Folk and Food at Bates

“For the past few weeks, hundreds of people have been participating in an act of civil disobedience in front of the White House in Washington DC. The protest, which will continue until the first weekend of September, is to encourage President Obama to disallow the creation of a huge pipeline that will stretch across the US, bringing oil from the tar sands in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Many environmentalists are saying that Obama’s action concerning the pipeline, called Keystone XL, will determine his true stance on climate change policy. In other words, if he turns down the oil company’s plans to build, it’d be a sign that the US will begin to turn away from dirty energy, and Obama will endorse alternative energy sources. I’ve been following the protests closely.” READ MORE.

Put aside your lobster and dance!

“My first contradance at Bates was at the Freshman Lobster Bake a few years ago, on one of my very first college evenings.  Freshman orientation tends to be a little tense; it’s not easy to feel totally comfortable right away after having been thrown overboard into an ocean of new people, left alone to swim aimlessly, searching for a few folks to call friends. I remember arriving at the lobster bake with some of my new housemates, nervously finding a spot on the grass before getting into the giant line to wait for our lobster dinners.”

 

 

 

Mason! Mason! Build Me a Toolshed! But Seriously.

“Now I’m home, back in Tamba and gearing myself up for a summer of working in the fields. So far I’ve battled land title rights with my garden partners, extended rice and bean seed to a local farmer and witnessed the capping of our tool shed at the MF site. I’ll be doing more research than I ever have, conducting studies on why one type of seed is better than another or why this practice is more beneficial than that one, and hopefully writing a comprehensive report to submit to Peace Corps in Washington. It all sounds very official! I’ve said this before, but the illusion of Peace Corps volunteers sitting around in the shade fanning flies off themselves has been shattered into many pieces – although the advent of rainy season has introduced more flies than I can possibly cope with. I just ignore them. It’s worked so far.”

Read More as Phoebe ’10  Finishes Her First Year in the Peace Corps!

Class is a Rap

“I was fortunate enough to take a very interesting class on music, more specifically Hip-Hop. The class was titled “Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Blues.” This is the second term that it has been included into the Bates curriculum and it has not disappointed one bit. The class is led by English professor, Robert Strong, who introduces many connections with blues, jazz, and Hip-Hop music.We read a lot of material such as Sonny’s Blues, poems from various authors and poets. We also watched Do The Right Thing, a film directed by Spike Lee.”

Professor Robert Strong. Coming the fall semester would be his third year working at Bates College.

Read More About James’ Short Term Course!

 

Hurricane’s, Range State Park, Yosaku

“Rather than write an extensive essay on how much I love spending my weekends exploring Maine, I figured I would do a photo essay of my weekend (these photos are credited to Alana Folsom)”

Check out more photos from Monica’s weekends in Maine!