
Benjamin Ziomek
Number of articles: 27First article: September 18, 2009
Latest article: November 11, 2011
Popular
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The Foreign Exchange Shaping global leaders requires a renewed focus on languages
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The Foreign Exchange The J-Board and E-Board should be elected by the student body
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How “Lincolnians” can resolve the polarization of Washington
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The Foreign Exchange Distribution requirement system needs rethinking
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G20 nations beware: Modern internationalism is perilous
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The Foreign Exchange: ‘Occupy’ needs direction to succeed
Although the posters appeared more than a week ago, Occupy Bowdoin is still an enigma. If the movement continues loosely in the spirit of the large-scale protests, it could do good on campus by asking hard questions that we could all benefit from considering. But as a previous Orient editorial spelled out, it cannot lose sight of its situation or get caught up in classic Bowdoin foibles.
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The Foreign Exchange: We need the dismal science’s guidance
While some people think that Bowdoin is a rather left-leaning institution, compared to many schools the community here is actually extremely accepting of varied points of view.
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The Foreign Exchange: Shaping global leaders requires a renewed focus on languages
Bowdoin likes to trumpet that an education here prepares students to be "leaders in all walks of life." These days, with news of the global economy in every headline, the school likes to talk about how, armed with a Bowdoin education, we are well-prepared to face the modern world.
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The Foreign Exchange: India and globalization: modernity and tradition meet at crossroads
If you read the news media today, you're bombarded with stories proclaiming loudly that the dominance of the West is over, and that China and India already dominate the world economy. The papers trumpet the glittering office parks and high rises that house the corporate giants ready to steal American jobs. Well, last summer I worked in one of those glittering office parks. Within the walls of one of India's largest firms, the situation is just as the papers love to describe it.
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The Foreign Exchange: Bowdoin’s mission to guarantee student happiness
In the days leading up to Ivies, some of my less party-oriented friends have started to grumble about the perceived waste of resources that is Ivies. The complaints usually go something like: "Why should we be paying for these bands to come, and why should Bowdoin allow students to use their land and money so they can blackout all weekend?"
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The Foreign Exchange: Campus involvement requires balance and commitment
A sociology class recently ran into issues when sending out a survey: many students interpreted the phrase "Engagement at Bowdoin" as referring to marriage, when it was in fact a questionnaire about students' depth of commitment to Bowdoin and campus activities. It is unfortunate that so many of us quickly hit the delete button because the data from the survey would have perhaps provided some insight into the current malaise on campus.
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The Foreign Exchange: Student unity needed to end bias
The hate speech and its results, events that rocked the Bowdoin campus in the weeks before Spring Break, have definitely left a scar. I am hopeful that tempers have cooled in the intervening weeks, but we should not let the events be forgotten. Bowdoin is not a place of hate and intolerance, but there are definitely ways in which we as a student body can improve. The events should encourage us to work harder to understand each other, regardless of our backgrounds.
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The Foreign Exchange: The J-Board and E-Board should be elected by the student body
Quick, rush to the polls! Each time there is an election for anything, we are inundated with announcements. Last week, the Entertainment Board had an election. Fantastic, I thought when I first got the e-mails; finally I can really have some input into what musical acts visit the school. Yes, yes, we are given input in the autumn. Being allowed to pick which of seemingly dozens of obscure and almost unknown bands we have a dim recollection of hearing were good from a friend of a friend is nice, but getting to elect the people who make the real decisions is even better.
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The Foreign Exchange: Rising food prices are to blame for recent Middle East uprisings
From our perspective, encamped in Maine under several feet of snow, the events occurring in the Middle East are a curiosity. The uprisings across the Arab world appear in many ways to be virtuous: classic cases of unhappy citizens rising up against unpopular and repressive governments. There are many trends that the protesters can rightly blame on their rulers: unemployment, lack of freedom, police brutality, corruption and demographics.
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The Foreign Exchange: Students should study what makes them happy
Near the end of Winter Break, I spoke with an ex-real estate agent about why she left her profession. She replied that her decision had been rather simple: selling houses was just too easy.
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The Foreign Exchange: Connecting with your campus paper
I have been perusing the first issues of the Orient, which are now available for free online. Archaic and, in my opinion, quite delightful language aside, the papers are surprisingly modern. One of the first editorials—published in the 1870s—argues in a rather humorous tone for the admission of women to the College. There is also a constant back and forth about which classes are most valuable for undergraduates to take. Even then, ancient languages were considered by much of the student body to be of questionable value, and there was also discontent about the hard sciences. Then—and not unlike today—many seemed to consider them a needless bother. Of course, griping about grades and the difficulty of the courses at Bowdoin has a fine and illustrious history as well.
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The Foreign Exchange: Distribution requirement system needs rethinking
Bowdoin wants to make sure that all of its graduates are well-rounded individuals who possess knowledge gained from courses across the spectrum of academia. The system of distribution requirements was born from this desire. It has changed over the years, but the basic idea is the same: to ensure that all Bowdoin students have a broad experience in the liberal arts. However, as currently conceived, the system of distribution requirements is failing to achieve this goal.
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The Foreign Exchange: Internet Age makes escaping your past that much harder
Throughout society, transparency abounds. That Facebook post you made about wanting to do terrible things to Paul LePage can be seen by hundreds of your nearest and dearest friends—not to mention hundreds, even thousands, of others if your privacy settings are too loose. And seeing as nothing on Google or Facebook is—as far as we know—really ever deleted, that crude snippet of text could be there for years to come.
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The Foreign Exchange: Town politics should learn from student governments
Recalling the political fervor surrounding the gay-marriage issue last autumn, and with no desire to wait in a long line again this year, I requested that a Brunswick absentee ballot be sent to my Smith Union box early this year. Because I did not grow up in Maine, some would argue that it's undemocratic for me to send in my ballot to the town clerk. Perhaps they have a point, since it's true that I won't be paying taxes in Maine in the foreseeable future. Yet at the end of the day, the basic reason we have a republic—and that is what we have, democratic pretensions aside—is to the let the people decide who makes decisions on their behalf. However we define "the people," it is still the decision of whom to elect that matters.
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The Foreign Exchange: United States harmed by death of the ‘job well done’
Friends, take a moment to look around you. Scrutinize your surroundings: the buildings, the objects, and most importantly, the people. In almost every case, you will see evidence of a scourge that, like some Gothic horror, is gradually spreading its unsightly tendrils across America, turning the landscape bleak and gray.
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How “Lincolnians” can resolve the polarization of Washington
So, there's fighting in Washington. All but the most rabid voters aren't happy with either party, and no one is expecting real change in the next Congress, save for those who have grown so confused that they think "change" and "obstruction" are one and the same. What can we to hope for, besides more gridlock?
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The Foreign Exchange: Replace pro bands with student ones
It's old news that the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC) is hurting for money: The WBOR concert has been canceled for somewhat dubious reasons and clubs on the whole are having their budgets slashed. Clubs are responding by inflating requests for funding, creating a vicious cycle that will only result in the poor allocation of money. And yet, the Entertainment Board (E-Board) is still bringing three acts to Ivies. Granted, it's too late for any of this to be changed, but clubs have been hurting for funds since before the beginning of the year. Considering the huge wellspring of musical talent at Bowdoin, it seems ridiculous that we should use so much money to bring in three artists when we could make use of local talent, thus saving money and building interest in local bands.
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The Foreign Exchange: The U.S. education system works, mostly
Now that Delaware and Tennessee have been awarded the first grants from the federal Race to the Top Fund, education reform, and the corresponding assumption that American schools are abysmal, is back in the news.
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The Foreign Exchange: The phantom of American stupidity
During Spring Break I stopped in a café for a drink, and, being one of the only customers in the establishment, I struck up a conversation with the barista. We wandered through topics, eventually arriving at that perennial favorite: politics. The barista shook his head, and proceeded to lament to me that so many Americans lack the intelligence to understand anything about politics, and that American politics will remain obtuse unless the population magically gets smart enough to actually understand the world.
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The Foreign Exchange: Our love affair with Tiger Woods
Just before 11 a.m. on Friday, February 19, the volume of equities traded on the New York Stock Exchange fell slightly. Fifteen minutes later, the backlog appeared in a burst, and for a short time the frequency of trading was more than double the day's average. Surely, an event which held Wall Street enraptured must have been critical to firms' profits. Given the events of recent weeks, it's not surprising that something suitably momentous could have come to light. Perhaps Greece finally acted upon its debt, or the Fed made an announcement which could determine a firm's future profitability. But no, the only event which occurred during that 15-minute period was rather less important to, well, everything: Tiger Woods's press conference.
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The Foreign Exchange: Critics of the drinking age must listen, then deliberate
In recent weeks this newspaper has run stories with titles like "Alcohol Use a Concern," and the growing atmosphere of worry has caused some people to fall back upon the argument that lowering the drinking age would help remove the motivation to binge drink, and thus save lives. Or at least trips to Parkview Adventist Medical Center. But espousing such a view without considering the consequences on a scale larger than Bowdoin is foolish.
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Democrats have shown a keen ability for electoral incompetence
So, Obama has lost his Senate super majority. I can't say I'm surprised. Yet, while many in the media are attributing the loss of the Massachusetts seat to popular disdain for, as the victorious Republican candidate Scott Brown puts it, "The Democratic Machine," I think that is only part of the reason for the outcome. Some voters undoubtedly voted to protest the Democrats' leftward leanings, but if the Party has become a machine, it is more akin to a rusty, sputtering pickup than some well-greased vehicle of war.
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Consuming less meat helps further sustainability goals
So, this is the week of Copenhagen, or, as it has been temporarily renamed, Hopenhagen. In light of the occasion, questions about sustainability have been flying around, both on campus and in the national media. What is it? How do we achieve it? How much will it cost? Why should I care? Whose side should I believe? What does it taste like?
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Renewable energy credits are only going to get U.S. so far
With the recent release of the Bowdoin Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality, sustainability is again a buzzword on campus—or at least on posters and in the Student Digest. The College's plan is effective, but the methods it uses highlight a problem with many current modes of environmental thought: it is impossible for every institution and household in the U.S. to reach carbon neutrality using the same methods that Bowdoin plans to use.
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College Democrats are little more than a propoganda machine
Over the past few weeks it has been hard to ignore the fliers and posters which have saturated the walls of many campus structures. "No on 1" or "VOTE" say the signs' headers in vaguely hostile capital letters. These simple reminders to participate in the political process are all well and good, as Question 1 centers around one of the most polarizing issues in politics today.
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G20 nations beware: Modern internationalism is perilous
The G20 has come and gone, and like its host city, Pittsburgh, such international summits are exemplars of a very 20th-century idea given new life. Since the founding of the G8 (forerunner to the G20) 30 years ago, the underlying political and economic structure of the world has shifted.
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Socialism is in the eye of the beholder
Recently, Der Spiegel, one of the world's most-read magazines, bore on its cover the message "The Red Light of Morning: How Left are We Headed?" Yet when one flips open its pages, there is nary a mention of Obamacare, town hall meetings, or even the Obama administration itself. Instead, inscribed in dense, heavily-umlauted text, lies an account of how the Left Party, a remnant of the old East German communist party, has been taking elections in Europe's economic heart by storm. At first glance, both these resurgences of welfare liberalism appear to be identical symptoms of the omnipresent global depression. When one digs down and examines the true shifts in power, however, it becomes apparent how shallow and confused the uproar over creeping socialism is, at least in the United States.