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Volume CXXXIII, Number 4 |
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Attention all artists, supporters
To the Editors:
A piece of my artwork was stolen from the Visual Arts Center last weekend and I am really angry, disappointed, and sad. When I noticed that an image of Sibaba, a living god shown wearing an orange shirt, was ripped off the wall in the fishbowl, I also found a note in the comment book that read, "I am sorry I loved your posters so much I 'borrowed' one…sorry it is how life is. Signed, The One Who Stole." The act of stealing this piece not only destroyed a work of art that represents an enormous amount of my emotional and physical time, but also questioned Bowdoin's function as a space where we can share, respect, and appreciate art.
Will this individual's bad decision deter other artists from taking risks and from putting their hearts on Bowdoin's walls? Greta Van Campen '05, a Bowdoin artist, wrote this in response to the incident, "As artists, we spend long hours creating, planning, preparing, and hanging our shows in hopes that others may gain something from our work. In the past, I've felt comfortable with hanging my pieces in public spaces because I trust that my work will either be admired or criticized, but never vandalized or stolen. The recent disrespect for artwork in the VAC upsets me greatly." I think that all of Bowdoin's artists, all of Bowdoin's risk takers, and all people who think art is important will agree that this vulnerability and fear that I feel as a result of this incident is a serious problem. As Nicole Stiffle '04, another Bowdoin artist who hopes to have a safe place to hang her work on campus in the future, writes, "If we want to be part of a community that values artistic expression and the sharing of ideas, we need to feel safe doing so."
Do we need security cameras in the fishbowl? Do we need to pay people to stand guard at all hours of the night to protect our student art? I hope not.
If any one knows where the missing piece is or would like to return it, please let me (eraynes@bowdoin.edu) or someone else know.
Sincerely,
Emma Raynes '04
Let's get more athletes for CGD
To the Editors:
I received an email this Monday from the Community Service Resource Center imploring students to sign up for any of a number of Common Good Day activities with vacancies (read: not just a few empty spaces, but a total absence of student participation).
While the lack of student involvement in Common Good Day might be explained to some extent by students' detachment from the community, lack of altruism, or something of this sort, I think another factor plays an important role. Specifically, most fall athletes are denied the opportunity to participate. On Common Good Day Bowdoin ships off seven of its fall sports teams to other locations for athletic events, while two other teams have home events. Only two fall sports, rowing and cross-country, do not have an event scheduled on Common Good Day. Some number of the athletes on the nine sports teams with athletic events on Common Good Day would surely participate in Common Good Day if they did not have athletic obligations.
Two justifications for scheduling athletic events around Common Good Day thus emerge. First, deference ought to be shown to those athletes who wish to participate in Common Good Day. By scheduling athletic events on Common Good Day the athletic department (which presumably has responsibility for these scheduling decisions) not only prevents athletes from participating in a day of community service, but also sends the signal to its athletes that it does not value the contribution they might offer to the community as much as it values their athletic contributions.
The second justification for including athletes in Common Good Day is one of basic pragmatism; namely, since non-athlete Bowdoin students are not filling up the available Common Good Day assignments, the chances of filling up the vacancies are vastly improved if the large number of fall athletes are all on campus and are potential participants in Common Good Day.
In future years, I hope proper efforts will be made to allow student-athletes to participate in Common Good Day-both because they deserve that opportunity and because Bowdoin seems to be in desperate need of their support.
Sincerely,
John P. Hernandez '04
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