Orient Express

The tower of black smoke billowing over downtown Brunswick this afternoon is the result of a routine Brunswick Fire training exercise. Captain Randy Hamilton said that the controlled burn is coming from the mobile classrooms of Jordan Acres Elementary School on 75 Jordan Avenue, which closed for the 2011-2012 academic year in the midst of reshuffling in the Brunswick School Department. Hamilton said that the mobile units are a modular series of trailers hooked together, that have withstood over twenty years of use. Brunswick Fire has engineered the burn to consume as much material as possible, and Hamilton estimated most of it would be consumed in the next one to hours—after that, most of the smoke should dissipate. -LK 

(Photo by Val Wirtschafter ’12)

“Moribundi Saltemus”, reads the masthead of the 1922 Bowdoin Occident. Professor Barbara Boyd, Chair of the Classics Department, translates it as: “Let’s dance as we die.”

There was a day, then, when the Occident punned in Latin. The phrase appears to be a riff on “Morituri Salutamus”, itself derived from Suetonius’s “Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant.” Hail, Emperor, we who are about to die salute you.

“Morituri Salutamus” is the title of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Class of 1825, that he delivered (invited by then-President Chamberlain) at the Commencement of the Class of 1875. It was his fiftieth reunion. While still seven years from death, he gave a stirring salute.

Any reader, but especially those who are about to graduate, should read it in full. Its final stanza describes the subtler gifts of post-graduate life:

For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

But for now, the brilliant glare of the setting sun still dominates. What better mantra for Senior Week, then, than “Moribundi Saltemus”? Not just a passive salute, but an exhortation to—if I may mix my poetic allusions—rage against the dying of the light. Even if the dance is a little moribund.

As this parade of cohorts turns round through the vast profundity obscure, Bowdoin is falling below this class’s horizon, and this class below Bowdoin’s. Now the terminator crosses the 207th meridian.

Toph Tucker

The brainchild of seniors Sam Hanson and Hartley Brody, Rompbomp.com launches this evening exclusively to Bowdoin students. The duo have already stocked the site with fashions from a variety of high-end national retailers, and users can share their favorite clothing and accessories with their network of friends. While for now the site is only available to those with a Bowdoin email address, plans are in the works to expand the site to other college campuses. 

“Rompbomp is a social wardrobe that makes online shopping social and fashion discovery fun. Bowdoin is the first school we’re allowing to join, and since The Social Wardrobe is exclusively invite-only, Bowdoin students will be the gatekeepers to what other schools get access. The key to Rompbomp is our unique browsing experience - “Romping”- which lets you rate as you browse so we can learn about you and recommend sweet other stuff. Romping also tells you what other Rompbomp members think, and lets you send any item you like to a friend, or - of course- buy it. The other side of Rompbomp is creative and social - members can post their outfits, or “looks,” so their followers can keep up with what they’re wearing and buying. We think of Rompbomp as a combo of Pandora and Twitter for fashion.”

-Co-Founders Sam Hanson ‘12 and Hartley Brody ‘12 

Eliza Novick-Smith ’14

The pending revision of the College’s chem-free housing system has thus far focused on how it might change the configuration of first year bricks and the College House system, but the revised policy is also likely to impact upperclass housing.

Excluding Howell House, there are 157 beds in upperclass chem-free living spaces for next year distributed through Mayflower Apartments, Howard Hall, Chamberlain Hall, Smith House, School Street Apartments and Elm Street Apartments.  That number reflects preferences expressed in the housing intent survey emailed to students prior to the housing lottery.  Residential Life determines the number of chem-free beds based on student demand, which varies from year to year. 

However, some students who end up in chem-free rooms do not indicate a preference for the housing, others designate themselves as chem-free despite not living a chem-free lifestyle.

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