Reuben Schafir

Staff Writer — Class of 2022

Number of articles: 26

First Article: September 17, 2021

Latest Article: May 13, 2022

109 photos by Reuben Schafir

**FROM FRATS TO FRETS:** Dana Bourgeois '75, owner of Bourgeois Guitars in Lewiston, proudly stands in his cluttered workshop. Bourgeois reflects on his work as a luthier and how his time at Bowdoin impacted his career.

**A CELEBRATION OF LIFE:** The Bowdoin community honored Henry Zietlow with the third annual ergathon in Smith Union last Friday. The first floor was filled with members of the crew team as well as other peers and members of Bowdoin athletics.

**MOSTLY LOCAL:** Chef Ali Waks Adams creates a dish for her restaurant. Waks Adams purchases her ingredients locally whenever possible and does much of her shopping at the Brunswick Winter Farmers Market.

**HAND ON THE HELM:** Robert H. Edwards, now 86, presided over the College from 1990-2001, a period during which the student experience changed drastically.

**Bridging the divide:** It's unclear how much longer the bridge between Topsham and Brunswick can go without replacement or repair.

**YOU SHALL NOT PASS:** Fire engines, school buses, and some commercial trucks are unable to use the bridge as a result of the weight limit being lowered.

**Ongoing controversy:** Students and community members alike have continuously raised concerns about trustee Jes Staley

**BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE:** Those in favor of building a new bridge are pointing to the improved safety and community benefits that will come with it.

**FRIENDS OF THE FRANK J. WOOD BRIDGE:** Those in favor of keeping the bridge are arguing for its historic component and the price of rehabilitation possibly being less.

**The Face of the Pandemic:** Mike Ranen stands tall after zero positive test results on Wednesday. Ranen discusses his work and experiences as Bowdoin's COVID-19 resource coordinator.

**SWABBIN’ FOR SAFETY:** Students and faculty alike have committed to keeping campus safe, as demonstrated by their cheerful willingness for nose swabs.

While vaccination rates are high, repeated testing keeps the Bowdoin community safer.

**Community effort:** students and faculty alike have been committed to keeping campus safe, as demonstrated by their cheerful willingness for nose swabs.

**COMING SOON:** The construction of the Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies and Mills Hall is one of the final projects laid out by the College’s 2017 Master Plan.

**ORDER'S UP:** Ben Gatchell, owner of Dog Bar Jim, works at the coffee shop's pick-up window serving coffee to customers. Since the Town of Brunswick and the state of Maine put a shelter-in-place order, downtown restaurants have found creative ways to serve customers following CDC guidelines.

**IN THE ZONE:** Micah Wilson '22 focuses on his homework. Wilson has been living in an off-campus residence since classes resumed online.

**Portland Pie Co.** Open for: Pick-up and delivery. Accepting orders online and via phone. Call for info on beer and wine selection and specials. Hours: Monday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information: Call 207-844-2777, or visit Portland Pie’s website or Facebook page.

**UNDER COVER:** Outside Little Dog Coffee Shop, employee Oliver Lowell serves coffee to loyal patrons.

**Dog Bar Jim** Open for: Pick-up, drive-thru style. Hours: Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information: Call 207-241-4300.

**WORK HARD PLAY HARD:** After moving into an off-campus house on Atwood Street on Monday, Nathan Ashany '21 conducts remote school work on his new bed.

**ALWAYS SMILING:** Retired Bowdoin professor of political philosophy shares his perspective on political issues and generational divides at age 91.

**ALL SMILES:** Founder of Pretty Flowers Amy Maloney specializes in custom floral arrangements, wreaths and landscaping. The business crafts arrangements from largely locally-sourced flowers.

**Closing Time** Uncle Tom’s Market on Pleasant Street has closed after more than six decades of serving Brunswick. The family-owned business was passed down from father, Thomas “Uncle Tom” Bouthot to son Dan Bouthot.

**SUN'S OUT** BCA co-leaders (left to right) Ayana Harscoet ’21 and Perrin Milliken ’22 at the September rally.

**TIME FOR A TUNE UP:** Joel Amsden and Pete Risano at Kennebeck Instrument & Amplifier specialize in extensive guitar repair. The shop is located in the Fort Andross Mill Complex.

Joel Amsden plays the Soma version of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Special electric guitar.

**HEAR ME OUT** Inaugural Joseph McKeen Visiting Fellow Arthur Brooks speaks to students in the Beam Classroom. Brooks’ lecture was only open to students who registered and read one of his books and watched a documentary beforehand. The talk addressed topics as varied as social media and climate change.

**FOUR-FIGURE CLUB:** Caroline Flaharty ’20 became just the third Bowdoin player to record 1,000 kills and digs last week.

U.S. Senate candidate Betsy Sweet spoke at Bowdoin Climate Action's Global Climate Strike Rally that took place on the steps of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art Friday morning.

**UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL:** The Meddiebempsters, one of Bowdoin's six a cappella groups, performed in a first-year dorm last week. Each a cappella group undergoes a yearly recruitment process which includes performances in the first-year bricks at the annual recruitment concert.

**SO LONG, FAREWELL** After 23 years at Bowdoin, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster will retire at the end of this semester. Students, faculty, staff and guests will celebrate his legacy at a party in Thorne Hall on Friday evening.

**GATHERING FOR GREEN** Bowdoin students joined other activists to protest outside U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) Portland office last Friday.

**DEBATE AND DASH:** The Merciless Debate Society’s quick, 10-minute debates happen in a flash, but provide students, like Jack Moynihan ’19 (pictured center), to engage in a spectrum of political discussion.

**FRIENDS IN FORTUNO:** Since the spring of their first year, Tobi Omola ’19 and Ellis Laifer ’19 have shared a close frienship and creative enterprise, collaborating on original songs through their music duo, Fortuno.

**DIVING INTO THE WEEKEND:** Members of the women’s swim and dive team dive into Greason Pool for an event last weekend. The Polar Bears dominated the weekend, winning both meets on Saturday and Sunday. The men’s and women’s teams will face Colby this weekend as they prepare for the NESCAC finals.

**DOCUMENT OF DISCONTENT:** Michael Ruetz’s photos capture an important social and political turning point in post-World War II Germany.

**FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY:** Jean-Baptiste Andre '20 competes in the butterfly at the Maine State Meet last weekend.

**CREATIVE COLLECTIVE:** Students, like Aida Muratoglu ’21 (above), work in the same space where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote parts of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

**DYNAMIC DECEMBER:** Over 60 students will perform a large variety of compositions, from modern dance to cultural choreography, dancing to iconic tunes such as “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons.

**ALL SMILES** Students at the watch party in Morrell Lounge in David Saul Smith Union cheer as election results are announced. Many students sat at the party for several hours, working on homework while watching CNN.

**ALL DECKED OUT** Much of campus was decorated in honor of Election Day, including the Polar Bear Statue.

**VOTING AND VIEWING** At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, as Maine polls were closing, students gathered together in David Saul Smith Union to watch the results come in.

Faculty

College alters policy on shared faculty appointments

By Reuben Schafir • May 13, 2022

In a memorandum to the faculty dated April 21, Senior Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Jennifer Scanlon announced that her office had revised the College’s Shared Appointments policy. The policy had previously allowed candidates for tenure-line positions to …

Alumni

Bourgeois Guitars manufactures musical marvels

By Reuben Schafir • April 15, 2022

“It was awful—it was crude. But it worked,” Dana Bourgeois ’75 said with a humble chuckle while speaking of the first guitar he built. Today, however, Bourgeois, 69, is a luthier with nearly fifty years of experience. Bourgeois led the …

Ivies

College expected to reshape Ivies weekend

By Reuben Schafir • March 4, 2022

Bowdoin’s annual Ivies party—a tradition spanning nearly 150 years—is anticipated to look dramatically different form this year according to multiple sources present at a planning meeting that took place Thursday with members of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), The Entertainment Board, …

News in Brief

Pipe bursts in Brunswick Apartments on Tuesday

By Reuben Schafir • March 4, 2022

Eliana Roberts ’23 came home to her Brunsick apartment on Tuesday afternoon to find that a hot water pipe supplying water to the radiator in the apartment above hers had burst, showering hot water over the bedroom of her roommate, …

News in Brief

Bowdoin IT shuts down Better Bowdoin Directory

By Reuben Schafir • March 4, 2022

Users of the underground college directory known as the “Better Bowdoin Directory” were greeted by an upsetting message Wednesday when they tried to visit the site. Instead of the usual search bars, they found a screenshot of an email written …

Brunswick

Willie and Chet’s: when whimsy is on the menu

By Reuben Schafir • February 18, 2022

Chef Ali Waks Adams likens Willie and Chet’s, her pop-up restaurant, to the spontaneous, ephemeral excitement of having a crush.

“A good dinner can take away some of the outside bad stuff,” Waks Adams said. “It’s temporary, it’s a panacea—but …

College Houses

End of an era: the final years of Bowdoin’s fraternities

By Reuben Schafir • February 4, 2022

“This story, in a funny way, begins in Paris,” remembered Robert H. Edwards, President of the College from 1990 to 2001. Now 86 years of age, Edwards sat upright at his spotless dining room table in his farmhouse near Wiscasset, …

Remembering Finnegan Woodruff, Class of 2021

By Reuben Schafir • November 19, 2021

Finnegan Woodruff ’21 was a Renaissance man: a spirited fiddle player, a scrupulous tailor and an ambitious whitewater kayaker. Finn passed away on November 16, a month from his 23rd birthday, doing what he loved—paddling on the White Salmon River …

News in Brief

Increase to minimum wage of student dining employees

By Reuben Schafir • October 1, 2021

Dining Services announced this week its plan to raise the starting wage of student employees to $14.25 per hour in response to the nationwide labor shortage that has led to a staffing deficiency across many of the College’s departments. Beyond …

Administration

Behind the mask: The face of Bowdoin’s COVID-19 response

By Reuben Schafir • September 17, 2021

Mike Ranen usually starts his morning by checking the College’s COVID-19 test results around 6 a.m.. The results of those tests will dictate the course of his day.

On a good day, Ranen can balance his job as the Associate …

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Reuben Schafir

Staff Writer — Class of 2022

109 photos by Reuben Schafir

Faculty

College alters policy on shared faculty appointments

Alumni

Bourgeois Guitars manufactures musical marvels

Ivies

College expected to reshape Ivies weekend

News in Brief

Pipe bursts in Brunswick Apartments on Tuesday

News in Brief

Bowdoin IT shuts down Better Bowdoin Directory

Brunswick

Willie and Chet’s: when whimsy is on the menu

College Houses

End of an era: the final years of Bowdoin’s fraternities

Remembering Finnegan Woodruff, Class of 2021

News in Brief

Increase to minimum wage of student dining employees

Administration

Behind the mask: The face of Bowdoin’s COVID-19 response