So, you’re FINALLY moving out of your childhood room, huh? Nah, just teasing. For some, ma and pa’s house is a great place to live (not kidding) regardless if you have a job or not. But I’m assuming you’ve made the call that you want to move into a place of your own (and not a dorm room) and that you’re most likely in a city some kind. First, congrats! Renting your own place is one of the quintessential “growing up” milestones. Only one small thing — no one ever told you how to go through this process.

Oh, your apartment has a communal swimming pool, right?

Under Pressure

My own experience is one of always having to find a place to stay under pressure. My advice: don’t put yourself in a situation in which you have to find a place in mere days or even weeks. The best search is one where you can go at your pace, do your research, and feel comfortable committing to a lease. As such, you should try to buy yourself some time to go through the apartment search you want to go through. Ways to do that: stay with friends (but don’t overstay), stay at a short-term group house, stay with friends of family or family (for rent or not), airbnb, or house sit for a bit. All those tricks you pulled out for intern housing over the summer? Use ‘em again here. It’s not glamourous but this you might have to rely on the kindness of others until you can find your way apartment-hunting. Some say it’s a right of passage to live somewhere really bad before getting what you want, but I’d attempt to avoid it.

Getting started

Reality check: that dream apartment is not a mere click away on craigslist (or padmapper). Like most things, looking online is a natural way to solve your problem. But I’d caution that it’s not the only way. Just like getting a job, strategies abound: Facebook, workplace, network, etc. 

Leases

Now’s the time to say the obvious: READ THE CONTRACT. Most of the time, leases are fully fleshed out documents that outline a lot of situations you could find yourself in. What happens if you need to end your lease early? Who pays utilities? Who pays for snow removal? What happens if something breaks? Again, read the document. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you think something is unfair or have a better solution, it’s okay to ask for a lease to be amended. A friend of mine was re-signing a lease in a building that accepted no pets of any kind but asked her landlord if she could have a cat. Her lease was amended with the exception. Negotiation is normal — so learn to stick up for yourself. If your document is pretty basic, ask before assuming. For instance, asking “What’s the move-in procedure?” is a good question. Others: What happens when I move out? What happens after my one-year is up? What number do I call if I have maintenance issues? etc.

The typical lease is a one-year obligation with monthly rent. Many landlords want to know you can and will pay. It’s normal for them to ask to see your paystub (if that still exists), proof of employment, or credit check. More strict places will have rules. For example: You can only lease if the monthly rent is less than 30% of your monthly income. The more hard and fast the rules are, the trickier you might find the situation. Why? Because you’re young. Your credit score is uncertain. Your salaries are not likely super high. Your parents may or may not be helping to support you. In some cases, you may need your parents to act as guarantors for whatever reason. Again, when you’re not sure, ask about it, and don’t feel shy about saying what your situation is. You don’t want your landlord to rule you out even if you can pay.

Sublet

Sublets allow you to rent month-to-month or by portion of a month instead of signing a longer-term contract. Sometimes sublets are informal agreements. Sometimes there is strict documentation. Sublets can be both the best and worst thing. Best – great flexibility to move. Worst – often uncertain how long you’ll be able to hold on to your place. Best – landlord might let you use some of her stuff. Worst – their stuff is everywhere. For sublets, I’d argue there is no such thing as “normal.” While I’d think a Middkid is generally trusting, it can often help to just get it in writing, even if it’s just an email exchange.

Percentage of income / prices

You’ll notice, I threw out of this 30% rule above – some places want you to be paying no more than 30% of your salary toward rent. In many cases, that’s just not possible for our salary-depressed generation. But I’d remind you that it is one guidepost to at least know of. Look at your costs in the context of other costs in your life: food, drinks entertainment, insurance, savings, investment, etc. Come up with a monthly price that you’re comfortable paying and a price that you cannot go above. Stick to it.

Is your apartment building falling down?

Hitting the pavement

The early bird catches the worm. Do you think the landlord really wants to sit around vetting dozens of people? No. They want to feel comfortable that their property is not going to be ruined, that you will pay (on time and in full), and that you won’t cause trouble. So prove you are that person by being responsible and make it easy for them to decide to rent to you. Follow up quickly and politely. Don’t let a landlord take advantage of you (see: Under Pressure) though.

When you visit the place, really inspect it. Is everything working? Will it be clean? Is this a place you want to live in? Is this a place you can live in? Bring a tape measure if you have items that need to fit. Bring a camera to take photos to remember things. Ask if you can take photos. Ask if there are known problems with the place. If you see neighbors, ask them how they like it. Ask about average utility costs for water, electricity, cable, internet, etc.. Ask about how they hook up Internet and charge for utilities. Ask about what’s nearby (or better yet walk around nearby). Get to know the neighborhood. Google map your commute time.

Agents

Some people will tell you that they used a real estate agent to help them. That’s fine but know that it doesn’t come free – agents I know of ask for one month’s rent in return for their help finding a place. It can take a lot of the headache out of researching and finding a place, if you trust your agent. If that’s for you, great. If that’s not, fine too. Just remember to keep in mind what incentives there are for an agent to help you and their mindset in working with you.

Compromise

You will not find a place that is perfect. Know what you’re not willing to compromise on and what you are. Find a balance and go from there.

Committing

If you have done your research and you feel good about something. Do it. Depending on the renting environment where you are, you might have to act pretty darn quick to make some of these decisions — within hours. The more places you see, the faster you’ll be able to make decisions about what’s right for you. That’s it – congrats!

Renting with others

On a side note, many grads coming from college want to live with others (because social life isn’t handed to you like at school). That’s awesome. But the flip side of the coin is that you’re dealing with lots of moving parts when searching/signing a lease. Before starting, figure out with friends what your position is and how you will make decisions. The other option is to have one person do the work and then bring others on board later. Up to you — but have a clear strategy or else things can go south quickly, no matter how good of friends you are.

MA. MS. MBA. MPA. MPhil. PhD. MD. These are the degrees (and others) that going to graduate school will get you. Why bother? Ultimately, your second degree will be the sine qua non of the resume or CV that will land you an advanced position in your field.

Your Middlebury BA or BS can definitely land you a great first, second, third job – and it could certainly be that it’s the only degree you’ll need for life (no school again? ever?!) – but you might find later on that advancing in your field requires a second degree. Alternately, getting an extra credential right out of undergrad could give you the extra leg up that you need to start your professional career.

Know your goals and make the right decision

You can't just do it for the colorful robes.

The most important part about the calculus of the “to grad school, or not to grad school” question is knowing your goals. Where do you want to be in your career in three, five, and ten years? No doubt it will be challenging to answer this with a complete picture of the exact job you want to have in 2022, but you need to know the direction your headed in order to make the huge investment that graduate school is. Researching career options (use that MiddNet) is just as important as researching the graduate programs that will get you the degrees to get there.

Specialize vs. Generalize

Once you get (back) to school, you’ll likely be faced with a number of options as to how you can specialize even more in your Masters of Science in Nurse Anesthesia degree (MSNA - it’s real). Do I specialize to the max, or take a step back and do something more general? I don’t want to close off all my options… Do both.

We’ve heard that, supposedly, specialization is the key to success: the liberal arts will unlikely provide bread and butter for the majority of us forever (though they are a great place to start). I’d like to argue that both specializing and developing generalist competencies are important in grad school. You’ll find that there are opportunities for both.

Use papers and research projects to create your unique brand of expertise in your niche. At the same time, fill your space for electives with courses and activities that wouldn’t immediately strike one as relevant. Bridging this knowledge to your field will broaden your viewpoints and translate to marketable, professional capabilities – a purpose much more than general knowledge for general knowledge’s sake. Taking “intellectual risks” (“doing stretch-work”) is still worthwhile even after you’ve got your liberal arts degree.

Learn to live as a professional

Time spent at graduate school is a unique opportunity to focus on not only developing an expertise, but also practicing to be a professional. Develop relationships with professors and classmates as both friendships and professional contacts. Devote time outside of class to learn all you can about your field by reading more, networking with people in the field, and attending conferences.

Find a balance

On the same token, spending all your time thinking about classes and careers isn’t practical, or probably healthy either. Just like at Middlebury, you’ll be “working” much more than a 9-to-5 job. Managing your life so that you can relax and take “time off” from “grad school life” – which can easily become an overwhelming 24/7 engagement – is important. If you’re not living on a college campus, having a social life requires a bit more planning and effort, so keeping on top of your schedule (and loans budget!) is key.

Find a mentor. Who's the Jack Donaghy in your Liz Lemon life? (See: 30 Rock on NBC.)

Seek valuable mentors

Most graduate programs will be well equipped with advisors who are well-versed in linking the degrees your institution offers with the jobs its students want. Get the most you can out of these advisors, but also keep your eye out for professors and others who seem like they might understand you a little bit more, and who might be willing to take you under their wing, if only informally.

Insert plug here: Casey and Lauren Redfield ’11 will be speaking about the Monterey Institute on March 8 in the RAJ Conference Room at 4:30 p.m. Contact Charlotte Tate  at tate@middlebury.edu for details as the date approaches.

 I. Mid-Year SGA Finance Committee Report

Finance Committee (FC) Chair Scott Klenet ’12 and several members of the FC were present to discuss the Mid-Year Report. (This will be emailed to all-students shortly, so stay on the lookout!) In summary: we’re looking pretty good.  With an operating budget of over $1.085 million, the FC has over-budgeted from their actual revenues ($950,000), but this has historical precedent and Klenet made clear was not a cause for concern. Many student organizations do not fully spend allocations for the year, and will return money into the reserves, thus making up for this gap. The reserves stands at approximately $413,000, however by the end of the year Klenet expects that the total reserves amount will be between $325,000 to $350,000.

Klenet countered the stereotype that the Finance Committee is a group of  “Soul-less misers who don’t like to let out funds…,” showing a graph of average allocations given from the Finance Committee per week. “Hopefully this graph will show us that we’re not like that… we’ve seen a lot of great presentations, a lot of thoughtful understanding as far as what organizations really need.”

Klenet presented the Senate with the amount the Finance Committee has allocated groups in the fall (New Budget Requests), as well as additional funding requests groups received (New Money). An interesting trend Klenet addressed is that of Student Org expenditures being quite low. While Student Organizations received $583,490 for their fall allocations, $314,454 of that allocation remains unspent. Regarding how much the Finance Committee expects to see returned by the end of the year (in the case of increased spring programming perhaps), Klenet explained that it’s tricky to predict, but that “we [SGA Finance Committee] expect a lot of money to come back to us this year, for better or for worse.”

II. MiddView Bill Revisions:

Senator Michael Polebaum ’12 presented the MiddView Revision Bill (co-sponsored by Senators Brittany Gendron ’12 (full disclosure: this being myself) and Luke Carroll Brown ’13.5). In a nearly hour long discussion, the floor was ceded to all senators, though primarily to Dean of Students Katy Smith Abbott, SGA Finance Committee Chair Scott Klenet ’12, Senators Carroll Brown ’13.5, myself (Senator Gendron ’12) Nathan LaBarbara ‘14, Joanie Thompson ‘14, Danny Zhang ’15, former Senator Charlie Arnowitz ’13, and Mountain Club Treasurer Caroline Santinelli ’14.

Last week, a bill passed allocating $98,000 of SGA funding (50% of total cost) for Fall 2013 MiddView trips. The bill also designated up to 50% support in the following years of 2014 & 2015, with the understanding that it was expected the funding would fully come from elsewhere (not SGA) by 2016. The bill revision presented was to keep the $98,000 in funding (50% of total cost) for Fall 2013, but to amend the 2014 and 2015 funding until there were mandated discussions between the SGA’s Presidential Cabinet and the College Administration with the goal of negotiating down the future contributions. As senator Michael Polebaum ’12 summarized of the revised bill: “This will allow it to be fiscally sound but also allow for this program to be reinstated for every single First-Year student.” Of main concern was that the previous week did not adequately address the impact long-term funding of the MiddView program would have on the rest of Student Organization funding, whether this is sustainable, and whether or not there was further room for negotiation in the agreement of future percentages of payment.

After over an hour of discussion, the bill failed with five votes for the bill (Luke Carroll Brown ’13.5, Micheal Polebaum ‘12, Brittany Gendron ’12, Rana Abdelhamid ’15, Schooner Sonntag ’13), eight against (Jackie Breckenridge ‘14, Christian Holmes ’14, Lucas Acosta ’14,  Andrea Torres ’13, Danny Zhang ’15, Kathryn Benson ’13, Nathan LaBarba ’14 and Joanie Thompson ’14) and one abstaining (Vin Recca ’12). The MiddView bill will remain as passed during last weeks meeting ($98,000 for 2013, and up to 50% of costs covered by SGA for 2014 and 2015).

III. Gastroentitis Resolution

The final presentation of the evening was by First-Year Senator Danny Zhang ’15. Zhang brought forward a resolution to help further prepare and combat Gastroentitis and any other things from spreading around campus. The resolution unanimously passed and requested that  A) the college ensures that all public hand sanitizer dispensers are filled at all times B) recommends the distribution of bottled hand sanitizer to all Residential Life Staff C) that Cat litter and other sanitary measures be more readily available at all times.

Well, that’s all for tonight! Until next meeting, February 19th — enjoy the last week of term and Feb Break! And as always — email your senators if you want to know more about this, or any other legislation. We’re here to serve you, so be sure to share your voices!

U.S. Navy Seals: Another reminder of just how incredible our armed forces are this week — Navy Seals this past Wednesday rescued two aid workers who had been held by pirates in Somalia for months. According to reports from NPR and the New York Times, The Seals rescued Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted, receiving the OK for the mission after it was determined Buchanan’s health was in decline. Nine pirates were killed; no Seals were injured.

1,000 Pounds of Butter: This year’s Pennsylvania Farm show featured a whopper 1,000 pound butter sculpture of a 4-H member receving a ribbon at the county fair for a prized calf. Coolest part? The sculpture is now going to Juniata County Dairy Farm, where when run through a methane digester to gen. 65-kWh, running the farm for three days. According to the Fair’s report, Sculptor Jim Victor of Conshohocken, Montgomery County according to the Fair’s report also creates sculptures using chooolate and cheese. (Chocolate Mead Chapel anyone?!)

Computer Glitches: Remember that nightmare when you thought your college acceptance letters were actually just mistakes; they must have mailed the wrong one?  Turns out that did unfortunately happen Friday to some Vassar College Early Applicants. According to the New York Times Report, 122 (of 254 total applicants for the early decision round) students logged in to see a ‘test letter’ that had been intended as a placeholder prior to real admissions decisions being posted. Of those 122 who logged in before the error had been discovered, only 46 had been accepted and 76 had not been. All I can say is, thank you Middlebury College Admissions and our amazing Web Designers/Programmers/everyone!

The Little District that Could?: DC this week attempted to begin its quest for statehood in New Hampshire, hoping the ‘no taxation without representation’ would resound with the state. However, according to the Washington Post report, the delegation (a mix of councilmen, DC Mayor Vincent Gray, DC Votes advocates and District residents) received quite the cold reception. The delegation is planning a trip to Florida next.

The GOP & State of the Union: Another whirlwind week! While Romney seems to be bouncing back in Florida (and that primary is Tuesday), Herman Cain (former candidate) endorsed Gingrich this week. As the Washington Post reported, Cain said, “Speaker Gingrich is a patriot. Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas.” Yes, this we know. His moon colony is just one of a fascinating suite of ideas (as I referenced last week)  that he’s shockingly keeping as part of his campaign platforms. Luckily, even the GOP is stepping up its efforts to ensure Gingrich does not receive its nomination. In other news reaching across party lines, the Presidential State of the Union was this past Tuesday, find the full video here.

Facebook Timeline: Love it or hate it, according to Mashable, the facebook timeline is going to be rolled out to all in the next few weeks. Users will have seven days to preview content (aka… time to hide things you don’t want staying public). Want to get ahead of the game or understand how it works? Mashable has your back, check out their guides here.

Culinary World: Today is the start of Meat Week. Yep, just as it sounds, a week where people can pledge to eat meat and only meat (sorry LessMeat Mondays). With chapters around the country, it’s even prompted DC Vegans to fire back with a “D.C. Meat Free Week,” scheduled for the week following. Regardless of your opinions, these Meat Week-ers have it down. There are tshirts with the ever-important slogan “Eat, Meat, Repeat,” and even a carol. Shortest way to understand the phenom — check out this documentary one woman made of her experience last year. It’s pretty incredible.

Colbert: While Colbert did garner over 6,300 votes on the Cain-Colbert ticket in South Carolina, on Monday he announced the end of his presidential exploratory committee. While currently divested in a battle to now wrangle his Super PAC back from Jon Stewart — he took some time to TWEET ABOUT MIDDLEBURY Friday! Way to go to the Hunt teams that pulled this one off. Or maybe it’s that for the past three Sunday readings I’ve devotedly given him a point of interest. See his, and other celeb tweets on #thehunt2012 in Middblog’s coverage of the Hunt yesterday.

Video of the Week:
Not sure when exactly this happened, but earlier this week the BBC picked up the story of a Slovakian viola player Lukas Kmit, who reacted with ease to a cellphone ringing and interrupting his recital. Kmit easily adapted the classic Nokia ringtone, and frankly, it has never been so beautiful.

Yes, you read that right. And yes, you are seeing that correctly. Congrats to the Half Years and Coffrin tales for the boost in 25 points! (Clue #76)

I want to give a Shout Out to Middlebury College, specifically the Half Years and the Coffrin Tales! Enjoy your points.

—
Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) January 27, 2012

Update: Thanks to w in the comments, we were made aware of TOM HANKS shout-out as well! And we’ve found amazing endorsements from Rita Wilson,  Judah Friedlander, Jim Parrack, and even this guy! Way to go Hunt Teams! 

#thehunt2012 Sarina! Get to scavenging! Hanx

—
Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) January 27, 2012

#thehunt2012 Sarina Hope you win the scavenger hunt!

—
Rita Wilson (@RitaWilson) January 27, 2012

@HBadgerDontCurr @HBadgerDontCurr good luck at #thehunt2012 And @Stephenathome 's presidential platform is weak compared to mine.

—
Judah Friedlander (@JudahWorldChamp) January 28, 2012

@teamstevie_hunt what up Kyla-Girl!!! Go Giants!!! #TheHunt2012

—
Jim Parrack (@parrack120) January 25, 2012

With clues due at 9am this morning, it is clear that this year, the hunt has elevated to an entirely new level, and is back bigger than ever. Best of luck to all the teams we cannot wait to see who wins it all!

Wondering what you’ve missed out on? Been plagued with the Gastro? Check out six of our favorite videos below. Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

#1 Team Kenzie Does the Hunt. Beautiful. And a beautifully tragic love story Middkids know all too well.

#2 Team Rock You Like a Herman Cain. Bonus points for working to get the endorsement Pre-hunt, and the guy semi-creepily sitting on the bed in the back the whole time.

#3 Team Coffrin Tales. Teaching Pete Nelson texting. That’s amazing, and love the backwards hat. And even more amazing, getting him to record your voicemail! Win for life!

#4 Team Kenzie Does the Hunt. Bonus points for Ben Meader & Timi Mayer.

#5 Team No More Unicornz. Beautiful! Also awesome that the cardboard player was still getting very into it…

#6 Team ColbertU. This is just astoundingly impressive.

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.