The Dartmouth Mirror 10/25/17

MIR ROR 10.25.2017

THE SOUND OF SILENCE | 3

EXERCISING THE SELF: YOGA AND MEDITATION | 4

BEYOND CLASS SHOPPING: CRAFT SHOPS | 6 ANCA BALACEANU/THE DARTMOUTH

2 //MIRR OR

Editors’ Note

Art in the Interim: Hood Downtown STORY

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Your three dauntless Mirror editors pranced into Robo on this bright, sunny Tuesday, smiling at each other while receiving warm, welcome hugs from a cheery editor-in-chief Ray Lu ’18. They were thrilled to be spending yet another long night together, especially since they all felt well-prepared for their midterms this week and because they’ve earned nothing but A’s this entire term. They’ve never felt healthier. One may go so far as to say they’re “peaking” during this wonderful week seven.

Kidding, of course. How many of you, loyal Mirror readers, actually believed any of that?

Here’s the truth: Annette arrived at Robo first (but still late), sprinting in from a prior commitment to edit with a writer, tissues spilling out of her pockets as she battles The Plague. While trying to pull her frantic thoughts together, she received the following texts from a similarly-scattered May: “Gonna be late to production. Went to Dick’s House and now driving back from West Leb. I went grocery shopping but couldn’t find my car after lol was stranded.”

After May rushed in, guzzling tea and cough drops and complaining about her lack of taste, the two looked around the office for an absent Lauren. Where was the final, most entertaining part of their dysfunctional team?

As if on cue, Annette and May’s ears perked up as they heard a pair of crutches being dragged loudly and unevenly through the hallway. Poor LB18 limped into the room, her leg sporting a massive cast, her arms sore from using crutches, her entire body dripping wet — as it had started to pour outside — and her eyes still groggy from a recent nap. The first words from this ill-fated editor? “I honestly don’t know — what time is it? How late am I?” It is truly amazing you even HAVE an issue of the Mirror to view this week, dear readers. We’ll get to our point already: Many Dartmouth students experience the same phenomenon — trying to appear somewhat put together in public but often feeling quite the opposite in private.

Our theme relates. To complement last week’s “That Which is Public,” this issue is centered around “That Which is Private.” We feature stories based on yoga and meditative practices, familial reflections, silence, camera surveillance on campus, the jewelry studio, the Hood Downtown and public versus private high schools. Good luck with week seven!

follow @thedmirror 10.25.17 VOL. CLXXIV NO. 136 MIRROR EDITORS LAUREN BUDD ANNETTE DENEKAS MAY MANSOUR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RAY LU PUBLISHER PHILIP RASANSKY EXECUTIVE EDITOR KOURTNEY KAWANO ERIN LEE PHOTO EDITORS ELIZA MCDONOUGH HOLLYE SWINEHART TIFFANY ZHAI

By Farid Djamalov

Amelia Kahl ’01 is an associate curator of academic programming at the Hood Museum of Art. She focuses on mini-curatorial projects, working with faculty members across all disciplines to choose objects to present to their classes.

“The Hood has about 65,000 objects, but only one percent — or even less than one percent — is ever on view at any one time,” Kahl said.

“One of the intentions in this whole building expansion project is to be able to show a greater percentage of our collection. To have seven new galleries allows us to show a fraction more.”

Currently, the exhibit “Resonant Spaces: Sound Art at Dartmouth” exhibit lines the walls of the Hood Downtown’s Hanover gallery. In the same vein as the original museum’s mission, entrance to this exhibit is free, and it is open to the public.

“Our initial idea for when the Hood would be under construction was that there wouldn’t be any access to the collection besides public art and public sculpture,” Kahl said, referring to artworks such as the Orozco Mural.

“John Stomberg, the director, had the concept for Hood Downtown.

The idea was that [Hood] should have a continued presence within the community.”

Nonetheless, the Hood Downtown doesn’t use the Hood’s collection; instead, it displays global contemporary art exhibitions curated specifically for that space. The artwork from the Hood, however, is currently stored at several offsite locations during closure.

“We have some [art stored] locally, but we do have a lot of our greatest hits on loan now, lending them to different institutions” Kahl said. “For instance, our Perugino altarpiece [“Virgin and Child with Saints”] is currently at the Yale University Art Gallery. We have eight works at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, including Maria Oakley Dewing’s ‘Iris at Dawn (Iris).’”

With such a grand collection, one might wonder, what happens with the artwork that is not displayed?

For the most part, it is in storage in the museum. When art is pulled out for classes in the Bernstein StudyStorage Center, pieces are housed in the building.

“As a curator, you bring these 65,000 artworks to light at different rates,” Kahl said. “Things change all the time. You’re always doing a rehang of the permanent collection or a show. A collections curator, like our curator of American art Bonnie MacAdam, is constantly thinking about how to change her gallery, how to bring up things that have been in storage for a while and how to mix it up.”

However, some artworks remain

constant. approval from the acquisitions “We have one of the best committee. Any money that is collections of Assyrian reliefs outside made from the sale of those works of the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] goes toward the purchase of future in New York and the British Museum artworks. in London,” Kahl said. “We have Throughout the years, the Hood’s six of them shown in the [Tina Kim collection has gleaned an impressive Gallery.] They are signature pieces and diverse array of artworks. of the Hood, and they will come Sometimes surprisingly mundane back and be shown again at the Kim objects constitute the museum’s Gallery [when the Hood reopens]. It collection. is something visitors will remember.” “We had one object that I never As we discuss the artworks in thought would come out, and it did the museum, Kahl nostalgically come out, which was a bag of wood reminisces pieces that are inaccessible shavings,” Kahl noted. “They were at the moment. She longs for those by carved during one of the world’s fairs, Georgia O’Keeffe, Thomas Dewing, and, well, they came out for a class on Rembrandt and Mark Rothko, the world’s fairs. You never know.” among others.

During her undergraduate years “It’s so hard, because you miss at Dartmouth, Kahl admits that things,” she said. “It will be like she did not fully take advantage of being acquainted with old friends the museum’s offerings. It is easy to again once we reopen — and some get wound up in the juggle between new friends too because we’ve been schoolwork and social life, but it is acquiring since we’ve been closed.” important to allot some time for The process of acquisition is oneself and grow through interaction straightforward. with art.

C u r a t o r s “It will be like being “[Art] can be a select work way to engage, acquainted with old for purchase, to look for which is then friends again once something that approved by the we reopen — and speaks to you,” director. When Kahl said. “It a n a r t w o r k some new friends too can be a great considered for because we’ve been way to talk about purchase asks difficult issues, acquiring since we’ve for more than because you can a certain price been closed.” talk about those threshold, it issues couched in is brought to the art. We hope the acquisition -AMELIA KAHL ’01, [this museum] c o m m i t t e e , HOOD MUSEUM can serve as a which consists place for cultural OF ARTASSOCIATE of faculty from literacy and the art history, CURATOR OF ACADEMIC critical thinking.” anthropology, PROGRAMMING A visit to the studio art Hood, however, and classics does not have departments to be an event along with blocked out on a representatives from the library and calendar. the advancement division.

“Students sometimes feel like it has Nonetheless, Kahl noted that a to be an event that lasts two hours,” great portion of the artworks are Kahl said. “However, you can pop in donated. for only 10 minutes and look at one Contrary to popular belief, thing. You can bring a friend, have however, donations are not always a conversation and engage with the from Dartmouth alumni. The late museum on your own terms. You can Will Owen and Harvey Wagner gave also just come by yourself and take a the museum roughly 600 works of breath and look one piece. Sit down. art for Hood’s Aboriginal Australian Escape a little.” collection. When the Hood reopens, The instructions for engaging with the museum will feature the Owen art are quite simple in Kahl’s opinion. and Wagner collection in one of the “Just come in, look and be open,” galleries. she said. “Find something that you While the Hood acquires artwork, like or find something you hate. it also sometimes deaccessions. This Sometimes, hating is good, too. is a process that is more complicated Artists want to provoke reaction, so than purchasing. Works that are hatred is better than indifference. It deaccessioned tend to no longer shouldn’t feel like you are going into support the collection, whether due an art history exam. Trust yourself. to quality issues or duplicates. The Dartmouth students often want that process involves thorough research, one right answer, and with art, there contacting the donor and getting are lots of right answers.”

MIRROR //3

The Sound of Silence STORY

By Eliza Jane Schaeffer

Noises can be readily identified as pleasant or unpleasant. For me, the sound of raindrops on my window is pleasant, while the sound of nails scraping against a chalkboard is decidedly unpleasant. These evaluations are made possible by complex chemical pathways in my brain that convert sensory stimuli into nuanced physical and affective responses. But how do we respond to an absence of stimuli? What if there are no sound waves to press against our ear drums?

Researchers placed subjects alone in a sparsely furnished laboratory containing a button which, when pressed, delivered a painful electric shock. After feeling the test shock, all subjects said they would rather pay a fee than receive a second shock; however, within 15 minutes of solitary silence, 67 percent of men and 25 percent of women pressed the button in order to break the monotony. They were so desperate for a stimulus — any stimulus — that they were willing to suffer a shock they knew to be painful.

Shocks can be uncomfortable, but so can silence. When left alone, silence can create space for thoughts that are better left buried. In the absence of stimulation, nagging anxieties and suppressed doubts — unearthed through self-reflection invoked by activity in what neuroscientists call the “default mode network” — rise to the surface of our conscious mind.

In American culture, this effect is seemingly amplified in the presence of a new acquaintance.

Brandon Nye ’20, a self-described introvert, is content to spend time alone in his room.

“I actually spend most of my day in silence,” he said.

But for Nye, silence in the context of a conversation has an entirely different effect. A lull can mean you’re not being engaging enough, or you’re not interesting enough to draw out conversation. It is the implications of silence rather than silence itself that Nye finds unpleasant. Silence is the result of having nothing to say, and, in American culture, to have nothing to say is to be uninteresting, odd, a bore.

Sociological research shows that Americans actively avoid silence, labeling even a four-second lull in conversation as “awkward.” To stave off discomfort, we validate our conversational partners’ stories with a near-constant stream of “yeahs,” “yeps” and side comments, and we pad our speech with empty fillers like “um,” “uh” and “you know” instead of pausing for a breath.

While not unique to America, this stigmatization of silence is certainly not universal. In Japan, eight-second

silences during business meetings are acceptable, even typical. The Finnish, Norwegians and Swedes fall silent in the midst of conversations in order to process what they are hearing and respond appropriately.

These discrepancies exist partially because Americans are unique in their belief that communication is largely verbal — other cultures recognize silence as a means of communication. Silence can index respect or judgment or displeasure.

Alex Waterhouse ’20 grew up in England and has noticed the American avoidance of silence since coming to Dartmouth.

“I feel like silence doesn’t happen very often here in comparison to the U.K.,” he said. “In a group of Americans, I feel like someone would jump into a silence much quicker, just to say something or carry on a previous thought, whereas if there’s nothing more to be said in the U.K., people just won’t say anything for a little bit until something else comes up.”

According to Waterhouse, Brits are perfectly comfortable with having nothing to say. He described these natural lulls in conversation as “contented silences” in which “you just stop talking and think about it for a minute.”

W h i l e s i l e n c e s p ro m p t e d Waterhouse to reflect on the topic, silences prompted Sara Hileman ’20 to reflect on her role in the conversation. Hileman described silences as anything but contented, particularly if she is with someone she doesn’t know well.

“If I’m nervous about what the other person is thinking of the conversation, then I’ll probably panic a little internally,” she said.

She tends to respond to awkward silences by filling them by any means possible.

“I’ll just kind of start babbling about myself and end up sharing some detail that probably no one cares about,” she said.

This compulsion might come from a perceived need to “prove” herself, Hileman said.

W a t e r h o u s e acknowledged that pressures to continue conversation exist in certain situations.

“If you’re in a situation where you are expected to keep up conversation, then if you don’t do that, it would be awkward,” he said.

But for Hileman

and Nye, simply conforming to expectations is not enough to make a silence comfortable. They see silence as a sign of intimacy; it requires a certain degree of understanding and trust. To share silence with another person is to be “comfortable just with each other’s presence,” Hileman explained.

A shared silence means there is no pressure to impress, no anxiety-ridden speculation as to the thoughts of the other person.

More importantly, it indicates an acceptance, and even enjoyment, of that which two-thirds of men and one quarter of women in America were not willing to endure alone.

Author Virginia Woolf, famous for using stream-of-consciousness writing in monologues, would spend hours in silence, trying to activate her default mode network and understand the workings of her own mind. This intentionality was necessary because most of our musings happen below conscious awareness. And most of us, unlike Woolf, would rather keep it this way — excessive activity in the default mode network is associated with mood disorders like depression. It seems that we are only comfortable diving into the private depths of our mind in the presence of someone we trust.

4// MIRROR

Exercising the Self: Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness STORY

By Maria Harrast

We are in the midst of week seven, and by now, students are all too familiar with a certain buzzword on campus.

“I’m so stressed about that exam on Thursday.”

“The first problem on that midterm seriously stressed me out.”

“I have a lab on Monday, an essay due Tuesday and an exam on Wednesday.

I’m so stressed, I don’t even know where to start.”

“Stress.” We join clubs, compete in sports and maintain relationships, all while trying to succeed academically, find time for sleep and hold everything together. Stress is engrained in our daily lives, yet few of us take the necessary actions to combat its detrimental effects.

Wellness program coordinator Laura Beth White said that mindfulness — a mental state achieved by accepting one’s thoughts and feelings and focusing awareness on the present moment — provides both physical and mental benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety and promoting feelings of well-being and health. White said that studies show mindfulness reduces blood pressure and stress-related diseases, and mentally, it teaches us to be more accepting of our emotions and thoughts.

“Mindfulness teaches us to relate to our internal environment,” White said. “It teaches us to be aware of our emotions and feelings and hold them in space without judging them, without that inner critic saying, ‘I shouldn’t feel this way’ or denying that it’s even present. Mindfulness teaches us to keep pushing forward and really turn inward, to be aware of what’s there with a really kind and friendly attitude, like your best friend checking in on yourself.”

Meditation similarly reduces stress, although the practice differs in a few ways. According to White, mindfulness is a way of being, in which people are aware of their present moment experience, while meditation is more of a formal practice. During meditation, people are either in a seated or reclined posture, and they choose to pay attention to an anchor, their breath, a mantra or body sensations.

White believes that anyone can meditate or be mindful, although someone who has recently experienced extreme trauma may want to wait until they reach a more stable mental place.

“I think everyone’s experience with it can be very different,” White said. “I often hear a lot of folks saying they’re too anxious to meditate or they’re too stressed out or they don’t have time, but one benefit is that these practices strengthen your ability to sit with the uncomfortable. Mindfulness and meditation strengthen your ability to be present when it gets tough, and they add this richness to life.”

A more physical practice of well-being is yoga. Alissa Trepman, yoga instructor and curriculum specialist at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, teaches her students a practice called Forrest Yoga.

Forrest Yoga focuses on breath,

strength, integrity and spirit, and it challenges students to cleanse their emotional and mental limitations.

While meditation and mindfulness are not directly incorporated into Trepman’s class, breath work, or pranayama, is.

Before each class, Trepman leads her students through breathing exercises and continues to call attention to the breath during and after class.

“I am constantly cueing students to find the breath in each

pose,” Trepman said. “Many people before me have said this, but if there’s no breath, there’s no yoga. I would say that this practice can become very meditative if one manages to breathe throughout it, but it can be very challenging.”

Student yoga practitioner Alma Wang ’18 believes that meditationcanbeincorporated into yoga, but the two practices are distinct. Wang began yoga in high school and continues to practice yoga about three times per week at Mighty Yoga in Hanover.

“There is a part at the end of every yoga class where you take five to 10 minutes and lay there, and you’re forced to think or just relax and come back in contact with your body,” Wang said. “Those few moments are always where my mind traverses to things I don’t think about for a while or something that’s been in the back of my mind. In that sense, there’s this element of meditation, but I’d say meditation is more focused on the wandering mind than yoga is. Yoga’s a lot more focused on your body.”

HANA WARMFLASH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Students might practice yoga to destress, and they reap the physical and mental benefits.

Wang said she has become more conscious of her body, more flexible and less likely to get injured less when practicing yoga. The classes boost her mood and keep her calm as well.

Trepman believes that anyone who practices yoga should gain these benefits, so she tries to address the specific needs of her students during class. Whether a student is working with natural body positions or injuries, Trepman s a i d s h e e n j oy s catering to different bodies and must stay knowledgeable about modifications that certain students need.

She uses hands-on assistance and goes at a slow pace to ensure that no one is left behind.

“I really do believe that yoga is for everybody, and even more specifically for every body,” Trepman said. “There is a version of yoga that everybody can find, whether you have lost something in your physical body or you have had physical trauma or whatever physical limitations you have — there is always a pose you can find or a version of it.”

Flexibility is a key benefit of yoga, and Trepman said the strength gained from this flexibility is especially advantageous.

“In my personal experience, I’ve become a lot stronger and stronger within flexibility as well, and I think there’s a certain amount of integrity in the body when you’re not just flexible but when there’s strength within that flexibility,” Trepman said.

Similar to mindfulness or meditation, yoga helps people gain a greater sense of self. Wang said yoga makes her feel more comfortable with discomfort.

“You kind of look disgusting when you do Mighty Yoga, and it’s really hot and sweaty, but at the same time, everyone’s in that state where you’re very exposed and open but comfortable with that sense of discomfort,” Wang said. “This kind of practice makes me more comfortable with my ability to achieve things, and in that sense, it helps build my sense of self.”

Similarly, Trepman said yoga is more than a physical practice. Yoga gives her the opportunity for emotional breakthroughs and trains her mind to deal with any situation.

“Emotional trauma is stored in the body, and we hold the poses for a long time to help release emotional trauma from the body,” Trepman said.

“I would say that ever since I found Forrest Yoga, I’ve experienced this release, and it’s been amazing; it’s something I haven’t found with other yoga practices. I would say that there’s definitely strength building on physical, mental and emotional sides of yoga, and it’s not just exercise.”

Public Access: Camera Surveillance on Campus STORY

MIRROR //5

By Christopher Cartwright

I entered 5 Rope Ferry Road, ascended three flights of stairs and began to travel down a nondescript office hallway. Up ahead, a sign-in counter awaited me. I stopped at the desk, where a Safety and Security officer communicated with Keysi Montás, the interim director of Safety and Security. Behind this officer lay several TV monitors, each subdivided into smaller screens that displayed various locations on campus. From this regular office room at the headquarters of Safety and Security, one could monitor activity by utilizing the 150 cameras interspersed across campus. Is this feature of Dartmouth one that improves the safety of its students and faculty, or does it invade their privacy?

From the beginning of our interview, Montás made it clear that Safety and Security is not a surveillance operation.

“That ter m implies following and watching after somebody,” he said.

Instead, the cameras serve two main purposes: First, they are meant to deter any form of crime on campus. One well-known example of this are ATM robberies, which significantly decreased after cameras were installed near ATMs across the country. The second purpose of the cameras is that they aid in investigation if, and when, a crime occurs.

Montás noted the use of cameras is related to access control.

“The idea of access control is not necessarily to prevent access but to provide access in a controlled manner,” he said.

Montás said there are about 150 cameras on campus, ranging from outdoor ones to some inside buildings, such as Sarner Underground, the hallways of Baker-Berry Library and the Class of 1953 Commons.

When asked their opinions on surveillance cameras around campus, several students mentioned that it makes them feel safer at Novack.” overall. Timothy Yang ’21 said that he Montás mentioned a few of the existing locations for outdoor a p p re c i at e s t h e cameras. One such location reassurance that “People will be overlooks the area in front of if something of his Parkhurst Hall but is hidden was stolen, such as discouraged [from well enough that students do his bike, Safety and acting negatively] when not usually notice it.

Security could use He also noted that there cameras to catch they know there are are a few public access the thief. surveillance cameras cameras scattered around Ya n g , l i k e watching them, so I campus, such as the live Montás, said the webcam from Baker Tower, c a m e r a s c o u l d feel like having this is which anyone in the world deter crime. just another layer of can log into and view. “ Pe o p l e w i l l Another public access b e d i s c o u r a g e d protection.” camera is located at the [from acting Hanover Inn, while a third negatively] when -TIMOTHY YANG ’21 is located at the top of they know there Robinson Hall. The last two are surveillance cameras are sponsored by the cameras around watching them, so I feel like having this is Classes of 1966 and 2016, respectively. just another layer of protection,” Yang said. After learning about these webcams, I Michaela Artavia-High ’21, however, decided to give them a try. The ones at the said she wished cameras were more widely top of Robinson Hall and the Hanover Inn distributed throughout campus, especially can zoom in, pan left and right and tilt up and down. If other users are currently logged in more secluded places.

“I feel that there shouldn’t be quite as in, you must wait in an online queue to take many [cameras] indoors,” she said. “I’d your turn using the cameras. An interesting much rather have more cameras watching aspect of these cameras is that they have me walk home than cameras watching us several presets that one can select to view a

NORA MASLER/THE DARTMOUTH

specific area of campus. For example, I could Security officers patrol campus regularly to easily select the Wheelock and Main Street deter crime, and only if a crime has occurred intersection preset to view the pedestrians will the officers go back to review the camera and cars passing on the street in real time. footage.

Several of the students I spoke to Montás added that it is difficult to provide considered the public access webcams scarier concrete evidence that the surveillance than the Safety and Security ones, since there cameras have stopped crime at Dartmouth, is no way to tell who is using them. However, since no data has been collected about since most of the crime rate before and cameras are located after implementing the in public spaces — “I feel that there shouldn’t cameras. However, there and none are allowed be quite as many have been several cases in the dorms — many in which the cameras [cameras] indoors. I’d students believe have helped solve crime. that the cameras, much rather have more One notable example overall, benefit the cameras watching me occurred when a person c o m mu n i t y m o re threw an object at a walk home than cameras than they harm it. building, which was B u t d o S a f e t y watching us at Novack.” caught in the surveillance and Security footage. officers continuously

There was one monitor the cameras -MICHAELA ARTAVIA-HIGH ’21 final question I had for on campus? The Montás, however. When answer, in short, is asked about anything that they do not have unusual or funny that was the time or staff. spotted on the cameras, Although there is sometimes an officer at he recalled one incident when reviewing the sign-in desk watching the video feeds, footage of a loading dock for a case. In the the department’s main priority is to protect footage, a person walked straight into a van. students, which involves much more than just “Right into it, as if it wasn’t there,” he said, watching surveillance footage. Safety and laughing.

6// MIRROR

Beyond Class Shopping: Craft Shops at Dartmouth STORY

By Kylee Sibilia

The ability to create is a skill that Dartmouth students know very well: On a daily basis, we create everything from a sequence of code to a complex algorithm. We spend so much time creating intangibles, however, that we are rarely able to actually see the physical manifestations of our work.

The student workshops located in the Hopkins Center for the Arts are one of the only places on campus where students get to hold in their hands the objects of their creation.

Dartmouth provides its students with fully equipped, professionally led workshops in three different artistic disciplines: jewelry making and metalworking, ceramics and woodworking. While orientation processes differ among these three workshops, they are accessible to all students, from novices to experts.

Greg Elder, director of the student woodworking shop, explained that the student workshops are intended to facilitate beginner involvement.

“Almost every student that comes here to work has almost no experience at all,” Elder said.

Elder also emphasized the openness of the workshops to students working across academic disciplines, not just those enrolled in fine arts classes.

“If anything, it’s fewer students from the fine arts that we see, and it’s more from the humanities or the

sciences,” Elder said. “It’s really a broad spectrum.”

In order to accommodate those students who are new to the craft, each of the workshops has at least one professional instructor as well as several trained student assistants on hand to assist newcomers.

Director of the ceramics studio Jenny Swanson said that one of the most impressive aspects of the workshops is the expertise students receive from the instructors.

“The quality of instruction is very high,” Swanson said. “All of the staff in all three of the shops are qualified professionals, people who do their own work in their respective mediums.”

Michelle He ’19, who worked in the woodshop for her architecture class, noted instructors’ enthusiastic engagement in student projects.

“The people working there are wonderful,” He said. “They are really good at what they do and also are so helpful and willing to share and be patient.”

Swanson commented on the many different kinds of people who visit the ceramics workshop, including graduate students.

“It serves as a meeting place where a first-year student might be sitting next to a senior,” Swanson said.

He also described the friendliness of her interactions with peers working in

Little Black Boxes COLUMN

the workshop.

“I remember asking complete strangers, usually for help, or asking what they were making,” she said.

Jeff Georgantes, director of the jewelry studio, also lauded the value of the workshops as places where students of vastly different backgrounds can find things they share in common.

“One of the things we work really hard to do is to create [an] open atmosphere where anyone who goes to college here feels welcome,” Georgantes said. “I like to think of it as a club, but the requirements for entry are that you’re a Dartmouth student and you walked [through] the door. There’s this community that students find here that a lot of them say they don’t find anywhere else on campus.”

Dartmouth has been keenly aware of the importance of student workshops since 1944, when the workshops were founded. Originally funded by Aileen Osborn Webb, a patron of the arts, as part of the School for American Craftsmen, the workshops were made permanent at Dartmouth even after the program had moved on to other universities. Dartmouth is one of the only schools in the country that offers such workshops without requiring students to be enrolled in the arts classes to which they correspond.

Georgantes spoke to the intention of the workshops to give students a

break from the harrowed experience of academic evaluation, as well as to provide a setting for experiential learning. “[Dartmouth] wanted to create a place for [its] students to explore their creative sides without the constraints of grades,” Georgantes said. “So much of Dartmouth and its classical liberal arts concepts focus on the Greek ideal of body, mind and spirit. The idea behind this was that students could have a break from academia [while] also exercising their brain in a way that explores creative expression.”

Swanson echoed the sentiment, describing the workshops as a place where students can relieve stress through exercises in creativity.

“For some people, it’s just really meaningful to try a creative pursuit without worrying about a grade or having to complete a course because people can use the studio as much as they want to — on their own time, on their own schedule,” Swanson said.

Elder also noted that despite seeing themselves as beginners, many students who create in the workshops become artists without even realizing it.

“A lot of students who would never consider themselves artists are making decisions about design and form and texture and proportion, and they’re artists from that point of view, but I don’t think they would ever think of

themselves that way or decide to make art otherwise,” Elder said. “It’s kind of an investigation down that road of creating something out of nothing just from your imagination.”

He described her experience making a chair in the woodshop and the ways in which the process of making served a vehicle for self-expression among her peers.

“I thought it was so cool to see how all of my classmates had their own idea[s], and no [two] chair[s] looked even remotely alike,” she said. “All of us had really different ideas and processes that got us to the final product. It was really satisfying.”

While the architecture classes at Dartmouth ensure that the woodshop is always filled with students making chairs, there are also a variety of people working creating such objects as tables, bookshelves, kayaks and musical instruments. In the jewelry studio, students create rings, earring, necklaces and bracelets — Georgantes even mentioned a student this summer who created a metal grille and a group of students who created an artificial hip joint. In the ceramics studio, many students create utilitarian objects like mugs and bowls.

If one thing is for sure, the ability to create may be inherent to us all. The only thing stopping us from “making” is ourselves.

was happening?

It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts: “Why are you crying Saba? She isn’t dead yet!” I asked myself.

I still had a chance to see her, hold her, talk to her one last time, and I wasn’t about to let that pass me by.

I called my mom again and told her I was coming home. I was going to blow all my savings on a plane ticket. I wrote to my boss, packed a bag and got on the plane. About 20 hours later, I was holding her hand in the Intensive Care Unit.

A few days later, after I knew her surgery had gone well and that she was on her way to recovery, I returned to work. Other than my supervisor, no one knew why I was gone. I went back to the same office, looking and acting the same as before, just quieter and probably more pensive. My physical appearance had not changed. Inside me, though, it was a whole other story.

You pass hundreds of people daily, maybe more. What story are they carrying with them? Is what is public enough for you to know

what’s actually going on? How the International Physics Olympiad. many times are you asked, “how are There was this experiment called you?” in a day? How many times the Black Box. It was a circuit do you actually truthfully answer inside a box, and the challenge this question? Is it that we don’t was to guess what the structure of have the time to the circuit was answer? Or are based on the we too scared “We’re unique. Our outputs you saw to? Or do we stories show us that. from the inputs just not know? you had put in.

My favorite But underneath it all, I’ve come to thing to do is we’re all pretty much realize getting hear people’s to know a the same.” s t o r i e s . I ’v e person is very been told, similar. It would “stories are be much easier like data with a if you could just soul.” It’s true: take the lid off Stories can inspire us, connect us, and see what the circuit looked make us more human. But it also like, but it seems as though fear of seems like not all of us are willing vulnerability has made most of us to share our stories. Are we scared? pack our beautiful stories away in Probably. What of, though? Not a tiny little box. being accepted?

O w n i n g yo u r s t o r y t a k e s We’re unique. Our stories show courage! Honestly reflecting and us that. But underneath it all, we’re figuring out what your story is may all pretty much the same. We’re be the hardest part. Who are you? all people with goals and dreams. I don’t think there’s ever a We want to be happy, to love and right or wrong answer to this. You be loved. Relating to one another are you! An ever growing, always shouldn’t be as hard as it is. changing beautiful being with a In high school, I participated in unique story!

By Saba Nejad

I spent the summer after my first year at Dartmouth interning in Seattle, Washington. It was a good time. I was in a great city, surrounded by interesting people, not really doing much yet gaining experiences and getting paid. In hindsight, all was well, though I didn’t really think that at the time.

I was kind of going through life not thinking much of it. I was 18 and an exact cliché of what an 18-yearold is. Though now, it feels like I’m an 80-year-old trapped inside a 21-year-old’s body. Actually, maybe I was the 80-year-old then, and I’ve regressed my way back to 21 á la Benjamin Button.

Back then, I’d wake up every morning with an attitude of, “Okay, guess it’s another day.”

I’d go to work, train, watch a show as I ate dinner, sleep, wake up and do it all over again.

It wasn’t the most meaningful existence, to be perfectly honest.

Sure, I was thinking on a daily basis, performing to the level I was expected to perform — and exceeding the expectations sometimes — but I wasn’t thinking.

All of that changed on July 8,

2015.

On that day, as I walked the streets of Seattle on my way back from the pool, I called my mom. I was tired and hungry, but in a good mood. She picked up, we chatted, we said “goodbye” and I hung up.

I work at the Collis Center’s front desk. We’re taught about customer service, how to interact with people and leave lasting impressions on them. One thing I’ve learned is that people can hear a smile even over the phone. Turns out I could .

Everything seemed normal, but I knew something was wrong. There was something in her voice that was pulling me back. I couldn’t give up the memory of her voice and return to normalcy. I decided to free myself of this worry. I called her back and after repeatedly asking if anything was wrong, she handed the phone to my youngest uncle.

He broke the news to me: “You know, Saba, you’re a lucky kid. You had 19 years with your grandma.”

I learned my grandmother was in the hospital. I hung up and starting sobbing in a corner. What

MIRR OR //7

On Equal Footing? Public Versus Private High Schools STORY

By Jake Maguire

In recent history, universal education has been considered to be one of America’s greatest equalizers. The idea that education provides a gateway to opportunity drove the development of universal public education in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to the creation of many policies that support a more egalitarian system.

During the 21st century, however, many disparities and educational inequities still exist in America.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, nearly 52 percent of American children in K – 12 public schools are eligible for free and reduced lunch, which is a common indicator of poverty in the U.S. Many American students also attend racially segregated schools, which tend to have fewer resources than other public school districts.

Overall, data from the U.S. Department of Education indicates that about 88 percent of American students in grades K – 12 attend public schools, while about 2 percent are homeschooled and about 9.7 percent attend private or religious schools.

The Office of Admissions’ website provides several statistics about the educational backgrounds of Dartmouth students. Fifty-seven percent of students in the Class of 2020 attended public high schools, 30 percent of students attended secular private high schools or and 13 percent attended religious private high schools. Director of admissions Paul Sunde declined to comment.

Although students come from various educational backgrounds, perceptions about stereotypes about public versus private school graduates vary.

“I don’t think that Dartmouth has any specific stereotypes about public versus private schools,” Giavanna La Gamba ’21 said. “It hasn’t been an issue for me.”

La Gamba grew up in Austintown, Ohio, and attended Austintown Fitch High School, a public school. According to U.S. News and World Report, Austintown Fitch has an enrollment of about 1,600 students, and about 54 percent of the school’s students received free or reduced-price lunch.

Although La Gamba said she appreciates where she came from, she acknowledged that her educational background did not prepare her as well for Dartmouth as she had hoped.

“I don’t think the school I attended prepared me very well for college,” La Gamba, a first-generation college student, said. “But I think that’s because everyone from my school went on to attend state schools, so a lot of the focus of high school was on preparation for a different kind of school from Dartmouth.”

La Gamba was involved in debate, drama club, choir and the National Honor Society at her high school.

“Academic opportunities were

pretty sparse because we only offered two [Advanced Placement] courses,” she said.

Daniel Lee ’18 is a first-generation college student. Lee, who was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child, grew up in Los Angeles and attended public schools there. He went to the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a public magnet school for students in grades six to 12 in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Although Lee’s school offered many AP courses and other academic opportunities, he said that budget cuts during the recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s and its subsequent recovery period negatively affected his educational experience.

“Going to a public school in Los Angeles amidst the great recession and its recovery was tough,” Lee said.

“LAUSD tried to cut ‘non-essential programs,’ such as supplies and school librarian positions, that, in hindsight, were essential.”

Lee also pointed out that Dartm outh ’s s oc ioec onom ic environment is different than the atmosphere in which he grew up.

“I think that Dartmouth has been a whole new world for me in terms of where people come from,” he said. “It has always been very surprising to me, even now as a senior.”

Lee, an economics major, attained his U.S. citizenship earlier this year, and he intends to work for a financial services firm after he graduates.

“I’m proud of where I came from,” Lee said. “It’s helped me to build the work ethic that I have and continue to stay motivated. I don’t think that my high school prepared me particularly well academically because it’s difficult to get students fully ready for college, but I think that they did the best that they could.”

Abby Bresler ’21 attended Concord Academy, a private, independent boarding and day school in Concord, Massachusetts. Concord Academy has an enrollment of about 400 students in grades nine through 12.

Bresler, who lives in Lexington, Massachusetts and had previously attended public schools in the area, said she loved her high school experience.

She believes that Concord Academy has shaped who she has become in a meaningful way.

“I wouldn’t necessarily be who I am if I hadn’t gone there,” Bresler said.

“Because Concord is a smaller school than some others, it provided me with many opportunities that I would not have otherwise had. Students and teachers were focused on academic growth, and it had a less competitive environment than the public schools in Lexington.”

At Concord Academy, class sizes were small and students got to know their teachers well, Bresler said. For

The majority of the College’s incoming class comes from public high schools.

this reason, Bresler has adjusted to Dartmouth, which is known for its emphasis on undergraduate teaching, more smoothly than she had expected. Although she noted that time management has been a difficult skill for her to learn, Bresler is thankful that she knows how to interact with teachers.

“My school definitely prepared me for going to office hours and meeting with professors at Dartmouth,” she said.

“I had positive relationships with my teachers in high school. I’m definitely prepared to ask for help and advocate for myself.”

Delilah Forrest ’21 grew up in the

San Diego area and attended San Dieguito Academy, a magnet high school in Encinitas, California.

“Dartmouth has a similar vibe to that of my high school,” Forrest said.

“Dartmouth is so accepting of everyone.

I feel really comfortable here, and I’m accustomed to this kind of community.

People would come into my high school in weird costumes, and, similarly, Dartmouth really embraces ‘flair.’”

Forrest believes that stereotypes exist at Dartmouth about students’ educational backgrounds, but she has not been impacted negatively by them.

“Stereotypes haven’t really contributed to how I see other people

HANNAH MCGRATH/THE DARTMOUTH

or the way that they see me,” she said.

Like Bresler and La Gamba, Forrest is excited to take advantage of all of the opportunities that Dartmouth has to offer. In addition, Forrest hopes to have a more balanced life at Dartmouth than she did in high school.

“High school was a good experience, but I was so focused on studying and achievement in order to get into college that I didn’t really have a social life,” she said. “I’m hoping to have a balanced experience, both academically and socially, here at Dartmouth.”

Lee is a former staff member of The Dartmouth.

8// MIRROR

From the Outside Looking In PHOTO

By Saba Nejad