MIDDBRIEFS

Author: KATHRYN BROOKS FLAGG

College produces four Watson nominees

Middlebury College boasts four nominees for the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Proposals from Lauren Markham '06, Molly Nora '06, Alison Shapiro '06 and Amber Trotter '06 have been selected by the College to vie for Fellowships from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. If awarded, these fellowships provide funds for a year of travel and independent study outside of the United States. This year, for the first year ever, all College nominees are women.

Markham's proposed project, "Community Archives: Documenting Refugee Stories Past and Present Through Art, Writing and Photography," would take her to Ecuador, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and Egypt. Nora's proposal suggests stints in England, Ireland, Greece, Jordan, Egypt and Mali in pursuing the ways in which museums define, interpret and transmit national identities. Shapiro's project, "Painted Ladies: A Cultural Exploration of Women and Tatooing," charts an itinerary through Japan, Polynesia, New Zealand, Africa and India, and Trotter's project, "Concrete Fertility: Community Development through Urban Agriculture," suggests travel to Costa Rica, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

This year's Watson Fellows will be announced by the Foundation by March 15, 2006. The Foundation will award up to 50 grants to graduating seniors of $25,000 or $35,000. Middlebury is one of 48 liberal arts institutions invited to nominate students for the Fellowship program.

Currently, two recent College alumni are living and studying abroad as Watson Fellows. Erwin "Bennett" Konesni '04.5 is traveling to the Netherlands, Germany, Ghana, Tanzania, Vietnam, Switzerland and Mongolia to study sea shanties, farming chants, river songs and other musical labor. Stephanie Morales '05 is filming a documentary exploring women and leadership in Spain, Argentina and Venezuela.



Library unveils online Robert Frost exhibit



The Special Collections department of the Middlebury College library recently launched an online exhibit celebrating beloved American poet Robert Frost's connection to the College. The exhibit, titled "Robert Frost at Bread Loaf," focuses on Frost's intimate relationship with Vermont and celebrates his connection to the Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Frost first came to the School of English in 1921 and, in 1926, was influential in founding the Writers' Conference. Until his death in 1963, Frost returned to the mountain campus nearly every summer.

"No one," claims the online exhibit, "is more closely identified with Bread Loaf than Robert Frost."

The exhibit's most exciting facet, arguably, is its collection of rare audio recordings accompanying several of Frost's transcripts. In addition to over 30 recordings, the exhibit includes the transcripts, letters, photographs and manuscripts proprietary to the College's Special Collections.

The exhibit, which was unveiled in early October following the first of the year's inaugural Abernathy Lectures, is intended for both scholarly and mainstream audiences. It represents the work of Curator of Special Collections and Archives Andrew Wentink and Assistant Curator Danielle Rougeau as well as project managers, sound editors and student assistants.