With locations in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as here at home in Addison County, the program offers students a chance to work four days a week in different local food-related jobs and then take the fifth day to gather as a group and focus on a particular topic of the curriculum, such as sustainable agriculture and ecology, food systems, community and economic development, nutrition and health, food security and justice, and cultural food traditions.

FoodWorks was piloted in Louisville last summer and expanded this year to include Vermont partners. The 26 students—16 in Vermont and 10 in Kentucky—are working in local government, business and retail, publishing and marketing, nonprofits, and on area farms.

To learn more about what the students are doing on a daily basis and how they’re contributing to their communities, check out the FoodWorks website and blog.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Midd alum Andrew Forsthoefel ’11 walked from Philadelphia to California, and his story was featured on NPR’s This American Life.
• Laurie Essig shared her latest take on beauty-product advertising in her blog “Love, Inc.” at PsychologyToday.com, and it ain’t pretty…
• Harvard professor and tour de force political theorist Eric Nelson made an incredibly complex historical concept both graspable and engaging for a packed house during last Thursday’s Fulton Lecture in Dana. You can read about it and see the entire hour-plus talk here.
• President Liebowitz sent a message to the College community this week reaffirming the College’s support for the construction of the natural gas pipeline project that will come through Addison County.
• On Wednesday at 5 p.m., the women’s lacrosse team will host Castleton in a first-round NCAA game for its 19th tournament appearance in 20 years. Tickets are $3 for adults, $2 for students.
• Make time on Friday at 8 p.m. to catch Alexander Twilight Artist in Residence Francois Clemmons for his final solo concert before he retires this month. The beloved tenor will take center stage at the Concert Hall in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, and it’s free!
• Tuesday, May 14, is Arbor Day, and campus horticulturist Tim Parsons and student volunteers have plenty of activities planned–live music, tree tours, tree planting, food, a kids’ race–spelled out at go/arborday. Can’t make it? Enjoy our ligneous, leafy friends by virtually touring the trees here on campus.
• Stop by Axinn 229 on Tuesday from 5–7 p.m. and check out this year’s “How Did You Get Here?” audio slideshows from the Narrative Journalism Fellows.

As things kicked off on Thursday evening at the Mahaney Center for the Arts, students, faculty, and staff enjoyed musical presentations, dance and theater performances, and a keynote address with actor and activist Cassidy Freeman ’05 (listen below).

On Friday, the Great Hall and adjacent classrooms of Bicentennial Hall were packed with the day’s full schedule of poster sessions and oral presentations, capped off with an evening reception and more music and theater performances.

Below is a slideshow that briefly captures the excitement of the event, followed by an audio clip of Freeman’s keynote address in its entirety.

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The 2013 Student Symposium kicked off the weekend in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall with welcoming performances by a cappella groups the Mountain Ayres and the Mamajamas (pictured above).

Hear what actress and activist Cassidy Freeman ’05 had to say about Middlebury, creativity, and writing your personal mission statement:

Last week President Obama announced an ambitious plan called The Brain Initiative—a $100-million project to study brain function. The goal is for scientists working in the field of brain research to further their understanding and continue to develop resources that will lead to breakthroughs in treating conditions such as Alzheimer’s, autism, and stroke.

That announcement got the attention of some neuroscience faculty and student researchers here on campus. Middmag caught up with Professor Tom Root and Stephen Lammers ’13, Ben Wagner ’13, and Deirdre Sackett ’13 during a break from their studies. Here’s what they had to say about Obama’s plan—and what it might mean for the future.

That’s pretty much what it boiled down to last week when MiddChallenge gave 17 student groups a very brief opportunity to explain why their business, outreach, or arts venture deserved one of its six cash awards.

MiddChallenge, part of the College’s Project on Creativity and Innovation (PCI), is a student-driven annual event that encourages other students to pitch ideas for projects or businesses that can solve problems or enhance society in some way.

Basically you apply, prepare an eight-minute presentation (often with the help of a mentor), make your pitch to a panel of professionals who volunteer their time as judges, and find out whether you’ve won—all over the course of one week.

The winners then spend the summer implementing their projects, and the only follow-up requirement is that each of them must submit a written reflection of the process.

It’s a highly efficient and fast-paced way to get start-up funding for an idea—and then put that idea to the test. And, as Liz Robinson, director of the Project on Innovation in the Liberal Arts, points out, “It’s really less about the ultimate success of a particular project and more about the process—the people who mentor these students and the things they learn along the way.”

And they learn a lot. PCI makes available to all the students a stream of valuable resources—from professional mentors who help with presentations and business plans to opportunities for additional funding from other PCI programs such as MiddStart, PCI’s microphilanthropy network.

The student committee—energetically made up of Joanie Thompson ’14, AJ Guff ’13.5, Kate Robinson ’16, Logan Randolph ’14, Will Potter ’14.5, Hannah Bristol ’14.5, and Olivia Tabah ’16—received 37 applications and, practically overnight, narrowed it down to the 17 who were invited to make presentation pitches in one of the three categories: Business; Education, Outreach, and Policy; and Arts.

“It’s a huge time commitment,” said Liz Robinson, “but they take it very seriously.”

The students invite the judges from the professional community, create the criteria for judging, and organize and introduce the student presenters. The 11 judges included young entrepreneurs Chris Eaton ’99, Eliza Eaton ’05, and Corinne Prevot ’13, as well as former Vermont governor Jim Douglas ’72, widely experienced businessman Charlie MacCormack ’63, and the director of the Vermont Women’s Fund Catherine Kalkstein, among others.

The whole event, which took place over two days in Axinn, held an air of professionalism and pragmatism. These were not pie-in-the-sky ideas, but well-thought-out ventures that would in some concrete way add to our society and address an immediate need. Students presented detailed implementation plans and proposed budgets. Several of the groups included first-years and sophomores who were as articulate and poised as their senior peers in presenting and discussing their goals.

This year’s winners include the development of a new method for managing the invasive Eurasian milfoil in waters across Vermont using a patented process called MiddFoil®; Uncle B’s Firenuts, a spicy snack food that a student started last year in a Middlebury Entrepreneurs class and wants to expand this summer; two food-related projects: Share the Surplus, which will deliver untouched and leftover dining hall food to local communities, and Middlebury Foods, which will provide low-cost and highly nutritious grocery items to people who don’t have access to grocery stores; a creative mixed-genre film about the Los Angeles music collective WEDIDIT; and a multimedia narrative featuring stories from people who have experienced bullying in New England schools. For a complete list of the winners, as well as the groups of students involved, see below.

MiddChallenge 2013 Winners:
Business:
Uncle B’s Firenuts
Ben Stasiuk ’14

Uncle B’s Firenuts is a spicy nut snack, based on a recipe developed by Stasiuk’s Uncle Bill, that blends the intense heat of homegrown heirloom hot peppers with the flavors of bourbon and wood smoke. Stasiuk started a business selling Firenuts through the Middlebury Entrepreneurs course last January and hopes to expand the family business over the summer.

Integrated Milfoil Management
Austin Ritter ’13, Greg Dier ’13, with Samuel Carlson ’10, Professor of Biology Sallie Sheldon, Meghan Short

Waterbodies across North America are threatened by Eurasian milfoil, an invasive plant that inhibits recreation, lowers property values, and decreases native species diversity in its surroundings. In the 1990s, Professor Sheldon discovered a native insect that selectively feeds on the milfoil plant. She developed the MiddFoil®  process to efficiently grow and distribute this insect. After a decade of research has shown the MiddFoil® process to be a safe and effective method for providing lasting milfoil control, Integrated Milfoil Management intends to bring the MiddFoil® technology to waterbodies in Vermont.

Education, Outreach & Policy:
Share the Surplus
Cailey Cron ’14, Molly Shane ’14

Addison County is home to nearly 4,000 food-insecure people while Middlebury College dining system produces 300 tons of food waste a year, a portion of which is untouched and servable. In collaboration with Dining Services, Share the Surplus will collect excess prepared food from the dining halls and make it available to local people in need.

Middlebury Foods
Nathan Weil ’15, Harry Zieve Cohen ’15, Chris Kennedy ’15, Jack Cookson ’15, Oliver Mayers ’15, Elias Gilman ’15, Eduardo Danino-Beck ’15

Through Middlebury Foods, Vermonters will be able to purchase supermarket-quality food at fast-food prices. High-quality meats and vegetables will be bundled in food boxes and sold at local delivery sites including churches and community organizations. Each box provides a week’s worth of affordable and nutritious food for approximately $1.50 per meal by eliminating overhead costs and piggy-backing on the established purchasing power and infrastructure of Middlebury College.

Arts:
WEDIDIT
Moss Turpan ’14, Dylan Redford ’14

The project is a mixed documentary/fiction film about WEDIDIT, a collective of electronic musicians based in Los Angeles and one of the few in which members collaborate on work but release music individually. The film will explore the unique collaborative creative process and will employ documentary language to investigate the creative process of the artists and fictional language to represent the emotional experience of the music.

War at Home(room)
Aidesha-Kiya Vega-Hutchens ’14, Jun Chen ’14

The War at Home(room) project will compile oral histories of bullying in New England school systems. The coordinators will travel throughout the region documenting how these experiences follow people over the course of their lives and then produce multimedia narrative that illustrates the struggles endured by those bullied as well as those who eventually rise above their experiences.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Chief Diversity Officer Shirley M. Collado and Sheyenne Brown ’09 talked with NPR’s “Tell Me More” host Michel Martin on March 7 about campus diversity—both creating and maintaining it.
• The NCAA Skiing Championships came to Middlebury and things couldn’t have gone more smoothly for the 148 athletes representing 21 teams. Middlebury posted the best team score in the men’s slalom for the second straight year and Nordic skier Ben Lustgarten ’14 turned in his second All-America performance, helping the Panthers complete a 10th-place finish on their home snow.
• TEDx returned to Middlebury over the weekend for a second year of inspiring ideas and discussion. The theme was “The Road Not Taken” with more than a dozen speakers taking the stage to share their interpretation.
• Starting March 14th, the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs brings us “The Politics of Freshwater: Access and Identity in a Changing Environment,” a three-day, interdisciplinary conference featuring scholars from both national and international institutions, in addition to our own from Middlebury, the C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
• On Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in Dana, Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose show has been at the museum since February, will discuss his work and the current exhibition, which focuses on abandoned quarries throughout Vermont and “nature transformed through industry.”
• First-year saxophonist Zitong (Bruce) Jia, winner of the 2013 Beucher Concerto Competition, will be the featured soloist in Friday’s Middlebury College Orchestra concert at 8 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Jia rose above a strong field of musicians to earn his distinction, and the evening should be impressive.
• Don’t miss the premiere of “The Opulence of Integrity” March 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. in Mahaney Center for the Arts Dance Theatre. This performance, inspired by the life and legend of Muhammad Ali and incorporating elements of boxing with martial arts and an original score, is the fine work of dance faculty member Christal Brown and her company INSPIRIT.
• Several upcoming film screenings around campus offer something for everyone—MCAB’s “Free Friday Film” featuring Les Miserables at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in Dana Auditorium; the Hirschfield International Film Series featuring Little Birds on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., also in Dana; and the Education Studies Film Series featuring Bag It, about the effects of plastic on our world, on Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. in Dana.

Montana State? In Middlebury?

It’s not every day you hear skiers from the western schools announced over the loudspeaker at Middlebury’s Snow Bowl. But today is not every day.

Wednesday morning marked the start of the 2013 NCAA Championship for both alpine and Nordic skiing, hosted this year by Middlebury.

“It’s been a long time in the works,” said an appropriately bundled Director of Athletics Erin Quinn, who stood among a crowd of other fans at the finish line, watching the first of the women’s giant slalom runs. “We’ve been prepping for this for more than a year, and it’s just a great feeling to have the day finally be here—and the weather cooperating!”

Indeed, an overcast day with slight flurries and temps in the 20s made for the perfect race day. According to one finisher from New Mexico, “It was a little windy at the top, but most of us really like these conditions.” Another skier, from the University of Denver and a native of New Hampshire, was excited to be back East skiing among old friends. “This is awesome,” she gushed, fresh over the line. “Middlebury’s a great hill. And such a fun town! We’ve tried a different sandwich shop every day—so far we like Noonie’s the best.”

Waiting for their daughter Anne to race, Rocky and Betsy Rockwell from Moosehead Lake, Maine, were well prepared for the day in warm Bates hats and scarves—including the one on their dog. “This is a trip,” said Rocky. “It’s a dream for these college kids to make it to this day. It’s Anne’s first time here. She might’ve been a little nervous.”

At the foot of the chairlift, a giant flat screen TV captured each skier as she sped through the gates. Once she was visible in person on the lower half of the mountain, the cheers and clanging cowbells were deafening.

Inside the lodge, the temperature was warmer but the atmosphere just as frantic. Skiers stretched, changed uniforms, inhaled egg sandwiches, and prepped for their second runs on the GS course. Snow Bowl staff were busy answering questions and generally enjoying the excitement of the day—and days to come. “It’s wonderful to see so many faces from so far away,” said Susie Davis, director of the Snow School. Ticket master Don Swenor, with his characteristic smile, said the best part of the day was “everything happening outside on the mountain,” and added, “It ought to happen every five years instead of ten.”

Upstairs, tucked in a corner room with a clear view of the course, Doug Lewis, a former Olympian alpine skier and local Vermonter, announced each skier’s progress from start to finish with the flair and ease of a seasoned commentator. A sign hastily taped to the half-open door requested “Silence please, no cells or electronic devices.”

With only a few skiers left to go, he finally announced Anne Rockwell from Bates, whose parents waited so patiently at the finish. “And she’s looking smooth at the start…bing bang she’s through the midway gates…a little thin at the bottom…and that’s 1:05.89 at the line.”

She was 26th after that first run, 29th overall—not bad for a first outing among some of her most talented peers. Her parents were beaming.

For more details on the NCAA Championships, please use these links:

http://www.ncaa.com/content/2013-ncaa-skiing-results

http://www.middlebury.edu/athletics/about/sportsnotes/201213sn/2013sn/march13/031113/node/448304

http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/node/447735

The selection of photographs, on view at the Museum of Art through April 21, grew from a concept the artist began exploring in the granite quarries throughout Vermont and Canada in the early 1990s. Director of the Arts Pieter Broucke and Juliette Bianco, assistant director of Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art, where the exhibition originated, are co-curators and introduced the show at its opening this week.

The works are large-scale—as are, after all, the deeply cavernous subjects—but the largeness of it all can be deceiving. The artist gives little sense of perspective within the photographs, so the smallest details—the rock striations and geometric cuts, a bright green pool, a chalky white glaze—became almost otherworldly, while at the same time so clearly recognizable as our own earth. It’s a mesmerizing beauty born of industrial destruction. The exhibition also inherently serves as social commentary, but the artist himself is not documentarian; he doesn’t press his opinion but rather propose the opportunity for healthy and ongoing dialogue.

Click through a slideshow of selections below, then make a trip to the Museum to see the show in person—a must!

Danby Marble Quarry #2

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Edward Burtynsky (Canadian, born 1955), Underground Quarry, Danby, Vermont, 1995, digital chromogenic color print. Courtesy of the artist.

Middmag talked to six alumni who were back sharing their knowledge and expertise with students this past January.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Jay Parini was talking about Jesus and Robert Frost last month, though not necessarily at the same time. A New York Times article included a quote from him about Frost’s eclectic tradition for personalized Christmas cards, many now collected at Dartmouth College. And on Christmas Day, he wrote a piece for CNN.com on “Seeking the Truth About Jesus.” The prolific poet, novelist, and biographer has a new book headed our way, called Jesus: The Human Face of God.

• Congratulations to the seven faculty members awarded tenure in December: Catherine Combelles (biology), James Fitzsimmons (anthropology), Eliza Garrison (history of art and architecture), Nadia Rabesahala Horning (political science), Kareem Khalifa (philosophy), Caitlin Knowles Myers (economics), and Lynn Owens (sociology).

• There are plenty of folks who already consider Bill McKibben a great neighbor and friend—especially our planet—but it’s always good to have public affirmation. The Burlington Free Press agreed and named him the 2012 Vermonter of the Year.

• Winter sports teams are off to winning start this month so don’t miss the round of home events coming up this weekend, including men’s and women’s basketball and women’s hockey on Friday and Saturday.

• The always-entertaining and ever-talented jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut is back in town Friday at 8 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts. Part of the amazing Performing Arts Series, tickets are $20 for faculty, staff, and other ID card holders, and just $6 for students.

• To kick off his four-week residency during Winter Term, Ugandan master drummer/dancer Samuel Bakkabulindi will take the lead in “Percussion and Dance Explosion” Saturday night  from 8—10 p.m. in McCullough Social Space. Bring your bongos and dancing feet, and don’t be shy!

• If you’ve got questions, she may have answers. Catch affirmative action expert Susan Sturm on Tuesday, January 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Dana, where she’ll talk about institutional change, transformative leadership, workplace equality, legal education, and inclusion and diversity in higher education. Sturm is founding director of the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School and principal investigator for a Ford Foundation grant awarded to develop the architecture of inclusion in higher education.

Taking this into account, the Parton Center for Health and Wellness has been proactive in offering students, staff, and faculty a range of stress-reducing activities during exam week.

Last spring Middmag checked out one of their scheduled sessions with Therapy Dogs—hard not to see the positive results of that experience! The dogs are back this semester, on Wednesday from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Coltrane Lounge, and the center has added a week of meditation sessions as well, wonderfully tucked away in the Mitchell Greene Lounge in McCullough.

Middmag stopped by a few sessions at the start of the week to see how things were going. Four times a day the sessions are guided—at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.—and the rest of the day the room is peacefully quiet.

Rows of mats and cushions line the floor, and the daylight—even on a gloomy day—streams brightly through the windows and overhead skylight.

Several people have volunteered to guide sessions, and on this particular visit Chris Shaw, a visiting lecturer in English and American lit, sat quietly at the head of the room. Experienced in meditation—he’s been practicing for about ten years—this was actually his first time leading a group (you wouldn’t have known it.). As the stragglers settled in on their cushions, took a deep breath, and closed their eyes, Shaw gently offered cues about breathing, focusing on positive thoughts, and generally being mindful of your body.

Neat piles of handouts on the welcome table enlighten the amateur to the practice of beginner meditation. First and foremost, respect the “noble silence” of the space. Resist the temptation to talk out loud or even bust a move into your best Sun Salutation or Downward Dog. This is most definitely a place of quiet, in both mind and body. And also give yourself a break—recognize that it may feel a little weird at first, but that the benefits are apparent over time, especially for students who are facing new life experiences and sensory overload at a rapid clip. The key word, though, is “time,” as another guideline notes: the benefits of mindfulness meditation accrue over time. That’s why they call it “practice.”

For twenty minutes the small group sat quietly, with only a few prompts from Shaw. Then a resonant and singular tone of a meditation bowl brought the session to a close. As the group slowly stood to shrug into scarves and down jackets, another string of students ambled in to take their places.

Drop-in and Guided Mindfulness Meditation
December 10-15
Mitchell Greene Lounge at McCullough
Drop-in: 6 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Guided: 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
Sponsored by Parton Center for Health and Wellness

]]> http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2012/12/11/relax/feed/ 0 http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2012/11/16/restoration-hardware-inside-the-studio/ http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2012/11/16/restoration-hardware-inside-the-studio/#comments Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:44:47 +0000 Blair Kloman http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/?p=10121 Behind the scenes and inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s conservation studio.

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George Bisacca ’77 is considered one of the world’s leading conservators of “panel paintings,” paintings on wood.

Top Row: Bjorn Peterson ’15.5, Hanna Judge ’12.5, Eve Rotich ’13, Biructait Mengesha ’13, Fernando Sandoval ’15, Rebecca Hicks ’15, Max Bacharach ’14
Bottom Row: Anna Clements ’12.5, Eleni Polychroniadou ’14, Andrea Cruz ’14
Missing: Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13, Sebastian Schell ’14, Krisztina Pjeczka ’15

Last spring they made their pitches. Today they presented success.

Of the 23 groups of students that competed for first-ever grants from Middlebury’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE) back in May, five of those impressed the advisory board judges enough to receive the go-ahead funding for summer projects that included helping street children in Africa, developing a local high school composting system, initiating GIS mapping in Rwanda, training youth change-makers in Mexico, and creating edible insect-based and protein-dense food products to help at-risk populations in developing countries.

This fall, those grant recipients further impressed a group of about 45 fellow students, faculty, and members of the advisory board with their inspiring results.

Biructait Mengesha ’13 and Eve Rotich ’13 started off the afternoon relaying their experiences helping to establish the Aman Children’s Home and Development Program in Africa. The organization provides street children with shelter and resources, as well as education and skill-building opportunities. Though the two faced some pitfalls working with administration officials, they continue to hope the program will be self-sustainable and thrive on fully owned income-generating  initiatives in the future.

Eve Rotich ’13 and Brooke Seyoum ’13 discuss their project

Hannah Judge ’12.5 and Anna Clements ’12.5, who share a passion for global health and GIS mapping, presented the results of their trip to Rwanda to begin what they hope will lead to small grassroots organizations using mapping and other spatial analyses as part of their public health planning and policy-making. While there, Hannah and Anna collaborated with Gardens for Health International (GHI) to produce maps and conduct trainings. In the Gasabo District of Rwanda, they collected spatial data (a point location for every household GHI works with) and combined it with existing health indicators and information collected by the organization. This will allow GHI to reorganize its data and illustrate patterns in a more visually accessible way.

Anna Clements ’12.5 shares her experiences

Eleni Polychroniadou ’14 discussed the composting project she undertook with Sam Koplinka-Loehr ’13 at nearby Vergennes High School to develop a system that processes five tons of food waste annually—and could eventually be scaled up and applied to other schools. Initially, she noted,  the two were  perceived by the high school community as “outsiders” imposing their own agenda, but  they worked hard and closely with administrators and students and eventually built and maintained trust and respect.

The ¡Integrando a Mexico! team of Fernando Sandoval ’15, Andrea Cruz ’14, Rebecca Hicks ’15, and Krisztina Pjeczka ’15, spoke about having their eyes opened to the harsh realities that so many Mexican youth face in their daily lives—realities which are largely inconceivable to us. Their organization, created under the umbrella of the United World Colleges movement, began in 2010 as an initiative to bring together indigenous and non-indigenous youth in Mexico, and continued in 2011 as a platform to identify and encourage potential young change makers. This summer, the program hosted more than 50 participants, ages fifteen to eighteen, from varied socioeconomic backgrounds and regions of Mexico. The Middlebury students, alongside other UWC students and alumni, lead the youth in community service and workshops on conflict resolution, creativity, social issues and civic engagement. Hopefully, their work will help ¡Integrando a Mexico! continue to expand.

With their nutritionally innovative Crickeats, the Jiminy team of Alex Bea ’12, Max Bacharach ’14, and Sebastian Schell ’14 learned the hard way about facing challenges with perseverance. After having all of their farmed crickets fumigated for fear of possible infestation in the Old Stone Mill, they recovered quickly and went on to build a team of diversely talented individuals, especially when it came to fundraising and gathering additional resources. Nearly one billion people face chronic food insecurity and an additional two billion suffer from iron deficiency. Because of their high iron levels, protein content, and low production costs, insects can be a powerful asset for developing countries. Consuming just three crickets a day can satisfy an individual’s daily iron requirements. Jiminy’s grant allowed them to conduct testing and increase research and development for what may eventually become a nutritionally dense food product–made primarily of insects–for sale to aid organizations that feed at-risk populations in developing countries.

After the presentations, advisory board member Becky Castle ’91 was thoroughly impressed. “It was clear that all of the students’ projects provided real-life experience that not only will serve them well but is also  an excellent complement to their liberal arts education,” she said. “They all had to deal with unexpected obstacles, but adjusted and developed effective solutions. That’s another lesson that will serve them well!”

Fellow board member Charlie MacCormack ’63 added, “It’s exactly these kinds of opportunities that allow Middlebury students to take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it in the world to make a positive change. Practical leadership experience is crucial to learning.”

Many of the educators in the room—from all walks of life—were proud to be a part of such a great beginning for MCSE. And all of them look forward to being there with the students to take it to the next level.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at 

• In the most recent posting to her blog, “One Dean’s View,” Dean of the College Shirley Collado invited SGA president Charles Arnowitz ’13 to talk about his role on campus and his thoughts about engaging with the college as an institution, from the administration in Old Chapel to the Board of Trustees.

• With election day fast approaching and partisan stress levels peaking, take a listen to what our very own Professor Pundits had to say in their latest video. And be sure to catch their election night gathering at the Grille. If you can’t be there in person, follow their live-blogging and tweets (Matt is @Mattdickinson44 and Bert is @bnjohns)

• Class of ’88 alum Dwight Gardner was on campus last week to talk about his life experiences leading up to and during his tenure as a literary critic at the New York Times. The annual Robert W. van de Velde Jr. ’75 Memorial Lecture, titled “The Future of Book Criticism,” attracted a packed audience of students and community members. You can read all about it at Middmag.com.
• This Thursday at 7:30 p.m. be sure to catch the latest “Meet the Press” speaker Peter Bienart. The provocative political writer will be in the RAJ conference room, where he will most likely discuss his recent book, The Crisis of Zionism, as well as his well-read Daily Beast blog, “Open Zion.”
• After a 7-0 win over Connecticut College in the NESCAC quarterfinals, the women’s field hockey team—undefeated still!—will host Amherst at 11 a.m. Saturday. If victorious once again, they’ll take on the winner of the Tufts v. Bowdoin match for the championship game at noon on Sunday.

In noting what tremendous opportunities this new facility will provide, President Liebowitz underlined the importance of both the sciences and experiential learning, while others, including Lake Champlain Maritime Museum director Art Cohn and CEO of Terry Precision Cycling Liz Robert ’78, offered enthusiastic remarks on the benefits for the local community. And former student Debbie Hutchinson Gove ’74 shared memories and reminiscences from other classmates who couldn’t be there. Middmag was on hand to capture it all.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Wrapping up their weeklong orientation to life at Middlebury, the class of 2016 filed into Mead Chapel on Sunday night to partake in the college tradition of Convocation. President Liebowitz encouraged the captive crowd to delve “deeply and broadly” into the academic curriculum over the next four years.
• One returning student spent his summer traveling on trains, from Yazoo, Mississippi, to Trinidad, Colorado, to Fort Madison, Iowa. The intrepid Ryan Kim ’14 shared his rail tales with Middmag.com, where you can read the series of installments chronicling his journey through small towns across America.

• Isabel Wilkerson, a stunning writer as well as the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize, will be on campus Thursday, Sept. 13. The author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration will host a “Career Conversation” at 4:30 p.m. in Carr Hall Lounge and then give a lecture at 7:30 p.m. in McCullough Social Space.
• Catch the music at 51 Main on Friday from 9-11 p.m. when New York jazz musician Diallo House takes the stage.
• Or take in a movie right here on campus at Dana Auditorium, with thanks to the Hirschfield International Film Series. Screening on Friday, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., is Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and the Oscar-nabbing and ever-debonair Christopher Plummer.
• Looking ahead: next Wednesday, Sept. 19, kicks off the fall symposium “myAMERICA?” that will take on the many issues surrounding immigration today. The schedule includes readings, lecture, workshops, and an art exhibit.

To wrap up the program, students presented a summation of their experiences to faculty, staff, and mentors. MiddMag’s Brendan Mahoney ‘11 was there to capture their presentations.

She and her husband were in a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, celebrating her recent Pulitzer Prize for her 2006 volume of poems, Native Guard. A maintenance worker had come to their room to tinker with a nonworking air conditioner and noticed the champagne. After Trethewey explained and he asked to look at a copy of her book, he put down his tools, clasped his hands in front of him and recited from memory the short but powerful poem “Incident” by Countee Cullen.

“He transformed into what looked like the little kid he must have been when he first learned and recited that poem,” said Trethewey. “People really do have poems they have memorized or kept with them that they can turn to for some reason in their lives.”

Trethewey was recently named the 19th United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, but before she takes on that momentous role this fall she’s fulfilling her duties as a returning faculty member at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury’s mountain campus in Ripton.

There, in the Blue Parlor reading room of the Bread Loaf Inn, Trethewey ruminated on what her legacy might be as the national ambassador for reading and writing poetry. She recalled Robert Pinsky’s “Favorite Poem Project,” founded by that poet laureate in 1997 and still flourishing today, and hoped she would leave behind something similarly memorable and lasting.

Trethewey, who is also the Mississippi state laureate, wants to talk with other state laureates and hear their thoughts and needs, in the hope that she can develop a national project that engages the state levels as well.

“Somehow the right thing to do will be revealed to me through my conversations with other people, and I’ll be able to tap into what I can best bring to the program.”

When not in Washington, Trethewey will continue in her position as Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University in Atlanta, where she is also director of the creative writing program. Though she’s not teaching her favorite freshman seminar this year, called “Poetry and the Historical Imagination,” she will be visiting the classes of several colleagues who are teaching her books.

When she talks about her new office in the Library of Congress, where she’ll be spending a good deal of time, Trethewey has fond memories of the place. “I already feel like that space is a poetic space for me. When I was working on Native Guard I did a lot of writing and research in the Library—I would go over to the Madison building, which houses all of the manuscripts, and read through the letters from Civil War soldiers in the collections there. And then I would go back over to the Jefferson, which is where the big beautiful reading room is, and I would sit there with my notes and start writing poems.”

Trethewey’s poems are very much rooted in the history of human struggle, both personal and communal. While Native Guard latticed the history of the South through the lives of plantation slaves, the gentlemen who owned them, and the black soldiers who fought for freedom during the Civil War, her most recent collection, Thrall, takes on questions of heritage, culture, and difference through works of art, history, and family relationships.

“I’m an elegiac poet,” she said. “And while I’m someone who’s certainly interested in investigating the self, it’s always through the lens of history. I want to make sense of my place in the world, my place in history.”

Trethewey herself is the child of a biracial marriage in Mississippi in the 1960s—illegal at the time—that subjected her and her parents to plenty of social scrutiny. And when Trethewey was still in college, her mother was murdered by an abusive second ex-husband. There is much for her to ponder and question, about herself as well as her society.

“For many reasons, our family history is also a national history, and I think because of that, it’s almost like I was born to think of myself always as an historical being or caught up in the movements of history,” she added.

This is Trethewey’s fourth summer at the Writers’ Conference. She has also had numerous poems published in the Middlebury College-sponsored New England Review. She first came to Bread Loaf in 2001 as a Fellow, having just published her first book, and was assigned to Ellen Bryant Voigt’s workshop.

“Just listening to her talk about poetry was eye opening. You think you know something about writing your own poems, but I learned so much in Ellen’s workshop. One morning we met up in the Barn and she gave me an impromptu one-on-one conference about form and meter—in about 30 minutes she gave me a private lecture that seemed like everything I needed to know!”

In 2007 she returned as faculty, right after receiving the Pulitzer for Native Guard, and then again in 2010.

“I’ve saved all my notes and poems from my Writers’ Conference workshops over the years and it’s nice to go back and read them. They continue to tell me something each time I open them and look at them again.”

This summer, Middmag welcomes Bread Loaf student Diana Ling as a guest reporter for our “Notes from the Mountain” series of stories about the Bread Loaf School of English. Thanks to Diana, we’ll get a closer look into the daily happenings up on the mountain.

In this second installment, she explores the issues on campus for students of color.

Check back next week for more!

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When the Bread Loaf seniors gathered for our first class meeting, I took a moment to look at all 57 of us. In such a large group—the largest graduating class in more than 20 years—I could find only two identifiable students of color, and I was one of them.

These demographics reflect a larger lack of ethnic and racial diversity that a small—but determined—group has been working to address here in Vermont and on our other campuses as well. Last summer, with the support of Director Emily Bartels, Associate Director Django Paris and his wife, Rae, along with student leader Calista Kelly, formed Bread Loaf Students of Color (BLSOC).

The organization’s goals are to “create an official space for students of color to support each other, and to offer guidance to Bread Loaf on issues of equity and diversity,” says Paris. His motivation to form the group came from discussions with students during the summers of 2010 and 2011, including Kelly, who also recognized a growing need on campus.

Another student he spoke with was Jineyda Tapia. “I had a rough time in Vermont two years ago and swore I’d never come back,” she says. Tapia is a third-year student of Dominican descent and native of Lawrence, Mass., where the majority of the population identifies as Latino or Hispanic. She heard about BLSOC through Paris and Bartels, who convinced her to “give Vermont a second chance.”

Senior Stanley Lau, who is Chinese-American, empathizes. “Without support, it can be very lonely here [as a student of color]. This is not just a Bread Loaf issue, but a Middlebury, and Vermont issue, too.” Ninety-five percent of the state’s population is white, making Vermont the whitest state in the country, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

It can be uncomfortable, even painful, to bring up issues of race in this context. Tapia recalls how, in one class her first summer, “Toni Morrison, the only woman of color on the reading list, was also the only writer whose legitimacy was questioned by several of [her] classmates.” Some members of BLSOC say they’ve felt alienated and invisible in classes where they are the only student of color. “There is this idea of what ‘standard’ means,” Tapia says, “and people don’t like to acknowledge race as a factor.”

Last summer, the BLSOC members articulated ideas for a mentoring group, speakers’ series, and curricular changes. This summer they have focused on realizing those visions.

From left to right: Stanley Lau, Jineyda Tapia, and Rae and Django Paris

The mentoring groups, which meet informally once a week, are designed to support first-year students of color. Those more familiar with life on the mountain give advice on everything from how to deal with coursework, to where, if possible, to find foods from home. “It’s one thing to bring students of color here,” says Lau. “It’s another to bring them here and offer support.”

On Tuesday nights, the BLSOC meet to discuss their experiences as a whole group. Bread Loaf faculty of color serve as occasional guest speakers. On July 3, professors David Kirkland and Damian Baca spoke of their identity struggles as English students, teachers, and academics—fields that were, and still are, overwhelmingly white. Lau appreciates this guidance as he researches Ph.D. programs in English. “To be able to find mentors [of color] is really important,” he says.

BLSOC has also made efforts to reach out to the entire campus. On July 14, the group sponsored a graffiti-themed barn dance. Attendees scribbled colorful tags on each other’s white tees with fluorescent marker as they shimmied to a mix of salsa, merengue, bhangra, and pop.

After the barn dance, Tapia says, “People started coming up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed the music.” She says they began opening up to her about their own experiences with race, too.

“Bread Loaf has really helped me feel more confident not only as a student and teacher of English, but as an Asian American,” adds Lau. “This place has helped me come to terms with who I am, and [BLSOC] helps reaffirm that.”

Django and Rae Paris feel the ground shifting, too. “Our work with BLSOC has bolstered our belief that Bread Loaf will continue to lead in making graduate studies in English about the deep literary study of all of our pasts, presents, and futures.”

This summer, Middmag welcomes Bread Loaf student Diana Ling as a guest reporter for our “Notes from the Mountain” series of stories about the Bread Loaf School of English. Thanks to Diana, we’ll get a closer look into the daily happenings up on the mountain.

In this first installment, she interviews fellow student Noam Osband, who has appeared on both “Jeopardy!” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

Stay tuned for more!

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Noam Osband is easy to spot among the polo shirts and Patagonia jackets popular with Bread Loafers: he’s the guy who pairs sarongs with neon-green Crocs—and dons a cowboy hat, snakeskin boots, and a rooster-shaped belt buckle for the annual square dance.

Less visible, but no less legendary, is his distinction as Bread Loaf’s only two-time game show contestant.

His stints on “Jeopardy!” in 2009, and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” in October 2011, are easy fodder for conversation in Bread Loaf’s dining hall, where he waits on faculty and fellow students.

I sat down with Osband to talk about his wins, losses, and what he wore.

How much did you win on each show? Did it feel different to win on “Jeopardy!” compared to “Millionaire”? How did you use your winnings?

I won $27,759 on “Jeopardy!” and $250,000 on “Millionaire,” but being on “Jeopardy!” felt much more surreal. I’ve watched “Jeopardy!” since I was seven or eight, and my grandfather always asked me “Final Jeopardy” questions when we talked on the phone, and still does. My grandmother would make trivia booklets for me out of clippings from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

I did splurge on a fancy meal, a ukulele, and a sunrise boat tour on Boston Harbor. I also bought a GE bond after a talk with my grandfather, who often tells me, “Jesus saves; Moses invests.”

Part of my earnings went towards filmmaking equipment, which I needed for my work as an Anthropology Ph.D. student at UPenn. I’m currently finishing “¿Dónde está México?” It’s a feature-length documentary about an Irish Catholic church in Philly that was in danger of closing, but has been revitalized by Mexican immigrants.

In September, I’ll start work on my dissertation, which will be a film about Mexican guest workers who do reforestation work in the U.S.

How did being on the shows help you see Bread Loaf through a new lens?

I got into street performance because of Bread Loaf, and street performance helped get me on these shows. When I sang a song about Bread Loaf professor Isobel Armstrong at the coffeehouse, people seemed to love it. I began street performing after that, and I think I made it through the auditions for both shows because I’d become comfortable with entertaining a crowd.

During the second day of taping “Millionaire,” I was told by a head producer to “cut it out” or get kicked off the show when I quoted “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot as part of my response to the final question in the first round. Right after that, I remember thinking, “I can’t wait to get back to Bread Loaf to tell this story.”

Being on the shows made me appreciate the Bread Loaf community more. I always tell people, “This is the only place you can read a poem to a bunch of dudes drinking beer, and instead of calling you names, they’ll listen to you.”

What happened when you wore your cowboy hat to “Millionaire”?

After spending time in Mexico, I got into wearing cowboy hats, and I wear cowboy outfits to weddings. My childhood best friend, Toby, went to the first day of taping and brought a cowboy hat with him because I’d forgotten mine. When I brought my dad’s cowboy hat to the second day of taping, they wouldn’t let me wear it; I had to “tone it down,” they said. I did wear my rooster belt buckle, though.

Here are the annual “Top Ten” suggestions from Michael Geisler, vice president for the Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and graduate programs. Be sure to check the campus calendar as well.

School of Hebrew
Sunday, July 1, 7:30 p.m.
Gitit Shoval and Ron Druyan concert
Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall

Gitit Shoval, one of Israel’s singing treasures,  was discovered at the pre-Eurovision contest of 1979 when she was just 13 years old. Since then she has performed around the world, both solo  and with various musical ensembles. She has six solo albums and four holiday and children’s albums to her credit. Her seventh solo album complements her current show, “From Gershwin to Dylan: The Genius of Jewish Songwriters.”

Spanish School
Friday, July 20, 9:30 p.m.
Sarazino and Sergent Garcia
McCullough Social Space

Sarazino is the brainchild of Lamine Fellah, a musician, songwriter and producer whose nomadic life is reflected in the multicultural influences in his songs. Fellah is a child of a globalized world and Sarazino’s music draws on reggae, Latin and African grooves, Arabic music and catchy, international pop to create an upbeat celebration of the diverse world we all share. Sergent Garcia burst onto the French music scene in the late 1990s with a searing blend of Jamaican reggae and dancehall with Latin grooves that he dubbed “salsamuffin.” A veteran of French punk and indie rock, Sergent Garcia has explored his Spanish roots and passion for Caribbean and Latin music to create a popular sound that earned him fans across the globe and sales of hundreds of thousands of albums.

Chinese School
Saturday, July 21, 7 p.m.
Music From China
Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall

Founded in 1984 by Director Susan Cheng and  under the artistic direction of erhu virtuoso Wang Guoweihe, the chamber ensemble performs a dual repertoire of traditional and contemporary Chinese music. What began as a mission to introduce audiences to the best of Chinese musical culture evolved into an affinity for the eclectic that embraces both traditional and new music.

French School
Saturday, July 21, 8 p.m.
Le Vent Du Nor
McCullough Social Space

Le Vent Du Nord is the top traditional music group from Québec performing melodies and stories exploring multiple cultural music traditions. Since its beginning in 2002, Le Vent du Nord has exploded onto the folk music scene. The group’s first recording, “Maudite moisson!,” was awarded a prize for traditional album of the year in 2004. Their second album, “Les amants du Saint-Laurent,” was  album of the year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Le Vent du Nord won the 2011 Juno for best Roots & Traditional Album, and was an official selection of the jury of WOMEX 2011, the biggest international music fair in the world.

Russian School
Wednesday, July 25, 7 p.m.
Leopold Erice Piano Concert
Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall

Leopoldo Erice is a Spanish pianist born in Madrid in 1977. He studied music in his home country with José Ramón Martínez Reyero, Beata Monstavicius, and Joaquín Soriano; in Holland with Rian de Waal; as a fellow of the prestigious “la Caixa” Foundation Fellowship Program in Spain; and in the United States with Leonard Hokanson and Emile Naoumoff. He is Assistant Professor of Music at the American University of Sharjah and the founder and director of the Festival Internacional de Música Clásica de Ribadeo.

Portuguese School
Saturday, July 28, 9 p.m.
Richard Miller, with guests Stacey Kent and Jim Tomlinson
Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall

Miller and his acoustic guitar bring us music in several rhythmic styles, including Xote and Bossa Nova. Accompanied by Vanderlei Pereira on percussion and Gigi McLaughlin on the accordion, Miller’s “Rhythms of Brazil” brings together a combination of styles whose origins span from southeastern to northern Brazil. Stacey Kent (vocals) and Jim Tomlinson (saxophone) will be joining Richard on stage.

Russian School
Friday, August 3, 8 p.m.
Zolotoj Plyos, a concert of Russian Music
Town Hall Theatre (Tickets are $15)

This prolific trio performs an astonishing variety of authentic Russian folk music, with instrumental accompaniment on over 20 authentic folk instruments. The three musicians—Alexander Solovov, Elena Sadina, and Sergeui Gratchev—met at the conservatory in Saratov.

German School
Friday, August 10, 8 p.m.
“The Marriage of Figaro”
Town Hall Theater (Language School students and staff free; limited number of $15 tickets available to the general public.)

Mozart’s opera, “The Marriage of Figaro,” will be performed by the German for Singers Program students. This innovative Language Schools program brings in classical singers from all over the country who want to master the German language—essential for anyone who wants to sing Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, or Wagner. This summer the program will stage Mozart’s classic comedy, under the direction of Bettina Matthias. Music Direction by Stefan Rütter.

German School
Sunday, August 12, 8 p.m.
“A Man Walks into a World” (Kommt ein Mann zur Welt)
Wright Memorial Theater

Martin Heckmanns’s “Kommt ein Mann zur Welt” has a core theme of identity. “Who am I?” is a question Heckmanns never finds himself able to answer, as it always tends to open an even deeper abyss instead of a congruent answer. Heckmanns manages to make this broad philosophical theme theatrically worthy by creating a linguistically witty play with action-oriented scenes. The main character Bruno Stamm is endowed with the common conviction that he is more special than the rest of mankind. During the course of the play, we witness him stumble into all the standard pitfalls of life that disappoint these convictions.

Italian School
Sunday, August 12, 9 p.m.
La Taranta
McCullough Social Space

La Taranta is a dance performance based on Tarantismo, a hysterical, convulsive dance manifestation attributed, according to popular belief, to the bite of the tarantula, a poisonous spider thriving in the area around Taranto (ancient Tarentum) from which it derives its name.

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