Four years later

I started thinking about this post last Sunday while flying back from New Hampshire. That day was momentous for several reasons; perhaps most insignificantly, it marked four years since I graduated from Dartmouth (and thus the fourth birthday of this blog). More exciting was getting to watch Ellen receive her doctoral diploma at Dartmouth's Commencement earlier in the day. Even though she completed her degree last summer, Dartmouth only holds one ceremony a year and so Ellen had to wait until this June to receive her cap, hood, and diploma itself. It was quite a thrill to watch! Ellen got to spend the following week in New Hampshire, too, culminating in her five-year reunion this weekend. Unfortunately, I had to return on account of work after only two days (for some reason they don't let paramedics telecommute).

Every year it seems like I know fewer and fewer people going through the (somewhat pompously named) "Commencement Exercises." This year, though, while I knew only a handful of undergrads receiving their diplomas, I did have a couple grad student friends who were completing their studies. It was exciting to cheer for them a second time for a second degree. Some are off to use their degrees right away; others have more schooling looming through the windshield. In both cases I am delighted and proud to see what they have accomplished so far.

It was wonderful being back in New Hampshire, however briefly. We had the chance to catch up with a number of friends, visit our old stomping grounds in Enfield, and get pretty close to a pair of loons. Perhaps the most striking thing, though, was how similar it was to the way we remembered it. People were a little bit older--and children seemed to have grown like weeds--but it was pretty much the same place we left. It felt like home.

New honor for Dartmouth

Earlier this month the Orozco Murals at Dartmouth College were recently designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service (you can read more about it here). Officially titled "The Epic of American Civilization," the mural was completed after two years of effort by Mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco. Located in the Reserve Reading Corridor in Baker-Berry Library, the mural has impressed and inspired (and thoroughly creeped out) students since its completion in 1934. It is a must-see for any first-time visitors to campus!

Dartmouth has commissioned a number of peculiar pieces of artwork in recent years (the large rectangles adorning the side of the Hopkins Center spring to mind). Nevertheless, it is gratifying to see a culturally and artistically significant piece of art be recognized by the National Park Service. What's more, the mural was recently renovated, so it is in impeccable condition to receive what will hopefully be even greater public and student interest.

Staying in Hanover, the Dartmouth baseball team has gotten off to a torrid start this spring. Their record is currently 11-1, which is the best twelve-game start they've ever had. Not only that but they began the season 8-0 before losing to Slippery Rock on March 20. That made them the final unbeaten team in Division I this year. Go Big Green!

Good books with bad endings?

A few months ago, Joan Acocella posted to The New Yorker's website a blog post lamenting the disappointing endings of otherwise (and nevertheless) classic works of literature. Notwithstanding her ludicrous assertion that "Our country's greatest novel" is Huckleberry Finn--obviously Acocella has never read The Great Gatsby--she raises an interesting question about the effect of an unworthy ending on the value of a novel as a whole. She singles out Huckleberry Finn, David Copperfield, Wuthering Heights, and Song of the Lark for particular scorn, with special focus on the first of these, averring that the endings are not worthy of the body of writing they conclude.

One of Acocella's most astute points is to distinguish between endings that are "inartistic" and those that are simply disappointing. No one wants Islands in the Stream to end the way it does, but it's hard to argue that Hemingway crafts a masterful ending for the story of Thomas Hudson. David Copperfield's happily-ever-after, at least in Acocella's opinion, induces the reader to "Die of boredom." It is the latter category of ending that incurs Acocella's wrath because she feels they are "A betrayal of what came before."

One notable weakness in Acocella's article is that she doesn't embrace the question of "What might have been." The books she names are major, even seminal works by household-name authors. They have stood the test of time, bad endings and all. If they had been given endings commensurate to their erstwhile grandeur, what then? Would there be a new category of super-book where excellent beginnings and middles are completed by excellent endings?

Thus we have the fundamental problem with Acocella's mode of analysis. It's impossible to divorce the ending of a book from the novel as a whole. The quality of a book encompasses the value of all its constituent parts. There's nothing wrong with criticizing the end of a book--or any other part for that matter--but the creation of a sub-class of novel, the Great Book With a Really Bad Ending, is going too far.

On a separate but related note, a long-overdue congratulations to Louise Erdrich '76 for winning the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House. That makes two Dartmouth alumna to be honored with a National Book Award in the last five years (Annette Gordon-Reed '81 received the Nonfiction award in 2008 for The Hemingses of Monticello, which I had the great privilege to help work on when I was an editorial intern). Way to go!

Dartmouth still on top

The recently-released U.S. News & World Report 2013 college rankings once again crowns Dartmouth top in the country for "Strong Commitment to Teaching" (and tied for tenth place overall). This designation, which Dartmouth has now won four years running, recognizes the faculty's emphasis on teaching undergrads without sacrificing the scholarship and research that in many cases is what drew students to Dartmouth in the first place.

I'm proud and pleased, if not surprised, to hear that Dartmouth took top honors in this field again. At Dartmouth, when you hear someone talk about "TA'ing" a class, they are in most cases simply glorified grading assistants for the professor and homework resources for the students. Student TAs would hold office hours once or twice a week, but absolutely all of the classroom instruction was done by professors. Which is not to say that TAs aren't a useful resource; they are. But their utility is maximized by the fact that they supplement, not supplant, the faculty themselves.

In general, I'm skeptical of the criteria U.S. News & World Report uses to compile these lists (a brief glance at their website showed that they have replaced these details, which they used to publish, with vague platitudes. No doubt they're afraid people will make fun of their system). Nevertheless, it's gratifying to see Dartmouth receive some well-deserve recognition. Keep up the good work!

Upper Valley "Best of"

I meant to publish this post before leaving New Hampshire, but the timing just didn't work out. So, without further delay and roughly grouped food-services-activities, I present my "Best of the Upper Valley," as determined by six years of living there. May you find it useful and entertaining! And as always, please leave a comment if you think I overlooked something or committed an injustice by omitting your favorite.

Best ice cream: Mickey's Roadside Tavern (Enfield, NH)
There are surprisingly few ice cream outlets in the Upper Valley. I give Mickey's the edge over Fore-U (Lebanon, NH) largely on the strength of its cotton candy and peppermint stick flavors and the Brobdingnagian dimensions of a "small." Being within walking distance of our apartment and situated next to a stream often occupied by fish or ducks didn't hurt either.

Best pizza: Ramunto's (Hanover, NH)
Every Dartmouth grad has a soft spot for EBA's (Hanover, NH), but delivery hours notwithstanding, Ramunto's just makes better pizza (although I highly recommend the EBA's pepperoni-and-bacon pizza during their Wacky Wednesday promotion). Besides, EBA's once served me a quart of caffeinated root beer. Not that I'm holding a grudge.

Best all-around restaurant: Molly's (Hanover, NH)
Any of the three former Blue Sky Restaurant Group members (Molly's, Lui Lui's [Lebanon, NH], and Jesse's [Hanover, NH]) would have been worthy recipients. In fact, Ellen and I had our wedding rehearsal dinner at Lui Lui's. In terms of menu diversity, atmosphere, service, and college-town setting, though, Molly's gets the nod.

Best breakfast: Lou's (Hanover, NH)
This one was easy. I mean, have you ever eaten there??

Best ethnic (or "ethnic," if you prefer) food: Golden Ming (Canaan, NH)
Ellen might have preferred Mai Thai or Jewel of India (both Hanover, NH), and I enjoyed both restaurants ... but it's my list and I prefer Chinese food to Thai or Indian, so Golden Ming it is. The lunch special combination plates are a particularly good value (less so the dinner specials).

Best mechanic: Doug's Sunoco (Lebanon, NH)
Another easy choice. Knowledgeable, honest, and fairly priced. In our experience they always helped us make the best decision, even if it weren't what they could bill the most for. HIGHLY recommended.

Best dentist: James Brackett (Hanover, NH)
It's tough to title this category "best," since Ellen and I only tried two different Upper Valley dentists in our combined fourteen years, but we both had excellent experiences with Dr. Brackett. He is extremely knowledgeable and takes a "hands-off" approach to interventions; you get the definite feeling that you and he are partners rather than having your care dictated to you.

Best oral surgeon: Craig Cohen (Lebanon, NH)
Once again, the only provider I've been to in the region, but he did a phenomenal job with my wisdom teeth extraction last October. I highly recommend him to anyone in need of oral surgery services in the Upper Valley.

Best hospital: 
Given my occupation, I think it would be unfair of me to offer a public opinion on this topic (feel free to ask me off-line for my thoughts, though). But I will say that whenever I needed emergency care, I went to DHMC (Lebanon, NH).

Best hike: Mt. Washington (Sargent's Purchase, NH)
Technically not in the Upper Valley, but it's the tallest mountain in the Northeast. The feeling of accomplishment alone makes it worth it. The views from near the top aren't bad either (just don't expect to see anything except clouds and fog from the summit itself!).

Best hike actually in the Upper Valley: Gile Mountain (Norwich, VT)
Accessible rain, shine, or snow, the summit has a fire tower that offers a wonderful panoramic view. Gile boasts easily the best view-to-effort ratio in the Upper Valley, which gives it the nod over Mt. Cardigan. You can make it up in thirteen minutes if you're hustling after lost sunglasses or down in even less time if you're being chased by a thunderstorm (done both, would recommend neither).

Best walk: Enfield Rail Trail (Enfield, NH)
Honorable mention goes to circling Occom Pond (Hanover, NH), but there's just no beating the views of Lake Mascoma. Not worrying about getting run over by golfers running late for their tee time is a plus too, as is the wild raspberries growing along the trail. Great for running, biking, and even horse riding, too.

Can't-miss annual event: Dartmouth Night (Hanover, NH)
You don't have to go to Dartmouth to appreciate a thirty-foot bonfire!

Go west, young man!

Thus famously spake Horace Greeley (whose statue in my hometown of Chappaqua, NY ironically faces east), encouraging the new generation of hungry young Americans to seek their fortunes in the rapidly evolving frontier. The frontier has settled in the last 150+ years, but evidently there is still room enough for two more Yankees out there, because Ellen and I are moving to Boulder, CO at the end of August. Ellen has accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship at a government lab starting in September, and I am hoping to continue working as a paramedic (I'm in the process of applying for a CO license now). We are looking forward to this new adventure!

It's going to be a busy few months! In addition to trying to find housing and make moving arrangements (not to mention the small matter of finishing and defending a doctoral dissertation), we are also trying to make sure we experience everything New Hampshire has to offer in our last summer here. We've already planned a hike up Mt. Washington and a trip to the Quechee Balloon Festival (which is technically in Vermont); if anyone has any other suggestions for can't-miss activities/attractions, please let me know!

In other news, Dartmouth graduated the Class of 2012 last Sunday. Congratulations to all the graduates! I can't believe it was three years ago that I was in their place ... time sure does fly, but at the same time, I feel like I've lived ten years' worth of experiences in that time. Hoping for many more years just like them!

The "Dr. Seuss" Medical School

On Wednesday, Dartmouth announced that the Dartmouth Medical School had been renamed "The Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine." Theodor Geisel, better known by his nom de plume Dr. Seuss, is arguably Dartmouth's most famous real-life alumnus (if fictional characters were introduced, Michael Corleone would give him a run for his money). The announcement, which was circulated in an email from Board of Trustees Chairman Stephen Mandel '78, noted that Dr. Seuss and his wife were the most munificent philanthropists in Dartmouth's history.

This change was received with a predictable mixture of responses, with alumni and students expressing reactions along a spectrum from benevolence to wariness to ridicule. There was some grumbling that the name change reflected a continuation of the iconoclasm that began when stadium and arena naming rights were granted to the highest bidder (Qualcomm Stadium, anyone?). This, at least, seems like a fairly toothless argument; there is a rich tradition of naming buildings and schools after distinguished alumni who have made considerable contributions to the institution in the decades following their graduation. That Dr. Seuss was not a real doctor is just an unfortunate coincidence.

One slightly more legitimate reservation was that graduating from the Dr. Seuss Medical School would not confer the same gravitas as would a degree from Dartmouth Medical School. It is, frankly, hard to disagree. But as one close friend, a current medical student and ever an optimist, put it, "At least I don't go to the Pepsi Medical School."

Hear, hear.

YankeeVox comes to Twitter

For those of you who have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon (or are thinking about doing so), I invite you to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/YankeeVox. I'll be happy to give you a follow as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Buffalo and chess making headlines together the other day. Ken Regan, an International Master and computer science professor at the University of Buffalo, was recently lauded in The New York Times for his work in developing a program aimed at sniffing out instances of computer cheating among top chessplayers. I highly recommend the article, which is extremely accessible to both chess and computer science laypeople. Of particular interest to me was the way in which the program can be applied to not only root out cheating but also to clear players who have fallen under suspicion. Give it a look.

In other news, today was the home opener for Dartmouth baseball. I was pleased to catch the first two innings; they looked good!

Dartmouth president is President's pick

Once again, it has been a busy month, and I find that this space is updated far less frequently than I would like. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that on Friday, President of the United States Barack Obama nominated President of Dartmouth College Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank. The current head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, ends his term on June 30th. There is no guarantee that President Kim will succeed Zoellick, but given the U.S.'s influence in the selection of the World Bank chiefs, it seems unlikely that he would not.

In an email sent to undergraduates and alumni, President Kim wrote, "When I assumed the presidency of Dartmouth, I did so with the full and deep belief that the mission of higher education is to prepare us for lives of leadership and service in our professions and communities ... the prospect of leaving Dartmouth at this stage is very difficult. Nevertheless, should the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors elect me as the next president, I will embrace the responsibility."

While no one seems to be addressing the question, "What does a physician know about finance?" I'm nevertheless delighted for President Kim. We never overlapped at Dartmouth, but his nomination nevertheless reflects well on the institution as a whole, and I am, as always, proud to be Green.

Misplaced innovation

I recently received an email from the Dartmouth alumni relations office which contained a link to a news item with the headline "Engineering students challenged by Professor John Collier and President Jim Yong Kim to develop solutions to high-risk drinking." Gamely I followed the link (the article can be read here: http://now.dartmouth.edu/2011/11/dartmouth-engineering-students-help-tackle-binge-drinking/), and I must confess I was disappointed with what I read.

Students in ENGS 21, Dartmouth's undergraduate "Introduction to Engineering" class, were tasked with tackling the underage binge-drinking epidemic on campus. I have written before in this space about the lack of personal accountability when it comes to underage drinking. I reject the assertion that illegal consumption of alcohol is an inevitability for, much less the prerogative of, college students. The current Dartmouth administration (with which I largely have no problem) inexplicably ignores this reality, though it is quick to boast--hypocritically, if not necessarily inaccurately--that Dartmouth is the training ground of future world leaders and problem solvers.

Anyway, there have been a lot of useful, even brilliant products and systems to come out of Engines 21 over the years. But that is all the more reason that this current initiative is a poor allocation of resources. Let the engineering students work on solutions to problems that need to have solutions engineered for them. As for underage binge drinking, the solution is simple enough: DON'T DRINK UNDERAGE.

Happy birthday Dartmouth!

The Dartmouth College charter was signed 242 years ago today. The first class of students actually didn't arrive until 1771, but the official beginning of the College was on December 13, 1769. What a remarkable journey the College has undertaken! Dartmouth lore is well-known to its undergraduates and alumni, but every now and then you come across a surprising tidbit all the same. Imagine my surprise, for instance, when I learned of the Dartmouth Peace Conference, a 1960s-era series of summits between intellectuals from the United States and the Soviet Union. Although later iterations of the event were held away from New Hampshire, the conference retained its name based on the original host site. The founder of the Dartmouth Peace Conference was none other than my own uncle, Norman. What a small Dartmouth world.

Dartmouth athletics is getting back into the swing of things after taking a break for fall term final exams. The men's hockey team beat up on Sacred Heart on Sunday, winning by a score of 4-1, while the men's basketball team turned in a respectable, albeit losing, effort against Notre Dame. The women were in action as well, but since I didn't watch any of their games, I don't have the scores right at my fingertips.

Speaking of athletics, I have recently rediscovered the joy of playing squash. My friend Evan and I were playing tennis weekly during the summer and early fall, but as the weather turned cold and the snow began to fall, we were forced to move indoors. I never really got the hang of racquetball, but squash I like. I have no formal training whatsoever--which means my backhands occasionally look like a cross between a tennis swing and a ping-pong stroke--but Evan has been teaching me strategy and technique. Our games are getting closer, too. No longer am I counting the number of points I win; now I'm counting the number of games I win. And soon I hope to start counting my record of games won and lost (though at the moment it would be Miami Dolphins-esque).

In other news, scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider have announced that they still don't know if there is such a thing as a Higgs boson. But they might know by next year. Thanks for the update, CERN.

Border Battle

New Hampshire defended its chess honor against Maine yesterday in a ten-board, twenty-game match held at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, NH. This event was held for two years in the late 1970s before beginning a thirty-five year hiatus. It was resurrected last year (New Hampshire won 12-8) and the organizers are hoping it will become an annual event. This year's edition saw New Hampshire field a slightly stronger team than in 2010, and when the dust settled, the Granite State retained bragging rights by a score of 14-6. Maine managed to save face, however, by scoring two second-round upsets; International Master Joe Fang lost to David Oshana and yours truly went down in a topsy-turvy game against Adam Schaff. I had an absolute blast playing, and I hope I will still be in New Hampshire for the 2012 edition!

I recently finished Closing Time by Joseph Heller. This 1994 novel is the sequel to his seminal work, Catch-22, and several characters return. I wanted to like Closing Time, I really did. As much as it occasionally irritated me, I found Catch-22 hilarious. Closing Time, unfortunately, just didn't make sense. I finished it half out of a sense of obligation and half in the hope that Heller would explain it all in the end (he didn't). If you enjoyed Catch-22, you may want to read Closing Time if only to see where all the characters' stories end. But if you decide not to, I wouldn't blame you a bit.

Now that the weather is turning cooler and the leaves are beginning to lose their verdancy, back to school is not far from mind. My schooling is, for the time being, complete, and as a graduate student Ellen works year-round. But DOC Freshman Trips is well underway, and Move-In Day for the Dartmouth freshmen is this coming Tuesday. Ellen and I strolled through campus this morning, and I was hit with a feeling of nostalgia. It's hard to believe that it was only six years ago that I was in their shoes.

And of course, no post published on this day would be complete without a mention of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Every generation has a day that comes to define it--November 22, 1963 for some, December 7, 1941 for others--and I think September 11, 2001 will be ours.

Summer begins

Happy third day of summer! Tuesday's solstice marked the start of my favorite season of the year. To make things even better, we had a church league softball game on Tuesday. Warm weather, lots of light, softball ... you just can't beat it. Ellen was a little bit apprehensive about the arrival of summer since that often heralds extremely high temperatures, but she has been pleased to see high temperatures in the upper 60s these past couple days. Not even a rainy, Marchlike day can dampen my enthusiasm for this new season, though.

Speaking of Ellen, she departs on Saturday for a weeklong conference in New Mexico. At the conference, she will presenting a poster summarizing some of her recent work as well as attending sessions of interest and reconnecting with space physicists from other schools and labs. It's an annual conference and this is not the first year she has gone; she's looking forward to being back. I'm excited for her and proud of her, although I'm certainly going to miss her while she's out West.

On the chess front, I contested a match last weekend with Dave Carter, the top-rated player in Vermont. Although I am not the top-rated player in New Hampshire (I come in at #7), we met at a tournament a couple months ago and play for the same online correspondence chess team. Dave, who has been a master for twenty nine years, is an extremely genial fellow and a strong chessplayer to boot. I had to battle back from a disadvantageous position in game one, ultimately securing a draw, and in game two the roles were reversed, with me carrying a slight plus into the endgame. Then disaster struck, however, and I blundered away the game in heart-breaking fashion. Until next time!

Conan O'Brien delivered the Commencement Address at Dartmouth's 241st Commencement on June 12. His speech deftly mixed the humor you would expect from a famous comedian with profundity you might not, and Ellen and I enjoyed watching it (albeit later on Youtube later that day). Congratulations Class of 2011! And perhaps most meaningfully for me, Commencement of two weeks yore marked the two-year anniversary of this blog. Thank you for reading, and here's to years more!

Heat wave

I originally published this post by mistake on the Collegiate EMS blog to which I contribute. Eight days later, no one seemed to notice. I wonder what that says about how many people read the other blog ... Anyway, here it is now, lightly edited for timeliness.

Last week saw a brief but brutal heat wave, with temperatures regularly topping out in the low- to mid-90s. Those of us without air conditioning welcomed the challenge! Ellen is a big proponent of closing all the windows and drawing the blinds early in the morning to keep the sunlight out, which works pretty well, and I would add to that the less thermodynamically-sophisticated tack of taking a shower in the afternoon.

Dartmouth has been in the news recently for a handful of positive occurrences. First, Charlotte Johnson has been named the Dean of the College. Ms. Johnson, who previously held that post at Colgate University, replaces Acting Dean Sylvia Spears. Second, the Dartmouth rugby team was just crowned the victor at the national championships, and finally, All-Ivy pitcher Kyle Hendricks '12 was selected by the Texas Rangers in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. As of yet I can't find any information on whether or not he has signed with the Rangers or intends to do so.

On a smaller scale, the Upper Valley Church Softball League is finally underway, despite starting the season with a few weather-related cancellations. I didn't play last year because I was in Buffalo, but I had a blast playing the year before, when Christ Redeemer Church won the championship of the three-team league. This year two more churches have joined the fray, and I am thrilled to be back out there!

In other news (and since I can't let a title like this one go to waste), the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two to win the NBA Championship. I admit that the original version of this post concluded with the line, "At this point I have resigned myself to a Miami triumph, so at this point any Dallas victory just seems like dragging it out." I am pleased to see that I was mistaken!

Canobie Lake Park

Ellen and I visited Canobie Lake Park on Saturday. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. It's an amusement / water park best described as a scaled-down version of Six Flags. I'm not nearly as much into the extreme rides and roller-coasters as Ellen is, but the park offered enough to satisfy us both. And Ellen was able to get me to step outside my comfort zone a bit and join her on some rides that I would never have considered previously. We were amused to note that we occupied a somewhat unique demographic among park-goers; that is, we were neither in high school nor walking around with children in tow. All in all we had a great time, and I would definitely recommend it.

Ellen has been occupied lately with helping her advisor host the annual meeting of the international radar group to which they both belong. The conference, which took place at Dartmouth all last week, gave me a unique insight into what Ellen does. More precisely (since I still have no conceptual grasp of what Ellen actually does), I got to meet a number of her colleagues from around the globe and listen to their conversations about their work. As I've mentioned previously, it is thrilling for me to watch Ellen in her professional element, to see her interact with scientific luminaries and be treated as an equal. I'm extremely proud of Ellen and everything she has accomplished!

Last Wednesday, the conference participants embarked on an "excursion" to Mt. Moosilauke in Warren, New Hampshire. As best I can figure, each year's conference host plans an outing for the attendees that showcases the local offerings / attractions in some way. And on a beautiful spring day at Dartmouth, you just can't beat a hike up Moosilauke and dinner at the Lodj (sic). It was, embarrassingly, only the second time I'd ever summitted Moosilauke. Since I did not participate in First-Year Trips as a freshman (though I led a trip my sophomore year), my first time up the mountain came my freshman summer. And although I had journeyed to the Lodj for dinner a couple times during my undergrad years, this was only my second time up the mountain. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered.

In other news, graduation season is here, and my brother Alex graduated from Princeton University last Tuesday. Congratulations Alex!

A new APOLOGIA hits newsstands

The Spring 2011 issue of The Dartmouth Apologia was just released. I just picked up a copy yesterday and have not had an opportunity to read it at any length yet, but I am very much looking forward to doing so! Watch back here for a review of the issue, probably to come in installments starting next week. Incidentally, this is the first issue since the journal's inception in 2006 in which I have not played any role whatsoever, either as an author or an editor. The official website is www.dartmouthapologia.org , but the new issue does not appear to have been put online yet.

Last Saturday saw the second Wheelock Conference on Faith and Vocation, sponsored by the Eleazar Wheelock Society and hosted by Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. As with last year's edition, the conference brought together current students, alumni and others for a series of lectures and panel discussion on the convergence of faith and career. It sounded fantastic, but I was once again unfortunately unable to attend. Perhaps next year! In the meantime, if anyone has any notes/materials from the conference, please let me know; I'd be interested in taking a gander at them.

Excitingly, the church softball league schedule was rumored to have been distributed to captains last night. I haven't seen it yet (my role is, at the most generous, that of bench coach), but I'm raring to get out on the softball field. My glove is just sitting in the closet, yearning to be let free!

In other news, I have recently rediscovered how awesome jellybeans are. Just one more reason I love springtime.

Change is in the wind

Dartmouth College announced on Tuesday that beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, the fall term would be moved up so that classes start earlier in September and end by Thanksgiving. Currently, the first day of class is often as late as the fourth week of September and students return to campus following the Thanksgiving holiday for another week of classes followed by reading period and exams. I enthusiastically support this change, although neither Ellen nor I will be affected by it. Sending students home for five days only to recall them for a week and a half and then send them home again for three more weeks just doesn't make sense, and all the more so when you have as geographically diverse a population as Dartmouth does. The only potential downside is the overlap between Sophomore Summer final exams and the early sections of First-Year Trips, but that has always been an issue anyway and I doubt it'll be difficult to procure sufficient numbers of non-sophomore trip leaders.

As far as weird sporting happenings go, this one is right up there. The Rockies-Mets baseball game on Tuesday featured a rain delay, which is in and of itself relatively unremarkable, but the at-bat that was underway when the rain delay was called was a bit less pedestrian. Due to injury and fatigue (once pitchers cool down--as during a rain delay--they almost never go back out to pitch when play resumes), there were two pitchers and two hitters in a single at-bat! I'm with the sportswriter on this one; I doubt this was a precedented occurrence!

In other news, Gata Kamsky defeated Veselin Topalov in their quarterfinal Candidates match. His next opponent is Boris Gelfand of Israel; their first game today was a draw. Good luck Gata!

Kamsky repeats!

Grandmaster Gata Kamsky clinched his second consecutive U.S. Chess Championship title yesterday with a 1.5-0.5 victory over Yury Shulman in the finals. Kamsky is now a three-time winner, with his first title coming in 1991. The last player to win back-to-back titles was Lev Alburt in 1984-1985. The women's championship has gone to tiebreaks and will be decided today; by this time tomorrow either Tatev Abrahamyan or Anna Zatonskih will be newly coronated. Last year's champion, Irina Krush, finished in third place.

Two of my former colleagues were recently highlighted for unveiling their culminating engineering project, a combination blood pressure / atrial fibrillation monitoring system. Adam Strom '10 and Jeff Spielberg '10, good friends with whom I served for multiple years on the Dartmouth EMS officer board, completed this project while finishing their BE degrees this winter. The first patient for the device was none other than Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim. This is an exciting achievement that has great potential. Way to go, guys!

Speaking of Dartmouth EMS, they organized the second annual Northern New England Collegiate EMS Conference this past Saturday at Dartmouth College. Comprised of a series of training sessions and two mass-casualty incident drills, the event was attended by squads from Tufts, Mt. Holyoke, the University of Vermont, the University of Massachusetts--Lowell, Amherst, Colby and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, along with host Dartmouth. I had the privilege to participate in the event, first as a drill evaluator and later as an actor in one of the simulations. It was an impressive undertaking, and I take my hat off to them for pulling it off in fine style.

First thunderstorm

To paraphrase Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Spring ... limps along, but it gets here all the same." With the first thunderstorm of the season this morning, I'm beginning to think winter might actually end this year. Saturday's snow flurries were a big of a downer, but the appearance of the first buds on the trees yesterday more than made up for that. It's not that I don't like winter, but ... enough already!

The U.S. Chess Championships are in full swing; youth is carrying the day so far. Surprise leaders include college students Robert Hess and Sam Shankland (technically speaking, Hess has not yet started at Yale, where he will be a freshman in the fall). Veteran participants--and past champions--Alexander Onischuk and Gata Kamsky are also at the top of the crosstable. The women's field is starting to clarify as well, with Sabina Foisor finally faltering as pre-tournament favorites Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih make up ground.

Unfortunately, my fantasy chess team is shaping up to be a basement-dweller this year. Some players are perennially high scorers, but my "dark-horse" picks have had rotten performances so far. I'm hoping for a second-half turnaround, but I have a sinking feeling that my fantasy chess team is going the way of my NCAA March Madness bracket. It's a good thing I don't gamble.

In other news, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced this week; recipients included Joseph Rago '05 for his editorial contributions to The Wall Street Journal. Congratulations to all the winners!

Chess-music

A friend of mine, Alex Barsamian '04, recently brought to my attention one man's idea for "Chess-Music." Pretty nifty, if you ask me (but not to be confused with Chess-Boxing) . Musical renditions of only a few famous chess games are posted on Mr. Stokes's blog, but his method could be used to transform any chess game, played anywhere by players of any level, into a piece of music. Those of you who appreciate aurally "pleasing" notes may or may not be satisfied with Chess-Music; after all, the notes are dictated by the chess moves, which were not played with this project in mind. But that raises the question: What would happen if you did it in reverse? Took a piece of music and played it out as a chess game, either using Mr. Stokes's system or another? My guess is an illegal position would be reached in short order, but I'd nevertheless love to see what a Beethoven symphony would look like on the chessboard.

I recently picked back up Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. I had started it last December but had to return it to the library before finishing. It's an easy book to get back into, however, and I had no trouble picking up where I left off. And once again I was struck by how poor a sailor I would have made. I don't think I would have lasted a week under Captain Bligh's command.

The Dartmouth featured an article recently highlighting the decision by Harvard and Princeton to reinstitute their early admission policies (I hadn't been aware they'd been done away with). Both are opting for a policy known as Early Action Single-Choice, under which applicants can be offered a non-binding admission offer or rejected outright. Schools also have the option of deferring action on a student's application and placing it in the regular admission applications for consideration in the spring. The difference between EA and its counterpart program, Early Decision, is that Early Decision admission offers are binding. If accepted, a student must attend that school (which of course means that only one ED application can be submitted, lest both be received favorably). And while EA is non-binding, schools featuring EA Single-Choice do not permit students to apply early to multiple schools. I don't know for sure what happens if you violate this regulation, but it's probably not good.

Dartmouth has always featured an ED program, and Dean of Admissions Janet Lavin was quoted in the article as saying that there are no plans to change this. Having never gone through the ED process, I don't have any strong opinion about it, but with the college application process as frenetically paced as it is, I can't help but think that compressing everything still further only increases the pressure on high school students. Some schools offer a competitive advantage to students applying early--that is, you are likelier to get in if you apply ED than if you apply regular decision--but not every college does this. I'm just glad the entire college-application process is behind me!