After November’s announcement of Middlebury’s bid, the College is buzzing with excitement with word of the selection.

Via Middlebury’s News Room, President Liebowitz said:

We are honored that our students will have the opportunity to represent Middlebury and the value and power of a liberal arts education in the Solar Decathlon. The team defied expectations in the last competition, overcoming a lack of an engineering education to create a sustainable and efficient home. With unwavering support from the community and institution, our students will meet the challenge once more.

After an incredible fourth place finish by the Middlebury Team at the 2011 Decathlon (with Self-Reliance, a 21st-Century New England farmhouse), the team’s 2013 bid takes a new direction.

More than 80 students have signed to be a part of the team for the In-Fill home. In-Fill is a home that, as Middlebury reports, “will adapt and evolve to inspire healthy, resourceful living on underutilized, neglected city properties. As the name suggests, the home will ‘fill in’ leftover urban spaces.”

This year’s competition will be held at Orange County Great Park, a change from the previous location of the National Mall. It is noted by the Department of Energy for its emphasis on sustainability. Fellow Vermont School, Norwich University, was also selected to compete in the competition. The full list of selected teams, and the Department of Energy’s announcement can be found here.

Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California, the competition site for Solar Decathlon 2013. (Photo courtesy of the Orange County Great Park Corp and Department of Energy.)

Founded in 2002, the Solar Decathlon is a biennial competition. The competition comprises of the decathlon’s 10 contests which gauge the performance, livability and affordability of each home.

Social entrepreneurship at its core is about finding new and innovative solutions for challenging problems.  It is about creativity and persistence and coming up with solutions that correct not only the problem at hand, but the systemic causes behind these problems.  A brief description from those at the center itself:

The Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship is designed to be a hub in a growing global network of schools, colleges, NGOs, government agencies, businesses, and foundations that are committed to sharing ideas and resources in order to build 21st century solutions.

This week, the MCSE is hosting its first annual symposium on social entrepreneurship.  If you missed the opening address last night by Bill Drayton, Ashoka Founder, don’t worry, there is plenty more to come.  Check out the full schedule of events to see when lectures, keynotes, and other important events are occurring.  For those on campus, a series of exciting workshops are starting in just a few hours at noon, focusing on a range of topics surrounding the issue of social entrepreneurship.

After the jump, a little more about what the Center will be doing into the future.

The Center for Social Entrepreneurship will be structured around three interrelated programs.  The first is an annual symposium, bringing innovators and social entrepreneurs to Middlebury each January.  While the center will sponsor lectures at partner institutions around the world, the symposium itself will occur at Middlebury each year.

Second, the Center will be host to a grant program that will award approximately 300 grants each year, of varying sizes.  These grants will be distributed to a mix of high school students, college students, and recent graduates.  It is important to note that this center reaches its arms far beyond the bubble of Middlbury.  The project recipients need not be Middlebury affiliated, and grants are intended to support projects both locally and world-wide.  As a point of reference, projects might be similar to those supported by the Davis Projects for Peace program, or those promoted by MiddStart, a new platform for fundraising for Middlebury student projects might be similar to projects sponsored by the MCSE in the future.

Thirdly, the Center will be host to training workshops for aspiring social entrepreneurs.  These training workshops will ensure that grant recipients and aspiring social entrepreneurs have all the tools they need to have the most successful projects.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that the MCSE is going to be an exciting new part of Middlebury and of Middlebury’s commitment to creativity and innovation. I couldn’t be more excited about what the future has in store for this center, and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen.

JP's ticket wall

We’ve all heard Middlebury is a bubble. Most arguments that begin there end urging students to burst out. While that is great advice, there are also plenty of incredible resources within the bubble that can be easy to ignore or take for granted until graduation.

The arts are one of the biggest. Think about it: at Middlebury, $12 sounds extravagant for a theater or dance show that features talented people and high production values in a venue five minutes from your room. You’d be hard-pressed to find that kind of deal anywhere else.

So here is some advice for the potentially more awesome but definitely more jagged and expensive post-graduate art world:

Pay for what’s good

Art is expensive. Recent graduates are (almost always) broke. In order to bridge the gap, I suggest going for quality rather than quantity. You can take risks on cheap events and save your big money for stuff that’s been recommended by friends. I had a grand plan to review a play a week in NYC, but I didn’t have the time or the budget. Instead, I splurged on one showing of Sleep No More and am still thinking about it. Just remember: paying money for experiences tends to make people happier than paying money for objects.

Don’t be discouraged by what sucks

Because some art just sucks. One of the first plays I saw after college—paid $18 to see—was godawful, pretentious, poorly acted and too long. It was like small-town community theater minus the feel-good message and cute children. People were getting paid to make this garbage? Middlebury can spoil people in lots of ways. But you can build a base of good arts options in your next setting without too much difficulty. One great way is to…

Be a fan

One of the best ways to learn about good stuff going on in the art world and save money is to let yourself get a little spam. If you go to a concert or exhibit or other show you like, subscribe to the performer’s email list. Also, general odd-stuff lists like NonsenseNYC (or your local equivalent) can quickly give you more options than you need. Lots of performers and performance spaces offer reduced ticket prices to subscribers, too. Everyone needs to promote their work, and you can often get a lot of benefit from promoting or receiving some propaganda. I’ve gotten a few free or discounted tickets just by staying informed.

DIY

Like what George said about participating in the news, one of the best ways to find what’s good in a community and develop a deeper connection is to participate. Activities like spoken-word open-mics or free drawing classes are cheaper and more frequent than big-ticket shows, and may plug you in to a world of different options.

For the Country Folk

My postgrad arts experience has been NYC-heavy, but I’m from a small town. I want to address the concerns of people who want to stay rural but still participate in the arts. There are always small groups of weird, talented people. It may be more difficult to find them in the country (you may need to look beyond social media, in the local paper or through word of mouth), but they’re around. Just ask people and let them know you’re interested; someone will be as starved for some creativity as you.

This past Sunday, the SGA voted on a MiddView bill, approving up to $98,000 in funding (half the cost of the trips) for the next three years. See previous coverage here. We, the undersigned, believe it was an injustice to the Middlebury College community, and a disgrace to the principles of Student government for us, as a senate, to vote on the MiddView Bill this past Sunday.

Our grievances on this matter are two-fold:

First, the process by which the bill passed and the consequences for not observing proper decorum. It was irresponsible of the Senate not to delay the vote on the bill to the next meeting, seeing as there had been no time for prior review of the bill (as the by-laws require), nor were there thorough and/or official presentations of the facts and consequences of this case. It was reckless to vote on a bill of this importance (allocating nearly $300,000 of student activities fee monies (if the administration needs the full half contribution each year)) without giving it the proper time for debate and discussion.

Second, the funding method itself (who is paying for these trips, and at what percentages) is problematic, and deserved a full discussion not provided for at Sunday’s meeting.

Now, we are 110% behind OINK as the philosophy of having outdoor and other educational experiences before or during orientation. As some of the few members of the senate who were here for MiddView Trips and not OINK trips, we can personally attest to their value. However, this bill  and its potential consequences (good and bad alike) deserved to have an actual debate in the SGA, not just to be hastily pushed through without time for a fully informed discussion and vote.

It seems that somehow, it was forgotten that our role as senators is to discuss the merits of the issues, and present the clearest representation of potential impacts of any legislation. Upon the proposal of said bill, it was clear there were opposing views. These opposing views expressed concerns with regard to funding that could not be immediately or coherently addressed in full. They also expressed concerns with the agreement reached with the administration, and at no time was an explanation or presentation on those meetings given to the senate.

There was an attempt to table the vote of the bill until next week when more research could be done (senators could speak with constituencies, an official finance committee presentation could be made regarding fiscal impacts, presidential cabinet members could offer their insights, etc.). Regrettably, however the vote to table the bill until next week lost with a five to seven vote.

There are several issues with the course of this past Sunday we’d like to address:

1. Approving nearly $300,000 in funding without having the bill prior to the meeting to solicit feedback upon from our constituencies, an official presentation regarding the fiscal impact, nor a full discussion of the consequences for student organizations.

Allocating up to $98,000 per year to MiddView trips for the next three years  could cause a significant dent in the student activity fee financials. As accused of in the meeting, this is not just ‘pure conjecture,’ it is simple math. After further research, we hope we can clarify to the student body what this means:

Each student pays $380 per year in Student Activities Fees. With 2,450 students, that garners an annual pot of approximately $950,000 per year. Thus, spending $98,000 per year on MiddView Trips, this is already approximately 10% of the entire student body’s activities fee. Now, that may not sound like much, but to put that into perspective, allocating $98,000 per year is larger than the MCAB concert committee’s annual budget, approx. the size of the (all five together) common’s budgets, is twice the annual amount WRMC receives, and four times the Mountain Club’s budget.

To break it down even further, with approximately 600 students per class year, each class garners $228,000 in student activities fees. Proportionately, then, even if the finance committee somehow created a FY block, whereby only first years were contributing to the MiddView fee, 42% of the first-year’s student activities fees ($163.00 per person) would be paying for these trips.

While the trips may be ‘free’ for all first-years as part of their Orientation, they are not free in that it will be coming from their student activities fee money, thus reducing the ability of student groups to provide programming throughout the year. To be sure, the SGA does have reserve funding, but that funding is dwindling, and that money is not to be used for MiddView, but as a ‘rainy day fund.’

Scott Klenet ‘12, chair of the Finance Committee, with regard to how this measure would impact student organizations and how he would counsel his successors to adapt to the significant cost increase said: “I encourage [future chairs and committee members] to budget the $98,000 in sustainably, by not dipping into the reserves and adjusting other budgets appropriately.”

It is clear that free really isn’t free. And it’s coming from our Student Activities Fee.

2. The Negotiations being incomplete with regard to percentage of payment. And where is the research on peer institutions and their funding of Orientation programming?

It is not a new topic of discussion to hear of the administration and the SGA clamoring over who should pay for what. The SGA created the band-aid of OINK when the administration dropped MiddView several years ago, as well as things such as midnight breakfast and the extended library hours during exams.

However, is it appropriate that our student activities fee money goes to Orientation Trips? Is that what the fee should be used for? We strongly disagree with that. As a colleague succinctly described and we’ll paraphrase here: it is the College’s responsibility to provide an Orientation Experience for its first-years. It is not the responsibility (nor a cost of which fellow students should share the burden) of students and the student activities fee.

The most disheartening part of this bill was that key members of the SGA’s Presidential cabinet, who have invaluable experience and insight into complicated measures such as this, were not brought into the discussions with the College Administration. While the sponsoring senators, without question, have expended beyond commendable energy and effort into this worthy project, with a project of such stature, the Presidential cabinet should have been a part of the dialogue.

3. All the other unanswered questions:  Is this the best model to embed the trips within Orientation? Do students want MiddView if that means less support for student organizations? Etc., etc….

These are all things that as a Senate, we should have discussed, and we should have presented a fully informed view to the student body to solicit feedback before voting on such a crucial measure.

Where we go from here, a call to our fellow senators, students, and College Community.

Seeing as student body support for this bill was not obtained in the full context of understanding that it would be our student activity fee money (not the administration’s money), and a significant portion of it paying for these trips, we feel a larger discussion needs to be had. As Ryan Kellett reported several years ago (Nov 2009) when the discussion of MOO funding arose: “The reality is that reinstating MOO means taking money away from someone else… Most students don’t realize that this is their student activities fee (SAF) dollars which also go to support the likes of Quidditch, the Commons, Yearbook, ISO, MCAB Concerts, etc…. Frame it this way: would you rather have MOO or a radio station? would you rather have speakers come to campus or MOO? It’s true that this money might come out of the FC reserves for now, but what happens in three years when it has to come out of the Student Activities Fee.”

Fellow senators, if you voted no to table the vote until a later date Sunday night, we urge you to reconsider your decision. Why vote on something when all of the avenues have yet to be explored? We must hold ourselves to higher standards than were displayed last night. We must allow time for debate, research, and discussion of these highly important and relevant issues to students here at Middlebury.

We are proposing a bill this Sunday, January 29th that re-opens this matter for discussion. We are proposing to ensure administrative funding for these trips after the Fall of 2013. We are asking that the previous bill’s funding of Fall 2014 & 2015 be striken, but are allowing the Fall of 2013 funding to be enacted for the sake of cooperation, and ensuring that these trips will happen. We want a more informed vote than the one this bill received this past weekend.

Fellow students, comment below, email your senators (find them here) with your questions and opinions. Are you OK with them the SGA vote to carry half of the expenses (up to $98,000 annually) for MiddView, even if that money is coming from your Student Activities Fee, and therefore potentially impacting Student Org Funding? Do you think the administration should be relying upon the SGA to pay up to half of the cost of the Trips? Do you think it’s good to have the trips be mandatory and embedded in Orientation?

We do not claim to have all the answers, and in fact, that is half the problem.  We are here to serve you, so tell us what you believe is right.

Sincerely,
Brittany Gendron ‘12, Senior Senator
Michael Polebaum ‘12, Cook Commons Senator
Luke Carroll Brown ‘13.5, Feb Senator

Update: This post has been edited on 1/25 to reflect Feb Senator Luke Carroll Brown’s support.

JusTalks: If you haven’t already heard about JusTalks, be on the lookout (and check out their website)! A group of 20 students from the Social Justice Coalition are working to bring about mandatory workshops during all students’ first Jterms — the idea being that these workshops will be safe, inviting spaces for people to engage in conversations relating to all kinds of societal and personal issues that are all too often neglected in wider campus discussions such as race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, gender, and privilege.

As they say in their call to action, and as Rhiya noted in her discussion to the senate Sunday evening, the idea is that JusTalks “will be a forum dedicated to free communication, thoughtful discourse, supportive self-analysis, leaning into discomfort, and dynamic community building.” They are reaching out to the entire campus community for feedback and ideas, so be sure to lend your voice, if not in person, then on the web. The SGA passed the proposed resolution in support of the spirit of JusTalks, to be renewed as further details of the program are delinted in the spring.

OINK/MIDDVIEW: After a heated discussion of sources of funding, the SGA voted and approved of the MiddView bill as sponsored by Joanie Thompson ’14 and Nathan LaBarba ’14 with eight votes for the bill, two votes against, and two abstaining. The bill allocates $98,000 of SGA funding for the Fall 2013 MiddView Trips (approx. half of the total anticipated cost). The MiddView Trips (focused on Outdoor activities or otherwise) all students will attend and will be embedded in the Orientation week. This differs substantially from the current OINK model of only being able to accept a certain number of applicants and having the trips occur during the first weekend of the semester. This also differs substantially from the previous MiddView model where it was co-payed by the Administration and participation fees, and the trips were opt-in by choice and before orientation.

Additionally, the bill permits for the SGA to pay up to 50% of the costs for the years 2014 and 2015, (so, potentially up to $98,000 again, though we were assured it would be less after a significant amount of one-time start up costs occurred for 2013), with the hopes that by passing the aforementioned measures of supportive funding, it is “expected” that by 2016, the funding will come from somewhere other than the SGA. Stay tuned for a post to follow regarding the debates on this vote.

PRINTERS: To close the meeting, the SGA passed a nearly unanimous vote of support for a printer station to be installed in McCullough Student Center. Be on the lookout for that soon!

May the best team win! The rest of us look forward to your public humiliation as you Eskimo kiss the CRAs and grovel in front of faculty members to star in your pilot episode of “Dancing with the Faculty.”

Check out the  2012 clue list and some clips from last year’s competition:

Science and Harry Potter: Scientists re-discovered a monkey previously thought to be extinct in the forests of Indonesia. The Miller’s Grizzled Langurs caught researchers by surprise, they had been hunted to near extinction for their meat and bezoar stones in the past. Harry Potter fans, according to the Washington Post, should know of Bezoars from Professor Snape’s lecture to first year students, as they “are believed by some to neutralize poison.”

Environment: As though the environmental movement isn’t young and hip enough — check out the Swap-O-Matic, an eco-friendly vending machine. And also in Environmental news, not only is Midd going to be installing a solar farm (as Middblog reported on earlier this week), but Sweden is exploring installing a four lane bike superhighway!

Politics: Newt Gingrich Wins the South Carolina Primary, shocking just about everyone (or maybe just me?). I’m still keeling over the fact that he was cheered on like a Backstreet Boy in the 90s by somehow playing the victim card when asked about a recent interview in which his (2nd? 3rd? 47th?) ex-wife said he asked her for an open marriage. I get that the news networks need to stop turning themselves into People Magazine and focus on actual political issues, but let’s face it — 1) Has that at all been done yet in this campaign? and 2) Newt, you have so many skeletons I’m astounded you’re still in the running. Not just your marital history, but your ideas to mine the moon, to ready our defenses for an electromagnetic pulse attack, to employ ‘poor’ children to clean their own schools and to light highways from space with mirrors? Really? All in all, it was an eventful week in the Republican Primary world; Rick Perry bowed out of the race and endorsed Gingrich AND new results from Iowa now show that Rick Santorum, not Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucus with a lead of 34 votes.

Colbert and Politics: It was too late for comedian Stephen Colbert to get on South Carolina’s primary ballot, however, in partnering with former candidate Herman Cain (who was still on the locked-down ballot)– the Colbert/Cain team was able to garner some votes. Wondering who voted for the duo? Meet some of the people here!

Geekery: Is your Jterm class just a little too casual? Need a lighter read to intermix amongst Faust and Tolstoy? Try NPR’s Talk Nerdy to Me: Three Reads for your Inner Geek, (or at least just bookmark for summer reading!). And no, you don’t have to be the Uber-Pro Sci-Fi Comic-Con Speed-Dating kind of geeks to enjoy these selections. (Though, after viewing TLC’s newest show, Geek Love, on said topic, I would highly recommend also adding that TV show to your list of things to do as well).

Awwww: 32 Pictures that will make you say Awwwwwwww. Baby Hippo may be my favorite.

Music: I would be remiss not to honor the amazing Etta James who passed away on Friday. Known for killer blues hits, such as I’d Rather Go Blind, Something’s Got a Hold on Me, At Last, and countless others — she will be dearly missed. FlavorPill has created At Last: An Essential Blues Playlist in her honor — and if you have yet to venture into the Blues world, or think it’s not for you, I leave you with the words of Etta herself, as the Washington Post reported: “A lot of people think the blues is depressing, but that’s not the blues I’m singing,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. “When I’m singing blues, I’m singing life. People that can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.”

And in Etta’s honor, as someone who crossed musical boundaries and broadened all of our horizons, for our videos of the week (Yes, I know, I’m going plural… but I promise it’s worth your while) some refreshing mixes of note:

1) An oldie but a goodie, meet Kevin “K.O. Olusola,” and his amazing Hip-Hop Cello & Beat-Boxing. (He’s also more recently known for his membership in Pentatonix, the a cappella winners of  NBC’s the Sing Off)

2) Keep those speakers up, and enjoy the amazing PogoMixes of Nick Bertke. From his most recent Jaaam: The Fresh Prince Remix (below) to Upular (a Pixar Remix) to Kadinchey (Bhutanese for Thank You, a remix of sights and sounds recorded around Bhutan), he is just brilliant.

3) And one more bonus… Sick beat made by 10 household items.

Creative Commons / Jessamyn

My two previous posts addressed the problem of keeping up with the news from a traditional perspective.  I described what to look for in the news and how to get the news to come to you.

If you only do what I describe in my first two posts, you’re engaging with the news in a way that is fundamentally similar to the way people have consumed news for centuries — you’re literally and figuratively sitting back and receiving information.

But this is the digital era and the Internet allows people to lean forward and participate. As citizens, we can now be active in analyzing, distributing and reporting the news.

This doesn’t mean starting a blog if you don’t want one.  And it doesn’t mean always aspiring for the standards of professional journalism if you decide to produce stories.

Instead, it’s important that we overcome the belief that there is a theatrical fourth wall separating producers and consumers of news.  This means participating in news decimation and creation as you consume it.

Recommend while you read  

The newspaper industry used to be based on bundling together content.  Newspaper front pages organized the day’s stories and all the paper’s content was held together by a rubber band.

Today, one of the many reasons the newspaper industry’s financial model is falling apart is the news has been unbundled.  Stories are viewed haphazardly online and there is no easy way to sell all of a newspaper’s content as one product.

This graph shows Facebook's emerging power as a news distributor. From Pew Research

As social networking sites continue to play a larger role in directing content around the web, citizens are gaining more power in directing friends to news content.  Already, 8% of the New York Times‘s traffic comes from Facebook (this number may seem small, but one must also factor in that internal links and google searches count against this percentage).

As the power of social media grows, we as citizens will increasingly have the power to take the place of front pages.  We can do this by sharing stories with those around us.

The web offers many ways to share content.  You can email, share on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ or share on discovery engines like StumbeUpon and Reddit.

Blogging

If you’re particularly interested in a topic, blogging can be a great way contribute to the news.  It can also be a good way to draw attention to yourself professionally.

Here’s the rundown on three of the best blogging platforms:

• WordPress, the platform we use to run Midd-Blog, is what I’d recommend for most uses.  The system is intuitive and gives you the option of a lot plug-ins that allow you to customize your blog. There are both free and paid versions of the system.

• Blogger is a lot like WordPress, but it’s less sophisticated and perhaps easier to use.  Google owns the site and has let it wilt until a recent burst of innovation.

• Tumblr is more oriented toward posting images and has some features of a social networking site, but if you only want basic functionality and a sleek design, this is a good option.

Join the Twitter conversation

Creative Commons / Matt Hamm

In my previous post, I discussed how to assemble a good mix of accounts to follow on Twitter.  The next step is to join in on the Twitter conversation.

Twitter works well for interacting with people you know and for finding and recommending articles, but Twitter can also be a tool for reporting the news and engaging with influential people.

Here’s a quick primer of terms that can get you started on joining the Twitter conversation:

• Retweeting: Retweeting is how Twitter users repost twitter posts from other users. If a user named “joemiddlebury” tweets “Happy Liebowitz Day!”  You repost this post by tweeting: RT @joemiddlebury: Happy Liebowitz Day!  There is now also a “retweet” button on the web version of Twitter that will rebroadcast tweets directly to your followers.

• “MT:” Use this as you would “RT” if you want to slightly modify a Tweet (usually to make it shorter) before retweeting it.

• @ replies: To reply to a Tweet, click on the “Reply” button under that tweet.  This will create a Tweet with that begins @ “user to which you’re replying.”  Type you’re reply.  Most users receive email notifications when their username with when someone types their name with an  ”@” before it.

Storify 

One of the best new tools for citizen journalism is storify.  This tool allows you to assemble Tweets, blog posts, text, images and videos into a single story.  The product looks great and it’s easy to use.  Here’s an excellent example of a storify recounting of Vermont’s reaction to the SOPA blackout day.

Other resources:

• If you want to learn more about taking ownership of the news, I highly recommend the prominent media scholar Dan Gillmor’s project on consuming and producing the news, mediactive.

• There are also opportunities to volunteer and collaborate with established news sites.  For example, the nonprofit news organization ProPublica has a network of citizen reporters.

• If you’re interested in using photos or videos to report news, here’s a quick introduction.

At this point last year, I had no idea what I’d be doing at this point this year. I applied to short-term fellowships and jobs hoping to test some of my interests empirically (and save some cash) before investing in graduate study. It was a great plan, except that I had no idea how it would feel when I actually arrived at my next step.

Most during-college career advice centers on getting into jobs or schools or programs—but what happens once you’re in? Especially if you’re thinking of a fellowship or fixed-term tour of duty instead of grad school or a typical open-ended job, the moment when “what next?” becomes “what now?” is a tricky one.

Here’s a quick guide to what I’ve learned about working a real job that’s sometimes not exactly a real job—to help uncertain Middkids decide, and to help “program participants”-to-be prepare themselves.

#1: Defining your job is part of your job

Maybe it was because I was the first Urban Fellow to work for Speechwriting, but I felt like my office had some trouble figuring out what to do with me. I was thrown into an extremely busy group and given an ambiguous job title. The luck of getting to do more than menial tasks in my first “real job” was balanced by my uncertainty about what actually was appropriate work. Even over four months in, I still actively offer to take on much of the work I do. Learning to firmly but respectfully gain responsibility and define one’s role may occupy a bigger piece of your consciousness than you think. But if you can do it well (I’m barely starting to), it can help immensely, because those ambiguous situations are exactly the ones where you can change things, or move forward yourself.

#2: People and access are part of your salary

Positional ambiguity has advantages. A huge one: important people aren’t always sure where I fit into the system and may therefore be surprisingly open to contact and discussion with me. I am the youngest person in my office by seven years, and the most inexperienced by at least the same amount—and yet here I am, having conversations every day that make me amazed and thankful to be working where I am.

It won’t last: budgets in City Hall are rightfully tight, and my chances of being re-hired are slim. But the more I learn, the more people I talk to, and the better I understand the career worlds with which I intersect, the better prepared I’ll be to do more of the same or do well at something different. You may have less job security (and less money) when your fellowship ends, but you have the chance to spend some early time avoiding the grind of being at the bottom of the ladder, and that has its own benefits. (For an entirely opposite experience, talk to a paralegal at a big law firm.)

#3: Your hobbies are part of your portfolio

Even though it was never part of the job description, City Hall definitely had a use for one more Spanish speaker. And to my surprise, my experience with theater actually helped, too—some Mayoral events need staging, after all. In an ambiguous job situation, you may have more freedom to work across disciplines and try side projects, because your role may be less determinate than those of the people you work with.

#4: Work like you could be promoted, fired, or paid overtime

Because in at least some programs, none of those things will happen. It’s easy to justify the cost of grad school as an investment, and it’s very easy to feel good about getting paid—but a fixed-term job or fellowship is an unusual mixture of both. Like college, you have something of a margin of error. Unlike college, your work isn’t graded (or praised, typically, for that matter), so margins of error are much harder to calculate. In programs like these (and the Watson is the most extreme example), the solidity of the stipend and the variability of the job description can conflict with each other. Self-motivation will be invaluable. (I’m still working on that—I certainly turned this post in at the last minute. Editor: Correct.)

Final thoughts
Do I now know what my interests are? Do I know where I’ll be a year from now? Do I know what I’ll study in grad school? No. In many ways, I’m even less certain than I was a year ago. But what I’ve learned about myself in a “real job” setting, combined with the supportive and stimulating exposure to a fantastic group of Fellows, combined with the newness of a gap year, combined with a solid work experience, has made this a decision I wouldn’t take back.

So when considering a fellowship year-or-two, manage your expectations and expect to go a little crazy—but think about it.

In solidarity with the anti-SOPA movement, this will be MiddBlog’s only post on January 18th. Why are we and thousands of other sites shutting down for the day?

The Stop Anti-Piracy Act, a bill currently under review in Congress, will not only be ineffective in stopping illegal online activity, but it will also threaten online freedoms. By “blacking out” today, websites and search engines around the world (including Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia) hope to show Congress what the Internet would be like if this legislation passes.

Learn more by watching this video, provided by the SOPA Blackout movement.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Sophomores Camille Seyler, left, Ali Rotatori, Olivia French and Spencer Petterson in front of the future solar farm site. Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Ever wondered why Middlebury has yet to add a solar farm to our neutrality plan? Well, wonder no more!

The Addison Independent reported today that Middlebury College will be installing a solar farm off Route 125 in the open space between BiHall and the Organic Garden. According the Independent, the installation, slated for February, will consist of 34 photovoltaic solar power collectors.

The college has long been considering a solar farm to help meet the school’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2016, according to Jack Byrne, director of sustainability integration at Middlebury. But it wasn’t until four students in Professor John Isham’s environmental economics class — Spencer Petterson, Camille Seylor, Olivia French and Alexandra Rotatori — conducted a cost-benefit analysis that college administrators were fully convinced to go ahead with the project.

This environmental economics class seems to be having quite the impact, bringing us Less Meat Mondays earlier in the semester and now a solar farm! Who knows what will be next!

The Solar Farm, to be metered against Battell, “is expected to generate 200,000 kW-hours (kWh) of electricity per year.” Just how big is this impact? Enough to theoretically ‘offset’ Battell dormitory, a dorm used year-round for first-years and student worker summer housing, which uses approx. 190,000 KW-hours (kWh) of electricity annually.

So blast that music, use those laptops, and know it will be just a bit more green.

This article has been corrected on Tuesday, January 17. The solar farm will not be directly metered against Battell. Thank you to C in the comments for pointing out the error.

Emily Gullickson ’10 was lead editor of MiddBlog during the ’09-’10 school year. She is the original writer of the Sunday Reading series. She is now a consulting associate at Cambridge Associates in Boston. This post is part of our life skills series.

When I graduated from Middlebury, I found that the three things most responsible for draining my graduation money and left-over summer internship stipends before I even received my first paycheck were the following: moving to Boston and setting up an apartment, being social enough to make new friends and keep old ones, and building a work wardrobe. The first ended up being a one-time set-up cost (though I should have asked Sarah for advice), and the second became a built-in line item in my monthly budget (Boston has way too many delicious restaurants for my own good). As for the third, I’ve had to figure that out as I go along.

When you embark on your first post-college job, you learn very quickly that those shiny new shoes/suits/gear/briefcases/backpacks you buy for Day #1 of your shiny new investment banking/art/park ranger/social networking/journalism job are barely enough to get you through the first real change of seasons (i.e. three months). Soon, you find yourself digging through old interview and internship outfits and (begrudgingly) even some college day-to-day wear (i.e. Sperrys) in an effort to save money. This means, however, putting up with worn elbows and frayed hemlines and a generally deteriorating quality of your self-presentation.

To avoid such deterioration, here are a couple of insights (5 to be exact) I’ve picked up. They’re a little more advanced than paging through the J. Crew catalogue. However, if adopted (and mastered) early, they’ll allow you to continue building a lasting, quality work wardrobe that’s entirely yours and maybe even a little enviable and trendy.

#1 Know your size in inches and centimeters.

The sad reality of shopping today is that a Medium isn’t a Medium isn’t a Medium. You’re going to be a Small at one place and an Extra-Large at another, especially if your job involves spending time in multiple countries. So, to make your life easier and to save yourself the expense of buying a million different pieces of clothing that don’t fit you, measure yourself. Go to the nearest hardware or craft store, buy a $2 fabric measurer, and figure out your dimensions—shoulder to shoulder, bust, sleeves, waist, hip, rise (waist to groin), inside leg (ankle to groin), feet, preferred length for hemlines. Write these numbers down, and you’ll never mess up an online order from Net-a-Porter or REI again.

#2 Find a (good) tailor.

Unfortunately, even if you do buy according to your exact measurements, your clothes probably won’t fit you perfectly, especially suits. Because, really, it’s not about the pieces; it’s about the ensemble. So find a tailor, any one will do but it helps if they’re good and you can trust them. (Best places to look are your nearest Chinatown or Little Italy. Americans are only slowly re-discovering the art of tailoring). Having your clothes (and not just suits, but dress slacks, leather jackets, dresses, too) tailored serves two purposes: 1) it makes your clothes look more expensive because they fit you well, and 2) it makes your clothes last longer so you end up saving money by buying less that looks better.

#3 Find a good cobbler (shoe repairman).

It doesn’t matter if you start with Ferragamos or New Balance US574s. Carpets, sidewalks, mountains, and cobblestones kill shoes that are supposed to last for years, especially when you’re in that phase of your life when you’re working 60-80 hour weeks. To keep this from happening, find a cobbler. Get your shoes waterproofed, and spend $10 to get a rubber sole or grip added to those that don’t already come with them. Every six months or so, have a cobbler add new tips to heels or soles on everything else.  Those steps and a good shine will cost you less than $30 from anyone who really knows what they’re doing. This allows you to buy new shoes when you want them (i.e. Barney’s end-of-year sale) instead of when your boss quietly pulls you aside and tells you that you have to.

#4 Pay attention to what others are wearing (and recommending).

Paying attention to what others are wearing fulfills two purposes. First, it adds to your own style idea bank. Your job will get repetitive, but your wardrobe and personality don’t have to reflect it, unless you want to be the next Steve Jobs. And by “others”, I mean everyone from your cube mate to your work spouse to the Sartorialist or your favorite magazine. For a few good outside sources, I recommend starting with, for menswear, Marisa Zupan’s (Professor Zupan’s daughter) blog and network of up-and-coming menswear creators and stylists, and, for womenswear, stick with individuals like Garance Dore or the Man Repeller, not glossy magazines built on large group personalities. Second, one of my first work mentor’s told me that you should always dress for the job you want. While I don’t believe you always have to do this, if you notice that your boss always wears a tie and you want their job someday, start wearing ties a little more often.

#5 Be willing to pay up for shoes and quality leather goods.

A senator’s wife once told me that how well a person takes care of their shoes and accessories (particularly purses and briefcases) speaks volumes for how well they take care of themselves and, by extension, everything else in their life. You’re going to have off days, days when you throw on whatever you have available because you haven’t had time to do laundry, or days when you oversleep and put on different colored socks. But, as long as your shoes are still nice and your purse free of wear and tear, people will recognize that, deep down, you really care. So, if you splurge on anything your first few years out of college, make it leather goods. They will last your forever, from entry-level to executive-level, and add one thing in your life you can depend on, a rarity those first couple of years.

Parting words.

Ladies, learn to walk in high heels. Wobbly ankles and tentative steps make others believe you lack confidence. Find the maximum height you’re comfortable in, wear them around your apartment for a few hours first, and sway your hips and relax your knees when you walk (runway models don’t do that just for effect).

Gentleman, ties are one of the few things left that are exclusively for you (“menswear as womenswear” trends and restaurant waitstaff aside), so have fun with them. Also, learn to polish shoes.

At the end of it all, the important thing to know is that there are no hard and fast rules to dressing for the work force, no matter what your employer’s dress code says. (Dress codes are really just meant to prevent you from embarrassing your employer. They aren’t meant to be your shopping list.) Just take care of yourself and remember that presentation is half the battle. You always want people to call you out for wearing clever socks, not for looking like you use your iron as a panini maker.

photo via STREETFSN by NAM.

The series, directed by Brad Becker-Parton ’11.5 and produced by Rebecca Tharp ’12 and Matt Yaggy ’12, stars Adam Benay ’13.5, Greg Dorris ’13, and Ben Orbison ’12.5 as Chet, Zach, and Kevin, three college losers bumbling through the pledging process for Kappa Omega Chi. Tom Califra ’13 stars as the frat’s weird president with a cottage cheese fetish, and Ele Woods ’11.5 plays his girlfriend.

Episodes are released every Sunday night (prime procrastination time), and the first ep received over 400 views in just over 12 hours. Check out the first episode here:

MUSIC: Remember “This is How We Do It” and Eiffel 65′s “Blue?” Me either. Thankfully, Thought Catalog’s Chelsea Fagan has assembled a list of the Top 10 Middle school dance jams. You’ll thank me later. Turn up those speakers.

BEAUTIFUL GEEKDOM: Several big ones this week.  (1) Ever wonder what Star Wars characters would look like if they were style-saavy hipsters? Apparently so has John Woo, a Hong-Kong based designer and illustrator. You can find his paintings here. My personal favorite is “Chewbacca with Outdoor Style.” (2) Collider.com reports that the Avengers will be from Captain America’s perspective. Not all too worried about whose perspective its from, just want to see more of this.

WEDDING CRASHING: Now, there’s an app for that too. Crash Corsage (be sure to watch the video demo) deftly uses all of the happy couple’s online info they post about the wedding; the app streams it into an easy-to-navigate format and helps you party the night away. Even better, you can earn points to see where you rank among fellow wedding crashers.

TWINKIES: The news that Hostess filed for bankruptcy was a filing heard round the world, soliciting response from the most prestigious to obscure of news sources. From those who tried to envision a world without Twinkies to NPR’s list of 10 things to do with Twinkies to prove how useful they are, it is clear they are an American cultural icon. Interesting finding: turns out, Twinkies do not dissolve in Mountain Dew, unlike mice (as Pepsi claims).

HAPPINESS: It’s like Thought Catalog just exists to provide me with my favorite articles. Ever wonder the Things You Need In Order To Stay Happy? Or just want confirmation someone agrees with your life philosophy? Definitely read it. Read it now. And read it once more.

TEBOW, FOOTBALL & FATE: Tebow. The amazing man, the myth, the legend. Sadly though, yesterday the Broncos were easily shut down by the Patriots, (45-10) in a highly anticipated playoff game. Blogger Patton Dodd wrote of the match-up between Tebow and Brady in advance of the game: “Brady is the guy every teenage boy wants to be. Tebow is the guy every teenage boy’s mom wants him to be.” Apparently, being a momma’s favorite didn’t serve him too well against the Patriots. The victory has led some to question if God exists, though, I’ll leave that up to you.

COLBERT: As though last week my obsession level wasn’t obsessed enough… this week he definitely deserves his own category. This past Thursday, Colbert handed over his SuperPac to Jon Stewart in order to form an exploratory committee to examine his possible run as a candidate for the President of South Carolina!

And for your video of the week, for all you thesis and ‘independent project’ workers for Jterm — this video goes to you. An oldie-but-goodie AMAZING post-it stop motion animation film about deadlines & the art of procrastination. Enjoy!

Creative Commons / Jessamyn

In my previous post on being an active consumer of the news, I discussed how to assemble the sources one needs for a media mix that will keep you informed.  In this post, I’ll  provide advice for keeping up with these sources.

Make Twitter work for you

There are a lot of reasons people stay away from Twitter.  People see it as being too turbo, too nerdy, too much of an obligation for their careers or too superficial.  Twitter may not be for everyone, but I believe most people can find a way to make Twitter work for them.  The key is to assemble a list of followers you find compelling and to think of Twitter as a tool for keeping up with your interests and for sharing.  Twitter can easily become a natural extension of one’s interests and one’s desire to share.

Creative Commons / Matt Hamm

If you’re new to Twitter, create an account and find users to follow.  When looking for feeds, I recommend keeping in mind the Media Mix I suggested: you want a cross-section of news sources ranging from the hyperlocal to the international.  Also, one of the great things about Twitter is that you can follow people and organizations that you’re interested in without getting information through a filter.  If you want the latest on Tebow, go straight to the source.

As you choose whom to follow, it’s important that you assemble a feed you’ll find compelling going forward.  Especially if you’re just starting out, be wary of accounts that are too prolific and don’t double up on accounts that essentially do the same thing.  This means not following too many sources for breaking news, for example.  To keep your feed organized, make lists that create new streams with a combination of accounts you chose, including accounts you don’t follow.  You can also subscribe to other users’ lists.

Many users like to download applications that run Twitter on their computers and mobile devices.  There are many options out there, but the applications made by Twitter itself work quite well.

Finally, Twitter is also about leaning forward and interacting with other users (more on this in my post next week). This friendly introduction to Twitter includes a glossary and will help you get started.

Creative Commons / AndersP

Take advantage of libraries: 

Libraries are the way to go if you want to read a magazine in print but don’t want to fork up the subscription fee.

If you’re still at Middlebury, become acquainted with the library’s periodicals section. It’s on the bottom floor of the library and it receives most every mainstream magazine you could want across a few languages.  The periodicals section also has a good assortment of newspapers.

If you’re out in the big bad world, don’t forget that most public libraries also have a fabulous collection of periodicals and also a good selection of books on current affairs .

Use RSS feeds and do so with care:

In the old days of the Internet, if you wanted to keep up with a website, you would go visit it.  RSS reverses this and brings the content of a website to you.  RSS stand for Real Simple Syndication and, as the name suggests, it functions by having you subscribe to content from frequently updated sources like blogs and news headlines.

In order to use RSS, you’ll need an RSS reader — a website or application that compiles a feed of your subscriptions.  Highly regarded web-based RSS readers include Google Reader, NetNewsWire and Bloglines.  Reeder is a good RSS application, and most browsers have built in rudimentary RSS readers.

The RSS Symbol

I recommend starting with Google Reader: it’s intuitive, visually well-designed and  since it’s online it can be accessed from anywhere.  Once you’ve set up a Google reader account, copy the URL  of the website and paste it into Google Reader’s “add subscription” form.  Google Reader will automatically find the correct feed to follow if you provide a website’s URl but other RSS readers may need  a specific RSS feed.  If you’re interested in learning more about setting up RSS feeds, I recommend this website.

As with managing your Twitter feeds, it’s important that you use RSS feeds with care. Make sure to create a mix of feeds you’ll actually want to read.  Be wary of subscribing to sites that will flood your feed with posts and sites that doesn’t actually interest you.

I recommend using folders within your RSS reader to keep your feeds compelling. Keep in mind that one subscription can be in any number of folders.  This means that you can create one folder for all the sites that are most important to you so that you can read that folder if you’re in a hurry.

Take advantage of social networks:

In one of its latest moves to force out a competitor (in this case Google+), Facebook now allows you to “subscribe” to prominent users and receive status updates and links from them even if you aren’t friends. This and  the ability to “like” pages enables you to add newsworthy items to your Facebook news feed.

On the  subject of Google+, this social network is a ghost town among users — due to Google’s broad reach, a lot of people have signed up but no one is… doing anything on it.  Nevertheless, a lot of journalists and public figures post regularly to Google+ and interact with their followers on the site so it can be worthwhile to check it out.

Use Email Notifcations

If you’re like most millennials, you check your email a lot.  Probably too much.  This can be a problem, but it can also make your inbox a great place to receive the news.  Many news organizations offer regular email newsletters and breaking news updates.  One of the best is Ezra Klein’s Wonkbook, which will provide you with excellent analysis of economic and political news every morning.

If you’re heavily caffeinated, Google Alerts 

Google alerts allow you to sign up for email notifications every time a given word or phrase is used on the Internet.  If you’re closely following a specific topic, Google Alerts can be a great way to keep up with it.  For example, if one were planning a Liebowitz day (does that date me?) one would create a “Ron Liebowitz” Google alert.  People also like to create a Google alert for their name in order to keep up on their online identities.

Check back next week for my final post on being a good news consumer, in which I switch things up and describe how to lean forward and be a news producer as well. 

The characters of Y Tu Mamã También become personal

At the turn of the year I habitually find myself scurrying to find a resolution that, if properly followed, will make me a more wholesome, healthier person.  In doing so I end up creating a list of activities and habits I wish to do away with; I decide that the only way to be a better me is if I restrict myself from activities I normally derive pleasure from.  Less sugar.  Less red meat.  Less sitting on my ass.

This year I took a different approach to these lists.  I pondered ways in which I, and others with the same goals, can achieve what I want without having to follow the same conventional, boring path. If I want to elevate my heart rate more during the week, who says I need to go to the gym to do so?  Unfailingly sex came to my rescue.  Who says exercising does not, or cannot happen in the bedroom?  Plus, with the winter weather becoming colder and crueler, why schlep to the gym when you can stay in the comfort of your room and still have the company of others.  Exercise becomes Sexercise.

As I mentioned in my last post “Lesbihonest: It’s time to acsexsorize!” I am writing this three-part series to offer readers suggestions of how to create a spark within themselves or their relationships.  Previously, I shared different toys and foods that can be used as a sexy complement to Friday Fun.  This article focuses on how people can make their sex lives more active, healthy, and intriguing.  Although sex with one partner naturally has all of these elements, threesomes bring it to a whole different dimension. One more person may not seem significant, but in this case the third person is the charm.

Threesomes
Threesomes are notorious for being, well, notorious.  The idea of a threesome is particularly appealing today, as pop culture has helped to advertise the allure of the ménage à trois.  In Love Actually, Colin Frissell achieves the American Dream when he shares a “crowded and sweaty” bed with four girls who “can’t even afford pajamas.”  Then there is “Last Friday Night,” when Katy Perry apparently had her own ménage à trois.  The list continues: from Gossip Girl to Y Tu Mamã También and Sex and the City to the L Word, Hollywood has officially endorsed the threesome.

While having a threesome with any of the aforementioned characters may be a bit farfetched, it is still entirely possible in your own cramped dorm room. If you look for it, you will find that all sorts of people are interested in partaking too.  Shedding the garments becomes ultra arousing when it is a three-person task, whether between three individuals or a couple with an accomplice.  The idea of a threesome is electrifying, but the logistics can be a bit difficult, not only in initiating one, but also in determining whether or not you feel ready.

Three-ways have many benefits, which I will praise soon, but they also have their complications.  If you are in a relationship it is vital that both you and your significant other are aware of, and comfortable with, one other’s desires before the act occurs. Above all you must know why it would be beneficial for another person to share in your sex life.  If you are in a monogamous relationship, remember that opening your sex life does not equate to being in an open relationship.  Threesomes can be tricky because one or more parties involved may start to harbor feelings of jealousy or feel threatened.  Communicating openly and establishing expectations is the best way to keep your relationship hot and healthy.  After all, at the end of the night the third party will go away and it will just be the two of you left in bed.

So, how do you initiate a three-way?
There is no single answer to this question. Initiating a threesome can be as varied as what happens once it begins. Three friends find themselves cuddling in bed and soon after are doing much more. A couple gets down on the dance floor and an interested third party joins in.  A couple compiles a list of who they find most attractive, narrow it down, and chase around the person of interest in hot pursuit.  Remember, having a threesome is much easier if there are two people on board looking for a third person, rather than searching for two people at once.  Sure, in this case being in a relationship helps, but it is not impossible if you are single.  Consult your friends. Go to parties you may not otherwise go to.  Check out classmates.  Most importantly, do not give up!

Why have a threesome?
Many couples find they desire one another more after they invite another person into their bed.  There is something oddly alluring about watching your partner being pleased by as welling as pleasuring another person.  Furthermore, if the other person departs after the evening’s events, the sexual interactions between the couple become only sexier and more intimate.  On the other hand, if you are single, why not participate in such a sexual act?  You must be comfortable and confident with hooking up with both partners, but the no-strings-attached sex can leave you satisfied and fulfilled.

If you are full of questions check out: Vicki Vantoch’s The Threesome Handbook. It outlines proper three-way etiquette, gives advice about how to openly communicate, and offers techniques to ensure everyone has an enjoyable evening.

Also recommended: Savage Love, a blog by Dan Savage, discusses the merits and shortfalls of threesomes and answers questions by (bi)curious readers.

Foursomes and Moresomes
While threesomes seem to be the Holy Grail of sexual encounters, orgies are a relative afterthought. They occur perhaps less frequently and are seen by many as less attainable.  I would argue that is not the case.  Much like threesomes you would be surprised to find how many people are looking to diversify their sexual experiences.  The difficulty with orgies, however, is that they are dependent upon a larger number of people.  This means that environmental factors play a greater role than the desire of two or three people.

The spontaneity of group sex is what makes it so special and so…hot.  There is no specific recipe to a great orgy, but a group of people who are sexually charged and eager to explore and be explored by multiple partners is certainly important.  Similar to a threesome, the initiation of this event can be tricky.  A great strategy for those of you wanting to have an orgy is to host a party in a house with bedrooms, or at least rooms that provide enough privacy from the rest of the party.  When the night is in full swing, migrate your way into the room with others who feel the spark—things will progress from there.

That everyone can participate to their own level of comfort is the beauty of group sex.  There is no pressure for equal participation from all members; whether you are a seasoned marathoner or this is your first hurdle, moresomes can be enjoyed by everyone.

Let’s be honest- Sexorcising is a three for one deal: you get a good work out, you are not alone, and you feel damn good.

by Brian Fung

You don’t have to be an economics major to know that achieving financial independence takes hard work and discipline, particularly if you find yourself living in a city with few support networks after graduation. In these situations, even a little advance prep can help. Here’s how to get on the road to financial security when you’re just starting out.

via flickr / alles-schlumpf

Get everything on the table

Before making any big decisions, it’s helpful to assemble the bits and pieces of your financial life into a single picture. Last week, I mentioned Mint.com — a free online tool that tastefully displays, among other things, how much you have in your checking and savings accounts, the balance on your credit card, and any other debts you hold. Once you sign up with Mint and populate the app with your financial information, new transactions get added and categorized automatically. Mint helps you track where your money is coming from, where it goes and, most importantly, how your spending patterns change over time — all with snazzy charts and graphs to help you understand.

If giving up your personal data makes you skittish, Mint is owned and operated by Intuit, the tax-prep company behind programs like Quicken. Mint can’t make transactions on your behalf, and only reads back to you what you’d find on your various bank websites if you were to log in there separately. Still, whether you should sign up depends on how highly you trust companies like these in the first place, and that’s something for you to decide.

Take willpower out of the equation

The biggest obstacle to saving is often our own selves. Putting cash under the mattress is a struggle — it’s inconvenient, there are bills to be paid now, there are things I want now, and so on. But saving doesn’t have to be an uphill battle.

Instead, consider automating your personal finances. That means setting up a system of rules with your bank(s) to manage your money — like a computer program for your income that you can set and forget. Not only does this system help you save cash by setting aside some of your paycheck before you have a chance to spend it all, but it also saves you valuable time and stress. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can even use this system to automatically pay your bills, which vendors appreciate and sometimes results in a little discount for you. And the best part? Automating your savings means you can spend whatever’s left with minimal guilt.

To see how such a system works, watch this explainer by Ramit Sethi, one of a growing number of smart personal finance bloggers.

Help! What’s a 401(k)/403(b)/IRA?

Retirement seems like a long way off when you’re in college. But people are living longer these days even as the future of Social Security grows less certain, which makes it important to plan ahead so that you have enough to live on after you stop drawing a salary. You probably don’t need to start saving until after you leave Middlebury, but the longer you wait, the steeper your climb will be. Someone who starts investing at age 25 will need to put away much less each month and will still end up having more in the long run than someone who didn’t start saving until 35 or 45.

There are different ways to get started. Unless you work part-time or are self-employed, most traditional employers will offer you a 401(k) retirement account. (A 403(b) is basically the equivalent of a 401(k) for teachers and some non-profits.) Any money you put in there comes out of your paycheck before taxes, which incidentally reduces the taxes you owe to Uncle Sam in a given year. Often, employers will also pay into your 401(k) if you contribute a certain amount yourself. Definitely take full advantage of this match, as it’s free money. Once it’s there, you can choose how to invest it. The only downsides are that you can’t touch what’s inside until you reach retirement age, and you’re taxed on what you withdraw, since you didn’t pay up before.

Another way to save for retirement is through an IRA, which is an investment account you fund with after-tax income. You’ll often hear about two types of IRAs — the traditional and the Roth. For young people, a Roth IRA is the better choice. It’s tax-exempt, meaning both your contributions and your investment earnings can be withdrawn tax-free at retirement age. (You can also withdraw early for a small penalty.)

What should you invest in? Index funds are one good choice. These are mutual funds that emulate the stock market instead of trying to beat it, and they come highly recommended for their low cost and slow-and-steady-wins-the-race philosophy. You might also look into lifecycle funds if you’d rather not think too much about it.

It’s a good idea to use both 401(k)s and IRAs, but how you strike a balance between the two is up to you. In short: you can either pay taxes on your retirement savings now, or later. If you think tax rates are going to rise later, consider taking the hit now.

Making sense of health insurance

Good news: there’s no need to worry about health insurance right away. Under the Affordable Care Act, Americans can keep their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26. This part of the law is already in effect.

That said, once you’ve been hired someplace and your employer starts subsidizing your health insurance, then you’ve got to worry about things like premiums and deductibles. (Again, if you’re self-employed or working part-time, it’s a different story.) A premium is essentially a payment you make regularly for the right to be covered by your insurance company. A deductible, meanwhile, is the amount of your healthcare costs that you have to pay before your insurer’s benefits start to kick in. When people complain about rising premiums and deductibles, it means that they’re (a) paying more every few weeks for the right to be covered even as (b) insurers scale back that coverage.

It’s also helpful to know the difference between an HMO and a PPO, which are two of the most common approaches to health insurance. There are a lot of details, but the bottom line is this: you get what you pay for. A PPO has higher premiums than an HMO, but the benefits are greater. You can see whatever health professional you like instead of being stuck with a list of pre-approved doctors, for example. Which you choose depends on your situation and your comfort with risk.

Need more help? The U.S. government has a handy online glossary.

The bright side of student debt

This is the big kahuna. If you’re drowning in student loans, it’ll be that much tougher to make everything else work. But there’s a silver lining: student debt is generally considered “good” debt because it helps build credit history and reflects an investment that pays itself off to society when you enter the workforce. And compared to riskier debt like the kind linked to credit cards, the interest rate on student loans is usually pretty low (for subsidized Stafford loans, it’s 3.4 percent; for unsubsidized Staffords, it’s double that).

There are other reasons for optimism. Students that go into the public sector after college can have their loans forgiven after ten years of service. If you go to grad school at any time, you can have your undergraduate debt temporarily deferred.

As with many of the issues covered here, what you do with your debt is an intensely personal choice. If the amount you owe is fairly small, you can probably afford to keep it around to help build your credit (once you pay off your loans, they disappear from your credit history). If what you owe is especially large and you have no other debt, you might consider making more than the minimum payment each month. If you’ve got a mountain of credit card debt at 15 percent interest, you might want to target that high-interest debt first.

Getting to a firm financial footing involves lots of complex decisions. Some of them call for deep reflection about your values and priorities. But none of it should be especially painful — and by thinking about some of this stuff now, you’re already ahead of the game.

Sarah solo-authored MiddBlog in 2007-2008 from her library thesis carrel. She received her M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern University in 2010, and currently serves as the Special Projects Coordinator for the Vice President for Administration (aka Tim Spears) at Middlebury. Read all “Life Skills” posts.

Your post grad walls could have your study abroad photos on them. (flickr / alttext)

I love to travel, I enjoy nights on the town with friends, and I get outside as often as possible, but ultimately I’m a home body. Coupled with my love of entertaining, it’s important that my living space be welcoming, comfortable, simple, and inspiring. And because I have the artistic skills of a kindergartener (no offense, kindergarteners), home design is one of my few creative outlets.

Life after Middlebury may be the first time that you’ll be responsible for decorating or furnishing an entire apartment or house of your own. Transitioning from your Brooker single–which simultaneously serves as your bedroom, study, living room, pantry, and attic–to a one- or two-bedroom flat will be a relief, but also a challenge. Here are a few principles and ideas to get you started.

It’s Not About Stuff. It’s not about making your home look like a Pottery Barn catalog or accumulating expensive, pretty things or projecting a certain kind of image to impress others. It’s about creating a space that is a reflection of you: what you love, what you value or find meaningful, and what’s comfortable.

What’s Your Style? Modern? Chic? Rustic? Urban? Baroque? Unhappy Hipster? The internet awaits to help you figure that all out. There’s Pinterest to “organize and share the things you love.” There’s also Polyvore for making mood boards–great for those of us who lack Photoshop skills. To give designs a trial run in a computerized, three-dimensional model of your home, try mydeco.

Color! I adore color, but some people are afraid of it. Some basic rules of thumb: Paint large rooms in dark colors to make them feel cozy. Paint small rooms in light colors to make them feel spacious. Warm colors tend to make you hungry, so you may or may not want these in your kitchen or dining room. If you’re a novice painter/color selector, light colors are more forgiving of mistakes and are easier to paint over if you end up hating the result. If you live in an apartment whose landlord has put the kibosh on painting, you can sneak in color with lamp shades, curtains, prints, area rugs, furniture, or even an upholstered headboard.

Design on a Dime Unless your first job out of Middlebury is exceptionally well-paying, it will likely be awhile before you can drop some bank on home furnishings or renovations. Especially if you’re planning to move around a lot, or live with roomates, it may not make sense to spend a lot of money anyway. Enter DIY (those are practically my initials). Make your own curtains, like Anna Warren. Take a cue from Natty by Design and breath new life into old furniture by refinishing it in bold colors (feast your eyes on this cobalt blue dresser). Print and frame some of your own arty photographs and arrange a wall collage. It goes without saying that the internet is filled to the brim with DIY how-to’s, but I especially love make grow gather, Design Sponge, and Young House Love. You’re sure to find projects to meet your budget and skill level. Related note: YHL is really great for homeowners; in addition to small-scale projects, the site offers ideas and instructions for some pretty serious home renovations.

Welcome back to Sunday Reading! Whether you stayed at Middlebury, traveled round the world or to somewhere just outside of Boston, Happy 2012 and Happy Jterm! So to catch up in case you were without internet for break, or just want to procrastinate unpacking further… let’s hit the highlights. Disclosure: I am writing this on a train, so please excuse any typos.

BLUE IVY CARTER: Generally would steer away from anything people.com but this is huge. Beyonce and Jay-Z are officially the proud parents of their baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter. Welcome to being the most adored child in the world!

POLITICS: After a riveting Iowa caucus with Mitt Romney edging out Santorum for the victory by only EIGHT VOTES AND Bachmann withdrawing her candidacy after finishing sixth of six – Romney now holds a McCain endorsement. The next few weeks, especially with the NH primary Tuesday, are sure to be interesting!

TRAVEL: The New York Times’ 45 Places to go in 2012 List is not to be missed. With everywhere from Space to Tennessee, if you don’t have a bucket list or are looking to add onto yours, this is a great place to start.

DEAR BLANK PLEASE BLANK: Welcome to the grown up, worldwide Middfesh. Just in time for jterm, share those unsaid notes y’all. Started by two Seattlite’s it’s moderated by a cat, Louie. Best part? You can sort by “How dare they,” “Hilarious,” “Umm… WTF?!” and more. Bookmark it now.

SPORTS: OMG FOOTBALL/NHL. Giants. Broncos. Capitals. Rose Bowl. (If you have yet to catch on, sports is a category I’m still working on… until I learn more for next week, find real coverage here).

COLBERT: For everyone who can never get enough Colbert, but finds it mildy eerie/awesome how he saved an Olympic Team and now owns a SuperPac, this is a really interesting piece from the NY Times that asks “How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?”  You’ll just have to read and find out!

THOUGHT CATALOG AND RESOLUTIONS: Hate ’em or love ‘em, it’s never to a new year without them! Thought Catalog, fortunately, has your back whether you’re pro or con. Great list of 20 New Years Resolutions for 20-somethings if you’re still looking or want to start again! Or find justification in skipping the resolution thing and as blogger Ryan suggests, “Make some bad decisions tonight and blame it all on me, honey.”

And for your video of the week, from our dear Olivia, check out some great Home Video Commentaries!

This post is by George Altshuler ’11. George, a former lead editor of MiddBlog, just finished an internship with Tikkun magazine in Berkeley, Ca. He’s now living in San Francisco and teaching English at San Quentin State Prison.

Creative Commons / B.K. Dewey

The cliché you hear the most about our demographic’s news consumption is that we get all our news from The Daily Show.  Just to clear up any potential inter-generational confusion: this cliché is most often employed as a genial criticism by people who think we should get serious every morning with our coffee and a New York Times dead-tree edition.

Contrary to the criticism in this cliché, however, most people in our demographic care about the news and do follow it.  But we also understand that we live in an era in which the Daily Show is a good source for news and the paper New York Times is increasingly obsolete (unless you can wrestle one way in Proctor).  In this era, the news doesn’t literally arrive on one’s doorstep, and it’s important to be proactive about finding ways to follow the news.

One starting point for following the news in this digital age is to understand how this era of turbulence for journalism actually makes this a great time to be a consumer of news.  The decline of traditional media (newspapers have lost half their revenue in the past five years) and the advent of new technologies have opened the door to a myriad new news sources and tools for distributing the news.  And, for now at least, traditional journalism still exists. The key to being a good news consumer is learning to take advantage of all that is being offered to us.

In this first of three posts on keeping up with the news, I’ll provide suggestions for assembling your Media Mix — the different types of sources you’l need to successfully follow the news:

•  It’s good to have at least one source that works like the front page of a major newspaper by assigning importance to stories and exposing you to important stories you may not have otherwise found. Traditional news websites like The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post work well in this role.  Aggregators like Google News and Memeorandum that use algorithms to find and feature the internet’s most popular stories are another option.

Check back next week for another “Life Skills” post by George on how to use technology to keep up with all these news sources.