Middlebury College magazine. Vol. 80, No. 4 : 2006

2006·76 MB·English

by  Middlebury College

F A L L 2 0 0 6
Midd)
MA G A Z I N E
Fam ily
!JJ:
Ties - I
I
How involved
/
should parents be
in the life of their
college-age child?
R I S K Y B U S I N E S S ■ THE $ 4 4 , 0 0 0 Q U E S T I O N ■ S A F I ' S C H O I C E
TWILIGHT HALLS
Old Chapel glows on a deur fall
V)
evening.
h U P H I L L / D O W N H I L L
Z
1 4
U COLLEGE STREET
s Talking about nonproliferation;
clocking a neutron star; and
h
walking for climate change.
a
20
<
GAME TIME
fr
On a faU Friday afternoon, there’s
U
no busier place in the Peterson
Athletic Complex than the
equipment room.
22
ACADEMIC MATTERS
Does alcohol use lead to sexual
risk-taking? A psychology research
team attempts to find out.
24
STUDENT SCENE
She’s the first woman from
Afghanistan to attend Middlebury.
Next, Zohra Safi ’09 hopes to
rebuild her country.
CLASS ACTION
48
PURSUITS
Terry Kellogg ’94 hopes that an
innovative environmental initiative
will spark a revolution.
50
BOOK MARKS
Red Weather. A coming-of-age
tale that spans generations and
cultures.
Cover and inset illustrations by Polly Becker
Contents photograph by Boh Handehnan
n
EH
H
G
Ed
M
VI
28
FAMILY TIES
Parents have never been more involved
in the lives of their coUege-age children.
Is that good or bad?
32
DISPATCH IS DEAD!
LONG LIVE DISPATCH!
Two years after playing their final gig
together, the members of Dispatch are
still making noise.
36
THE $44,000 QUESTION
Peeling back the sticker price and
exanumng the cost of higher education.
42
WALKING GEORGE TO
SCHOOL
When his son was younger, Jay
Heinrichs ’y? never had a chance
to walk him to school. So when
George To, a matriculating first-year,
announced his intention to hike to
Middleburyjay asked if he could
tag along.
2 VIEWFINDER
3 LETTERS
12 CONTRIBUTORS
26 NORTHERN EXPOSURE
52 CLASS NOTES
84 CLASSIFIEDS
88 ROAD TAKEN
■ V I E WF I N D E R
Middlebury
B irth D ay
M A G A Z I N E
Fall 2006
The birth of a child reveals an entirely new world.
Volume 80, Number 4
Editor
Matt Jennings
ON August 21 of last year . 1 was down in Richmond,Virginia, for the
Ari Director
baptism of my niece—my sister’s kid—the first of a new generation in Pamela Fogg
my immediate family. My wife and I were to be the godparents of the
little girl, and while 1 had flown down to Richmond thinking about all Assistant Editor
Regan Eberhart
of the Michael Coiieone quotes and Godfather references I would
contribute to the weekend, 1 found that once 1 was there, in the presence of this Production Coordinator
new member of the family, 1 was at a loss for words (a rare occurrence). My sister— Catherine Walsh
my younger sister, by five years—was a mother, and here was this young child, only Graphic Designer
a few months old, with her entire life waiting for her. For me, the change was Carey Bass ’99
profound; my niece embodied an entirely new way of thinking about the future
Interim Alumni Editor
and aU it holds. Sara Thurber Marshall
Exactly one year later—^August 21, 2006—1 was in the delivery room at
Editor ot Large
Middlebuiy’s Porter Hospital by my wife’s side (feeling utterly helpless) as my son,
Dotty McCarty
John, was born. The second of a new generation had arrived, and it was several days
before 1 connected the two dates: John’s birth day and that day one year ago when
I first started to reflect on the amount of change inherent in a child’s birth. Now, Editorial Oftice
Meeker House
it seems that everywhere 1 turn, it’s right there staring me in the face.
Middlebury College
It’s in this issue’s cover story—how a parent and child communicate as the child
Middlebury,VT 05753
decamps for college. It’s in John Pulley’s fascinating feature story on the economics
Phone: [phone]
of higher education—will I be able to afford college tuition in 18 years? It’s the sub­
E-maU: [email protected]
ject of Jay Heinrichs’s charming personal essay, in which Jay relates the adventure of
Online:
taking an unusual route to Middlebury with his son, George, a member of the Class
www.middleburymagazine.org
of 2010—and comparing it not only to his arrival at the College as a first year
nearly 30 years ago, but to his mother’s as well.
Advertising Sales Olfice
The subject is also present, in another dimen­ Smart Communication, Inc.
sion, in our back page essay, where Greg MacKay P.O. Box 283,Vergennes,VT 05491
’81 relates the experience of offering hope to those Phone: [phone]
who have very little—by opening one’s home E-mail: [email protected]
to foster children.
Other College Offices
As I write all this, I must admit that I was
(aU area code 802)
warned not to do so. A few months back. I was at
CoUege Information: 443-5000
an editors’ conference in Nashville and was talking
Alumni Office: 443-5183
with a colleague about the then pending birth, and
Admissions: 443-3000
she said, “Oh, this is so much fun, but don’t be
one of those editors who aU of a sudden sees their
The \5ews presented are not necessarily those of
personal circumstances in every story. And whatev­ the editors or the official policies of the College.
er you do, don’t write about it.”
Middlebury College of Middleburs’.VT 05753.
Oops. Guilty, I guess.
publishes Middlebury Magazine (ISSN 0745-2454)
But 1 don’t think I’m alone on this one. Change affects us aU, whether you four times a year: winter, spring, surmner. and fall.
are an 18-year-old heading off to college, a parent dropping him or her off, or a © 2006 Middleburç' College Publications.
Middlelmry Magazine is printed at The Lane Press
graduate who remembers what it was like to be on one end and who wonders
in South Burlington,VT. Nonprofit standard mail
what it will be like on the other. But sometimes it takes an event—a graduation, postage paid at Middlebuty.VT, and at additional
a homecoming, the first day of school, or, in some cases, a birth—not only to mailing offices (USPS 964-820).
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
recognize that change but to see it as a catalyst for a whole new way of viewing
Middlebury Magazine. Middlebury College.
the world. Middleburç'. VT 05753. Printed in U.S.A.
-M J
Photograph of .Matt Jennings by Boh Handebnan
M iddlebury M ag .yzine
LETTERS
Swopping Cheese
for Chaucer
Thank you for the story “17 Things
Every Alum Should Know about Bread
Loaf” in the summer issue of Middkbury
Magazine.Tvue, the latter number of the
“17 Things” were familiar to me and serve
as a deserved publicity for the School. But
everything pertaining to the history of
Bread Loaf fascinated me and, yes, put me
to shame. Having spent three summers at
Bread Loaf and having graduated there in
the early 1970s, I did that with a vague
notion that Robert Frost, sweaty and
tired, collapsed there under a tree one day
and said: “But I have promises to keep, let
there be a School of English.” Never
heard of Battell, his poor health, his way
of swapping excellent cheese for Chaucer,
i.e., choosing a road less traveled by much
earlier than the bard.
Very endearing! Very Vermont-ish!
And for a die-hard number of us foreign­
ers, USA at its very best!
Diiro Ganotzi, M.A. English ’j2
Dillenbtirg, Germany
Two More Things... LIFE AT BREAD LOAF
A Point Not Well Token ...EVERY ALUM SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Grace Kronenberg's primer
1 ENJOYED READING ABOUT THE BREAD Bread Loaf (“17 Things Every Alum on the Bread Loaf School of
Loaf campus in the summer 2006 edi­ Should Know about Bread Loaf,” summer English opened some eyes,
tion of the alumni magazine. However, 1 2006). sparked fond remembrances,
must take issue with point number ii Number 18. By virtue of the way it is and led to a rejoinder.
regarding the statement, “In an era when assembled, the Bread Loaf faculty is
less than half of secondary school teachers among the most distinguished grad school
have a degree in the field they teach— English faculties in the world. Because
most hold their degrees in education...” Bread Loaf draws most of its faculty from
I am a public school teacher with other colleges and universities throughout Seamus Heaney, Sinclair Lewis, Archibald
three degrees in the fields 1 teach (French the U.S. and the U.K., the faculty usually McLeish, Howard Nemerov, Dorothy
and Spanish): two from Middlebury and includes many academic luminaries. In Parker, Carl Sandberg, Richard Wilbur,
one from the Monterey Institute of the past, the faculty has included Harold William Carlos Williams, and, again of
International Studies. At my high school, Bloom, Bart Giamatti, and, of course, course, Robert Frost.
more than 85 percent of the teachers hold Robert Frost. Recently, it has featured Frank Bctkou’ski, M.A. English ’00
a degree in their field; teachers in the Paul Muldoon, Christopher Ricks, and Mercersburg, Pcnnsyhmna
English department who have a degree in Robert Steptoe. My own Bread Loaf pro­
journalism are considered to hold a fessors included Michael Wood and Kate The writer is the associate director of college
degree “out of their field."This high per­ Flint, then chairs of English at Princeton counseling at Mercersburg Academy.
centage, significantly above halt, is not at and Oxford, respectively.
all unusual, at least in Colorado. The Number 19. Bread Loafs list of great Making Payroll on the Farm
schools are required to report this very literary' figures who have come to the The carping by several professors
number on a yearly ba.sis. mountain campus is nearly unparalleled at against Commencement speaker Ann
Please do not think that teachers are any college or university. I Airing my five Venenian (Letters, summer 2006)—for
not knowledgeable or educated in what summers there, 1 heard readings and lec­ e.xample, use of“scare quotes” in describ­
they teacli.We are very much so! tures by Julia Alvarez, David Henry ing Veneman’s fiimily farm—is profoundly
Clunknic Lindsay Maybnry 'S6, Hwang,Tony Kushner, and N. Scott elitist and shows how embedded they are
.\/..d. Si>anisli <X), MIIS MAII L 'Sij Moniaday, to name a few. I’ast visitors in a populist, agrarian view ot agriculture
Cjoldcn, (Aihrada liave included Saul Bellow, Willa Cather, tar more suited to the 19th century than
F .^ [ o t)
I 1 I u s r K I I 0 N n V 1’ M 11 1 2 0
M iddlebury College
Board of Trustees
Endless Learning
President
Ronald D. Liebowitz
for alumni, parents, and friends
Fellows
Louis Bacon ’79
Pamela Tanner Boll ’78
William Delahunt ’63, P’97
Alumni Travel in Donald M. EUiman,Jr. ’67
Frederick M. Fritz ’68, P’95, P’97, P’oo
Antarctica Richard S. Fuld,Jr. P’03, P’07
Nancy Coffrin Furlong ’75, P’02, P’04
Charles Gately ’62, P’05
Explore with Robert C. Graham, Jr. ’63
Olivier P. L. Halley ’91
Bill McKibben and Sue Halpern
Beverly L. Hamilton
January 19-February 1, 2007 Betty Ashbury Jones, M.A. ’86
James R. Keyes ’71
William H. Kieffer 111 ’64
Roxanne McCormick Leighton ’67
Collections & Estancias: Patrick L. McConathy P’04, P’05, P’o6
Stephen McDonald
Santiago, Patagonian Cruise Michael C. Obel-Omia ’88
& Buenos Aires Kimberly Collins Parizeau ’79
Steven B. Peterson ’88
Elisabeth B. Robert ’78
Travel to the vibrant cities of
Felix G. Rohatyn ’49
Santiago and Buenos Aires with David A. Salem ’78
Miguel Fernandez ’85 Susan J. Scher ’86
Jed A. Smith ’88
March 20-April 2, 2007
John Spencer P’88, P’94
Karen A. Stolley ’77
Deborah G. Thomas ’75
John R.Tormondsen ’82
Alumni College in James Edward Virtue ’82, P’lO
Marna C. Whittington P’99
Sante Fe, New Mexico Linda Foster Whitton ’80, P’05, P’o8
Kendrick R. Wilson III P’oi. P’03
Join us for three operas with Emeriti
James 1. Armstrong
John Hunisak and GregVitercik
Mary Williams Brackett ’36
July 10-July 15, 2007
Dort A. Cameron III ’67, P’92. P'y5, P’oo. P'05
Churchill G. Franklin ’71, P’02, P’05. P’07
Claire Waterhouse Gargalli '64
Willard T. Jackson '51
Highlights of Chinese John M. McCardell.Jr.
C. Irving Meeker '50, P’78
Art and Antiquity Jonathan O'Herron P'8i, P'88
Patricia Judah Palmer '57, P'8y. P'y2
Milton V. Peterson ’58. P'84. P'86, P'88
Travel with John and W Kyle Prescott '49, P’73, P'76, P’77
Raymond J. Saulnier '29
Alice Berninghausen
David E.Thompson '49. P'72. P'75, P’77
visiting sites around China Robert P.Youngman '64. P'87. P'90
October 5—21, 2007
O fficers of the Corporation
Frederick M. Fritz ’68, P'95, P'97. P'00, Chair
For further information please visit Ronald D. Liebowitz. President
www.middlebury.edu/alumni/events/travel/ Roxanne McCormick Leighton '67. Vice Chair
Kendrick R. Wilson III P'oi. P'03. Vice Chair
or call [phone]
Betsy Mitchell Etchells ’75, Secretary
F. Robert Huth.Jr..Treasurer
M iddlebury M agazine
LETTERS
the 21 Their criticism ought not to Republican, and she is an inspiring exam­ in agriculture, you’re toast. Commodities
St.
represent the values (their term) of ple of what intelligent, competent women can survive just fine without the special­
Middlebury or any other school. can do when barriers are removed. The ties, but not the other way around.
Americans have been eating substan­ pettiness of the writers, in contrast, is of What’s galling about agrarians, espe­
tial quantities of genetically modified no credit to the College. cially academic agrarians, is that their
foods for half a generation. Were there the 1 make my living as an ecological beliefs and putative policies are not only
slightest health impact, trial lawyers and farmer. It’s a challenge to deal with stale, but work against farmers’ successes
neo-Luddites would have ridden that weather, markets, balky equipment, assort­ and well-being in an industry already dif­
pony hard and fast. They didn’t, because ed pests, highly seasonal cash flow, getting ficult enough on its own. I have an edi­
there’s no there, there. So why is Veneman shafted by buyers, and making payroll. For tion of American Agriculturalist magazine in
criticized for supporting a technology all that, it’s a stimulating, profitable, enjoy­ which academics bemoan the impact of
proven safe and backed by crushing able career, and the 15-second commute new technology on family farms. They
majorities of both scientists and farmers? is hard to beat. What I don’t need—what meant “Mr. McCormick’s reaper, of late
Agricultural GMO technology is of none of us in farming need—are well- developed in Virginia and already exerting
preponderant environmental benefit, paid, well-fed academics telling us what’s an unhealthy downward pressure on the
allowing farmers to save energy, improve right or wrong for our businesses. price of grain.” In 1844.
soil structure, use fewer herbicides, and Globalized, industrialized, commodi­ The professors’ letter is just as badly
reduce insecticide use. Farmers have not tized production of the world’s most out-of-time, and demonstrates negligible
been shy about abandoning GMO tech­ essential energy and protein foodstuffs has understanding of agricultural realities. If
nology when it provides few net benefits, opened countless profitable niche oppor­ they could have their way, I suspect we
such as the “New Leaf” potato, but those tunities for small farmers around the farmers would eventually be reduced to
decisions should be made by individual world, some of which are illustrated in little more than exhibits in some sort of
farmers across America, not some feverish “Who’s Hungry?” (same issue).There are private agrarian petting zoo. No thank
clot of professors, few of whom have ever two effective business models: high vol­ you. Not interested.
had to make payroll. ume at low margin (commodities) and Bart Hall ’71
Veneman was appointed to head low volume at high margin (specialties). Dc Soto, Kansas
UNICEF by Kofi Annan, not exactly a The two are complementary, not compet­
corporate stooge or card-carrying itive, and if you try anything else, at least
Basin HarLor Cmn
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LETTERS
Intellectual Diversity?
What a keliet to read a proposal by
International careers are the future.
12 Middlebury professors riiat the
College select only Commencement
Here^s the first step to yours.
speakers who have been vetted by
I ; r Planned Parenthood and 'llie Nation.This
will surely save the College much of the
time and energy it now wastes searching
for a variety of speakers. It has been long
apparent that the goal of intellectual
diversity in higher education is a crock.
Congratulations to these professors for
doing their part to persuade Middlebury
College to abandon it.
■•JSfc.'
Josh Levy ’p7
Charhttesuille, Virginia
A Markeiploce of Ideos?
Middlebury College is committed , in
its own words, to “maintaining a diverse
community committed to broadened
educational opportunities within an
atmosphere of respect for others.”This
vow serves as a very interesting backdrop
Visit us at www.miis.edu
to the letter signed by 12 professors in the
and step into a world of possibilities. summer 2006 edition arguing that for­
mer Secretary of Agriculture Ann
Veneman should have been disqualified
from speaking at Commencement.
The professors’ letter leads with an
assertion that choosing Veneman to speak
was “inconsistent with the values of the
College and with the values of most
Vermonters.” The group supports this
claim by suggesting that Veneman’s posi­
tions on trade, land-use, and abortion run
counter to Middlebury’s preferred posi­
tion on such matters.
My suspicion, however, is that
Middlebury College doesn’t actually have
a position on regulatory actions taken by
the Clinton administration, or any of the
other things mentioned by the professors.
1 certainly couldn’t find any when 1
searched the Handbook and other official
sources. Nonetheless, the authors are cer­
tainly entitled to their opinions on politi­
cal matters—evidence of which is abun­
dant in the group’s decision to cite left-
wing standard-bearers Planned
Parenthood and The Nation as the pri­
mait' sources supporting its argument.
1 happen to share some of the policy
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would likely say the same. My objection
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L E T T E R S|
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to the group’s argument is simply that it
Baldwin
makes a very dangerous assumption about
|OIN THE INTRODUCTION which values Middlebury College really
Network exclusively for holds dear. If speakers whose views chal­
GRADUATES. FACULTY. AND lenge the dominant on-campus political
STUDENTS OF MIDDLEBURY
outlook are not welcome at Middlebury,
The IVY LEAGUE. STANFORD. Mary's Restaurant
AND A FEW OTHERS how diverse of a community can the
College really be? Is Middlebury really
Farm Fresh Dining
willing to close its doors to differing ideas
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• only to have “other colleges and universi­
ties,” as the authors suggest, take up the
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I am proud to know that Middlebury
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College found the will to feature Ann
Veneman as its Commencement speaker.
Such a choice strengthens Middlebury’s
reputation as a place where the market­
place of ideas can truly thrive, and where
leaders of aU political stripes—Rudy
fresh window fashion
Giuliani, Jim Jeffords, and Ari Fleischer
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www.middleburyinn.com Dept. 15306 Stockbridge, MA 01262
www.sendcatalog.com (Dept. 15306) Kevin F. King ’02
I'Vasliington, District of Coinnihia
Reducing Emissions 101
1 READ WITH INTEREST the interview with
\eu> Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert
POOTE on the subject of climate change
f. ("Q&A,” summer 2006) and noted, in
F particular, her hopeful response to the
a r m
question of how programs like
' .'7-> Middlebury’s environmental studies pro­
gram furthers the journey towards solu­
tions to the problem of climate change.
Ms. Kolbert noted that such programs
“inspire kids to take this issue seriously,
and once you take it seriously, when you
IxTRonrcixG Foote Farm ’.s Fi xury IIomesite .s. really do the numbers, what you see is
needed are really serious actions.”
Oeferixg Both Privacy & Protected \ 4ews .
Indeed. But let’s “walk the walk” if
•Over 100 acres of common-use, conserved land we “talk the talk.” As I noted to an envi­
•Xeighborhood roads, utilities and septic all in place ronmental studies faculw member a few
• Meadow, forest, and/or long range views years ago, having no more than a one-
•Located in Cornwall on Rt. 125, 3.5 miles west of Middleburv child family is an absolute imperative if
we are going to make any headway in
c o L O lu e u . reducing carbon emissions. Let’s face it:
B A N X eR Q the equation boils down to: people =
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ter. Denial of that realirv, however, knows
8 .Middlebury ,M c. :