combine white or cider vinegar, a scoop of Dijon mustard, a dash of olive oil, a dash of garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Stir with fork and pour over salad. Super-Duper Veggie Sandwich:On whole-wheat toast, spread a layer of hummus. Add carrots, sprouts, lettuce, tomato, and whatever other veggies you want. For a twist, add pesto or a thin layer of sliced turkey. Bean in Your Bonnet Salad:In a bowl, combine kidney beans, chick peas, green beans (if available), black beans, red onion (diced or sliced) and green pepper pieces. Add a dash or two of olive oil, about 3 teaspoons of red wine vinegar, a dash of garlic powder,a dash of basil, and salt and pepper to taste.
(04/30/03 12:00am)
Author: Andrea Gissing Associate Professor of English Robert Cohen was one of 184 artists, writers, scholars and scientists who were awarded a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation this year. Cohen is a an award-winning novelist who teaches courses in creative writing as well as in modern literature. Cohen has been a member of the faculty at Middlebury College since 1997. He has written three novels, which are entitled, "The Organ Builder," "The Here and Now" and "Inspired Sleep." He is also the author of a collection of short fiction, entitled "The Varieties of Romantic Experience." For his writings he has received such awards as a Whiting Writers' Award, a Lila Wallace Writers' Award and a Pushcart Prize. Cohen is currently a resident of Middlebury. He has also taught at Harvard University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers' Conference as well as the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. According to a College press release, the recipients of the fellowship were selected because they displayed "distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment." The 184 recipients were collectively awarded a total of $6,750,000. They represented just less than six percent of the total applicant pool, which included 3,282 people.Cohen's Fellowship is designed to go towards a new novel that he is writing. The last memeber of the Middlebury College faculty to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship was D. E. Axinn Professor of Creative Writing and Professor of English Jay Parini. Parini was awarded the Fellowship in 1993.
