The Dartmouth Mirror 9/18/15

MIRROR 09.18.2015

Bake On|2

Dear Julianna|3

Looking Backward, MOving Forward|4-5

TTLG: 15 Life lessons|8 Shuoqi Chen/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

2// MIRROR

Bake On

EDITORS’ NOTE

A Letter To My Freshman Self Letter

Let us take you back in time. Halloween 2012.

French dorm. Maggie frantically tapes streamers to her body to complete the most pefect Halloween costume ever — a piñata. Like, what’s more fun than a piñata?

NOTHING! Maddie scours her room for an impromptu sailor hat to complete her sexy sailor costume, but she can’t find anything other than her trusty cowboy hat.

It starts to rain and Maggie’s streamers get soggy and start to cling to her body. Rainbow colors seeps onto her white T-shirt. A tragedy is in the works.

Life lesson — don’t try new things. A cat costume is always the safest bet.

Now let’s spring forward. Halloween 2015. This date hasn’t happened. Maddie tries to squeeze into her sailor costume. Maggie tapes spines to her face for her porcupine costume because the only thing cooler than a piñata is a porcupine, obviously. An accident is imminent. Maddie’s sailor costume rips. Maggie stabs Maddie with a needle on her porcupine costume. Blood is everywhere. Maddie goes as bloody sailor — real blood — and Maggie wears a cat costume.

Life lesson — a cat costume is still always the safest bet. Or a mouse, duh.

In all reality, we have come so far since freshman year. Once upon a time we were Mirror groupies before we came to Dartmouth, and now we are the editors.

Next step — world domination.

This issue of the Mirror focuses on looking back and reflecting on the past, and also looking forward to the promise of our futures. Our writers wrote letters to their past and future selves and looked at important events in recent and future years. We also polled Dartmouth students to tell us about their regrets, accomplishments and future goals. Bon appetite!

—OL MADS and LIL MAGS

follow @thedmirror

MIRROR R MIRROR EDITORS MADDIE BROWN MAGGIE SHIELDS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KATIE McKAY

PUBLISHER JUSTIN LEVINE

EXECUTIVE EDITORS LUKE McCANN JESSICA AVITABILE

B y MARY LIZA HARTONG

Dear Mary Liza of September 2012, Welcome to the great white North, you Mini Miss Scarlett, Baby Betty Crocker, Bite-Sized Blanche Dubois. Things are pretty different up here above the Mason-Dixon Line, aren’t they? Don’t worry, little muffin — you’ve still got your cowboy boots and your double name to keep you together.

Why, just look at you, unmistakably precious in your gingham button-down shirt, tiny blonde pigtails and arms full of freshly baked pumpkin bread — which you have enthusiastically baked for your first classmates in your first class ever at college. Why, one might ask, did you bake a loaf of pumpkin bread for your first classmates in your first class ever at college? Simple: This is exactly what you would have done in high school, that all-girls haven of plaid skirts, ubiquitous baked goods and steadfast matriarchs. Your gal pals would have loved a big ol’ slice of this stuff, therefore so will the buttoned-up New Englanders of your two o’clock class.

How could this possibly spook or annoy a professor trying to hand out syllabi? Go get em’, girl. Joke as I may at your generous use of cinnamon and hand-sewn oven mitts, I do realize you only know one set of customs at this point, and that’s what you’re determined to use. You do you, Mary Liza. You do you.

Bake on, but don’t think you can fool me, you sneaky snipe. I know better than anyone that your desire to be loved based on your culinary prowess is not your only desire this fall. Little me, you have so many high hopes for Dartmouth. You expect colorful instructors with names like “Professor Vanderhoosy” and “Please Call Me Nadine.” You crave powerful lectures and novels that tip you upside down.

And — it cannot be overstated how much you expect this one — you expect boys on boys on boys. You believe your first semester at Dartmouth will play out pretty much exactly like the plot of Taylor Swift’s 2008 hit “Love Story.” You’ll catch the eye of a cute boy — nay, lots of cute boys, because you, missy, are hot stuff — and from there your flawless love story will unfold. Will there be castles?

You bet! Lantern lit lovers’ faces? Oh yeah! A part where he tells you to go pick out a white dress? Um, duh!

I hate to break it to you, toots, but your first semester will end up looking a bit more like Taylor Swift’s 2012 hit “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” In fact, in the course

’19: “Me and my roommate used to be really good friends, but then we grew apart.”

“Something funny someone said Girl to guy with Vespa: “Take me to in Choates.”

Collis that one night.” —Drunk 17

the

ELIZA MCDONOUGH / THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Mary Liza Hartong ’16 reflects on her time as a student and her first days as a freshman. of your freshman year you’ll cycle through a number of Tay Sway songs in your quest for love, from “You Belong with Me” (2008) to “Enchanted” (2010) to, I’m sorry to say, “Bad Blood” (2014). What you don’t yet know is how to “Shake It Off.” Universe, you will ask, why isn’t everything working out exactly according to plan? Where is my white picket fence? The Universe will say, honey — because the Universe is surely an old southern grandmother — things are working out exactly according to plan. Remember all the friends you made this year?

Remember how many wonderful books you got to read? Remember, by golly, those beautiful leaves in the fall and those amazing stars in the winter? It seems to me you just haven’t been paying attention. And, as you pack up your quilts and boots in June and take one last look around the River Cluster, you will think, maybe I haven’t.

What I’m getting at, young me, is that you’ve got to stop being so hell-bent on procuring arm candy. You can barely vote, so there’s no need to start planning your family. Riddle me this: Did you spend four years working your patootie off to go to one of the top schools in the nation just to find a husband? No, little me, you absolutely did not. You did it all so

’19: “My goal is not to cut my hair until graduation because I want to walk across the stage with dreads.”

you could experience something incredible.

Good news: You will! In fact, here’s a sneak peak at some of the cool things you’ll do here that have nothing to do with finding Mr. Right.

You’ll put on a musical with your best friends, elect a second major, write a novel, build a dollhouse, join an improv group, run a marathon and laugh your tuckus off with some of the best people on earth. Somewhere along the way, even with a lover’s horse blinders on, you’ll create your Dartmouth, which is not a wedding chapel but a collage of creativity and friendship. You’ll find yourself at a table at Late Night Collis, singing along with an acoustic guitar in a dorm hallway and at your own birthday party in the BEMA. The lover’s horse blinders will eventually fall off, leaving you with a clear view of everything wonderful that has happened and can happen.

Believe it or not, young ML, you will make it to senior fall never having fallen in love, single as a Pringle. Also, you’ll be the happiest you’ve ever been. So, listen close, you pig-tailed ninny. Dartmouth is about finding what— not whom — you love and doing it until the cows come home.

Happy first day of school, 19-year-old me.

Bring that piping hot pumpkin loaf to class, but by all means, pay attention.

’16: “I can’t just change my D-Plan because Cuba decided to go rogue and open its borders.”

’16: “I don’t want to waste funny somea banana — they’re going“Something ’19 in One Wheelock: “Where’s the one said in Collis that one extinct!”

menu?”

night.” —Drunk 17

Check out Overheards and Trending@Dartmouth on

MIRROR //3

Dear Future Julianna

Trending D @ RTMOUTH

A Letter To My Senior Self LETTER

B yJULIANNA DOCKING

Dear Senior-Year Julianna, I hope you’re well and not having the cliché, pre-senior year “where-ismy-life-going-I-want-to-be-a-studentforever” meltdown. I know you are — it’s O.K. The version of you writing this is a rising sophomore, and — as to be expected — cannot even imagine that you are about to flee a world full of English papers, Chinese tests, grim Novack breakfasts, speed walks to the gym, spontaneous hikes, dance parties and unproductive Friday afternoons in the Periodicals.

No, I am currently delightfully entrenched in Dartmouth life — in meeting new people, analyzing why last spring term was so hard, making goals for this fall and choosing a major that is somehow both fulfilling and employable.

As a senior, you are probably tempted to roll your eyes at my unabashed naivety. You are writing cover letters, researching what a 401k is and wondering what it feels like to buy your own groceries.

You are probably scoffing at me for being consumed by things so silly and transient, for embracing the Dartmouth bubble so wholeheartedly. But please, don’t.

Look back fondly on the delightfully blissful, endlessly optimistic, wide-eyed and sophomoric version of yourself who is writing this. It is okay that I am consumed by Dartmouth right now, just like it is okay that you are consumed with thoughts of your future. Sophomore Julianna is exploring every crevice of campus, reflecting on every seemingly mundane moment, considering every fleeting club option. And as a senior, you have probably now emerged with a clear sense of your place at here on campus. But please, remember that letting Dartmouth consume you was

part of the process. Don’t regret it.

That, wiser Senior-Year Julianna, is the only piece of advice that I can possibly give you. The rest of this letter is filled with hopes.

I hope that you have found peace in the choices you have made. Right now, there is so much comfort in the fact that everything is so wide open. I still feel like I can major in anything, be anything and do anything. As a senior, that’s probably no longer the case. You have chosen, and as a result some routes are now irrevocably blocked off. I hope that this doesn’t make you sad.

I hope that you do not feel trapped by the choices you have made, but instead feel oddly empowered in having narrowed your options. I hope you have finally accepted that you will never be a doctor despite how noble and exhilarating it appears on “Grey’s Anatomy.” I hope you have at last admitted that although you love the sound of “Senator Docking,” you are neither passionate nor knowledgeable about politics and will probably never work on Capitol Hill. I hope you feel empowered in having accepted who you are and who you are not. I hope you can relish in these simple realizations, even though you’re still a mess of tangled interests, goals and expectations. I hope you feel strength in having closed doors.

I hope that you have learned to be truly happy for others, the type of happiness that is not accompanied by any lingering jealousy. I hope that when you hear of your peers’ accomplishments you no longer need to justify in your mind why you cannot match their success. I hope you are able to congratulate others with unmistakably genuine admiration. I hope that petty, green-eyed monster has, slowly but surely, begun to flare up less and less in your life.

I hope that you will now set out to find pieces of Dartmouth in the “real world.” The good and the bad. Find the silliness and uninhibited joy of trips. Seek out situations that are as uncomfortable and constructive as office hours with your scary history professor. Talk to the people in elevators the way you talk to strangers in the KAF line after a long day. Find the sense of community in New York City or Los Angeles that you find during those 2 a.m. Novack run-ins. Find your own version of the river wherever you are living, a place where you can lounge and forget about your obligations. Also find your real world 1902 Room, where you get work done with no excuses. As you walk past an endless stream of individuals on a city street, remember those moments walking across the Green during the last four years when you would spot a stranger walking toward you from across the long diagonal path.

Remember how, in these moments, you had to choose whether to raise your head and smile or keep your head down and pretend you did not see them. I hope you raise your head on that crowded city street and smile.

With one year down, I have already made mistakes and learned.

Every choice I made during freshman year was geared toward making myself happy. I thought that happiness meant keeping myself comfortable. I got lunch with my best friend everyday instead of asking the random, unknown, smart girl in my Chinese class to grab Collis. I did not do the club that would require hard hours of work. I did not speak up in class if I felt my comment would not earn an impressed nod from my professor.

I have since realized that this kind of comfort, while enticingly safe, is

empty.

As I stand on the precipice of sophomore year, I am hereby making a promise to myself that for the next three years I will strive to make myself as uncomfortable as possible.

I hope that, while reading this, you feel you have kept true on this promise.

I hope you have applied for groups and opportunities that you knew would reject you. I hope you walked into FoCo all alone. I hope you spoke up in classes, regardless of whether your comment was as articulate as the person’s next to you. I hope you asked that intimidating but brilliant upperclassman in your class to get coffee. I hope you have been kind to yourself. But more importantly, I hope you have been brave.

And if you have done this, I think that my last hope for you will inevitably be fulfilled.

That is, I hope that at the end of the year, when you walk across the graduation stage in your cap and gown, grasp your diploma and look out over the Green, you are overcome with an indescribably euphoric mixture of exhaustion, joy and bewilderment.

I hope you feel like you just ran the most ridiculously hard, hilarious, emotional and life-changing marathon imaginable. I hope that you try to extricate every memory, laugh, cry, struggle and moment that has taken place over the last four years of your life, desperately trying to understand what the hell just happened. Knowing full well that you never will.

I hope that as you look over the Green to find your family in the crowd and give them a thankful smile, you feel pride rise in your chest.

I hope you ran a good race.

From the sentimental and sophomore version of yourself, —Julianna

Lines Remember, not everyone has to show up to Foco at 6.

‘19s Welcome home!

Asking how was your Summer We should totally grab lunch sometime to catch up!

The job search I haven’t updated my LinkedIn since 12F...

Humidity Why even straighten your hair?

LedYard Challenge Quickly — while the water is still warm!

PRe-Med No you’re not.

ELIZA McDONOUGH / THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Julianna Docking ‘18 hopes to be bold, make herself uncomfortable and take risks over her next three years at Dartmouth.

...

LOOKING BACKWARD

2010-2011: Renovation of Class of 1953 Commons (more affectionately known as FoCo, for those who have not caught on yet). The old ’53 Commons (previously known as Thayer Dining Hall) best feature was Homeplate, a beloved a la carte grill station within the complex. Now, the best feature is arguably World View or the squishier sweet potatoes.

There’s also a debate ongoing about location — dark side, light side or NARP Castle.

A few weeks into ever y term, it tends to feel like you know Dartmouth so well that it never existed until you got he these things are major (shout out to the pioneering women of the Class of 1976!), while others have been quite sma So if you hear phrases like “old Collis” being thrown around, don’t be alarmed. By your last year, maybe Sunday ni about “the good old days” to the Class of 2022. Now let’s take a walk down memor y lane...

April 2013: Students protest the annual Dimensions show to express their belief that “Dartmouth has a problem.” The protest ignited a discussion about “Dartmouth RealTalk.” Lots of chalk on the sidewalks everywhere.

Also, classes were cancelled for one day to have a community discussion.

Spring 2013: King Arthur Flour briefly stops selling sandwiches purportedly due to insufficient prep space to meet the demands of thousands of hungry college students.

Fortunately, after some negotiation and reconfiguration, our favorite sandwiches were back! Long live #appleandbrie

June 2013: College President Phil Hanlon becomes 18th president of Dartmouth College. The iconic mustache becomes a new unofficial mascot in my mind.

Fall 2013: Freshmen are banned from entering Greek houses for the first six weeks of the fall.

This initiative, led by Greek Letter Organizations and Societies, was first put in place during the ’17s freshman year. Events like Collis After Dark and outdoor movies increased in an effort to show all the different social options available on campus and encourage more bonding between first-years. This also sparked some super rowdy Sussel Rage bashes involving bouncers and strippers.

Winter 2013: Another dining space renovation, this time in Collis. During 13W, Collis temporarily moved to the first-floor conference room and set up tables in Common Ground while they renovated the old space.

2010 2011 2012 2013

March 2012: Rolling Stone publishes Andrew Lohse’s ’12 expose on the Greek system, “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses.” The article turned national media attention to the College and to fraternity life in general, and changed my perceptions of kiddie pools and omelettes indefinitely.

2012: Former College President Jim Yong Kim steps down from his position at the College to lead the World Bank.

Carol Folt steps in as Interim President for the 2012-2013 school year. She has a catchy name to chant and Carol Folt chants could be heard at the homecoming football game.

2012: Change to the transfer term policy limits the number of students who can enroll in any given program. Mass exoduses to Australia or New Zealand used to be the norm in the winter, but if you want to go down under now, you better be sure to play up your interest in marine biology, Aboriginal art or in some other academic fields that Dartmouth doesn’t offer.

Winter 2014: A “rape guide” is published online on Bored@Baker.

This makes national news and sparks a series of discussions of safety and sexual violence on campus.

March 2014: Students are involved in Parker Gilbert’s ’16 nationally covered rape trial in Grafton County Court.

Gilbert was found not guilty of the five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass.

April 2014: Student proponent of the “Freedom Budget” stage a two-day sit-in in President Hanlon’s office to demand a more detailed response to the proposal.

...

D, MOVING FORWARD

ere. Let’s face it though — this place has been around almost 250 years, and a lot has changed since then. Some of all (new printers around campus!). Even since the ’16s arrived, this place has undergone many transformations. ight chocolate chip pancakes at the Hop will be a thing of the past (heaven forbid!) and the ’19s will be reminiscing

2015: Dozens of students are implicated in a cheating scandal in Professor Balmer’s “Sports, Ethics, and Religion” class. The incident, dubbed “Clickergate” put Dartmouth’s academic honor principal to the test and resulted in the suspensions of many.

The fact that all this went down in an ethics class gives Alannis Morisette another example to use in her song “Ironic,” if she ever decides to tweak it.

2015: Administration releases the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative after months of focus groups, meetings, and discussions. Major components include the implementation of a hard alcohol ban on campus and the creating of a residential college system.

Cue also the hashtag #academicrigor

2015: Alpha Delta fraternity derecognized and Delta Delta Delta sorority becomes Chi Delta. ’Twas a happening spring in the Greek community.

2015: The first Memorial Challenge, a circuit-workout event held on Memorial Field honoring Torin Tucker ’15 and Blaine Steinberg ’15, who passed away in 2014. The event raised money for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Heart and Vascular Center and sought to increase awareness about cardiac issues.

2019: The 250th anniversary of Dartmouth!

Our institution’s older than our country and always will be. When the country celebrates in 2026, you can be like “Please, I’ve already been to a 250th birthday party. This is old

2014 2015 2016 2019

ts m

eir

Fall 2014: Pledge terms are banned from all organizations. After discussions and negotiations within the Interfraternity Council, fraternities vote to end pledge term. The sorority recruitment process also undergoes several changes, such as removing food from individual houses to central locations, prohibiting decorations and ending singing by sisters during the first and second rounds. RIP cupcakes and candy during rush.

Fall 2014: YikYak become popular on campus.

Trolls finally have a place to troll.

November 2014: Dozens of students are implicated in a cheating scandal in religion professor Randall Balmer’s “Sports, Ethics and Religion” class. The incident, dubbed “Clickergate,” put the College’s academic honor principal to the test and resulted in the suspensions of many.

The fact that all this went down in an ethics class gives Alannis Morisette another example to use in her song “Ironic,” if she ever decides to tweak it.

2016: Implementation of the residential college system. Once the ’19s become sophomores, they will be placed into one of six dorm clusters for their remaining three years. The goal of the plan is to increase community within dormitories, especially as students frequently come and go due to the D-Plan.

Hopefully I get placed in Hufflepuff.

2016: Construction starts on the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. The famous Trips locale is in dire need of repairs, and renovation is slated to start in the coming year on the 77 year-old structure.

We wouldn’t mind a slight bigger dining room so that dance parties there aren’t quite so crowded.

They seriously need to fix the fact that the power goes out TWICE each night before trip dinners.

2016: The presidential election. Things are already heating up in the Granite State as the primary elections looms ahead. Many candidates have already made campaign stops in Hanover, hoping to influence voters in the first-in-thenation primary. Come 16F, this excitement will have reached a fever pitch.

ALISON GUH / THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

6// MIRROR

Through the Looking Glass:

Fifteen Pieces of Advice from a Fifth Year ’15 COLUMN

B y Alexander Lopez

When my parents first dropped me off on the front lawn of the Dartmouth Outing Club House around this time four years ago, my mother’s parting words proved to become a molding life mantra that would follow me throughout my travels and my time here. Before our final goodbye, I’ll never forget, Mama Lopez looked me dead in the eyes and said plainly — “Don’t worry honey. Just be yourself. Breathe. Have fun. It’s all going to be okay.”

Now, looking back over my four years in Hanover, I’ve learned that life is truly never what you expect. It’s a combination of what you create and blind chance. Dartmouth was not what I expected at all.

I spent my four years living on four continents, taking temporary residence among 27 cities. I worked dozens of jobs and internships, fell in love, had my heart broken, pulled approximately 36 all-nighters (not recommended), failed tests, aced tests, dropped classes, attempted fourcourse terms, joined clubs, quit clubs, danced at formal, cried on the coach ride home and, as cheeky as it sounds, made memories I’ll never forget.

Dartmouth has been a whirlwind of emotion, energy and adventure, and I am grateful for every moment of my time here and abroad. From Wall Street to working at FoCo, the United Nations in Italy to sewing tomatoes in the costume shop with Carla for the fall play.

From Italian class with Professoressa Anna Minardi to studying bonobos with anthropology professor Kes Schroer, Chinese lessons with Mao Laoshi to the African Literary Masterpieces course with comparative literature professor Ayo Coly. My time and experiences here have been as varied, beautiful, surreal and eclectic as I could’ve ever hoped to have from a liberal arts education.

In my travels, I’ve met and made friends with all kinds of people, I’ve asked them endless questions about their complex lives and lived experiences, and I have learned the parts of their story they were willing to share. I’ve seen people obsessed with money and power and greed and impressing others, and I’ve met people dedicated to kindness and equality, democracy and change.

My point is, for a young person, I’ve seen and experienced some crazy things, largely because I had the immense privilege of attending a university that allowed me to pursue my interests, passions and wanderlust, free of judgement and regardless of my own personal lack of funding, clout or connections.

My hope with this piece is to share a handful of the lessons I’ve learned these past four years.

I hope to show you that it’s okay to fail, and that a successful, happy life is demarcated by your resilience and your daily attitude, not the turbulence and setbacks you may face along the way.

I still have a lot to learn, I’ve been around the world and I still can’t answer a simple question — how do I want to live my one and only life? I can’t tell you how to live, either. What I can do is share some stories and tell you what I’ve learned.

With that, here are my 15 life lessons from a fifth-year ’15.

1. Go where the happy people are The first time I stood in Baker Tower was during the unforgiving heat wave of 2010. My tour guide, Danielle, was a funny, charming and ambitious senior with flowing brown hair and an infectious smile.

For me, she represented the students genuinely excited to be here. I wanted to grow and

find myself during my college years amongst inspiring and joyful people like Danielle. She was — and is — the reason I love Dartmouth so much.

2. It is O.K. if you do not fit in.

I was so overwhelmed in my first year — the excessive wealth, the endless opportunities. I felt like everyone was smarter, more cultured, more educated and more interesting than I could ever be.

I learned simply to silence my inner critic, love myself for the quirky, relentlessly positive person I am and to work hard to embrace my life as it is, not as I felt it should be.

3. Don’t give into FOMO. You simply cannot do it all. Instead, I would encourage you to take care of yourself and your body first (healthy eating, sleeping and exercise), your obligations second (your commitments, your jobs on campus, your homework and your studies) and your dreams and ambitions third (what stirs your soul and makes you excited to get out of bed each morning).

4. Don’t over-schedule your life away.

Being present is better than being busy. I tried to join and be and do everything my freshman fall, and I inevitably failed. I learned that it is much more valuable to fully devote yourself to one or two things and be the best and most reliable person you can be for those organizations instead of being a flaky half-participant in 15+ clubs and organizations. Go at your own pace and you’ll be much happier. It’s just true.

5. Don’t be afraid to do something totally different.

When I told my friends I’d accepted an internship on Wall Street, they were totally surprised.

For me, it was an industry I’d never work in, a chance to make money and pay off debt, put my economics classes into practice, make new friends and see the golden city of New York up close and personal.

In the end Wall Street wasn’t for me, but I have many friends who excel and thrive in the finance world. I’m so glad I tried it out, and I am so happy for my friends who love it. It’s all about finding where you’re happiest, most productive and fulfilled.

6. Never turn down a once-in-a-lifetime adventure with your best friend.

The winter of my junior year I spent 10 blissful weeks with my best friend Anna studying Hinduism, Hindi and Bollywood film in Hyderabad, India. We climbed the Golconda Fort and toured the Qutb Shahi tombs. We went to the Ajanta and Ellora caves, and I almost got my phone stolen by a tiny little monkey and his friends.

I spent time on the Ganges River riding the historic ghats and watching the ceremonial burning of the bodies, eating delicious food in Varanasi, meditating under the Bodhi Tree with a monk from Atlanta, curling up a few thousand feet above sea level in the ice cold hills of Darjeeling and seeing first-hand the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center where refugees can live peacefully among the clouds.

Adventure is sometimes only a funding application, an open mind and an adventurous spirit away. Dartmouth will help you see and learn about the world. All you have to do is apply.

7. It is okay to take time off.

The winter of my sophomore year I had fallen sick. I had to withdraw from the term and complete my coursework at home. I felt cheap, like a failure. I would later find out that it’s totally normal to take medical leave or an incomplete.

KATE HERRINGTON //THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Alexander Lopez ‘15 took an unconventional path before his fifth year and shares his tips.

In the end, I’ve learned that there is no shame in healing. There is no shame in taking time off.

8. Don’t ignore your passions until it’s too late.

I met the famed Italian film director Emanuele Crialese at an event with the Italian department. Like a total newb, I gave him a copy of a book that is important to me and told him how much his films have impacted my life. I asked him, point-blank, “Was there ever a time when your parents disapproved of your life path? The reason I ask is because I want to be a writer but my parents want me to do something practical.”

Do you want to know what he said?

He said, “You’re never going to impress your parents, so why don’t you try impressing yourself?”

9. There are resources on campus to help you pursue your dreams.

Go try out everything you’re interested in on your off terms. Utilize organizations like the Dickey Center, the Tucker Foundation, the Rockefeller Center and the alumni network to search for career paths, job opportunities, internships and foreign study programs that fit your unique interests. At the very least find out what you don’t want to do and where and who you don’t want to be.

10. Have the audacity to believe in yourself.

You will never achieve anything in this life if you tell yourself you can’t, that you’re not good enough or smart enough.

You have to, have to, have to silence your inner defeatist and have the audacity to dream. The audacity to believe in yourself. I really believe with hard work, confidence and a little luck that the universe gives you what you ask of it.

11. Beware of extremes.

You are going to face lots of pressure here.

Pressure to drink. Pressure to do drugs. Pressure to have sex, study 24/7, get perfect grades, always be happy — ALWAYS be happy.

You and you alone get to decide how you spend your time here. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.

Don’t be afraid to deviate from the norm. Carve your own path and always remember — if you’re hurting, seek help. If you’re happy, lift others up.

It’s as simple at that.

12. Don’t let failure define you.

If you’re coming to Dartmouth, chances are failure is not something you’re used to. I know

I wasn’t.

I’ve learned that withdrawing from a course or seeking out tutors is nothing to be ashamed of. Go at your own pace and love yourself enough to forgive yourself when you mess up and keep working harder toward your goals.

13. Try new things whenever possible.

Truly, I got very lucky. The first day of preOrientation, my mom called me and said, “You should apply to Great Issues Scholars, it’s perfect for you!”

In the years since, the Dickey Center has truly become my home base on campus. I’ve met some of the kindest and hardest working people I’ve ever known during my time working with the center, and I’ve even had the opportunity to study and work abroad in South Africa and Italy because of the center’s continued support, guidance and funding.

I would not be where I am today without Dickey’s commitment to enriching the lives of students.

14. Spend time daily on reflection.

Freshman year, I spent my fall in the River Cluster making best friends with some pretty amazing kids. I learned to ballroom dance in the fall, took Public Policy 5 in the winter, went to formals and shows and acted in the school play. I costume dressed for “Hairspray,” I sang endlessly, I laughed and I never slept.

Sometimes, in the mornings I sit and relive old conversations with my hall-mate and dear friend Liz, old heart to hearts with Nicole and old adventures with Willi. Don’t let Dartmouth (or life) pass you by in a blur.

Be present, reflect, reminisce.

15. Live well.

We all find our passions at different times in our lives. Focus on feeding your mind, your body and your soul every day.

This is a new start, a fresh start, for you to be unstoppable, to be a leader and to make Dartmouth the beginning of the best years of your life.

And finally, I offer you this — do not rush through your time here. Do not D-plan your life away. Look up. Breathe. Be present. Don’t be flaky. Go to class. Take it all in. This is your time. Breathe this rare air. You are loved.

Everything is going to be okay.

MIRROR //7

JOE KIND, A GUY COLUMN By Joe Kind

“Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, now the whole team f---ing here.”

Drake is a prophet. We all know this. In some respects, though, he fails to describe my life well.

I didn’t start in the six with my woes, but to his credit, the pace of my life has sped up considerably since starting college — probably not quite 0 to 100, but maybe from cruise control to slightly above the speed limit?

First of all, it is a huge honor to be writing a column for The Mirror this year. I can only imagine the pride my high school English and history teachers must be feeling at this moment.

Assuming they are reading this, that is. My teacher recommendations came from both of my favorite teachers in those departments, and to this day I think that there is a strong correlation between what they must have written about me and my ultimate acceptance into this fine woodsy institution. I should do a better job of keeping in contact with them.

For my part, I have reached out to one of them before to try to set up a lunch. A coffee is probably more appropriate, but I try to avoid caffeine. The prospect of getting a coffee with someone sends a bit of a tingle to my shoulders.

It feels like going to a steakhouse and ordering the one seafood option, I am just lying to myself by being there.

Most people I meet continue to be baffled by the lack of coffee in my life. My friends, my parents, you name it — coffee matters to them.

Not drinking coffee somehow places me in this otherworldly tribe of people. I am already a Chosen One, like Drake. Also like Drake, I am proud to have been Bar-Mitzvahed. Proud to still remain somewhat engaged with my faith, even if only in the corners of my life. For I must admit, these days it’s all about school, swimming and the job hunt. Oh, the job hunt. I’m pretty sure I’ll start drinking coffee regularly this term. (That or white wine, let’s be honest.)

I think back to the start of my Dartmouth career — move-in day, 2012. So weird to even remember that the same year I graduated high school was also the same year I started college. I think of those two moments as two very distinct and distant times in my life, despite how close they really were. In a lot of ways I wasn’t ready for the College on the Hill. I wasn’t ready for a roommate (sorry again, Jordan), and I definitely wasn’t ready for Division I athletics (thanks again, coaches).

I was kind of ready for Division I academics, as I like to call them. (This was before “academic rigor” was a thing, mind you.) I was not, however, ready to pick only three of the amazing classes offered each term (UGH).

The hardest part of my freshman fall was not

adjusting to any one thing in particular. It was trying to juggle it all — something I thought I had done a good job of in high school. I guess the balls got bigger and heavier in college.

One of my fondest memories of my freshman year comes from a swim practice. What else, really, knowing me? Especially given my limited background in the sport, anyway. My teammates can attest that my first year of college athletics was largely built around Darwin’s theories of evolution — I worked hard not to fall victim to natural selection. My end goal throughout the year was to finish the season. Survival of the f---ing fittest.

I wanted to give myself the opportunity to have an outstanding end-of-season meet and obliterate my best times after so much hard work. I had less than a year’s worth of club-level experience, which isn’t so common in college athletics. I was only a sprint freestyler, having transferred over what swimming experience I had developed playing four years of high school water polo.

Sometimes I still miss water polo (but that’s for another column). Anyway, back to my memory.

You can imagine how I felt when, in the middle of a regular practice one fine October morning, that the entire team was to complete a 3,000-yard swim for time. I had never swam more than 500 yards without stopping. In everyone’s best interest, I will spare you dear readers of the gruesome details. Needless to say the swim did not go over well.

But in some ways, because I was so woefully unprepared for the test, the swim went over about as well as it could have for me. It’s all relative, after all.

Dartmouth has taught me a lot about relativity.

Even beyond swimming, it is amazing to think of how far I have come over the course of my three years here. Dartmouth has made me a smarter, sharper person — a much more engaged, global citizen, per se. Yet it has also made me meaner than I was in high school. I am way more standoffish, way less friendly. The College, at times, has magnified my imperfections to a scorching degree. There’s something about these cold temperatures.

I take back what I said earlier. Drake is not at all a prophet. When it comes to my Dartmouth experience, he got it wrong. He should have sung: “Started from the upper-middle top, made it to the bottom, but now I’m kind of back where I started.”

And now we are here.

I should have just compared my Dartmouth experience thus far to that of Odysseus. Will I survive to reunite with my family at the end of this long, treacherous journey??? *shrug* I’ll ‘keep you posted.

SAM’S LITTLE LARKS COLUMN

By Sam Van Wetter

SCENE: Collis porch. 9:39 a.m. The first day of classes. Sept. 10, 2012 and Sept. 16, 2015 simultaneously. PRESENT SAM sits reading the Valley News and eating a bomb-ass breakfast sandwich.

PROTO SAM enters with a bottle of orange juice and cup of frozen fruit from the smoothie bar.

It’s not what he intended to get. His backpack is unzipped.

PRESENT SAM: Your backpack is unzipped.

PROTO SAM: What?

PRESENT: Your backpack.

PROTO: Oh, damn.

PRESENT: Kind of nuts in there before 10s.

PROTO: Is Collis always like that?

PRESENT: It gets better after like week three. As soon as the freshman learn where to stand — and to zip their backpacks.

PROTO: Why is it like that? It seems like they should remodel it and make it bigger and less confusing.

PRESENT: Oh, they will. During your freshman winter. Well, it won’t be any bigger. And in some ways, it will probably be more confusing. But it’ll get a makeover and that’s Dartmouth’s way of improving stuff.

PROTO: Oh. PRESENT: You’re gonna be late for class.

PROTO: What? It’ll take like two minutes to get there.

PRESENT: You’re gonna be late.

PROTO: No I won’t.

PRESENT: We’ll see, right?

PROTO: What’s that supposed to mean?

PRESENT: I was late to my first class at Dartmouth. You’re gonna be late for class.

PROTO: Oh, damn.

PRESENT: It’s cool. It’s syllabus day.

PROTO: I should go.

PRESENT: Don’t worry about it.

PROTO: I don’t want to be late.

PRESENT: Of course you don’t. But you’re gonna be. You excited?

PROTO: I don’t know.

PRESENT: You’ll be fine.

PROTO: So, any tips from a senior?

PRESENT: You shouldn’t be late to your first day.

PROTO: But you said it was O.K.!

PRESENT: Of course it’s O.K. But you shouldn’t be late.

PROTO: I should go then.

PRESENT: No, you’re gonna be late regardless.

PROTO: [Standing] Not if I leave now.

PRESENT: Sit down.

PROTO: I don’t wanna be late.

PRESENT: That’s the thing. I was late on my first day, and you are me on your first day. So you’re gonna be late. It’s all predetermined.

PROTO: But not for me, not now. I can do anything I want.

PRESENT: You could, except that you’re a fictionalized nostalgia tool. You’re a foil through which I, an inevitably and increasingly washed up piece of senior flotsam, can reflect on his time at Dartmouth. You’re gonna let me mock the miseries and revel in the pleasures. You’re the clean-cut little thing that I used to be and, even if you don’t want it, you’re gonna end up me in just a couple of years.

PROTO: [Sitting] Oh, cool.

PRESENT: It’s pretty great.

PROTO: So, like, we’re good.

PRESENT: How do you mean?

PROTO: Like, if I was going to my first day of classes at Dartmouth and my future self wasn’t there to talk to me and tell me I’m gonna be late then that would be a little, you know, discomfiting.

Like, I guess I’m glad to know I’ll get to class at all.

PRESENT: Good point.

PROTO: But, even more, you’ve made it to senior year! You’re a senior! You have beautiful hair and excellent style and a generally acceptable adher-

ence to the societal norms of personal hygiene!

PRESENT: I don’t know about that.

PROTO: But you’re alive, at least, right? And you haven’t dropped out or been forcibly removed from the school— PRESENT: Yet. PROTO: Yeah, yet. And I’m sure you’ve had all sorts of deeply fulfilling experiences that have helped you better understand your interpersonal system of morals. You’re learning what’s really important. And that in turn helps you learn about and engage with the world at large. I bet you’ve met some amazing people. They’re wicked smart here, aren’t they? Like dang, makes you wonder if they — admissions — made a mistake and maybe you shouldn’t have been let in but then again you are here and, again, you’ve survived, haven’t you Sam, so you’re in! Doing fine! And why worry about what you think “deserving” means?

Even if they did make a mistake — which they didn’t — it’s working out pretty well for you and fretting is a waste of time so why not just live it?

You’ve made it! You’re here!

PRESENT: Couldn’t have said it better myself.

PROTO: So I don’t need to stress.

PRESENT: That’s not our style.

PROTO: Cool.

PRESENT: Anything else?

PROTO: Where’d you get that breakfast sandwich?

PRESENT: Bagel from the middle thing, cheese from the sandwich bar, avocado from Topside and eggs from Darren.

PROTO: Who’s Darren?

PRESENT: She makes the eggs.

PROTO: That looks dank.

PRESENT: It’s the pinnacle of Collis Queendom.

Which you won’t achieve until junior spring, at the earliest.

PROTO: I’ll be a Collis Queen by the end of this year, probably.

PRESENT: You’ll think you are. But you have no idea. It’s predetermined, remember?

PROTO: Whatever.

PRESENT: Any other questions?

PROTO: Uh, any advice? Anything you would have done differently?

PRESENT: Yeah, of course.

PROTO: Like what?

PRESENT: It doesn’t matter.

PROTO: Of course it does. You can tell me and I’ll do it. I’ll do it better this time.

PRESENT: But then you won’t get here.

PROTO: Sure I will, predetermined, right?

PRESENT: Exactly! And if I had done anything differently then I wouldn’t be where I am right now.

PROTO: So I have to do whatever you did?

PRESENT: Yeah. Sorry.

PROTO: It’s been good, though?

PRESENT: It’s been the best.

PROTO: Am I gonna miss old Collis?

PRESENT: Trust me, you won’t even remember what it looked like.

8// MIRROR

An Ideal Day in Hanover Accomplishments

Finishing two terms of orgo without failing.

Becoming comfortable in my own skin since freshman year and coming to believe that I AM beautiful and that I AM smart enough to be at Dartmouth.

Rising above my grades.

One time I found a $20 bill on the floor in North Mass... that was pretty sweet.

Proud of finding my voice at Dartmouth and finding a medium to use my voice to stand up for issues I’m passionate about.

I almost failed calculus (had a 54 during midterms), but spent four hours on it (outside of class) EVERY SINGLE DAY for the second part of term, totally ignored my social life and managed to get an A-. I honestly never thought I could manage that.

Hiking El Camino, a 500 mile trail across the entirety of Spain.

Summitting Mount Kilimanjaro.

I tried something totally out of my comfort zone: DOC spring break trips freshman year. Best decision I’ve made since coming to Dartmouth.

I led an amazing trip for the ’19s!

I biked across the countr y!

Finding all my internships on my own, without using parents.

I finally worked up the courage to confront my abusive mother and learn how to take care of myself.

Only booting twice during all of 15X. I was able to help children in need stay in school in Colombia by buying them their school uniforms.

I finished an entire paint-by-number.

Working three jobs in order to buy myself my first car.

Never pulled an all-nighter.

I can wake up early these days, and I feel like I have the energy to go to classes. I am not feeling depressed as I was in the last spring but didn’t admit to myself.

In May I got named one of Quora’s Top Writers for 2015.

Getting my thesis approved!

Finding all my internships on my own, without using parents.

Sur viving spring term not having been home for a year.

Running two half-marathons.

Spending a summer in London without looking like a tourist.

Getting into Dartmouth.

Getting an offer to my current internship.

A ver y good citation from summer term. Proved to myself that I could turn things around. Realized my potential.

Two reporters face the Herculean challenge of seeing all that Hanover has to offer — in one day SPOTLIGHT

Fears

B y MAry Liza Hartong and Andrew Kingsley

Hopes

I’m afraid that my best friends are distancing themI hope that I can start to like school more and my faith selves from me because I’m not as happy as I used to in Dartmouth will come back. be.

I hope that one day I can love who I am as a person, Graduating. not with respect to anything or anyone else.

What do I do with a degree in government again?

Looking for ward to re-connecting with friends while I fear having regrets, not about what I’ve done, but ending my time at Dartmouth on a high note. about what I haven’t done I’m really looking for ward to Homecoming, and standThat all my friends will have jobs and I’ll be broke and ing around the Bonfire with my whole class, the rest of unemployed. the school and even the alums. It’s magical.

Fall term classes.

Living in the same room all three terms!

In-season workouts.

Tr ying the Dartmouth Seven with Phil’s new floodI worr y that I’ll never have a sense of community like lights.

I have here after I leave school. What if this is the best To do something that helps the world in some way. things will ever be?

I can’t wait for SENIOR YEAR and to solidify some I fear that I will not live up to my potential. of the amazing friendships that I’ll take with me after Having the same year ever y year. graduation.

Homesickness.

Running a marathon.

I fear losing the people closest to me.

Learning cool s--t this term.

I’m afraid that giving in and deciding to rush as a juGetting my book published. nior is symbolic of my abandonment of my core values I’m looking for ward to joining a sorority. in favor of assimilation and happiness.

Going to Italy next term.

Going to FoCo for the first time this term.

Being at Dartmouth for three more years :) Not getting in to grad school because of my grades I hope that Dartmouth will change, the old traditions here. will fail and we’ll end up with a much happier campus I have gone through a lot of emotional turmoil in the because of it. last year, and I realized that I don’t fear anything. I I’m looking for ward to my father getting out of prison came through what the world threw at me and I will in a year. continue to do so.

I am looking for ward to pulling all nighters talking to I am dreading fulfilling my lab distribs. other people excited about changing the world. I hope I am dreading seeing my grades at the end of this term that I find my place at Dartmouth and that I find a and likely being taken down a few notches. group of people I belong to.

My biggest fear about Dartmouth is that I won’t be Snow. able to find any sweet tea.

I hope that at the end of this year, I will have found a Not learning from and repeating my mistakes of the place for myself at Dartmouth with numerous friends I past year. can count on and organizations I’m proud to be a part I am afraid that I won’t be able to do as well here at of.

Dartmouth as I did in high school, because here I am Looking for ward to seeing what is out there in the real surrounded by people just as accomplished as I am. world.

I fear my inner insecurities tainting the relationships Becoming better friends with my neighbor. that I have and cherish with people. I also fear that in I’m looking for ward to joining a sorority. the process of looking to the future and having things I’m looking for ward to my father getting out of prison to worr y about, I’ll forget the things I have already in a year. achieved and learned.

I hope that I will work harder and smarter for my I’m afraid that my career and my passions will conflict. classes this year!

Water shortages due to global warming in the next 30 I’m looking for ward to helping many more people in years — meaning my kids might have to wait in line for need. water.

Having all of my friends in the same place.

Aging.

I am looking for ward to learning how to code in Java Completely switching to a new minor and anxious this term. about tr ying to work it into my schedule. Also dread- I want to cuddle more. ing job search. Always.

Sleep!

Regrets I didn’t eat enough Hop during spring term before it closed for the summer.

Wasting my time tr ying to fit in with people who were never going to accept me for who I was, and taking too long to find the people who do :) I regret not working hard enough.

I lashed out at a friend because I felt insecure about my relationship with them.

Not singing in the shower more often.

Not speaking up for something I really wanted sooner.

Ever ything I haven’t done at Dartmouth.

Not setting higher standards for my relationships with the opposite sex.

I regret that I tried to be someone I was not freshman fall — you don’t have to go out ever y night to find happiness here.

Smoking. Tr ying to quit.

Never studying off-campus.

I wish I had been more relaxed during 15S. I still let people walk all over me before I take care of myself, but I’m getting better at that. Not that I’m not going to still help people, but I need to make sure that it’s not at the expense of my wellbeing.

I wish I had tried more different intro classes freshman year and sophomore year. By sophomore year, I was already totally on track for my majors, and I think I missed out on finding some of my interests.

Not making the most of my FSP. Not valuing friendships or keeping them alive.

I took CHEM 5 freshman fall. It is my only regret.

Smoking an entire pack of cigarettes at BG paint party Chicaiza/THE STAFF I regret not letting my dad be Anthony a bigger part of DARTMOUTH my childhood.

Not taking CS 1.

Not being more generous.

Not communicating well enough with my younger brother.

Not bothering to speak more Mandarin when I was a kid.

I regret not working hard enough.

Not dedicating enough time for self-love and self-care.

I wish I had tried more different intro classes freshman year and sophomore year. By sophomore year, I was already totally on track for my majors, and I think I missed out on finding some of my interests.

I regret not really appreciating the time I had with my family this past summer before I left for college.

I should’ve auditioned for/joined more stuff as a freshman and been less scared to take risks and get outside my own comfort zone.

Why on earth did I choose to live in a single by myself?

ALI DALTON /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF