The Bowdoin Orient

After over a year of negotiations between the Town of Brunswick and the College regarding the soon-to-be-vacated Longfellow Elementary School, the town moved one step closer toward approving a proposed swap of the College's McLellan Building for the Longfellow property at Monday night's special Town Council meeting.

On Saturday night, the Entertainment Board (E-Board) received word that Local Natives, an indie band from Los Angeles, would no longer be able to perform at Ivies. Working quickly, the E-Board inquired for and received a contract from Dr. Dog, a Philadelphia-based psychedelic rock band, to serve as a replacement. The band will join the remaining lineup, Mac Miller and Janelle Monáe, at the April 30 concert.

Scores of Bowdoin students were left disappointed this week when College House decisions were mailed out on Monday. In a year that saw a record number of applicants, the Office of Residential Life had the hard task of choosing from over 300 applications for only 206 spots.

April Fools has come and gone, but AddSeven—and the whirlwind of questions surrounding the website—remains. Despite a rumor that the new social networking site AddSeven.com was an April Fools joke, the site has been gaining popularity on campus since it was launched on the weekend of March 26; on Monday alone, the site's homepage attracted over 5,000 hits.

Professor of Philosophy Scott Sehon said he is looking forward to Bowdoin's first-ever Veritas Forum because he thinks "it's a good thing for there to be more dialogue between religious perspectives and secular perspectives." But one might ask Professor Sehon for a more precise definition of the word "good"—exactly the question he is going to have to answer during next Thursday's forum.

On Wednesday evening, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) had its first meeting since Spring Break. The meeting opened with a discussion of instituting guest meals at the dining halls. At-Large Representative Tess Kramer '13 initiated the dialogue, stating that the idea was proposed to her by friends. "After friends brought it up, I talked to a lot of students to get opinions," she said. "Everyone agreed it would be a great idea."

Last Saturday, the Bowdoin Women in Business Club (BWIB) welcomed 15 female speakers to campus for its annual Bowdoin Women in Business Spring Convention. The convention gave female students the opportunity to learn more about career preparation, networking and leadership in areas ranging from media to technology.

Under the recently instituted New York Times (NYT) website paywall, news comes at a price. Yet for members of the Bowdoin community, access will be subsidized. As of March 28, the NYT capped free online access at 20 articles per month and began charging $15 a month for unlimited computer and smart phone access. However, through the NYT Campus Newspaper Readership Program and Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), anyone with a Bowdoin email address is eligible for unlimited access at a discounted price of $11.28 a month.

Mariya Ilyas '13 is preaching what she practices. Ilyas was recently awarded funding from the Davis Project for Peace to create a high school journalism program at Al-Imtiaz Academy (AIA) in Abottabad, Pakistan, based on her experience working on newspapers in high school and at Bowdoin. The Davis Project for Peace provides each selected student $10,000 to implement their project ideas to achieve peace throughout the world.

Dear prospective members of the Class of 2015, This space is not normally reserved for you. Today, however, is an exception. After years of jumping through hoops, you've been accepted to Bowdoin. Congratulations! Yet maybe you have offers to matriculate at Williams or Dartmouth, and the ball, for the first time, is in your court. When Williamstown and Hanover beckon, why come to Brunswick?

We have all been shocked at the terrible destruction wrought by the triple-crisis of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in Sendai, Japan last month. Almost a month after the disasters struck, over 12,000 people are dead and another 15,000 still missing. The story no longer dominates the front pages, but the emotional and physical suffering of hundreds of thousands of survivors continues.

Choirs of birds once again roost among us and the air is filled with the earthen pulchor of mud-season. Oh, how the coming of spring does brighten the spirit! Still, what really puts a smile on my face and a jump in my step is the smell of liberal hypocrisy. The spectacle of Pecksniffian liberals skewered by their own petard is a sight sublime; the once glorious crusade for a man thought visionary, now tainted by unfulfilled promises; the cacophony of yes-we-can and fatal optimism, now replaced by tongue-tied silence, hand-wringing and bitter apathy. Alas, the banquet has been prepared, let us begrudge it a feast.

To the Editors: I am surprised to see in your April 1 issue the Art Smart "Female suicide bombings and Hinduism focus of Harman's lecture." In the article, William P. Harman, professor in the department of philosophy and religion at the University of Tennessee, tries to couple the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Homeland (LTTE) suicide bombers with Hindu folk worship of the deceased women. The latter is usually the result of local factors and is not practiced for any political reasons. And more often than not, Hindu folk worship of women stems from an affirmation rather than a rejection of life.

Before Spring Break, roughly 200 students, faculty and staff took part in a demonstration called "I am Bowdoin." Participants processed from the Polar Bear statue into Smith Union with duct tape on their mouths, one by one pulling off the tape and professing a statement about themselves followed by the phrase "I am Bowdoin," intending to signify that though students have multifaceted identities, they are all part of the same community. The demonstration followed a public meeting of students, staff and faculty addressing the March 1 bias incident in Coles Tower. At the gathering a number of students candidly voiced their experiences of feeling unwelcome and unsafe on campus and in Brunswick. The "I am Bowdoin" event was powerful by virtually all accounts. But for many observers and even demonstrators, the message was not entirely clear. What, exactly, was this act protesting?

In a speech given Monday night, President Obama attempted to clarify his philosophy on military intervention. He laid out what the United States has done to this point in Libya and then attempted to respond to his innumerable critics by explaining his rationale for American intervention. In doing so, the president showed himself to be a man of strong conviction. To begin with, President Obama lauded our troops for effectively stopping the progress of Qaddafi's forces.

"[It is] validating to be who you are—even if you had to fight to be who you are," said Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Judith Casselberry on attending the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and producing the "Amazon 35 Project." On Friday, March 4, 2011, eight scholars gathered in Lancaster Lounge to celebrate black women's resistance. "Testify, Witness and Act: Black Women's Resistance" was co-sponsored by gender and women's studies and Africana studies, with support from the Edith Lansing Koon Sills Lecture Fund, the Women's Resource Center and the history department.

The hate speech and its results, events that rocked the Bowdoin campus in the weeks before Spring Break, have definitely left a scar. I am hopeful that tempers have cooled in the intervening weeks, but we should not let the events be forgotten. Bowdoin is not a place of hate and intolerance, but there are definitely ways in which we as a student body can improve. The events should encourage us to work harder to understand each other, regardless of our backgrounds.

Spring has arrived. After months of wondering when—and if—the snow would melt, we now can take comfort in the small pleasures derived from walking across campus without worrying about wet socks or falling on an ice patch. At Bowdoin, spring semester always has been somewhat of a misnomer, but when the snow does finally melt to reveal the brown grass and the pathways we forgot existed, the months of trudging over snow mounds and navigating through icy pathways suddenly seem worth it.

Peculiar events are commonplace in Bowdoin dining halls, but sightings of a student army crawling across the ground, singing a Miley Cyrus song, or serving as waitstaff does not warrant a second look due to the campus-wide craze of pepper-flipping. "Getting pepper flipped" is a common experience for Bowdoin students, but one sure to raise eyebrows from outsiders. Pepper flipping is a game that has turned into a unique social phenomenon at Bowdoin. The current version runs as follows: a student makes a challenge or bet to another student, such as "If I land this pepper flip, you have to serve me dessert." If, and only if, the chosen student consents to this task, the first student will pick up the closest pepper shaker and attempt to flip it in the air. If the tossed pepper shaker completes at least a single rotation and lands upright, then the bet must be fulfilled. There are two golden rules essential to the game. The first is that there must be only one flip per meal.

While some alumni return to campus for reunions and others make the trip for homecoming weekend, there is one unique reason for former students to come back to campus—weddings. Although the chapel stands in a central location on campus and serves as the backdrop for a variety of student activities, hosting weddings is one of its many functions that goes relatively unnoticed. The chapel is available for weddings all year, though summer weddings are generally more popular, and restrictions are applied around this time to ensure that members of the Bowdoin community have first priority when selecting dates. "May through October we give preference to people that have a Bowdoin connection," said Director of Events

Ever since being diagnosed with a wheat allergy, I have been searching high and wide for a gluten-free option to satiate my thirst for delicious beer. At first, I was fairly optimistic. Because wheat allergy and celiac disease diagnoses have been on the rise, there are a decent amount of companies putting out gluten-free brews and it appeared there was even a good amount of variety to delve into. After sampling the relatively well-known brand Bard's, I convinced myself that perhaps this whole

I bought a pair of Bean Boots last winter. When I dug them out of the closet a few months ago, they looked old and torn. Because I know that L.L.Bean will exchange my boots for a new pair, no questions asked, I'm tempted to drive to Freeport and redeem a new pair of boots. What constitutes an abuse of L.L.Bean's return policy?

Whether you are a guy or a girl, into fashion or not, you are probably unaware of one accessory that you always have in tow: your lip balm. It is nearly impossible to argue against lip balm and its utilitarian function. Regardless of age, everyone has a use and need for these small, slender tubes that moisturize and nourish your lips. Lip balm's omnipresence is proven by the ease of getting your hands on a tube. I've seen people fish lip balm out of back pockets, ID cases, backpacks, purses and even eye glass cases. Though we often use the terms "lip balm" and "chapstick" interchangeably, ChapStick was actually the first brand of lip balm. However, with the emergence of many different imitations and variations, the word "chapstick" has now become synonymous with "lip balm." The popularity of chapstick has even been manifested online. The YouTube video "Where's the chapstick?" has incited countless responses and remixes. The original, with nearly 14 million views, captures an overly enthusiastic girl who sings a celebratory song in honor of finding her chapstick.

Recent graduates have proven that life after Bowdoin can lead to many paths, from designing cutting-edge fly-fishing technology to sports writing, to talking about sex. Scott Caras '08, a Government and Legal Studies and Anthropology double major, always had an avid interest in fly-fishing. While at Bowdoin, Caras and fellow students Ted Upton '07 and Max Key '08 would seek out fishing spots along the Androscoggin River and around Casco Bay and Popham Beach. While all three took corporate jobs after Bowdoin, they maintained a strong interest in fly-fishing. After gaining experience in business, the fishing buddies joined with Providence alumnus Peter Crommett in December 2009 to found Cheeky Fly Fishing, a manufacturing company targeted at what the website describes as "progressive fly fishermen."

While most avid baseball fans were glued to the TV yesterday for Major League Baseball's opening day, many followers could also be found checking their teams online. For some fans, opening day signals not only the beginning of the baseball season but, sometimes more important, the fantasy baseball season. The idea for fantasy baseball, according to ESPN, was first established in 1980 and was originally referred to as "Rotisserie Baseball" after the French restaurant where the creators met. It is now an empire that allows approximately six to seven million people to call the shots in their own leagues, drafting teams and making trades to compete for prizes ranging from bragging rights to cash.

Welcome back! First let me begin by welcoming you all back to the final stretch of this marathon known as the school year. Spring break is probably my favorite break, but if any of you are like me, you come back for these last six or so weeks pretty run down and unprepared to resume the march. I am mixing metaphors. I blame the break. But here we all are once again, meaning here I am ready to answer your post-spring break health questions. Q: I heard that some STDs take a while to register on an STD test, meaning anything

Norah Maki '09 returns to Bowdoin today to give a lecture on her collections of prints, "May I Trespass on Your Valuable Space," which are being displayed in the Fishbowl Gallery on the first floor of the Visual Arts Center.

Last night, as part of National Poetry Month, poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi performed a reading of her work after being invited by associate editor of the Bowdoin Magazine and From the Fishouse co-founder Matthew O'Donnell.

Twenty-eleven marks one year after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, one year before the supposed apocalypse—and the 40th anniversary of dance at Bowdoin. The dance40@bowdoin celebration kicks off with a performance by Keigwin + Company tomorrow night.

George Lopez, an accomplished pianist and musician, is wrapping up the first year of his two-year tenure as an artist-in-residency with a concert featuring the acclaimed Esterhazy string quartet.

Every now and then, we all think negatively. In her lecture titled "The Power of Negative Thinking," Dr. Julie Norem spoke yesterday about the psychological effects of negative thinking.

Reading the proverbial "writing on the wall" is a useful skill and Jeannine Uzzi has made an academic career of uncovering social conditions in visual Roman reliefs.

Community members gathered yesterday to listen to Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Music Cristle Collins Judd chronicle Bowdoin's arts programs in her talk, "The Arts in the Bowdoin Curriculum."

Drawer and printmaker Amze Emmons gave a lecture about his work titled "Refugee Architecture and other Systems of Daily Experience" on Monday.

Favorite line from Rebecca Black's hit song on YouTube, "Friday"? Gus Vergara: "Gotta have my bowl." Jimmy Rohman: "Gotta have cereal."

Lupe's "Lasers" By 2007, Lupe Fiasco had laid the foundation for a long and flourishing rap career. His 2006 hit album "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor" was tremendously successful, and his only slightly less impressive 2007 release "The Cool" left fans wanting more.

Over the weekend, men's tennis established itself as the team to beat, easily dispatching Tufts on Sunday and Wesleyan on Monday. The Polar Bears now have a record of 6-2 (2-0 NESCAC).

The lingering winter weather in the northeast has cooled down Bowdoin's hot streak, as the baseball team struggled against NESCAC rival Amherst College.

The Bowdoin College softball team successfully sweeped the University of Maine-Farminton in a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon.

The men's lacrosse team will look to avenge last year's NESCAC semifinal loss to Middlebury when the Panthers come to Brunswick this Saturday.

The women's tennis team easily dispatched the Wesleyan Cardinals 8-1 last Saturday in its home opener. The 12th-ranked Polar Bears remain unbeaten in D-III play as their record improves to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the NESCAC.

The sailing team faced blustery conditions last weekend as it raced to prepare for the New England Championships, which begin in only one week.

Though Carolyn Gorajek '13 scored half of the women's lacrosse team's goals in a 10-9 victory over Connecticut College last weekend, she was not aiming for a personal record.

I'd like to begin this week's column on a bit of a somber note. Last Sunday, former Yale women's hockey player Mandi Schwartz lost her battle with acute myeloid leukemia.