The Dartmouth 10/03/18

MIR ROR 10.3.2018

GHOSTING AT DARTMOUTH |3

SPEAKING UP: GENDER IMBALANCE | 4

TRANSITIONING FROM CITY NOISE TO SILENCE | 5 JEE SEOB JUNG/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

2 //MIRR OR

Editors’ Note

In Silence, a Cry for Change STORY

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Our campus, though nestled in the white mountains of New Hampshire, hours away from the hustle and bustle of city life, is a thriving and pulsing center. We may be secluded from the noise of any city, unlike many of our Ivy League counterparts, but we make enough noise of our own. But what happens when there’s no noise at all?

Even silence can be loud. Sometimes the absence of sound, of chatter and voices and opinions and people, is louder. When it’s silent, when all you have are your own thoughts running through your mind, it can get quite unbearable. So we pop in our headphones, crank up our favorite playlist and try to avoid it.

This week, the Mirror explores how silence affects our day to day lives. Some of us stay silent in class — why is that? Some of us struggle to adjust to the serenity of the New Hampshire woods, being so used to the hubbub of city life. Others face radio silence from ones they wish to connect to — a millennial phenomenon appropriately referred to as “ghosting.” Go ahead, read the issue — perhaps out loud.

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10.3.18 VOL. CLXXV NO. 74 MIRROR EDITORS MARIE-CAPUCINE PINEAUVALENCIENNE CAROLYN ZHOU ASSOCIATE MIRROR NIKHITA HINGORANI EDITORS ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ZACHARY BENJAMIN PUBLISHER HANTING GUO EXECUTIVE EDITORS AMANDA ZHOU

By Helen Horan

One of the most emblematic and accurate descriptions of our school can be found in its motto: “Vox Clamantis in Deserto,” or “a voice crying out in the wilderness.”

Yet the phrase is rarely given much attention or thought, perhaps dismissed as an archaic Latin idiom that fails to inspire students.

Forgotten and unacknowledged, the motto fades into obscurity and silence. Yet it is silence itself to which the motto so powerfully alludes. “A voice crying out in the wilderness” speaks to the silence of Dartmouth’s isolation, but also the impulse our community has to fill that quiet space with ideas, conversations and culture.

Although the meaning of the motto has evolved over time, it originated as a biblical reference.

The College was founded as an institution to evangelize and educate Native Americans about the English way of life. Dartmouth COURTESY OF RAUNER SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY founder Eleazar Wheelock chose a phrase that appears five times in the Bible to strengthen the school’s taking a walk around College Chao ’22. She referenced both commitment to religion and also Park in the morning or the golf political activism and scientific highlight its endless green setting. course late at night sometime to research on campus as examples Though the motto has its roots with let the woody campus encompass of Dartmouth’s dynamic presence.

“People don’t really speak up 18th-century Christian men, it is you.

The quiet wilderness offers a sometimes, and I feel like colleges our duty to change the meaning of the motto in tandem with the setting in need of sound, and the like Dartmouth have the ability to Dartmouth community provides speak out and spread ideas. We changing culture of the school.

Dartmouth’s secluded location just that. Robert Crawford ’22 can be the voice in the silence of s p e a k s t o t h i s society,” Chao said. and intimate duty of ours: There is something oddly re l at i o n s h i p “A s i n t e l l e c t u a l s encouraging about a remote with t h e “As intellectuals a n d m e m b e r s location. While in a city it is difficult w i l d e r n e s s and members of this powerful to escape noise and competition, create a serene of this powerful community, we must here at Dartmouth students are setting. There not only be the voice given ample resources and room to is the quiet fall community, we crying out, but also let their voices be heard. While we of crisp dead must not only be the ones responding have the opportunity to participate leaves, the to a voice in need in big city internships during off gentle hum of the voice crying and m a k i n g terms, our time in Hanover allows bike wheels out, but also the change.” us to make a more personal and tur ning and ones responding to Silence should perceivable difference. Students the weighty not stifle us: rather, can grow their own food at the s i l e n c e o f a voice in need and it should inspire Organic Farm, become deeply w h i t e s n o w making change.” u s t o s p e a k u p. involved with a project or protest that begins Aspire to be that the status quo. to blanket “voice calling out,” Other individuals found the our campus - ROBERT CRAWFORD whether it pertains motto alluded more readily to our in November. ’22 t o s o c i a l i s s u e s, intellectual pursuit as students.

At times, it e n v i r o n m e n t a l Jean Fang ’20 thinks it refers to feels like this c h a n g e o r ‘ 5 3 academic success and the pursuit school has a C o m m o n s of the greater things in life. Perhaps silence that preferences. College “Vox Clamantis in Deserto” could can penetrate bones, and loneliness is not an is an opportunity to exist on the suggest scientific discovery and the uncommon experience. Yet silence outskirts of the world for a bit, desire to find truths in the world.

The “voice calling out in the also allows us to be tranquil and away from the control of one’s reflective; it inspires interrogation family and the demands of a career. wilderness” is not that of one within our selves. And these It is a chance to really contemplate individual, but of the whole moments of stillness are best found ideas, explore topics that pique Dartmouth community. The motto in the wilderness. The College is your interest and find that thing is an acute reminder of the potential not just close to nature, it is part of that makes you feel as if you must this isolated location provides for intellectual discovery and personal it: the river, the Organic Farm and “call out.”

“We are the epicenter of expression. We should remember Occom Pond are popular favorites where campus merges with the a lot of things happening in to embrace the wilderness and let wilderness. Maybe it is worth New Hampshire,” said Isabella our words pierce the silence.

MIRROR //3

“Let’s Get a Meal Sometime”: Ghosting at Dartmouth STORY

By Nelly Mendoza-Mendoza

Do you ever find yourself using your phone when walking to class to avoid making eye contact with the girl you met to last week, because you don’t know whether she will say ‘hi’ or not? This might be unintentional ghosting. Ghosting can be best defined as the act of actively or passively avoiding communication with someone without being specific about your intentions for the future of the certain relationship.

There are different levels of ghosting, from mild to more severe.

Level I. Taking a long time to respond. Communication might feel forced or lacking in effort.

Level II. Never replying but still seeing someone’s messages. Add an extra level if the ghoster has their read receipts on.

Level III. Completely cut off and disconnected.

David Ringel ’19 said that people ghost others in part because they feel like they won’t see the other person again. “ T h e re ’s n o t a l o t o f accountability, or people think it does not mean that much to the other person,” Ringel said.

One of the most common kinds of ghosting is related to romantic relationships. Kristin Winkle ’18 for example, described how she does not really like ghosting people, but has done so because the other person did not really understand that she was not interested. Winkle has ghosted people in situations when the other person has not altered their level of communication.

“I end up replying the bare minimum,” she said.

However, she also mentioned how some friendships and relationships just naturally fade away. Winkle believes that it is easy to know if the friendship is no longer strong when both people are not engaged in the interaction.

Hugh Mac Neill ’20 said that in a big city, it might be more common to go on a date with someone and never see them again if you are not interested. However, because Dartmouth is so small, it is almost unavoidable to run into people you have ghosted in class or on a night out.

R i n g e l e ch o e d a s i m i l a r sentiment.

“You meet someone, and you ultimately run into them the next day because that’s how Dartmouth works, and then they don’t say ‘hi.’

We totally know each other. I don’t know why they don’t just say ‘hi,’” he said.

There are different types of ghosting, however. Paula Lenart ’20, for example, mentioned how

Dartmouth students often ghost each other for different reasons.

Lenart believes that due to Dartmouth’s small size, most people know each other on some level, even though it may not be well, and explained that not saying hello is part of the Dartmouth culture.

Lenard noticed a lot of people adopt this kind of behavior, even when students come from different cultures where saying hello or making eye contact with someone is considered courteous.

When asked why people ghost each other, she mentioned several different points, such as the potential awkwardness that could come from saying hi to someone you do not know well. Thus, the safe option seems to be to not say ‘hi.’

On the other hand, Mac Neill said that people might ignore each other because if you were to say hi to everyone you have ever met at Dartmouth, it could mean that you would spend your whole day greeting people. Thus, sometimes some students might choose to not say ‘hi’ to everyone they have met. However, this trend might be unhealthy in the long run, as it may lead people to miss out on potential friendships.

Ringel added that a common theme at Dartmouth is students not following up on plans, such as getting a meal. He emphasized the importance of following up with promises, because even when they may not seem like a big deal, they might be to someone else.

“The aspect of connection is very important, and when you ghost people it makes them feel like they are not that important,” Ringel said.

Ringel also added that he prefers to say hi when he remembers a person than to not. He is also trying to be better about following through with his plans.

Another type of ghosting is ignoring people whom you have met before, but so long ago that you do not know if they remember you.

There is a window of opportunity after meeting someone where greeting them can become a norm.

Technology has made ghosting a common occurrence. Now you can just ignore someone on your phone, making it obvious that you are no longer interested, instead of telling them face to face. Ignoring someone’s texts, social media or calls is basically like sending an ‘I am not interested’ message. It seems like the more connected we are, the easier it is to send a message to someone that you are no longer interested.

MIA ZHANGE NACKE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

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Speaking Up: Gender Imbalance in the Classrooms STORY

By Novi Zhukovsky

“I raise up my voice not so I can shout,” said Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani advocate for women’s rights who won a Nobel Prize at age 17, “but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”

Malala fights for the rights of impoverished girls to get an education. But even the most privileged girls sometimes struggle to be heard.

Most of us — men and women — know the anxiety of raising our hands in class. We know the feeling that builds in our chest when our heart starts to pound — the fear that we will say something pointless or worse, stupid. Maybe the fear keeps us from speaking at all. But chances are, it is women who are more affected by this anxiety and who are more likely to think twice before speaking out.

Jennifer Jiwon Lee ’17 wrote her senior thesis on the disparity between genders in speaking out. “Who Speaks and Who Listens: An Examination of Gender Differences in Dartmouth Classrooms” examines the disparity between the participation of men and women. Lee tracked nine courses in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences for five weeks and analyzed the different behaviors of men and women. At the end of her study, she found that in all of the classes she followed, the men had established themselves as the “dominant speakers” in the classroom by being the most talkative overall. Sixty-three percent of the time, they were also the first students to speak. These numbers were reached even though male students actually comprised only 45 percent of the students in the study.

Lee also noticed a difference not only in terms of frequency of participation, but in speaking habits as well. She noted that, “men students frequently used assertive language and tone to convey their arguments … In contrast, women students’ tones were largely hesitant and apologetic.”

Additionally, she noticed differences in the ways in which men and women made their initial remarks. Men made comments or answered questions with their first comments, while “women students’ first comments often involved reading excerpts, asking logistical questions about an upcoming assignment, or responding to professors’ cold calling.”

Lee suggests these differences in speech reflect a larger truth about women in society. She believes they represent a “series of subtle microinequities that collectively result in discouraging classroom atmospheres that limit women’s potential to contribute to the conversation and to become active participants in

the classrooms.” Moreover, she believes that “these instances reflect the tendency of men students to actively pursue answers and claim education, instead of passively receiving education.”

Janice McCabe, an associate professor of sociology who is also affiliated with women’s, gender and sexuality studies department, and who was also Lee’s thesis advisor, has similar feelings about the impact of the participation gap.

“I think that it compounds and reinforces things that are happening elsewhere in society,” said McCabe.

“In and of itself, it may not be an issue, but when combined with patterns about who participates on conference calls and in business meetings, where one study showed that men talked 92 percent of the time in conference calls, it becomes problematic.”

McCabe believes that talking about the disparity may be the best solution.

“I think raising awareness of the issue is a great step because it is important for people to be aware that not everyone has the same assumptions about roles in the classroom,” McCabe said. “We must educate each other different gender and racial dynamics. We should be raising awareness not only among women, but among men too.”

In her thesis, Lee suggests that teachers must lead the way by taking responsibility not only to be aware of gender disparities in the classroom but also by mitigating the divide. Recognizing the “social responsibilities that come with their profession,” she writes, “professors should invest more effort to transform classroom structures.”

There is some debate about how best to handle the differences.

Jessica Heine ’19, who is majoring in philosophy, believes that it is up to students to push themselves to speak up and close the gap.

“I would rather see girls be empowered and feel confident enough to succeed in really assertive and aggressive environments than having the environment changed because we think girls can’t handle it,” Heine said. “I think that reinforces the stereotype in the first place and reinforces people’s ideas that women can’t and shouldn’t be assertive. I don’t agree with programs that have a different standard for girls, or try to give them extra help by calling on them or getting them to them speak up.”

The issue leads to the question — is there anything specific to Dartmouth that might make this phenomenon more prevalent in our classrooms?

Giavanna Munafo, senior lecturer in the women’s, gender and

sexuality studies department, thinks Dartmouth might be influenced by its previous status as an all-male college.

“Dartmouth only became coed in 1972 — not very long ago,” she said.

“I started college in 1979, and while the school I went to, [the] University of Virginia, had only become coed a few years before, it did not feel to me at all the way many women feel [at Dartmouth] — like they have been added in and are second class citizens here.”

Munafo thinks that although the College is now coed, the “old boys club kind of hangs on.”

“When I came here in the early ’90s, there were some alums who had been very generous supporters of Dartmouth and who stopped giving money when the decision was made to admit women,” Munafo said.

Jessica Heine believes that both the college’s geographic isolation and heavy Greek life might contribute to its male-centric identity, and further the divide.

“There might be a romantic veneration of those old traits — of having that type of arrogant, confident behavior,” she said. "Maybe in part because this college is so excluded from outside life in a unique way.”

Heine thinks Dartmouth’s transition

to coeducation may have been a more difficult process than at other previously single sex schools, due to Dartmouth’s isolation, in comparison to its urban counterparts.

“If you’re in Boston or New York, there may be only boys in your classroom, but you’re still in an environment where there are girls everywhere,” she said. “But here, it was just a totally boy-centric community.”

According to Heine, a thriving Greek life, such as the one at Dartmouth, and gender equity on a campus cannot coexist. “[It’s] sort of naïve to think that we can have our education and be all equal and have great, aggressive debate and then a few hours later, all of the girls are going to spend all of this time getting dressed up to go into one of these boy’s fraternity houses where [the boys] are the ones in control of what’s going on,” said Heine. “I don’t think you can have that dynamic playing such a big role in people’s lives and then expect all of those same people to become completely equal once they enter the realm of the classroom.”

No matter how long we have been at the college, the tune of the "Alma Mater" has now been cemented into

the brains of all Dartmouth students.

Though some of us have yet to memorize all of the lyrics, there are a few lines that seem to have stuck: “Give a rouse, give a rouse, with a will!

For the sons of old Dartmouth, For the daughters of Dartmouth.”

While these three lines are certainly the catchiest, they conceal an underlying reality that is easy to forget: the last line was inserted in 1988, nearly 100 years after the original lyrics were created, and when the title of the song was “Men of Dartmouth.” Now, even though the school maintains a 50:50 male-tofemale ratio and has fully integrated women into the college, the goal of equality, as Lee’s research has shown, has not made itself evident in all classrooms. And whether or not Dartmouth’s history as an all-male college or its association with Greek life contributes, the disparity is real.

With continued attention and thought, perhaps one day all members of the Dartmouth community will become more conscious of both the impact and importance of their participation in the classroom. And maybe soon the voices of women at Dartmouth will be as loud and sure and firm as Baker Library’s daily call of the "Alma Mater."

MIRROR //5

Transitioning From City Noise to Silence of Hanover STORY

By Maggie Doyle

A month ago, I would have unaccustomed to it. been sorely underqualified to Chicago was filled with the write about silence, the theme noises of emphatic traffic, street of this week’s issue. I grew up perfor mers and construction. in downtown Chicago, where Within my house, I was used to silence is an ever-allusive myth. sounds of National Public Radio, Though I thought of Hanover as my mom’s Italian opera and my a quieter lifestyle than Chicago, I’d brothers’ naturally boisterous interpreted that in the context of voices. My own voice belting out its simplicity, rather than the noise Carrie Underwood’s best anthems level. I should have known better, filled the potential silence of with Dartmouth’s the motto being drives to school. The library at my high school was inherently “Vox Clamantis in Deserto.” a social space, Though “A with librarians Voice Crying in "In the pandemonium whose valiant the Wilderness” describes some of Trips and the hectic- efforts to quiet students only less outdoorsy ness of orientation, tempted them freshmen on I didn't even notice to talk more. their FirstIf I needed to Year Trips, it the difference in noise study, I put in also portrays a levels between home headphones certain degree and blasted o f s o l i t u d e ; and Hanover." classical music, there is no my sorry background substitute noise to life for silence. in the Upper Looking back, Valley. In the I remember pandemonium of Trips and the hecticness of moments of quiet, but never of orientation, I didn’t even notice the real silence. I left the city for difference in noise levels between vacations or visits, but I never home and Hanover. As the storm processed how comparatively loud has settled, and I’ve stared to adjust life in the city was. As a disclaimer, to my new home, silence creeps up I’ll admit these reflections aren’t on me at strange times. I’ve come complaints; these city noises were to respect the profound impact a symphonic melody, chaotic yet of silence, especially on someone comfortable, part of what made it

SARAH ALPERT/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Pine Park contains a trail through the forest nest to the golf course, used by students and residents for runs or walks.

home.

Flash forward a month, and occasionally, while in Sanborn or fourth floor Berry, I am actually distracted by the silence. If I sit perfectly still, I can’t hear anyone or anything, as if the film of the Dartmouth bubble has absorbed the noise I associate with the outside world. This surprises me, because absolute silence isn’t something I was aware I’d been missing out on for 18 years.

Dartmouth isn’t a monastery; it has its own unique sounds I’ve come to love, like the bell tower playing the “Alma Mater,” or better yet, “Every Time We Touch.” The difference is that in moments of down time, while the city might be quiet, Hanover is silent.

On the one hand, silence has a whimsical side. The cultural importance of meditation, the norm of silence in study spaces and the practice of a moment of silence to honor the dead, are testaments to this facet of silence.

In my moments of silence at Dartmouth, I have found placidity in the stillness. The absence of the abundant energy of constant noise subtracts a degree of stress I didn’t know was present before Dartmouth. On the other hand, the popularity of the 2018 horror film “A Quiet Place” shows people find something inherently horrifying about silence. Even when silence isn’t horrifying, it’s at least uncomfortable for many people. Awkward silences are often

associated with feelings of social anxiety, which raises the question of what is so inherently unnerving about it. For me, silence is when the hard parts of transitioning to freshman year set in. Moments of silence are when I’m confronted with missing my family and friends, or am overwhelmed by my workload. Maybe what makes silence so uncomfortable is the way it necessitates confrontation with oneself. It seems the result of the hyperactivity of every day at Dartmouth is the suppression of negative emotions by pure necessity. Most of the time, I have to be focused on the task at hand, but when I stop, the intense placidity of silent moments makes the emotions that come up in those times more intense.

For me, silence has even changed noise. I always assumed my slight Chicago accent and inability to maintain an inside voice were the result of genetics, or being raised in a big family. I was a loud person, and that was the end of that. Even five weeks into life in Hanover, I can recognize how my voice has changed. It’s still mine, but my vowel sounds are ever so slightly less harsh, and my speaking voice is marginally softer. I no longer have to constantly compensate for or compete with background noise.

Bit by bit, life in the woods has allowed me to cautiously hang up my armor in the fight to be heard.

The intense power of silence has the science to back it up. According

to the American Psychological Association, noise pollution can potentially lead to high blood pressure and heart attacks. Even in the 1800s, Florence Nightengale wrote that “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted on sick or well.”

More recently, a study published in the journal Brain, Structure, and Function, found that in mice, two hours of silence daily actually led to the development of new brain cells in the hippocampus.

Essentially, not only is silence healthy for the way it makes us confront ourselves, it can literally rebuild our brains.

Silence is honest, healing and sometimes hard, especially when its new. I think most people, including me, are able to acknowledge that it’s a good thing.

Still, I subconsciously avoid it, trying to fill it with unnecessary noise, because silence can also be intimidating. There are certainly times when I am unnerved by the absence of the background noise I’ve considered a given for most of my life and miss the city. With time, I hope to learn to fully appreciate the silence and the various benefits to one’s physical and mental health it provides. Dartmouth students are so often overworked and overstretched, and I think we need all the brain restoration we can get. Additionally, silence isn’t always possible outside the bubble, which is all the more reason to make space for it now.

6 //MIR ROR

Study in Silence: Quiet Study Spaces STORY

By Devanshi Udeshi

Have you ever walked into an sleeping. Because of its quiet and environment feeling awkward comfortable environment and dim because you were not familiar with lighting, the Tower Room can be a the social norms? No longer will you popular napping on campus. Just have to worry about that, as we have make sure that while you are in the designed a guide to help you navigate Tower Room, you keep all noise to your way around quiet spaces on a minimum, as minor sounds such campus. Since midterm season is as opening a bag of chips or clicking fast approaching, this is the perfect your pen may turn a few heads in time to introduce you to some of the your direction. great study spaces at Dartmouth.

Next, we have Sanborn Library.

F i r s t u p, Adjacent to we have the “In the library, all Baker Library in Tower Room, the first floor of the silence that’s located on the Sanborn House, second floor of there is fake. People Sanborn Library Baker Library. want to be loud, but has a similar Renowned environment for its antique they have to keep t o t h e Towe r appearance, themselves to a Room. Due to its t h e To w e r warm and cozy whisper.”

Ro o m i s a environment, it wonderful is a popular place place to get - JARELY LOPEZ ’19 to read a good some work book on a rainy done without day or curl up in distractions a comfy armchair while enjoying beautiful views of for a quality siesta. At Sanborn, the Green. When you visit the you can enjoy a calm atmosphere Tower Room, you will discover and afternoon tea breaks that are that there are two distinct types part of a long-standing Dartmouth of people: those who are seriously tradition. On weekdays, Sanborn studying and those who are seriously Library serves tea and cookies

JEE SEOB JUNG/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

between 4 and 5 p.m. Like the floor provides a study environment Tower Room, occupants of Sanborn where one can foster a connection Library are expected to keep the with nature. For Lopez, studying at noise level as close to silent as the Greenhouse makes her feel as possible. though she is no longer in Hanover.

Feldberg Library, a popular “You still have the silence but destination for it’s like nature Thayer and Tuck silence ... not graduate students, “There’s always stuff synthetic,” is located in close happening [in Couch Lopez said. proximity to the “In the library, River Cluster and Lab] ... people are all the silence the Dartmouth talking but everyone is that’s there is Climbing Gym. fake. People always doing work.”

It is a two-story want to be library with a loud, but they book collection - COLLEEN O’CONNOR ’19 have to keep on the first floor themselves to and a study space a whisper.” on the second T h e floor. Whether Orozco Mural you are looking for a setting with Room, located in the basement of a “startup-y” or professional vibe, Baker Library, is an interesting place or simply looking for a work space to study, especially for those who where you are less likely to run into have an appreciation for art and are other undergrads, Feldberg is the looking to get inspired by creativity. place to be. With its cubicle-style As the site of José Clementé desk arrangements and the option Orozco’s masterpieces, “The Epic to lay down on beanbags, Feldberg of American Civilization,” the Library may be the change you are mural room was designated a looking for. It is not uncommon for national historic landmark in 2013. people there to have conversations Although a popular stop for visitors at low voice levels, although it is still of campus, it manages to maintain a relatively quiet environment. the expectations of a quiet space. It is The Greenhouse on the fourth a fairly large with long wooden tables floor of the 1978 Life Sciences and chairs that are ideal for getting Center is a “hidden gem,” according work done with your buddies while to Jarely Lopez ’19, a frequent keeping conversations to a whisper. studier at the Greenhouse. The Next, we have the Black Family Greenhouse is designed as a living Visual Arts Center, a building with botanical museum, while the fourth classrooms, art galleries, a film

screening room, production studios and administrative offices. Designed to provide a modern feel with plenty of open space, the ground floor lobby is the perfect setting to do some independent work. According to James Rhodes ’19, who spends much of his time working in the BVAC, it gets a little too quiet there sometimes.

“I sat down there twice [to study] and then moved somewhere else … it is a relatively quieter place,” Rhodes said.

Finally, the Couch Project Lab at the Thayer School of Engineering is a one-of-a-kind creative space where students work on creating prototypes from their sketches. On any given day, students, typically those studying engineering (although it is a space open to all), can be found drawing complex diagrams on white boards and working on the wooden tables to construct anything from circuits to wearable devices.

“There’s always stuff happening [in Couch Lab] … people are talking but everyone is always doing work,” Colleen O’Connor ’19 said.

Although the quieter spaces at Dartmouth may seem intimidating at first, they are great places to get work done once you understand the social norms unique to each space. There might be times when you are pressed for deadlines or when your floormates decide to have a movie night in the residence hall common rooms, but always remember that there are spaces around campus designed to meet each students’ needs.

MIRROR //7

I’m Very Quiet. How About You? STORY

By Maria Teresa Hidalgo

Ever since I was a young girl, my dominant Greek centered social life. classmates described me as a “violeta Was Dartmouth the right choice for timida” (timid violet). This meant this “timid violet” to bloom? that I was always the quiet one in When it was time for me to visit every social circle, which at that time the different colleges I was accepted was composed of my family, school to, my parents believed that my quiet and neighbors. In elementary and shy personality would be better school, I believed that being quiet suited to a small liberal arts college. was a valid state of nature and Nonetheless, I firmly understood one of the many characteristics that at Dartmouth, anyone could that made me find their own w h o I a m . “In elementary school, niche, and Nonetheless, that being an as I grew and I believed that being introvert was not made my way to quiet was a valid a limitation, but middle school, state of nature and rather one of the external societal characteristics pressures made one of the many that may m e w a n t t o characteristics that define your reconsider my uniqueness. otherwise proud made me who I am.”

While at title of introvert.

Dimensions, I I believed that if met students I ever wanted who were to succeed in thriving at these social Dartmouth, circles, I needed even if they did to act more not necessarily extroverted. Therefore, throughout fit the stereotype of our student my high school career, I slowly body. Dimensions also proved to began to evolve into something of be an academically eye-opening an extrovert, both in the classroom experience, as I was able to learn and with my group of close friends. more about the opportunities On the other hand, while at home, available for all students across I still felt as if I was in a safe place various academic departments, even where I could be an introvert to introverts like me. Therefore, I without any negative consequences. realized that Dartmouth was where As I began searching for the I truly belonged. right college, I researched those Once I arrived, I began to feel the where their student body felt the most confident and happy.

In addition, I looked for an environment that, unlike my high school, valued those who were different and embraced their unique personalities. While researching the Ivy League institutions, the one that stood out the most for me was Dartmouth. Even though the Big Green is not as well known in Puerto Rico, I felt an immediate connection and allure given its smaller size and the attention and support provided to each undergraduate. Another big plus was that I identified with the institution itself, given that throughout most of my life I sometimes felt that regardless of my academic and personal accomplishments, I often went unnoticed. I saw in Dartmouth an institution outstanding in practically all fields of academics, yet potentially unknown to a wide array of people.

Once I did more research, it seemed that Greek life was a dominant aspect of the social scene.

Although Greek life may appeal to many students, I never believed it was for me. Therefore, I remained somewhat skeptical about whether an introvert like me could fit in a school with such a seemingly

butterflies in my stomach. After all, play out.

I was embarking on a new phase of Once classes began, I was my life. How would I find my own presented with a mixture of niche, my own small community, challenges and amazing satisfaction. so far away from the comfort of Each course was an experience in home? I had always struggled to its own unique way. Still, even find friends who shared my interests, though I’m totally fluent in English, so how would I succeed here in it has never been the language of that regard? Even though I’m a instruction for me. Moreover, as an proud American, there are still introvert the challenge seemed even many cultural differences between more daunting. Would I be able to Hanover, New Hampshire and San effectively participate and discuss Juan, Puerto Rico. Would that be a issues in class? Would my knowledge bigger challenge and class than expected? “During freshmen preparation be D u r i n g recognized by f r e s h m e n orientation, my my professors o r i e n t a t i o n , biggest fear remained and my fellow my biggest students?

— could an introvert fear remained Would people — c o u l d a n fully succeed at make fun of my introvert fully Dartmouth?”

Puerto Rican succeed at accent?

Dartmouth?

By the As the second week, freshman I began to feel orientation much more at came to a close, I realized that ease. A few things began to pave other than my roommate, I was the way for my full integration: mostly by myself. Even though I had developing a few good friendships, made some good acquaintances, I finding an ever-developing comfort questioned myself if my years at zone regarding class participation, Dartmouth would be characterized joining a few good student by loneliness. Yet, somewhat organizations that reflect my unbeknownst to me was the fact personal interests. For the first time that I began to meet new fascinating in my life, I felt as if my introversion people with whom I shared different was not holding me back. things in common. Nevertheless, I My third week at Dartmouth was was totally unaware how this would the moment when I finally realized

that most things were beginning to fall into place; though I’m sure that in earnest, the adjustment period might still last for the whole academic year. Given my hectic schedule, I have realized that at times one may need to be alone to study, rest, meditate or even think about the future. No longer do I feel intimidated by being alone; not even at the Class of 1953 Commons or Collis Café where everyone seems to have a friend by their side.

Looking at the future, I feel it is appropriate to conclude that being an introvert at Dartmouth is not easy, and sometimes it is even hard. Even though the College has gone the extra mile to provide support for each of its students, there are still many other aspects of daily life where you as an introvert are still on your own, and where challenges still persist. Amazingly, now I feel more comfortable with my introversion. Rather than discard my own cocoon, I finally understand that my introversion is part of my personality and that I can still be successful and thrive in Dartmouth and in life being that way.

To my fellow introverts, as I said before, life is hard, but I have faith that it will get better. In the words of the acclaimed television show Bojack Horseman, “Every day, it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That’s the hard part.

But it does get easier.”

8// MIRROR

Serenity PHOTO

By: Oliver Byles