The Dartmouth 9/12/18

MIR ROR 9.12.2018

Q&A WITH ENGLISH PROFESSOR PETER ORNER | 2

LOVE AT FIRST FLOOR MEETING | 4-5

THE FALL: AN ILLUSION OF BEGINNING| 6 JEE SEOB JUNG/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

2 //MIRR OR

Editors’ Note

Fall Term Bucket List STORY

By Nikhita Hingorani

Welcome back to campus, Dartmouth! From the hints of orange, yellow and red on the trees to the crispness and coolness of the air, it is evident that 18F is finally upon us. Fall is my personal favorite season of the year. I’m a sucker for peak foliage, exciting activities and tasty treats. I have crafted a list of some must-dos on campus and around town this season. Trust me, once you start checking these items off of your Dartmouth bucket list, you’ll soon be wishing fall term would go by a little bit slower (if you weren’t thinking that already).

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

If you are not struck by love upon your first step on the Green, first Collis smoothie or first run around Pine Park — no fear. It can be a slower kind of love, a kind of love that you don’t notice until you’re sitting in your 9L, daydreaming about hitting the green, not hitting the stacks, after class.

Cappy: Do you believe in love at first sight? I didn’t think I did — then I came here. I fell in love fast and hard with this place my first fall on campus.

I fell in love with the crisp air, the leaves, the bonfire — but most of all I fell for the community.

Carolyn: For me, I came to Dartmouth on a summer day — I distinctly recall sitting on a bench on the Green, eating a sandwich my mother had packed for me. But I definitely don’t remember a single detail from the tour — so I don’t think it was love at first sight for me. I think I realized that I was at a special place when I was stumbling through the dark with friends in the homecoming parade of freshmen. I looked around, seeing the eager, painted faces of my classmates illuminated by street lights and then the bonfire, and the idea that this place might become home started becoming more of a reality.

1. Go leaf peeping Love “aww”-ing over the pretty trees during this time of year?

There’s a word for that: leaf peeping. Leaf peeping is when people travel around New England for the sole purpose of viewing the changing colors of the leaves.

Lucky for us, we don’t have to travel far to see some nice foliage — just head over to Wilder Hall or walk around Occom Pond to see the most Instagram-worthy leaves of your life.

2. Hike Mount Moosilauke Soak in the granite of New Hampshire and all of its glory on a nice fall afternoon hike in the mountains (or do a sunrise hike if that’s more your speed). Then have dinner and spend the night at the newly renovated Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. I can guarantee you that you will leave with beautiful views, plenty of laughs and countless memories that are sure to last a lifetime.

3. Go apple picking Head over to the Riverview Farm for the most iconic fall time activity: apple picking. Once you find your ideal apple, remember

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9.12.18 VOL. CLXXV NO. 59 MIRROR EDITORS MARIE-CAPUCINE PINEAUVALENCIENNE CAROLYN ZHOU EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ZACHARY BENJAMIN PUBLISHER HANTING GUO EXECUTIVE EDITORS IOANA SOLOMON AMANDA ZHOU

not to tug it down; instead, twist it on its stem and then gently lift up. Also, don’t be fooled by the fake apples on the trees that are actually bug traps (I speak from experience).

4. Take a fall food tour around town Hanover is the spot for those craving all things pumpkin spice and everything nice. Go to Lou’s for an apple cider donut (perhaps even during a Lou’s Challenge to kill two birds with one stone), treat yourself to some maple ice cream at Riverview Farm or hit up King Arthur Flour for a classic order of cider and cookies.

5. Carve a pumpkin A nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon is to go to a pumpkin patch and wander around until you spot that picture-perfect pumpkin.

Afterwards, get a group of friends together and start carving spooky faces for some instant room décor.

6. Go to a football game Show your school spirit and support Dartmouth football as the players take on some of our biggest rivals this fall. Gather all of your friends, throw on your swankiest Dartmouth gear and cheer on the team to victory. Go Big Green!

7. Stargaze I truly believe that Hanover’s stars are at their prime during the fall. There is just something about the crisp, chilly air blowing against you that really enhances the experience. Lie on the Green, go to the golf course or just look up as you’re walking back from the library at 2:00 am. Try to put your worries into perspective through the stars. Your problems at Dartmouth may seem a lot smaller when you remember the endless

skies above you.

8. Explore The Hanover’s Farmer Market Until mid-October, there is a farmer’s market on the Green every Wednesday afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. where you can find fresh produce, baked goods and locally prepared foods. All of the vendors are pleasant to be around, and they will keep you both well-entertained and well-fed.

The kettle corn station, which is rarely seen without a long line, is a personal favorite of mine and definitely well worth the wait. After class, support our local farmers and soak up all of Dartmouth’s beauty by buying plenty of fresh food and then picnicking on the Green.

There is truly no better afternoon pick-me-up than a farm-to-table meal.

9. Make the most of Homecoming H o m e c o m i n g i s p ro b a bl y Dartmouth at its finest. From the bonfire blazing on the Green, the unmatched school pride from students and the hundreds of alumni around campus, this big weekend reflects the best part of our school: its community.

Class of 2022s, don’t skimp out on the running this year, and upperclassmen, don’t skimp out on the yelling.

10. Watch a scary movie Check out the Nugget and the Hopkins Center for the Arts for the newest horror movie releases.

If you’d rather watch a throwback, opt to get cozy in your dorm room with your best friends and some blankets. If you don’t have time to watch a movie, you can still have a scary night by doing some homework. Either way, don’t forget the popcorn.

MIRROR //3

Q&A With English Professor Peter Orner STORY

By Zachary Gorman

Peter Orner is a new professor in the department of English and creative writing. Orner has authored acclaimed story collections and novels and edited various oral histories over the past two decades.

He most recently released a series of essays and memoirs called “Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Reading to Live and Living to Read,” which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Orner is teaching Creative Writing 10, “Writing and Reading Fiction,” and Creative Writing 40.06, “Uses of Fact,” during the fall term.

to you about studying such varied places and stories?

PO: Well, I find that when I travel, I try to live in a place for as long as I can. I don’t really do “travel writing.” What I try and do is something more immersive than that, where I try and get to know a place and go from there. Just recently I went back to Namibia [where Orner’s first novel was set] and spent a year and a half there doing research for a new book. So I think that travel definitely forms my work, but ideally for me, travel consists of living an ordinary day in a place and not as a traveler. I like to spend time in a place so I can go to the grocery store or the market and live a day-to-day life.

Then I go from there.

When you choose a topic to write about, what criteria do you use?

PO: I’m always looking for a story that sticks in my head and won’t leave it for some reason. Something How has the travel affected your sense of that really “home”? Do keeps wanting you maintain a to somehow be “I don’t really do connection to a told. It’s weird ‘travel writing.’ What I like your because I do do is something more place hometown or both, right? So places you’ve I do nonfiction immersive than that, worked, or and fiction. where I try and get to does travel When I’m change that writing a novel know a place and go connection? o r a s t o r y from there.”

PO: It’s a collection, fascinating idea it starts with to me because I c h a r a c t e r . -ENGLISH PROFESSOR feel like I do have I imagine a PETER ORNER many homes, but character or I I’m kind of a see somebody, and I want to figure out what makes homebody. I’m a homebody who them tick or what’s going on in their travels. So I like to create a home wherever I am, but I’m from heads, and I imagine it.

Chicago and I consider Chicago You’ve traveled extensively home, and it will always be. But I for this work before coming lived many years in California, so to Dartmouth. What appeals California is also home. And now

English and creative writing professor Peter Orner recently joined the College.

that I’ve moved to the Upper Valley, and I’ve been here four months, I feel like I’m burrowing in here and trying to get to know the place as home. So I like to have multiple places that I call home. When I do travel, I try to make that home as best I can. I can’t write about a place unless it feels like home.

What appeals to you about teaching creative writing at Dartmouth?

PO: I can say that what appeals to me about Dartmouth is the intimacy of the place. When I came here for the interview, I had a wonderful time speaking with the students, and I did feel extremely comfortable right away because of how engaged the students were. And we were talking about writing and about its difficulties, its joys, its challenges. And I felt like there almost immediately was this comfort level in talking about very difficult subjects of how to get complex thoughts and feelings and ideas on the page. I felt right away that Dartmouth was going to be a good place for that.

People often ask me if writing can be taught. It’s a difficult question. What I think creative writing classes do best is create a sense of community. You’re in a group of people where there’s a real love and concern for literature, and

that’s such a rare thing out in the world. I find that creative writing courses give people the space to create new work, which is new literature, and I find that inspiring.

COURTESY OF PETER ORNER

classes is to use published works to inspire student writers to reach their own potential. I try to encourage young writers by showing them literature and showing them models that they can aspire to. And What methods might you try people say, “Wow, I’m so moved in a creative by that story. w r i t i n g I’m going to try c o u r s e i n “I find that creative that myself.” order to hone writing courses And I find that s t u d e n t s ’ give people the storytelling skills? is an art and P O : H e r e ’ s space to create new something you an example of work, which is new have to practice, something I bu t i t ’s a l s o would do in a literature, and I find something that class. I would ask that inspiring.” is an essential people to give thing about our me directions lives. I mean, to a place that -ENGLISH PROFESSOR think about how only they know PETER ORNER m a ny s t o r i e s how to get to. you tell in a day.

It could be the It’s sort of like fort they built when they were a the fuel of our human relations, kid in the woods, or if they live in right? So when you put it in an a city it could be a hidden alley that academic setting, that’s complex nobody knows about. What I look because it automatically makes it for when I teach writing is how to a subject matter. And that has its encourage people to be specific. disadvantages, no question about There’s a great beauty in specificity. it. But I think what creative writing In this example about directions, it’s does is encourage people to think amazing how you’ve never been to about storytelling in different ways. the place the person is describing, Ultimately, it’s about exploring our but they’re so specific about how to joy as well as our pain. get there that you start feeling like you know the place.

This interview has been edited and My message in creative writing condensed for clarity and length.

4// MIRROR

Love at First Floor Meeting: Findi STORY

By Alic

Every September, over 1,000 first- me,” Jeneen Graham said. “So I excited because my dad and my year students come to Dartmouth. think what I was feeling was just brother and I played 'Dungeons Fo r m a n y, [being with] an adult. and Dragons' … I never really met the College "It was complete I found it strikingly people my own age that were really p r o v i d e s refreshing.” interested in those same kind of serendipity. I an outlet to

Here a t things.” e x p e r i e n c e actually wasn't D a r t m o u t h , s u ch For them, Dartmouth’s tight-knit new things. feeling that well relationships are in the community, its beautiful scenery Fo r o t h e r s, making. Just as Jeneen and its traditions helped them get it provides a that morning, so Graham and Andreas to know each other. place to meet I almost called in Graham connected “I think because we met in fall people from through their alma term, a lot of my Dartmouthsick. It is just crazy all different mater, many couples specific memories are now specific backgrounds. that we would not at Dartmouth connect memories from my relationship as Fo r s o m e , have met." as they experience well,” Garrison said. i t c r e a t e s their New Student Heather Flokos ’19 and Joseph t h e p e r f e c t Orientation Week Leonor ’19 also are a couple who met environment -JENEEN GRAHAM '96 together. during Orientation Week. However, t o fo s t e r a

E l i z a b e t h they found that a different side of r o m a n t i c Garrison ’21 and Dartmouth helped to develop their relationship.

Willem Klein Wassink ’21 met relationship.

Twenty-two years ago, Jeneen during Trivia Night.

“Dartmouth had an atmosphere Graham ’96 met her husband, “One of the answers was the of trying new things, especially for A n d r e a s song to Lion King freshmen,” Leonor said.

Graham ’80 and she was singing Flokos and Leonor, who were Tu ’86, while "One of the it and waving her also hallmates, met during the early w o r k i n g answers was the ar ms around … I stages of Orientation Week over at Peter admire that amount breakfast with Leonor’s roommate.

C h r i s t i a n ’ s song to Lion King of energy,” Klein “I was having a hard time making Ta v e r n , a and she was singing Wassink said. eye contact because she was so r e s t a u r a n t

As the couple got pretty,” Leonor said. “And then it and waving her in Hanover to know her friendly that has since arms around ... I e a c h "Whenever we did d e m e a n o r closed down. other, they just made it admire that amount stuff as a floor I “ I t w a s r e a l i z e d all the more c o m p l e t e of energy." t h a t always ended up intimidating. serendipity,” they had sitting across from So it took a recalled Jeneen much in little bit of -WILLEM KLEIN G r a h a m . common. him and talking to courage to “ I a c t u a l l y WASSINK '21 B o t h him the most ... start talking wasn’t feeling Garrison because it was just to her.” that well that and Klein

Flokos morning, so I almost called in sick. Wassink were members so easy to talk to s i m i l a r l y It is just crazy that we would not of their debate team in him." r e c a l l s have met.” high school. Many of h e r f i r s t The pair would have had Klein Wassink’s friends impression little in common if they had not in high school were -HEATHER FLOKOS '19 of Leonor. both attended Dartmouth. Jeneen involved in theater, “ I Graham loves music, whereas and Garrison was also thought he Andreas Graham prefers sports. involved in theater productions. They was really funny and nice and just The couple will celebrate their 20th said that a significant commonality immediately very easy to talk to,” wedding anniversary on Oct. 3. and a surprising revelation between Flokos said. “Whenever we did stuff They have two children and have the couple was their shared love for as a floor I always ended up sitting lived in Southern California for the the role-playing game “Dungeons across from him and talking to him past 18 years. and Dragons.” the most … because it was just so “He was really nice and he asked “I loved it when I found out easy to talk to him.” a lot of questions, and I wasn’t used that Will was a little more nerdy,” Even with their immediate to someone being so curious about Garrison said. “I was actually really chemistry, Leonor and Flokos

ing "The One" At Dartmouth

MIRROR //5

ce Zhang

became even closer after they advice. ended up in the same tango class “Try things that you didn’t together. Flokos said she joined the think that you were going to be class because she had taken Spanish interested in,” Leonor said. “Like classes throughout middle school I was saying, I didn’t even think of and high school and had always tango, but it’s a good way to make wanted to learn friends and meet tango. Leonor, people, especially on the other "I had no interest in early on.” hand, said he tango coming into When first-year took the class students arrive at Dartmouth, but the because many Dartmouth, they of his friends idea of curiousity begin a new chapter decided to try and trying new in their lives. They tango. meet new people, “We got to things really pushed experience new know each other me to actually take activities, study more because subjects that the class, and I we were dance they have never p a r t n e r s , ” ended up enjoying it been exposed Leonor said. “I and ... [got to] know to. Whether had no interest or not they are in tango coming my girlfriend a little ro m a n t i c , e a ch into Dartmouth, more." student will engage but the idea of in important curiosity and relationships that t r y i n g n e w -JOSEPH LEONOR '19 define who they things really are. For Dartmouth pushed me to students,the actually take the class, and I ended possibilities are endless. up enjoying it and … [got to] know “Dartmouth has always been my girlfriend a little more.” a magical place for me,” Graham Leonor accredits Dartmouth’s said. “I am a first-generation culture of “trying new things” to college student, and I really felt be one of the major reasons why like I had died and gone to heaven he grew close to Flokos. To the when I got there. That feeling never incoming class, he has a piece of went away, truly.”

COURTESY OF ELIZABETH GARRISON

COURTESY OF JOSEPH LEONOR

6 //MIR ROR

The Fall: An Illusion of Beginning STORY

By Vanessa Smiley

Autumn. Leaves shift from recognize or articulate. Humans, their summer greenness to vibrant after all, are creatures of habit — shades of red, orange and pink. As habits that may take the form of they span the color spectrum, aging a learned behavior or acquired steadily into a crisp brown dryness, emotion. In this light, the fall the leaves abandon d e r i ve s i t s roots and fall one “Since we grow appeal from by o n e t o t h e a construct up associating the ground. For some, t h a t this scene merely fall with newness, originated in signifies a climatic it evolves into a our infancy shift, a transitory and has p h a s e b e t w e e n construct that followed us s u m m e r a n d continues to evoke ever since. winter. For others, Since it heralds what we novelty even as we we grow up have long called transition into college associating “sweater weather,” or make our way to the fall with prompting them newness, it to fill their closets the workforce.” evolves into with clothes that a construct are too thick for t h a t the heat, but too continues to thin for the cold. In that short span evoke novelty even as we transition of time between both seasons, even into college or make our way to our closets become transient. the workforce.

But if you’re like me and But perhaps more striking is search for the metaphor in every what the fall does to our sense conversation or a symbol in every of time. Time is, in part, a social corner, then the fall signifies so construct, designed in part to much more than a change in season organize past, present and future or closet; it promises a fresh start. I events into a linear or otherwise daresay this is something that we all logical narrative. As such, we intuitively know but cannot always c a n n o t c o m p re h e n d h i s t o r y

without a stable sense of time, itself fall seems to promise. However, ourselves settling comfortably into contingent on a series of personal Dartmouth students not only hail the classes most pertinent to our and social landmarks that signal from a wide gamut of backgrounds interests and the social settings that important temporal shifts. In our but often find themselves in suit us best. In any case, though we own efforts to construct a reliable different stages of life, so this notion are likely traversing the same road framework of “beginning” we began paving our freshman t h r o u g h “If you think about it, i s b o u n d t o year, the fall is like a stoplight that w h i c h t o everything from the manifest itself forces us to pause, turn the corner organize and dif ferently for and continue anew.

For seniors, the fall marks the a p p r e h e n d new pen to the new each student. o u r teacher establishes For freshmen, beginning of their final year at environment, t h e f a l l t r u l y college, which entails a unique set we inevitably the fall as a transitory c o n s t i t u t e s of decisions and priorities. At this a p p ro p r i a t e point separating the a w a t e r s h e d point, most have already identified the fall as a sort old from the new. So moment in their their closest friends and grown of temporal lives, coinciding attached to specific communities. l a n d m a r k . when fall rolls around, as it does with So many are preoccupied instead If you think we experience the wh at i s l i k e l y with finding a job and mentally about it, their first long- preparing themselves for the e v e r y t h i n g odd sensation that term departure challenges of full-fledged adult from the new something new is from home. As life. All, I daresay, hope to make pen to the intimidating as their final year memorable so that about to begin and so new teacher this transition they can graduate college with e s t a b l i s h e s press the mental reset may be, there no regrets. If an air of finality the fall as a button in response.” i s a n e q u a l l y separates senior year from the transitory v i b r a n t s e n s e other three years, the fall initiates p o i n t of excitement, this process of unwinding.

The fall, in many respects, is separating the because the very an illusion, no different from the old from the new. So when the fall first fall as a college student often rolls around, we experience the invokes the possibility of a new self. winter or spring terms (except for odd sensation that something new I’m sure many of you recall coming the weather). But because the latter is about to begin and so press the to Dartmouth with images not two have never claimed novelty mental reset button in response. merely of your new dorm, but of as their main quality, they appear Beginning. This is what the the persona you hoped to embody. to us merely as a continuation of what we M a y b e yo u already began. wanted to Even though the modify certain “Even though the fall fall is also an aspects of your is also an extension of extension of the character, or the past, its illusory past, its illusory perhaps you capacities make wanted to take capacities make it far it far more on an identity more exciting than exciting than that never had the winter and t h e c h a n c e the winter and spring spring combined to surface in combined — we can — we can start high school. start afresh, change afresh, change Whatever our trajectory, the case, the our trajectory, remedy remedy past novelty that past oversights. An oversights. An hangs in the autumn illusion, to be sure, but illusion, to be sure, but when air, coupled when has illusion ever has illusion ever with the paled in the face of paled in the face unfamiliarity of fact? of t h e fact?”

Funnily enough, Dartmouth my friend landscape, messaged me as o f f e r s I was writing this incoming article to express freshmen a new audience and a new stage on just how excited he was to return to which to take on an identity of Dartmouth and take an economics course with me this fall. In between their own.

For most sophomores and the excited gestures and countless juniors, the fall may merely exclamations marks, he started represent the start of a yet another sharing his goals for the year: year in a place that we have already he would “be productive,” “stay learned to call home. Yet, there focused” and follow his schedule is still that sense of beginning. with unwavering loyalty. Whether Perhaps we are starting to pare he stays true to his promises is a down our friends to focus on the separate matter altogether, but people that matter most. Maybe one thing is for certain: he has we have a better sense of our succumbed to the illusion of place at Dartmouth, and so find beginning.

MIRROR //7

TTLG: Falling In Love, Twice, Sort Of TTLG

By Alexandra Eldredge

At work this summer, I was all benefit from tapping into the asked to write a card to a client’s enthusiasm we once felt while daughter. She was about to start looking at Dartmouth from an her freshman year of college. I outsider’s perspective. This year, was flattered that they considered I will try to adopt an attitude of me worthy of dispensing advice. gratitude. Dartmouth has given so But as I was writing, I realized I much to me, and it will continue was the one who needed to follow to do so after my graduation. This my own advice. It is always easy to education is truly the gift that keeps offer recommendations to others on giving. In times where I feel without actually practicing what myself veering toward complacency you preach. The following is an and ingratitude, I must remember extract of what the joy and I wrote to the pride I felt woman just a few “In retrospect, I can upon seeing years my junior: see that I spent far my acceptance “Remember and the flurry too much time taking that you are not of confetti on alone in your refuge in the comfort my screen. uncertainty. No of the four walls of my This year I will one really knows fight to resist w h a t t h e y ’ r e room in the Choates. the stereotype d o i n g ! N e w It was a constricting of the “jaded beginnings are e n i o r. ” I and limited way to ‘do srefuse scary. I was so to let nervous my first Dartmouth.’ I copped pessimism day. And some of out of Dartmouth.” or passivity that discomfort consume my lingers, but remaining growth never happens when we time as a Dartmouth student. are wholly comfortable.”

I like to think back to our early This will be my first fall on days when I first fell for you, campus since freshman year, which Dartmouth. It started in October has made me think about how I 2013. You were golden and crisp wish I knew then what I know now. — how could I not be attracted?

The past two falls, although I was The tour guide skillfully glided not physically at Dartmouth, have backwards through the foliage while been the most enriching of my you boasted your finest colors. I sat Dartmouth experience. I studied in in Molly’s sipping an apple cider, Havana and Madrid: two vibrant, dreaming of our future together. historically rich cities. Dartmouth, I was seduced by your autumnal I salute you for allowing me to charm. However, my appreciation explore the world and collect was short-lived. I’m embarrassed university credits along the way. to admit I had a wandering eye However, freshman fall seemed freshman year. Other schools, inter minable. even other Having g rown “This education is truly c o n t i n e n t s , up in the United beckoned. But K i n g d o m , I the gift that keeps on now I know experienced a giving. In times where that love is a culture shock; commitment.

I feel myself veering after a year out of If neglected, education, I felt toward complacency it will dwindle. claustrophobic and ingratitude, I must In my fourth within the year of being confines of an remember the joy and with you, institution. In pride I felt upon seeing and of you, retrospect, I can no longer my acceptance and the Iyear see that I spent n to be far too much time flurry of confetti on my e l s e w h e r e . taking refuge in screen.”

Although, the comfort of truthfully, I the four walls of still hesitate my room in the Choates. It was to say I love you. It’s taboo, isn’t a constricting and limited way to it? To not proclaim that one bleeds “do Dartmouth.” I copped out of green. Hearing others’ boasts of Dartmouth. I napped a lot. I lazily love and adoration doesn’t help. It thought, “I have years here. Why makes me question why I don’t feel the rush?” the same way.

Well, the years have passed at Now, I know that it is okay to an alarming rate. Freshman year not always like you. But even when me needed a more optimistic I don’t like you, I am grateful to perspective, like that of the you. Even if, according to the prospective student. We could misogynistic Dartmouth “X,”

my value has depreciated, I will let freshman fall slip through my continue to appreciate you. I will fingers. But now, with a mere 27 be appreciative in weeks left, that all your seasons: “I was waiting to is no longer when you are an option. abundant with love it, regrettably Not being amber and when procrastinating my p a r t i c u l a rl y you are cruelly “crunchy” own enjoyment. And cold. And in nor “ragey,” my moments of it is with that passive I sometimes doubt, I will try sense of entitlement question to tap into the where I u n a d u l t e r a t e d that I let freshman belong here. excitement I felt fall slip through my Admittedly, I upon first driving resisted fingers. But now, with have up to Dartmouth. adapting to F r e s h m a n a mere 27 weeks left, mainstream y e a r m e w a s that is no longer an “Dartmouth indeed waiting culture” and for Dartmouth option.” have tried to happen. I was to cushion waiting to love myself. In freshman year, I it, regrettably procrastinating my remember purposely choosing own enjoyment. And it is with that classes that didn’t intimidate me. passive sense of entitlement that I I would “ease into college,” I told

myself. But I have to come to appreciate that discomfort is simply necessary for growth. And so, in my final fall, I find myself doing the opposite of my freshman self: I am purposely committing to new activities. I am seeking out unknown territory. I trust that the verse “seek and ye shall find” will ring true for me this year.

Perhaps it’s the speed at which we are traveling toward adult life which makes me want to clutch at straws and fully indulge in the college experience. But whatever my motivation, or yours, I urge us all to invest in our college experiences.

Every day at Dartmouth counts.

Study somewhere new, take an alternative route to class or simply go on a walk instead of numbly staring at a screen. I’m doing what I wish I had done three years ago: I am getting involved. It’s never too late.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEXANDRA ELDREDGE

8// MIRROR

Fresh Starts PHOTO

By Divya Kopalle