The Bowdoin Orient

During Winter Break, Passion Pit accepted a bid from the Entertainment Board (E-Board) to headline Bowdoin's Ivies Weekend. The Boston-based band joins a provisional Ivies concert lineup which includes Reel Big Fish and The Cool Kids.

Students worried by the prospect of losing beloved study space on the third floor of Hatch Science Library can breathe easy today. Yesterday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) denied the College's application for a grant to secure funding to convert part of Hatch into laboratory space.

Over the weekend many students returning to Bowdoin from Winter Break found themselves trying to coordinate last minute taxi rides back to campus from Portland International Jetport. Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) coordinates groups and pick-up times with Brunswick Taxi to transport students to the Portland International Airport at the beginning of breaks, and many wonder why the same service is not available for the return to campus.

At the end of the school year, Assistant Director of Residential Life Dudney Sylla '08 will be leaving his position after two years on the job.

At the onset of winter break, the Office of Safety and Security conducted room checks lasting 30 to 40 seconds throughout college housing.

Even after seeing endless footage and coverage of the January 12 earthquake that left much of Haiti's capital and surrounding area in ruins, it is nearly impossible to fully conceptualize the devastation. The media can inundate papers and Web sites with images of the hungry, the sick, the orphaned and the dead, but there is no way to represent the hardship thrust on each individual life.

The joys of a fresh semester: reconnecting with friends, choosing between two menus at each meal...and not getting into a class you need?

So, Obama has lost his Senate super majority. I can't say I'm surprised. Yet, while many in the media are attributing the loss of the Massachusetts seat to popular disdain for, as the victorious Republican candidate Scott Brown puts it, "The Democratic Machine," I think that is only part of the reason for the outcome. Some voters undoubtedly voted to protest the Democrats' leftward leanings, but if the Party has become a machine, it is more akin to a rusty, sputtering pickup than some well-greased vehicle of war.

Hello Bowdoin, it's so nice to see you again. It's been a while (since May of last year?) but you look great, all covered in snow as expected. Obviously my time spent in sunny Buenos Aires last semester is making the transition back to the freezer box that is Maine more challenging than usual, but also that much more exciting.

It was objected that Adderall use is unfair since it gives to its users an academic advantage not had by those who don't use it. But it seems to me that many people naturally have advantages due to things that others don't have access to, and that we don't judge these advantages to be unfair.

The occasional series "How it feels" last ran in the 2005-2006 volume of the Orient. In this 2010 revival, Bowdoin students tell the Orient about their experiences—good, bad, or just extreme. Here are their stories.

A Bowdoin Neighbor: Meet Jaime Reatiraza I first met Jaime when I was five years old. He was working as a security guard for the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. I spent half an hour each Saturday wandering around campus while my sister had a piano lesson. One day, when I passed through the revolving glass door of the museum, Jaime came up to me and asked if I would like a guided tour. He was a small Filipino man with beady eyes and a sincere smile. I agreed and followed him through high-ceilinged rooms. We continued to spend Saturdays looking at artwork together, discussing photography exhibits and examining ancient artifacts. For the next couple of years, Jaime and I shared this exchange each Saturday.

While the spring semester greets students with a new round of classes, text books and early morning routines, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art also offers two new fresh and intriguing photography exhibits: Basquiat/Warhol and In Focus: Photographs From the Permanent Collection.

Tonight, Fanny Pak will be performing on Bowdoin's own Pickard Theater stage, flaunting their eccentric style and the fanny packs made famous on MTV's second season of "America's Best Dance Crew."

On Thursday, February 4, Maine college students are invited to take an intimate look at fine art at the Portland Museum of Art's first-ever College Night.

This past week, I checked out two small live music venues in Portland. More than cafés but less than music clubs, these are places to relax, get something to eat or drink, and listen to artists both famous and unknown—think of them as Portland's versions of Jack Magee's.

In the summer of 2004, two years after graduating from Bowdoin, visual arts major Kyle Durrie '02 faced an inspirational lull that would later be recognized as the revolutionary turning point in her creative process. "I was at an artist residency in Skowhegan and I started having a hard time figuring out what I was doing. I'd just had a show in Portland, Maine at Space Gallery and I was really proud of the works I'd put up."

After Billy Bob Thornton's moronic adaptation of All the Pretty Horses, we had to wait seven years for a director to brave one of McCarthy's moody, demotic bloodbaths. With No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers slyly improved the author's fatalist Regan-era gun-porno. Next on the list, I prayed, Terrence Malick would announce his involvement in a cinemascope framing of Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West.

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be? PN: "Funeral" by Arcade Fire is by far my favorite album of all time snd probably always will be. JS: Gnarls Barkley's "The Odd Couple". Cee-Lo Green is a soul machine.

The Polar Bears improved their already impressive record to 14-3 Tuesday, defeating the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners by a score of 64-52. The team will face a pair of difficult matchups this weekend, playing Amherst today and Trinity on Saturday.

While many Bowdoin students were enjoying their Winter Break in the comfort of their own homes, Larkin Brown '10, Kelly Pope '12 and Lucy Morrell '13 flew to Nicaragua to participate in Soccer Without Borders.

While most Bowdoin students were relaxing and enjoying a month away from campus, the women's hockey team was on campus practicing and playing a series of games as the season moves into its last leg.

After a long bus ride down to Springfield, Massachusetts, the women's track team won the Springfield Invitational on Saturday, beating a strong field which included Springfield College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and the Coast Guard Academy.

Break and preseason have ended and the men's track team is heading into the heart of its season. On Saturday at 12:30 p.m., the men host the one and only home meet of the indoor track season, running against some of the toughest teams in New England.

The new year has not been kind to the men's basketball team. The Polar Bears have dropped four of their last five January games, including two of their first three NESCAC matchups.

Grueling, twice-a-day practices in unseasonably cold Florida weather paid off for the swimming and diving teams when they returned from their winter training trip to face the Bates Bobcats on Saturday, January 16.

As many athletes were pursuing warmer training climates during the winter break, the Nordic ski team was embracing the snow full-force in preparation for their many races throughout the season, including the Chummy Broomhall Cup this Sunday.