The Bowdoin Orient

In the 2008 fiscal year (FY), Senior Vice President for Investments Paula Volent remained the highest-paid employee of the College, despite receiving a significant decrease in salary from FY 2007. President Barry Mills's compensation ranked him eighth among the 11 NESCAC presidents, just above the president of Colby College, but well below the president of Bates College.

After great anticipation, a small supply of the H1N1 vaccine was delivered from the Maine CDC to campus this week. Though 100 doses of injectable H1N1 vaccine were delivered, only a quarter of the doses had been administered to students as of late Wednesday, according to Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster. Students were informed of the shipment through an e-mail on Tuesday.

Scientific American Magazine, the library's most widely-read publication, is under fire. The magazine recently announced that it will be raising its prices from $39.95 to $299 for an annual print subscription and from $1,000 to $1,500 for annual online access in 2010. This increase is part of a larger trend that is being met with formal protest from many college libraries, including Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L Library).

Disgust. Disappointment. Blame. After news outlets reported early Wednesday morning that a majority of Mainers had voted "Yes" on Question 1, consequently vetoing the law allowing same-sex marriage, our own outlets of communication were flooded with emotional reactions to the news.

Two hundred and fifty-three students were honored as Sarah and James Bowdoin (SJB) scholars last weekend. Other than their superlative grades, these students have another similarity: none of them went abroad last year.

Just over a year ago, Americans around the country eagerly celebrated the election of Barack Obama to the presidency and the increased Democratic majorities in Congress. The 2008 election was supposed to symbolize the beginning of a new era, one where the principals of progressive governance would prevail just as Barack Obama himself had.

My roommate has paranormal powers. This morning I was lying in bed, partially awake, just lying there blissful in the knowledge that I did not have my first class until 11:30 a.m. and was content to watch the clock tick down until 11:20 a.m., at which point I would get up, brush my teeth and run over to class. All of a sudden, at about 10 a.m., the door bursts opens and in comes my roommate, Matt, holding a banana. "Check out my psychic powers!" he yells.

What do Talib Kweli, Sean Kingston, Rahzel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Kevin Little have in common? They have all performed at Bowdoin College in the past four years, they have all been paid a lot of money for those performances, and they have all been huge disappointments for almost everyone sober enough to see their concerts.

Sex 101. You might have seen advertisements, or perhaps you walked by on your way back from class. Maybe you even went—props to those of you who did in spite of the intrinsic awkwardness of talking about sex. That is exactly why we wanted to hold the event. In years past, the event has been run by Julia Bond '09.

Tuesday night saw a number of electoral battles that could have serious consequences for the nation at large, let alone our current president. There were two governor races, one in New Jersey and one in Virginia, in which Democrats were defeated, but for different reasons.

For those of you that have not heard about this season's election cycle outside of Maine's own ballot, there were a couple of other elections going on Tuesday. Most political junkies and the cable news might have argued that the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia were critical in demonstrating where the country is headed politically.

In the piece from the October 18 issue of the Orient, "College Democrats are little more than a propaganda machine," contributor Benjamin Ziomek criticized us for the posters we put up in support of voting "No" on three of the referendum questions. What he failed to include in his analysis was our activism and political engagement throughout the fall.

"Spring forward, fall back." We all know the drill. Every second Sunday of March an hour mysteriously vanishes from existence only to be returned five months later on the first Sunday of November. Daylight saving time is a cultural phenomenon that claims to be rooted in practical efforts to save energy during the summer months, but let's be honest: we just like enjoying nice, long summer days.

Sick of Seventeen and Cosmopolitan magazines? Junior Joanna Buffum, along with the rest of the Her Campus staff, have just added another option to the pool—an online magazine aimed specifically at college females. After working as an intern for a blog, Zagat Buzz, Buffum was hired as a staff writer by Her Campus, an exclusively female and college-oriented online magazine.

Place: Twin Brooks Recreation Area, Cumberland, Maine. Distance from campus: 25 minutes. Date: Saturday, November 14 at 11 a.m. Number of companions: As many as possible. Necessary gear: Sneakers (a pair that you are willing to get muddy) and large amounts of Bowdoin pride. Cost: Free. In fact, you'll be offered cookies and sweets if you come... The leaves have begun to turn from bright oranges to dirty browns, and before we know it, our campus trees will be stripped of all foliage. The ground will soon be frozen sod. The air temperature will cool from invigorating to agonizing. We have to embrace the last days of autumn outdoors, and there is no better place to do it than on the trails of Twin Brooks. Next weekend, these trails will be the site of a competitive cross-country meet—an event that will bring the Northeast together for a performance of physical strength and mental toughness.

Although clowning around is not usually encouraged in an academic atmosphere, Bowdoin's student theater group, Masque and Gown, is giving students an opportunity to goof off.

Tinfoil has never looked so alive. Robert Wilson, also known as "The Tinfoil Man," a unique personality in the Portland art scene, has his first solo show opening tonight at the Coleman Burke gallery in Portland. The installation showcases his intricate insects crafted out of tinfoil.

Though I enjoy the smell of napalm in the morning, I do prefer waking up to the aroma of a fresh hop bomb. What's a hop bomb? Imagine a conventionally hopped beer, say an average India Pale Ale (IPA), taken to a whole new level of flavor, bitterness and potency, and you'd have the Double IPA, the beer world's equivalent of an air-to-ground missile. But this time, the target is your taste buds.

As a medium, an expression and a creation, sculpture provides Wade Kavanaugh '01 with a way of interacting with the world around him. Although Kavanaugh's interest in and passion for the visual arts existed long before college, he developed a relationship with sculpture while at Bowdoin, where he majored in economics and minored in visual arts.

The DaPonte String Quartet will bring its acclaimed sound to Bowdoin on Saturday, performing songs by sibling prodigies Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Bowling and hip-hop may not have much in common, but the two collided last night.

The Milkman's Union, the much-publicized Bowdoin student band, was honored with the opportunity to open for Lady Lamb The Beekeeper at SPACE Gallery in Portland on Wednesday.

After roaring ahead with a pair of wins, the Polar Bears are looking to break the ice this weekend when they go head to head with Williams tomorrow in the NESCAC Semifinals.

Avenging its early season loss and keeping the postseason dream alive, the field hockey team defeated the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship tournament.

The sailing team competed in three different regattas on the Charles River this past weekend, posting mixed results in each.

The women's rugby team ended its season 7-2 after it defeated Wellesley 20-12, winning the second-tier playoffs last Saturday.

The women's cross-country team began to round out its season last Sunday with a sixth-place finish in the NESCAC Championships hosted by Trinity College at Wickham Park in Hartford, Connecticut.

Coming off of its biggest win of the season with a major upset at the Maine State Meet at Colby two weeks ago, the men's cross-country team felt confident that it could achieve similarly impressive results at the NESCAC Championship at Trinity last weekend.

The women's soccer team ended their season last Sunday with a well-fought 1-0 overtime loss to Middlebury.