The more I learn, the more I learn that I have learned very little. Bertrand Russell said of this inverse relationship: “those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.” I like to use this quote. It lends credence to my ...
Bill Clinton made an appearance on the Daily Show two weeks ago, and he made the first strong case I’ve heard in a while — from a Democrat — for keeping his party in power after November: 18 months have passed since President Obama took the White House with the tough task of repairing the damage ...
An article in the New York Times last week described yet another issue that the Texas Board of Education took with their history textbooks. The board accused that the new books assert a “pro-Islamic bias” and an anti-Christian agenda, and members worry about the influence such heretical material ...
My second to last third Monday of a Middlebury semester began much like most of its predecessors: with a delirious 7:15 a.m. breakfast. Damn chemistry classes. Anyway, I was having a blast pacing back and forth in front of the Ross drink station trying to decide whether I wanted skim or two percent ...
The highlight of this week was undoubtedly the rhetorical season-opener given by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz in Mead Chapel on Wednesday. Unfortunately, since The Campus goes to press on Tuesdays, I have yet to hear the heart-wrenching oratory of our great leader. The options for obtaining ...
Dear Campus, I rarely get homesick. However, if there’s one instance when I really miss Mommy it’s when I’ve got the flu. If there are two instances when I really miss Mommy they are when I’ve got the flu and when I’m really, really hungry. Last night I was perfectly healthy, but boy did ...
When stripped of passions, ideologies and embellishments, environmentalism is fundamentally concerned with one fairly basic concept: limits. Whether it takes the form of slowing consumption of finite fossil fuel resources, achieving ideal population size or maintaining the range of planetary conditions ...
Since the day when the Mayflower first docked in Plymouth Harbor, the United States (as it came to be known) has always been thought of as the land of opportunity. For John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans, it was a city on the hill; a beacon for mankind. For the framers of our government, it was a ...
It is easy to forget about the doldrums of January and the blistering cold of February during the mild days of September, but they will come. Despite the ominous tone, this statement regarding the advent of winter is meant to be inspiring rather than debilitating. The only problem with Vermont autumns ...
I live in the newly renovated Munford House a.k.a. “Young Munny” a.k.a. “Beta Gamma Omichron” (BΓO). The numerous nicknames we’ve invented for our beloved house, as well as the fact that we made shirts celebrating Munford at the end of last year, provide a sense of how excited everyone is ...
When was the last time you used the word “awkward?” Was it to describe the time that random guy sat next to you in Proctor who started inquiring about the origins of your last name? Or was it when that other guy gave you a folded piece of paper in the lunch line and made enough muffled noises to ...
This past January, as the nation collectively reflected on the past decade and prepared for the next one, I bid a fond farewell to my teenage years — and all the awkwardness, angst and acne that accompanied them. Needless to say, I wasn’t too broken up to see them go, but my anxiety about the decade ...
It’s been a frustrating year and a half for liberals. Despite hefty margins in the House and Senate, the Right has seized both the political narrative and substantial leads in most polls. While the Democrats have had some political victories – the stimulus package, health care reform, financial ...
I worked in an office this past summer. Around the room were several wall-mounted TVs tuned to financial news channels. The intended purpose, I assume, was to keep the office updated with any breaking news relevant to their occupations. In effect, it was rarely watched. Initially I paid little attention ...
Well, it’s that time of year again. Several weeks of e-mails from professors and gradually cooling nights have served as warning, but nothing can ever quite prepare us for the start of a whole new school year. The papers, the tests and the stress are back, but so is our beautiful Vermont campus and ...
Welcome back, Middlebury. After browsing through the photos you submitted to The Campus’ Summer Photo Contest, I know that many of you did some really spectacular things this summer. You traveled, you spent time with family, you made new friends. You soaked up beautiful vistas, you met exotic animals, ...
For most of the world’s people, climate change is inextricably linked to starvation, migration and extinction; the phenomena cannot be mentioned independently of declining crop yields, rising seas and vector-borne disease. For the overwhelming minority of us living in the developed world, however, ...
BEST WEEK EVER. Such a statement, rendered in all caps and spoken with the naïve earnestness of the Double Rainbow guy, is often written off as hyperbole. However, it is my job to prove to you, loyal Campus reader, that such a statement can be spoken with confidence, without inspiring vitriol, EVERY ...