Bates Life

“The decided topic of this year’s Unity Conference was “The Politics of Color”. The workshop that I attended was about how color, particularly in the black community, often culturally determined the level of masculinity within boys. The workshop was led by one of my favorite professors at Bates and we discussed how images in film, literature, and television perpetuate these structural issues regarding the perception of black men. The turnout was great for the workshops and suggested that all sorts of people on Bates campus care about these issues.” Read more and see Pictures HERE

“March is a long month. We’re all starting to get ready for finals, it’s still snowing, and it’s one of the only months at Bates without a vacation. Some people deal with the cabin fever by ignoring it completely and shoving their heads in textbooks, others spend a weekend at home, and sometimes parents and friends on spring break come and visit the campus. This weekend, a ton of my friends went on roadtrips. A bunch of my crew went down to Boston to see Justice (www.myspace.com/etjusticepourtous) live at Paradise Rock Club, my other good friend went to Brown for the weekend to visit friends from high school, and a couple others went to Rhode Island for a debate tournament. While I was bummed so many of my friends were out of town, there was plenty to do on campus.” Read more HERE

“I got into all four courses I want to take in the fall (Wartime Dissent in Modern America, Latin American History, Criminology, and an upper-level Spanish course). Unfortunately I was not able to get into my short term which was called Spy Games: The Role of Espionage in International Affairs. The course sounded very interesting so I am a bit disappointed. However rather than petition for it I will most likely choose another course to take this spring since there are a plethora of options.” Read more and learn more about signing up for classes HERE

“Last night I attended the Bates College Gamelan Orchestra concert. The performance was the last show of Bates’ 2008 World Music Week. The focus was on ‘Musical Legacies of South and Southeast Asia’ and everyone who attended the event in the Olin Arts Center was treated to an amazing show.” Read more and see videos HERE

“A friend of mine had the “best vegetable chili” at her professor’s house last fall, made from the vegetable that had grown in his garden all summer. An art professor of mine invited all of her students over every wednesday evening last year to eat pie and watch Project Runway. Another professor of mine returned from the hospital a week ago and many of us have been pitching in to help her out with day to day projects. As you can see above, I walked her dog Luna last tuesday. These and others are examples of the mutual commitment and interest professors and students have to one and other.” Read more HERE

“This is definitely a question that’s always in the back of my mind. How do I feel about the diversity on campus? And at what point will it stop being “diverse” and we will be difference-blind, such that diversity of experience will be the only thing that matters? Might that ever exist?
So tell me, how do you explain this to a room of about 60 prospective students and their parents in 5 minutes?” Read more HERE

“And that madness I’m talking about isn’t related to basketball. This “madness” starts at the end of February and pushes on to the last weeks of March. Ultimately what I’m saying is that March at Bates is tough.” Read more HERE

“I am in a great mood today. Generally, I love Thursdays for multiple reasons. 1) I like labs. 2) I like giving info sessions at the Admissions Office– it’s kind of nice to talk ad nauseum about a place that I love, and to have people care about what I say (or at least pretend to care) … 3) I only have homework for one class on Friday, and 4) it’s almost the weekend.” Read more HERE

“That’s the beauty of productive procrastination though. You get stuff done– just not the RIGHT stuff. At some point, I’m going to run out of relatively fun things to do, and I’m going to have to work on this portfolio. Hopefully it will be before Thursday… eek.” Read more by clicking Here

“One of my favorite memories from college was during freshman orientation during my sophomore year. All the AESOP leaders had a few days of nothing to do after they had finished their camping trips. One beautiful day, some of my friends took me to the beach and taught me how to surf. We were all really bad but the waves were fantastic…August is a great time to be in Maine, there is an amazing atmosphere on campus, and everything feels right with the world.” Read more about AESOP by clicking HERE