The Bowdoin Orient

Although this year's Senior Week will feature many old traditions, the 2012 Class Council has replaced Racer-X with a performance by DJ Sex Ray Vision. Racer-X, which performed during the fall semester and last Thursday for Ivies, has customarily been a part of the Senior Week festivities. After perusing the E-Board's list of artists, the council seized the opportunity to offer something different and booked mash-up artist Sex Ray Vision. "Why do we need to see Racer-X twice in one month?" asked Matt Ramos '12, Class Council vice president.

State Representative Erin Herbig has received a protection from abuse order against her colleague and former boyfriend Rep. Alexander Cornell du Houx, who graduated from Bowdoin in 2008 and represents Brunswick. According to The Bangor Daily News, Herbig's court statement alleged that du Houx stalked her, secretly photographed her while she slept, and threatened to commit suicide after the couple broke up early this year.

An anonymous email was sent last week to the Student Activity Funding Committee (SAFC) alleging that the salaried directors of the Bowdoin Outing Club had mishandled club funds and disenfranchised student members. Whoever sent the letter has thus far guarded their anonymity, and the message's claims remain unsubstantiated. The email's authors did not respond when contacted by the Orient. The stated purpose of the email was to encourage the SAFC to conduct an investigation of the Outing Club, but the inconsistent logic of the message, its meandering composition, and the authors' refusal to provide evidence to corroborate their allegations have prevented the SAFC from conducting a formal investigation.

The 2011-2012 academic year had its fair share of controversy, including a forfeited NESCAC championship, debate over a weeklong Thanksgiving break, and protests against changes to chem-free housing. The scandals and triumphs are recounted here in a summary of the year's most noteworthy happenings.

Orientation is dizzying and overwhelming—the days are long and laden with programming, you encounter a wide variety of people and remember very few names, and you travel constantly with your floor. It's a marathon meet-and-greet that will make the first few days of classes seem simple in comparison.

On Tuesday, the Bowdoin Daily Sun posted an article lauding three Bowdoin students who secured internships at Goldman Sachs this summer. On Wednesday, the post was deleted from the site after drawing criticism for distastefully trumpeting the well-known fact that Bowdoin students often land prestigious internships, glorifying the financial industry, and neglecting to acknowledge two other students also interning at the bank.

When I look back on the four years I spent as a student at Bowdoin, I will remember them fondly. I arrived here as a seventeen-year-old student who had not been to school in America since fourth grade.

I forget which generation I belong to. I can google it at a moment's notice on one of my million devices and find out, so why bother remembering?

As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman pointed out in his April 29 op-ed "Wasting Our Minds," the unemployment rate among young Americans under 25 is low—16.5 percent—but only when compared with places like Ireland or Spain, where those same figures soar as high as thirty and fifty percent, respectively.

Places like Little Dog Coffee Shop are filled with a certain kind of person. A young person who enjoys the outdoors, supports local businesses, and is devoted to using his or her experience in a poor region to do something more. These people want to save the world, and their enthusiasm can convince you that it is possible.

A few weeks ago, acclaimed film director James Cameron descended to the deepest known point in the ocean, making him only the third person in history to do so. In an interview after the record-breaking dive, Cameron reminded us that our oceans are truly the last frontier.

To the Editors: A recent anonymous email entitled "Outing Club Crisis" makes the accusation that the Bowdoin Outing Club's (BOC) program is "dictated" by its staff and is no longer accountable to student members. We write in enthusiastic support of the Outing Club's structure and current Director and Assistant Directors.

Streak the Quad, charter a club, write your name on the chapel bathroom door, visit Prof. Morgan's office, spend a night at Colby or Bates, “win” dinner, and be (mis)quoted in the Orient.

Bowdoin’s Dining Service is consistently ranked as one of the top dining services in the country—there’s no denying that it definitely helps to be well-fed when you’re working as tirelessly as the typical Bowdoin student. Five things to know as you begin your journey with Bowdoin Dining:

1) The timeless question: Moulton or Thorne?
2) Brunch is a thing here.
3) The food isn’t going anywhere.
4) Regarding Special Events and the Bowdoin log.
5) Other Dining terminology.

I promise that I only meant to hate-read Fifty Shades of Grey. To be clear: I left the book in my bathroom and mostly flipped through to the sex scenes. There are nine or ten of them, depending. But why should I criticize the unofficial summer read of the Class of 2016?

As returning students may remember from a couple of stories in this paper and a series of emails sent out by Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols last spring, three Bowdoin students were given a criminal charge of forgery in connection with the use of fake I.D. cards in Brunswick. As one of those three students, I can say the situation blossomed quickly into much more stressful than a disciplinary headache.

We've learned some things. In a long line at the pub, call in and order over the phone to jump the line. The café gives out free leftover food in Smith Union late at night. And it’s nearly impossible to get transported by drinking beer.

All of us remember that scene in Annie Hall when Woody Allen asks a loving elderly couple how they keep their relationship fresh. "We use a large, vibrating egg," they respond loudly. To this, Dr. Kinsey would probably smile politely and take his cryptic notes.

When thinking of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, one might picture horrific images of ruthless soldiers bearing down on frightened students and battered bodies strewn across the public city square. But one can only imagine.

With no body of work to compare it to, a debut album should define an artist's ambitions, and set some direction for their future by leaving the listener with a hum or a beat that sticks with him well after it has left his ears. No one is looking for perfection in a debut's material. We look for a quality that may come to define the band's sound—an element to build upon to form an improved second effort and, eventually, a balanced career.

Videogames licensed from other entertainment properties are widely considered the nadir of video game development, and with good reason.

It's hard to say what exactly Nathan Englander's short story "Everything I Know About My Family on My Mother's Side" is all about. It's got something to do with hard cider, a woman fondly dubbed "Bean," the Freedom of Information Act, and a Jewish-Ukranian butcher who—one can only infer—gets smote by vengeful Old Testament God when he falls into a vat of boiling hams.

In a performance themed "Death and Heaven," Senior Lecturer in Music Tony Antolini will lead the Bowdoin Chorus and the Mozart Mentors Orchestra in a range of pieces including the New England premiere of Karl Jenkins' "Requiem." After premiering last night, the show will be performed again tonight at 7:30 p.m.

New York-based art critic Donald Kuspit will speak on Monday, May 7 about persisting distinctions in art criticism through the 19th and 20th centuries. His lecture, "Critical Consciousness of the Arts," will explore the divisions between realism and abstraction that have evolved throughout the last two centuries of art criticism.

Two weeks ago, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's closing performance at Coachella set Twitter and other social media sites ablaze. Those watching the show live in California or streaming it online saw not only the raps of Snoop and Dre, but also an array of surprise guests including Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, 50 Cent, Eminem, and, believe it or not, Tupac.

The softball team clinched the last spot in the NESCAC championship by beating Bates twice last Sunday after losing the series opener the day before. "It was obviously a big series and a big accomplishment," said Head Coach Ryan Sullivan. "We knew we needed one game, and Bates is a good team."

This upcoming weekend will be a challenging one for the Bowdoin men's lacrosse team. They hope to advance to their third-ever NESCAC Tournament finals and earn a spot in the national collegiate tournament. It's even more important because it might be the last game for coach Tom McCabe. After 22 years as head coach, he will retire at the end of the season, as he and his wife will be entering the Peace Corps.

Amherst edged the women's lacrosse team out of the NESCAC quarterfinals on Saturday. Although the Polar Bears trailed the Jeffs closely at intermission with a score of 5-4, Amherst managed to overpower them in the second half and win the game 9-7.

Ahhh summer. It's so close, yet there those annoying exams are sitting between you and three months of freedom. And seeing as this is technically my last summer, I've created a "bucket list" of events that I plan to take part in:

Mikey Jarrell, Wiley Spears and Matt Glatt, who also broadcast Bowdoin sports live and have a radio show, muse on sports at Bowdoin and beyond. Matt Glatt: So how about Paul Pierce's game last night? Pretty impressive, especially with Rajon Rondo suspended for a game and Ray Allen injured. Wiley Spears: That's what true superstars do; they step up when they're needed most.