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Volume CXXXII, Number 20 |
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Arthur Middleton '01 wins Watson Fellowship for falconry
HANNAH DEAN
STAFF WRITER
Arthur Middleton '01 is among 48 college seniors nationally who have been chosen from nearly 1,000 students who applied to receive a 2003 Watson Fellowship. Each student selected will receive $22,000 for his or her year of travel and study.
"My proposal," said Middleton "was to visit places where falconry is practiced. Perhaps more importantly, I plan to use falconry as a means to explore places I would not otherwise go, or places where the bond of knowledge between falconers can help me to transcend cultural and linguistic obstacles."
While in the various countries that he plans to visit, Middleton will stay with the inhabitants, "train birds with them, and hunt with them for some months."
The countries that he plans to travel to include Ireland, Scotland, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
Middleton commented that he enjoys falconry "on different levels. I love the excitement of flying and hunting a bird of prey, and the challenge of winning a temporary alliance with a wild animal."
At first said Middleton "a wild trapped hawk wants just about anything except to be sitting on your fist. It takes a lot of precise knowledge to move beyond that early stage in a way that is safe for the animal-and that's always your primary concern."
This relationship that he forms with the falcon allows Middleton to explore the deeper issues about human beings' relationship to nature.
For Middleton, Falconry is "emblematic of the relationship between humans and nature, a relationship that I will think about, and that all of us will struggle with or against, throughout life."
Middleton does not expect the project to directly influence his career path. However, he commented, "I do hope to document my experiences throughout the years and, if only for my own edification, to write it all up…I hope to learn some things that may be relevant to whatever I end up doing."
While at Bowdoin, Middleton was able to capture and work with a red-tailed hawk.
"It was great to work with a hawk of my own, especially since I have had several jobs as a falconer where I am subject to other people's quirks, methods, schedules, and opinions.
It also meant I was ultimately accountable for judgments about the bird's health and well-being. That really accelerates the learning process."
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was created in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson Sr., the founder of I.B.M. Corporation, and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson, to honor their parents' long-standing interest in education and world affairs. The program identifies prospective leaders and allows them to develop their independence and to become world citizens.
"We look for extraordinary young men and women of extraordinary promise, individuals who have the personality and drive to become the leaders of tomorrow," said Norvell E. Brasch, the executive director of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program and a former fellow.
"The program is designed to fund the most creative dreams of our fellows with a minimum of restrictions. The world is their canvas and we let them tell us how they want to paint it."
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