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Posts by bethconnolly

Sep 23

Don’t touch that dial

This week marks the debut of WRMC fall programming.   Middlebury College’s own radio station offers a full roster of new and returning shows with student hosts, broadcasting to the Champlain Valley over the radio waves and to the globe over the net.

Want to listen in your room?  Tune to 91.1FM.

Want to listen at your computer?  Click here.

Want to see the show schedule? Click here or use go/radioschedule.

Want to read WRMC’s blog?  It’s right here.

Have a show? Tell everyone about it in the comments.

Jul 27

The varied voices of Middlebury…

…have been popping up in print and online media in the past few weeks.  This past Friday, rising sophomore Dana Walters published a personal essay in the New York Times about her experience with an eating disorder in high school and in college.  The piece is a part of “The U Issue,” a special section that was released by the Times on July 24.  It includes about thirty students’ reflections on their experiences at college.

Also on Friday, Middlebury’s Jay Parini, Professor of English & Creative Writing, addressed the state of memoir-writing today in Room For Debate, a New York Times opinion blog.  Parini’s comments in the post “Memoirs and McCourt” flank those of poet Billy Collins, writer William Zinsser, editor Gerald Howard, and publisher James Atlas.  The recent passing of famed memoirist Frank McCourt inspired the post.

And in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post on July 15, Midd alum Tristan Axelrod (class of 2008) added his insights to the debate surrounding the Amethyst Initiative.  He responded critically to a Washington Post editorial published on July 12, entitled “A Lower Drinking Age? That would be a bad way to deal with binge drinking on campuses.”

[Editor's note: Dana's essay was only in the online edition of the NYT]

Jul 9

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Button Bay: Where Those in the Know Swim for Free

What could better punctuate the monotony of a sticky summer afternoon than a beautiful drive and a free swim? It’s worth the short drive to Ferrisburgh to check out Button Bay, a Vermont State Park and camping grounds with access to Lake Champlain. Just up Route 7, take the left for Vergennes and follow signage to Button Bay. For $3.00 per person, a picnic area and swimming hole await you in the park.

But drive just a moment beyond the official park entrance for the college student special: swim off of the boat launch. You’ll see a rutted dirt road on your right, and if you take it you’ll find a gravel parking area. From there, it’s a short walk to the modest lake access, which consists of a few large sun-bathing rocks and a piece of bench-sized driftwood. The water is shallow and warm with a great view of the Adirondacks.

Swimming is pleasant if you can ignore the overabundance of Eurasian water milfoil, a rust-colored plant that began invading Lake Champlain in 1962, according to the Lake Champlain Land Trust.   Certain areas of the bay were so congested with seaweed-like milfoil that swimming and even walking were nearly impossible. Still, in the less-congested areas of the shallows, it was glorious simply to float serenely and gaze out at the mountains across the shore.

For more information, check out the VT state park website , or for directions click here.