In case The Dartmouth chooses not to publish my piece, at least someone will read it here:
Last week's news of the Moosilauke Advisory Committee's suggestion to replace the Mount Moosilauke Ravine Lodge ("MAC advises Lodge at Moosilauke be replaced," July 15) should inspire cautious alarm among Dartmouth undergraduates, alums, and even prospectives.
Since 1938 the lodge has served as the spiritual center of the College, a sanctuary of sorts. Constructed by student volunteers and local backwoods loggers from spruce trees harvested on site, the lodge was at one time the largest log structure in the state of New Hampshire with beams measuring 33 inches around and up to 60 feet long.
It was conceived as a ski center that helped maintain the Dartmouth Alpine Team's national recognition for its excellence, servicing skiers including the first American great, Dick Durrance, '39. In the 1950s as American skiing experienced its first widespread popularity and more commercialized resorts emerged, the lodge fell into wintertime disuse and was not resurrected until the early '70s as the more year-round community oriented site we cherish today.
Since that time incoming freshmen from around the girdled earth have been introduced to the Dartmouth community and its many traditions at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. As formative an experience as running 106 times around the Homecoming bonfire was, all of us were first initiated into the Dartmouth lore over an afternoon of dancing the Salty Dog Rag on the lodge's lawn, an evening of square dancing with Everett while looking over our shoulders for Doc Benton, and breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham in the Great Hall. These activities were then and are now special in their own right; but experiencing them in the historic Ravine Lodge, with its impossibly rustic charm, as generations before us did, make them all the more special. Dartmouth is a unique place with a plethora of history and continued tradition. It's part of what first attracted me to the College and what continues to make me so interested in its current affairs even as an alumnus.
Log structures require their own special care. Beams rot and fire is always a threat. But the MAC's suggestion that "We can't cling to this building because of its tradition and its place in all of our hearts" is ludicrous. This is exactly why we must cling to it. As a Spanish major I spent endless hours in Dartmouth Hall, a building itself slightly older than the Ravine Lodge. Compared with other academic buildings, Dartmouth Hall is terribly outdated. There are no elevators for handicapped access, bathrooms are scarce, and classrooms are small and lack the technology we take for granted in other buildings. But no one, myself included, recommends that Dartmouth Hall be replaced. The notion that "The Lodge, now almost 70 years old, was originally built to last between 35 and 50 years" is equally unfounded. Hitchcock and New Hampshire Halls --both of which predate the lodge by two decades-- were not torn down in the last two years, but were extensively renovated precisely because of their historic architecture and important place on campus and among the Dartmouth mindset. If the Ravine Lodge has cracked logs, seal them; if there is rot, replace it. An appropriate renovation by a preservation architect would best suit the Ravine Lodge and those who love it.
As an incoming freshman, the Ravine Lodge seemed to honor the wonderful rural qualities of the College; as a trip leader my senior year, it was a way to remember what separated Dartmouth from other places and celebrate what President Dickey called a "Sense of Place" with new members who would soon bleed equally green. As I return to Hanover next month as a DMS student and convene with other first years at the Lodge, it'll be the timeless centerpiece of yet another set of new beginnings, memories, continued traditions, and new friends.
Matthew Weiss, D '06, DMS '12
Hey guys - wanted to let every one know that Cowden's modeling career is finally taking off. We made the investment to do a beach shoot down in Honduras three weeks ago, and it's already paying off-- generating a huge amount of buzz... and not just in the local garifuna communities*. Thought I'd put up a sneak peak.. Josh Pence you can't touch this!
