Rain pounded the Middlebury College campus most of the night of May 22, portending soggy surroundings for the next morning's graduation exercises. By dawn, however, the showers ceased, and the tradition of an outdoor commencement was upheld for the 12th year in a row. The ceremony's location moved this year from behind Forest Hall, the commencement venue for the past 27 years, to the main quadrangle in front of Voter Hall.
Christopher Reeve and Dana Morosini Reeve '84 were joint commencement speakers. Dana Reeve told graduates to expect the unexpected. "I never would have predicted the fabric of my life would have evolved into the rich, complex design I enjoy and am challenged by daily."
Christopher Reeve said, "I've learned by being literally paralyzed that, to a large extent, paralysis is a choice. We can either watch from the sidelines or actively participate. We can rationalize inaction by deciding that one voice or one vote doesn't matter, or we can make the choice that inaction is unacceptable; either let self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy prevent us from realizing our potential, or embrace the fact that when we turn our attention away from ourselves, our potential is limitless."
About 575 graduates crossed the platform to receive their diplomas.
A complete account of commencement and the text of both speeches is available at /offices/communications/home_page/commencement_2004.htm.
Returning classes were officially recognized during this year's Reunion 2004 convocation on June 5. John McCardell, who will step down from the Middlebury College presidency on June 30 after 13 years in office, and his wife Bonnie were given an honorary alumni plaque award in recognition of their many contributions to the betterment of Middlebury College, thus becoming honorary alumni of the College. An alumni plaque was also given to Lois and Karl Limbach, both class of '54, who were recognized for numerous volunteer efforts for the College, including serving as co-chairs of the 50th Reunion Gift Committee this year; Professor Emeritus of American Literature Howard Munford '34 was elected to alumni membership in the Middlebury chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; and John Tenny, chair of the Middlebury Board of Selectmen, was awarded an honorary bachelor of arts degree.
In his address, McCardell reflected on how people remember the contributions of past Middlebury College presidents. He said they tend to remember achievements made possible by leadership, but few remember the individual leaders, years hence. "And I am content, indeed serene," said McCardell, speaking to the assembled alumni, "to realize that 50 years from now, or maybe less, the eyes may glaze over and the vacant expressions appear when the name of McCardell is mentioned—because, whatever may have been accomplished over the past 13 years has less, much less, to do with me than it does with you."
While Middlebury seniors were celebrating commencement, student Britton Keeshan was becoming the youngest person ever to climb the tallest mountain on each continent. The 22-year-old grandson of the late Bob Keeshan, TV's Captain Kangaroo, Keeshan reached the summit of Mt. Everest on May 24. The biology and religion major from Cos Cob, Conn., has received considerable media attention for his feat, including stories in USA Today, Newsday, the New York Post, and The Washington Post.
Keeshan began his quest to join the elite ranks of those who have conquered the Seven Summits when he climbed Mt. McKinley in Alaska at age 17. He joined Sherpa guides in a "chicken dance" at the summit of Everest, repeating a ritual he has performed on all the other seven summits. The USA Today story about Keeshan's feat is available at http://www.usatoday.com/life/2004-06-02-climbing-keeshan_x.htm.
A book by Associate Professor of Computer Science Matthew Dickerson—"Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings"—was published in 2003 by Brazos Press. The book has been nominated by the Mythopoeic Society as one of four finalists for its award for scholarship in Inkling studies. According to the society's Web site, the Inklings were a gathering of friends—all of them British and male, most of them affiliated with Oxford University, many of them creative writers and lovers of imaginative literature—who met, usually, on Thursday evenings in C.S. Lewis' and J.R.R. Tolkien's college rooms in Oxford during the 1930s and 40s for readings and criticism of their own work, and for general conversation. The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and/or Charles Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. For more about the Mythopoeic Society, see www.mythsoc.org.
The long-anticipated opening of the new library will happen this month. Workers have been completing the finishing touches—paint, trim, cleaning, completing sidewalks, and installing landscaping in preparation for the opening.
Moving a library is no simple task. Gone are the days when a line of students stretching from the old library to the new one passed books along from person to person, until all the books were transferred. Consider the following: nearly one million books, journals and other items will move from the old Starr Library and the Sunderland Film and Video Library, to the new library.
That's why William B. Meyer, a Stratford, Conn.-based moving company, is conducting the move, scheduled to be complete on June 18. A symbolic ceremony was held on May 7, in which a human chain passed 13 carefully selected, newly purchased books from Old Chapel to the new library to "baptize" the shelves. Different constituencies of the College, ranging from the president to the alumni association, sponsored the selection of each of the 13 books.
The Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers' Conference has announced the winners of the 2004 ninth annual Bakeless Literary Publication Prizes. The prizes are awarded to aid and encourage writers seeking publication of their first books. Former United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky chose Ron Slate's poetry collection "The Incentive of the Maggot" for the poetry prize. Charles Baxter, whose novel "The Feast of Love" was a finalist for the National Book Award, selected Michael Guista's "Brain Work," a collection of stories, for the fiction prize. Houghton Mifflin will publish the winning authors' work in its Mariner Original Paperback line. The winners will also receive fellowships to attend the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in August 2005. There was no winner in the creative nonfiction prize category.
Last year's Bakeless prize for poetry went to Spencer Reese, who was the subject of a May 11 New York Times story. The Times noted that the 40-year-old poet, who is assistant manager at a Brooks Brothers store in a mall in Palm Beach, Fla., had been submitting poetry to The New Yorker and to the Bakeless and other literary competitions for about a decade, before learning that he had won the Bakeless via a message on his answering machine. As a result of winning the Bakeless prize, Mariner, a division of Houghton Mifflin, published Reese's first book titled "The Clerk's Tale" in April. The title poem in the volume is set at a Brooks Brothers store in the Mall of America near Minneapolis, where Reese once worked.