Reflection: So Good to See You!
This article is featured in the 2023 Winter Carnival special issue.
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This article is featured in the 2023 Winter Carnival special issue.
Given the size of our community and the College’s centuries of history, Dartmouth culture is rife with expectations for “traditional” rites of passage. There are different rules for every term: Sophomore summer is notoriously a two-course term for many, while winter term is for hunkering down because the opportunity cost of staying inside during daylight hours isn’t too high.
Week five is upon us, and for sophomores, it marks the ultimate halfway point in our Dartmouth career. It is the middle of the middle of the four years we have here in Hanover — and, as a result, a natural time to check in.
I’ve never been great at time management. Like many people, I lie in bed at the end of the day thinking about what I could have done better — more efficiently — and running through the list of tasks I have yet to accomplish. Dartmouth’s quarter system puts an incredible amount of pressure on the limited amount of time in a day, squeezing one semester’s worth of the usual college timeline — lecture material, parties, laundry loads — into only ten weeks. I tend to miss the mark on time management, feeling like I’m losing touch with friendships or hobbies in the face of pressure to do it all.
One of the hallmarks of orientation week for a typical Dartmouth freshman is the matriculation ceremony — by shaking the President of the College’s hand, the untethered former high school senior becomes a Dartmouth student and crosses the threshold into a formative four years in the Granite State. The matriculation ceremony poses a particular risk in the era of COVID-19; thus, in lieu of last year’s typical matriculation ceremony, members of the Class of 2024 were given glow sticks to crack while alone in their rooms during their third day of a 14-day quarantine. The light was meant to mimic the light of the Twilight Ceremony, in which the entire class of incoming freshmen walk into the woods near the College holding a candle — but, scattered across hundreds of isolated dorm rooms, it couldn’t compete with the real thing. There is something special about the complete openness to new experiences, being with and for others and walking into the wilderness — experiences that the real Twilight Ceremony seems to symbolize.
The Dartmouth closet seems to fall easily into a few sartorial aesthetics.
Growing up in New York City meant that Pride was an expected celebration in June. I remember walking my six-year-old sister to the playground, her eyes level with all sorts of skirts and tutus as New Yorkers packed the streets to celebrate. Parade floats, cheering, and bars and restaurants seeming to pour people out onto the streets — all these sights characterize the weekend surrounding the celebration of Pride Month. The Pride March originated in New York in 1970, the year after the Stonewall riots. The June 1969 riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to police raids and arrests that had been threatening queer spaces.
This article is featured in the 2021 Commencement special issue.
Consultant (n.): a person who provides expert advice professionally.
This article is featured in the 2021 Spring special issue.
Dartmouth is known to all for its community and culture of tradition. The homecoming bonfire, the BEMA twilight ceremony for freshmen, the annual campus-wide snowball fight, First-Year Trips — the list of cherished traditions is long. But perhaps no tradition is as ubiquitous in the everyday lives of Dartmouth students as Dartmouth slang. It’s no secret that students have a proclivity for embracing an expansive, unwritten dictionary of lingo, be it in reference to spaces like the dining hall (“Foco”) and the first floor of the Baker-Berry Library (“Blobby”) or to attributes of other students (the dreaded label of “facetimey”).
It has been over a year of remote learning and as more members of the Dartmouth community receive vaccinations, there is an air of hope following the College’s announcement of an expected return to in-person classes for fall 2021. Though there have been many discussions around what the loss of in-person classes has meant for students — academically, socially, emotionally — less attention has been paid to what the change has meant for professors.
Whether you love or hate the D-Plan, Dartmouth’s academic calendar makes it possible for students to travel widely throughout their time in college. Many students cite their study abroad program as the highlight of their Dartmouth experience, and some spend entire years traveling to different countries. Dennis Washburn, associate dean for international studies and interdisciplinary programs, previously called study abroad programs “the jewel in the crown of Dartmouth’s undergraduate education.” These popular programs are a key advantage of the College’s liberal arts curriculum and flexible academic schedule.
Each year, Dartmouth puts on a celebration for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, hosting programs that relate social and racial justice to work done at the College. After a year that laid bare racial inequities in American society, this week’s events took on a renewed sense of importance.
As the pandemic drags on into the new year, many people are getting sick of strictly adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. With the first doses of the vaccine rolling out across the country, some have started to let their guards down and regard restrictions with a more lax attitude.
Each day’s early sunset is a reminder that winter is coming. The intensity of the cold and the scarcity of the daylight hours strengthen the appeal of the indoors. But as COVID-19 cases rise and many students plan to return to campus in the winter, the announcement of the Dartmouth Skiway’s reopening was a bright point in a dreary-looking flurry of information.
Ask any Dartmouth student about their most pressing concerns and you’re unlikely to hear that they’re stressing about finding their soulmate. The terms go by quickly and it’s hard enough to keep up with the whirlwind of club meetings, lunch dates and assignments. Though the object of marriage is not on the radar for most, there’s a certain phenomenon of Dartmouth students marrying other Dartmouth students. Although there aren’t statistics to back up the rumors, ask any student on campus about it and they’re likely to know what you’re talking about.
Freshman fall is a strange time socially. Everything about high school was structured — you followed a rigid class schedule and knew who to sit with at lunch every day. But college throws you out into the world on your own. No one is there to wake you up in the morning, to double check your outfit before you head out the door or to remind you that you should probably eat something before 6 p.m. The transition can be overwhelming.