The Bowdoin Orient

Bowdoin's Climate Commitment Advisory Committee (CCAC) has created a plan to become carbon neutral by 2020, following through with its 2007 pledge for carbon neutrality. The College will present a draft of its Climate Neutrality Implementation Plan to the Board of Trustees during Homecoming Weekend, then revise and submit a final version in November.

Brunswick Police arrested two local youths on charges of criminal mischief on October 2. Police and Bowdoin Security suspect that the two are at least partly responsible for the wave of water balloon assaults on students since the start of term. The suspects, one 19 and one 21, were apprehended for throwing water balloons at cars from the overpass above Route 1.

The Bowdoin Bookstore will potentially open the doors to its new Maine Street location during Parents Weekend. The store will carry similar items to those sold at the bookstore in Smith Union: Bowdoin apparel, books written by Bowdoin professors and alumni, and goods from local retailers.

In the past few weeks, seniors have been seen around campus dressed in their best suits and business attire, a far cry from the usual Bowdoin uniform of T-shirts and sweatpants; the recruiting season has begun for many seniors interested in business and financial careers. However, the well-dressed seniors represent only a fraction of the graduating class, as the interview season for those interested in the humanities or arts is much later in the year.

Due to recent changes in application deadlines at the Office of Off-Campus Study (OCS), students who wish to study abroad during the 2010-2011 school year may need to plan further ahead than in previous years.

At its second meeting of the year on Wednesday, the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) spoke with Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster and discussed T-shirt distribution over Homecoming Weekend.

Though voters will not be casting their ballots for a historic presidency this November, the outcome of the Maine ballot could still impact policy decisions across the nation. Although Maine legalized same-sex marriage on May 6, 2009, opponents of the law gathered enough signatures to force the issue onto the November ballot, halting the law in its tracks before it could take effect as planned in September. On November 3, Maine voters will either vote "yes" on Question 1 to veto the law allowing same-sex marriage, or "no," to uphold the law as it currently stands.

For the first time in six years, the end is in sight. On October 12, 2009—six and a half years after President George W. Bush invaded Iraq under the pretense of disabling the country's non-existent nuclear proliferation plants—military spokesman Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza announced a definitive exit strategy for the 120,000 troops remaining in the country. By August 2010, there will be approximately 50,000 soldiers on the ground in Saddam Hussein's former country, training Iraqis to take over and overseeing peaceful operations.

Any candid observation of the current health care debate reveals two facts. First, in terms of quantity, quality and access, medical care in the United States is far above average. Second, reform is necessary, but many options under consideration are truly worse than the problem. This is an important time for America not because we desperately need health care, but because this is where we, as a country, decide the role government will play in the lives of Americans until Jesus comes back, or at least until the Chinese take over.

On December 10, 2010, I would like a Nobel Peace Prize. I already hit up Expedia and got my ticket to Oslo. If you want to join my entourage, I'll put you on the waiting list. I think I deserve the Nobel Prize. I think I know a lot of people that deserve one, as well. I say this because it seems that all you have to do to get the Nobel Peace Prize these days is to do your job

Michael Vick is back playing quarterback in the NFL. After a two-year hiatus (if you can call a prison term a hiatus), Michael Vick proves that we are a nation of forgiveness and a nation of second chances. Michael Vick committed a crime and paid the price. But his actions are, at least in part, a result of societal shortcomings born out of our nation's obsession with a sport so ruthless that its participants can become, quite literally, monsters.

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.

As a current Bowdoin parent living in the Detroit area, I was pleased to read Chris Adams-Wall's insightful and well balanced column, "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" in the October 2, 2009 edition.

In Joe Babler's October 2 column, "We can regulate our automatic rifles and shoot them, too," the author stated that private sales of firearms at gun shows (the so-called 'gun show loophole') "allows an unregulated stream of guns to flow into the hands of violent felons." It does not.

I write to urge the campus community to work and organize to oppose the November 3 referendum that would repeal Maine's marriage equality law. In 2000, I chaired the Judiciary Committee of the Vermont House of Representatives when it wrote what became known as the Civil Unions law.

Over fall break a group of eight students headed north to help build affordable housing in North Haven, an island off the coast of Rockland, Maine. The trip was led by Krista Bahm '11 and was the first part of a series of Weekend Service Trips coordinated through the McKeen Center for the Common Good. The McKeen Center runs a myriad of programs throughout the year that aim to connect Bowdoin students with the larger communities in Maine. This island service trip was an opportunity for students to learn about life in North Haven while helping the local community.

After a 43 year stint at the College, former Robert K. Beckwith Professor of Music Eliott Schwartz has one more accomplishment to add to his list: the recent release of an album featuring six chamber concertos of his own composition. The album is titled "Elliot Schwartz: Chamber Concertos" and will be released through the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) label this month.

Hey babe, want to engage in some sweet sitophilia tonight? As your partner runs screaming out of the room, you'll probably realize that the fastest way to desexualize a fetish is to call it by its proper name. Sitophiliacs are those who find sexual arousal from incorporating food into sexual activity. Food play holds a prestigious position, as the most culturally acceptable sexual fetish. Subtypes include meat, fruit or vegetable fetishes, Nyotaimori (the ritual consumption of sushi off of a naked woman) and yeastiality (sexual activity centering on baked goods).

At Bowdoin the name Ahmad Hassan Muhammad '10 is synonymous with piano prodigy, and tonight, students will have the chance to see Muhammad perform original compositions.

This Saturday, Studzinski Recital Hall will fill with melodious voices as the talents of the Bowdoin Chamber Choir and Bowdoin Chorus are exhibited for the first time this year in the Homecoming Choral Concert.

I had big goals for this past summer: I wanted to get a job or internship, save money to buy a car, and have an adventurous summer that would culminate in a cross-country trip from Oregon to Maine. It was a slap in the face when no one back home would hire me (and when I say "no one," I mean Pottery Barn). I was forced to work under-the-table construction for a family friend and I slowly began to realize that I wasn't going to be able to afford a car. So by July, I was broke and jobless with my bike as my only form of transportation. That being said, I had an amazing summer. My friends were also jobless and we spent our time hanging out in Portland. Eventually, we all embraced our financial situations and tried to have as much fun as possible. It was a summer full of lazy days, parties and, most of all, music.

It pours like motor oil, coating the glass with a dark tan head and a sticky lace. Complex aromas of chocolate, espresso, dark fruit and anise waft your way and overwhelm the senses. Is this thick, brooding concoction meant to be drunk or poured into your engine after checking the dipstick? (Hint: your car probably won't be able to appreciate the flavor.)

A long, long time ago in the context of a Judeo-Christian symbolic field conceptual galaxies away, the 'Apocalypse' signaled a definitive rupture in space, time and human activity. Nobody 'survived' the apocalypse. Survival in terms of prolonging terrestrial life and preserving social systems wasn't even the point. 'Post'-Apocalypse, you'd be stuck in either heaven or hell with no hope of social mobility. The thought that a ragtag collective would continue to plod over a world abandoned by deities was heretical—plain and simple. It just wouldn't make sense.

For Ben Butler '00, tracking his artistic passion back to Bowdoin is not a difficult task. "It was by the end of my first year," Butler explained, "my first semester, even, that I found the visual arts to be the only discipline in which I could really bring together all of my interests. Whether it was science, philosophy or Asian studies, the visual arts emerged as the ideal discipline for synthesizing all of my interests. And it still is."

Boston-based ensemble Dünya performed a variety of Turkish music in Kanbar Auditorium on Wednesday.

Beloved '80s cover band Racer X, which counts Associate Professor of Music Vineet Shinde and Associate Professor of English Aaron Kitch as members, will light up another Homecoming weekend with a performance on Saturday night in Morrell Gym.

For those who have not yet visited the Bowdoin College Museum of Art or met with its new director, there will be an opportunity to do both this weekend. Director of the Museum of Art Kevin Salatino will be hosting a gallery talk on Saturday as part of the Homecoming festivities.

In their last regular season home game, women's rugby will face off against University of New Hampshire at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Polar Bears beat their Division II opponents 29-22 last year, and must be feeling good about their chances after bringing themselves up to 2-2 with their defeat of Northeastern University last week.

In what could be the season's defining game, the football team (1-2) looks to bounce back from a two-game slide when the team returns home to face Hamilton College this Saturday at 12 p.m.

Having won the past two out of three games against NESCAC opponents and blowing out another non-conference team, the women's soccer team has certainly had a successful two weeks.

The sailing team continued its climb in the NEISA rankings after two weekends of strong finishes. Rising two spots, the co-ed team is now ranked 16th out of the 30 teams in New England.

With one more tournament in its season remaining, women's tennis continues to fare well among top teams in the Northeast. The weekend of fall break, the Polar Bears travelled to Middlebury College far the Gail Smith Doubles Classic—an event that brought 33 doubles teams from six different schools to Vermont.

The men's tennis team capped off its fall season well at the Stony Brook Invitational this past weekend, with impressive results in both the singles and doubles brackets.

The well-traveled women's cross country team will head to the State Meet hosted by Colby this weekend after strong performances at the Connecticut College Invitational and the Open New England Championships in Boston.