Sunday, May 30, 2010

Scene Forty-Five: Of Formal Wear, Plastic Spoons, and Going Home

It's that season: As thick as the air is with pollen are evening walkways thick with lavishly clad ladies and dashingly decked gentleman.

I got into the formal spirit on Friday with Phi Tau's backyard shebang. Flames, friends, and fresh air- shared with the finest company I've found at Dartmouth. And to dance! It isn't a party until people are breaking it down to Ke$ha and swaying to Cyndi Lauper.

Saturday night Amarna hosted a showing of The Room (2003) written, directed, produced by, and starring Tommy Wiseau. It's the sort of experience that should never be had alone. Very interactive. Think Rocky Horror shout-outs and a lot, a lot of spoons.

Afterward, walking back toward campus in the thick fog of midnight with (WAIT.. this was my last full week of classes?

I leave in a week?

As in, I won't be at Dartmouth anymore?! I don't feel good about that.)

Anyway: walking back with Rebecca: we encountered an abandoned button-up shirt. Striped. Quite nice. It is ours now and we shall share it. After it's laundered, of course.

...I'm sorry, I'm pretty hung-up on this leaving-campus-not-to-return-for-the-next-three-months thing.

I mean, I have friends whose D-Plans dictate that I won't see them again until Sophomore Summer. I have friends who have been off adventuring since Winter term that I won't see again until Fall, at best. I have unrealized plans and unexplored interests and unfinished business and it... all must wait until September?

Don't get me wrong. I'm super-excited about my summer plans. I have a great job. I'll get to see my family and friends from home. I'll get to enjoy some real heat. Not to mention Southern cooking... But it isn't here.

I rather wish I could stay.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Scene Forty-Four: Learn the Alma Mater

It can only improve your life.

Dear old Dartmouth, give a rouse
For the College on the hill,
For the Lone Pine above her,
And the loyal ones who love her.
Give a rouse, give a rouse, with a will!
For the sons of old Dartmouth,
For the daughters of Dartmouth.
Though ‘round the girdled Earth they roam,
Her spell on them remains.
They have the still North in their hearts,
The hill winds in their veins,
And the granite of New Hampshire
In their muscles and their brains.
And the granite of New Hampshire
In their muscles and their brains.

Dear old Dartmouth, set a watch,
Lest the old traditions fail.
Stand as sister stands by brother.
Dare a deed for the old mother.
Greet the world from the hills with a hail!
For the sons of old Dartmouth,
For the daughters of Dartmouth.
Around the world they keep for her
Their old undying faith.
They have the still North in their soul,
The hill winds in their breath,
And the granite of New Hampshire
Is made part of them ‘til death.
And the granite of New Hampshire
Is made part of them 'til death.




Props to the marching band for this rendition.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Scene Forty-Three: The River

Here's where I began my DOC Trips leader training at 8am this morning.

The Connecticut River
© Callista Womick 2010

Doesn't it just beg Ledyard Challenge?

Friday, May 21, 2010

Scene Forty-Two: Solitude

Sometimes the hubbub of campus gets overwhelming and I just want to throw my text books in a recycling bin, stuff some clothes in a knapsack, and bellow at the frats to tone down bass after 3am as I hike to the highway to thumb it out of here. Instead, I go to nature.

Small though it is, Hanover is urban enough to sometimes displace the knowledge that Dartmouth really is in the wilderness. Then I notice one of the metal markers for the AT along the sidewalk and it all comes back: I was promised a moose sighting on campus before I graduate.

I don't know about the moose, but within a stroll of the Green are countless places of wild beauty. I go to the golf course to stargaze. I go to Mink Brooke to hike. I go to the BEMA to scuttle around the ridges and throw twigs at unsuspecting passers-by. Anyway.

Today has been one of those overwhelming days. I must write a ten page term paper for my First-Year Seminar and record a video in Arabic with a partner from class this weekend, on top of a plethora of co-curricular and social engagements. And an all-day DOC Trips training extravaganza tomorrow.

My remedy? Cottage cheese and meditation on the lawn of Shattuck Observatory between a lunch engagement and a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest by The Displaced Theatre Company on the steps of Sanborn. Vox clamantis en deserto, "Om."

A view of Bartlett Tower up Observatory Drive
© Callista Womick 2010



Update 1 (21 May 2012): I came across a listing for pretty much every kind of art group that Dartmouth has to offer. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Scene Forty-One: World Music Percussion Ensemble

Tonight, the World Music Percussion Ensemble and I'll be playing our termly show in Spaulding Auditorium in the the Hop. This show is called Jump Up! Caribbean Sun Splash and will primarily include songs by Bob Marley.

I've been playing with the ensemble since Fall term, but prior to Dartmouth I had no experience playing percussion. No big! It's never too late to start something new. Twice weekly rehearsals have shaped me (and all the other brand-new-to-percussionists among us- there are quite a few) into some sort of decent. I attribute this to the exquisite leadership of our director, Hafiz Shabazz, and the group's veteran members.

Here's a promotional video made by one of our members, Si Jie Loo.


Yeah, we be jammin'. And the "learn new instruments on the day of the performance" bit is totally true.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Scene Forty: Green Key!

For some it starts tonight. For some it started Wednesday. Either way, Green Key's pong, parties, and alumni are upon us! For these few days, Dartmouth at large will engage in the last blast of revelry before term papers and final exams overtake us.

Last night was beautiful.

Among my adventures was SigEp's paint party, from which I have a stained shirt and sore feet. I love a dance floor with good music.

Professors have many different approaches to class on big weekends. Today, my psych prof held lecture as usual. My Arabic prof gave a test. My seminar prof canceled class altogether. Happily, I don't have drill on Fridays, but some students of other languages must wait until 6pm for their freedom.

Eh, the parties don't start until 11pm anyway.

Post-Paint Party
© Callista Womick 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Scene Thirty-Nine: Regular Room Draw

The Dunyun reports that things went rather well.
Director of Housing Operations for the Office of Residential Life Rebecca Rothenberg was happy to report this morning that very few deaths were recorded after last night’s room draw. Rothenberg expressed satisfaction with the security measures put in place to minimize the casualty number. “I’d say it was a success, though I do want to stress that the final death tallies aren’t in yet,” she explains. “So I do want people to be prepared in case more bodies are recovered from the scene by the end of the day.” So far, Rothenberg assures us, no victims have been identified who didn’t “clearly have it coming.”

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Scene Thirty-Eight: Room Draw, EW Style

Other than great rooms, cool residents, Tessa now Josiah, Dean Pfister, Professor Brison, Sunny, Max, the White House, tickets to Hop shows, the snack bar, Brace Commons, and proximity to the gym, living in East Wheelock has an additional perk: one needn't stress about regular room draw!

A button proclaiming that "I Love Room Draw," three mini-boxes of nerds, and twenty minutes into EW's room draw I left with ownership of a gender-neutral double on Andres 2. Not too shabby.

I would have preferred a two-person suite, but a pair of girls grabbed the last one (despite the fact that female two-person suites remained) right before I claimed our room. I'm not bitter. Really. Give me this over what the poor souls of regular room draw will endure any day...

A scene from EW room draw, held in Collis Commonground.
© Callista Womick 2010

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Scene Thirty-Seven: First-Year Family Weekend

They began trickling in yesterday and now stream through doorways and hallways and walkways all over campus: our families! This is sorta like Dimensions, but with fewer Greek events hoping to entice the population influx.

My mom, dad, and sister, Maia, flew up from North Carolina today and've already had a taste of the sort of schedule that we keep at Dartmouth.

As soon as they stepped off the Dartmouth Coach I ushered them to Collis for a 'surprise' birthday party. We then rushed lunch from Collis Cafe before posing for the aerial PRIDE photoa on the Green. (Maia is holding a blue bag in the right leg of R, Mom is third from the top of I, and Dad is in brown at the center of D's curve.) Mom and Dad then went to drop their bags off and nap while Maia and I went to tie-dye at KDE. She and I wedged in a viewing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog before I volunteered with FYF Weekend registration at Collis from 6-8pm. At 8pm I ran to meet them at Rollins for the Dartmouth Aires' reunion show. After the show they opted not to go to Family Fun at Collis. Really, who turns down a capella, dancing, billiards, and a Really Big Bingo Game? They wanted to sleep.

My day continued with Theta Delt's PRIDE dance party and ends with laundry and this.

Tomorrow brings a trip up Baker's bell tower, an ice cream social, A Midsummer Night's Dream presented by The Rude Mechanicals in the BEMA, and Spring Sing! at the Hop featuring the Cords, the Dodecs, and Sheba. Before seeing Young the Giant at Tri-Kap, of course.

Dear old Dartmouth...

© Lisa Green 2010
 
a Update 9 Aug. 2012: the D broke this link; will post another if I can find the photo elsewhere