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.
- Earlier this week the featured presentation on the TEDx website was a talk given by Shabana Basij-Rasikh ’11, a leading spokesperson for the education of women in her native Afghanistan. Shabana, who dressed as a boy for years to elude the Taliban and get to a secret school in Kabul, is now the managing director of a nonprofit that helps young Afghan women gain access to education worldwide.
- This year’s crop of Febs enjoyed a two-day celebration to mark the completion of their undergraduate careers. Our coverage includes videos of the talks given by President Ron Liebowitz, Professor Jay Parini, and Ben Orbison ’12.5; photos from activities on campus and at the Snow Bowl; and a thrilling “Feb Cam” video shot by a “ski-down” senior descending the mountain with her class.
- Middlebury students were in the news this week for taking a stance about the role they believe economic disadvantage should play in the college admissions process. The author of the article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Richard D. Kahlenberg, calls it a “once-taboo” topic that is emerging from the background. An attorney, Kahlenberg is also a Middlebury parent, the author of five books, and a senior fellow at the Century Foundation.
- Middlebury’s 90th Winter Carnival opens this Thursday, Feb. 14, and runs through Sunday, Feb. 17, with skiing (both intercollegiate and recreational), music, fireworks, an ice show, bonfire, comedian Adam Ferrara, and the gala carnival ball. Not just for students, many of the events are open to the college community including free hot chocolate at a number of venues.
- Abe Streep ’04, remembered by many at Midd as a musician in the bluegrass band Route 7 Ramblers, is now a senior editor at Outside Magazine. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 4:30 p.m. in 220 Bicentennial Hall Streep will give a Middlebury Meet The Press talk on “Building and Busting Legends: Reporting on Icons from Lance Armstrong to Greg Mortenson.”
- 51 Main at the Bridge—the College’s in-town social space—will welcome Megan Laslocky ’89 on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. for a talk titled “Love Gone Wrong…at Middlebury.” Described as a “sure-to-be-a-hit, student-friendly, anti-Valentine event,” Megan will talk about her just-published The Little Book of Heartbreak: Love Gone Wrong Through the Ages, which she discussed in the winter issue of Middlebury Magazine.
- Education Studies will host a four-part film series beginning with “The First Year,” a documentary about five public school teachers in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. in Dana Auditorium. The series will continue every other week into April; other titles in the series are “Precious Knowledge,” “Bag It,” and “Bully.”