Notes from the Desk: Why we need to talk about suicide
By Sophia Mcdermott-Hughes | November 4, 2021If the message when you need help is that you have to search for it yourself, all that many people will hear is that there is no help for them.
Opinion
Writing and striking from the precipice of the climate crisis
By Emily Thompson | November 4, 2021Content Warning: This op-ed contains mentions of a hunger strike.
Grieving as a community
By Editorial Board | October 28, 2021And as we did, confused and conflicted about what to do and what to feel, no one around us seemed to be talking to it. It became silent grief for many of us, and it remained unclear how or when it would be processed.
The Middlebury Romantic: The Real-Life Horror Movie
By Edyth Moldow | October 28, 2021Whether or not you agree, it does seem like the monsters that creep across our screens sometimes appear in real life. Horror movie tropes represent different types of partners you might find in your life, and certainly here at Middlebury.
Time: Off
By Florence Wu | October 28, 2021The idea came to me while watching a snowboarding movie called “Offline” which started with a neon-coloured, 3D, spinning sign that said: “The Internet Never Sleeps.” In the background was a dizzying collage of memes, likes, emojis and phones. The introduction nauseated me so much that I ...
NFTD: Learning to Redefine Disability
By Daleelah Saleh | October 14, 2021I have anxiety and depression. My favorite color is purple (or blue, depending on the day). I’m happiest in libraries, at concerts, on the beach or watching sunsets. I’m passionate about multimedia storytelling and creating positive representation for marginalized communities. Fall is my favorite ...
Middlebury Students Deserve to Live at Middlebury College
By Sam Lipin | October 14, 2021Bread Loaf should not have been a housing option this year. It should never again be an option. I am a junior Feb, meaning I had five weeks of normal Middlebury life before being dealt a heavily altered college experience lasting the next two and a half semesters. During those two semesters, the undergraduate ...
Playtime with the Doric String Quartet
By Ben Beese | October 14, 2021As I sit down to write this, I ask myself, “why bother?” It is common and far too accurate to joke about the absence of young people in concert halls. Such jokes were made to me at least twice in reference to last weekend’s concert by the Doric String Quartet and Jonathan Biss. Of course, the ...
Letter to the Editor
By Jonathan Isham | October 14, 2021"The Other Pandemic" (October 7, 2021), signed by Professor Jason Mittell on behalf of the AAUP Executive Committee and Working Conditions Committee, contains at least one false statement and one claim that cannot be supported by any known data. "Vermont case counts are currently higher than nearly ...
To Each Their Own Balance
By Editorial Board | October 7, 2021After a year and a half of quarantining, distancing and Zooming, Middlebury is beginning to again resemble what it once was, and the desire to return to a pre-pandemic campus life — pre-dispersion of friends and classmates taking semesters off or learning remotely, pre-seeing close contacts only, ...
The Other Pandemic
By Jason Mittell | October 7, 2021After last academic year offered a notable success story that stood out amongst our peer institutions, achieved through a combination of diligence, planning, and very good fortune, Middlebury has opted to forgo much of what made last year so successful despite the continued prevalence of Covid-19 in ...
Keeping us in the loop is the minimum requirement
By Editorial Board | September 30, 2021Two weeks ago, we editorialized on the importance of testing as a means to mitigate community spread. Now, Middlebury is offering opt-in asymptomatic testing on Mondays. However, many questions and contradictions remain regarding Covid-19 risk and safety protocols on campus. As a board, we are again ...
What happened to protecting the most vulnerable?
By Abigail Chang and Anna Metzler | September 30, 2021Things are finally starting to feel normal again here at Middlebury. Proc is bustling, classrooms are full and Atwater residents are throwing ragers again. And with nearly 99% of on-campus students fully vaccinated, the days of universal twice-weekly testing, outdoor masking and close contacts have ...
The Middlebury Romantic asks: What is love?
By Edyth Moldow | September 30, 2021Ralph Waldo Emerson’s view of love is this: “Human beings are like globes, which can touch only in a point, and, whilst they remain in contact, all other points of each of the spheres are inert.” While he is a controversial figure (for good reason, might I add), this transcendentalist literary ...
Middlebury staff require an overdue sense of urgency
By Editorial Board | September 23, 2021This summer, when it became readily apparent that the student body would be significantly overenrolled for the fall 2021 semester, the college immediately sought out potential solutions. They made arrangements for dozens of students to live at the Bread Loaf campus and the Middlebury Marriott. Most ...
NFTD: I Miss You
By Sarah Miller | September 23, 2021I remember with nauseating clarity when my high school boyfriend paused an episode of Black Mirror, turned to me, and said, “I think we should break up or go on a break for the summer.” What I said in response has been erased in my memory by the brutal shock of the blow and the paradoxical feeling ...
Returning to Before
By Haley Hutchinson | September 23, 2021Over a year into the Covid-19 era, and it seems that things might be finally turning around. Are the long anticipated moments of mask unveiling and social gatherings and in-person classes upon us? With recent vaccine developments in the U.S., many of us have replaced skepticism with optimism. That is ...
Notes from the Desk: This time, on paper
By Riley Board, Lucy Townend and Abigail Chang | September 17, 2021It’s been 553 days since we last printed an issue of our newspaper. It’s been 555 days since we were told that we were being sent home from campus due to the pandemic; it’s been 555 days since we gathered in our basement office to work on publishing an issue that looked very different than it ...
It’s time to stop pretending and start testing
By Editorial Board | September 16, 2021Since the start of the academic year, Colby has had 11 Covid-19 cases, Amherst has had 23, and Bowdoin has had 42. Tufts has had 25 this week alone, and a significant outbreak at Connecticut College resulted in 180 positives since students returned to campus. And while we too like to believe that Vermont ...
Twenty Minutes, Twenty Years: My Reflection On 9/11 As A New Yorker and Muslim-American
By Daleelah Saleh | September 16, 2021My mom FaceTimed me last Saturday, joking that I should call up my dad and brother and remind them that I’m the only reason either of them are alive right now. We laughed about it, but it felt heavy. I know — more than most — what it would have been like to lose someone on 9/11. At the time ...