Monday, March 29, 2010

Scene Twenty-Nine: Spring Commences!

Academically, at least. From Banner:

Congratulations! Callista R. Womick has successfully checked in for Spring Term 2010.

With a 9L, a 10, and an 11 I am pleased with this term's schedule. But, alas, Arabic 3 still requires drill- one of the only higher-level language classes that does so. I refuse to take it at 5pm, so I'll probably be rising for 7:45am drill when it begins in a week or so. Deep sigh.

In addition to curricular classes I hope to take Zumba® for PE credit. I originally planned on taking belly dancing, but at $32 Zumba® fits more neatly into my budget for this term. Sign-up for PE classes begins tomorrow, and its first-come, first-served.

My backup plan, in the unfortunate case that I don't get to join the party, is to help Habitat For Humanity for PE credit. They're always blitzing out for drivers, so my driver certification is golden.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Scene Twenty-Eight: From Sunburns to Snowdrifts

At 3am we stumbled from Immokalee Friendship House cots to our rental cars and by 1pm we were peering through van windows at the Connecticut River. After ten days enjoying Florida's muggy Spring, New Hampshire's gray skies and residual snow banks offend the senses.

At least the Green is, well, green. If only this misty-cold rain will blow off and the temperature will take its cue from the rest of the country, we might have some real spring here yet.

Season or not, though, the new term begins on Monday. I will be taking Arabic 3, Spanish 9, and Biology 7.

The latter is my required Freshman Seminar, titled "Biotechnology for Global Health Needs." I no longer plan on pursuing the pre-health track during undergrad, but I retain my interest in medicine and health care. Also.. this course fulfills my TAS distributive requirement. Most other courses that would do so are either in the Engineering department or require copious amounts of math, both of which are prohibitively daunting for me.

Now, only to tackle my SCI/SLAs and QDS...

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Scene Twenty-Seven: Leaving on a Jet Plane

In an hour I will be joining my fellow ASBers at C&G to depart for my ASB in Immokalee, FL. For the duration of spring break, the next 10 days, we'll be staying in a homeless shelter and working with local community groups. Our chief partner is the CIW.

While there, I will be blogging for the Tucker Foundation at OurDartmouth. Until March 27, find me there!

..also, when I return I'll be backdating about six posts that are currently in their infancies. That is why this post does not numerically follow the one preceding it. Yet.

*** Update 1 (10 Aug. 2012): Apparently the OurDartmouth archives no longer go back far enough to show my posts from Immokalee. Boo.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Scene Twenty-Six: Finals

AAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Gays! Drugs! Global warming! Pirates!





*** Update 1 (16 March 2010): Finals studying does funny things to a person.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Scene Twenty-Five: Be What?

The other Dartmouth Sevena:

1: Rage.
2: Be exceptionally personable.
3: Don't try to stand out in class.
       3.5: Study anyway. In secret.
4: Don't try to stand out in fashion.
       4.5: Own a black Northface.
5: Be liberal.
       5.5: Abandon any and all true, specific convictions.
6: Be happy.
       6.5: Go to Dick's House for counseling anyway.
7: Have a sweet internship. Or three.

At Dartmouth there's a lot of talk of internships. Do something productive with your off-terms make it bigger-and-better-and-more-prestigious-and-higher-paying-and-in-a-cooler-location-and-with-less-generic-work-than-all-of-your-peers. So you can brag about it when you come back to campus. And put it on your resume. And so on.

We were selected because we were varied, so why do so many of us desperately try to genericize once we arrive on campus? Our wardrobes become muted. Our personalities become muted. You get the idea.

But then, so many of us don't fall victim to this groupthink. A pair of lemon yellow galoshes, a foray into classical Mexican dancing, and a speech given from the steps Robo remind me that, despite it all, plenty of us stay quite ourselves.

This summer I'll be working as a camp counselor, kthanxbye.


aAdapted from Daniel O'Brien's article Hello, My Name is Dartmouth in the September 24, 2006 edition of The Dartmouth Independent.
bThese seven shouldn't be taken any more seriously than the other seven. I'm sorry that that needed to be clarified.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Scene Twenty-Four: Farmville

If you play Zynga's Farmville (or any of Zynga's games, really), then you know how addicting it is.

Until recently, I was one of those poor saps who set cell phone timers to alert me when crops were ready to harvest. Obviously, I had a problem.

No, really. It was a problem. I was sinking hours and hours of my life into what? A virtual farm. (I feel so lame saying it.) Seriously, though, I'm confidant that this game is single-handedly responsible for reducing my GPA by at least 0.2.

About a year ago, when the high-school senior workload was weighing on me, I un-added the app.

Obviously, that strategy didn't endure; so this time I did something even more prohibitive: I constructed! The app is still added, but it is virtually useless as a procrastination tool. I paved paradise and put up a parking lot, so to speak...:









Ok, ok. I still indulge in new decorations when they're released, but at least I'm no longer determined to master every crop, right?

On the other hand, the campus craze Robot Unicorn Attack is taking me for a ride... Open your eyes!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Scene Twenty-Three: {()}



Vagina.


Even more so than foco or froyo, this is the word of the week. From the performances of The Vagina Monologues to this video advertising them:


 ...everyone is thinking about vaginas.

As part of the VDay celebrations, I participated in a self defense workshop led by S&S officer Sergeant Rebel Roberts. We learned what puts us more at risk for assault or unwanted interactions (leaving personal items unguarded, approaching the cars of strangers, and partying alone) and what can make us safer (taking note of people we pass on the street, not wearing disabling shoes, and being willing to shout NO!).

Props to Dartmouth for organizing an event like this to educate and empower its women.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Scene Twenty-Two: Eating Disorder Awareness Week

I see her walking across the Green most days, clutching her coat against the lingering New England winter. I see him most days, too, racing through Baker to reach his 10A on time. They're any Dartmouth student, and they have eating disorders.

Sometimes an eating disorder is easy enough to spot. The avid gym-goer, the food measurer, the "I ate before I came." Others, though, aren't as evident. This year's Eating Disorder Awareness Week encouraged us to think about those people we wouldn't ordinarily expect to have an eating disorder. You know, everyone that isn't a skinny white girl.

In collaboration with all of campus, Collis displayed jeans of all sizes to reinforce that eating disorders can happen to people of all shapes.

Students had the opportunity to participate in a private screening for risk factors in Collis Commonground one day, for which every participant was rewarded with a comfy pair of socks tagged in Dartmouth-Green letters: "Every Body is Beautiful."

The week also included a discussion about how to approach a friend about whom you have concerns and how to recognize less-familiar signs that someone may have unhealthy eating or exercise habits.

Dartmouth's go-to resource for eating disorder concerns are the Eating Disorder Peer Advisers. EDPAs are fellow students trained in providing advice and support; the idea is that because they're our peers they're more accessible and less intimidating than the people at Dick's House.

While one week of serious publicity and serious discussion comes nowhere near remedying the plague of eating disorders that afflict Dartmouth students, I want to think that some of my peers uncomfortable in their own skin saw the big banners assuring that "Every Body is Beautiful" and maybe, just maybe, started to believe it.