A letter from Gregg Abella '92

Letter to the editor: Praise for Miscellanea

I’d like to pass on some praise for a wonderful group of young women at Bowdoin.
A few weeks ago, my wife gave birth to our second child. She has gone through some severe postpartum depression. Knowing she liked a cappella, I reached out to Bowdoin College Miscellania and asked if they would be willing to stop in and sing some Christmas Carols to brighten her spirits and provide some entertainment for our two-year old daughter. The group obliged with no expectation of financial gain, publicity or other benefit. I had no prior connection to the group or Bowdoin College (in fact, they came despite both of us being Colby grads).
The small gesture renewed a bit of my faith in the kindness of people amidst a time in the world where turmoil and negativity seems to overwhelm our thoughts.
I just thought you would like to know.
Best wishes,Andrew Jenkins, Colby College '06

Letter to the editor: Chakkalakal on Stowe House

At a moment when colleges and universities across the country, including Bowdoin, are actively stripping away their historical and economic ties to slavery, I want to call our community’s attention to another, perhaps less-talked about but no less significant, tie to our past. Last month, the Network to Freedom, a branch of the National Park Service devoted to preserving and disseminating information about the Underground Railroad, the symbolic name given to the vast route slaves developed to secure their freedom, designated The Stowe House an official stop on the Underground Railroad. The Stowe House, named after Harriet Beecher Stowe who resided at 63 Federal Street from 1850-52, was where she wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” A less known fact about the house is that Stowe harbored fugitive slave John Andrew Jackson in the “waste room” of the house so that he could continue his journey for freedom that began when he fled his home on a plantation in South Carolina.
While the House was designated a national landmark in 1962, to commemorate the novel that supposedly helped to start the Civil War, it took another half century for the nation—and the College—to recognize the house as a site for freedom. With the official recognition from the National Park Service we now have cause to celebrate our history. I urge you to visit the House that will soon be open to all members of the College—and the nation. Tess ChakkalakalAssociate Professor, Africana Studies and English

Letter to the editor

March 9, 2016

I was hoping with a change in administration that some of Bowdoin's PC rhetoric would be tempered with at least a modicum of reality. No such luck.

As an alum with immediate family members of Mexican descent, I was annoyed by the news regarding a “tequila" party held on campus. I was not upset by the alleged events, but by the politically-correct environment that has spun out of control at Bowdoin.

Coddling each student’s particular sensitivities leaves him/her woefully unprepared for the outside world (and the reality of others' first amendment rights). It also (erroneously) gives the impression that one can expect to modify others' behavior by whining about it, and then retreating to a "safe space" free of "micro-aggressions."

Bowdoin students need to be taught tough life lessons. In the real world, people may do or say things that one dislikes. Simply being put off, though, doesn't necessarily provide a legal basis for one to demand certain behavior from others. No PC bubble exists in the real world—in the US, or even Mexico.

Gregg Abella '92

P.S. If sombreros and tequila offend you, don’t attend a soccer match at Estadio Azteca. Your head will explode.

Comments are permanently closed.