Alumni profile: Matthews hits the big time with big pies

Published in the Mountainview

Welcoming customers to Neil & Otto's Pizza Cellar on Merchants’ Row in Middlebury, Neil Matthews and Otto Hektor offer a hearty greeting and an invitation to sit at a table with a Parcheesi board under the plastic table covering.

The two are a dynamic pair, as inseparable in an interview as in friendship and business. Co-owners of the Pizza Cellar since June 1996, they have kept their business alive past the forbidding six-month mark which nearly two-thirds or restaurants never attain. Matthews and Hektor, friends since eighth grade, have worked in restaurants — primarily pizza joints — since that time, Heirs to the legendary Chicago tradition of pizza making, they are in business for themselves, making pizza in Middlebury.

Matthews, who worked at the Pizza Cellar throughout his undergraduate career at Middlebury, called Hektor in Wisconsin in October 1995 to say that the restaurant was for sale. After many meetings with loan officers, the Small Business Administration, and insurance agents, they were ready to sign.

Then they went straight to work. In mid-June 1996, they opened the former "Pizza Cellar" as "Neil & Otto's Pizza Cellar," in the basement of Grace Baptist Church on Merchants' Row.

In the seven months since, they have done "a lot of growing up." Acknowledging the cliché, Matthews points out that they are in the real world, in Middlebury. "Nobody gives us encouragement. We mostly hear complaints. It's a crazy game, but it's fun." Having proven Murphy's Law numerous times, and not yet having taken advantage of the excellent skiing conditions this winter, both clearly enjoy their work and their home in Salisbury.

That house, shared with a third housemate, provides refuge, if not sustenance. "The fridge probably has some butter in it," Rektor offers as illustration that they often eat at work, "We eat a kit of pizza, but I'm not sick of it yet,” claims Matthews. Spending so much time at their business is demanding, but both insist it is fun. They also agree that they wouldn't do it alone; having a friend and business partner along for the ride has been advantageous. "We do a lot together, and it's nearly always fun. Two minds are better than one," Matthews argues.

The future, as ever, is unpredictable. They are developing new pie styles, one of which has never before been seen in the Middlebury area. They havc just adapted their standard crust in response to customer feedback, and are not sure what they will bring back from the Pizza Expo in Las Vegas in March. That event, an industry convention, is sure to provide them with ideas and projects for the near term. In the long term, Matthews says, he will be in food service, but where exactly is unsure. He definitely enjoys living and working in Addison County.

It’s a neat way to meet people. According to Hektor, "you have to figure out what people are searching for.” In addition to their clientele, the two must supervise employees their own ages. Matthews admits this can be a challenge, but is willing to make sacrifices for his employees, even at his own expense. While most of his employees are from town, the restaurateurs are grateful for the support their College customers have given them.

It is hard, Matthews says, to be a College alumnus in this town, but he finds nearly everyone generous enough to give him a chance to prove himself. "Once you give something back to the community, people accept you," he says. He does depend on both the College and the town for business; "it's a hard balance to strike, but we're looking to create a space where people from the College can come and mix with people from the town, and get to know each other and get along."

Open long hours (11 am to midnight Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 2 am Friday, 4 pm to 2 am Saturday, and 4 pm to midnight Sunday), the restaurant is clearly doing well. "We do a lot of deliveries, and we're just beginning to really try to get people to come down to the restaurant to eat here." Matthews predicts it will be a challenge, but one the business can meet. They have worked very hard so far, even sleeping on sacks in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning, but Matthews and Hektor say that the rewards are definitely worth the price.

"We are here to offer our knowledge of food, and our experience making good food. We care about what we do, we work hard, and we enjoy it. We like making pizza for people, and we like to hear what we could do better. Of course," Matthews notes, "if you like things, tell us that too!" 

Opinion: Administrative malaise

Published in the Mountainview

Two recent, seemingly separate actions by Middlebury College, one internal, and one public, have drawn attention to the changes planned for the future of the College. There is significant concern among students, alumni, staff, faculty, and local residents about these changes; these concerns are well-founded and deserve clear, direct responses from College administration officials.

The first, an internal event, is the termination of the Sig Ep social house. The circumstances surrounding this event are serious, and demonstrate tremendous culpability on the part of all involved, including potential negligence by College officials. Over the years, single-sex fraternities have been driven off-campus and underground; now it appears that co-ed social houses will face the same fate. Current students complain that the specter of the Commons system as the only source of social events is bleak. The major criticism of the Commons system, and indeed of recent changes in the social house system, is that small, specialized groups are forced into all-inclusiveness. This ruins a sense of common identity which first fraternities, and then social houses, felt within themselves and used to distinguish themselves from the other houses on campus.

I am not suggesting that we return to the days of discrimination, sexual harassment, and worse. I am, however, suggesting that the opposite of discrimination, all-inclusiveness, has clearly not solved the deeper social problems of sexual politics and intoxicated misconduct. The College's attempt at a "quick fix" has failed. Social houses, Commons, and academic interest houses will always have deeper societal problems until the College takes them on directly.

This in no way absolves students of responsibility or accountability; it does, however, place the College in its proper role: a model of behavior and community participation and improvement. At this time, the College has abdicated that role.

The second event, the College's master plan, recently conditionally approved by the town Planning Commission, further indicates College abandonment of responsibility. The first major blemish on the plan is the priority given to renovation of Starr Library: in the third tier, to begin within five years. For a College with almost an entire top administration made up of faculty members, this is a tragic flaw. The library is in drastic need of renovation immediately; the mold on the first floor in 1994-1995 was only the beginning of the end for a building which still lacks a proper ventilation/climate control system.

The administration has forgotten what, above all else, makes Middlebury attractive to students: academics. President McCardell has declared that this will be the "college of choice" in the twenty-first century. By deciding that the library will not be renovated until two years into that century, he has doomed that goal to ignominious failure. He has taken a decisive action to decrease the value of every Middlebury degree ever granted, including those to be conferred this weekend, and in May.

President McCardell and his administration are the employees of every student and every graduate. We employ them to keep the value of a Middlebury degree at its peak. He asks, "What does it mean to have gone to Middlebury?" The answer, all too soon, will be, "A very large tuition bill and a meaningless piece of parchment from an institution whose reputation is at its nadir."

Executive Vice President and College Treasurer David Ginevan has written of the College's fiduciary duty towards its land. He and his colleagues have neglected to consider its fiduciary duty towards its alumni and to its students.

Administrative neglect is rampant at Middlebury. It is a time when it is difficult for the trustees to make significant changes in the administration: we are halfway through a major $100 million capital campaign for the College's bicentennial. Yet the trustees must see that the damage being done to the College at present will be almost impossible to reverse. Action must be taken now, before our degree values plummet at the same time as tuition and enrollment skyrocket. Students must refuse to acknowledge an administration which is doing them nothing but disservice. Students must demand that change occur immediately. Alumni must support the students in their efforts, and contact their friends and colleagues to ensure the success of this initiative.

Opinion: Reconciliation begins

Published in the Mountainview

Middlebury College has run afoul of town officials and residents many times in the past two years. These were outlined in a Burlington Free Press editorial on Sunday 12 January 1997. That editorial outlined a plan for Middlebury College to again become the town's college, and for the town to again resume the role of the college's town. This entailed, in large part, slowing the pace of initiatives coming down the hill from the College and into town offices. The Free Press also argued that the College should open dialogue with town residents and officials, and return to a policy of harmony with the town, rather than its current policy of harming the town.

Last Tuesday night, 7 January 1997, evidence, however slight, appeared that the College is willing to open the dialogue again. At developer Myron Hunt's request, the College sponsored an open forum for dialogue about the use of the Maple Manor property. Residents were asked specifically to come with ideas for its use and development. This was not to be, and was not, a free-for-all against Mr. Hunt, the College, or development in general.

Numerous speakers discussed their own ideas, or those of others. Suggestions were brought up which Mr. Hunt no doubt found instructive. One can only hope that the College, by far the largest developer in town, was also listening. President McCardell was in attendance, as were David Ginevan, Ron Liebowitz, Don Wyatt, College Forester Steve Weber, Director of Public Affairs Philip Benoit, and numerous faculty and staff. Sadly, there were no students to be seen.

Principles discussed by town residents included the advice to "think small. It's time for a change after two hundred years." A conference center was suggested, which the College could certainly use as well as other local businesses and organizations. A park, suggested by several residents, would adhere to the intention Mr. Ginevan claimed in a letter to faculty and staff in August 1996, to "contribute to the greenway around Middlebury." A sporting field, also suggested as a complement to the MUJHS campus, would serve as a greenspace as well as a resource for all town residents.

Guiding principles requested by speakers included conformance with the Town Plan (not only a nicety, but required by law), "asking not what the town can do for the College, but what the College can do for the town," and enhancing the character and quality of the Rt. 7 South area in the vicinity of Key Bank. Mixed uses were suggested, based not only in thoughtful ideas but also in the mixed-use zoning criterion of the Village Residential-Commercial zoning desigation of the Maple Manor and adjoining property.

Criticism was voiced by several people, who complained that though the meeting was billed as a forum and introduced by President McCardell as a dialogue, there was no response from either Mr. Hunt or the College. This request was left unfulfilled. The next issue of the Addison Independent indicated that there would not be a continuation of dialogue from the College's point of view. President McCardell expressed his satisfaction that the College was no longer involved with the controversial issue, and could move on.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Middlebury College owns the land; the College must choose to sell the land or to develop it on its own. The College has decided to sell, but even in the act of selling may not shirk its fiduciary duties.

Now is the time to take advantage of positive momentum, the first positive momentum the College has had with the town public in two years. Now is the time for President McCardell and other officers of the College to walk down from the hill, as George Bush walked from Capitol Hill to the White House after his inauguration, to show that they are humble and human and trustworthy. The College has a unique window of opportunity, as the College Bicentennial approaches, to make town-College relations stronger than ever. To miss that opportunity would surely color the next two hundred years of the College's history. John McCardell is an historian. He would not want to be remembered as the man who forgot history. He has a chance today to change history for the better. We must encourage and support him in that effort.

Opinion: Cut the tape and start the show

Published in the Mountainview

Does it bother anyone else that both the President of the United States and the Speaker of the U.S. House of Reprensentatives are being investigated for ethics violations, and possible lawbreaking?

I by no means mean to say that either President Clinton or Speaker Gingrich are guilty of any wrongdoing or crimes; they will not be guilty of anything until convicted in a court of law, if their cases ever get that far. Those investigating the men may decide that there is no case to prosecute, or governmental sanction (censure by the House of Representatives, impeachment by the U.S. Senate) may be the last we hear of these men's activities beyond the law.

The old adage says, "Where there's smoke there's fire." In both men's cases, there has been an awful lot of smoke, and some fire. At the moment, investigations are proceeding. Each of these important men, in important national offices, is distracted from his duties by events indicating he should, potentially, no longer be in office. These distractions weaken and hinder the President and the Speaker, who perform duties requiring focus and strength.

I do not suggest by any means that we cancel the investigations of both these men. I do, however, hold that we must expedite the processes, encourage events, good or bad, to run their course quickly, and let whomever is President and whomever is Speaker at the end of the day do their jobs unquestioned.

What can be done? Members of the public can write to their Representatives and Senators, urging the completion of these investigations in a speedy manner. Politics should not be allow to govern these sorts of investigations. At the same time, we must be wary of convicting these men in the media. Each deserves his day in court, if the lawyers involved in each investigation decide that even that is necessary.

I must repeat that I do not wish to convict either man before all sides have been heard in a court of law. However, the mere fact that Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gingrich's attentions are diverted from central national issues, even if the allegations are not strong enough to merit a court case or legal censure, is damaging enough to the conduct and reputation of the American government at home and abroad. This is where the story lies: the media is distracting these men, and the public, even beyond what is appropriate.

The American public has not complained about this grave misdirection in the American media. They have been bullied for so long into thinking that what the TV says "America thinks" is what they thing, that what the TV provides is gospel, and that what the newspaper headlines say are the most important issues of the day, that they have given up. Mass disillusionment with the media has occurred; more Americans may "get their news from ABC News than from any other source," but they certainly don't think much of what they get from anyone.

The media has made a circus of the ethical shortfalls of our leaders; they have begun to condemn and beleaguer our leading politicians before any wrongdoing has been proven. This is an ethical violation on the part of the media, and the media should answer for it. Once, newspapers had to provide quality because there was a choice: newspapers had competitors in their home towns. Now, newspapers are giants, and have little or no competition in their hometowns or anywhere else. Quality is no longer the issue; it is quantity of news, the fact that a newspaper can be filled with text on some topic or other, which sells papers.

We blindly hope that someday real news will appear before our eyes on the pages of our favorite papers. We will not see that happen until we demand quality from our journalists, editors, and publishers, action from newspaper advertisers who agree with us, and intelligence on the part of the public.

Show review: How to Eat Like a Child

Published in the Mountainview

Children of all ages went to the Mt. Abraham Union High School on December 6-8 for the Middlebury Community Players' production of "How to Eat Like a Child (...And other lessons in not being a grown-up)." Twenty-one local children from 6 Addison County towns, from ages 8 to 14 performed the play, a series of 25 lessons on living life childishly.

While the audience filed in, filling about one-third of the Mt. Abraham UHS auditorium on Sunday afternoon, local youth band Eclypse played a section of jazz and rock covers with great skill and aplomb.

The lights dimmed, and the company arranged themselves on stage to deliver the opening number, "Like a Child." They offered to reveal secrets children everywhere keep from adults, if we promised not to tell anyone what we saw or heard. The children in the audience (young and old) laughed along with the fun, and were impressed with the singing, acting, and choreography.

The scene changes were indicated by a sign on the side of the stage, to identify which lesson the audience was now learning. The two girls in charge of changing this sign and announcing the new lesson did so in a particularly childlike manner, squabbling, bossing each other around, and teasing each other lightly.

Many different types of lessons were taught, from "how to stay home from school," a fruitless attempt by three girls to feign illness and skip school for a day, to "how to understand your parents," in which everything parents say is translated into kid-speak as "No." Celebratory lessons about walking home from school, and begging parents for a dog, were poignant and amusing, with genuine portrayals by the actors, who no doubt feel life's simple pleasures are important.

Especially noteworthy were a few skits which were largely solo performances: "how to deal with injustice," sung by Elisa Schine (age 11, of Middlebury) with wonderful expression, projection, and melody; "how to wait," sung by Rini Lovshin-Smith (age 11, of Middlebury) with just the right mix of loneliness and eagerness; "how to look forward to your birthday," sung by Eliza Murawski (age 11, of Shoreham), a song which was funny and touching at the same time, pointing out that the best part of a birthday is "when Mom and Dad tell me they're glad I was born" - a lesson no parent should ever forget.

Each of the children was given a major role in one or more of the lessons, an opportunity for each of them to get time on center stage, and a chance for the audience to see the talents of each performer. There was a uniformly high quality of performance throughout the show, and while some people got a bit more stage time than others, every performance was delightful and entertaining. Indeed, director Barbara Harding, of Cornwall, said that sixty children auditioned for the 15 available parts in the show. Twenty-one were case, because of the quality of their performances: "We just couldn't cut them," Harding said.

The last lesson, "how to go to bed," featured all of the cast members trying to stay awake as long as possible without waking "Dad," played by a rumpled and tousled Buck Sleeper (age 13, of Cornwall). As expected, even Cliff Burnham (age 11, of Cornwall) eventually collapsed into slumber while murmuring, "I refuse to fall asleep."

Congratulations are also in order to the adults who directed, stage-managed, and otherwise assisted in the production. No doubt they learned better than the audience that children look at the world through different eyes, and live lives we can all smile at.

The Middlebury Community Players are a group of local actors and actresses of all ages who perform various pieces throughout the year. "How to Eat Like a Child" will be performed again in the spring at the Middlebury Union High School. Keep your eyes open for publicity and posters! The Community Players' next production will be their spring musical, "Follies" by Stephen Sondheim.

Opinion: Price Chopper episode should be a lesson to College

Published in the Mountainview

The big decision has come; the town and College alike now know that there will not, at least for the moment, be a Price Chopper where the Maple Manor now stands. The College's sale of the land was undertaken because the current use of the land "does not contribute to a greenway around Middlebury" (from an August letter from College Treasurer David Ginevan to the faculty and staff). That sale will not be to Myron Hunt, the College alumnus who also owns the A&P/Ames shopping center. Hours after the Planning Commission's decision was made public, he withdrew his application, which is seen to indicate that he will not appeal the decision.

As the Addison Independent's recent editorial and Sunday's Burlington Free Press noted, there was a significant opposition by town residents, and the work of Citizens For Middlebury cannot go unrecognized. Both pieces also noted the general discontent in the town regarding the College's ownership of the parcel. But this is not a time for recriminations.

Instead, in our collective relief, we must make certain the College is never involved in another similar dispute. The Price Chopper controversy placed the College in the position of having to get rid of a piece of property which was costing the College money. However, the highest - perhaps the only - bidder required the College to part from its time-worn path of respect for the community and the environment. This must never happen again.

The College walks a fine line with the town, and subscribes to higher goals and standards than mere zoning ordinances. This is an academic institution driving to be "the college of choice" for the 21st century. Every move we undertake must be with that purpose in mind; we must not forget that what affects the town affects the College, and vice versa.

The College must in every decision, at all levels, look to the mission and goals of the institution and ask whether the proposed action furthers those goals or hinders them. We must interpret our reality through the ideals to which we hold ourselves. If we see that something is a threat to the College or the community, we must immediately act against it. Good citizenship means not waiting for the venue of last resort to expunge a threat to the community.

I caution the reader: the ideas of development in the Price Chopper proposal are not gone from Middlebury. Hunt himself owns town property; other parcels of land are tempting to other developers, including the College.

It is clear, however, that Middlebury residents care about their town and the land in and around it. The College must take advantage of this resource and gain information about others' ideas for the land owned by the College.

The College must, of course, make the final decision regarding what to propose to the town for College land. If the design process, before a proposal, is inclusive of all interested parties, on and off campus, greater understanding will be achieved, and faster progress had towards better goals. That is the highest goal of any educational institution.

I will not question here the ability of the current administration. I will, however, point to them a way of planning which will prevent them from being surprised by a negative reaction to a new plan. Hearing all sides is an excellent beginning. The College must, however, maintain the moral high ground, open its mind and blueprints more than anyone, and subject its ideas to the light of discussion and evaluation which is the heart of the academic experience.

We all know that this is a critical time in the College's history. On it rests the value of the Middlebury degree, for all students, current, past, and future. On it rests the reputation of the Middlebury name in academia and the business world. And it all depends on what we can do today, together: alumni, students, faculty, staff, administrators, townspeople.

We must all look to the good of the community before we undertaken any action; we must cease any detrimental action before it starts. That is our fiduciary responsibility to each other and ourselves.

Alumni profile: Ashby's reflections on times past

Published in the Mountainview

Carolyn Ashby '94 says she "just didn't move" when she graduated from Middlebury. She did, however, leave the "familial" Russian department, in which she had majored. She worked for and studied with members of the Russian and East European Studies faculty, but is adamant that she majored in Russian. She found the department a tightly knit, "funky little community" and enjoyed learning as well as singing with the Russian Choir. "It was an experience," she laughs, meaning not only the choir's tour of Russia, but also of her college career as a whole.

During the autumn of 1994, Ashby taught at Mount Abraham Union High School, and then "was unemployed for a very long time." She then spent what she calls "a very short stint" at the Kingsland Bay School, working with troubled young women. She has recently heard that most of those she worked with have now left KBS and started more positive chapters of their lives.

Ashby moved on too, working as a temporary retail employee at the Frog Hollow Arts Center in Middlebury. Shortly thereafter, the operations manager left, and she began working with the inventory. In August, she became the operations manager, dealing with inventory, shipping, and computer systems.

This spring, Ashby started working with Youth Aware, a local group for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth. She said the group has about 3 high school students who attend gatherings regularly, along with "bunches of college students." Ashby is one of the people who have taken a lead planning role in the group. They are working on offering one event each week, rotating between a coffee house, a movie night, planning meetings, and a support group primarily aimed at high school students. Right now, the events are held in the Ilsley Library, though the group is looking at other locations around town. The support group is not yet active, due to a lack of training of potential facilitators. The group also hopes to be able to offer to local schools' guidance departments on gay and lesbian issues.

Despite her happiness with her job and her volunteer activity, Ashby says she finds living in the area very difficult, as a College alum. She is disturbed by the College's actions in recent years. She notes that nearly all of the Middlebury students she knows are leaving, or are taking time off from their studies, which Ashby blames on the general College atmosphere.

"It is not a good situation," she says. "At issue are the basic needs of the students. They need a functioning residential system, a useable library, and student opinion can only be asked for and then ignored for so long. It is approaching a critical point," she warns. An open critic of the College, she sees a disparity between what administrators say and what they do. She foresees massive student departures and falling enrollment. "Visitors will talk to students and know that nobody is happy, and they will not come." Ashby notes that many students have no respect for the administration, and remembers the same feeling in the student body her freshman year; she says the problem has been present for a long time and has worsened with age.

Ashby further argues that the state of the College and its plans for the future run the risk of alienating alumni who are unhappy with the changes. "The money supply will stop," she says. She knows she is taking a harsh position but has seen nothing to convince her she should hold any other.

Ashby has not forgotten her Russian - indeed, her dog Kayli responds to commands in both English and Russian - and is hoping to return to Russia at some point in the next couple of years. She is looking to work with arts organizations similar to Frog Hollow, because "there is such fabulous stuff being made over there, but there's no outlet except exploitative exporters." She says that she will probably go to graduate school, "when I'm tired of working," but doesn't see that happening for another 4 or 5 years. Beyond that, she says, it's anybody's guess.

Alumni profile: Newell bakes her way through life

Published in the Mountainview

I found Martha Newell in her bakery, in the basement of her home in Shoreham. She let me interview her while the honey oat bread was baking. When I asked what the most important thing about her Middlebury College experience was, she grinned. First was friendships formed throughout her four years at Middlebury. Second was her department, Geography.

She spoke admiringly about the department, faculty and students alike. The faculty realized and valued, she said, that students had lives outside of the department. The students brought their lives into the academic realm, making her education a demanding mix of practical and theoretical. "They didn't coddle us at all," Newell says. "I did C work, and I got a C."

She admits that what she is doing now has little to do with her academic discipline, but everything to do with the life she had outside academia, which she was able to integrate into her studies.

During summers in high school, and in the autumn before her February arrival at Middlebury, Newell worked as a cook at the Outward Bound School near her home in Bethel, Maine. There, preparation of wholesome food was coupled with individual responsibility.

She worked two college summers on the Camden, Maine schooner Mary Day. She not only learned to sail, but also cooked three meals a day for 35 people, over wood. "It was intense," Newell says. "I was the cook. I had only one person to help me." She had free rein over the entire menu and a captive audience for experimentation and feedback. "[The crew] knew what I'd made before, and told me what they thought." She did not have control over the boat, however, and tells a dizzying story of trying to cook while the boat was thrashing wildly in rough water. "I said, 'I'm trying to cook down here and you're up there dipping the siderails!'"

Obviously unsunk, Newell spent a semester at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's SEA Semester program. During that time, Newell learned that two friends (both Middlebury '93) were selling their bakery. The idea of owning a wholesale local bakery was exciting, but she was unwilling to undertake such a task alone. She also "couldn't see the light at the end of the college tunnel" and so remained uncommitted.

In November 1994, Newell spoke with her friend Martha Love and brought up the bakery. Love said, half-seriously, "I'd do that." In August 1995, the pair bought the bakery. The newly renamed Two Marthas' Breads baked for the 1995 holiday season, and began "in earnest" the day after Newell graduated, in February 1996.

She opens the oven, checks the loaves, and continues. Newell describes the opportunity to buy the bakery as "the right opportunity with the right person at the right time; I couldn't pass it up." She had not previously thought of staying in the area after graduation, and still misses the ocean and sailing. She is, however, learning business skills and enjoys the challenge of finding her bearings with her business partner, Love.

She turns to begin cutting and weighing raisin walnut dough, and shapes it into loaves as she speaks. The bakery is an active community participant, providing breads to local businesses and the Middlebury Farmer's Market. Newell loves providing fresh, good bread to the community and contextualizes the bakery's role in a return to an older style of shopping, where shoppers go to different purveyors for different foods, instead of today's "Grand Union style" supermarket.

Newell's experience with the community as a student at Middlebury was "fairly limited," but through her business, especially the summer-only Farmer's Market, she interacts with a large cross-section of the community.

Without looking at a clock, she knows the bread in the oven is done, and removes it as I ask her about softball. Newell plays in the Middlebury summer co-ed league. She played softball in college, and enjoyed the opportunity to play on a team during the summer. On her team were league founder David Weedman, local media personality Jeff Kaufman, and a former head writer for the "Guiding Light" soap opera, among others from across the county.

She is connected fairly closely to the College: the Crest Room and the Gamut Room are clients, and she uses the library and goes to movies shown on campus.

Newell envisions a number of things in her future. She may bake for a while. "I do love this ... it's such a great experience." She does miss the ocean, though, and may work on boats. She stresses that she is not leaving now, and has visions of having "a cool coffee shop" with her baked goods on the counter, but acknowledges that such a business "is a commitment of a different sort."

Newell has achieved a fascinating level of understanding with bread, and is "constantly surprised by the process." She says, "you can control the bread and make it do things you want, but there is a point at which you have to abandon control and let the bread do its thing. The most important elements of the process are time and careful observation." As she puts the loaves onto a baking sheet and turns to the oven, she laughs, "Nothing is ever routine about my life."

Alumni profile: From hockey to education: Bell gives it all

Published in the Mountainview

Elizabeth Bell arrived in Middlebury in February 1989, and has neither stopped learning nor teaching since. A psychology major with a concentration in elementary education, she played lacrosse and ice hockey in Middlebury jerseys. She says the most important things about her experience at Middlebury were her friendships and connections to the town community.

Active in programs for children since arriving, she says she felt much more like a resident of the town of Middlebury than a student at the College. She speaks fondly of her sophomore and junior years, when she "could walk through town and know - at least by face - nearly everyone."

She became more involved in the Mountain Club in autumn 1992, and spread her contagious good cheer there as well.

Upon her graduation in February 1993, she journeyed west but soon returned, arriving in Middlebury that May to spend the summer working at the Mary Johnson Children's Center.

She spent autumn in her Teacher Education professional semester teaching at the Cornwall Elementary School. At the end of 1993 she moved to Washington, D.C. to teach kindergarten. The following summer she taught English as a Second Language to international students at the Fay School, a boarding school outside Boston.

In autumn 1994, Bell began a master's program at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. It was a one-year program which also certified her to teach at the elementary level. As part of her graduate program, she taught at a Northampton school.

Last autumn she began her first job with her own classroom, in Clarendon, Vt. This year she is teaching first grade at the Barstow School in Chittenden, and lives in Cornwall.

She has a "beautiful" forty minute community which provides the opportunity to rehearse her day's plans before arriving at school. Though she works long hours (leaving home at 6 am and returning sometimes after 7 pm), the drive also permits her to clear her mind before returning home to her housemate, friends, and her dog Fern.

Bell loves Vermont, though admitting that if she had not gone to Middlebury she would probably not be here now. She returned to Vermont after graduating from Smith because her own classroom was a positive step along her career path. She is now thinking of moving west, to Colorado or California, to be near family, with whom she is very close. She talks animatedly about seeing her brother and sister more often. At the same time, however, Bell expresses concern about the state of education, particularly in California. A recent California state mandate would force Bell to give up part of her teaching philosophy to be allowed to teach there. All is not lost, as she notes: another recent California initiative provides state funding to schools which attempt to lower their student-teacher ratios.

Bell is also concerned with the state of education closer to her present home. Last year, when Middlebury College's Teacher Education program was embroiled in controversy, Bell returned to campus to speak with the review committee. She is enthusiastic about the opportunities Middlebury's Teacher Education program has available. She appreciates that the Center for the Arts and Starr Library are specific College facilities which are open to both local teachers and alumni. "I'm glad we're welcome here," she says. She adds that because the College draws an intellectual community, the schools in the area are excellent; student teachers have access to experienced, capable teachers who love what they do. Bell cites her own experience as an example. During her student teaching at Cornwall, she was able to collaborate with other teachers, and even team-teach with other student teachers in the school. She finds Vermont's educational climate less inclined to have "knee-jerk" political reactions to educational programs, and notes Vermont's traditional position as a leader in educational innovation.

Bell's latest contribution to the community is an attempt to organize a regular pond hockey game, demonstrating her continuing desire to have more fun, learn, and teach. Of her demanding profession, she says, "It's all worth it when you see their smiling faces and talk to them and learn from them."

Opinion: Gun control vs. crime control

Published in the Mountainview

On NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, November 10, 1996, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) said that gun control was an issue he would like to bring up again in the next session of Congress. His primary reason for this, he said, is that people need guns to protect themselves.

Aside from the oft-quoted statistic that people are more likely to be hurt with their own firearms than to use the successfully in self-defense, there are serious flaws with Sen. Lott's opinion.

But if people "need" these weapons to defend themselves, and "to feel safe" (which was his second reason for reducing legal controls on guns), we must explore the reasons for this. Why do people feel unsafe in their own homes? I will assume for the moment that large numbers of Americans are at this moment cowering behind sofas, with stereos blasting, attempting to allay their fears that "jackbooted thugs" are about to kick in the door.

People feel unsafe in their own homes because they are unsafe in their own homes. News report after news report warns us that convicted killers are on the loose (as was true after a northern New York prison break this summer). We also hear of burglary rings, shootings like the sobering and saddening accident last spring at the Otterside Apartments in Middlebury, and drug problems. Read even the police blotter in the Addison County Independent and you will see all of these problems are prevalent in Vermont as well as many other areas of the country.

Bob Dole contributed his idea for the legalization of guns. "Instant Check" was the name of his system of doing immediate background checks on prospective gun buyers. At present, this process takes seven days. Dole suggested that anyone who wanted a weapon should be able to buy one and leave the story with it immediately, as if he had purchased a gallon of milk. His proposal ignored the black market for firearms which relieves criminals of their need to buy guns from legal gun dealers. This black market prevents criminals from facing a background check at all, and provides them access to weapons only U.S. military personnel can carry legally.

Neither of these men - the current and immediate past Senate majority leaders - have come up with any other ways to make people feel safe in their own homes. Neither has suggested that President Clinton's idea to put 100,000 more police on America's streets was an effective crime-fighting initiative. Neither has suggested that we take the money we would spend on gun lobbying and implementing gun controls, and interdict illegal weapons shipments into and around the country. The New York Times reported last year that over three-quarters of America's illegal weapons are transported on "the Iron Road," Interstate 95 between Washington, D.C. and Boston.

We could spend less money more effectively fighting illegal gun traffic than we can implementing a legal system for gun purchase. We are very far behind the rest of our trade partners in this arena. This autumn, the United Kingdom, in response to last year's massacre of schoolchildren in Dunblane, Scotland, made it nearly imposible for any adult to own firearms. U.K. police need special permits and intensive training to carry weapons, even in the execution of their professional duties.

We are in a country where the police are heavily armed, ambulance crews purchase their own bulletproof vests as self-insurance, and where the people are still afraid in their own homes. With the assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill, we have created a functioning national system which ensures that anyone who attempts to buy a gun legally will undergo proper scrutiny before being allowed to leave a gun shop with weapons. We now need to take on this issue of illegal weapons. We need national leadership against criminal use of weapons and against weapons smuggling. The intransigence of the national leadership to recognize this shortfall in American domestic crime policy is staggering.

Opinion: Be proud of the diversity in our community

Published in the Mountainview

At Convocation, incoming students are made "welcome to the Middlebury community," and then, moments later, assured that the next time they are in one place with all of the members of their class will be at Commencement. Is this group a true community? They will meet twice in four years, and never with all of the other Middlebury students, staff, and faculty. Can, as the Admissions Office hopes, this community not only exist but be diverse? Diversity, rooted in differences, and community, based in similarities, seem contradictory goals, though each has its own merits.

Middlebury has a broader diversity than might appear at first blush. While many people would remark upon the pervading "whiteness" of the student body, there are many members of minority groups and international students at Middlebury who broaden the range of cultural experience. Even among the white students on campus, there is diversity. A man from Brooklyn very likely has a background dissimilar to that of a woman from Iowa.

Middlebury also has more community than we might think. Many people see in disagreement a lack of community. "How can someone who thinks so differently from me be part of the same community" they ask. People begin to define an "us" and a "them." This threatens to split the group, but instead brings them closer to each other, and further encircles them within the same bounds of community which they wish to escape.

Disparate viewpoints form a community by strict adherence to the same rules of discourse. In the recent presidential campaign, Bob Dole's onslaught of negativity led many voters to believe he was playing from a different rule book than they were. This hurt him, even though he made some valid criticisms of Bill Clinton's record.

We must not get confused between "commune" and "community," though the two words are related. A "sense of community" only requires everyone to play by the same rules, whether they agree or disagree. A "sense of commune" connotes a softly-lit meadow of ideas in which all members of a tightly-knit group sit quietly talking, thinking, observing butterflies, and agreeing unanimously on all things.

The commune is anything but diverse. A community, however, must be diverse; indeed if it is not diverse, it can be described as a commune. Diversity informs community members of viewpoints and ways of thinking which are not their own. A community which is cognizant of itself in a larger context is a stronger community than one which is unaware of its surroundings.

At college, as at no other time in your life, you are forced to live among a group of people many of whom disagree quite fundamentally with your own views. Further, because the institution imposes a framework to which all participants must subscribe, everyone is required to play by the same set of rules.

This available diversity permits students to take advantage of others' experiences which would not be accessible elsewhere. The world outside Middlebury is diverse; in light of Middlebury's task to educate you to operate in that world, diversity is one of the best educational tools available.

The sense of community which Middlebury creates is at least a place where the participants cherish diversity and endeavor to learn from it. This is one of the common precepts which members of the Middlebury community embrace. Diversity can, indeed, be a foundation of community.

Not everyone at Middlebury does, can, or even should agree. With widespread agreement diversity disappears. What of the community which does not respect diversity? In Afghanistan, Taliban fighters recently took over Kabul and imposed ancient Islamic law on all inhabitants. Taliban troops can arrest, and even kill, a woman who goes to a job she held before the town was captured. What was previously a city successfully walking the precarious line between Muslim tradition and western commerce is not caught in the grasp of an intolerant power. The risk of lack of respect of diversity is rarely so clear, or so costly.

The danger at Middlebury is more insidious for its comparative invisibility. The community must be diverse to be strong, and all participants must adhere to one guiding rule: diversity is valuable.