Bowdoin College
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The Nation’s Oldest Continuously Published College Weekly
Bowdoin students turn in ballots
and turn out for results parties
by Kathryn Bosse
and Maggie Millar
Orient Staff
A ripple of cheers erupt-
ed from Morrell Lounge in
David Saul Smith Union as
U.S. House and Governor
seats turned blue one by
one on Tuesday night, lead-
ing to the Democrats taking
back control of the House of
Representatives. CNN was
projected onto a large screen
at the front of the room, and
refreshments were provided
by the Joseph McKeen Center
for the Common Good. The
watch party was the culmi-
nation of a day of voting and,
for some campus organizers,
weeks or months of cam-
paigning and get-out-the-
vote efforts.
The McKeen Center gath-
ering was not the only watch
Concerned students denounce anti-trans graffiti
by Nina McKay
Orient Staff
More than a week after a
student found and reported
graffiti on a Free Flow sign
in a women’s restroom on the
first floor of David Saul Smith
Union, many students are
angry about the defacement,
and frustration that an official
statement on the incident has
yet to be released to the cam-
pus. According to Director of
Gender Violence Prevention
and Education Benje Douglas,
the Bias Incident Group (BIG)
convened on Wednesday and
is planning to release a report
N NASA TAKES OFF
Native American Student Association
plans a month of programming. Page 4.
party on campus; students of
all class years funneled into
common spaces to organize
trips to the polls and watch
as midterm election results
poured in.
Baxter House held an
event from 4 to 8 p.m. that
provided affiliates with rides
to the polls and celebrated
the elections.
Brooke Vahos ’21, a Baxter
resident who played a large
role in organizing the event,
had spent much of the semes-
ter campaigning with Janet
Mills, who was elected gov-
ernor on Tuesday night, and
canvassing as part of Maine
Student Action to encourage
people to vote yes on Ques-
tion One, which would have
increased taxes on the high-
est income earners in order
to subsidize home care for el-
derly Mainers. That measure
soon.
The poster was defaced with
a red marker. Gender-neutral
language about menstruation
was replaced with female-gen-
dered language. The symbol
for Venus, which is used to
represent women, was added
to the bottom of the poster,
along with the words “men-
struate” and “TRUTH.”
“I don’t understand,” said
Hope Keeley ’21 of her reac-
tion to seeing the graffiti. “I
don’t understand people who
hide behind a sharpie in a
bathroom stall.”
Nathan Ashany ’21 echoed
Keeley’s sense of confusion
F OUT(STANDING) INCLUSIVITY
The OutPeers and OutAllies list can be
found across campus. Here’s why. Page 5.
Friday, November 9, 2018
VOTING AND VIEWING: At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, as Maine
polls were closing, students gathered together in David Saul
Smith Union to watch the results come in.
was defeated, with nearly 63
percent of Mainers voting
against it.
“In our current political
context, all the decisions that
are being made by our nation-
al politicians, as well as our
local politicians, are affecting
our everyday life,” said Vahos.
“I think that people don’t re-
ally face that imminence; they
feel like it’s in the distant fu-
ture and it doesn’t really mat-
ter and politics is a game for a
different generation.”
Many on campus com-
mented on an uptick in po-
litical engagement from stu-
dents compared to during the
2016 presidential election,
in which only 52.6 percent
of eligible Bowdoin students
voted. This change is par-
ticularly noteworthy given
that midterm elections have
historically had significant-
about the thought process be-
hind the graffiti.
“Somebody’s got too much
time on their hands and is
thinking about other people’s
bodies for absolutely no rea-
son,” Ashany said.
Gillian Raley ’21 expressed
frustration and distress at the
idea of a student intentionally
defacing a Free Flow sign and
constraining the narrative
about who uses menstrual
products.
“Those posters are every-
where, and they’ve been ev-
erywhere for a while. I think
someone had to have a clear,
hateful train of thought to
S WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
Volleyball team takes trophy in NESCAC
Championship tournament. Page 9.
Volume 148, Number 9
REUBEN SCHAFIR, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
ly lower voter turnout than
presidential years.
Out-of-state Bowdoin stu-
dents who are eligible voters
face a decision—to register in
their home state or to regis-
ter in Maine. Vahos voted in
Maine, noting that state and
local policies can profoundly
affect Bowdoin students.
“[Maine] is where you’re
living and where these poli-
cies are affecting you for four
years,” said Vahos. “And a lot
of people are feeling very es-
tranged from that or feeling
like they don’t deserve the
right to affect people who live
in Maine, but I think … we
have just as much of a right to
vote here and have a say in the
politics as other people do.”
Some students preferred to
vote absentee instead, citing a
Please see ELECTION, page 4
actually carry that out—those
markings,” Raley said. “I think
it’s just always better to use
gender-neutral language in any
situation that you can, and this
one in particular because we
do know of narratives where it
applies that people who don’t
identify as women still men-
struate and still use menstrual
products.”
Several students expressed
surprise that the graffiti was
discovered in a women’s re-
stroom.
“I’d like to think that wom-
en are more supportive of ev-
erybody, but that’s a bias of my
own,” said Keeley.
A $31 MILLION
Glimpse into the history of the museum’s
ancient reliefs. Page 11.
bowdoinorient.com
Spring 2019
schedule tweaked
after feedback
by David Steiner
and Anthony Yanez
Orient Staff
After modifications to the
course schedule increasing
the time between classes de-
buted this fall, class times for
the spring will see a few small
changes in response to student
and faculty feedback.
The opening of Round I of
registration on Monday marked
the end of a process that occurs
behind the scenes in the months
leading up to each semester.
Registrar Martina Duncan
explained that the Office of the
Registrar delegates more spe-
cific responsibilities to each de-
partment, giving them relative
autonomy to develop course
offerings while considering how
their department’s curriculum
fits together as a unit and with
those of other departments.
Each department decides
which courses it will offer before
the start of the academic year.
The actual course schedule is
determined just ahead of each se-
mester. Each department submits
these schedules in digital “offer-
ings worksheets,” and staff at the
Office of the Registrar builds the
courses into the system through
a manual process. Once that
process is completed, the Office
runs data checks to make sure the
schedule is accurate.
“That’s also why we turn on
Polaris early,” Duncan said. “It’s
a chance to have faculty and
coordinators be able to check
our work so they can say, ‘oh
wait, you got this piece wrong’
or maybe it was submitted in-
correctly to the curricular com-
mittee and they need to make a
change or revision there.”
Departments don’t have com-
plete freedom, though. The Of-
fice of the Registrar requires that
Cameron Markovsky ’21
was not only surprised by the
graffiti’s specific location, but
also by its very public appear-
ance.
“[Trans rights] is an issue
that I tend to associate wom-
en being more open-minded
with,” Markovsky said. “How-
ever … [transphobia] very
much goes under the radar
right now … I guess the fact
that there’s still that discomfort
and hatred existing around us
doesn’t surprise me, but I guess
the overtness of it kind of did
surprise me.”
Samantha Schwimmer ’21
was not surprised at the graf-
O HATE WILL NOT REST
Carlos Holguin ’19 is tired of watching
hate spread. Page 13.
1st CLASS
U.S. MAIL
each department utilize a certain
number of designated underuti-
lized time (UT) blocks to create
a more even spread of classes
throughout the day—though the
office does not mandate which
UT blocks must be used. Among
the available UT blocks are 8:30
a.m. courses, Monday/Wednes-
day/Friday courses and evening
courses. Duncan explained that
the number of UT blocks a de-
partment must use is proportion-
al to the total number of sections
it will offer that semester.
In the spring, two courses are
scheduled during the 6:30-7:55
p.m. time block, which was not an
option in previous years, and not
used by any departments this fall.
Duncan’s goal is to vary the
types of underutilized spots that
are available in order to give each
department adequate wiggle
room for its specific pedagogical
needs or preferences.
The Latin American Studies
Department, for example, uses
UT blocks to its advantage by
offering foreign language courses
that meet four days a week but
that also allow students to pursue
other interests. It schedules these
classes during the 8:30 a.m. time
slot, allowing students to maintain
a degree of flexibility in choosing
classes in other departments.
The UT requirement is also
not necessarily seen as a burden
by professors whose class format
fits better with the UT slots.
“There are some specific sem-
inars that I teach in which I ask
students to read a whole novel
every week, and it’s a novel they
read in a foreign language,” said
Associate Professor of Romance
Languages and Literatures Gus-
tavo Faveron-Patriau, who prefers
three-hour class blocks. “So I
particularly don’t like to have to
Please see COURSES, page 4
fiti’s appearance on Bowdoin’s
campus or at its location in a
women’s restroom.
“I think that there’s a lot of
transphobia on this campus
and that in our country there
are ‘feminist movements’ that
are not feminist movements
because they want to exclude
certain women,” Schwimmer
said. “I was disappointed, I
was angry, I was enraged—but
I was not surprised.”
“It’s frustrating that we
weren’t surprised by that,
though,” said Bianca Boyd ’21.
“Especially on this campus
Please see GRAFFITI, page 3
2 Friday, November 9, 2018

2
Thursday, November 1
PAGE TWO
SECURITY REPORT
11/1 to 11/7
• A prospective student reported a wallet alleged-
STUDENT SPEAK:
What is your least favorite color?
• A faculty member living in an off-campus apartment ly stolen at a Ladd House event. The wallet, which
came to the security office to report a possible intrud- turned out to be lost, was recovered and returned to
er in the apartment. The police responded and deter- the owner.
mined that there were no indications of a burglary. • An officer discovered an emotionally upset student Senay Yibrah ’19
• A student living in Coles Tower reported cash miss- outside of Ladd House. The student was referred to
ing from a drawer.
• A student was transported to Mid Coast Hospital
counseling.
Mustard. I look so damn good in
with a soccer-related head injury. Monday, November 5
• A student with a fever requested an escort to Mid • A student reported the theft of a black bicycle–un- it but it tastes so bad.
Coast Hospital. known make and model-
from the south entrance
Friday, November 2 bike rack at Smith Union.
• Unauthorized use of a fog The bike had been left un-
machine in MacMillan House locked. Lucia Gagliardone ’20
activated a smoke alarm.
• A woman student reported
stalking behavior and repeated
Tuesday. November 6
• A student left a back-
Sweet pink, because it reminds
unwanted social media contact
from a man living out-of-state.
pack unattended from
4:30–6:30 p.m. on the floor me of Pepto-Bismol.
• Two minor students took re- in the men’s locker room at
sponsibility for hosting a room Farley Field House. When
gathering with alcohol present the student returned, his
in Coleman Hall. MacBook Pro laptop with
black Thule case had been
Saturday, November 3 stolen. Ripley Mayfield ’19
• A student was found to be in • Brunswick Rescue trans-
possession of a fraudulent driv-
er’s license.
ported a student to Mid
Coast Hospital who report- Olive green because yuck!
• A jubilant student at Whitti- edly took an overdose of
er Field was treated for a severe
back muscle cramp while cel-
prescription medication.
• An officer checked on
Olives!
ebrating the Bowdoin football the well-being of a student
victory over Bates. who was dealing with a
• Power was lost for over two family emergency.
HOLS
hours on a section of College BE NIC
PHOE
Street. Wednesday, November 7
• A student accidentally set • A minor student was
Cooper Dart ’21
off a smoke alarm while baking found in possession of a
brownies in a microwave. fraudulent driver’s license. Whatever color Moulton dark
• A man who was scavenging • A student claimed re-
bags of empty cans and bottles from football tailgating
sites was directed to leave campus.
sponsibility for making a hole in a basement wall at
Quinby House during a self-described “dancing fren-
room is because yuck! Moulton
Sunday, November 4
zy.”
• A student reported that his men’s L.L. Bean jacket dark room!
• An intoxicated minor was transported from Win- was stolen from the coat rack at Moulton Union while
throp Hall to Mid Coast Hospital. he was having dinner. Security recovered the jacket,
• A campus visitor who was driving on College Street which was taken by mistake, and returned it to the
reported being approached by two males who yelled owner.
Izzy Gray ’20
something unintelligible. COMPILED BY THE OFFICE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY

Yellow. Yellow lighting makes

people look tired and pastey.
Nine things you can’t seem
to avoid on election day
COMPILED BY HAVANA CASO-DOSEMBET

by Diego Lasarte
Answers for Word-Up!
Orient Staff CREATED BY AUGUST RICE

1. #Vote! Instagram PHOEB

E ZIPP
ER

Stories.

2. Awkward 2 a.m.
messages from your 5. Ted Cruz’s making obnoxious
president and your disgusting smile. eye contact with
latest hookup. each other.
6. A recount in
3. “Funny” election- Florida coming down 8. A crushing exis-
themed Facebook to your grandmother, tential dread know-
videos with fewer an alligator and the ing no matter what
than 100 views. guy in the Mickey happens, the world
Mouse costume. will likely be under-
4. The Democratic water by 2050.
Party letting you 7. People with
down. “I Voted” stickers 9. Nell Fitzgerald ’19.
Friday, November 9, 2018
AT A CROSSROADS: Ilan Stavans of Amherst College delivered a lecture about Jews who practice Judaism in private and profess another faith in public.
Amherst professor discusses history
of Crypto-Jews, anti-Semitism
by Horace Wang
Orient Staff
With issues of anti-Semi-
tism and racism on the minds
of many, Ilan Stavans, professor
of Latin American and Latino
culture at Amherst College,
told the story of Crypto-Jews
on Wednesday night. The term
refers to Jews who secretly ad-
here to Judaism while publicly
professing another faith.
As one of the leading voices
of Jewish culture in the Latinx
studies discipline, Stavans’
credentials in the field are ex-
tensive. In addition to being
a professor at Amherst, he is
a renowned scholar of Span-
ish language and literature,
an influential essayist, fiction
writer, translator and literary
critic, as well as a New York
Times bestselling author who
has written dozens of scholarly
books, memoirs and stories.
His recent work includes a
graphic novel adaptation of
“Don Quixote.”
Over the course of the lec-
ture, Stavans connected pres-
ent-day rhetoric regarding the
NO TOLERANCE FOR INTOLERANCE: Students expressed solidarity
with trans and nonbinary individuals after the defacement of a Free Flow sign.
experiences of minorities in
the United States to his per-
sonal identity.
“I am frightened; I am anx-
ious by what’s happening in
this country,” said Stavans. “I
am a Mexican Jew who immi-
grated to the United States in
the mid-80s, dreaming that
being in this country would al-
low me to express and explain
in ways that were not available
in my home country.”
Stavans pointed to anti-Se-
mitic and anti-immigrant
political rhetoric, as well as
current events, such as the
shootings in Pittsburgh and
Charlottesville, as concerns for
Jews. He also named this polit-
ical climate as the inspiration
for his talk.
“I happen to be a part of two
minorities at the crossroads …
On one hand, the Latino mi-
nority—I am a Mexican, and
thus I have been described as a
bad hombre, a rapist, as some-
one who is coming from the
South to overtake the North,”
said Stavans. “I am also a Jew,
have been called a usurper and
have heard that ‘Jews will not
COURTESY OF ELIZABETH FOSLER-JONES
NEWS
replace us.’”
Students who attended the
talk appreciated the fact that
there was programming dedi-
cated to Judaic topics, although
some of them challenged as-
pects of Stavans’s lecture.
“I think it’s fascinating to
study Crypto-Jews through a
historical lens, but what I dis-
agreed with at the end of the
talk was that he was suggesting
Crypto-Judaism as a way to
survive and maintain our Jew-
ish heritage today,” said Hillel
president Miranda Miller ’19.
“If we hide our Judaism in
public and maintain our Juda-
ism in private, we’re not con-
tributing to a diverse culture
in America, and I don’t think
that’s the message Jews should
receive after Pittsburgh.”
Samantha Schwimmer ’21,
a member of the Hillel board,
echoed this sentiment.
“My concern with this par-
ticular talk was that the Jewish
response should be to hide,”
said Schwimmer. “The biggest
flaw in the talk overall was the
reliance on the narrative of
Crypto-Jews without acknowl-
GRAFFITI
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
where we are supposed to be a
really close-knit community.”
Schwimmer voiced con-
cern for the impact the graffiti
may have had on trans and
non-binary individuals within
the campus community.
“I just want trans students
to know that there are people
on this campus who see them
and stand with them,” she
said. “I would like the admin-
istration to strongly denounce
this … I think the administra-
tion needs to make sure trans
students feel safe here.”
Schwimmer was aware that
the BIG had convened and
would imminently release a
report, but she expressed frus-
tration that an official state-
ment of solidarity or support
from the administration had
COURTESY OF KEVIN GUTTING
edging that Judaism has only
survived, because Jews were
willing to be open.”
Stavans spoke at length
regarding the history of Sep-
hardic Jews who were expelled
from Spain by the Edict of
Granada in 1492, during the
Spanish Inquisition. He also
discussed his research revolv-
ing around present-day Cryp-
to-Jews in North and South
America and addressed the
question of why Crypto-Jews
have recently come out of hid-
ing.
The lecture was funded by
the Harry Spindel Memorial
Lecture Fund, which brings
accomplished and influential
scholars to Bowdoin to dis-
cuss topics in Judaic studies or
contemporary Jewish affairs.
It was established in 1977 by
Rosalyne Spindel Bernstein, a
former Bowdoin Trustee and
honorary degree recipient, and
her husband, the late Sumner
Thurman Bernstein. The lec-
ture series is named after Ro-
salyn’s father, Harry Spindel,
to honor his memory and his
devotion to Jewish learning.
not yet been issued.
“I know [the administra-
tion] can’t make statements
about the incident, but I
think there could have been a
message sent out to the trans
community at our school that
we don’t tolerate discrimina-
tion against people who don’t
identify within the gender
binary or people who identify
as transgender,” Schwimmer
said.
The defacement of the Free
Flow sign occurred just weeks
after a Bowdoin Student Gov-
ernment (BSG)-led Town Hall
“I’m at a crossroads where I don’t advo-
cate for putting cameras all around the
school, but at the same time, this isn’t
the culture that we want.”
–Niles Singer ’21
BSG postpones
SAFC vote on club
membership fees
by Cole van Miltenburg
Orient Staff
At its weekly meeting, Bow-
doin Student Government
(BSG) voted to release its own
operating budget but declined
for the second week in a row
to vote on regulations on club
dues for student groups that
get their money from the Stu-
dent Activities Funding Com-
mittee (SAFC).
Last week, BSG members
had raised concerns about
clubs requiring students to
pay dues to participate. Al-
though current SAFC guide-
lines essentially prohibit clubs
from charging membership
fees to students, BSG is ad-
dressing questions about the
specific wording of this clause
to ensure fair treatment for
students with financial obsta-
cles to participation.
Rather than adopting new
wording for the clause at this
meeting, the SAFC decided to
postpone a final decision to
allow for more time to hold
dialogue and conduct re-
search about policy language.
“We still maintain the opin-
ion that financial barriers be-
ing posed to club members is
an extremely important issue,
which is exactly why the com-
mittee wants to have further
conversations with staff, ad-
ministrators and the public,”
in response to a swastika that
had been carved into a study
carrel on the sixth floor of the
Hubbard Hall Stacks.
“I feel like there’s a lot of
bias incidents that have come
up, been discovered, been
reported, and it seems like
we’re having a lot of difficul-
ty pinpointing where they’re
coming from and who’s doing
it,” said Niles Singer ’21. “I’m
at a crossroads where I don’t
advocate for putting cameras
all around the school, but at
the same time, this isn’t the
culture that we want.”
3
said BSG Treasurer and SAFC
Chair Harry Sherman ’21.
“We just want a lot more time
to flesh out every aspect of
this clause because it’s a really
important one.”
Sherman assured BSG
members that the SAFC will
review its guidelines once a
semester, meaning that this
topic could be re-opened
soon.
Additionally, BSG Presi-
dent Mohamed Nur ’19 put
forth a proposal to publicize
how BSG uses its student ac-
tivities money. In September,
the SAFC released data on
student groups’ budgets; BSG
received the second-most
funding, representing 13 per-
cent of the total student activ-
ities budget.
“We thought it would
be best that we publish our
own budget,” Nur said. “The
thought is that we’re com-
pletely transparent to the en-
tire student body too, so that
students can really see the
breadth and depth of what
BSG can do on campus.”
The assembly unanimously
passed the proposal, marking
a new chapter for BSG which
Sherman noted as a big step in
the right direction.
“People always ask, ‘what
does BSG do?’ I think the
budget will answer a lot of
those questions,” he said.
Other students echoed the
idea of the graffiti represent-
ing a disconnect between the
culture that the administra-
tion and student groups are
trying to create and certain
ideological strains on campus.
This contrast seems especially
stark during No Hate Novem-
ber, a month of programming
organized by BSG that aims to
bring the campus community
together to engage in work
around diversity and inclusion.
“I think it’s really frus-
trating and really aggravat-
ing that something like [the
graffiti] happened, especially
when we’re obviously in No
Hate November right now,”
said Emma Adrain ’21. “We’re
trying to do a lot of campus
programming around stop-
ping that kind of rhetoric, and
it’s just really frustrating and
pisses me off.”
4 NEWS
First years lead charge on Native
American Heritage Month
by Lauren Katz
Orient Staff
Led by two first years, the Na-
tive American Student Associa-
tion (NASA) is recognizing Na-
tive American Heritage Month
this November with speakers,
food and a documentary screen-
ing. The group has the twin goals
of deepening awareness of Native
American issues on campus and
building up its own presence af-
ter a lull last year due to lack of
membership.
Guest lecturers have includ-
ed Maria Girouard, a Penobscot
historian and activist who spoke
on October 24, and Lisa Brooks,
a professor of English and Amer-
ican Studies at Amherst College,
who spoke on November 2. Later
this month, NASA will host a
taco-making night and a film
screening of “Dawnland,” a fea-
ture-length documentary that
follows the progress of the Maine
Wabanaki-State Child Welfare
Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mission.
NASA co-leader Amanda
Cassano ’22 hopes these events
will pique student interest in
Native American issues. As
someone with Native American
heritage, she had hoped to be-
come involved with the NASA,
but when she arrived on campus
she learned it had “fallen by the
wayside.” So she took over the
leadership and, with co-leader
Sunshine Eaton ’22, hopes to re-
vitalize the group.
“I have plans for the next cou-
ple years,” Cassano said. “I hope
that together, we can [find] peo-
COURSES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
divide those courses in two ses-
sions a week. I want to give them
the time to read the whole book
before the next session.”
Departments try to accom-
modate professors’ needs, but
also avoid scheduling too many
classes at the same time. In the
Department of English, each
professor sends in preferred
times, and the department then
tries to ensure its various course
offerings create a workable
schedule for students, accord-
ing to Professor of English and
Chair of English Department
Brock Clarke.
“We take a look at the schedule
and make sure that there’s a de-
cent balance, that there aren’t too
many courses at the same level
taught at the same times on the
same days. And if there are, then
the chair asks/begs/threatens until
we strike a better balance,” Clarke
wrote in an email to the Orient.
Going forward, the Office of
the Registrar will assess student
and faculty feedback to improve
the system. For example, this se-
mester, one block ended at the ex-
act same time that another block
began. The Registar overrode the
conflict for students who had
scheduled a class in each block,
and many have been struggling
to make it to their second class
throughout the semester. For the
spring semester, the block starts
10 minutes later, eliminating the
conflict.
“There was one block [that]
used to end at 2:50 p.m., and
ple who are really interested in
being involved in Native Amer-
ican heritage, who want to con-
tribute to Native American com-
munities in Maine especially.”
November marks the celebra-
tion of Native American Heritage
Month nationally. The month was
created to encourage recognition
for the significant contributions
the first Americans made to the
growth of the United States.
Cassano said one of NASA’s
goals for the month was highlight-
ing positive portrayals of Native
Americans that are sometimes
overlooked by the mainstream.
“A lot of times, the news …
clouds how we see those com-
munities as only facing negative
issues. These issues should be
acknowledged and treated with
seriousness, but we should also
see these communities for the
beauty they have,” she said.
She highlighted the impor-
tance of education in addressing
these issues.
“We need to create a legacy
that we can pass on without
shame to future Bowdoin stu-
dents,” Cassano said. “We can
do that by acknowledging that
we have done wrong in the past
and making amends to those
wrongs by educating, by being
more aware and by giving back
to those communities.”
Julia Perillo ’22 was one of
the students who attended Gir-
ouard’s lecture on the history of
the Penobscot people in Maine
after having read European ac-
counts about the discovery of
the “New World” in her French
class. Girouard, a tribal historian
Time blocks: most popular v. underutilized
Number of classes in session throughout the day in the spring 2019 semester.
200
175
150
Number of classes in session
125
100
75
50
25
0
8:00a
BY THE HOUR: Certain times of day, such as the window between 1 and 2 p.m., tend to be popular times to schedule classes. Other times, such as 8:30-9 a.m., are known as underutilized blocks.
this block here starts at 2:50
p.m., and that was a problem
in the fall. We ended up over-
riding that time conflict for a
number of students, and in
some cases it worked, and in
and advocate for the Penobscot
Indian Nation, also discussed the
debate over land claims between
the Penobscot and the state of
Maine.
“[Girouard] urged us to con-
tinue researching these issues
and listening to the natives’ dis-
cussions,” Perillo said. “Not only
about the difficulties they face,
but also about the beauty and per-
severance of their culture despite
centuries of unfair treatment.”
Brooks’s lecture, on the other
hand, addressed the history of
colonial New England and King
Philip’s War, including the long
history of atrocities committed
against Native Americans.
“She illustrated to us how the
Native Americans were treated
ruthlessly by colonizing Euro-
peans,” Cassano said. “In one
interaction between the settlers
and natives, the colonists burned
down the native peoples’ village,
[which had a widespread effect
since] the Wabanaki people in
the surrounding areas would
come to that village to resupply
on grain. Because that was no
longer an option, many people
starved.”
Benjamin Harris, director of
the student center for multicul-
tural life, diversity and inclusion,
emphasized the importance of
discussing these issues with the
broader Bowdoin community.
“The things we’ve done hav-
en’t been fair for all people, and
it’s something we should think
about, interrogate,” he said.
“The more we know, the better
equipped we are to change the
future.”
9a 10a 11a 12p
some cases we heard from fac-
ulty that students were really
struggling to make it to those
classes,” Duncan said. “This
adjustment was made in the
spring to make it a real time
ALL SMILES: Students at the watch party in Morrell Lounge in David Saul Smith Union cheer as election results are
announced. Many students sat at the party for several hours, working on homework while watching CNN.
ELECTION
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
greater awareness of political
issues affecting their home
communities.
“I voted absentee to Mich-
igan,” said Cyd Martin ’21.
“Michigan will just always be
home, and I like to think of
the welfare of my home state
where I grew up.”
After students spent the
last several weeks sending in
absentee ballots, voting early
and driving to the polls on
election day, they gathered
to watch the results come in
together.
“Watching the races is
both about the partisan
horserace and also about
the political direction of our
country, so it’s important to
[watch] in community spac-
es, irrespective of political
views,” said Emily Ruby ’19,
1p 2p 3p
Time of day
conflict so people wouldn’t try
to make it and be in a tough
situation where they were
missing something out of at
least one class, or worse, both.”
The College’s system of del-
McKeen Center election en-
gagement fellow.
Nationally, the election
turned out groundbreaking
advancements. Kansas, for
example, elected America’s
first female, Native Ameri-
can, lesbian representative,
Sharice Davis, who beat in-
cumbent Republican Kevin
Yoder. Colorado elected the
first openly gay governor in
United States history, Jared
Polis.
In Maine, Mills will be-
come the state’s first female
governor. Incumbents Chellie
Pingree and Angus King won
re-election, while in Maine’s
Second Congressional Dis-
trict—which does not include
Brunswick—votes are still
being tallied under the new
ranked-choice system.
Regardless of where stu-
dents voted or whom they
chose to elect, one sentiment
4p 5p 6p
egating responsibility to de-
partments is similar to its peer
institutions, such as Hamilton
and Amherst.
“The schedule isn’t going to
be perfect for anyone, because
Friday, November 9, 2018
REUBEN SCHAFIR, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
was echoed over and over.
“I think that Bowdo-
in Votes did an absolutely
amazing job all over cam-
pus,” said Will Bucci ’19.
“There were a lot of people
walking around with the ‘I
voted’ stickers, so it seems
like there is a pretty good
percentage of students who
actually voted on campus.”
With the support of the
McKeen Center (which
helped drive students to the
polls), campus clubs and
Bowdoin Votes, many eligi-
ble students felt they had no
excuse not to vote.
“We’re young, and poli-
tics are going to be affecting
us for the rest of our lives,”
Ruby said. “Voting now and
starting to get engaged at
this early age, that will stay
with us, and we will contin-
ue to be engaged throughout
our lives.”
7p 8p 9p
POLARIS COURSE FINDER
we’re trying to fit in so many
pieces. But it shouldn’t be im-
possible for anyone,” Duncan
said. “Really what we’re aiming
for here is to allow the life of
the College to go on.”
Friday, November 9, 2018
AF FEATURES
SUPPORTING STUDENTS: The OutPeers and OutAllies lists have become iconic posters on Bowdoin’s campus over the years. Since its inception, Kate Stern, associate dean of students for diversity and inclusion and director of the
Center for Sexuality, Women and Gender, has made it a priority to involve more students. Kat Gaburo ’19 (left) and Ryan Telingator ’21 are both active memebers of the list and advocates for its growth.
OutPeers, OutAllies hopes to grow numbers and inclusivity
by Andrew Bastone
and Lucie Nolden
Orient Staff
When she was a high
school senior visiting Bow-
doin as a swimming recruit,
it was an OutPeers and Out-
Allies list in an Osher dorm
that made Kat Gaburo ’19
feel confident that the team
she would soon join would
be a welcoming place.
“In looking at it for 30 sec-
onds, I could pick out at least
10 swimmers I’d met earlier
in the day,” Gaburo said. “As
someone who was not out in
high school, knowing that
the team I was joining was
an inclusive and supportive
group was a game changer
for me and made my tran-
sition to college that much
easier.”
Many students say the
OutPeer and OutAllies bath-
room lists have been instru-
mental in making visible the
support systems available
for LGBTQIA+ students on
campus. “It allows new stu-
dents on campus to see that
queer people exist at Bowdo-
in—and do so proudly,” said
Gaburo.
Ryan Telingator ’21 ex-
plained that being raised by
gay parents influenced his de-
cision to join the program as
an OutAlly. Telingator high-
lighted his role as a leader of
the Creating Compassionate
Leadership in Maine Boys
(CCLIMB) program as an
area where OutAlly training
was particularly useful in dis-
cussing sexuality with middle
school boys.
Kate Stern, Associate Dean
of Students for Diversity &
Inclusion and Director of the
Center for Sexuality, Women
& Gender (SWAG), explained
that the idea for the current
OutPeers and OutAllies pro-
gram began before she ar-
rived at Bowdoin.
“Before the SWAG center
and before I was hired, stu-
dents came together to form
what was called QueerPeers,
and there wasn’t a training in-
volved. Students who wanted
to lend their name publicly
to say, ‘If you’re looking for
support, contact us,’ did it on
their own,” Stern said.
The QueerPeers program
became an official program
under Stern, with its name
changed to ‘OutPeers.’ Stern
also instituted training ses-
sions and quickly saw the list
expand.
“After 10 names made the
list, we wanted to throw a
party, and after 20, we actu-
ally threw a party and invited
President Barry Mills,” Stern
said.
After the OutPeers pro-
YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE MATTERS
SHARE YOUR STORY BY WRITING A TALK OF THE QUAD
gram began to flourish, a
straight student approached
Stern and asked if he could
participate. After consulting
the OutPeers, Stern decided
to create the OutAllies pro-
gram and make a second list
to go along with that of the
OutPeers in bathrooms. Re-
cruiting from across campus
was especially important to
Stern in the early days of the
program.
“We made a concerted ef-
fort to have a member from
every athletic team partici-
pate in this training, in addi-
tion to those involved in the
office of Residential Life,”
she said.
After the numbers on the
list swelled into the hundreds,
Stern and the OutPeers decid-
ed it was time to combine the
two lists.
“Three or four years ago,
we decided it was time to
merge the lists where students
who want to be out on the
poster have their names bold-
ed and in blue,” said Stern.
The training process is
very similar for both Out-
Peers and OutAllies. Students
spend a four-hour session ex-
amining gender and sexuality,
language used around campus
and how best to be an ally.
For OutAllies, there is also
an hour-long panel where
OutPeers share their stories.
During OutPeer training, this
hour is used to analyze the
coming out process, particu-
larly for students on a college
campus.
Stern explained that the
large number of athletes pres-
ent at training sessions is in
part due to outreach.
“When I arrived at Bow-
doin, I spent a lot of time
researching places where it
is hardest to come out. The
most common answer is on
an athletic team,” said Stern.
Stern cited a “great part-
nership” with Ashmead White
Director of Athletics Tim
Ryan, in addition to Bowdoin
coaches, as central to the ac-
tive involvement of athletics
in the OutPeers and OutAllies
program.
“When I talk to my col-
leagues at other schools about
the partnership I have with
athletics, they’re blown away
by it,” said Stern.
Telingator, similarly, is-
sued his support for the role
of Bowdoin athletics in the
OutPeers and OutAllies pro-
gram.
“I think, given the state
of professional sports today,
it’s great that male athletes at
Bowdoin are actively trying
to create a more inclusive
space on their teams,” said
Telingator.
He added that despite the
current length of the list, it
could always be improved:
“It would be amazing if
2,000 names were on the list.
There’s no reason everyone
on campus can’t spend three
to six hours on this training.”
Stern noted that often-
times, the names help stu-
dents find a proctor, friend
or teammate who they know
they can talk to. “I don’t al-
way know that when some-
one is approached, whether
they are aware it’s in the ca-
pacity of OutPeer or OutAlly,
or rather as a friend,” said
Stern.
Although Bowdoin has be-
come far more supportive of
LGBTQIA+ students over the
past several decades, heter-
onormativity is still prevalent
on campus. Assistant Profes-
sor of Sociology Theo Greene
says challenges remain both
in and out of the classroom.
“In the classroom, we often
think of heterosexuality as the
default in how we often ap-
proach certain conversation
topics, whether it is in terms
of the literature we read, the
history we engage in, the
SEE IT YOURSELF
OutPeers and OutAllies trainings happen every semester. You can
check out the posters across campus. Reach out to Kate Stern at
kstern@bowdoin.edu or stop by her office in 24 College for more
information.
5
MINDY LEDER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
kinds of cultures we study,”
he said.
Bowdoin’s size, he added,
poses another problem.
“Bowdoin is a very heter-
onormative campus in a lot of
ways, so it makes it very dif-
ficult for a lot of LGBTQ stu-
dents on campus to find and
build the kinds of commu-
nities they might in a much
larger institution where they
may be at a greater critical
mass,” he said.
However, the OutPeers
and OutAllies lists have been
changing this by educating
the broader Bowdoin com-
munity on the intricacies of
sexuality and gender and by
fostering allyship on campus.
All students are encouraged
to join, particularly those
who may be underrepresent-
ed on the lists.
“The list is overwhelm-
ingly those who identify as
women, and I believe that it
would greatly improve the
masculine culture on campus
to have more men identify-
ing themselves as allies to
the LGBTQIA+ community,”
said Gaburo.
6 FEATURES
Nikolay’s Russian noise
Postcards
by Sasa
Javanovic
Cecile and I found our-
selves in a crowd of beaked
babushkas, their perfume
reeking nostalgically as we
passed, calling to mind stuffy
tea times in my grandma’s liv-
ing room, surrounded by por-
celain knick-knacks dusted
with age. We found ourselves
in a crowd of grim men with
their bejeweled knuckles and
leather-clothed backs—rem-
iniscent of cinematic villains
demanding ransom in foreign
tongues whose frightful pres-
ence softened with a bitter sip.
We found ourselves a short
way away from the homes of
superfluous gentlemen, sugar
plum princesses and revolu-
tionaries. We found ourselves
just 30 minutes from Saint
Petersburg.
Our taxi driver greeted
us at the airport—his name
was Nikolay. Wobbling ever
so slightly with the same
Russian enthusiasm that glit-
tered in his eyes, he helped
us hoist our luggage into the
car, and we were off.
“What is the address?” he
inquired. I offered him my
phone. “Oh, yes,” he smiled.
“You are right next to the
clubbing street.”
“Excuse me?” Cecile said.
“Clubbing?” She looked at
me, horrified. I was the one
that booked the hostel and
had been more attracted to
its price than its location. My
shoulders responded, “I dun-
Clear eyes, open containers, can’t lose (except the election)
Having a Normal One
by Simon Cann,
Jack Fullerton
and Ethan Winter
“The football team re-
mains terrible—but sheesh,
that was cool.”
The flash of the lights. The
crack of the bat. The buzz of
the crowd—BACs cookin’
well above .08. The smell of
the turf. The taste of victory
and second-hand Juul ex-
haust. The thrill of peeing in
Bowdoin’s very own urinal
trough.
This week your columnists,
in proud journalistic tradition,
dispatched to a war zone to
bring you news from the front.
Like Hunter S. Thompson em-
bedded in Granada during the
U.S. invasion, we decided to
cover our “boys” as they played
Bowdoin’s first ever night foot-
ball game. Our drinks and our
spirits were imbued with the
aura of what Ethan refers to as
the “thrill of sport.”
At this point, readers, we
believe we’ve arrived at an
understanding that we—your
guides, by default, through
a world of beer that can only
be described as being “devoid
no, man!”
Conversation fluctuat-
ed between tidbits of Saint
Petersburg informatica and
quotidian vignettes of Niko-
lay’s life. He would mention
that his son was studying
aeronautics, followed by a
cursory wave at Stalin’s home,
its architecture lining the
boulevard that connected the
airport to the city. He rec-
ommended visiting the city’s
art collections, housed in old
palaces. “Saint Petersburg has
been voted first in Europe for
its galleries, you know.” When
I complimented his English
(a shocking level of fluency
relative to the general Rus-
sian population, as we would
learn in the ensuing days), he
revealed he spent many years
in Namibia working for the
Russian government.
An imposing building
passed on our right.
“You see that guy? On the
building? Lenin. A former
Communist building. He’s
pointing to the West, an ar-
chitectural mistake.” A teas-
ing grin.
His openness slightly
surprised us, as we were
anxious about our apparent
Americanness, an anxiety
that did not lessen through-
out the trip. Nevertheless,
as a dutiful pair of now-re-
laxed government majors,
we peppered our new friend
with questions to learn more
about this country so promi-
nent in the news back home.
“What do Russians think
of their Communist past?”
“We generally think of the
of all craft”—have
your very best in-
terests at heart. We
attended the night
game with every in-
tention of reviewing
one of this nation’s
finest lagers, ales or
any alcoholic bev-
erage that costs less
than 99 cents. We
remember drink-
ing beer there, but
we have long since
forgotten its name.
It was wheaty. It
was bubbly. It got
us where we needed
to be. We should be
clear, the beer will not
PHOEBE ZIPPER
be mentioned again.
What we will be
discussing, instead,
is the sheer pleasure of
slurping away at a brown pa-
per bag. Our beverages were
incognito, obscured thanks
to the folks over at Moulton
Express. Our inebriation was
plain to see. If you’re not
getting the picture yet, this
is a review of the ubiquitous,
scandalous, anonymous yet
oh-so-obvious Open Con-
tainer.
We’ve decided that intense ly, the Bowdoin football team
mediocrity, punctuated by agrees. The acoustics of the
brief moments of triumph, is opening of a beer—that crack
far more satisfying than sus- and hiss—are far superior in
tained success—and apparent- the open air. A sweaty, dank
Communist past as the past.”
He turned on his blinker,
made a turn and a white Or-
thodox nunnery with golden
cupolas appeared. “The cur-
rent Communist party is rel-
atively strong,” he gestured
with his hands to say “so-so,”
“and relatively old. They are
ready to fight for the rights
of the working class. The rich
are getting rich, and the poor
are getting poorer—you have
this too, from what I have
heard.”
“But now,” he added, “you
will see that we have many
nice buildings. But some of
them need to get painted.
They won’t get painted by the
government like in the old
days; they have to be painted
by the owners. Like Moses,
he took Jews to the desert.
So, someone needs to take
our stuffy parliament some-
where to the sand and get rid
of the Communist mentality.
People think, ‘Why must I
pay for things? The govern-
ment will pay for me.’”
“And the younger genera-
tions? What do they think?”
“Ah, the younger genera-
tions. There are two types of
youth. One wants to study,
in order to get a nice job. We
don’t have enough hands for
work because of the wars and
revolutions. Our unemploy-
ment rate is low because of
our growing population. My
son, who is studying in the
aerospace university, wants
to make a lot of money in
the future. He was working
the computers at a large bank
last summer. If you do well
SHON
A ORT
in school, the govern-
ment will pay for your life at
university, beyond tuition.
Our universities are good
and free.”
We passed some children
clutching to their balloons.
“You see those balloons?”
He flicked his head. “People
go to balloon stores and suck
up all the helium out of those
machines for fun, to get high.
Our country is advanced,
so we have all the fun in the
world!” he added sarcastically.
“And the other youth?”
I reminded him, hoping he
would finish his thought.
“Yes, the other youth. The
other believes that if Putin
goes, we will have a good life.
A revolutionary with no idea.
They would run after the po-
lice to get a picture for Western
television, so that the Europe-
an Human Rights Committee
has a case. They take photos
basement just doesn’t provide
the same sonic experience. The
first sip (which leads to a sec-
ond, third and so on) feels like
a wave of hydration, refresh-
IZ
with iP-
hones paid for
by their parents. They pro-
voke the riot police by protest-
ing in the city center. They are
loud, but without pride. All
of this noise, we already had.
Everyone will have a good life
here if you work.”
Noise—I thought of
Facebook posts, Instagram
captions, Twitter hashtags
encouraging resistance. But
what is the right way to resist?
In a span of three weeks, I
will have listened to the phan-
tom ticking of the wound-up
clock in the Hermitage frozen
at 2:10 a.m., marking the Bol-
shevik Revolution in Saint Pe-
tersburg; walked the Tuileries
gardens, grown on the ruins
of the Tuileries Palace, where
King Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette were beheaded,
starting the Reign of Terror;
ing your throat even as the
dry night air threatens to turn
it into the Desert of Maine.
The satisfaction of crushing
your empty can against your
forehead—attempting to give
yourself CTE in solidarity
with the players on the field—
is magical. (After the fourth
head bang we could taste the
rainbow.) These moments of
greatness are only accentuat-
ed by the fact that every sip
between them is taken from a
can that is freezing your hands
and getting flatter by the sec-
ond. Just like the Democrat-
ic party, ya’ hang on to this
beverage because it’s the only
chance you got at a decent
world and a good buzz. (But
frankly, if they elect Nancy Pe-
losi back as the Speaker of the
House, we’re going to need a
bigger brown paper bag. We’re
endorsing Barbara Lee.)
We didn’t get the blue
wave. (Though maybe we
did? Can’t be sure.) Dem-
ocratic hopes have explod-
ed like America’s hopes of
flexing on the Ruskies over
Cape Canaveral at 11:39
a.m. all those years ago—it
wasn’t just the second stage
rocket, that whole thing
blew up. Beto O’Rourke will
not be a senator come Jan-
uary, despite being almost
immeasurably hotter than
Friday, November 9, 2018
and strolled
Karl Marx Bou-
levard of the for-
mer East Berlin.
When does resistance
spur violence? I thought of
a conversation I shared with
a friend’s father over dinner
this past summer. He had
been an artist, a photographer
and revolutionary himself at
a former time and different
place. “You need to extin-
guish every other possible
option before you’re willing
to bleed,” he said.
The taxi slowed as the flu-
orescent lights of our hostel
lit up through our windows.
Nikolay helped our luggage
to the curb and wished us a
nice stay. Then, the outline
of his back receded into the
bustling crowd that filled the
street. Just another in a crowd
amongst the beaked, the grim
and the rebelling.
his opponent. Sean Hanni-
ty awkwardly fist-bumped
the president at a campaign
rally, signaling the official
time-of-death of journalistic
integrity—hence, our depar-
ture from even attempting to
talk about beer. Aren’t you
bored of that anyways?
We didn’t get the blue
wave. Instead we got a “Cool
Blue” Gatorade bottle slipped
to us at half-time by a soon-
to-be transported first year.
The optics fooled your astute
columnists, but it certainly
didn’t taste like Gatorade.
We didn’t get the wave. But
last Saturday night, for one
brief moment, we achieved
greatness. We surged onto the
field with passion paralleled
only by America’s hordes of
geriatrics storming the polls
with every intent of making
this country worse. Moments
after the scoreboard ticked
off its final second, we lay
under the mass of trampled
flesh and Canada Goose jack-
ets at center field. Many were
crying for help. As aid was
offered to us, we yelled back,
“This is how we want to go.”
Like Beto’s hopes of flipping
the second worst state in the
union, our brown paper bags
laid in tatters. RIP in peace,
you magnificent lion.
Sheesh.
Friday, November 9, 2018 FEATURES 7

Talk of the Quad

VISIONS OF BOWDOIN:
HOW MY MENTAL HEALTH
DICTATES MY EXPERIENCE
I thought that I wouldn’t
think about suicide anymore
if I got into Bowdoin. All this
high school stuff was to be left
in the past, and I would be a
better, less jaded, more upbeat
person. I have always craved
solitude, and my visions of
Bowdoin were of myself taking
on the world alone. Writing,
reading, exploring the out-
doors, partying, having the
experiences that one associates
with the best parts of college—
perhaps surrounded by people,
maybe even friends—but ex-
isting alone. I wanted to live
within my own head and not
associate the lives of others
with my own.
I think I need to walk back
my first line.
Intrusive thoughts are some-
thing I’ve struggled with for my
whole life. I am a worrying per-
son, preoccupied with my own
thoughts, often anxious. I feel
like I can go hours, if not days
or even months, dealing with
the same preoccupations and
emotions. Intrusive thoughts
don’t exactly feel as if there’s a
beginning or an end, but are
more of a cycle. I don’t know
exactly where it starts, but I
just know when I’m feeling it.
And when they start, I cannot
tell when they will end.
So when I say I thought I
wouldn’t think about suicide
if I got into Bowdoin, it’s more
along the lines that I thought
my intrusive thoughts would
end. For a period during my
senior year of high school, I had
a few months where I felt intru-
sive thoughts about suicide. I
was horrified by the thought of
it—but it was the concept of sui-
cide that would plague me, the
abstract thoughts of it. It would
pop up when I walked from my
car to school in the mornings,
sitting with friends at lunch, the
day I got into college. It was as
disorienting as it was frighten-
ing, having thoughts butting
heads for such an extended pe-
riod of time.
I thought that separation
from my life at home would
put an end to my intrusive
thoughts: new location, new
me. But there I was, lying on
the Farley Field House floor,
feeling as far away from my
former life as possible—and
absolutely miserable. Although
suicide was no longer the pre-
dominant theme of my intru-
sive thoughts, I still was unable
to shake negative thoughts or
memories when they came
into my head. I spent that night
having my own little freak out
about how I treated a friend
of mine poorly when I was a
sophomore in high school. It’s
comical to even write about
when it’s in the past tense, but I
didn’t sleep a minute that night.
The moment I got back from
my Orientation trip, I went to
the counseling center. As much
as I thought getting into Bow-
doin would be relieving, in the
sense of escaping the college
application process, my men-
tal health remained the same.
I went to a therapist weekly
over the last two years of high
school and found that it was
only sort of helpful for me.
I feared fully expressing my
emotions, which in hindsight
seems absurd to me. How bad
were things if I wasn’t even able
to communicate how I felt to a
therapist?
Therapy at Bowdoin has been
very helpful for me. I go weekly
and often find myself looking
forward to my meeting, some-
times days in advance. It pro-
vides a place for me to express
myself, to explain my thoughts
and fears, rational or irrational,
manageable or intrusive. I feel
more calm and composed and
MOLLY KENNEDY
far less erratic and irritable. It’s
a vital resource for me.
I also realize that the pre-
conceptions I held on solitude
were absolutely absurd. They
were based in the feelings I felt
of being totally lonely while
surrounded by friends and
people I loved, a struggle that
many go through. The answer
to such a feeling is not remov-
ing yourself from the environ-
ment. I’m not saying there is
one answer for this feeling,
but for me, expressing my
thoughts out loud is my mech-
anism of processing them. I
want to verbalize my feelings,
so that I can start to work on
a meaning.
What I’m getting at is the
necessity of emphasizing that
mental health issues should be
talked about. There is no one
face of mental health, even if
your immediate association of
mental health issues are with a
specific ethnicity, gender, race,
sexuality, etc. The face of men-
tal health issues isn’t someone
who is constantly talking about
self-care and the importance
of drinking tea, who seems to
express an inhuman amount
of positivity. Nor is it some
brooding guy who solely listens
to Elliott Smith, Earl Sweat-
shirt and Mount Eerie and is
probably “getting really into
nihilism.” The issues of mental
health permeate all communi-
ties throughout Bowdoin.
That being said, those who
are struggling with mental
health issues should not be
forced to discuss their prob-
lems. Nobody has to discuss
anything they don’t want to.
What people need to be able
to do is to be open to having
someone tell you about how
you feel. For many men, in-
cluding myself, it’s difficult to
conceptualize discussing men-
tal health. But talking about
feelings absolutely does not
show weakness. It shows a lev-
el of self-awareness that many
lack in our society.
My personal experiences are
not applicable to everyone who
deals with mental health issues,
but the empathy to listen to the
experiences of others is some-
thing that everyone within the
Bowdoin community should
possess.
Sebastian de Lasa is a mem-
ber of the class of 2022.

that death is coming, we often sion and allow me to benefit so- but predictable. Maybe the op- guaranteed survival, whatever mortality, you may experience
FOOD FOR WORMS: 2 A.M. like to sugarcoat its inevitability, ciety. I am still scared of wasting portunity to pause our great level of pain you may experi- indefinite heartbreak as those
AND CONTEMPLATING because it reminds us just how my time. If my late-night conver- ticking clock poses such an ence? Would you be a victim to you loved and cared for passed
MORTALITY small we are in the universe. sations about immortality have unimaginable luxury that you’d the plagues of aging? away. However, wouldn’t indef-
Would you choose to be im- To what degree does our lack taught me anything, it is that I accept the choice in a heartbeat. Generally, life expectancy inite heartbreak be balanced by
mortal? of time motivate us to lead a more know some part of us doesn’t Or, maybe, your own decision rates have steadily climbed over indefinite love? You would be
I think it’s fair to generalize meaningful life? I constantly feel want to be forgotten. would depend on specific condi- the course of human history. able to have infinitely wonderful
that everyone has pondered an itch to do something impul- But then the question arises: tions. Could you choose the age When people lived to only 30 friendships and relationships;
immortality at some point in sive; guilt scratches at my chest would immortality necessarily at which you became “stuck” for- years old, it seems unlikely that throughout your existence, you
their lives. Maybe you watched when I choose to spend a night guarantee that you would be ever? Would you be immune to they felt a stronger desire to make may also be able to refine the
“Twilight” for the first time and in. I wonder if I should be going remembered? Life is anything illnesses, or would you simply be the most of every day than we qualities and characteristics you
wondered what it would be like to out of my comfort zone or un- do—the idea of living an extra 30 appreciate most in a person.
stay a teenager forever. Maybe it dergoing a new experience. or even 70 years was completely I have re-watched “Dead Po-
was 2 a.m. in a friend’s basement However, no one has pre- inconceivable. If we believed that ets Society” since the first time
where, due to a lack of both sleep determined this elusive we could live substantially longer, I lay awake late into the night,
and sobriety, you began to retreat “meaning of life.” I’m unsure that our view of time’s wholly struck by the ending.
from the room and into your Growing up, I preciousness would change; an Now, I understand that Keating
own head. Whatever the reason, sought to discov- end would still be inevitable. If did not want his students sim-
we are all obsessed with time— er the career that every human became technically ply to live cautiously, constantly
or rather—our lack of time on would be both immortal, and all causes unrelat- aware of the threat of an end. He
earth. We see quotes like “Life is my greatest ed to the consequences of aging wanted his students to do what-
short,” “Live in the moment” or pas- could kill us, wouldn’t we still ever made them feel completely
even the middle school-era fa- view time as precious? alive for as long as they could.
vorite, “YOLO” plastered across If you were I have learned that you do not
t-shirts, hung over toilets and alone in need your name on a plaque to be
stylized on iPhone back- im- remembered. Personally, I don’t
grounds. think I would choose to be im-
The first time I remem- mortal. My greatest sense of joy
ber fully processing my comes from the people around
own mortality was after me, and I am not sure if I could
watching “Dead Poets So- live as the lone survivor.
ciety,” a film about John Maybe I could undergo a
Keating, an eccentric fundamental “Groundhog
English teacher who Day”-type transformation
sought to inspire his stu- and become a phenomenal
dents to “Carpe diem. Seize pianist, make ice sculptures
the day, boys.” During Keat- of all my friends’ faces and
ing’s first class, he motivates his CAROLINE CA maybe even learn to like
RTER
students with the uplifting words opera. I’ll accept being food
“...we are food for worms, lads. for worms. For even when
Believe it or not, each and every this happens, at least the worms
one of us in this room is one day will finish the day satisfied—and
going to stop breathing, turn cold isn’t that some type of post-mor-
and die.” tem impact?
Those words are so blunt, so Kayla Snyder is a member of
violent. Although we all know the class of 2021.
 FS SPORTS
8 Friday, November 9, 2018

HIGHLIGHT
REEL
GOING FOR GOLD: The
volleyball team (27-1,
10-0 NESCAC) clinched
its third NESCAC
Championship win last
weekend in a 3-1 match
against Amherst (22-5, 8-2
NESCAC). Bowdoin took
charge in the first set with
a 6-2 lead sparked by kills
from Captain Sydney Salle
’19 and Kate Kiser ’21. In the
final set, the Polar Bears
were crowned NESCAC
Champions after 14 kills
and only one error. The
team will face Worcester
State at 12:30 p.m. today
in the first round of the
NCAA tournament. PJ SEELERT, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
H2-OH YEAH: Last season, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team completed its most successful season in program history, finishing fourth and fifth respectively at the NESCAC Championships.

Swim teams enter season with confidence

LIGHTNING STRIKES
THRICE?: Last week,
women’s soccer forward
Julia Patterson ’19 was
awarded First Team All-
NESCAC honors for the
third time in her college
career. Patterson joins four
past teammates who also
achieved this three-peat.
After a season-ending
loss in the quarterfinals,
Patterson finished her
Bowdoin career with
16 goals and 14 assists.
In addition, Morgen
Gallagher ’20, NESCAC
Rookie of the Year in 2016,
was named a Second Team
honoree this season.
RECORD TIE: Men’s soccer
senior Moctar Niang and
teammate Drake Byrd ’21
were named to the First
Team All-NESCAC in an
award ceremony last week.
This is the third time Niang
has received the honor,
joining Nick Figueredo
’08 as the program’s one
other three-time First
Team All-NESCAC player.
Matty McColl ’19, who set
a single-game program
record for assists this year
with four, finished his
season with Second Team
honors.
by Itza Bonilla Hernandez
Orient Staff
Coming off a successful
2017-2018 season, the swim-
ming and diving team officially
started its practices with timed
trials, preparing for the season’s
first meet in two weeks. Last
year, the women’s team placed
fifth in the NESCAC Swimming
and Diving Championship,
with a program-record points
total, and the men secured
fourth for a program-best fin-
ish at the meet.
A number of athletes
also competed at the NCAA
Championships last spring,
including six returning ath-
letes. Sterling Dixon ’19 and
Marshall Lowery ’20 qualified
in the 200 and 400 IM and 200
backstroke respectively, while
Mary Laurita ’21 and Amanda
Banasiak ’20 competed in re-
lay events. On the men’s side,
Karl Sarier ’19 qualified for
the 100 and 200 freestyle while
Mitchell Ryan ’19 qualified for
1-meter and 3-meter diving.
The team hopes to build
on its past achievements as
it heads into the season, and
is already hard at work ac-
cording to Head Coach Brad
Burnham.
“Swimming is unique [be-
cause] we use meets to see how
much people are learning. We
don’t have the expectation that
anyone will be very good in the
first semester, so instead it’s
more about what we want to
see for the future. What seeds
are they planting right now that
will show up in January and
February,” said Burnham.
Burnham is only the sec-
ond coach in the history of
the swim and dive team after
joining the program in 2000.
He has guided the Polar Bears
to numerous outstanding sea-
sons and several All-Ameri-
can honors in one of the most
competitive conferences in
Division III swimming.
“Burnham is known in the
swimming world for his drills
focusing on technique with
his swimmers,” said Dixon.
“When you get to the age
where you’re at college you
need to break things down
and see what other ways you
can fix your stroke to get fast-
er and [Burnham] is really
great at doing that.”
The other half of the swim
team, the diving program, is
continuing to grow. Accord-
ing to Head Coach Kelsey
Willard, the number of mem-
bers has nearly tripled since
she started coaching at Bow-
doin in 2014.
Willard has been awarded
the NESCAC Women’s Diving
Coach of the Year award twice,
in 2016 and 2017. Her encour-
agement and faith in the team
has driven it to success.
“There are a lot of times
where diving is more of a
mental sport over a physical
sport, and you can be on three
meter, staring at the bottom
of the pool, knowing it’s really
high and that you’re learning
a new dive, but she’s constant-
ly encouraging and is really
good at saying ‘Well I know
you can do it,’” said Captain
Becca Stern ’19.
This season, the diving
team hopes to recognize and
build upon small victories
throughout the season.
“I encourage my divers to
acknowledge all of their victo-
ries, no matter how seemingly
insignificant,” Willard wrote
in an email to the Orient.
In addition to achieving
performance goals, the team is
focused on creating a welcom-
ing environment for new and
returning athletes. Although
swimming is an individual
sport, swimmer Alex Burns
’21 says team members bond
with whom they train.
“When you do a really hard
set with a group of six guys,
the six of you bond through
that,” said Burns. “We’re all
really proud of each other as a
team. But the guys you swim
with in your lane and the guys
who [are in the] lane next to
you, they’re the ones you’re
patting on the back after
practice. You’ve got camara-
derie within the camaraderie
of the whole team.”
The team will host its first
meet Saturday, November 17
in Greason Pool at 12 p.m.
against MIT and Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. It will
be the first opportunity for the
team to showcase some new
skills and positive outlook.
“Our coach says that we
want to be the team that’s
known for cheering each
other [on] at the end of the
lanes,” said Dixon. “Of course
we want to be known for
swimming fast and diving
well, [too], but if we don’t, we
still know that we were cheer-
ing for each other and rooting
for each other as a whole.”

ROOKIE ON MY MIND:
Field hockey first year
Manveer Sandhu
celebrated last week after
being awarded NESCAC
Rookie of the Year. She is
the sixth athlete in program
history to receive this
honor. Junior Kara Finnerty
was named First Team All-
NESCAC and Elizabeth
Bennewitz ’19 and Emma
Stevens ’20 received
honors as well as they were
selected for the NESCAC
Second Team.

PJ SEELERT, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT

COMPILED BY KATHRYN MCGINNIS
END OF THE DROUGHT: Michael Tirone ’19 (left) and Jean-Baptiste Andre ’20 (right) at practice last season. The team got back in the water last week in preparation for its first meet two weeks from now.
Friday, November 9, 2018 SPORTS 9

VOLLEYBALL CLAIMS
NESCAC TITLE Photos by Ezra Sunshine for the
Bowdoin Orient and courtesy of Brian Beard

Team racks up
NESCAC awards
In addition to the awards listed to
the right, Flaharty, Sheldon and
Kate Kiser ’21 were named to the
First Team All-NESCAC and Ash-
ley Williams ’21 was named to the
Second Team All-NESCAC.

Coach of the Year Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year
Erin Cady Caroline Flaharty ’20 Lisa Sheldon ’19
10
SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: The football team (1-7) celebrated its first victory of the season against Bates (0-8) under the lights at Whittier Field last Saturday. The team will end its season tomorrow against Colby (2-6).
‘The best football game in Bowdoin history’
More Than
A Game
by Ian Ward
This is the story of the best
football game in Bowdoin history.
November 9, 1963: For near-
ly 70 years, the Polar Bears had
faced off against their archrival,
the University of Maine Black
Bears, in the culminating game
of the season. Not only was it the
final game of the regular season,
but it was, more often than not,
also the decisive game for the
the Maine State Champions,
the round-robin tournament
between Bates, Colby, Bowdo-
in and UMaine which was the
predecessor to the CBB tourna-
ment. Black Bears versus Polar
Bears: the rivalry was real, and
it was fiery.
Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
According to Daniel Covell, a
football historian, by 1963, the
much-anticipated competition
had ceased to be competitive.
UMaine, having benefited from
the demographic changes to
higher education in the post-GI
Bill years, had become a major
state flagship university with
a football team to show for it.
The CBB schools, on the other
hand, remained, well, the CBB
schools: small, selective, and
secluded. From 1951 through
1959, UMaine outscored Bow-
doin by a combined 299-90 in
State Championship games.
Rather than continuing to
play for second, Bowdoin,
Bates and Colby
maneuvered to
drop the UMa-
ine game from
their sched-
ules, and, in
April of 1963,
Bowdoin’s Gov-
erning Committee
on Physical Education
announced its decision
to end the annual show-
down following the ’64
season, citing, among
other considerations,
the physical safety of the
team’s players.
In Brunswick, the
committee’s decision
made a splash. “Student
reaction … has been
vehement and, as
could be expected,
strongly divided,”
reported the Orient the week of
the announcement. For admin-
istrators and alumni, the game
was an embarrassment. But for
students and players, it was just
a hell of a good time.
So when the two teams ar-
rived at Alumni Field in Orono
on November 6, the Black Bears
a heavy favorite to win, an un-
usually potent sense of finality
hung in the air, sharing space
with the sheets of rain that fell
from the black thunderclouds
that had blown in that morning.
It rained, and then it rained
some more. Even before kickoff,
Alumni Field was gurgling. By
the end of the first half, it was a
veritable bog.
Miraculously, the rain actu-
ally played to the Polar Bears’
advantage, putting a stop to
the aggressive UMaine offense
which quickly found itself quite
literally stuck in the mud. Enter-
ing the fourth quarter, the game
was tied, 0-0.
Late in the final quarter, the
Polar Bears marched downfield,
setting up a first-and-goal on
the UMaine seven-yard line.
From there, Bowdoin quarter-
back Bob Harrington lobbed a
pass to fullback Bruce Alemian,
who lunged his way into the
swampy, rain-soaked end zone,
putting the Polar Bears up 7-0.
They held on to win.
In the alumni magazine lat-
er that year, one writer opined,
“For years to come, whenever
Bowdoin men are anywhere
discussing sports, the 1963
football season is bound to be
mentioned.” The Orient
called the victory
“almost
SPORTS
[of] the order of a miracle.” Mal
Morell, the athletic director at
the time, said, “This must rank
among the greatest of Bowdoin
athletic victories in any sport
and in any year.”
And it was the best football
game in Bowdoin history, until
November 3, 2018.
Before you write me off as
another provocateur the Ori-
ent allowed to spew nonsense
in its pages, let me qualify that
statement. This year’s team is
not the best team in Bowdoin
history—far from it. Nor was
this season the best season of
Bowdoin football—it might, ac-
tually, be among the worst. And
hell, the Polar Bears didn’t even
play the highest quality football
they’ve played this season, let
alone ever.
But in terms of sheer enter-
tainment value, of the sense of
pride and excitement and ca-
thartic release, of that strange
and ephemeral feeling that
compels you to hug the stranger
sitting next to you in the stands
while squealing uncontrollably
like a prepubescent child—in
terms of those things, this was
the best game in Bowdoin foot-
ball history.
Life imitates art, and there
was a hauntingly cinematic qual-
ity to Saturday’s victory. Maybe
it was the uncanny, apocalyptic
meteorological event that rolled
through Brunswick right before
kick-off, leaving in its wake a
sort of Manichaean showdown
between blue sky and threaten-
ing thunderclouds, bridged with
not one, but two rainbows. (“If
it’s a sign from God, I’ll take it,”
said one player.)
Maybe it was the pre-game
ceremony honor-
ing senior players, who trotted, much of the first half, it seemed
parents in tow, between two to be business as usual, with one
lines of cheering teammates in side of the ball—in this case,
a ritual vaguely reminiscent of the defense—keeping the game
a primeval fertility rite. Maybe close while the other wallowed
it was the iridescent glow of the in mediocrity.
stadium lights, which made the But in the second half, Bow-
green of the field and the yel- doin did what it had been un-
low of the penalty flags pop a able to do all season: perform
little more vividly than usual on both sides of the ball. Offen-
through the creeping darkness sively, McCrum recovered from
But in the second half, Bowdoin did
what it had been unable to do all season:
perform on both sides of the ball ... And
the Polar Bears didn’t look half bad.
of the November night. two early interceptions to post a
Whatever the confluence of respectable second half, and al-
cosmic circumstances, some though his numbers were noth-
sort of aura descended on Whit- ing to write home about, he ex-
tier Field on Saturday night, and ecuted must-make plays, which,
it really came on thick late in at the end of the day, is enough.
the third quarter, after Franny Nate Richam ’20, back from a
Rose ’21 broke through the line prolonged toe injury, looked like
to force the Bobcats to fumble he hadn’t missed a beat, rushing
deep in their own territory, for 130 yards, many of which he
and Austin McCrum ’21 found gained through sheer wile and
Bo Millet ’21 wide open in the force of will.
endzone to put the Polar Bears Defensively, Rose had himself a
up 24-7. Auras don’t speak, but day, making twelve tackles, includ-
if this one could, it would have ing a critical fumble-forcing sack
sounded something like “holy in the third quarter. Drew Ortiz
shit—it’s happening.” ’22 also stepped up with nine tack-
A cynic could chalk the les, and Joe Gowetski ’20 did what
Polar Bears’ victory up to an Joe Gowetski does and arguably
unworthy opponent, and they put the vital spark into the Polar
wouldn’t be entirely wrong to do Bear offensive with his thrilling
so—the Bobcats certainly have third-quarter interception.
some rebuilding to do. But even And don’t
that cynic would have to admit forget NESCAC
that the Polar Bears actually Special Teams
played decent, even Player of the
good, football. Week, kick-
For er Michael
Chen ’20,
who emerged
at least tempo-
rarily from his
season-long slump
to post 4 extra points,
a 31-yard field goal,
and four vicious punts,
averaging 41-yard-per.
And when the piec-
es came together, the
scoreboard read 31-14,
and the Polar Bears
didn’t look half bad.
Considered dis-
passionately, is it a lit-
tle dopey that the stu-
dent body stormed
the field to celebrate
SARA CAPLAN the consummation
Friday, November 9, 2018
JESSICA PIPER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
of a 1-7 record against another
bottom-of-the-table team—a
“weird flex,” as some enlight-
ened sage put it on Twitter.
But, to be frank, who cares?
The players and coaches who
devoted the entirety of their
Bowdoin football careers to
posting a win certainly don’t.
Because for the first time in a
long, 24-game stretch, Bowdoin
football had fun. I saw Defen-
sive Coordinator Shem Bloom,
whose biceps are probably
thicker than my torso, leap for
joy across the field. McCrum,
normally stony-faced and dis-
tant, contorted his face into
smile for the first time all year.
The alumni, family members,
and fans—more fans than we’ll
likely see at a Bowdoin football
game for some time—who filled
the stands and sidelines also ex-
alted in victory. Fans vote with
their feet, and on Saturday, their
feet carried them at a steady gal-
lop to the 50-yard-line, skipping
and jumping the whole way.
And why? Because in sports,
we don’t really crave excellence.
Excellence in athletics is many
things: it is jaw-droppingly beau-
tiful, existentially humbling, nar-
cotically enchanting. And don’t
get me wrong, there were mo-
ments of sheer excellence in the
Polar Bears’ victory over Bates.
See, for example, Richam’s nearly
superhuman ability to hesitate
just long enough for a formerly
impossible seam to open up, or
Gowetski’s freakish, precognitive
ability to predict the unfolding
of a play and set himself up in
just the right place on the field to
make the tackle.
But in general, excellence is
boring. Sports fandom, at its
core, is just organized hedo-
nism, and hedonism is blind
to excellence. Sports fans crave
grit, triumph, drama, redemp-
tion. And on Saturday, Bowdoin
football gave us all that.
But, on a more optimistic
note, even more than grit and
triumph and redemption, sports
fans, I’d like to believe, crave jus-
tice: in an otherwise nasty, mean
and unreasonable world, we
want to know that, sometimes,
people get their dessert. Maybe
it came too late, and maybe after
too much toil, but finally, under
the lights, Bowdoin football got
what it deserved: a win.
And it was the best.
Friday, November 9, 2018
A ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
From Mosul to Maine: Record-shattering auction
sale sheds light on College’s ancient Assyrian reliefs
The slab that sold for $31 million last week shares origins with Bowdoin’s bas-reliefs.
by Surya Milner
Orient Staff
The 3,000-year-old stone
slabs sit in silence, mostly.
Weighing in at almost 2,000
pounds each, it took a lot to
get them here—a boat ride
down the Tigris to Basra, a
skip over to Bombay, then, via
ship, onward to Brunswick,
Maine.
The five inscribed tablets,
called bas-reliefs, are rem-
nants of the ancient Assyrian
empire in Nimrud, near mod-
ern-day Mosul, Iraq. Some of
the oldest objects at the Bow-
doin College Museum of Art
(BCMA), the stone slabs are
now—in light of a record-set-
ting $31 million sale at Chris-
tie’s auction house last week—
some of the most valuable on
the global art market, too.
A gypsum stone relief that
climbed from $7 million to
more than $31 million in last
week’s bidding war originates
from the same source as the
BCMA’s collection—a nine-
piece set sent to the United
States by a Bowdoin alumnus
in 1860.
The journey begins with
a man called Dr. Henri By-
ron Haskell, class of 1855, a
student at Bowdoin’s Medi-
cal School of Maine. He was
working as a physicist and
missionary in Nimrud when
approached by an English ar-
chaeologist with a request: to
keep safe the ornate palatial
panels—historical, religious
and cultural objects—from an
uncertain political situation
in the Middle East. At the
time, the area was controlled
by the Ottoman Empire.
To do so, he would ask
Bowdoin to shoulder the
$750 shipping cost to send
them back to his alma ma-
ter in Brunswick. Bowdoin
professors Parker Cleaveland
and Alpheus Packard, class of
1816 agreed; before the slabs
even boarded the boat, Bow-
doin’s name was tied to an an-
cient history of early civiliza-
tion in Turkish Mesopotamia.
The stones eventually
made it to Brunswick, but not
without a detour to Virginia
Theological Seminary where
Professor Packard’s brother,
Joseph Packard, was a pro-
fessor at the time. Three of
the nine reliefs remained at
the Episcopal college’s cam-
pus in Alexandria until last
week, when the seminary
decided to sell one of the sev-
en-foot friezes at Christie’s in
a transaction that neared $31
million. This is the second
highest ever price for a piece
of ancient art at an auction.
When I climb the stairs to
the Assyrian Relief Gallery,
midday, sunlight streams
through the museum’s wide-
paned windows. It illumi-
nates the stone, exposing its
age, cracks and time-earned
softness. I am there to meet
James Higginbotham, curator
for the ancient collection and
associate professor of classics.
He tells me stories of an
ancient Assyrian ruler named
Assurnasirpal II, a warrior
king whose capital city of
Kalhu supposedly housed
some 16,000 people, most-
ly refugees from conquered
kingdoms. Alongside the
bird-spirit “apkallu” and their
tree of fertility, he is the cen-
terpiece of the slabs.
Superimposed on every
piece of stone is a standard
script detailing the king’s
robust and ruthless reign.
Carved in Akkadian, a loop-
ing script of wedge-shaped
cuneiform, it represents the
oldest attested Semitic lan-
guage.
But he also talks of ghosts:
Babylonians, Medes, Chal-
deans, Cimmerians and
Scythians, subjugated peo-
ples of the Assyrians who,
in the throes of revolt in 612
11
BCE, intentionally erased at a time when cultural loot- artistic and technological of criticism last week—the
parts of the king’s body—face ing laws weren’t as stringent— capabilities, and I think these stones nevertheless embody
and wrists—like thieves in occupy a precarious position reliefs enable us to do that in a complex and age-old con-
the night. Pointing to one of in the global art market. Pre- important ways.” versation of conquest, of
the life-sized panels, Hig- ceding the Christie’s sale last “The larger issue of cul- conversion and of how we, as
ginbotham shows me how week, the Iraqi government tural patrimony is something consumers of art and history,
to distinguish between god issued calls for repatriation— that the College and Museum often rely on the idea of Other
and king, two figures with the return of the artifact to take seriously,” added Hig- to shape our own sense of self.
near-identical faces and body Mosul—claiming the slab to ginbotham. “But we do watch Standing in front of the
composition. The key, I learn, be Iraqi property and citing our collection and think friezes, I can’t help but feel
is that I’m not really supposed the Iraqi Antiquities Law as about those issues. We’re for- that these men—Assurnasir-
to spot the difference; for the testament. tunate that most of our very pal, his winged deity, their
Assyrians, the line between In regards to the BCMA’s old antiquities came into the men—though mere repre-
god and king was faint. reliefs, co-directors of the collection a long time ago.” sentation, are larger than
For the Western men who Museum Anne Collins Good- When I ask about what the life. Hoisted on the wall, they
found them centuries later, year and Frank Goodyear sale at Christie’s means for the tower above my 5’1” frame,
the reliefs are proof of a dif- point to UNESCO guidelines Museum’s reliefs, the room conveying stories of empire
ferent god. for cultural patrimony, rules quiets. “I think we should and domination. And then,
“They were seen early on they follow closely. stick to talking about our re- disintegration. They, like the
as confirmation of the Bible, “We’re extremely mindful liefs,” Anne said. Bowdoin men who brought
especially early on,” Higgin- about where everything we The request is fair: the them here, represent storied
botham said. “[The excava- acquire comes from,” Anne Museum is sitting on a set of systems of power, systems of-
tor] was very keen to connect said. “We want to enable stones that have just recently ten thought of as ancient his-
these to Nineveh and Calah,” works of art to better help us skyrocketed in value. Though tory. If we look close enough,
cities mentioned in the Old understand nuances of cul- there are no plans on the part though, we can make out trac-
Testament. tural exchange, of migration, of the Museum to sell—the es, slight indents and lines, of
Bowdoin graduates like of the development of differ- decision made Virginia Theo- a story that speaks still to our
Haskell went all over the ent legal systems, different logical Seminary the target modern day.
world in the 19th centu-
ry, Higginbotham tells me,
during a time of renewed
fascination with the East.
The reliefs’ presence at the
College, sitting in a threshold
gallery between European
and American collections,
speaks to that liminality, that
push and pull between East
and West.
“A lot of [Bowdoin grad-
uates] are referred to as Ori-
entalists,” he said. “They’re
following in the footsteps of
what the British and French
were already doing in this
area.”
There is, perhaps in unspo-
ken ways, a layered narrative
of conquest that belies the
delicate artistry of the BC-
MA’s reliefs. ISIS destroyed
what was left of the ancient
city at Nimrud four years ago;
only a few of the ancient slabs
exist in Iraqi museums.
The reliefs, then, now SURYA MILNER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
worlds apart from their orig- SET IN STONE: 3,000 years of history is encapsulated in the Assyrian bas-reliefs from Nimrud, brought to Bowdoin’s
inal home—taken legally but collection in 1860. A piece of the same origin recently sold for $31 million at Christie’s, New York.
12
Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’: dreams and
despair through the lens of ordinary life
by Brianna Cunliffe
Orient Staff
Laden with what-ifs, Anton
Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” comes
to vivid, aching life in Wish The-
ater under the direction of Asso-
ciate Professor of Theater Abigail
Killeen. On a set fantastic in color
and intricacy, the interwoven
lives of three sisters and their
loved ones unfold as time races
by. The play is set to open tonight
and run through the weekend.
Informed by Chekhov’s ob-
servations as a doctor of families
during times of distress, “Three
Sisters” explores choice, agency,
ideas of labor and philosophy
through the lives of a Russian
family: Maria, Olga and Irina
Prozorovna, their brother An-
drei and the soldiers who reside
with them in their small back-
wards town. Though separated
from the contemporary by dis-
tances of time and space, Killeen
believes the play has the power
to resonate with the audience in
a visceral way.
“I think a lot of the theater is
about recognizing shared hu-
manity,” she said. “I think stu-
dents at a small liberal arts school
in mid-coast Maine can come to a
play written in Russia in 1901 and
recognize themselves in it.”
The sisters’ dream of Mos-
cow—the big city, bright lights, a
return to a lost time of glamour
and happiness—is intimately
familiar. But its narrative is a far
cry from the typical. Rather, it is
an uncomfortable, inescapable
reminder that, often, chances
do not play out in the dreamer’s
favor.
“We have great questions
and hopes and dreams that live
Sergio Chejfec comments on social unrest through postcards
MEMORIES AND MEANINGS: Argentine author Sergio Chejfec reads from
his essay, which is rooted in the history and untold stories of Caracas, Venezuela.
within us and we still have to live
the drudgery of daily life,” says
Killeen. “And Chekhov’s plays
are about accomplishing daily
life, about compromises and the
dreams we sacrifice.”
In the small space of Wish
Theatre, the set is dynamic and
imposing, allowing actors to
more fully construct the world of
the play. Created by Brittany Vas-
ta, a freelance set designer based
in New York City, the two inter-
locking walls and a door rotate
and move throughout the play’s
four acts.
“It’s claustrophobic and it’s
beautiful. It’s all hand-painted,”
said Sally Zuckert ’19, who plays
the role of Maria. “It puts the
actors right in the audience’s
face—they’re inescapable, and it
emphasizes the inescapable as-
pects of our story.”
Although the set is a wonder-
land, the costuming and acting
is pointedly realistic. This reflects
the value Killeen places on au-
thenticity, honesty and realism in
storytelling.
“We may feel pressure and
shame, but that doesn’t mean
that’s working out in our daily
interactions,” she said. “We’re still
fighting our way through, search-
ing for fulfillment and happiness,
so [the shame and pressure] is in
the environment around them,
it’s not what they’re playing.”
This particular adaptation by
Libby Appel, Artistic Director
Emerita of the Oregon Shake-
speare Festival and a passionate
Chekhov admirer, is peppered
with sharp moments of moder-
nity, which factored into Killeen’s
choice.
“Libby Appel’s adaptation
is masterful, its thoughtful, it’s
ISABEL ALEXANDER, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
CHECK OUT CHEKHOV: A new adaptation of the Russian classic comes to life under the direction of Associate Professor of Theater Abigail Killeen, conveying
themes of choice, agency, hope and despair. Its dynamic set moves and bends to convey the passage of time and looms imposingly over the actors and audience.
thorough, it’s joyful and clear,” who plays the role of Vershinin,
she said. a character conventionally cast as
Bringing the text to life is a a man.
challenge, which students have “Decoding Chekhov in the
risen to eagerly, unpacking its in- first place is a challenge, and to
tricacies throughout the rehearsal be making character choices
process. that you know aren’t what the
“Once you do learn what it playwright intended—it’s really
means, it takes on a fuller mean- freeing, but also quite daunting,”
ing in your own life,” said Zuck- she said.
ert. “I’m not saying it like some- Investigating Chekhov’s many
one from Russia in the 1900s allusions and the myriad connec-
would say it, but I think it’s just as tions drawn between characters
resonant.” was an essential part of the re-
This is especially true for hearsal process.
Railey Zantop-Zimlinghaus ’19, “You don’t get to the bottom of
zuela. Chejfec lived in Caracas
by Lily Tedford between 1990 and 2005, both
Orient Staff
before and during periods of
Alternating between En- political unrest in Venezuela.
glish and Spanish, past and He acknowledges that these
present, reality and fiction, experiences in Caracas un-
Sergio Chejfec came to Bow- doubtedly shaped who he is as
doin on Monday to read and a writer.
discuss his essay “The Revenge “Venezuela was a very in-
of the Idyllic.” A Guggenheim teresting and good experience,
Fellow and distinguished writ- because [it] is a wonderful
er in residence at NYU’s MFA country, with warm people
in Spanish program, Chejfec and very hospitable society.
has published a number of [But] from 1999 through the
short stories, essays and books present, there has been very
which have since been trans- complicated political and so-
lated into various languages. cial unrest, very entropic. So
Born and raised in Argen- my memories of Venezuela
tina, Chejfec chose to read a [are like] memories of another
portion of his work in Spanish country,” he said.
to show the effect literature can Often, Chejfec writes in a
have when read in one’s native dreamy manner, mulling over
tongue, followed by an English themes like city idylls or the sur-
translation. face of reality. When discussing
“I will read [in Spanish] with his personal writing style, he
the idea that you can get the pointed out that he prefers to
music of my literature in my hint at meanings and revelations
own language,” he said. rather than simply tell.
The reading was then fol- “I try to walk on the surface
lowed by a discussion of the of a process, reality or mean-
piece in both English and ing, to show the depth of that
Spanish. meaning,” he said.
“The Revenge of the Idyllic” In his essay, Chejfec employs
is a narrative commentary of pictures he found in a collec-
Chejfec’s own experience buy- tion of 1950s era postcards that
ing postcards in Caracas, Vene- show a “Caracas moderna,” full
a text like this, but you can try to
give it its due,” said Killeen.
For first years like Blaine Ste-
vens and first-time actors like
Hideyoshi Akai ’19, “Three Sis-
ters” has been a space to learn
and grow while building relation-
ships.
“It’s such a cool vibe here,”
said Stevens. “Just to have the one
place where you can come and
know I’m not going to be judged;
they all want us to succeed.”
“In all of the best possible
ways, it’s like getting onstage
with your brother and sis-
of life and utopian depictions
of the city’s landscapes.
But upon further reflection,
Chejfec admits that the post-
cards do not show the truth of
Caracas and are instead beauti-
ful “elements of fiction-reality.”
Still, Chejfec manages to use
these postcards in an extended
allegory for various aspects of
the idyllic, explaining that the
holes chewed by termites in
some of the postcards are em-
blematic of the evils caused by
the expanding city.
“I don’t have a theory in
terms of [their] logical mean-
ing … I try to explore the po-
etic dimensions of this kind
of accidental process,” Chejfec
said.
Andrew W. Mellon Post-
doctoral Fellow in Spanish
Sebastian Urli facilitated a
discussion following Chejfec’s
reading. Then, he opened the
floor up to questions from stu-
dent participants as well. Most
audience members were from
the Hispanic Studies advanced
seminar, “The Southern Cone
Revisited,” and conversed with
Chefjec in both Spanish and
English when asking their
questions.
When asked about his writ-
Friday, November 9, 2018
EZRA SUNSHINE, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
ter, with your family,” added
Zuckert.
As the last act finishes, and
the last words reverberate in the
small black box theatre, Chek-
hov’s century-old tale is firmly
rooted in the now.
“The [strongest feeling] is a
deep and sincere melancholy, for
what we do and what we don’t
do,” said Zuckert. “And I think
that’s what the play is about.”
“Three Sisters” will run this
weekend in the Wish Theatre,
with 7:30 p.m. shows tonight and
Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
ing process, Chefjec explained
that he does not try to write in
any specific order and that he
often begins writing without a
plan, a system that manifests
itself in the labyrinthine nature
of much of his writing.
“I don’t write in terms of
beginning or ending, my sto-
ry can be confused from the
beginning, the middle, or the
end. It’s spiral writing,” he said.
Chejfec concluded the lec-
ture by explaining his own
interpretation of literary sus-
pense and why it’s common in
his writing.
“Maintaining the cloth of
suspense works in a double
way, because it stops the plot,
but at the same time, it still
seems to move something else
... It can be a different way of
challenging what you expect
from a book,” said Urli, in
translation for Chejfec.
In the same vein, if Che-
jfec’s lecture imparted just one
thing to its audience, it would
be this: challenge what you
expect from books, from life,
from the process of writing
and editing itself. Challenge
your perception of the every-
day and hold on to your lan-
guage and culture.
13 Friday, November 9, 2018

O OPINION
Confronting transphobia
at Bowdoin, again
Last Friday, the Orient reported that transphobic language was found in a bathroom
in Smith Union. While the Bias Incident Group has convened about the issue since,
reaction on campus has been muted. In light of the Trump administration’s memo
about defining gender as immutable and assigned at birth, this silence is deafening.
Nobody’s direct physical safety was immediately affected as a result of the graffiti
PHOEBE NICHOLS
on our campus. But trans people have increasingly been the target of violence across
the nation. 2017 was the deadliest year on record for the transgender community in

I am tired
the United States with a total of 29 murders. Already in 2018, 22 trans people have
been murdered. Of the 22 deaths recorded this year, 20 were people of color.
Half of current students were not on campus the last time transphobia made
the news at Bowdoin, but two years ago, when the Free Flow initiative first began,
someone defecated in one of the newly installed receptacles for used menstrual
products in a men’s bathroom in Smith Union. This latest incident is part of a broader
pattern of transphobic actions on campus, a pattern that we cannot ignore.
Campus responded to the swastika graffiti in the Hubbard Hall Stacks by loudly
and publicly condemning it, promptly organizing a town hall to facilitate discussion my brother’s citizenship: Nope,
and providing support for affected students. While there may have been more private cancelled. There’s your correction.
offers of support to trans students, there has been no public outcry in response to by Carlos Holguin I am not just tired; I am scared.
Op-Ed Contributor
the transphobic graffiti—not from any member of the administration, not from LGBTQ community, immigrants I am scared this hate may become
Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), not from the campus community at large. I am tired. Every time I look up, and Jews. a runaway train. Two years ago, I
We know many people on campus support trans students and their rights. Last I see the tentacles of hate spreading. This hate has also begun to per- wrote an article decrying Trump’s
week, we were grateful to receive a letter from members of the neuroscience program This was a hydra whose heads were meate everyday life with an in- rhetoric. Yet now, we see this hate
and Department of Biology decrying the Trump administration’s gender definition supposed to have burned off long creased frequency. For example, becoming mainstream as others
memo as “intellectually bankrupt, scientifically baseless, unworkable and cruel.” ago, something which was suppos- white women have been increasingly have picked up his talking points.
But support for trans students on this campus must extend beyond the intellectual. edly laid to rest, but obviously was calling the cops on African-Ameri- For example, alt-right leader Rich-
We cannot pretend that active transphobia only exists outside of Bowdoin; we have to not. Ever since 45 decided to run can men, women and children, mak- ard Spencer and Congressman Steve
acknowledge its existence here and take action against it. On October 24, there were for office, hate has come out of the ing false claims that these individu- King (R-Iowa) have both continued
protests in Portland opposing Trump’s gender definition memo. Were you there? We shadows where it had been fester- als are breaking the law while they to spew hate speech, reinforcing
weren’t, and we own that. We should have been. ing. Yet, as a Person of Color (POC), are simply participating in everyday its spread into the mainstream of
Going forward, students—us included—can make better efforts to attend events I and other POCs have known this activities. Thus, hate is making the American society.
centering the trans community and make noise when things like this happen on our hate has been there. However, when lives of those in the African-Amer- So, forgive me if I say I am tired.
campus. We can be present, and we can bring these issues up at BSG meetings, to our we speak out, we have been told we ican community even more precari- Forgive me if I say I am just surviv-
friends and to the administration. are imagining things and seeing ous. This hate, fomented by bigotry, ing. Forgive me if I look as though I
Hopefully, there is something in the works to confront this hateful act, but ghosts of years past. So, forgive me is slowly taking us back to the days am stressed. Forgive me if I say I’m
we haven’t seen or heard of anything yet. To let this action pass uncontested and if I say, “I am tired.” I can no longer of Jim Crow where African-Amer- just alive. How can I do anything but
uncondemned would be yet another example of cisgender Bowdoin students’ contain what is making me so tired. icans were targeted just for being live when everywhere I turn hate is
pervasive apathy towards our trans peers and their concerns, which Ari Mehrberg Recently, we have seen hate-driv- black. This is how hate operates. It spreading slowly across this coun-
’20 wrote about last year. We can do better. We should do better. Our peers deserve en violence on a mass scale. Two strangles the everyday life of those it try? I feel like I have little time to
that much of us—that little of us, honestly. white men have committed hateful targets, leaving themselves with no enjoy life.
acts of domestic terrorism. An in- idea if, when and where it will strike Thus, I ask you to listen, as my
dividual, whose identity will not against them or their community. knees are weak, my lungs have very
This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board,
be acknowledged by the media, This is also personal. I recently little air left to hold and I am tired.
which is composed of Nell Fitzgerald, Dakota Griffin, Calder McHugh, Devin
killed 11 Jewish people at the Tree learned that some individuals at my Please, if we do not do anything,
McKinney and Jessica Piper.
of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, brother’s university questioned my then we will no longer be able to do
Pennsylvania. At the same time, brother’s citizenship. He was born anything before it is to late. I leave
another white individual went to an in this country to a Mexican-Amer- you with this. Please speak out. It
African-American church, which ican father and a German-Irish doesn’t have to be in large sweep-
was locked, and then went to a su- mother. He is a citizen. Yet, a group ing gestures. Correct hate when
permarket, where he shot two Afri- of white men had the audacity to you hear it. Let hate know it has no
ESTABLISHED 1871 can-American people in a fit of hate infer that he likely wasn’t born place in life.
and cold blood. Let that sink in—all in America, since he is named in Now you know why I am so tired.
of this violence happened in a span the tradition of my ancestors with I now wish to take a nap, but I can-
bowdoinorient.com orient@bowdoin.edu 6200 College Station Brunswick, ME 04011 of one week, and those are only the a Latinx name. This is how hate not. I see there is more work to be
The Bowdoin Orient is a student-run weekly publication dedicated to providing news and information high-profile incidents reported. festers in our everyday world. It done. So I will keep going. Hate will
relevant to the Bowdoin community. Editorially independent of the College and its administrators, These are reminders of Emmanuel is these small, fleeting, seemingly not rest, nor will I. My only question
the Orient pursues such content freely and thoroughly, following professional journalistic standards in A.M.E. Church and Charlottesville. innocuous instances in daily life, to you the reader is: will you join
writing and reporting. The Orient is committed to serving as an open forum for thoughtful and diverse The violence of white supremacy where hate begins to take hold in me?
discussion and debate on issues of interest to the College community. continues to move along at a steady individuals who are not corrected. Carlos Holguin is a member of the
clip, claiming the lives of POCs, the To the white men who questioned class of 2019.
Calder McHugh Jessica Piper
Editor in Chief Editor in Chief

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Digital Director Managing Editor News Editor
James Little Anjulee Bhalla Nina McKay
Photo Editor
Nell Fitzgerald
Dakota Griffin
DO YOU LIKE THE NEW COURSE SCHEDULE?
Features Editor
Ezra Sunshine
Mindy Leder (asst.)
Alyce McFadden
Mitchel Jurasek Answer at bowdoinorient.com/poll
Associate Editor
Layout Editor Maia Coleman Sports Editor
Emma Bezilla Amanda Newman
Ian Stewart
Jaret Skonieczny (asst.)
Lucia Ryan Kathryn McGinnis
Last week’s response:
Copy Editor
Data Desk Editor
Sam Adler
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A&E Editor
Sabrina Lin Q: DO YOU THINK YOUR VOTE MATTERS?
Drew Macdonald Conrad Li
Gideon Moore Devin McKinney Opinion Editor
81% YES
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Nimra Siddiqui (asst.) Multimedia Editor
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Kate Lusignan
19% NO Based on answers from 69 voters
Business Manager Calendar Editor
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Digital Strategist
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Head Illustrator
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Page 2 Editor
Diego Lasarte LIKE US? LIKE US.
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expressed in the Orient do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors.
14 OPINION Friday, November 9, 2018

‘The Wicker Man’ and Western anxieties:

exploring the modern resonance of pagan horrors
hallmarks of 1970s cinema surrounding the “War on credibly relevant,” says Roth, larger problem in the rhetoric progress, modernity and ci-
that didn’t affect this 21st- Terror” that has dominated screwing up his face, curling his surrounding good vs. bad that vility and action as visceral,
Beyond Belief century audience in the same much of our lives, including fingers and raising his hands to leaves no room for the nuance unthinking and barbaric. Upon
by Emma Newbery way. However, when I looked the distinct accusations of the camera, “is the theme of on either “side.” Roth identifies considering the state of our
into the critical reception barbarism on both sides, reveals devout, religious belief. That the heart of what disturbs him nation and the most recent at-
In retrospect, I should have of the movie, I began to that while the locus of horror any kind of religious zealot that about both “The Wicker Man” tacks carried out in the name
known that “The Wicker Man,” understand that director Robin remains the same, for some, the would kill in the name of their and al Qaeda as “their ideology.” of religion or against religious
billed as a relaxing, post-mid- Hardy was perhaps tapping movie takes on a more modern, own religion.” As he explains, “Ideology can be believers, we must take stock of
term movie screening for my into something that not only chilling significance. He goes on to distinguish a terrifying thing when it’s ap- America’s position on the high
Human Sacrifice course, would transcends generations of Horror director and actor those who possess “religious ide- plied to someone who fully will horse of reason and centrism
be anything but. When shots viewers, but aims to poke a bear Eli Roth explains this shift in als” from those who treat religion do anything for it.” and fundamentally re-evaluate.
of pagans openly copulating of particularly Western origin connotation by discussing the as an all-consuming lifestyle. This Roth’s attitude mimics the In identifying these over-
in a graveyard and a cake in and construction; the movie modern understanding of this distinction is entirely warranted, trajectory of the movie. “The lapping binaries, I am taking
the shape of a young sacrificial fundamentally complicates the same binary of “good” religion and Roth’s description of just how Wicker Man” constructs a per- no firm stance. It is interesting,
victim popped up in the first 15 binary of “good” and “bad” and “bad.” In an interview with difficult it is to sway someone fect dichotomy between the however, to understand the
minutes I was certainly not re- religion. While this certainly IGN entertainment in 2013, who is firmly entrenched in their savage pagans and the perfect anxieties that a movie as niche
laxed. “The Wicker Man,” a 1973 disturbed past audiences, the Roth speaks to the contin- beliefs has increasing religious protagonist—order-loving, and as haphazardly shot as “The
cult horror film that was subject reactions of modern viewers ued resonance of the movie. and political relevance five years Christian and virgin Sgt. Neil Wicker Man”—actors were ap-
to an unspeakably terrible re- have highlighted the renewed “I think what makes it so in- after his interview. Roth provides Howie lives in stark contrast to parently forced to film the cli-
make in 2006 (sorry, Nicholas meaning of this binary in a post- a real-world example for this pre- the inhabitants of Summerisle, max of the movie while on the
Cage), has an unsurprisingly 9/11 world. Examining viously theoretical distinction. the pagan island he visits to run from studio executives and
minimal fan base, as is the na- the film in light of “I remember watching investigate the disappearance to read their lines off of sheets
ture of many “cult” films. My en- the discourse ‘The Wicker Man’ and of a young girl. At the climac- hung from nearby cliffs—can
tire class seemed disturbed, and thinking that it was so tic ending, Howie’s Christian evoke in its viewers regardless
I began to wonder what exactly similar to those al Qaeda prayers shouted over the roar- of their age and the cultural
it was that troubled me. videos,” he continued. ing flames, bleating goats (just context in which they view the
I quickly eliminated the I paused the video watch it) and the singing of film. The pervading fear that
seemingly-Vaselined lens and and thought for several the island inhabitants presents Roth illuminates, that “you can’t
hokey dialogue as seconds, scanning my the starkest visual and aural fight it, there’s nothing you can
brain and then the inter- contrast in the film. Howie do against it,” is perhaps not
net for the comparison he implores the islanders as they universal, but is not a relic of
could be drawing. It is an prepare him for (spoiler!) ritu- the past, either. Hardy’s panning
SHONA ORTIZ important distinction to draw al sacrifice, screaming, “Think shots of lush countryside and
that their “ideology,” which about what you’re doing!” The almost comical dialogue even
Roth references several times in contrast here shifts from one in the most violent parts of the
the interview, specifically “de- between two religions to one movie draw their own contrast
nounces” the vicious behead- between reason and barbarity, and highlight the unsettling
ings publicized by Abu Musab with Christianity firmly situat- quality the film creates.
al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadist. ed in the former category. For viewers past and present,
While he was loosely associated Translating this contrast the kitschy paganism in “The
with al Qaeda, fissures between onto Roth’s example, Ameri- Wicker Man” perhaps throws
his followers and the group cans are the arbiters of reason, into relief the religious extremes
heightened when he adopted and al Qaeda are the barbaric of today, both national and in-
the practice of beheading in cult followers to whom reason ternational, that leave people
2004. While I am not in the has no appeal. Implicit in this disquieted long after the credits
business of defending al Qae- distinction is also a contrast role on the burning wicker effigy
da, Roth’s omission points to a between thought as a sign of against a blazing sunset.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Orient coverage of Helen Andrews’ talk inaccurate and incomplete

Dear Editor,
I write in response to the Orient’s recent
coverage of visiting lecturer Helen Andrews’
talk last week. While I am glad the reporter
attended the talk and even stayed to ask An-
drews follow-up questions after the lecture,
I’m disappointed that the Orient’s subse-
quent reporting on its content was inaccu-
rate, incomplete and disingenuous.
The reporter incorrectly states that An-
drews argued in her lecture that, under Mc-
Carthyism, “all accusations were supported
by evidence.” Andrews did not assert that
all accusations were supported by evidence
during the McCarthy era, and she did not
say this evidence “support[ed] the idea that
the alleged communists were a threat to
America.”
Andrews’ discussion of the McCarthy era
was narrowly focused on the anti-Commu-
nist newsletter Red Channels and Vincent
Hartnett’s above-board documentary work
for it. Unlike other McCarthyite organiza-
tions, Andrews claimed, Hartnett and the
publishers of Red Channels exposed Com-
munist supporters using publicly available
evidence (such as newspaper articles, signed
petitions and Congressional testimony),
took care not to make unsupportable claims
and signed all articles with their names.
When accused Communists explained
themselves or renounced their Communist
views, Harnett and Red Channels removed
their names from their newsletter.
Andrews contrasted these standards and
practices with contemporary methods of
exposing people as racist, sexist, homopho-
bic or otherwise bigoted. She mentioned
a handful of cases where professors, high
school teachers and corporate employees—
without a chance to defend themselves—lost
their jobs because of social media posts tak-
en out of context. She also brought up Moira
Donegan’s “Shitty Media Men” list, which
collated anonymous sexual assault allega-
tions in a Google Doc, as a counterpart to
Red Channel’s practice of signing all articles.
Andrews’ overall point was that contempo-
rary activists who seek to out wrongdoers
and believers of dangerous ideologies do
not adhere to strict principles governing
documentary evidence, authorship and the
opportunity of defense.
The Orient represented Andrews’ com-
ments about the #MeToo movement and
sexual assault disingenuously. When ques-
tioned about whether the #MeToo move-
ment has made the world a better place, she
did say “no,” on the grounds that the lack of
evidence behind claims and the failure to
discriminate in seriousness between differ-
ent types of sexual misconduct will degrade
the legitimacy of sexual assault claims in the
long run. The Orient failed to mention that
on an immediate follow-up, a student asked
Andrews if she thought it was possible for
someone who had experienced sexual as-
sault to hold her view. She said “I guarantee
it,” and explicitly told the student that there
was “subtext” to that answer. This context is
essential to understanding fully Andrews’
comments about resilience, healing from
trauma and participating in policy discus-
sions as a survivor.
Four students lingered after the lecture
to talk to Andrews, including the reporter
and this letter-writer. The reporter respect-
fully and cogently challenged Andrews
on a number of her statements from the
lecture, including her hypothesis (not as-
sertion) that incidents of collegiate sexual
assault were lower in the 1940s and ’50s
than today. After a discursive discussion
about Andrews’ reasons for finding the
claim plausible, and as the five of us ex-
ited the Shannon Room, the reporter and
Andrews exchanged some light banter. An-
drews teased that the reporter would have
a tough time fact-checking the claim. She
then joked—joked—that the difficulty in
investigating the claim made it intellectual-
ly stimulating and persuasively useful. She
did not seriously say that “arguing points
that could not be proven but that also could
not be disproven is an effective tactic of
persuasion.” To present that as Andrews’
view is not charitable or fair to the circum-
stances of the conversation.
Andrews was certainly provocative, but
her lecture was much more nuanced and
detailed than the Orient gave it credit for,
and the reporting was decisively incomplete.
The Orient coverage failed to report on the
substantive content of the lecture, necessary
context to understand Andrews’ more con-
troversial claims, Andrews’ tone at critical
moments and even which student group
brought Andrews to campus—and why.
Andrews’ arguments might be offensive
and shocking to many Bowdoin students,
but the Orient should communicate them
accurately to its readers, so they can engage
with Andrews’ ideas as thoughtfully and
carefully as the Orient reporter and students
in attendance did.
Sincerely,
Samuel Lewis
Class of 2019
Friday, November 9, 2018
Maine’s Franco-Americans: an important history
Pine Tree
Perspective
by Lowell Ruck
This past summer, as I was
inspecting storm drains in
a neighborhood of Sabattus,
Maine, an elderly man ap-
proached me from his drive-
way. His name was Marcel,
and though he was initially
only curious about what I was
doing, our conversation soon
blossomed into a discussion
about his life. He had grown
up in a large farming family,
had served in an army battal-
ion after World War II (the
same one as Elvis Presley, be-
lieve it or not) and now spent
his days going on long walks
and tinkering in his garage.
What struck me about Mar-
cel, however, was not his re-
markable story, but his accent.
When he spoke, he sounded
like someone from Québec.
Instead of English swears, he
would mutter “crisse” every
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our email newsletter.
couple of sentences. I asked
him if he had spoken French
as a child, and he nodded. He
told me how his parents had
immigrated from Canada to
central Maine, where they had
him and all his siblings and
where he had stayed his entire
life.
Marcel’s experience is not
atypical in Maine. Though our
state boasts a large population
of English-Americans, the
second largest group are the
Franco-Americans, a catch-
all term for people of French
descent, which includes peo-
ple identifying as French,
French-Canadian, Acadian
or Franco. Though we share
this heritage with New Hamp-
shire, Ver-
mont, north-
ern New York
and, to some ex-
tent, southern New
England, nowhere in
the United States is
the Franco-American
presence stronger than
bowdoinorient.com
OPINION
in the Pine Tree State. Liv-
ing in Maine, especially in a
place like Brunswick, requires
some awareness of this unique
heritage and culture that has
persisted despite repeated at-
tempts at forced assimilation.
Franco-Americans in
Maine can largely be divided
into two groups: the St. John
River Valley Acadians, who
settled in the North after the
British expelled them from
the Canadian Maritimes, and
French Canadians, who came
from Québec in the 19th cen-
tury seeking better employ-
ment prospects. Though their
identities were slightly dif-
ferent, both groups brought
their language and Catholic
religion to their new homes.
Most immigrants from Qué-
bec settled in mill towns in
Central and Southern Maine,
such as Lewiston, Biddeford,
Waterville, Augusta and
Brunswick. Many were em-
ployed in textile mills, such as
the former Cabot Mill (now
Fort Andross) in downtown
Brunswick, and communities
known as “Little Canadas”
formed around the mills.
These neighborhoods often
had their own churches and
parochial schools, which
taught the French language
and Catholic beliefs to the
children of French-Canadi-
an immigrants. As a result
of their community bonds,
French-Canadi-
ans tended to as-
similate more slow-
ly than other ethnic
groups in the state. Acadi-
an settlers, centered around
towns on the St. John River
like Fort Kent, Madawaska
and Van Buren, also resisted
Anglo incursions. Most had
GOT
THOUGHTS?
Submit an Op-Ed or a Letter to
the Editor to orientopinion@
bowdoin.edu by 7 p.m. on
the Tuesday of the week of
publication. Include your full name
and phone number.
roots in the area predating the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty of
1842, which drew up the cur-
rent border between Maine
and Canada, and cross-bor-
der ties were common. Agri-
culture was more important
to them, although some did
move south in search of em-
ployment in the mills.
Because of their different
language and faith, Fran-
co-Americans were often
the target of slurs and oth-
er forms of discrimination.
Students speaking French in
Maine’s schools were beaten
and ridiculed, and even their
French teachers disparaged
their “impure” regional dia-
lects. In mill towns like Lew-
iston, riots often broke out
between Franco-Americans
and Irish-Americans, who
perceived the newcomers as
a threat. Yet, Franco-Ameri-
cans persisted. From modest
backgrounds of mill labor,
many became entrepreneurs
or worked their way up in lo-
cal and state offices. Paul LeP-
SARA CAPLAN
15
age, Maine’s current governor,
grew up speaking French in
Lewiston, and despite an abu-
sive home life, managed to
work his way through college
and into politics. Countless
others have had considerable
impacts on their communi-
ties.
Today, Franco-Americans
are still an important part of
Maine’s cultural fabric, and,
though their culture is no lon-
ger as distinct as it once was,
there are numerous efforts to
preserve their heritage. Com-
munity groups in Lewiston
meet to speak French, parents
send their children to L’École
Française du Maine and re-
searchers at the University
of Maine’s Franco-American
Centre examine their complex
history. There are even a few
churches that still give Mass
in French. Elsewhere, remind-
ers of the importance of Fran-
co-Americans abound. Look
around Brunswick, for ex-
ample, and you will see quite
a few streets and landmarks
adorned with French names,
from Baribeau Drive to the
Tondreau building downtown.
Their influence is even visible
at Bowdoin: look no further
than the Pinette Room in
Thorne Hall, named in honor
of former Bowdoin employee
Laurent Pinette.
I have always been fasci-
nated by Franco-American
culture and language. My first
French teacher was an Acadi-
an from Fort Kent. I grew up
eating ployes (Acadian buck-
wheat pancakes) and listen-
ing to Acadian and Québécois
folk music. One of my favor-
ite things about this state is
this unique dimension of its
heritage, and I hope that you
too can learn to appreciate it.
Ask your Maine friends here
about their family history, go
visit Fort Andross and keep
an ear out when you’re out
on the town or if you some-
how find yourself in Sabattus.
You might just catch a hint of
a French accent—and the be-
ginning of a really interesting
story.
 16 Friday, November 9, 2018

NOVEMBER
FRIDAY 9
LECTURE
“Freedom and Structural Domination:
Two Views”
Amherst College Assistant Professor of Philosophy Rafeeq
Hasan will discuss republican political philosophy, building from
the works of scholars like Rousseau, Kant and Hegel to
argue that republicanism should take a different approach to
social and political issues.
107 Kanbar Hall. 4:15 p.m.

CONCERT
Longfellows Fall Concert
The Bowdoin College Longfellows will showcase their talents
in a dynamic trifecta alongside the Bates Manic Optimists and
Colby Sirens in the Chapel.
Chapel. 7:30 p.m.

CONCERT
Berhana Concert PJ SEELERT, THE BOWDOIN ORIENT
R&B singer Berhana will perform in Smith Union, preceded by
SINGING AWAY: A cappella groups Miscellania and Ursus Verses joined forces at “Ursellania” on November 2, coming together to perform a fall
the student group The Commission starting at 10 p.m. concert in the Chapel. Ursus Verses is a co-ed group known for its bold melodies, while Miscellania is the College’s only all-female a cappella group.
Morrell Lounge, David Saul Smith Union. 11 p.m.

SATURDAY 10
EVENT
Brunswick Early Bird Sale
An array of shops and eateries in downtown Brunswick will
open as early as 6 a.m. to offer special deals and discounts to
customers. Participants include Cool as a Moose, Maine Street
Sweets, Wild Oats Bakery and Cafe and Gelato Fiasco.
Maine Street. 6 a.m.
MONDAY 12 WEDNESDAY 14
EVENT
Meditation
Director of Counseling Services and Wellness Programs
Bernie Hershberger will lead a 45-minute meditation session
in Buck Fitness Center. The event is open to all.
Room 302, Buck Fitness Center. 4:30 p.m.
LECTURE
Longfellow’s Antiquarianism
Author and professor of English at Trinity University Claudia
Stokes will discuss Henry Longfellow’s career and his unique
approach to and talent for writing poetry.
Thomas F. Shannon Room, Hubbard Hall. 6 p.m.

CONCERT
Underground DJ Set
WBOR and Reed House will co-sponsor Harlem-based label
13th Hour Records. The set will be mainly house music with
TUESDAY 13 THURSDAY 15
funk and disco influences. EVENT LECTURE
Reed House. 9 p.m. How to Organize and Facilitate More Post-War Development, Conservation
Productive Meetings and Lake Baikal
Organization and leadership coach Nancy Ansheles will host a Ohio State University Associate Professor of History
workshop to teach students how to most effectively Nicholas Breyfogle will lecture about the 1950s Soviet
problem-solve and build relationships with colleagues in a environmental protection movement to conserve Siberia’s
professional setting Lake Baikal.

SUNDAY 11 Daggett Lounge, Thorne Hall. 9 a.m.

LECTURE
Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center. 4:30 p.m.

FILM SCREENING
“The Old Man and the Gun”
Eveningstar Cinema will screen “The Old Man and the Gun,”
a new film based on the true story of a criminal’s escape from
prison and the string of heists that follow.
Eveningstar Cinema. 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
DISCUSSION
Contemporary Perspectives on Medals and Carbon Neutrality & The Bowdoin
Coins from Antiquity to the Recent Past Climate Action Plan
Art experts Stephen K. Scher and Peter van Alfen will join Sustainable Bowdoin will present students the latest on the
Associate Professor of Art History Susan E. Wegner to discuss College’s carbon neutrality and current climate action plan
the collection and study of ancient coins and medals. with goals set for 2030.
Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center. 4:30 p.m. Lantern, Roux Center for the Environment. 4:30 p.m.

16 PERFORMANCE 17 PERFORMANCE 18 CONCERT 19 20 21 PERFORMANCE 22

Bowdoin Bowdoin Bowdoin String Tide at
Chorus Chorus College Frontier
Concert Band