The Bowdoin Orient

After a year that saw 26 alcohol transports and a reexamination of Bowdoin's party scene, the campus drinking culture picked up right where it left off. By the second day of classes four students had been transported to the hospital for reasons relating to alcohol, though there have been none since.

Even before Aijalon Gomes set foot back on American soil August 27, Bowdoin was with him. Gomes '01 spent over seven months in a North Korean prison after being arrested in late January for illegally entering the country. The Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) compiled messages of support and encouragement for Gomes, which BCF adviser Rob Gregory handed off to the State Department to send to North Korea. On Wednesday, Gregory spoke with Gomes, and learned that the letters reached Gomes while he was imprisoned.

They hail from Portland to Pakistan and, at 510 students, they are the largest group of first-years Bowdoin has ever seen. Please welcome the Class of 2014.

Students with accounts at TD Bank must now travel to Hannaford to withdraw cash without incurring fees. The bank did not renew its agreement with the College for the two ATMs it has operated on campus since 2005. Instead, Bank of America and Midcoast Federal Credit Union will have ATMs in Smith Union and the Thorne-Coles Tower lobby, respectively.

Thanks to the September 1 introduction of the Brunswick Explorer, the ban prohibiting first years from having cars has become a lot less prohibitive. From now until November 1, anyone can ride the new public bus system free of charge.

Once again, Bowdoin's Dining Service takes the cake. The College regained its status of having the "Best Campus Food" as determined by the Princeton Review's most recent college rankings.

After more than 30 years of investment management, Stanley Druckenmiller announced his retirement in late August from his position as President, CEO and Chairman of Duquesne Capital, the company he founded in 1981.

A Maine State Music Theater (MSMT) truck struck and damaged the metal arch behind Pickard Theater on August 28 while transporting set pieces from the group's performance of "Spamalot."

Each April, clubs on campus have the opportunity to submit budgets to the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC) to petition for funding for the next academic year. From 2002 until 2009, the Orient consistently requested approximately $20,000 per year and was awarded at least $19,000 by the SAFC on every occasion. Almost all of this money goes to cover the paper's annual printing costs, which totaled $19,169 in 2009-2010.

Someone needs to get the Bias Incident Oversight Committee to take a look at an e-mail recently sent to the residents of Harpswell Apartments, the fabled campus destination better known as "Bro Village." I am pretty sure that Harpswell residents are being discriminated against due to their lifestyle choices.

So, there's fighting in Washington. All but the most rabid voters aren't happy with either party, and no one is expecting real change in the next Congress, save for those who have grown so confused that they think "change" and "obstruction" are one and the same. What can we to hope for, besides more gridlock?

It was disheartening to read the Orient's article on Trevor Powers and his subsequent arrest ("Season cut short for coach with OUI," May 7). While this might have constituted news in the New York Post, it is disappointing that an upstanding college newspaper has sunken to reporting on the personal situations of a former student and staff member.

To the Editors: I support the decision of the Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee to deny the proposal for a theater and dance major ("Theater and dance major rejected," May 7). I have enjoyed dance classes at Bowdoin with the current full-time dance professors Gwyneth Jones and Paul Sarvis, but still harbor concerns.

When I returned to Bowdoin, I was flooded with a host of wonderful and nostalgic feelings, and of course the excitement of being a senior. Chatting away with friends who studied abroad while happily munching through my first Bowdoin meal never felt so good.

This article was originally conceived as a showdown between Maine Street's two Indian eateries, Shere Punjab and Bombay Mahal.

If you're walking down Maine Street toward the Androscoggin, turn left on Lincoln Street, pass the Church of Scientology, and find yourself standing in a pebble-packed courtyard. This is the antechamber of The Book Barn: a cluttered den of "trash" antiques, yellowed paper-backs, chipped enamels, tin gimcracks, a "Manhattan-Billiards Table," and, most fascinating of all, the owner himself —Richard Fisco. He's a townie you should meet.

"Jazz is in the heart, no, the soul, of those who embrace it," writes Irvin Mayfield on his website.

Downtown Portland, Maine is not usually considered an ideal place to camp. Loretta Park '11 and her fellow sculpture installation artists at the Portland Art Walk last Friday night, however, seemed to consider it just that.

It has been about a month since the latest album from Arcade Fire was released. Since then "The Suburbs" has garnered heaps of critical praise, produced an innovative music video that was released online, and the album even hit number one on the Billboard 200. Not bad for a baroque pop outfit from Canada whose main concern is creating social commentary rather than hit singles.

Two thousand one hundred career yards is a respectable record for a quarterback, almost enough to make the top-10 for Bowdoin College. This number, which could be a career in and of itself, is the difference between Oliver Kell '10 and Hayes MacArthur '98, for the number one and two spots in the College's history.

How do you say no to the U.S. Women's National Rugby Team? That's exactly the question that Director of Athletics Jeff Ward asked himself earlier this summer when the national team visited Bowdoin for a three-week training camp.