First Year Orientation

     It began in late August. The vans loaded with everything from desk lamps, to gaming systems to futons were making their way to little old Coe College. Perhaps the most important cargo, the new first year students, were feeling everything from anxiety to jubilation. Some had traveled from far away states and even other countries while others simply had to drive down the road for a couple of minutes. They and their parents took copious amounts of time moving into their new homes and it seemed like the parents would not leave until everything was perfect. Tears were shed, hugs passed around, and after Mom and Dad left, naps were taken. Unbeknownst to the unsuspecting first years, the hard part was still to come.
     Over the course of the next week the first years' schedules would be brimming with CAP meetings, social gatherings, academic advising, and guest speakers. Amongst the CAP groups, first years formed their first new bonds of the year becoming close with those they would be taking class and participating in activities with. The guest speakers were outstanding with presenters like the wonderful Maura Cullen and the humorous Shot of Reality duo. Everyone bunched together in front of Stewart Memorial Library for the first year photo and through some miracle, we overcame the stifling heat and shouted obscenities to take the photo. Maybe the highlight of Orientation Week was the ringing of the Victory Bell. I know that for me, that was the first time that I truly felt a part of the Kohawk Community. It was a wonderful moment stuffed with school pride and spirit.
 Soon Friday came and it was time for the gladiatorial throw-down for fall classes. We all stood in line waiting and praying that we would get into the classes that we needed. Those with the lower ID numbers basked in their luck as they got to choose their classes before the masses had a chance, while those of us with lower numbers cursed our terrible luck. We all got in eventually though and on Saturday we had the chance to test our mettle against the other CAP groups in the legendary DRAGONBOAT RACES!!!!! While trash-talk was abound only one team could come out on top and all others were forced to walk away in shame.
     After the races, it was a downhill slide through the weekend as we anxiously awaited the beginning of classes on Monday. The Writing Center (whoop whoop!) had their retreat which was a treat. Sports teams continued practice and groups began meeting and planning. The fall semester has begun.
                                                                                                                              


                                                                                                                     Your faithful correspondent,
                                                                                                                                    Austin Springsteen

On Recieving the Staff Summer Newsletter

Writing Centaurs! I hope you’ve been checking your mail because the staff summer newsletter has gone out and it is full of exciting news and information. If you haven’t received it or dislike reading anything on paper, here are some highlights:

·         Ryan Rey, the illustrious author, divulges that he is from Plainfield and associates it with Harry Potter.

·         Important deadlines!

o   New Staff Orientation begins on August 19^th. If you are a new staff member, you should be there, and if you are a returning staff member who would like to help, contact Ariana Uding to let her know!

o   The MWCA conference is happening in Chicago in October!

o   The NCPTW conference is happening in Tampa, Florida in November!

o   There is a Writing Center open house on Thursday, August 22^nd from 4 to 6:30

o   The first staff meeting of the year (yes, aren’t you excited?) is on Sunday, August 25^th at 7:30

o   And the Full Staff Retreat, beginning on Sunday, September 1^st, is occurring on campus this year at the Clark Alumni House.

·         The Chicago Conference will have six presentations. If you want to participate in the conference, contact Ariana Uding no later than Friday, August 2^nd

·         The Tampa conference is happening November 1-3. If you want to participate in the conference, contact Ariana Uding no later than Friday August 2^nd!

·         There is a selection of stuff regarding Dr. Bob’s life that is pretty fun to read!

·         And also, lots of awesome bios about all the awesome people who are doing awesome things over the summer before returning to Coe for an awesome fall semester! Good job, Ryan, for tracking most everyone down!

Again, all of this is in the summer newsletter, so hopefully you have received it by now. And thanks to everyone who responded to my email pleas for correct addresses.

As Ever, Yours,

Julia

Anne Fadiman Visits Coe

Nationally acclaimed author and essayist Anne Fadiman recently visited Coe College. Fadiman is perhaps best known for her award-winning book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. All incoming freshman were required to read this book (myself included). This book covered the account of a young epileptic Hmong – American girl (Hmong is a group of people from Laos and Vietnam) and the cultural misunderstandings between her parents and the American doctors who treated her. The book deals with the very sensitive topic of racial and cultural differences, and has been received in both very positive and negative ways. It, however, did win the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The writing center staff attended one of her speaking events on Sunday, September 20 in exchange for the weekly staff meeting. This event was largely based on question and answer. Students posed a wide variety of queries, and Fadiman addressed most of them. She explained the process of writing her book, which took over eight years to complete. She also answered questions regarding her experiences with writing and education, publishing, her critics, and her writing style.

The following day, Fadiman addressed a larger of group faculty and students in Sinclair auditorium. She spoke for roughly forty-five minutes, talking about the time she spent with the Hmong during her research, and elaborating on the larger themes of her work. There was another question and answer session following her talk.

Ten writing center students also had the opportunity to have lunch with Fadiman on Monday afternoon. This was initially going to be a lunch with faculty, but Dr. Bob advocated the value that students could extract from the experience. Because of this, Dr. Bob was able to produce 10 students from the writing center to have lunch with the acclaimed author.

- Matt Barnd '13

Lasagna and a Movie

You read that right--enterprising first years Ariel and Emily actually made meat and vegetarian (so good!) lasagna, garlic bread, and salad last night, and played "A Princess Bride." In my opinion, it was delicious. And it was all concocted in the Armstrong/Douglas kitchen--everyone was impressed. And then there were root beer floats! So heavenly.

I had the vegetarian recipe, then I lost it while trying to find Dr. Bob's camera (which I found, but had no batteries). Does that count as an ironic situation, or is it just something Alanis Morissete would think was ironic?

Good times and conversation were had by all. Later in the night, stimulated no doubt by the convos and food, three enterprising students (Katie Blanchard, Ben Kaplan, and myself) taking Contemporary Political Theory decided to have a read aloud of their dense theory textbook. To our surprise, this actually worked.

Conclusion: first years need to make food for me more often.

--Johanna