I'm pretty sure I've written about this before, but one of the best parts about Dartmouth is the relationships students are able to develop with professors. This ability is the result of a number of factors, most especially Dartmouth's size and, more importantly, its commitment to undergraduate education. We're called Dartmouth College for a reason, and the result is that professors are here, yes to do research and publish literature in their respective fields, but mostly because they want to teach undergraduates. Actually, the word "teach" doesn't quite capture it, because they're also interested in working with and learning from their undergraduate students.
Still, even with that in mind, actually developing relationships with professors here can seem like a daunting task. All professors hold open office hours every week, but there's this notion that in order to go talk to them, you've gotta have a very specific question about the class or the professor's field of research. Here's the thing though: while they're happy to talk to you about matters that relate to their class, one of the greatest hidden secrets about profs is that they actually love talking to students about other things!
Last Wednesday, I went to my government professor Daryl Press' office hours with a question that was rather philosphical. I'm taking his class called War and Peace in the Modern Age, and basically what we've been doing is reading and discussing first person accounts of warfare written by soldiers, civilians, and journalists. Meanwhile, professor Press gives lectures on such subjects as military spending, logistics, and the function of military statecraft in international relations. What I wanted to know, though, is whether or not there's intrinsic value in people - not as citizens of a democracy or as policymakers, but just as members of human society - having an understanding of wars, who fights them, how they're fought, and what it means to approach, as David Loyd writes in My War Gone by, I Miss it So, the "frontier of human experience." So while my question was inspired by what we were covering in class, it really didn't have much to do with what the syllabus says the course is about (as it turns out, though, he used our conversation as the basis for 2 questions on the next day's take home midterm; we ended up having to answer 2 of 4 possible questions and ironically, I didn't touch the ones related to what we'd talked about). Professor Press had to run to a meeting before we could really delve deeply into the question, though, so we made an appointment to get coffee today.
I met him after his afternoon class on nuclear weapons, and we went over to Novack Café in the library before heading for a table on the patio outside Kemeny, the newest academic building on campus and home to the Dickey Center for International Understanding, among other things. I wasn't sure what we were going to talk about, because even after thinking about it for a while I felt like I was actually less prepared to talk about my question from last Wednesday than I was during that first conversation. But we bounced some ideas off each other and decided that we'd meet again at the end of this course to discuss what the class was actually was all about. Sure, we're going to learn about everything I outlined above (military logistics, etc.), but will we have also gotten something less tangible but fundamentally more important out of it? We'll see.
That stuff out of the way, the conversation actually - no joke - turned to admissions. One of the things that's been really neat about this internship for me is that the world of admissions is really interesting, and to a lot of people. There are so many questions people have, and I really enjoy talking about how the process works (that's your cue to send me emails or ask questions through the comments part of this blog). So there we were - government professor (and realism/nuclear weapons expert) and senior government major, talking about collegiate admissions while sipping coffee on the Kemeny patio. The coolest part for you all: this sort of thing happens all the time at Dartmouth. And so we talked about admissions for a while and then had a discussion on social mobility in this country (questions actually inspired by something I learned in international political economy, another international relations class), before he had to leave to pick up his kids from daycare.
Will this help me in his class? It's an interesting question. If a professor gave students grades based on how well he knew them, he'd be a terrible professor. So no, office hours visits don't give you automatic points. However, it never hurts to demonstrate to professors that you're thinking critically about their course material. And even if you don't talk about the class itself, you never know when you might need a reference or a recommendation. So when you all begin your college careers, remember this: you don't need to have a million dollar question in order to strike up a conversation with a prof. At a school like Dartmouth, all you need to do is show up and say, "Hey, I'm in your class, and I'd just like to introduce myself." The conversation will take care of itself.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
(Almost) As Good as Being at Home...
Well, I guess I lied in my last post - the blog wasn't really back. But I promise that with this entry I'm going to be writing regularly once again. About what I'm not yet sure, but I can tell you that there will be something new here every few days. So keep checking back!
Part of the problem (or at least an excuse I've been using) is that I've been pretty sick this term. And that's what I'm going to write about today. Not for your sympathy (I'm doing much better!) but I think my little ordeal highlights one of the great things about going to school at a place with such a strong sense of community.
A couple of weeks ago I came down with a pretty high fever (around 102.6). It sort of went away, but when it came back a few days later I decided I really needed to do something about it. Problem was, it spiked in the middle of the night, waking me up at 2am on a Monday morning. Not to worry! Dick's House (our campus clinic) has a 24-hour infirmary, where students can go anytime they're really struggling (and I was). I called the clinician, set things up, and she told me to call Safety and Security to have them come pick me up. Wow! Dick's House is only about a 10 minute walk from my room, but getting valet service made things a whole lot easier. The officer was there in a few minutes, and about 15 minutes after making the phone call I was sitting on a bed having my vitals taken. Long story short, it looked like the flu (it was going around, even before the H1N1 hoopla), the nurse gave me some ibuprofen, and I was put to bed in a nice little room. Through the night the nurses checked up on me, and I woke up in the morning to a visit from the doctor and an order form for breakfast in bed! He checked me out - my tonsils were swollen but otherwise things looked fine, and I went back to sleep until breakfast came. I stayed at Dick's House until about 2 in the afternoon, receiving lunch and getting to take a shower there before I left. But leaving didn't mean I had to give up my bed - I just went out on pass, and they reserved it for me in case I wanted to come back. All of this, I should mention, was completely free! (Except for breakfast and lunch, which came off of my normal meal plan). What a deal. I felt fine the rest of the day, though, so I called them at 8 and emancipated myself from their care.
Unfortunately, a few days later I was struck with the worst sore throat of my life. I was able to get an early appointment (at Dick's House, again), and went in the next day. Turns out I have mono, which is a pretty huge bummer considering it's my senior spring. But actually I've been doing well and that's not the point of the story anyway. The real point is that the physician's assistant was incredibly thorough and caring, and she sent me 2 emails later that day with instructions on how to take care of myself, and another one a week later just to check up on me and ask how I'm doing.
Meanwhile, my professors, employers, fellows program leaders, etc. have all been incredibly understanding. I had been getting behind on my readings journals for my journalism class, and when I told the professor I was going to try to catch up over the weekend, she said not to worry about it and just do what's current. She also gave me an extension on the assignment we're currently working on. That's made things a lot easier.
Maybe this post isn't interesting or important at all, but you know, when you're feeling sick, it's nice to feel that there are people who really care about you. When I was at Dick's House, I felt like I had 3 new moms who were taking care of me. My professors and bosses have been sending me emails asking how I'm doing. And that, for me, is just another reason I'm happy I'm part of the Dartmouth community.
Part of the problem (or at least an excuse I've been using) is that I've been pretty sick this term. And that's what I'm going to write about today. Not for your sympathy (I'm doing much better!) but I think my little ordeal highlights one of the great things about going to school at a place with such a strong sense of community.
A couple of weeks ago I came down with a pretty high fever (around 102.6). It sort of went away, but when it came back a few days later I decided I really needed to do something about it. Problem was, it spiked in the middle of the night, waking me up at 2am on a Monday morning. Not to worry! Dick's House (our campus clinic) has a 24-hour infirmary, where students can go anytime they're really struggling (and I was). I called the clinician, set things up, and she told me to call Safety and Security to have them come pick me up. Wow! Dick's House is only about a 10 minute walk from my room, but getting valet service made things a whole lot easier. The officer was there in a few minutes, and about 15 minutes after making the phone call I was sitting on a bed having my vitals taken. Long story short, it looked like the flu (it was going around, even before the H1N1 hoopla), the nurse gave me some ibuprofen, and I was put to bed in a nice little room. Through the night the nurses checked up on me, and I woke up in the morning to a visit from the doctor and an order form for breakfast in bed! He checked me out - my tonsils were swollen but otherwise things looked fine, and I went back to sleep until breakfast came. I stayed at Dick's House until about 2 in the afternoon, receiving lunch and getting to take a shower there before I left. But leaving didn't mean I had to give up my bed - I just went out on pass, and they reserved it for me in case I wanted to come back. All of this, I should mention, was completely free! (Except for breakfast and lunch, which came off of my normal meal plan). What a deal. I felt fine the rest of the day, though, so I called them at 8 and emancipated myself from their care.
Unfortunately, a few days later I was struck with the worst sore throat of my life. I was able to get an early appointment (at Dick's House, again), and went in the next day. Turns out I have mono, which is a pretty huge bummer considering it's my senior spring. But actually I've been doing well and that's not the point of the story anyway. The real point is that the physician's assistant was incredibly thorough and caring, and she sent me 2 emails later that day with instructions on how to take care of myself, and another one a week later just to check up on me and ask how I'm doing.
Meanwhile, my professors, employers, fellows program leaders, etc. have all been incredibly understanding. I had been getting behind on my readings journals for my journalism class, and when I told the professor I was going to try to catch up over the weekend, she said not to worry about it and just do what's current. She also gave me an extension on the assignment we're currently working on. That's made things a lot easier.
Maybe this post isn't interesting or important at all, but you know, when you're feeling sick, it's nice to feel that there are people who really care about you. When I was at Dick's House, I felt like I had 3 new moms who were taking care of me. My professors and bosses have been sending me emails asking how I'm doing. And that, for me, is just another reason I'm happy I'm part of the Dartmouth community.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Blog is Back!
Dear Faithful Readers,
(OK - so I like to pretend I have faithful readers. Can you blame me?) After a long hiatus brought on by a rather busy (gross understatement) winter term, I'm back at the office and will be once again updating this blog. Seems like some filling-in is in order.
The end of the fall term seems like a distant memory. I'm sure I had some papers and finals... I guess they went well enough. Then I went on tour with my a cappella group, the Cords. Nothing too fancy - just a jaunt around New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. We did some college shows, some private events, and a few - my favorite - alumni club shows. I remember hearing a lot about how strong the sense of community at Dartmouth was when I was going through the application process, but it still sort of catches me by surprise that so many alums are still so engaged with Dartmouth 40, 50, and even 60 years after their graduation. And they always have such great stories to tell!
After that I was home for a bit, and then winter term happened. It was by far my most difficult term at Dartmouth, which is why I took the term off from the Admissions Office. One of the most important pieces advice you'll get as a freshman at Dartmouth is to choose your classes carefully - you'll hear people talking about their "class mix." Basically, you shouldn't take three science with lab classes at a time, nor should you take three heavy reading and writing classes. Well, after 3+ years, I seem to still not have figured this out. In 10 weeks, I had 17 books (plus thousands of pages of printed articles) and 19 papers to write. Oops.
The classes were great though. I took History 6 (soon to be 70-something - it was 6 because it was experimental), Guerrilla Warfare, and learned a ton about a lot of countries most people haven't even heard of. And I finally watched The Battle of Algiers, one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time, as it was on the syllabus. My second class was Environmental Studies 1: Humans and Nature in America. It was the last class I needed for my minor, but I took it mostly for the professor - Terry Osborne, my Writing 5 prof all the way back from Freshman Fall. Basically we used literature to explore the relationship between - you guessed it - humans and nature in America - and more than a few of the lectures were absolutely mind blowing. Take it if you come here. My last class was a government seminar called Techniques of Statecraft. We explored the three main types of statecraft: military, economic, and diplomatic, and how they can be used by a state to achieve its objectives. High-level stuff here - most of the material I'll encounter again in grad school if I decide to pursue a graduate degree in international relations.
The weather this winter was actually great. It seemed to me that we'd get maybe a foot of snow, then it would be sunny for a week, then we'd get a foot of snow; repeat. I took a skate skiing (one variant of Nordic, or cross-country skiing), which was a ton of fun. Can't say I was very good at it, but I definitely became much better over the course of the term. It's hard to beat gliding through snow-covered pine trees under a brilliant winter sun. I almost miss it. But you can bet I'm welcoming the coming of spring with open arms.
Which brings me to today. I'm actually sitting at my favorite coffee shop back home, but I can't wait to get back up to Dartmouth. Still, I anticipate the drive up will be a tad bittersweet - my last trip up as a student. It's been an amazing 3+ years. And I know this term is going to be a blast. I'll let you know how it's going. Thanks for reading!
(OK - so I like to pretend I have faithful readers. Can you blame me?) After a long hiatus brought on by a rather busy (gross understatement) winter term, I'm back at the office and will be once again updating this blog. Seems like some filling-in is in order.
The end of the fall term seems like a distant memory. I'm sure I had some papers and finals... I guess they went well enough. Then I went on tour with my a cappella group, the Cords. Nothing too fancy - just a jaunt around New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. We did some college shows, some private events, and a few - my favorite - alumni club shows. I remember hearing a lot about how strong the sense of community at Dartmouth was when I was going through the application process, but it still sort of catches me by surprise that so many alums are still so engaged with Dartmouth 40, 50, and even 60 years after their graduation. And they always have such great stories to tell!
After that I was home for a bit, and then winter term happened. It was by far my most difficult term at Dartmouth, which is why I took the term off from the Admissions Office. One of the most important pieces advice you'll get as a freshman at Dartmouth is to choose your classes carefully - you'll hear people talking about their "class mix." Basically, you shouldn't take three science with lab classes at a time, nor should you take three heavy reading and writing classes. Well, after 3+ years, I seem to still not have figured this out. In 10 weeks, I had 17 books (plus thousands of pages of printed articles) and 19 papers to write. Oops.
The classes were great though. I took History 6 (soon to be 70-something - it was 6 because it was experimental), Guerrilla Warfare, and learned a ton about a lot of countries most people haven't even heard of. And I finally watched The Battle of Algiers, one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time, as it was on the syllabus. My second class was Environmental Studies 1: Humans and Nature in America. It was the last class I needed for my minor, but I took it mostly for the professor - Terry Osborne, my Writing 5 prof all the way back from Freshman Fall. Basically we used literature to explore the relationship between - you guessed it - humans and nature in America - and more than a few of the lectures were absolutely mind blowing. Take it if you come here. My last class was a government seminar called Techniques of Statecraft. We explored the three main types of statecraft: military, economic, and diplomatic, and how they can be used by a state to achieve its objectives. High-level stuff here - most of the material I'll encounter again in grad school if I decide to pursue a graduate degree in international relations.
The weather this winter was actually great. It seemed to me that we'd get maybe a foot of snow, then it would be sunny for a week, then we'd get a foot of snow; repeat. I took a skate skiing (one variant of Nordic, or cross-country skiing), which was a ton of fun. Can't say I was very good at it, but I definitely became much better over the course of the term. It's hard to beat gliding through snow-covered pine trees under a brilliant winter sun. I almost miss it. But you can bet I'm welcoming the coming of spring with open arms.
Which brings me to today. I'm actually sitting at my favorite coffee shop back home, but I can't wait to get back up to Dartmouth. Still, I anticipate the drive up will be a tad bittersweet - my last trip up as a student. It's been an amazing 3+ years. And I know this term is going to be a blast. I'll let you know how it's going. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
My Experience
Someone recently asked me to describe my Dartmouth experience in four words. I thought it was a great question. Here's what first came to mind:
Exciting
Free (as in having freedom)
Intimate
Empowering
I guess I would also add formative and challenging and of course fun. This is actually an interesting exercise. How would you describe your most significant experience in four or five words?
Exciting
Free (as in having freedom)
Intimate
Empowering
I guess I would also add formative and challenging and of course fun. This is actually an interesting exercise. How would you describe your most significant experience in four or five words?
Monday, October 27, 2008
"Normal" people
On the ride back from a Cords show in Wayland, Massachusetts yesterday, the guys I was riding with had a conversation about the kinds of students that are here at Dartmouth. I didn't say too much because I've already drawn my own basic conclusions that I've shared with many prospective students in forums and through email, and I was interested to hear some new thoughts. On top of that, as a senior I've more or less forgotten my first impressions and I kind of just take things for granted. Two of the other Cords in the car were a freshman and a sophomore, so from the perspective of someone who shares information with prospective students, their opinions are probably more useful than my own.
The conversation ended up focusing on the seeming contradiction between the great minds that come to Dartmouth and how not-obvious it is that they're here. In other words, it is actually strange how normal it is here. Or maybe it just feels normal. Outside of the context of Dartmouth, its students' experiences and accomplishments would seem nothing short of remarkable. But here, you'd be hard pressed to find a Dartmouth student making a show of his/her credentials and accolades. I think that in general, Dartmouth students are very humble about their abilities and are way more down-to-earth than you might expect. At the same time, we maintain very high standards for ourselves and for each other, which leaves little room for complacency. All of this has combined to make a very enjoyable undergraduate experience for me. I'm friends with people who are going to be exceptionally successful at whatever it is they choose to do, but to me, they're just my friends - people I'll hang out at Lone Pine or work on an Arabic project with. And you know when you think about it, that's pretty cool.
The conversation ended up focusing on the seeming contradiction between the great minds that come to Dartmouth and how not-obvious it is that they're here. In other words, it is actually strange how normal it is here. Or maybe it just feels normal. Outside of the context of Dartmouth, its students' experiences and accomplishments would seem nothing short of remarkable. But here, you'd be hard pressed to find a Dartmouth student making a show of his/her credentials and accolades. I think that in general, Dartmouth students are very humble about their abilities and are way more down-to-earth than you might expect. At the same time, we maintain very high standards for ourselves and for each other, which leaves little room for complacency. All of this has combined to make a very enjoyable undergraduate experience for me. I'm friends with people who are going to be exceptionally successful at whatever it is they choose to do, but to me, they're just my friends - people I'll hang out at Lone Pine or work on an Arabic project with. And you know when you think about it, that's pretty cool.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
A Day in the Life...
Hey everyone,
It seems that no matter how much we talk about what students do at Dartmouth, it's still hard to convey a sense of what life us actually like here. So I've decided that for this post, I'm just going to walk you through my day today.
The alarm went off this morning at about 7:05, but it took me until about 7:20 to get out of bed. Seriously every morning this term I ask myself why on Earth I decided to start taking Arabic (and its corresponding 7:45am drill) my senior year. I mean, seriously.
But to drill I went, about 5 minutes late. You can read about what drill is in this post I wrote a couple of weeks ago. That ended at 8:35 and with my actual Arabic class starting at 9, I used that bit of time to finish my homework.
We finished learning the Arabic alphabet last week and have moved onto learning some basic grammar and sentence structure. Because I didn't put enough work into learning some of our early vocab in the past couple weeks, I'm struggling a bit now. But don't worry (la'a batz!), I'm catching up. It really is amazing how quickly you can fall behind when learning a new language! Still, breaking into small groups to make some basic sentences like "I'm a student at Dartmouth and I study Arabic" and "Do you like the United Nations?" (is it me, or is the vocab you learn when you're just starting to learn a new language really random?) was really fun. Like I mentioned in my last post about Arabic, it's cool to be able to be so cognizant of your own learning.
Arabic ends at 9:50, giving me almost an hour and a half until Astronomy starts at 11:15. I stopped by Novack - the café in Baker-Berry Library - on the way back to my room to get a coffee, bagel, and today's copy of the D (the Dartmouth - our daily paper). I still find it difficult to make efficient use of hour-long chunks of time, but I did manage to get a start on tomorrow's Arabic homework before heading over to Wilder for Astro.
I'm taking Astro 3 - Exploring the Universe - because I need a science lab credit (look for a post in the near-future about Dartmouth's distributive requirements). Though my major and minor are in the social sciences, I used to be a huge space nerd in middle/high school and I'm having a lot of fun in this class. And I mean, what's more college than taking about Newton, Einstein, and special/general relativity? We had a quiz today (short weekly quizzes on Wednesday make up a good chunk of our grade for this class) and I'm pretty sure I aced it, so that was good.
Lunch at Collis Café - one of my favorite places to eat - came next. I didn't have plans to meet anyone but ended up running into some friends. I really think Dartmouth, with 4100 undergraduates, is the perfect size. You can usually bet on running into people you know at places like Collis and the library, but there's no way you'll ever end up meeting everyone in your class, let alone the whole school. Anyway, it was good to run into them because I'm really busy this term and have had a lot of trouble making time to actually see people, unless we work together or are in the same organization. So it goes, senior year.
And now here I am at the admissions office, working on this post. I'm going to leave at 3 today (I'm usually here until 4) because I'm actually working for an admissions event tonight. We're hosting a bunch of high school guidance counselors from all over New England and the full-time interns from the summer are going to do a D-Plan presentation for them, followed by dinner. Never one to turn down a free dinner from the Hanover Inn, I'm definitely looking forward to the event. Still, with everything that's going on this term it's tough to give up extra time, so I figured I'd compensate a bit and leave work early. Plus, I've got my senior portrait at 4:24 (yeah, really), and could use some extra time to get ready for that and hopefully even make some progress on that Arabic homework. ARABIC, WHY MUST YOU REQUIRE SO MUCH TIME!?!?
Ahem, excuse me. The dinner ends at 6:30, giving me an hour before my UGA staff meeting starts at 7:30. Hopefully that won't go more than an hour, because I've got a government midterm tomorrow morning that I'd really like to study for. And in the meantime, I'm trying to put the finishing touches on the new Cords CD album art and info so that we can get that to DiscMakers tomorrow. I will be so glad when that whole project is finished (and it almost is!) but that's an entirely different story.
If this sounds like a really crazy day, well, it is. My freshman fall didn't really look anything like this term, and today is busy by even the current standards. Tomorrow's not much better with a midterm in the morning and a presentation (which I've barely started) for Rocky Leadership Fellows tomorrow night, but Friday and Saturday are really looking good right now. And I'm sure you can all relate to that.
Cheers,
John
It seems that no matter how much we talk about what students do at Dartmouth, it's still hard to convey a sense of what life us actually like here. So I've decided that for this post, I'm just going to walk you through my day today.
The alarm went off this morning at about 7:05, but it took me until about 7:20 to get out of bed. Seriously every morning this term I ask myself why on Earth I decided to start taking Arabic (and its corresponding 7:45am drill) my senior year. I mean, seriously.
But to drill I went, about 5 minutes late. You can read about what drill is in this post I wrote a couple of weeks ago. That ended at 8:35 and with my actual Arabic class starting at 9, I used that bit of time to finish my homework.
We finished learning the Arabic alphabet last week and have moved onto learning some basic grammar and sentence structure. Because I didn't put enough work into learning some of our early vocab in the past couple weeks, I'm struggling a bit now. But don't worry (la'a batz!), I'm catching up. It really is amazing how quickly you can fall behind when learning a new language! Still, breaking into small groups to make some basic sentences like "I'm a student at Dartmouth and I study Arabic" and "Do you like the United Nations?" (is it me, or is the vocab you learn when you're just starting to learn a new language really random?) was really fun. Like I mentioned in my last post about Arabic, it's cool to be able to be so cognizant of your own learning.
Arabic ends at 9:50, giving me almost an hour and a half until Astronomy starts at 11:15. I stopped by Novack - the café in Baker-Berry Library - on the way back to my room to get a coffee, bagel, and today's copy of the D (the Dartmouth - our daily paper). I still find it difficult to make efficient use of hour-long chunks of time, but I did manage to get a start on tomorrow's Arabic homework before heading over to Wilder for Astro.
I'm taking Astro 3 - Exploring the Universe - because I need a science lab credit (look for a post in the near-future about Dartmouth's distributive requirements). Though my major and minor are in the social sciences, I used to be a huge space nerd in middle/high school and I'm having a lot of fun in this class. And I mean, what's more college than taking about Newton, Einstein, and special/general relativity? We had a quiz today (short weekly quizzes on Wednesday make up a good chunk of our grade for this class) and I'm pretty sure I aced it, so that was good.
Lunch at Collis Café - one of my favorite places to eat - came next. I didn't have plans to meet anyone but ended up running into some friends. I really think Dartmouth, with 4100 undergraduates, is the perfect size. You can usually bet on running into people you know at places like Collis and the library, but there's no way you'll ever end up meeting everyone in your class, let alone the whole school. Anyway, it was good to run into them because I'm really busy this term and have had a lot of trouble making time to actually see people, unless we work together or are in the same organization. So it goes, senior year.
And now here I am at the admissions office, working on this post. I'm going to leave at 3 today (I'm usually here until 4) because I'm actually working for an admissions event tonight. We're hosting a bunch of high school guidance counselors from all over New England and the full-time interns from the summer are going to do a D-Plan presentation for them, followed by dinner. Never one to turn down a free dinner from the Hanover Inn, I'm definitely looking forward to the event. Still, with everything that's going on this term it's tough to give up extra time, so I figured I'd compensate a bit and leave work early. Plus, I've got my senior portrait at 4:24 (yeah, really), and could use some extra time to get ready for that and hopefully even make some progress on that Arabic homework. ARABIC, WHY MUST YOU REQUIRE SO MUCH TIME!?!?
Ahem, excuse me. The dinner ends at 6:30, giving me an hour before my UGA staff meeting starts at 7:30. Hopefully that won't go more than an hour, because I've got a government midterm tomorrow morning that I'd really like to study for. And in the meantime, I'm trying to put the finishing touches on the new Cords CD album art and info so that we can get that to DiscMakers tomorrow. I will be so glad when that whole project is finished (and it almost is!) but that's an entirely different story.
If this sounds like a really crazy day, well, it is. My freshman fall didn't really look anything like this term, and today is busy by even the current standards. Tomorrow's not much better with a midterm in the morning and a presentation (which I've barely started) for Rocky Leadership Fellows tomorrow night, but Friday and Saturday are really looking good right now. And I'm sure you can all relate to that.
Cheers,
John
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Autumn in Hanover
It's getting to be one of my favorite times of the year, and once again I'm thrilled to be able to experience the fall in New Hampshire. The air is cool and dry, the sky is bright and clear, and Homecoming is just around the corner. But the best part - and that part you'll hear about from many of the tourists that come through the area every fall - is the spectacular vistas afforded by the Upper Valley's miraculous combination of knolls, vales, and stunning foliage. I'm hoping I have some time this weekend to get on my bike and ride out of the valley for some breathtaking panoramic views, but you know, the view from the campus Green isn't that bad either... Here are some pictures I took here last year.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Arabic at Dartmouth
Though I feel that most of my time at Dartmouth is devoted to the extracurriculars I'm involved in and social development, there's no escaping the fact that academics are way up there when it comes to important aspects of my education. And so, at the beginning of the fall term, it seems appropriate for me to talk about the classes I'm taking.
If you read my entry about the D-Plan, you know that Dartmouth students typically take three classes per term. This term, I am taking Arabic 1, Government 58 (International Political Economy), and Astronomy 3 (exploring the Universe, with lab). In this entry I'm going to talk a bit about Arabic.
First of all, I guess I should explain why I've decided to take Arabic my senior year. Basically, it's the result of a small chain of decisions. After having studied in France, I really wanted to take another language here. But I figured that if I really wanted to learn a romance language like Spanish or Italian (or even continue with French), I could pretty much do that on my own (provided, of course, I put the time in). If I were to devote three courses my senior year to a new language, it should probably be one that didn't use the Latin alphabet and thus, I assume, would be harder to learn on one's own. So that left Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Of those, Chinese and Arabic seemed the most attractive to me, and since I've taken a few classes on the Middle East and may in the near future end up working in that region for the State Department, I figured that I'm more likely to use Arabic in the next few years than Chinese. So that was that.
The language instruction program at Dartmouth is remarkably strong. Decades ago, Professor John Rassias invented a language teaching method (called - go figure - the Rassias method) that uses a unique combination of classroom instruction and language drill. The classroom portion is pretty straightforward; we meet from 9:00-9:50 am 5 days a week and it's pretty much what you'd expect from a language class. Drill, however, is pretty unique. It's led by a student who's fluent in the target language, and is based on a rapid-fire system of exchanges between the instructor and students. Right now we're just learning the alphabet and a few basic words, so it's pretty straightforward: the instructor says a word, we repeat it, and then she snaps and points at us individually to have us repeat the word by ourselves. As we begin to learn verb conjugations and things like that, it will become a bit more complicated. For example, when I took French, my instructor might say "être" (to be), then "je" (I), snap and point at himself, and say "J'ai été" (I was), indicating that he wanted us to conjugate the verb and put it in the passé composé. Then he might say "nous," snap and point at someone, and the student would have to respond "Nous avons été" (We were). (That's about what we did for the first couple days of French 2 - it got a lot more difficult after that). Importantly, the target language is spoken throughout the entire drill session; English is completely avoided.
What's nice about beginning a new language is that there's instant gratification built in and you can be very conscious of your own learning. Last week, something written in Arabic was a scribble. Today it is a sound. Next week it will be a word. It's really neat to have someone say a word and actually know how to write it in Arabic. Sure it's a lot of work, but being aware of your own progress is very encouraging.
My plan is to take Arabic 2 in the winter and 3 in the spring. Because it's such a difficult language, I know that I'll be somewhere between proficient and mildly conversational when I'm finished and will still have a lot of work in front of me if I really want to be able to use Arabic socially or professionally. But I'm confident that with the Rassias method, drill, and the quality of classroom instruction here, I'll be well on my way to having learned a whole new language. And to me, there are few things more exciting than that.
If you read my entry about the D-Plan, you know that Dartmouth students typically take three classes per term. This term, I am taking Arabic 1, Government 58 (International Political Economy), and Astronomy 3 (exploring the Universe, with lab). In this entry I'm going to talk a bit about Arabic.
First of all, I guess I should explain why I've decided to take Arabic my senior year. Basically, it's the result of a small chain of decisions. After having studied in France, I really wanted to take another language here. But I figured that if I really wanted to learn a romance language like Spanish or Italian (or even continue with French), I could pretty much do that on my own (provided, of course, I put the time in). If I were to devote three courses my senior year to a new language, it should probably be one that didn't use the Latin alphabet and thus, I assume, would be harder to learn on one's own. So that left Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Of those, Chinese and Arabic seemed the most attractive to me, and since I've taken a few classes on the Middle East and may in the near future end up working in that region for the State Department, I figured that I'm more likely to use Arabic in the next few years than Chinese. So that was that.
The language instruction program at Dartmouth is remarkably strong. Decades ago, Professor John Rassias invented a language teaching method (called - go figure - the Rassias method) that uses a unique combination of classroom instruction and language drill. The classroom portion is pretty straightforward; we meet from 9:00-9:50 am 5 days a week and it's pretty much what you'd expect from a language class. Drill, however, is pretty unique. It's led by a student who's fluent in the target language, and is based on a rapid-fire system of exchanges between the instructor and students. Right now we're just learning the alphabet and a few basic words, so it's pretty straightforward: the instructor says a word, we repeat it, and then she snaps and points at us individually to have us repeat the word by ourselves. As we begin to learn verb conjugations and things like that, it will become a bit more complicated. For example, when I took French, my instructor might say "être" (to be), then "je" (I), snap and point at himself, and say "J'ai été" (I was), indicating that he wanted us to conjugate the verb and put it in the passé composé. Then he might say "nous," snap and point at someone, and the student would have to respond "Nous avons été" (We were). (That's about what we did for the first couple days of French 2 - it got a lot more difficult after that). Importantly, the target language is spoken throughout the entire drill session; English is completely avoided.
What's nice about beginning a new language is that there's instant gratification built in and you can be very conscious of your own learning. Last week, something written in Arabic was a scribble. Today it is a sound. Next week it will be a word. It's really neat to have someone say a word and actually know how to write it in Arabic. Sure it's a lot of work, but being aware of your own progress is very encouraging.
My plan is to take Arabic 2 in the winter and 3 in the spring. Because it's such a difficult language, I know that I'll be somewhere between proficient and mildly conversational when I'm finished and will still have a lot of work in front of me if I really want to be able to use Arabic socially or professionally. But I'm confident that with the Rassias method, drill, and the quality of classroom instruction here, I'll be well on my way to having learned a whole new language. And to me, there are few things more exciting than that.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Back in the Saddle Again
Hey everybody,
After a long break, I'm happy to report that the fall term has finally begun and I'm back answering your emails and blogging away for the admissions office. Now that I'm actually taking classes again and my extra-curriculars have recommenced, I ought to be able to write (somewhat) interesting entries twice a week or so. So keep coming back for new posts!
One of the things I'm most excited about for this year is my participation in the Rockefeller Center's Senior Leadership Fellows Program (or RLF). The Fellows are a select group of student leaders from all over campus who meet once a week to discuss our personal philosophies on leadership, political engagement, social responsibility, and other topics with leaders from various industries. We also participate in workshops on facilitation, public speaking, and risk taking. In other words, it's a great transition program from the life as an undergrad to life outside of College.
We had our first session this past Thursday and our guest was Nathanial Fick, a Dartmouth '99. Nate entered Officer Candidate School for the Marines right out of Dartmouth, was commissioned as a 2nd Luitenant, and reached the rank of Captain before retiring after 5 years of service. The best-selling book Generation Kill by Rolling Stone embedded reporter Evan Wright was about Nate's unit and its experience in Iraq. This book was eventually made into a miniseries on HBO with the same name. Meanwhile, Nate wrote his own book because he felt that the perspective of the soldiers was not being told enough. Called One Bullet Away: the Making of a Marine Officer, it was itself a New York Times Bestseller back in 2005.
Anyway, over dinner from Mai Thai, Nate gave a presentation about his leadership experience and talked a great deal about decision-making processes. As undergrads, it was a really great opportunity for us to hear from someone who's been so well accomplished out in the real world. After all, that's where we'll be next year. In theory, anyway.
The RLF schedule this year is filled with amazing presenters, and I'm really excited to continue to work with and get to know my fellow... Fellows. This weekend we're going on a retreat to the Lake Morey Resort over in Vermont. I'm know I'm going to learn a lot about leadership and even get to practice my skills, but mostly I think it's just going to be a great time.
'Til the next time,
John
After a long break, I'm happy to report that the fall term has finally begun and I'm back answering your emails and blogging away for the admissions office. Now that I'm actually taking classes again and my extra-curriculars have recommenced, I ought to be able to write (somewhat) interesting entries twice a week or so. So keep coming back for new posts!
One of the things I'm most excited about for this year is my participation in the Rockefeller Center's Senior Leadership Fellows Program (or RLF). The Fellows are a select group of student leaders from all over campus who meet once a week to discuss our personal philosophies on leadership, political engagement, social responsibility, and other topics with leaders from various industries. We also participate in workshops on facilitation, public speaking, and risk taking. In other words, it's a great transition program from the life as an undergrad to life outside of College.
We had our first session this past Thursday and our guest was Nathanial Fick, a Dartmouth '99. Nate entered Officer Candidate School for the Marines right out of Dartmouth, was commissioned as a 2nd Luitenant, and reached the rank of Captain before retiring after 5 years of service. The best-selling book Generation Kill by Rolling Stone embedded reporter Evan Wright was about Nate's unit and its experience in Iraq. This book was eventually made into a miniseries on HBO with the same name. Meanwhile, Nate wrote his own book because he felt that the perspective of the soldiers was not being told enough. Called One Bullet Away: the Making of a Marine Officer, it was itself a New York Times Bestseller back in 2005.
Anyway, over dinner from Mai Thai, Nate gave a presentation about his leadership experience and talked a great deal about decision-making processes. As undergrads, it was a really great opportunity for us to hear from someone who's been so well accomplished out in the real world. After all, that's where we'll be next year. In theory, anyway.
The RLF schedule this year is filled with amazing presenters, and I'm really excited to continue to work with and get to know my fellow... Fellows. This weekend we're going on a retreat to the Lake Morey Resort over in Vermont. I'm know I'm going to learn a lot about leadership and even get to practice my skills, but mostly I think it's just going to be a great time.
'Til the next time,
John
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Interim!
Hey everyone! I just want to apologize for not having written a blog entry recently. We're in the interim period between the summer and fall terms right now, and I've been busy with UGA training and rehearsing and taking care of some business to get the Cords ready for Orientation and auditions, which are coming up next Tuesday. Once all this craziness is over (and the REAL craziness begins with the start of the term), I'll be back in the office and will resume posting. Until then, I hope all is well!
John
John
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
First-Year Trips
After going home this past weekend to spend some time with my parents, I returned to campus last night and am back working in McNutt - just in time to hear H-Croo begin to welcome the first arrivals for the DOC's First-Year Trips in front of Robo, the building next door.
"Woah, woah, woah," you say. "Back up. H-Croo? DOC? Robo? What is all this?"
Funny thing is, that's pretty much exactly how the freshmen feel when they arrive here. But I've decided to give you all a bit of an inside scoop into how trips go down. Don't worry though - I won't spoil any of the surprises.
First of all, DOC stands for the Dartmouth Outing Club, the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the country. You can read all about it here, but basically it's the umbrella organization for about a dozen smaller clubs that each have developed their own ways to take advantage of the incredible environment in which Dartmouth exists. It's run out of Robinson Hall (Robo), the building next door to McNutt, home of the Admissions Office. You can't miss it - there's a giant wooden "DOC" sign right out front.
So now all that's left is to explain what First-Year Trips are. And who better to do that than the DOC itself?
"'Trips', as we call it, is a totally fun five-day outdoor pre-orientation program designed to welcome you to Dartmouth in style! Trips is a unique and incredible opportunity for you to bond with other incoming students, spend a few days in the beautiful area surrounding your new home, and meet upperclass leaders who can answer all your questions. Trips will smooth your transition to college by immediately connecting you to a whole host of new friends, and helping you find your place and your passion here."
Each year, about 91% of the incoming class participates on one of these trips, of which there is a wide variety. For example, students can go: whitewater or flat water canoeing or kayaking; climbing; road cycling or mountain biking; fishing; horseback riding; one of five different levels of hiking; and even nature painting, photography, or writing or organic farming for those less inclined to brave the wilderness. There are usually about 8 or 9 freshmen on each trip along with two upperclass leaders who come from all corners of the campus. After a night in Hanover organized by the Hanover Croo (the aforementioned H-Croo), trippees, as we call them, spend two nights sleeping in cabins, shelters, or, on some trips, lodging they've constructed themselves. On the last night, the entire trip section - about 100 students in all - meets at Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, an old ski lodge the College owns about 50 minutes from campus. There, the trippees are greeted by Lodj Croo, who put on a spectacular dinner-theater type performance for the weary travelers while serving them probably the best food they'd ever tasted (seriously, after 3 days of Annie's Mac and Cheese, GORP, and peanut butter wrapped up in pitas, the Lodj dinner is amazing!)
Trips are a really great way to acclimate our incoming students into the Dartmouth environment and for them to meet a lot of their fellow classmates. After making some great memories hiking through the woods on C-34, moderate hiking, I ended up meeting Bill Lundin, who's still one of my best friends, at the Lodge. And before departing for campus the next morning, we all broke up into small sections for question and answer sessions with upperclassmen. I remember talking with Andrew, an '05 who'd worked at the Lodge that summer and stayed on through Trips. His insight was incredibly helpful, and I think it was at about that point that I thought "Man, Dartmouth really is a special place. I mean, everyone totally goes all-out to welcome new people to campus." And it's true - over the last three years, I've continued to be amazed (though no longer surprised) at how passionate Dartmouth students are about our school, and how excited we get about welcoming freshmen to it.
As I finish writing this, another bus filled with '12s has pulled up in front of Robo next door. There's music blasting from the front porch, and H-Croo is shouting hysterically as our bewildered travelers step off onto the lawn. I can't help but smile at the fact that they have no idea what is ahead of them.
"Woah, woah, woah," you say. "Back up. H-Croo? DOC? Robo? What is all this?"
Funny thing is, that's pretty much exactly how the freshmen feel when they arrive here. But I've decided to give you all a bit of an inside scoop into how trips go down. Don't worry though - I won't spoil any of the surprises.
First of all, DOC stands for the Dartmouth Outing Club, the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the country. You can read all about it here, but basically it's the umbrella organization for about a dozen smaller clubs that each have developed their own ways to take advantage of the incredible environment in which Dartmouth exists. It's run out of Robinson Hall (Robo), the building next door to McNutt, home of the Admissions Office. You can't miss it - there's a giant wooden "DOC" sign right out front.
So now all that's left is to explain what First-Year Trips are. And who better to do that than the DOC itself?
"'Trips', as we call it, is a totally fun five-day outdoor pre-orientation program designed to welcome you to Dartmouth in style! Trips is a unique and incredible opportunity for you to bond with other incoming students, spend a few days in the beautiful area surrounding your new home, and meet upperclass leaders who can answer all your questions. Trips will smooth your transition to college by immediately connecting you to a whole host of new friends, and helping you find your place and your passion here."
Each year, about 91% of the incoming class participates on one of these trips, of which there is a wide variety. For example, students can go: whitewater or flat water canoeing or kayaking; climbing; road cycling or mountain biking; fishing; horseback riding; one of five different levels of hiking; and even nature painting, photography, or writing or organic farming for those less inclined to brave the wilderness. There are usually about 8 or 9 freshmen on each trip along with two upperclass leaders who come from all corners of the campus. After a night in Hanover organized by the Hanover Croo (the aforementioned H-Croo), trippees, as we call them, spend two nights sleeping in cabins, shelters, or, on some trips, lodging they've constructed themselves. On the last night, the entire trip section - about 100 students in all - meets at Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, an old ski lodge the College owns about 50 minutes from campus. There, the trippees are greeted by Lodj Croo, who put on a spectacular dinner-theater type performance for the weary travelers while serving them probably the best food they'd ever tasted (seriously, after 3 days of Annie's Mac and Cheese, GORP, and peanut butter wrapped up in pitas, the Lodj dinner is amazing!)
Trips are a really great way to acclimate our incoming students into the Dartmouth environment and for them to meet a lot of their fellow classmates. After making some great memories hiking through the woods on C-34, moderate hiking, I ended up meeting Bill Lundin, who's still one of my best friends, at the Lodge. And before departing for campus the next morning, we all broke up into small sections for question and answer sessions with upperclassmen. I remember talking with Andrew, an '05 who'd worked at the Lodge that summer and stayed on through Trips. His insight was incredibly helpful, and I think it was at about that point that I thought "Man, Dartmouth really is a special place. I mean, everyone totally goes all-out to welcome new people to campus." And it's true - over the last three years, I've continued to be amazed (though no longer surprised) at how passionate Dartmouth students are about our school, and how excited we get about welcoming freshmen to it.
As I finish writing this, another bus filled with '12s has pulled up in front of Robo next door. There's music blasting from the front porch, and H-Croo is shouting hysterically as our bewildered travelers step off onto the lawn. I can't help but smile at the fact that they have no idea what is ahead of them.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
80% of learning...
There's an old axiom that says most of learning at college takes place outside the classroom. It doesn't take very long to figure out how true that is, and we're fortunate at Dartmouth to have a lot of really great opportunities for extending our education beyond the classroom walls.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking about the crisis in Georgia with my fellow blogger and intern Jeff. I remember saying to him "Man, I wish I were taking classes now so I could actually have a discussion about what is going on." Sure enough, about a week later I got an email from the government department administrative assistant about a panel discussion that was taking place on that very subject. Turns out that Dartmouth has three of the most qualified people in the country to have this discussion.
The panel was led and organized by Ken Yalowitz, the Director of the Dickey Center for International Understanding here at Dartmouth. Now, I'd always known that Mr. Yalowitz was a former US Ambassador. I'd no idea that his assignment happened to be Georgia (1998-2001). The next panelist was Professor William Wohlforth, chair of the Government Department here at Dartmouth. Again, I knew that Prof Wohlforth was one of the top international relations scholars - particularly concerning big-power politics - in the country; I didn't know he's also an expert on Russian foreign policy. Finally, the last panelist was Professor Bridget Coggins, a heavy hitter when it comes to state creation and succession. So between the three of them, we had pretty much every perspective covered.
The discussion began at 4 last Thursday and the panelists spoke for about half an hour before opening it up for questions. Their perspectives were fascinating. Professor Wohlforth basically said that there wasn't anything particularly "Russian" about Russia's response to Georgia's action in South Ossetia. He said that it was responding like any other great power would. For example, he said, if 16 American peacekeepers were killed in a state in Mexico, one wouldn't have to look back to Manifest Destiny to explain how and why America would react. Similarly, Russia doesn't want Ukraine, Georgia, and the other Caucasian states to join NATO for the same reasons that the U.S. wouldn't want Canada or Mexico to join a hostile alliance: basically, and for a lot of reasons, it wouldn't be prudent. Since NATO denied Russia's request to join the organization twice in the 1990s, the Kremlin has every reason to treat NATO as a hostile alliance. The final important point I took away from Wohlforth is that the only difference between Yeltsin and Putin/Medvedev is Russia's capability to achieve their goals - that is, their foreign policy goals were and are largely the same; the only difference is that Russia was broke in the early 90s, and that's no longer the case today.
Meanwhile, Yalowitz seemed to imply that Georgia was baited here - that it was provoked by South Ossetian rebels (who would have had tacit Russian support) - and Russia actually wanted it to attack Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. If Russia was indeed the provocateur, then Wohlforth's argument is essentially irrelevant. At any rate, Yalowitz's familiarity with Georgian history and insight into its government was incredibly helpful and informative.
Finally, Coggins used her knowledge of separatist movements around the world to put South Ossetia and Abkhazia into context for the rest of us. By comparison (to the Tamil Tiger Rebels in Sri Lanka, for example) the movements in these two Georgian enclaves are relatively small and non-violent. She also explained the number of ways that Ossetia and Abkhazia are different from Kosovo.
Then it was time for questions, and lo and behold the audience members turned out to be as impressive as the panelists. More than a few people had very intimate knowledge or, barring that, were very passionate about the situation. One man, for example, had just come back after spending ten years in Georgia living with friends and was obviously very emotional as he asked, toward the end of the session, "How is this going to end?" Another woman who, it should be noted, had an Eastern-European accent, had a different opinion, lambasting President of Georgia Saakashvili's administration and stopping just short of calling him a criminal. Once again, one got the feeling that Hanover is much larger and more cosmopolitan than the almanac would suggest.
As for me, I'm not sure where this is heading. As Wohlforth pointed out, I like we're likely to see the majority of players (including the NATO nations and NATO hopefuls) in this conflict break into two camps once the conflict ends. On one hand, there will be countries (France and Germany, probably), that will be reluctant to let states like Ukraine and Georgia join NATO because they will fear being pulled into another conflict with Russia. 40% of natural gas in Europe comes from Russia, and our European NATO allies will have very little room to negotiate when it comes to an issue that Russia sees as a direct threat to its security. On the other hand, the United States will feel a strong need to protect the fragile (and relatively successful) Georgian democracy, not to mention its oil pipeline - the only one in the Causasus that does not go through Russia. The Causasian states themselves seem to be torn - the silence of Azerbaijan and Armenia has been deafening, but Viktor Yushchenko, the western-leaning President of Ukraine, has pledged his staunch support to Georgia and is trying to use his leverage over Russia's Black Sea fleet, which is stationed at the Ukrainian port at Sevastopol, to put pressure on the Kremlin. Meanwhile, he's reiterated his country's need to join NATO, even while the tensions in Georgia show no signs of easing.
And in fact, they keep getting worse. Today, Russia announced its official recognition of South Ossetia and Abhkazia as free independent states and in doing so has upped the ante considerably. I really don't know what the next move is. But I'm definitely looking forward to the start of the fall term when the '09s will be back and classes will be in session and I can try to figure this all out with some of the best international relations scholars in the country.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking about the crisis in Georgia with my fellow blogger and intern Jeff. I remember saying to him "Man, I wish I were taking classes now so I could actually have a discussion about what is going on." Sure enough, about a week later I got an email from the government department administrative assistant about a panel discussion that was taking place on that very subject. Turns out that Dartmouth has three of the most qualified people in the country to have this discussion.
The panel was led and organized by Ken Yalowitz, the Director of the Dickey Center for International Understanding here at Dartmouth. Now, I'd always known that Mr. Yalowitz was a former US Ambassador. I'd no idea that his assignment happened to be Georgia (1998-2001). The next panelist was Professor William Wohlforth, chair of the Government Department here at Dartmouth. Again, I knew that Prof Wohlforth was one of the top international relations scholars - particularly concerning big-power politics - in the country; I didn't know he's also an expert on Russian foreign policy. Finally, the last panelist was Professor Bridget Coggins, a heavy hitter when it comes to state creation and succession. So between the three of them, we had pretty much every perspective covered.
The discussion began at 4 last Thursday and the panelists spoke for about half an hour before opening it up for questions. Their perspectives were fascinating. Professor Wohlforth basically said that there wasn't anything particularly "Russian" about Russia's response to Georgia's action in South Ossetia. He said that it was responding like any other great power would. For example, he said, if 16 American peacekeepers were killed in a state in Mexico, one wouldn't have to look back to Manifest Destiny to explain how and why America would react. Similarly, Russia doesn't want Ukraine, Georgia, and the other Caucasian states to join NATO for the same reasons that the U.S. wouldn't want Canada or Mexico to join a hostile alliance: basically, and for a lot of reasons, it wouldn't be prudent. Since NATO denied Russia's request to join the organization twice in the 1990s, the Kremlin has every reason to treat NATO as a hostile alliance. The final important point I took away from Wohlforth is that the only difference between Yeltsin and Putin/Medvedev is Russia's capability to achieve their goals - that is, their foreign policy goals were and are largely the same; the only difference is that Russia was broke in the early 90s, and that's no longer the case today.
Meanwhile, Yalowitz seemed to imply that Georgia was baited here - that it was provoked by South Ossetian rebels (who would have had tacit Russian support) - and Russia actually wanted it to attack Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. If Russia was indeed the provocateur, then Wohlforth's argument is essentially irrelevant. At any rate, Yalowitz's familiarity with Georgian history and insight into its government was incredibly helpful and informative.
Finally, Coggins used her knowledge of separatist movements around the world to put South Ossetia and Abkhazia into context for the rest of us. By comparison (to the Tamil Tiger Rebels in Sri Lanka, for example) the movements in these two Georgian enclaves are relatively small and non-violent. She also explained the number of ways that Ossetia and Abkhazia are different from Kosovo.
Then it was time for questions, and lo and behold the audience members turned out to be as impressive as the panelists. More than a few people had very intimate knowledge or, barring that, were very passionate about the situation. One man, for example, had just come back after spending ten years in Georgia living with friends and was obviously very emotional as he asked, toward the end of the session, "How is this going to end?" Another woman who, it should be noted, had an Eastern-European accent, had a different opinion, lambasting President of Georgia Saakashvili's administration and stopping just short of calling him a criminal. Once again, one got the feeling that Hanover is much larger and more cosmopolitan than the almanac would suggest.
As for me, I'm not sure where this is heading. As Wohlforth pointed out, I like we're likely to see the majority of players (including the NATO nations and NATO hopefuls) in this conflict break into two camps once the conflict ends. On one hand, there will be countries (France and Germany, probably), that will be reluctant to let states like Ukraine and Georgia join NATO because they will fear being pulled into another conflict with Russia. 40% of natural gas in Europe comes from Russia, and our European NATO allies will have very little room to negotiate when it comes to an issue that Russia sees as a direct threat to its security. On the other hand, the United States will feel a strong need to protect the fragile (and relatively successful) Georgian democracy, not to mention its oil pipeline - the only one in the Causasus that does not go through Russia. The Causasian states themselves seem to be torn - the silence of Azerbaijan and Armenia has been deafening, but Viktor Yushchenko, the western-leaning President of Ukraine, has pledged his staunch support to Georgia and is trying to use his leverage over Russia's Black Sea fleet, which is stationed at the Ukrainian port at Sevastopol, to put pressure on the Kremlin. Meanwhile, he's reiterated his country's need to join NATO, even while the tensions in Georgia show no signs of easing.
And in fact, they keep getting worse. Today, Russia announced its official recognition of South Ossetia and Abhkazia as free independent states and in doing so has upped the ante considerably. I really don't know what the next move is. But I'm definitely looking forward to the start of the fall term when the '09s will be back and classes will be in session and I can try to figure this all out with some of the best international relations scholars in the country.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Did you hear?
A few days ago, Dominic Seiterle, Dartmouth '98 took home a gold medal for Canada in the Men's Eight in Beijing. While most Dartmouth Olympians compete in the Winter Games, we've got four representatives this summer, now including a gold medalist. Go Big Green!
P.S. Here's an article about Dartmouth's representatives in this summer's Olympics.
P.S. Here's an article about Dartmouth's representatives in this summer's Olympics.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Cords
As summer draws to a close, I find myself more and more looking forward to the fall term and all that it entails. My fellow '09's will once again descend on campus from all around the world as a class - this time as seniors - while on the other end of the collegiate spectrum, the Dartmouth campus will welcome more than 1,000 new faces representing the Class of 2012. I'll be taking classes again for the first time in more than 6 months. The Giants will begin their quest to defend their Superbowl Championship. And of course, I will start singing again.
One of my most important extra-curricular activities over the past three years has been my involvement in the Cords, one of Dartmouth's three all-male a cappella ensembles. I auditioned for the Cords at the end of my Freshman Orientation, and it was really the first group or activity that I joined on campus. It was really one of the best things I could have done for myself. Not only did I have a cool group of guys to hang out with, but it was a great opportunity to meet and get to know upperclassmen. Ultimately, the Cords is one of the reasons I didn't feel I needed to join a fraternity: I already had my brotherhood.
The Cords usually consist of about 16 guys. Because of the D-Plan and the fact that our members are always coming and going, our repertoire varies term by term and we'll often have to learn new parts to cover missing ones. We rehearse about 6 hours of week, and do somewhere between 4 and 7 on-campus shows per term, with a few off-campus shows in the mix as well. While traveling during the term can be fun, our favorite shows are the ones we perform here in Hanover for Dartmouth students, usually in a fraternity or sorority living room or a common room in a residence hall. A cappella is (strangely) popular at Dartmouth, and people really turn out for our shows. It's a great feeling to have so much support from our fellow students.
The Cords rehearse on the National Mall in D.C. while on tour in '06
The Cords prepare to sing the National Anthem at Fenway ParkThe Cords has also provided me with some truly unique leadership experience. I managed our tour my sophomore year and was president of the group last year. I'm currently serving as our business manager. Because the Cords are entirely student run, the president of the group is truly the executive of the organization - there is no faculty or Council on Student Organizations (COSO) advisor. Even in the corporate world, CEOs have boards and investors to report to; for most student organizations at Dartmouth, the buck stops at the student leaders. Thus, for a year, I got to play the role of chief executive of an organization that's not only an extra-curricular activity, but a semi-professional performing ensemble and a small business as well. It's hard to get that experience anywhere else, and I'm really appreciative for the opportunity that I had and for the friends I've made along the way.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Animal House and the Real World
Like its peer schools, Dartmouth is famous for a number of different things, and in particular: its liberal arts tradition and undergraduate focus; its active alumni body (and their financial success - tops in the country); its idyllic location; its unique academic calendar; its championship ski teams; and, as I've discovered through conducting a number of student forums, Animal House.
For those of you unfamiliar with the film, it's a 1978 National Lampoon's Comedy co-written by Chris Miller, class of 1963, and is based on his experiences as a brother of Alpha Delta Phi (now Alpha Delta, or AD). Starring John Belushi and Tim Matheson (and featuring Kevin Bacon in his cinematic debut), the film centers around the antics and degenerate members of Delta Tau Chi at a fictional college in Pennsylvania. You can check out a plot summary here.
For better or for worse (I and most others would argue for better), the Dartmouth Greek system no longer resembles (if in fact it ever did), the system portrayed in Animal House. But before I offer my take on it, some facts about the Dartmouth Fraternity, Sorority, and Coed (Greek) system.
Dartmouth currently recognizes 16 fraternities, 9 sororities, and 3 coed houses. There are also two undergraduate societies that are not a part of the Greek system. About 60% of eligible students do join a house. Eligible students are sophomores, juniors and seniors; freshmen cannot pledge, or join, a house. There are a number of implications of this policy, all of them positive. First, it gives Dartmouth students who think they may join a house their entire freshman year to scope out the organizations and see where they feel the most comfortable. More importantly, it means that students' social networks here are determined more by the friends they make during freshman year and through the organizations they're in more than the house they're in. If a student decides to pledge, his affiliation is usually just one more thing that he does on campus. Both of my fellow full-time interns are affiliated, but you'll never hear Madhavi introduce herself as a KDE or Jeff as an Alpha-Theta. Jeff, in fact, had thought I was in a fraternity until we did a forum together and the question came up. And while organizations' memberships may be as high as 150, each house only has about 20-25 beds and no dining facilities. Thus, most affiliated students live and eat on campus like everyone else, and there's little delineation between those who are in houses and those who are not.
One more reason for this lack of clear distinction is that the Greek system at Dartmouth is really inclusive: parties are usually open to the entire campus regardless of students' affiliations, and they're usually pretty fun. Most houses on campus are known for one particular party they'll throw about once a term. My favorite is the early 80's party at Sigma Nu, but I went for the first time to Sig Ep's Foam Party this past weekend and had a really fun time. Not sure I'll do that one again, but it was definitely worth the experience of standing waste-deep (or higher) in bubbles.
All that said, I am, as I mentioned, unaffiliated. For me, there just didn't seem to be a compelling enough reason to join a house. I'd already found my "fraternity" in my a cappella group, and I've been involved in so many different activities with such a wide range of students that I didn't really need to add another social network (or the accompanying time commitment). And while a majority of students do pledge, there's a large minority (40%) of eligible students who do not. While the Greek system does provide a lot of entertainment here, it is not the be all and end all of the social scene at Dartmouth, and while the College would be a lot different without it, there are students who go 4 years here without setting foot in a Greek house and are no worse off for it. But because of the large number of organizations, we're lucky to have a lot of variation between our houses, and there are a number of students who come to Dartmouth thinking there's no way they'd ever want to be a part of the Greek system (perhaps they'd seen Animal House?) but end up pledging sophomore fall. For me, with everything else there is to do here, I just didn't think it was necessary. But when you visit colleges, and wherever you end up going, I encourage you all to keep an open mind about all the options available to you. College can be a bit (or a lot) overwhelming at first, but in time, everyone finds his/her place. If you have any questions about the place that I've found, I'd be happy to answer them.
For those of you unfamiliar with the film, it's a 1978 National Lampoon's Comedy co-written by Chris Miller, class of 1963, and is based on his experiences as a brother of Alpha Delta Phi (now Alpha Delta, or AD). Starring John Belushi and Tim Matheson (and featuring Kevin Bacon in his cinematic debut), the film centers around the antics and degenerate members of Delta Tau Chi at a fictional college in Pennsylvania. You can check out a plot summary here.
For better or for worse (I and most others would argue for better), the Dartmouth Greek system no longer resembles (if in fact it ever did), the system portrayed in Animal House. But before I offer my take on it, some facts about the Dartmouth Fraternity, Sorority, and Coed (Greek) system.
Dartmouth currently recognizes 16 fraternities, 9 sororities, and 3 coed houses. There are also two undergraduate societies that are not a part of the Greek system. About 60% of eligible students do join a house. Eligible students are sophomores, juniors and seniors; freshmen cannot pledge, or join, a house. There are a number of implications of this policy, all of them positive. First, it gives Dartmouth students who think they may join a house their entire freshman year to scope out the organizations and see where they feel the most comfortable. More importantly, it means that students' social networks here are determined more by the friends they make during freshman year and through the organizations they're in more than the house they're in. If a student decides to pledge, his affiliation is usually just one more thing that he does on campus. Both of my fellow full-time interns are affiliated, but you'll never hear Madhavi introduce herself as a KDE or Jeff as an Alpha-Theta. Jeff, in fact, had thought I was in a fraternity until we did a forum together and the question came up. And while organizations' memberships may be as high as 150, each house only has about 20-25 beds and no dining facilities. Thus, most affiliated students live and eat on campus like everyone else, and there's little delineation between those who are in houses and those who are not.
One more reason for this lack of clear distinction is that the Greek system at Dartmouth is really inclusive: parties are usually open to the entire campus regardless of students' affiliations, and they're usually pretty fun. Most houses on campus are known for one particular party they'll throw about once a term. My favorite is the early 80's party at Sigma Nu, but I went for the first time to Sig Ep's Foam Party this past weekend and had a really fun time. Not sure I'll do that one again, but it was definitely worth the experience of standing waste-deep (or higher) in bubbles.
All that said, I am, as I mentioned, unaffiliated. For me, there just didn't seem to be a compelling enough reason to join a house. I'd already found my "fraternity" in my a cappella group, and I've been involved in so many different activities with such a wide range of students that I didn't really need to add another social network (or the accompanying time commitment). And while a majority of students do pledge, there's a large minority (40%) of eligible students who do not. While the Greek system does provide a lot of entertainment here, it is not the be all and end all of the social scene at Dartmouth, and while the College would be a lot different without it, there are students who go 4 years here without setting foot in a Greek house and are no worse off for it. But because of the large number of organizations, we're lucky to have a lot of variation between our houses, and there are a number of students who come to Dartmouth thinking there's no way they'd ever want to be a part of the Greek system (perhaps they'd seen Animal House?) but end up pledging sophomore fall. For me, with everything else there is to do here, I just didn't think it was necessary. But when you visit colleges, and wherever you end up going, I encourage you all to keep an open mind about all the options available to you. College can be a bit (or a lot) overwhelming at first, but in time, everyone finds his/her place. If you have any questions about the place that I've found, I'd be happy to answer them.
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