The Bowdoin Orient

With five probable cases of swine flu in Maine, Bowdoin has revisited and updated its emergency response procedures. "We are taking steps to deal with a possible outbreak," said Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster in an e-mail to the Orient.

According to the Bowdoin Web site, the average Bowdoin student can expect to spend $350 for travel, $400 for fees, and $800 for books each year. An extra $825 to cover parking tickets is not listed, though it will be on sophomore Jane Pierce's bill.

For those of us who are graduating in three weeks and stumbling out into the cold, hard, jobless world, now seems like a pretty good time to reflect upon how lucky we are to have been in college for the last year. While others have been stuck in a cubicle watching their 401k evaporate, or worse, been faced with the terrifying threat of unemployment, we've remained relatively insulated.

Since the publication of Zoe Lescaze's article on Teach for America ("Rise in TFA applicants at Bowdoin, nationwide," March 27), a number of students have asked me why I hate TFA. Each time I emphatically respond that I don't hate Teach for America, but that I probably should. And here's why...

Though my hangover from Ivies has retreated, I have noticed that my Ivies mentality has not. I'm talking about that mentality which puts each one of us on a noble mission to pack as much fun into five days as possible. In my sadness, I began to wonder why it is that that this beautiful mentality is restricted to the period of April 21 to April 26. If we are able to outwardly embrace our internal thirst for pleasure on this one weekend, what is stopping us from reapplying that attitude as we choose?

This year's Ivies inspired me to solve the most difficult problem I've encountered at Bowdoin. Our utter lack of community tradition is a serious problem calling for a serious remedy. Without tradition, we are nothing. The way I see it, every weekend has the potential to be one of the most exciting weekends of the year. Why is it that when Ivies comes around everyone suddenly goes apeshit? Every year, Ivies proves to me that we students know how to have a good time together. We should prove this to each other more often.

A senior's parting words of wisdom are usually some intonation of the adage, "Take advantage of everything Bowdoin has to offer while you can." As with most adages, they are true and sincere words. Trying my best to abide by this rule, I've approached the vast majority of Bowdoin life with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Generally, that excitement has come naturally.

The history of United States is a story of various struggles and the struggle against racism is, perhaps, most prominent in the minds of students at liberal arts colleges. In America, racism is largely characterized as a white behavior and rightly so. It was the whites who propagated slavery. It was the whites who instituted the Jim Crowe laws. It was the whites who passed the Chinese Exclusion act and it was the whites who forced over one-hundred thousand Japanese Americans into internment camps during WWII.

The 2008-2009 academic year at Bowdoin was both exciting and tumultuous. The College found itself coping with a national economic crisis, engaging in a highly-anticipated national election, and participating in other interesting and noteworthy events in academia, arts and athletics during the 207th academic year.

Sometimes I wonder how I got this job. What qualifies me to spout 800 words, loosely related to the topic of sex, for the Bowdoin community to read every other week? Because this is the last article I'll be writing for the Orient before I graduate this month, it seems to me like an ideal time to share with you my credentials as a sex columnist. If you want to know the truth, the idea for this column began as a joke that my friends and I hatched over lunch at Moulton early this past fall. I think the idea was that it would be really funny, or ironic, or something, if I wrote the sex column because of my particular situation with regard to sex.

As the recession continues to pound the nation, its blows are visible day by day in Brunswick. Whether it is a business closing its doors or an e-mail from President Barry Mills on the Blue Tarp Committee's plans to carry the College through the crisis, the Bowdoin community can see the signs of economic downturn. This week, the Orient asked the Economics and Government Departments to speak on the subject of the recession and share their views of the Obama Administration's efforts to end the recession as well as the recession's long and short-term effects on the government.

For most of the year, I've been hearing a familiar refrain regarding fashion: "The weather right now sucks. When it's nice at the end of the year, I'll be more likely to care about how I look. Until then," the refrain continues, "I just want to be comfortable." And while, for the whole year, I've been speaking of the merits of doing otherwise, I definitely appreciate the desire to dress comfortably. Clothes are meant to be lived in, not just looked at. However, I also know that it's not necessarily true that people start to care what they look like at the end of the year. Jeans and a sweatshirt no longer feel comfortable when the weather eclipses the 60-degree mark. Shorts and t-shirts (which generally come in brighter colors) just feel better in this weather. In short, it's probably not out of concern for image that people look happier and springier. Our dress reflects who we are, and most of us naturally seek comfort. At the end of the year, comfort just looks better. Again, I can appreciate that.

Sexual pleasure for men is considered to be less of a mystery than pleasure for women. Part of this might be because the part of male anatomy considered to be "most central" to sex, the penis, is pretty obvious. It might also be because men are assumed to start masturbating at a young age and are therefore considered orgasm experts by the time they might want to start teaching other people how they work. In reality, however, there is more to male sexual pleasure than the penis. Putting aside fantasies, preferences and emotions and focusing solely on anatomy, there are men who experience pleasure in their ears, nipples, fingers, inner thighs, balls and anus, to name a few locales. This doesn't mean that the penis isn't important, because it often is, but it does mean that the concept of foreplay can be just as enjoyable and important for him as it is considered to be for your average woman.

If you've been reading my column this year, you are already well aware of the fact that college has been a very formative experience for me, both sexually and socially. Unsurprisingly, then, with graduation biting at my heels, I still find myself in the position to learn and grow at Bowdoin. Today will be the first time in my four years at this school that I attempt to participate in the Day of Silence.

The men's lacrosse team notched two huge wins last weekend and needs only two more for its first-ever NESCAC title. The second-seeded Polar Bears will travel to host Middlebury and play third-seeded Tufts in the conference semi-final tomorrow. With a win, Bowdoin will advance to the NESCAC finals for the second straight year and face the winner of Middlebury-Wesleyan. Though they'll face stiff competition, the team firmly believes it can win the title.

The men's track and field team was hard at work at the NESCAC Championship last Saturday. After running away with the state title last weekend, the Polar Bears said that they had a feeling that there would be much tighter competition this time. They were right. Bowdoin scored 108 points to place fourth, finishing only 8.5 points away from second place. Williams repeated as NESCAC champions by scoring 154.5 points, well ahead of second place Bates' 116.5, followed by Tufts and Bowdoin.

The women's track and field team envisions a top-three finish in the Division III New England Regional Championship this Saturday, a goal they set their sights on after last year's championship, when they took seventh overall. The Bears took fourth place at the NESCAC Championship this past weekend to Williams, Middlebury, and Tufts, putting a third-place finish at the New England Championships within striking range. With a number of breakthrough performances at NESCACs, however, the women remain optimistic about their chances of achieving the goal.

The Orient chooses the male and female "Athlete of the Season" based on his and her exemplary performance, leadership, and commitment to their respective programs. The winners are decided by the editors of the Orient. Stephen Sullivan '11 Stephen Sullivan didn't always love tennis this much. "I started playing when I was 12, my mom made me play," he said. "I didn't really like it, I preferred team sports." Then much more of a soccer player, the 12-year old Sullivan hardly expected tennis to be his sport of choice. In truth, he may not have realized it until his arrival at Bowdoin.