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 ...
On the 10th of January 2013, after Islamist forces from the north of Mali started advancing south towards the capital Bamako, the Malian government demanded help from the French military. Through either post-colonial guilt or neo-colonial greed, the French committed to ensuring political stability ...
Winter term is wonderful for so many reasons: more fun with friends, homework for only one class and ample time to plan elaborately themed parties, make a kickass broomball team or construct an igloo outside your dorm. These are the parts of winter term that we like to remember — the memories that ...
Last week the Campus published an article on Room 404, a new student publication. They ran an early draft of the article that was largely inaccurate. If you’re interested in the publication, here are some notes to give you an idea of what it’s actually about. Last week’s article stated that Room ...
Are you ready to do the math? I am too ... but in the last few days, I’ve also been doing the history. Yes, doing the history, the history of social movements, and I’ve been asking: “What makes movements work?” I’ve looked back to 1960, the year I was born, when four students from the Agricultural ...
From the Aurora Theater shooting to the horrifying Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, the widely publicized mass shootings of 2012 provoke an important social question on whether or not the Second Amendment right to bear arms should be readdressed. In the wake of these tragedies, politicians and ...
We do not have a unique mental illness problem in this country; other countries also have people who suffer from mental illness. But you wouldn’t know it from listening to NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who supports the right to carry a gun at the cost of any other right. He seems to think that ...
The first thing I did when I got a text message asking if I had seen what was going on in Newtown was check online news sources. After reading a few headlines and skimming a few articles, sparse in detail and high in speculation, I went downstairs to my family room. I sat down next to my mother, who ...
This academic year, there has arguably been no bigger issue on the minds of Middlebury students than divestment. The topic polarizes us at times. Some argue that as an institution with a pledged commitment to environmental and social justice, Middlebury should put its money where its mouth is. Divesting ...
About one year ago, the College launched a new site — ‘go/portal’ — in order to aggregate information about events and activities on campus. The initiative aimed to provide a single, comprehensive resource for students, many of who were tired of their inboxes being inundated daily with all-student ...
The recent movie Zero Dark Thirty showed extremely clear visuals of Pakistan and I felt awkward sitting in a theatre in Boston watching my own country on screen. It has been two years since I have been to Pakistan. There is a longing to go back; it is as if the smell of rain, pakoras and chai beckon ...
In an article published on the front page of the Dec. 6, 2012 edition of the Campus (Panel Discusses Racial Diversity), my position on affirmative action was described this way: “Dry, an opponent of affirmative action, suggested that affirmative action does not have a place in college admissions and ...
Being a Feb has, for better or for worse, defined much of my time at Middlebury thus far. I am now preparing to work as one of the leaders for Feb orientation after the end of winter term. I look forward to meeting the new class and re-experiencing some of the orientation activities alongside them, ...
Superstorm Sandy may be a bit of an afterthought now that both J-Term and winter in Vermont are well under way, but remnants of the catastrophic storm are still very much visible back home in New Jersey. Thankfully, my home and neighborhood managed to remain reasonably unscathed in the wake of the storm ...
I could not focus as I clicked through the questions. While I was supposed to select answers, it did not seem there could possibly be any. Twenty beautiful elementary school students were brutally massacred on the day I sat for my examination to be certified to teach elementary school. When I awoke ...