The Bowdoin Orient

Though most headed to class on the first day of the spring semester, a handful of Bowdoin students were in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday they headed to the National Mall for a different kind of first day: the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

As Obama begins his presidency, he has chosen two members of the Bowdoin community to take on leadership roles in his administration. George Mitchell '54 has been named the special envoy for Middle East peace, and although she has not been officially confirmed yet, Karen Gordon Mills has been appointed as the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA).

In a letter to the Bowdoin community on Thursday, President Barry Mills recommended an increase in the number of enrolled students at the College, a salary freeze for most employees, and a myriad of other steps in order to confront expected budgetary shortfalls.

While the number of Bowdoin applicants requesting financial aid this year remained fairly constant, more enrolled students than usual have asked to review their aid packages for the spring semester.

This week, the Orient asked members of the Bowdoin community the question: What are your hopes for the Obama administration?

Christmas came a day early for Elizabeth Richeda '09 and Cameron Weller '11 this year. On December 24, Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols called each student to let her know that Security and the Brunswick Police Department (BPD) had recovered their laptops, which a Brunswick resident had stolen from Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L) a week earlier.

Two radiators in Brunswick Apartments burst over Winter Break, causing damage in each location. In both cases, cold air was able to get into the apartment, freezing a radiator and causing a minor explosion.

President Mills' family is undoubtedly in the midst of both difficult and exciting times. Will Mills' emergency operation for a brain tumor came shortly after Karen Gordon Mills' appointment as the head of the Small Business Administration. As the Mills embark on this challenging journey, we at Bowdoin will keep them all in our thoughts.

Although business went on as usual at Bowdoin on Monday, a certain awareness of the importance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work in civil rights pervaded campus. This year, the national holiday served as an appropriate prelude for the inauguration of our first African-American president.

I recently received an e-mail from my junior friend, Kirsten, after her first week abroad in France. The subject line read simply: "Aaaaahhhhhhh." She liked her host family, she loved her program director, the students were great?but she wanted to cry.

As you may well know I spent last semester attempting to provide entertaining and objective political analysis to the students of Bowdoin College and it is my pleasure to inform you that I will continue my work as a columnist for the Orient. You can consider me the Fox News of Bowdoin.

We have entered one of the five terrible periods of the Bowdoin student experience: the return from Winter Break?the snowy relative of the other four breaks. With spirits high, ready for a fresh semester of studying and reacquainting themselves with self-purpose, rested students brighten the already white campus with toothy grins. But this eagerness, unbeknownst to those who wield it, has the potential to transform Moulton and Thorne into minefields for those who are less than enthused to be back.

Bowdoin provides incredible opportunities to its students regardless of their race, religion or economic stratum. With the recent decision to abolish loans and move completely to a grants program, the opportunities that Bowdoin College provides to those unable to handle its financial burdens have increased monumentally.

When Bobbie and Tona White donated money for the creation of Watson Arena, they asked that the arena be named after someone else: Bowdoin hockey legend and coach, Sidney "Sid" J. Watson.

This week, along with most Americans, I have politics on the brain. It's a big week for America, and the ushering in of a new president got me thinking about our previous ones. Barack Obama is joining an interesting collection of men by taking office. I didn't actually realize how interesting our presidents were, however, until I started doing a little research into presidential sex scandals. We all remember Bill Clinton's infamous fiasco, but he's just one in a long series of presidents who dealt with public concern and speculation regarding their sex lives. Sex scandals endure the test of time, reach across party lines and affect popular and unpopular presidents alike. I am simultaneously a bit disappointed and quite proud to say that sex scandals seem to be one of the most dependable and unchanging aspects of American politics.

This week, I present a list I've created. It begins with stripes and solids, flowers and dots, plain and plaid, then moves to penguins and polar bears, darts, dartboards, and dogs, and finally, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The patterns can be camouflaged or even glow-in-the-dark. Many patterns may be commonly seen on a wide variety of clothing, from button-downs to waffle tees. For some, the list can go on to include smiley faces and "witty" sayings like, "Hold It Up High," "Wanna Pet My Monkey?" and "I Am The King!" When the list moves on to these other, more imaginative elements, there can be no doubt as to what the list catalogues: men's underwear. More specifically, boxers.

Guy Saldanha is gathering remnants of a quickly-disappearing America through photography. His exhibit, "Gathering Remnants," on display at Frontier Café until February 21, provides a glimpse into the backbreaking world of America's industry in an era where bodily labor is quickly becoming replaced by machinery. His photographs tell the stories of "hard rock miners who unearth the metals for electronics; weavers who thread the looms for mass-market fabrics; and butchers who slaughter the livestock for fast food and supermarket chains," according to the preface he wrote for the exhibit.

Currently, passersby gazing into the windows of the Space Gallery in Portland see the work of two Bowdoin artists: Adjunct Lecturer of Art Randy Reiger and Visual Arts Technician Kyle Downs. While the two installations share a venue, they differ in content and medium.

The opening of "Rodin: The Knowledge of a Thousand Gestures" next Tuesday is a significant event for the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. "This exhibit is an important one?one of the most important the museum has done," said Clif Olds, interim director of the museum. "We are very glad to have the exhibition. We don't always get the chance to exhibit works of artists from earlier centuries."

For much of American history, the invocation of God remained an essential block of the country's foundation despite the separation of church and state. Marilynne Robinson recognized this thread and brought to life familial and religious relations in her Pulitzer-winning "Gilead." The simple, beautiful story of an aging preacher in middle America was complete. Robinson, however, now returns with a sequel, "Home."

Two-thirds of the way through its season, the women's basketball team should be proud of its record, but has no time to rest on its laurels. The Polar Bears stand at 13-3 on the season and have won an astounding 10 of their last 11 games. They have played superb defense throughout that stretch, holding opponents to under 50 points per game, and have gotten key contributions from all over their roster. However, they are about to enter the most important part of the season.

The men's track and field team began 2009 on a high note with a victory in a home meet on Saturday. With 81.5 points, Bowdoin defeated the University of Southern Maine, the defending state meet champion, and Brandeis, a team with a fast distance lineup, in impressive fashion. The Bears scored a total of 81.5 points, over the Huskies, who scored 63.5, and the Owls, who scored 36.

As captain Kelsey Borner '09 won the first event of the day, the weight throw, at the women's indoor track meet against Brandeis University last` Saturday, the Polar Bears knew they were in for a day of outstanding performances. The women weren't disappointed, as Borner's win preceded a series of victories by Bowdoin, who defeated Brandeis 76-64.

Though they hardly had a long Winter Break like their classmates, the swim teams certainly had an eventful few weeks. Returning on December 29 to commence the second phase of its competitive season, Bowdoin swimmers from across the country converged in Brunswick armed with determination.

The Bowdoin College Polar Bears entered last Saturday's game in Waterville against the Colby Mules carrying a 10-3 record on the season, including a victory against the Mules, 67-60, in the season opener. However, on Saturday, in their NESCAC season opener, the Bears fell short, losing 65-55.

After leading the Bowdoin Field Hockey Team to its second straight National Title, coach Nicky Pearson was named the Division III National Coach of the Year. Coach Pearson is the eighth Bowdoin coach of any sport to be honored with the award, the third Bowdoin coach to win it twice, and the first to win it in consecutive years (2007 and 2008).

Say what you want about sports, but they'll come through for you when you need them the most. You can say it's just a game and you can shake your head at the die-hards in the facepaint and the full costume and without a shirt. You can disapprove of the billion-dollar stadiums and the tax-breaks and the miserly owners. You can even hate fantasy drafts, playoff beards and rally-caps. You just don't get it.