Remembering Katrina
On a misty, muggy September day, with the air temperature balancing on that fine line between cool and warm, jazz was played on the hill in front of Mead Chapel.
With local pianist Dick Forman tickling the keys of a piano that had been carted outside for the occasion, 100 or so people milled around and chatted in groups, their conversations muffled by the jazz melodies emanating from a pair of speakers mounted on eight-foot-tall stands and positioned like sentries on either side of the sidewalk that snakes down from Mead to Old Chapel. At precisely 12:15 p.m., President Ronald D. Liebowitz approached a podium that had been positioned on the sidewalk to face uphill, toward Mead Chapel.
The president was the first of five speakers for a noontime community gathering on a day that had been designated a national day of prayer by President Bush. After acknowledging the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina and the ongoing crises the country faced, Liebowitz urged those in attendance to remember that all had not been lost. "Many of you probably know something about the tradition in New Orleans of a jazz funeral," he said. "The musicians begin their procession with traditional music—slow, dignified, and mournful, but by the end they are playing loud, joyous, energetic tunes.
Today, in our own way, we will follow that pattern: beginning in grief and solemn remembrance, but ending with hope, reaffirmation, and celebration of all that is good."
And what followed was just that: Associate Dean of the College Marichal Gentry read from the writings of a Southern minister; Emily Peterson '08, a resident of Metairie, Louisiana, read from John Donne ("No man is an island"); a moment of silence was held; a hymn was sung by the Middlebury choral group; Brittany Burnett '09, from Daphne, Alabama, read from Langston Hughes's "Daybreak in Alabama"; the College's chaplain, Laurie Macaulay Jordan '79, spoke. Many were lost in thought. Others wept. "And now," Jordan said, "let's listen to the sound of the region as we mingle and move on." And, once again, jazz was played on the hill in front of Mead Chapel.
Open Doors
Nine students from New Orleans-area colleges, displaced by hurricane Katrina, are attending Middlebury this fall. The College is not charging the students—eight from Tulane University and one from Dillard University—tuition, asking instead that they pay their home institutions their usual fees, to help their colleges in the recovery process.
"Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the people of New Orleans and surrounding areas," President Liebowitz said in September. "It's imperative that we, as an educational community, do our best to reach out to students, their families, and the affected colleges and universities in this time of need."
While the students are at Middlebury, Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson will serve as their academic adviser. Each of the nine was also assigned a student host; more than 200 Middlebury students volunteered to serve as hosts for the visiting students.
In addition to hosting students, the College created a Katrina Relief Program that would allow Middlebury employees to volunteer in the Gulf Coast region for up to four weeks, while maintaining their benefits and half of their salary. And the chaplain's office created a special hurricane relief Web site—www.middlebury.edu/campuslife/services/chaplain/katrina_relief.html—that would facilitate donations to a number of charitable organizations, including the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, and the Humane Society of the United States. By the end of September, members of the Middlebury community had used the site to contribute nearly $20,000 to relief organizations.
Faculty Shelf
Maria wanted a simple thing: for her family to remain on their olive farm in their new home. But the olive trees that had flourished in their native Spain were struggling, and her father had to go to the city to look for work. One night, Maria dreamed she was planting orange seeds, and she heard a voice telling her to say gracias. Her heart filled with "sweetness" as she gave thanks, and an orchard burst forth with "hundreds of small suns." Standing beneath the boughs was a beautiful woman, Our Lady of Altagracia, or Our Lady of "High Thanks" or "High Grace." The next morning, Maria's family planted orange seeds on their land, saying gracias as they planted. The orchard grew quickly and abundantly.
Like many Dominican girls, Middlebury writer in residence Julia Alvarez '71 was named after the Virgin of Altagracia. (Her parents called her Julia Altagracia.) Alvarez made a promise that one day she would write a book about her namesake and protector. A Gift of Gracias, with lush, vivid illustrations by Beatriz Vidal, is her promise fulfilled. In this magical book for young readers, Alvarez weaves the legend of the Virgin of Altagracia with the story of Maria's family and the state of thankfulness that restored their lives.
In an era of relentless self-indulgence, Alvarez's message of thankfulness seems particularly valuable. "There is a very special grace that comes from gratitude," Alvarez says, "from saying thank you, from wanting to spread the grace of our gifts wherever we find ourselves."
Alvarez traces her interest in children's books to working with people on her own farm in the Dominican Republic, where she says she was inspired by the picture books she used to teach the kids and adults on the farm to read. A Gift of Gracias, published by Random House, is available in English and Spanish.
—Regan Eberhart
Go Figure
5,254
Number of students who applied to Middlebury in 2005
1,241
Number of students admitted for fall enrollment
24
Percentage of students admitted for fall enrollment
26
Percentage of students admitted for fall enrollment in 2004
555
Number of first-years enrolling this fall
77
Number of international students in the Class of 2009
42
Countries represented by the Class of 2009
47
States represented by the Class of 2009
6.5
Percentage of first-years who are children of alumni
6
Percentage of first-years who are from Vermont
75
Percentage of first-years who are not from New England
84
Percentage of first-years in the top ten percent of their high school class
1
First-year students on Japan's national ice hockey team
1
Number of first-years who have had their poetry published in the New Yorker
A Lesson from Bessie
If Kerry Krauss '06 has her way, women between the ages of 35–45 will owe a lot to the ovaries of the common cow.
Krauss—with help from Laura Batterink '07 and Suzanne Czerniak '06 and under the tutelage of biology professor Catherine Combelles—is using cow eggs to explore why women older than 35 have more difficulty conceiving than younger women. By collecting and testing the oocytes—cells that develop into an egg—from bovine ovaries at different stages of maturation, the researchers are discovering the influence of oxidative stress on the cells. (The students are hoping to determine how varying levels of stress during an oocyte's maturation will ultimately affect the egg's viability.)
"My interest in this area stemmed from a summer research project I did with mouse eggs," explains Krauss. "I was being trained to handle and analyze oocytes." Once she mastered those skills and returned to Middlebury for her junior year in 2004, she decided to further her research with oocytes and turned to Professor Combelles for guidance.
"This work is important on several levels," explains Combelles, "among which are the treatment of human infertility and of birth defects, as well as the production of animal embryos—whether for the preservation of genetic material in, for instance, endangered species, or for breeding programs."
Since human oocytes are hard to come by, Krauss and her colleagues turned to a more accessible mammalian donor—cows. "The cow, like humans, typically ovulates
a single egg," explains Combelles. "And the estrous and menstrual cycles are similar in length and characteristic to a human's. Because they are so readily available, the cow is an ideal model for human oocyte biology."
Combelles and her students collect the necessary samples from bovine ovaries at local slaughterhouses and bring them back to the lab, where they dissect and isolate the oocyte cells for incubation in various cultures over a 24-hour maturation period. After the cells have matured into eggs, the students process and analyze them to determine how different factors affect the oocytes' viability for developing into a healthy embryo.
According to Combelles, who refers to her summer research students as the "Ova Squad," Krauss and her colleagues will contribute significantly to oocyte biology by amassing preliminary data for ongoing research. "While many great advances continue to be made in the study of human oocytes," Combelles says, "a critical need prevails to test these new techniques in animal models so that we can fully and confidently assess their effectiveness and safety."
—Blair Kloman, M.A. English '94
Measuring Middlebury
U.S. News & World Report
National Liberal Arts Colleges
8th
Best Values
18th
Newsweek
Hottest College for International Studies
1st (and only, thus the superlative)
Washington Monthly
Liberal Arts Colleges
17th
The Princeton Review
Professors Get High Marks
4th
Best Overall Academic Experience
6th
School Runs Like Butter
4th
Men's Fitness
America's Fittest Colleges
Honorable Mention
Fittest Small College
1st
Golf Digest
Best Colleges for Golf
11th—Women
22nd—Men
(Golf Digest divided the lists into two categories: "Golf First" and "Academic First." Middlebury was in the "Academic First" category.)
Do the Right Thing
Not only does Middlebury run like butter, it does so with a conscience. The folks at the Princeton Review, the college guidebook gurus who join the annual college-ranking frenzy with proclamations such as "Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates," "Professors Get High Marks," and "School Runs Like Butter" (all Middlebury accolades this year), have tapped Middlebury as one of 80 institutions considered a "college with a conscience."
Last year, more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff volunteered nearly 64,000 hours of community service and raised more than $310,000 for local and national nonprofits. Colleges with a Conscience—which was published in conjunction with Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 950 college and university presidents committed to furthering public service in higher education—specifically highlights the College's commitment to social service and the high level of service-learning opportunities offered to students.
"We are very proud of the differences our students make in local, national, and international communities," explains Tiffany Nourse Sargent '79, director of Middlebury's Alliance for Civic Engagement. "They contribute their time and energy to volunteer with numerous organizations—from Vermont's Special Olympics to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life to working abroad in impoverished areas." Sargent estimates that more than half of Middlebury's students were engaged in community service projects or service-learning programs last year. "When students enroll in Middlebury's service-learning courses, such as those that explore the local economy and environmental issues, they also deepen their understanding of how their class work can directly address community needs," adds Sargent.
According to Princeton Review's Spencer Foxworth, who edited the book, potential applicants can use the guide to further assess the schools they're considering for their college careers. "This is the first time we've published such a guide, and we certainly see opportunities for expanding it as an annual resource," says Foxworth. "Community involvement is of growing importance to students, and this guide can really help them gauge a school's commitment—both in and beyond the classroom."
"A college with a conscience," adds Robert Franek, vice president of publishing at Princeton Review, "has both an administration committed to social responsibility and a student body actively engaged in serving the community. Education at these schools isn't only about private gain; it's about the public good."
—BK
Special Collections
"These Gorgons are bred in that countrey, and have such haire about their heads as not only exceedeth all other beasts, but also poysoneth when he stand upright. Pliny called this beast Catablepon, because it continually looketh downeward, and saith that all parts of it are but smal excepting the head which is very heavy, and exceedeth the proportion of his body which is never lifted up, but all living creatures die that see his eies."
—Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure Footed Beastes
So begins Edward Topsell's weighty encyclopedia of earthly animals, real and imagined. The gorgon, pictured here, is a mythical beast, descended from Medusa, with a scaly hide and heavy, knotted mane. Its head is heavy and remains close to the ground until it is attacked or alarmed; whereupon, its mane stands on end, exposing eyes so frightening and breath so terrible that any living creature in its path falls into "lethall and deadly convulsions."
Topsell, a Cambridge educated curate, published The Historie of Foure Footed Beastes in 1607. Based on earlier bestiaries and zoographical indices, the book combines ornate illustrations of each animal with descriptions based on both science and folklore. By 17th-century standards, such a volume—approaching 800 pages—would have been an expensive and valuable possession for the scientist or scholar.
Middlebury purchased a rare first edition last fall, as part of an initiative to establish the College's Special Collections as an integral part of the curriculum. The impetus to obtain The Historie of Foure Footed Beastes came from Associate Professor of English Timothy Billings, a Shakespeare scholar.
"Timothy approached me with the proposition to purchase a first edition of Topsell's book, promising to create a whole class around it," says Andy Wentink '79, Special Collections librarian. "The purchase of such a significant book sends the message to faculty and students alike that we consider such useful materials imperative to our holdings.
"Middlebury is not in the rare-books business," he adds. "But we are very much in the business of building a rare-books teaching collection."
Last January, Billings created a winter term course centered upon Beastes. Though digital editions of Topsell's book exist online, Billings felt that having a physical copy on hand would greatly enhance students' understanding of Elizabethan perspectives. "When working with an original edition of a book, students gain much more than content-based information," he says. "There is a distinct sense of wonder surrounding the tactile experience of simply handling such a text."
—Grace Kronenberg '06
Frequent Flyers
At the start of each semester, they appear to sprout like mushrooms on the forest floor after a soft rain. One day the bulletin boards that dot the campus are open and bare, the next they're chock full of colorful flyers and posters, promoting everything from international studies lectures to Dissipated Eight auditions. So, how to stand out among a crowd? Bold colors are one way. Catchy slogans are another. See if you can match the following slogans with their corresponding organizations and events. (Pulled from actual flyers posted in the McCullough Student Center.)
1. No Experience Necessary
2. Come See the New Breasts of Dave
Wranghan
3. Art Is Revolution
4. Come Sign With Us
5. This Is Our Coach—He's Crazy
6. Challah Back
a. Sign Language Club
b. Fall Dance Concert Auditions
c. Hillel's First Shabbat
d. Middlebury Rugby
e. Vitality of the Artistic Community
Association
f. Otter Nonsense
Answers: 1. b, 2. f, 3. e, 4. a, 5. d, 6. C
Food for Thought
When Men's Fitness magazine recognized Middlebury as the fittest small college, it also proclaimed that Middlebury was the college at which students ate the least fast food.
"Students at überhealthy Middlebury College hit the drive-thru less than once a week," the magazine reported. "Our take: Middlebury students truly are living the fit life."
So, just what are Midd students eating today? Magazine editorial assistant Grace Kronenberg '06 and Tim Foley '06, a defensive lineman on the Panther football team, jotted down what they ate during the course of a day in mid-September.
Grace
9:10 a.m. (Ross Dining Hall)
Three hard-boiled egg
whites with salt and pepper
One and a half pieces of
toasted pumpkin bread with
cream cheese
Water
1:05 p.m. (Proctor Dining Hall)
Toasted ham and gouda
sandwich
Bowl of spicy chorizo and
black bean soup
1:15 One stale cracker
1:23 Small vanilla/chocolate-
twist creemee in sugar cone
4:42 York Peppermint Pattie
6:22 (Proctor Dining Hall)
Two slices sundried tomato
bread, dipped in olive oil and
balsamic vinegar
Sautéed yellow squash
Two chicken breasts with red
peppers and feta
Scoop of white rice
One glass of lemonade with
club soda
6:41 Cup of Earl Grey tea
with cream and honey
One slice of raspberry
napoleon
7:05 Second cup of Earl
Grey tea with cream and
honey
7:21 Small handful of
peanuts and chocolate
chips
11:17 Six chocolate-covered
cherries
11:54 Two chocolate-
covered cherries
Tim
9:15 a.m. (Atwater Dining
Hall)
Toasted English muffin with
peanut butter
Bowl of applesauce
Bowl of Golden Grahams
(no milk)
Glass of water
Glass of cranberry juice
12:30 p.m. (The Grille)
Chicken quesadilla with
extra chicken
Snapple raspberry iced tea
Bag of pretzels
6:30 (Atwater Dining Hall)
Four chicken breasts
Two scoops of rice
Salad (lettuce, carrots, Russian
dressing)
Glass of iced tea
Glass of water
10:30 Gatorade
20 grapes
Handful of Planters nut-and-
chocolate trail mix
Bread Loaf, Southern Style
Next summer, Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English will venture into the mountains of North Carolina, opening a campus at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The North Carolina site will be Bread Loaf's fifth campus—joining the University of Oxford in England; St. John's College in Sante Fe, New Mexico; the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau; and, of course, its original site in Vermont.
Because curricula of all the non-Vermont Bread Loaf campuses reflect the unique qualities of their locations, the program in Asheville will offer a special emphasis on Southern and African American literatures.
Poetic Endurance
Not to be outdone by the Spanish School and its public reading of Don Quixote, the classics department sponsored a marathon reading of its own this fall. During the last days of September and the first days of October, students and faculty gathered on the steps of the library to read Homer's epic poem the Iliad. Unlike the Quixote reading, however, the Iliad was read in English and didn't take place around the clock. Still, with a pair of nine-hour weekend sessions, readers demonstrated a level of verbal endurance equal to any of the ancient Greek orators. The classics department hopes to make such readings an annual event.