Author Archives: WD

Frozen Seaweed

On Friday I was witness to a Bates tradition called the puddle jump. On the Bates campus there is a small pond, dubbed the puddle, and every winter a rectangle of ice is cut out of the center and bold students take the plunge. Of course, as this is a college campus, nudity is involved, as each year at least one member of each sex takes the plunge in the nude. I won’t elaborate further, let us just say that I had a great view. Any other crazy college traditions you can think of?

Although my roommate and I do not have cable, we do have an antenna so that we can pick up the networks. This weekend I saw some really fantastic programs. On Friday I watched Bill Moyers’ Journal, a show which is without a doubt the most intelligent news program on air. Bill talked with a range of guests, with insightful discussions about American tax policy and the hypocrisies of our push for democratization in the Middle East.

Tonight I caught a CBS News special about global warming which was surprisingly harsh against the Bush administration. The most shocking aspect of the hour-long report was the part about how science regarding global warming had been obfuscated by a White House political appointee, who was and now again is a lobbyist for the oil industry. Actual documents were shown which indicated the level of censorship, and scientists, one in particular from NASA, complained about how he had been restricted from speaking candidly with the media. It’s shameful how disdainful of science the Bush administration is, but I’m heartened that this news is finally taking center stage on a major network – it’s about time.

My other guilty pleasure was the Amazing Race. As far as TV entertainment is concerned, I find most of it awful, and for reality shows, doubly so. But the Amazing Race taps into so many themes that I like. Not only do participants get to see the world and engage in local traditions, but also each pair must come to terms with one another. As I’ve learned, spending a prolonged amount of time with another individual can bring out a whole slew of tensions, some of which can not always be dealt with. The drama of the show lies not within the race per se, but rather how each each pair copes under stress.

I’ll try not to write too much about TV, but now that I’m back in the US, I feel that my life is more normal than it has been in the past few years, and frankly, I don’t entirely mind.

Approach

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I went skiing today at Shawnee Peak, a well put together mid-size mountain about an hour away from where I live. Tempting as usual was the terrain park. Back when I skied more often, I was always really fast and loved to get air. But over the past few years, what with being in the Peace Corps, I have not been skiing as frequently as before. As a result, for these first few times skiing this season I’ve been more cautious, working on perfecting my form rather than achieving maximum speed.

But today the terrain park beckoned.

Given that it was a Thursday, the mountain was not at all crowded – I didn’t wait in a lift line and always had my own chair. The terrain park, too, was quiet, as most of the snowboarders are younger and one would assume that they would be in school today. There was this one feature of the park which consisted of a jump on top of a mound… see illustration:

Anyway, my first time over I went very slowly, got only a little air and landed uneventfully. Second time around I took it a bit faster and had a hard landing, the back of my skis plopping down like that 777 at Heathrow. This second jump was the worst because although I had resolved to take it head on, at the last minute I hedged and completely ruined the flow of things.

Not content to have taken a day off just to do two lame jumps, I headed back up to the terrain park one last time. After two careful turns (thus avoiding the rail,) I set myself on a trajectory directly towards the jump. My mind was racing and fear was pumping through my body. The worst moment is when you just begin the ascent up the jump. At this point of no return, your view is of only the sky above and the tips of your skis. Off I went, sailing through the air, launched upward. Then, shifting the weight of my body, I angled downwards as the ground dropped out from below me, and for a brief moment I sailed before a flat, smooth and crisp landing.

On the chairlift back up for my next run (bombing down perfect corduroy,) my latest favorite song was at full volume in my mind… I was a free man in Paris.

6 to 12

Getting to know you.

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It’s been a while, and much has happened – my apologies. The biggest and most interesting thing I’ve been up to was my trip to New Orleans with my father. As most of you probably know, I will be going to Tulane Law School this August. Considering that I applied to the school site unseen, I was a bit nervous about going down to New Orleans, what would it be like? To answer that question my father and I took a few days earlier this month to have a look for ourselves. Admitting that we were indeed tourists, we decided to just enjoy that status and try and get an overview of the city. In addition to a a van tour which took us all around (including the lower 9th ward,) we took a riverboat cruise and tried out many of the fine dining establishments the city has to offer. We also stayed in style, at the Le Pavillion hotel, which boasted a rooftop pool and spa! See a few photos in the gallery (Under the Maine category)

I became particularly fond of the St. Charles streetcar, which had had service to Uptown (the wealthy part of town where Tulane is located) restored just a week or so before we arrived. The streetcar is a real classic, slow and creaky, but charming. The line begins at the edge of the French Quarter, goes through the business district and then through the garden district to uptown. Around 2000 St. Charles, as my father pointed out, the houses start to get very fancy. Tulane Law itself is just a short walk from the trolley and is situated in a beautiful part of the University campus. Although the building was rather quiet when we arrived, we were able to speak with a contact from admissions, view the stunning law library and of course stop by the bookstore. Having gotten this small overview, I feel much more relaxed about going to NOLA – in fact, my only fear now is the plethora of distractions the city will offer…

In other news, JT came up to visit for new years. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Boston (an ITALIAN one – can you believe?) my favorite cocktail bar (Flash’s) and then stopped by a party that my sister and some of here friends were at in a fancy South End condo. So as to not get stuck in Boston, JT and I had to cab it back to north station and jump on the train just seconds before it departed! All in all a fun time.

While back in town I was also able to catch up with some old friends and sleep in, both activities which I value highly 😉 I recently had my first ski of the season at Lost Valley, a local place, and I found a new coffee shop in Lewiston (at which I currently sit.) What’s on the agenda? At the end of the month I’ll be joining my colleagues at a Campus Compact conference in Austin, TX, and I’m looking forward to some visits by friends – skiing anyone?

Happy New Year

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Happy new year to all WD readers. It’s been quite an interesting year, with more than a few interesting gay escapades to tell about. I’ll write soon from New Orleans.