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

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