I love Middlebury, but, despite all its beauty and opportunity, I am constantly disappointed in the culture of debate on campus. Daily, we engage in identity politics, doing nothing to further the conversation surrounding issues of importance like race or gender-based discrimination. Instead, through ...
If anything can be said of President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, it may be that it left environmentally-minded individuals with more questions than answers. The president wasted little time out of the gates bringing up energy issues (Politico has his first mention of renewable energy ...
The job hunt. I have begun to wonder if the anxiety that surrounds finding a job is less about being employed and more about our egos. Selling ourselves to employers may require as much boasting and resume-padding as we can muster without giving ourselves away, but its not illogical assume that as we ...
When I was a senior in high school and deciding where I wanted to go to school, most of my extended family expected me to go to a Division I school where I could experience the culture of big-time college sports. I didn’t know then that I would come to love Division III athletics, but choosing to ...
Last week, members of Middlebury’s IntraVarsity Christian Fellowship hung posters across campus that sparked complex considerations of religion — “Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or exactly who he said he was,” for example — in order to attract students to join in on group meetings. At ...
Last Saturday morning, the seven of us gave a 45-minute presentation in front of the full Board of Trustees advocating for divestment of Middlebury’s endowment from the fossil fuels and weapons manufacturing industries. We spoke for the hundreds of students across campus who have expressed their ...
Was my last article a little too Eat Pray Love-y? I feel like my last article was a little too Eat Pray Love-y. I hope you can bear with me if any more sentimental-study-abroad-blog, gag-if-I-see-one-more-Instagram-of-your-cultural-experience moments arise. This time I hope I can kick that association ...
This past Saturday during Winter Carnival, everybody and their mother showed up to the Snow Bowl, rowdy and retro and revved up to support the ski team. It was a sight to behold: dozens of kids tailgating in the parking lot, snagging free popcorn samples and trekking up the mountain to reach the “cheering ...
Romania joined the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007. Despite adhering three years after the majority of Eastern European countries, the country is still considered to be part of the fifth wave of expansion. The delay was due to widespread concern surrounding Romania’s high-level of organized crime and ...
It became clear in just a few days here over J-term that the issue of divestment has captured the imagination of the Middlebury population. In a school full of aspiring investors, targeting the endowment is a clever approach, and divestment is not a bad idea. It is the height of hypocrisy to rail against ...
Last week I experienced the curious feeling of missing someone. I actually didn’t realize I missed this person (who I will call Django) until I made what I then thought was an arbitrary and mindless decision to call him. When I hung up the phone I was overcome by an unexpected sensation of loss and ...
The recent increase in fines for parking violations — from $10 to $50 for a single ticket — brings our attention to the complex relationship between students and Public Safety officials at the College. Public Safety plays an important role by protecting students, faculty and staff and working ...
Today is Valentine’s Day. No matter how you feel about this “holiday” — whether you love it, hate it or try to forget about it — Feb. 14 usually makes us think about love. And, even though the two are not necessarily or always related, love often makes us think about sex. Most college students, ...
Are you addicted to your phone? Think about it for a second. How much of your day do you spend glued to your smartphone, checking emails, texting friends and reading articles? I know that when all is said and done, I am guilty of spending a good chunk of every single day on my phone. Before this winter ...
Society creates numerous barriers to become self-aware — mainly that it creates so-called “acceptable” models of behavior that cannot possibly match each person’s set of ethics and beliefs. But higher education compels us to move past the childhood world of social mimicry and to question what ...
The other day it became strikingly clear to me how genuinely unaffected I’ve been by environmental issues. I’ve never been the victim of environmental injustice. I’ve never been oppressed (outright) by oil companies or arms manufacturers. Having clean water was only ever an issue when the town ...
The Breakfast Club did it, Principal Duval in Mean Girls did it and now, Middlebury has done it too. Gather a bunch of students with various social identities, races, genders, sexualities, etc. and, basically, let them go at it: let them talk. Having participated in Middlebury’s first JusTalks event ...
Dear first-year Febs, I’m just a guy in his last semester that wants to welcome those in their first. I want to be an example of one of the many friendly (and weird) members of your college community. In the process, I would like to share a little about what I’ve learned and what treasures ...
As I approach the very end of my time here, I occasionally wonder how much my perspective has changed over the years. I still worry about many of my freshman concerns: Am I happy? Do I have enough friends? Do I like them? Did I take the right class? Presented with an absurd time crunch, these issues ...
Some things I did over winter break: yoga, Catholic mass with my grandmother, an ex-dudefriend. My New Year’s resolution for last year was “be not afraid.” For me, “be not afraid,” meant to shake off my tendency to over-plan and overthink, to take risks and to accept when things don’t ...