Politics at Bates…

Hey all. Obviously the presidential election is on everyones minds these days. The youth has been reenergized by the 2008 race to the White House and that can be seen here at Bates as more and more people are getting politically involved.

Both the Bates Democrats Club and the Republican Club have been registering voters in large numbers in commons, and handing out stickers, signs, and posters. Local politicians have been coming to campus and to different locations around Lewiston to voice their support for each candidate. Last weekend Democratic Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut spoke at the Lewiston Armory. A representative from Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change was on campus a few days ago and a representative from the McCain of Maine organization will be on campus in October.

Last weekend I took part in the ‘Lewiston Invasion’ in which I joined students from Bates and from many other schools in Maine in a mass-canvassing for Obama. Each person was assigned a certain number of addresses around Lewiston and had to go door-to-door talking to Lewiston locals about the presidential and state elections while handing out pamphlets and other information about the candidates.

I knocked on nearly 60 doors. Some people were receptive, others not so much. I had some very engaging conversations about the election and the important issues associated with it. Many people were concerned about the economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and healthcare. Just being able to talk to people, regardless of their political standing, was incredibly interesting and really opened my eyes to why this presidential election is going to be so close. (Click to learn more about the ‘Lewiston Invasion’)

I feel this election is too important to not get involved in. Whether one supports McCain or Obama it is imperative that we all do our part to be educated about the issues and to get involved in the process. I am, like most Americans, wondering who we will see in the White House in January. Until next time…

Study Abroad… Already.

Hey all. Last night there was a meeting for sophomores interested in studying off-campus next year. The idea of working/living/learning abroad has always appealed to me so naturally I was excited for it. Though the meeting was fairly basic: Information presented on a powerpoint, seniors sharing their experiences from abroad, and a Q+A session, I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed.

A huge group of sophomores packed into the room in Chase Hall for the meeting (this was just for the 1st session… there were 2 identical sessions to accommodate for everyone’s schedules) and just seeing the sheer number of students interested in studying abroad was a bit imitating… though also a good sign that off-campus study is appealing. I think what freaked me out the most, but also got me the most excited, was the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something completely new and different while possibly thousands of miles away from family + friends. Oh and did I mention you have to declare your major before you can sign up to go abroad?

Clearly I have some mixed emotions about this but in the end I know studying abroad would be amazing. For now I will take things one step at a time… to learn more about Bates study abroad click here. Until next time…

Fun at Bates…

Hey all. Life at Bates has been great the past week. I unfortunately came down with a bit of a stomach bug earlier in the week but I have since bounced back and am feeling much better. As always, there has been a lot of work to keep up with but so far it has been fairly manageable. 

Today was a somewhat eventful day. I had an article come out in the Bate Student. It is about Bates women’s soccer and is pretty much just a news article but if you are interested check it out here. Also today I had my first jazz band rehearsal which went well. I haven’t played the saxophone very much in the past few years so getting back into it won’t be easy but it will be totally worth it in the end. The band is really talented and I know I am going to have a lot of fun with it. After practice, I grabbed a quick dinner and headed over to the turf field for some IM soccer. It felt great to run around after a day of classes and as an added bonus… We Won.

Now it is time to tackle some work but I will leave you with a picture from last weekend’s 80’s dance. I am on the far left and the other 3 people are my friends Drew, Alex, and Matt. Please have a good laugh at the expensive of all 4 of us for our ridiculous outfits. Until next time…

In the swing of things…

Hey all. I have now been back at school for more than a week and am starting to get a pretty good read on my classes. ‘Read’ being the operative word since it seems I have so much reading to do in my 4 courses.

I am taking Latin American History, Wartime Dissent in Modern America, Spanish 215, and Criminology. My classes are all compelling in their own way. In the first 3 days I have learned more than I could have imagined. From Jane Addams’ pacifistic ideals, to Thoreau’s distrust of democratic government, to Aztec sacrificial practices, to the rule of provocation and the intricacies of the judicial process, it seems there is no limit to the amount I have learned in such a short period of time. Now that I have cleaned the summer cobwebs out of my brain I am fully ready to learn even more.  

In the mean time I am trying to stay busy around campus. Writing the blog, writing for the Bates Student, gearing up for the IM sports season, and preparing to possibly join the Bates Jazz Band are the other activities that fill my days.

I am excited for another fun year at Bates. Time for some more reading. Until next time… 

A View OF Page…?

Hey all. I am back on campus and could blog about almost anything: New classes, new people, new schedule, etc. I will save those topics for another day (though so far everything has been great). Instead I want to write about my blog name dilemma.

‘A View from Page’ made a lot of sense as a title for this blog last year seeing as I lived in Page Hall and, as the name suggests, I had a good view. Now I live across the puddle in Adams and for the past couple of days have been brainstorming new blog titles. Many ideas have been tossed around including ‘A View from Adams’ (not very original I know) and, as suggested by my roommate, ‘A View of Page’ (only slightly more clever). After much discussion, I have decided to keep the name of the blog the same (for now). I know I don’t live in Page anymore but I look at the title in a more figurative way. This blog represents my view of things on campus and changing dorms doesn’t change that.

Anyway, I suppose I just blogged about this to avoid writing the classic ‘back to school’ blog. I promise next post I will let you know about all my classes and about everything going on around campus. In the mean time, check out this picture taken from outside my dorm room window. Now I am on the opposite side of the puddle. You can actually see my freshmen room in this picture. Also, you may notice that the top image header is cropped from this photo. Even though I didn’t change the name of the blog I decided to change the picture. Until next time…