What is it to have an eating disorder?
Content warning: this op-ed contains mention of self-harm and suicide.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Middlebury Campus's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query.
5 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Content warning: this op-ed contains mention of self-harm and suicide.
As a child of Generation Z, I do not remember 9/11, but I do remember my parents downgrading from our “beep beep” Road Runner High Speed Internet to our “screech screech” dial-up internet. My family was pretty early to the home-internet game, so at my elementary STEM magnet school, I was one of the only kids in my kindergarten class who knew how to access the internet. Therefore, I was the girl who proudly showed all the boys how to play computer games on the Playhouse Disney website. Five years later, it was 2009. Ethernet, desktop internet, was still king. “Zoom” was just a television show on PBS Kids and “Google it” was not in my vocabulary. My most memorable internet experience was the fateful day that my stock-tracking buddies in my math class and I logged on to our desktop classroom computers to learn that the market had crashed and our imaginary investments had vanished. (Except for that one quiet kid who invested in a stock we'd never heard of called “Netflix.”) In middle school and early high school, I really only used the internet for recreational purposes. Back then, it was perfectly normal for me to leave the house without my phone and go for an entire week without using the internet. I only began regularly using the internet in the 11th grade when I went to boarding school. At home, I occasionally borrowed a computer from my parents; at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, however, every student was required to have their own laptop. Despite dreaded 1 a.m. WiFi cutoffs, I relied on my institution to make sure I had sufficient internet access to submit my assignments on Canvas and to upload coding assignments to the server in the computer science department. Fast forward six years. Everything, including WiFi, was big in Texas. During my gap year, I lived at an Austin seminary where my rent was $250, utilities and internet included. WiFi was pretty simple. My housemates and I simply picked up a modem and plugged it into the wall. We made our WiFi password something along the lines of "WeHaveInternet!" to mark the momentous occasion. Back in school at Middlebury, I never had any particular problems connecting to the internet. I only used FaceTime about twice a year, and I used Zoom once this past January to interview for a consulting internship. I don't have an Instagram, Snapchat or Tik Tok. Even at Midd, I really only used the internet to check my email. If I needed to complete an intensive technology task, I was headed to a campus computer lab. My relationship with the internet was fine until Middlebury announced that it would be closing as a precautionary measure due to the Covid-19 crisis. It is now 2020, and the world is officially in a WiFi era. With the extended spring break, I decided to start a new virtual workout program. Sadly, my Covid-19 self-quarantine resolution met a brick wall with my parent’s internet. It could sometimes take minutes to refresh my email, so accessing HD Video Teleconferencing platforms such as Zoom was a far-off dream. On Wednesday, March 25, I reached out to the CCI about the Middlebury Student Emergency Fund, but I was told to seek help elsewhere. The judgement was that my slow internet was not an urgent situation, and I needed to try harder before coming to the college for help. Thus, I was annoyed by President Laurie Patton’s March 29 email, praising the initial success of the Emergency Fund. Even decisions about whose emergency merits a response reek of privilege. Yet other institutions are responding to student needs in the Covid-19 crisis quite differently. For instance, UC Berkeley’s Student Technology Fund is rapidly deploying laptops and WiFi hotspots with service plans to students in need free of charge. In addition, students can request a Cost of Attendance Adjustment if they need to purchase a new device or take on other expenses to participate in remote learning. During the second week of spring break, the provost sent out a survey asking if students had access to home high speed internet. I now realize that I provided false information because I naively assumed that all internet access of any speed was equally sufficient. Post-epiphany, I now plan to take advantage of internet service providers who are giving households with at least one K-12, college student or teacher two months of free high-speed internet access. Still, this leaves me wondering just how many low-tech users like myself may have overestimated their access to high speed internet, not realizing that a WiFi connection that can connect to Facebook cannot necessarily reliably support an hour long Zoom conference call. Christine McDow is a member of the class of 2021.
If I were to survey fellow members of our Middlebury community about the origins of the optimistic orphan trope in American popular culture, those adept in literary illusions would likely point to Charles Dickens’ classic novel Oliver Twist while those versed in American film would likely point to the musical Annie. The latter 1982 American classic film and its 2014 remake tell the story of little girl named Annie whose parents abandoned her at a New York orphanage during the Great Depression leaving only a locket and a letter articulating their intention to return for their darling girl in better times. Annie’s life trajectory is permanently altered when a wealthy Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks (a not-so-subtle aside to the reality that capitalists accumulate wealth from the wartime bloodshed of labor) offers her salvation from poverty and orphanhood, agreeing to adopt Annie as his daughter. The film’s conflict is established when Mr. Warbucks attempts to search for the orphan’s parents and fraudulent couples, in desperation, attempt to fabricate their relation to the abandoned orphan child. Conflict is resolved when Annie’s parents are pronounced dead and she is adopted into a new family. This is the trope of the orphan girl using her optimism to overcome obstacles. Yet anyone who traces the origins of the optimistic orphan to Annie is a man with a muckrake whose preoccupation with the manure of contemporary media culture distracts him from the shining child star overhead who redefined the meaning of celebrity and stardom in American popular culture history: Shirley Temple. [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]If you have strength of character, optimism and self-reliance, you too can be as happy as Shirley.[/pullquote] At the height of her fame, 19 men were employed full-time to write movie scripts to help America’s princess lift the spirit of the country out of the mire of the Depression. The basic plot for a Shirley Temple film was to present Shirley’s character to the audience, kill off her parents, attach the orphan to a middle-aged man, establish conflict through a custody battle, and allow Shirley’s delightful dancing, charming singing, and infectious optimism to resolve the conflict, ending the story on a high note. At least 15 Shirley Temple films, including Bright Eyes (’34), Curly Top (’35), Dimples (’36), Heidi (’37), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms (’38), follow this plot. The theme was always the same: if you have strength of character, optimism and self-reliance, you too can be as happy as Shirley. Deeply entangled in the trope of the optimistic orphan is the myth of the normal child; the notion that all children are resilient and easily recover from hardship. With her darling dimples, porcelain skin and golden curls, America’s princess gave the myth of the normal child a charming face. Telling the story that all children could be as happy as Shirley if they just kept believing in capitalism and the American dream functioned as “a real tonic” in 1930s America. Modern critics lavish her as an American cultural icon, saying, “[she was] what we wanted to believe America represented, what we wanted to believe the United States represented.” Yet others critique these simplified narratives of using one’s optimism to overcome obstacles, suggesting that this storytelling fulfilled America’s hunger for escapist entertainment by enabling them to “actively distract themselves in lavish fantasy worlds.” Mostly notably, FDR has reportedly said of Temple, “as long as we have Shirley Temple, we will be alright.” From the poor house to the White House, Shirley was truly America’s little girl. As we celebrate Women’s History Month this March, I would like to take the time to consider how Shirley Temple Black’s lifetime achievement in acting and performance redefined the role of women on the silver screen. Scholars often trace the origin of the girl hero to Shirley. Yet the reality that Shirley’s stardom was used to sell products, politics, and ideologies is extremely complicated. Thus, I invite you to join me as we consider how Shirley Temple Black’s childhood acting career and adult career in politics has shaped the American popular imagination about what it means to be a girl.
Adequate habitual sleep and nutrition are major barriers to college student academic success. The presupposition that college students already know or have access to knowledge of the best studying practices is categorically true. Information on best practices for studying, time management and learning are readily available to college students through institution sponsored peer tutors, professor office hours, and college learning assistance centers. Considering Maslow’s revised hierarchy of needs, it is futile for a college student to strive to have her higher-level cognitive needs met if her lower-level physiological needs for sleep and nutrition go unmet. In hunger and tiredness, the joy of learning can easily be forgotten. Before even approaching the seat in the lecture hall or the carrel in the library, preparation for academic success must begin by approaching the bed in the dorm room and the plate in the dining hall. To prepare to study well in 2019, college students should first learn to habitually eat and rest well. [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]College students should know that sleeplessness contests are a race to the bottom. [/pullquote] College students often brag about their sleep debts. With verbosity, they divulge how many “all-nighters” they pull and how much caffeine they consume in a given week. Although such boastings are generally viewed as socially acceptable if not laudable on college campuses, college students should know that sleeplessness contests are a race to the bottom. College-age students need about nine hours of sleep per night. If students do not get adequate sleep, they will likely experience difficulty paying attention, thinking clearly, learning new information and solving problems. Psychologists deem lack of attention as one of the seven deadly sins of memory. As such, a sleep-deprived college student will also experience difficulty converting information from short-term and working memory to long-term memory; thus, hampering learning. Beyond difficulty with studying and learning, a lack of sleep is a risk factor for major depression. Moderate to total sleep deprivation stimulates social repulsion signals and sedates prosocial signals in the human brain resulting in the exhibition of a behavioral phenotype of social withdrawal and loneliness. This behavioral phenotype is distinct and is recognized by others who then begin to avoid the exhibiting individual. The consequence of sleep deprivation is thus a vicious cycle of spiraling loneliness as members of the social group withdraw from the individual and the individual further withdraws from the social group. [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Students may consider readjusting their schedules to allow for nine hours of rest each day.[/pullquote] Depression and loneliness, regardless of severity, can make it more difficult for college students to find the motivation to attend and study for classes — thus, hindering learning. If a college student is having difficulty sleeping, she should know that her academic performance could be at risk. To address poor sleep habits, college students may consider readjusting their schedules to allow for nine hours of rest each day — even if all that time is not spent sleeping. Students can also set alarms that correspond with sleeping for 90-minute intervals so that sleep cycles are not interrupted. If a college student finds that her difficulty sleeping is not resolved by budgeting more time for rest, she should see a health professional. Possible behavioral psychological interventions to improve quality of sleep may include cognitive-behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, mindfulness and hypnotherapy. Once a college student changes her schedule to ensure that she arrives to the lecture hall and the library well-rested, the college student can then shift her attention to arriving to academic commitments well-fed. A textbook-based course may meet at a time when a student might otherwise be consuming a meal. If this is the case, a college student may consider readjusting her schedule to allow for time to consume a meal prior to attending class. Coming to class hungry will cause her to be preoccupied with thoughts of food decreasing attention and hampering memory of course material. In the case of a morning class, the benefits of eating breakfast are well-documented. A study at Qazvin University of Medical Sciences found that college students who ate breakfast, consumed at least eight servings of fruit and vegetables, and consumed three meals and two snacks daily were the happier than their peers. Thus, the quality, quantity, and consistency of a student’s diet has implications on both physical and emotional health. In the case of classes near lunchtime, eating lunch can be associated with a post-lunch dip in the performance. However, the combination of lunch with a short nap mitigates the post-lunch dip and improves alertness, mental and physical performance. Eating breakfast along with consuming a consistent quality diet of moderate calorie, nutrient-rich food is positively correlated with academic achievement. Regardless of when a college student’s class meets, the student should ensure that she consumes sufficient nutrients prior to attending the class so that she arrives attentive, happy, and ready to learn. The narrow pursuit of the gaining esteem by achieving of academic excellence in a textbook-based course must be placed within the broader pursuit of a healthy self. High quality sleep and balanced nutrition, along with exercise, outdoor activity and sunlight exposure are key parts of living a healthy lifestyle as a college student. If, by prioritizing her physical needs to eat and sleep, a college student begins to inhabit her body well, she will decrease her risk of experiencing depression and increase academic attention and focus. Thus, consistently eating and sleeping well is a college student’s most ready means of sustaining her love of learning in 2019.
For students for whom strolling across grassy beaches sipping hot apple cider in the crisp autumn breeze is their ideal college experience, attending a NESCAC school might fulfill their fantasy. Thus, the carrot of the admissions advantage offered by early-decision admissions programs may be too tantalizing to resist. Yet, it is well documented that only select groups of students, athletes and legacies with mediocre academic records, truly stand to benefit from Early Decision (ED) programs. ED programs were really designed for the convenience of institutions, rather than students. [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]ED admissions artificially deflate the acceptance rates at NESCAC schools.[/pullquote] Historically, ED programs were designed by small liberal arts colleges in the 1950s to trap the best students in a binding agreement before those students could apply to Ivy League schools. Considering that the projected Regular Decision (RD) admissions yield is about 25% at most NESCAC schools, in the absence of ED admissions, NESCAC schools would likely need to double and in some cases quadruple their acceptance rates in order to successfully fill their incoming classes. Thus, ED admissions artificially deflate the acceptance rates at NESCAC schools, boosting their selectivity index and positions in the journalistic rankings of American colleges. Considering this history, it is not surprising that as of April 2018, the ED programs at Amherst, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Williams and Tufts are all under Department of Justice investigation. Whether ED programs are an entirely ethical practice in United States higher education is debatable. ED programs are remarkably absent from admissions programs outside North America. With the deadline for ED II admissions as well as RD admissions at NESCAC schools fast approaching, here are a few points of consideration to muse over while deciding whether to apply to NESCAC colleges ED or RD, if at all. Before applying ED in the NESCAC, students should consider these and other social, emotional and financial costs. Although most colleges profess a commitment to student mental health, many colleges will only counsel students with short-term needs that can be resolved in a brief time frame, with some schools limiting students to as little as three free counseling sessions. All colleges are required to withdraw Title IV federal funds from students not meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements, but some NESCAC schools discretionarily withdraw institutional aid from students with low GPAs. All colleges are required to comply with and accommodate students under the Americans with Disabilities Act, yet students needing to take a semester off or a ninth semester for reasons related to mental or physical health may face challenges both bureaucratic and financial. Although written policies on taking a semester off vary, a residential life director or commons dean may hold the power to deny a student’s request to leave mid-semester or take a semester off. In addition, taking a semester off or ninth semester may prove especially challenging for students with financial need since NESCAC schools overwhelmingly restrict financial aid to eight semesters, only providing ninth semesters of aid under extenuating circumstances. All NESCAC schools except Connecticut College, Trinity, Tufts and Wesleyan are need-blind. Regardless, there is no common definition of what need-blind means in practice. Even need-blind schools can use unorthodox means, such as considering parent occupation and high school prestige, to become unofficially aware of a student’s financial means. So, at the very least it may behoove students from middle- and low-income families to leave the box on the Common App indicating an intention to apply for financial aid unchecked. [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]The answers to questions about these hidden costs of college are not readily available through journalistic rankings, institutional promotional literature or campus tours.[/pullquote] Most NESCAC schools claim to meet a student’s full financial need, yet individual colleges determine whether students can use outside scholarship to cover additional costs such as annual health insurance or the one-time purchase of a personal computer. In special cases, individual colleges may even match outside scholarship earned through service in AmeriCorps dollar-per-dollar. Any student awarded work-study based on their FAFSA would be able to apply for on-campus jobs early at most colleges. Yet, the amount of hours a student might need to work in a given week may vary drastically depending on a specific college’s student pay rate ranging from $10 to $15 per hour. Notably, although compensation for resident assistant positions ranges from $2500 to $6500 per academic year, not all NESCAC schools provide RAs with free housing. For low-resource students, the presence and accessibility of textbook libraries, winter coat closets and medical emergency funds may significantly decrease financial stress. The answers to questions about these hidden costs of college are not readily available through journalistic rankings, institutional promotional literature or campus tours. To get the answer to these questions, you may have to pick up the phone or even sit down face-to-face with staff and students outside the admissions office. Although these costs may be trivial to students from families in the top one percent (as much as a fifth of NESCAC students), to students from families in the bottom 60 percent (as little as a 10th of NESCAC students) these unanticipated costs may prove to be taxing on their overall college experience. Transferring in the sophomore fall is an option for ED students who find their school is a poor fit, but poor mental health and financial difficulty may make reapplying to college difficult. Thus, before applying ED to a NESCAC school, carefully count the costs.