The Bowdoin Orient

The success of individual women is not license to unfurl the “Mission Accomplished” banner.

“True Prep” by Lisa Birnbach was a souvenir from my internship in the book review section of a Boston newspaper two years ago. I breezed through the candy-striped sequel to “The Official Preppy Handbook” (TOPH) on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail to and from work. Here’s a glance between the covers:

On September 12, as I watched live videos of the President speaking in the White House Rose Garden about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, I was struck by a moment that you won’t find in the transcript. This image didn’t make the White House YouTube channel’s cut of the speech, and it didn’t come up in debate.

In 2000, when Rep. Rick Lazio left his debate podium to wag a finger at Hillary Clinton, the former first lady managed to look bemused. Lazio laid a copy of The New York Freedom from Soft Money Pact—a document that would effectively ban largely unregulated campaign donations—on her podium. He then proceeded to jab at it while commanding her to “sign it.” Later, as viewers expressed distaste for the Congressman’s debate tactics, both campaigns would claim that sexism had occurred—but against whom?

I’m okay with the fact that I can’t have a beer with Mitt Romney. At this point in the election cycle, I’d suffer through a glass of tomato juice if it meant the conversation would turn to how he plans to help me, a 21-year-old middle-class woman who will be soon be paying off student loans.

On Saturday morning, I decided to go for a short run before meeting a friend for brunch. I started off crossing Park Row towards Maine Street. Before I knew it, I was being stopped at the crosswalk at the end of Page Street.

Over winter break I met my friend Emily for lunch in Boston. To passersby we probably looked like old friends—effortlessly conversing about our families, friends and campus life.

This year's December Dance Concert is particularly notable as it marks the stage debut of Bowdoin's repertory ballet program. Charlotte Griffin, assistant professor of theater and dance, was brought to Bowdoin in 2010 to expand the dance department's offerings.

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" has all of the trappings of a great musical: audience participation, improvisation, and wry jabs at the English language. In their second-ever production, Curtain Callers take on the Tony-winning musical tonight and tomorrow.

For six student filmmakers, fulfilling the criteria for the 48-Hour Film Festival required inspiration, improvisation and maybe even a little lens solution.

Academics have set out to prove that horror movies are worth more than a cheap rental for a middle school slumber party. In an uncertain moment in history, the genre may provide valuable insight into our culture, our values, and above all, our fears.

The BCMA, having sustained the foot traffic from scores of Hopperphiles this fall, is trading coastlines for skylines in a tribute to another Maine artist. BCMA's newest exhibit, "After Atget: Todd Webb Photographs New York and Paris" opens today, featuring the photographs of Todd Webb (1905-2000) and his predecessor French photographer Eugène Atget (1857-1927).

Last night, a full audience in Wish Theater was presented again, again and again by the stark themes of loopdriver.

Reading the proverbial "writing on the wall" is a useful skill and Jeannine Uzzi has made an academic career of uncovering social conditions in visual Roman reliefs.

Amid the bustle of a West Coast metropolis, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) curator J. Patrice Marandel uses his expertise to present "Old Masters" in new ways. Introduced last night as one of "the most important curators in America," Marandel provided the Bowdoin community insight into his work purchasing and exhibiting European art and sculpture.

For certain artists, "something old, something new," is not just a mantra. Luc¡a Pulido, who will perform at Bowdoin with her trio tomorrow, is one such artist. Pulido, a vocalist and player of the cuatro and small percussion instruments, works with what Assistant Professor of Music Michael Birenbaum Quintero terms "folkloric" music. Pulido will bring to Bowdoin her expertise on "the process of making [modern] musical arrangements of traditional material," according to Quintero.

In an age eve before VHS, people flocked in droves to hear Donald MacMillan speak about his experiences in the Arctic. "The Far North," a reconstructed film with restored footage from MacMillan's voyage to Greenland, will now bring MacMillan's story to a whole new audience. The film's audio track is a recovered transcript of a lecture MacMillan delivered at Boothbay Opera House in 1959, according to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.

Students searching for holiday gifts need look no further than Smith Union. The 14th annual Sunsplash Craft Fair today will be the biggest yet from from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Applying to live and work as an artist-in-residence on Kent Island is an unusual process. Alongside typical questions regarding major and GPA, the application asks, "Have you spent time living in 'rustic conditions' (e.g., no running water, electricity, cell phone coverage, flush toilets, TV, or internet access)?" and "What is your favorite meal to cook?"

The students of Professor of Art Mark Wethli's Senior Seminar left Maine and got an invaluable glimpse into the world of professional visual artists last weekend. The trip took the class comprised of the senior visual arts majors to the epi center of the art scene in America: New York City.

With his one-man multimedia spectacle "Wow and Flutter," performer Andrew Schneider is slated to transform Wish Theater tomorrow night.

Historically, the drive to explore has opposed to the desire to conserve land. After all, it takes a very conscientious explorer not to alter a landscape while passing through. Senior Evan Farley's current exhibit—located in the Fishbowl Gallery of the Visual Arts Center—not only reconciles the ideas of exploration and conservation, but beautifies the eventual union of these two ideas.

A bare arm, a tangle of legs, a shadowy silhouette: all will be on display tonight at the fourth annual Naked Art Show.

Brunswick's Eleven Pleasant Street Gallery will exhibit Frank Valliere's show, "Classic Ruin: A Retrospective of Frank Valliere" from May 1 to 31.

Students will have the opportunity to hear original fiction this Monday as English Department Prize victors read their winning compositions aloud.

The Bowdoin Middle Eastern Ensemble will be performing at 8 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall on Monday April 26.

While stages on Bowdoin's campus are consistently filled with impressive productions, there are certainly times that students crave some off-campus theater. For those of you who find yourself in this situation, Portland Stage Company in down-town Portland should definitely be on your radar.

While the weather outside may be dreary, Nina Sylvia's exhibit "Botanical Impressions" in Lancaster Lounge will bring some natural beauty back to the campus.

Pianist Chiharu Naruse travels to Bowdoin next Friday as part of the music department's Teatime Concert series.

The musical quartet In Flux will perform at 7:30 p.m. in Studzinski Hall on Friday February 26. The group consists of mezzo soprano Rachel Calloway, violinist Noah Geller, violist Eric Nowlin and cellist Jason Calloway. All four performers are graduates of the Juilliard School in New York City.

Guitarist Dan Lippel will perform this Wednesday, March 3 at 7:30p.m. in Studzinski Hall.

This weekend, the music department presents an opportunity for Bowdoin students to hear some off-campus sounds while staying right on-campus.

This Friday evening Studzinski Hall will fill with the sounds of piano, violin and cello. This piano trio is comprised of Eva Gruesser on the violin, Emmanuel Feldman on the cello and George Lopez on the piano. All three musicians have also found success individually.

Figure painting was the pinnacle of fine art until the late 19th century. Since then, figurative art has diminished in popularity and prestige, and, according to visiting lecturer Michael Amy, today it is downright marginalized.