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Spring Into War: Remembering the Transnistrian War
On the first day of March, Romanians and Moldovans exchange a small red-and-white string token, Mărțișor, which they wear close to their hearts throughout the month as a symbol of renewal. In Moldova, the tradition carries a particularly cathartic meaning as it coincides with the commemoration of the victims of the 1992 war in Transnistria — a breakaway region in eastern Moldova — and Russia’s attack on their sovereignty.
The legend of Mărțișor is often linked to Baba Dochia, a figure in Romanian folklore whose story marks the arrival of spring. Rooted in agrarian and pastoral cycles, the tale has endured through oral tradition. Dochia was said to be an older, harsh woman who deeply disliked her daughter-in-law. Living in Romania’s Ceahlău Mountains, she sent the young woman into the bitter cold to wash black wool in the river until it turned white. Desperate and freezing, the girl wept as she scrubbed the wool in the icy water. Then Mărțișor — sometimes portrayed as a youthful embodiment of spring — gave her a red flower, which miraculously transformed the black wool into white. The red flower, symbolizing vitality against the lingering snow, suggests the fragile yet persistent return of life.
For Moldovans who had only recently gained independence from the Soviet Union, it must have felt as though spring had finally arrived. On March 2, 1992, Moldova’s flag was raised at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, marking the global recognition of its sovereignty. It seemed like confirmation that a long winter had ended. Yet that very same day also marked the official outbreak of war between Moldovan government forces on the right bank of the Nistru River and separatist forces on the left.
Ever since the Soviet Union began to show significant cracks and Moldova sought to assert its independence, the left bank, with its capital in Tiraspol, has grown increasingly disillusioned. During the Soviet Union, the small Eastern strip was one of the industrial powerhouses, becoming home to thousands of non-Moldovans, primarily Russians and Ukrainians.
Still, Transnistria’s ethnic composition alone does not explain the conflict. From the 1940s to the final Soviet years, the two banks coexisted without open hostility. Soviet identity functioned largely as a civic one, blending ethnicities in the name of productivity. The eventual rupture was shaped less by grassroots animosity than by political maneuvering. As the 14th Russian Army (formerly Soviet) was stationed in Transnistria, many of its troops initially volunteered to join the separatist forces until its official involvement in late June 1992 under General Alexander Lebed. Similar to Russia’s war on Ukraine from 2014 onwards, Moscow invoked concerns for the ethnic Russians in Transnistria, as Moldova was asserting its full right to exist either as an independent state or as part of its historical sister, Romania.
At the end of July same year, the presidents of Moldova and Russia, Mircea Snegur and Boris Yeltsin respectively, signed a ceasefire. The provisions also stipulated the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Transnistria, something that was unprecedented. To this day, Russian troops remain on the left bank, mainly patrolling what is believed to be Eastern Europe’s largest ammunition depot in Cobasna village. Thus, Spring never fully arrived for Moldova, as Transnistria remains a frozen conflict.
The legend of Mărțișor does not end with the black wool turned white. When the young woman returned to Dochia with the white wool and the red flower, Dochia took it as a sign of spring. Tricked by the early spring sun, she ascended the mountains wearing nine or 12 coats, shedding them as the weather warmed, only to freeze when winter returned, turning her and her sheep into stone. Dochia’s coats stand for the deceitful first days of spring, when the weather shifts unpredictably. However, far from the bitter cold, the perils lie in confusing a momentary thaw for the end of the winter.
One need not turn to folklore to learn this lesson. My father was only 22 years old when spring knocked at his door with a draft notice rather than a red-and-white Mărțișor. While Moldovans mistook their newly gained independence for a permanent escape from Russia’s reach, history shows that powerful states have difficulty relinquishing their drive for dominance. And those who remember little of history risk being turned to stone.
~ Cristina Panaguta `26
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New Art Wall in Bixler
A new art wall in Bixler hallway is turning a corridor into a living, breathing work of art. In collaboration with the Colby College Art Department, the community-driven collage wall invites students, faculty, staff, and visitors to contribute to an ever-evolving piece of artwork. This idea was inspired by the temporary exhibition at the Colby College Museum of Art titled Everyday Devotions: Gifts from the Alex Katz Foundation and Beyond, which is currently on display in the Lower Jetté Gallery through May 31, 2026.
To clarify, the exhibit Everyday Devotions is a curated piece in the Museum featuring works by established artists, with many drawn from transformative gifts made by the Alex Katz Foundation to the Colby College Museum of Art. It is not a student exhibition; rather, the new art wall in Bixler is simply inspired by the exhibition’s themes and spirit, offering the College’s community a chance to explore the concept of collaging for themselves.
Everyday Devotions brings together more than 40 works by 25 artists who have embraced collage either as a medium — cutting and pasting paper — or as a broader conceptual strategy. Between 1955 and 1960, American artist Alex Katz devoted himself to making collages, producing playful landscapes and still lifes with hand-colored papers. Over the past 25 years, he has also become an important collector, donating significant collages by other artists to museums like the College’s through his foundation. That is the true origin of this new exhibition. Taking Katz’s own works as a point of departure, the College’s exhibit expands outward to demonstrate how collaging has evolved across decades, materials, and approaches.
Some works adhere to traditional cut-paper techniques while others stretch that definition of collage entirely. Artists like George Schneeman, who is prominently featured in the exhibit, often uses mass-produced imagery and commercial materials. His collage work incorporates magazine clippings and familiar logos, assembling elements of pop culture into something concrete.
Other artists within this exhibit repurposed everyday materials in new, inventive ways. Robert Rauschenberg transformed found objects and printed matter into his layered collages. Meanwhile, Alina Szapocnzikow put organic materials like dried grass into her work. This exhibition seems to emphasize thinking outside of the box and material diversity, which promotes these incredible new forms of artistic expression.
It is precisely this same level of creativity that animates the new Bixler art wall that is open to the everyday passerby. Marked by scissors and scraps, the Bixler collage transforms viewers into participants. Community members are encouraged to choose from available materials or even bring something of their own to leave their mark. Student and contributor Lauren Cho `26 greatly appreciated this sense of variety in regard to mediums available.
“I love how it is interactive, providing all sorts of different materials for students to use,” Cho said. “My friend and I only added our initials near an image on the wall that we particularly liked, but it still felt like we were part of something bigger. It’s a fun addition to Bixler, and I hope to see more creative projects like this!”
No matter what the viewer chooses to do, each addition to the art wall shifts the composition and expands the story being written. No single person controls the outcome. Instead, the wall grows naturally, shaped by random encounters and collective imagination.
Talia Thompson `27, one of the wall’s other contributors, was impressed by the thought that went into this special project.
“I thought it was cool how anyone walking by could add something to the wall,” Thompson said. “It was also interesting to see how unique each section was and how different everyone’s contributions looked.”
In this way, the project mirrors the exhibition — collages thrive on juxtaposition. Just as the Museum’s artists combine different motives and materials, the Bixler wall gathers differing fragments of campus life. The result is not only visual; it’s also a social record of this collaboration and shared authorship across campus.
There is also something compelling about the art wall being placed in the halls of Bixler rather than in the Museum itself. Unlike the Museum gallery, which seeks out intentional visitation, Bixler is a site of everyday passage for many. Students rush through between classes, faculty pause for conversations, and visitors walk in to go to the library quite often. The art wall therefore interrupts this routine and invites a moment of play. It suggests that creativity does not need to be confined to formal art like what one might find in the Museum. Instead, it emerges wherever available materials and creativity meet.
By drawing inspiration from Everyday Devotions, the Bixler art wall underscores collage’s boundless potential. In opening this space, the Colby College Art Department has extended the exhibition’s message beyond the walls of the Museum — that art is not only something we observe, but something we can all contribute to together.
~ Amelia Hanscom `27
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The Oscars: Must Watch Movies as We Near the End of Awards Season
Hollywood’s award season is coming to a close within a week of this article’s publication. The Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 15, 2026, commemorating a particularly prolific year in cinematography. Ryan Coolger’s Sinners leads the pack with 16 nominations, the most in Oscar history. Close behind is Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a father and former revolutionary searching for his lost daughter, Willa. The film earned 13 nominations.
In preparation for this year’s Oscars, here’s a breakdown of what features deserve a watch before celebrating with fellow movie-lovers.
First, and rather unsurprisingly, is Sinners. Though suggesting that audiences watch the most-nominated film of the season may not be a very original take, it’s nevertheless a reliable one. Sinners amalgamates both horror and action in a chronicle of two twin brothers’ migration from Chicago to Mississippi. Set in the milieu of the 1930s Jim Crow era, Sinners employs vampirical allegories, which haunt the brothers’ exodus, as a means of expressing the torments of racism, systematic oppression, and exploitation. Among the film’s many nominations are Best Picture and Original Song. Michael B. Jordan is nominated for his leading role as Smoke, and Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku are nominated for their respective supporting performances as Delta Slim and Annie.
Second on the watchlist is Marty Supreme. The movie and the film’s titular character, Timothée Chalamet, are nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor respectively. The feature follows hustler and table tennis legend Marty Mauser, who is loosely based on the real-life showman Marty Reisman.
“I saw Marty Supreme during my Jan Plan at Colby, and I didn’t really know what to expect,” one student said. “But I don’t think anyone can really prepare themselves for Marty Supreme. It was nothing like what I’d imagined; which, in certain ways, may be why some people I know were perturbed by the movie. But I loved it. Definitely a must watch.”
To this point, describing Marty Supreme in any more detail than the aforementioned is rather difficult. Even alluding to another aspect of the film risks spoilers. Every component is interconnected, every dialogue and interaction somehow critical later on.
As a final suggestion, one student proposes watching Hamnet. The drama explores the death of William Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, which served as the catalyst for the playwright’s renowned work Hamlet.
“I didn’t really know a lot of the backstory of [Hamnet], so the music was the first thing that drew me in,” Sailor Perry `29 says. “The casting was spot on. The costume design was great. It was one of the best movies I’ve watched.”
A non-exhaustive list of the film’s nominations include Best Picture, Original Score, Casting, and Production Design. Jessie Buckley is also nominated for her leading role as Agnes, Shakespeare’s wife.
The features nominated for the 2026 Academy Awards reflect the vibrant, meaningful, and creative modes in which the arts contribute to society. This year’s nominations appeal to audiences in the ways all good movies should: by revealing the inequalities of our history, serving as markers of cultural moments, and simply providing a source of escape and entertainment.
~ Maya Corrie `29
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The Sticky Situation of Maple Sugaring
It’s March, and that means maple sugar season in Maine.
At least, it used to.
Maine winters have shifted significantly due to climate change, bringing not only warmer temperatures but also much more volatile conditions, like extreme warm and cold snaps. Maine Maple Sunday, a staple holiday in the state, falls on March 22 this year. At one point in time, this date marked the height of a typical sugaring season, but by this date in recent years, most maple operations would have begun to wrap up. Here at the College, the Outing Club started up this year’s operation in mid-February, but in many years, tree tapping begins even earlier.
Maple sugaring season is the several-week stretch in between winter and spring when daytime temperatures sit above freezing and nighttime temperatures stay below. A common rule of thumb is 25 degrees to 35 degrees fahrenheit, although any freeze-thaw cycle will cause sap to run. Sugarmakers, as they’re commonly called, bore holes at about waist height into mature sugar maples, affixing tubing to the spigot in the tree. Many trees may be connected together into a sap line, which runs downhill through the sugarbush, or grove of maple trees, into a bucket or even directly to the saphouse. If you’ve never seen a maple sugaring operation before, the action usually centers around the stove; hours of boiling is needed to thicken 40 gallons of sap into just one gallon of syrup.
I grew up tapping trees, though we never produced much more syrup than we could use ourselves. I loved sugaring season: I’d get off the bus on warm afternoons to find melting snowbanks and a muddy driveway. I’d excitedly check the sap buckets that we’d placed downhill of our sap lines, replacing full buckets and lugging the sap to our little three-pan evaporator. More and more though, the season would start in early February — weeks ahead of its historical timeline — and extreme temperature jumps caused the sap to spoil or lose its sweet taste. Throughout the winter, we’d accumulate only a fraction of the historical snowpack, which is necessary to insulate and protect the roots. The resulting sugar seasons were shorter and more unreliable, as well as undeniable proof that Maine’s iconic winter had changed.
As with many things, climate change may not eliminate maple sugaring in Maine, but the industry has already had to adapt. Many sugarmakers are augmenting their taps with vacuum pressure, which substantially increases the yield. Reverse osmosis systems help cut down on the amount of energy-intensive boiling needed to reduce the sap, and electric evaporators are far more efficient than the traditional wood-fired open pan method. Still, in the long term, sugar maple habitat will shift north, and decreased productivity will squeeze the margin of profit needed to sustain a sugaring operation that much tighter. It’s an uphill battle.
Most of us spend just four short years in Maine during our time at Colby College. In that time, events like this winter, which has been the coldest in decades, create the impression that climate change is still a problem for the future. But the overarching trends are pretty clear: Maine’s winters are warming — noticeably and quickly. And as a state dependent on its natural resources for not only its economy but its way of life, Maine has a lot to lose.
~ Brynne Robbins `26
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New Residence Hall Draws Strong Student Demand
Before it has even opened its doors, Mayflower Hill Residence Hall has already become one of the most sought-after housing options on campus.
The College’s newest campus residence hall will open in fall 2026 and is expected to house more than 200 juniors and seniors. Located across the street from the Diamond Building and adjacent to Cotter Union, the four-story complex introduces additional upperclass housing capacity, as students are already looking at where they want to live next year.
With housing selection currently underway, many rising juniors and seniors have expressed strong interest in the new building, drawn to its suite-style layout and individual rooms.
The new residence hall is designed exclusively for juniors and seniors, a shift that reflects changes in students’ housing priorities over time. By their third or fourth year, they often seek greater privacy in their living arrangements while still wanting to live with their friends, making suite-style housing an ideal option.
“I think it will be quite competitive, especially because the building is new and has suites,” Lia Kermes `28 said.
Beyond layout appeal, the residence hall’s placement on campus has also contributed to its popularity. Situated near Cotter Union and Dana, as well as academic buildings such as Davis and Diamond, the building offers convenient access to both classes and dining.
“I want to live there because it’s close to all my classes, especially Davis and Diamond, and close to food like Dana and the Spa,” Wesley To `28 said. “It’ll definitely be competitive, so I’m planning to room with a senior to try to get a top pick.”
While demand for the new residence is certainly high, the addition of this building should improve flexibility across the broader housing system by increasing capacity and easing competition in other residence halls.
The expansion comes at a time when housing selection remains competitive for many students, particularly for those interested in singles and suite-style arrangements.
However, for most students, the appeal comes from personal reasons. Kermes expanded on how the appeal for her goes beyond the layout. “I want to live there because I’d prefer a suite, and being in a new building would be nice,” she said. “It will probably feel cleaner and more modern.”
For some students, the opportunity to be among the first residents of a new building carries its own appeal. Newly constructed residence halls promise updated amenities, modern finishes, and spaces that have not yet experienced years of wear and tear.
The last new residential buildings added to campus were the Johnson Pond Houses, completed in 2022 after an ambitious 10-month construction period. Since then, the College’s residential options have remained largely unchanged, making Mayflower Hill Residence Hall the first major residential addition in several years.
The 112,000-square-foot structure is part of a $150 million investment in student life. In addition to residential suites, the building will feature a cafe on the ground floor open to the campus community, as well as flexible student spaces designed to foster community.
Students interested in learning more about housing updates and the selection process can attend the upcoming State of Housing discussion hosted by the Student Government Association in partnership with the Office of Residential Experience. The event will take place on Wednesday, March 18, from 5 to 6 p.m. in Keyes 105.
Construction for the new residence hall is still ongoing and will continue throughout the spring semester, with completion set for fall 2026. As housing selection moves forward, anticipation surrounding the new residence hall continues, with many students hoping they can secure a room for next year.
~ Pamela Swartz `28
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A Global Studies Student: Mara Reba
Every Monday and Thursday night, you can find Mara Reba `28 at the pool in the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center, leading the Colby Swim Club practice. The current sophomore and Jersey City native is a global studies (GS) and Spanish double major who enjoys crocheting, ice fishing, and hanging out with friends.
“I’m originally from Jersey City, New Jersey. I’ve lived there my entire life,” Reba said. As an only child, she grew up with her mom, her dad, and her dog Finn. She often visited her family in Switzerland and Croatia. When she was home, her childhood was filled with the radio in the morning, the news in the afternoon, and long hours listening to political conversations with her family during Sunday dinners. It is those trips and daily conversations she overheard that sparked her early sense of global curiosity.
“Some of my earliest memories were of hearing NPR in the morning and my dad watching BBC World News,” she recalled. “I never really understood what they were talking about when I was little, but growing up in an environment where I constantly heard about global happenings really got me curious.”
Reba took great inspiration from her father’s origin story. He grew up in what was formerly Yugoslavia and later studied in the United Kingdom as a George Soros scholar before moving to the United States, where he met Reba’s mother. “That history of triumphing over global conflicts is definitely present in my family,” she said. “It shaped a lot of the principles in my upbringing.”
This upbringing ultimately led her to study GS at the College, where her inspiration continues to grow.
“I was always curious about politics and wanted to learn more,” she said. Reba points to the freedom to move across government, history, economics, and anthropology that you get when you study GS. “I really love the interdisciplinary framework,” she emphasized. “I can take what I learned in a history class into an anthropology discussion, or think about macroeconomics in a government class. Being able to tie the different disciplines together is my favorite part.”
Reba’s specific interests have narrowed down to human rights and social movements. While also pursuing her Spanish studies, she plans on studying abroad in Argentina next year to conduct field research on social movements in Latin America. While studying GS, “you can find a niche that interests you and go from there,” she said.
When she is not in class or at the pool, she spends her time crocheting. She took up the hobby during the Radical Stitch course this past JanPlan. Inspired, she now hopes to make more of her own clothes. “I want to move away from buying from fast fashion,” she declared.
Travel remains both academic and personal. Vietnam currently sits at the top of her bucket list. She credits this determination to the show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. “In his Vietnam episode, he said it was his favorite country in the world. Ever since then, I’ve really wanted to go.” To others interested in traveling, she recommends Croatia, especially the inland Osijek-Baranja region, where her family is from. “It has the most beautiful countryside and rolling hills you’ll ever see,” she said. “It’s very underrated.”
The most important advice that she can give to other GS majors: “Stay curious.” Curiosity, for her, began at a dinner table in New Jersey. Now, it has shaped her studies… and her plan for where to go next.
~ Summer Woo `28
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Grounds for Community: The Culture Inside Mary Low Coffeehouse
There’s a certain kind of gravity to Mary Low Coffeehouse — the stream of balmy light pouring through the wide windows on a frigid Maine morning, the scent of freshly ground beans trailing students down the hallway, or the barista-curated playlist threading through the room. But the real draw is never just the coffee. It’s the people.
The Coffeehouse is one of the few spaces on the College’s campus that feels entirely student-made. Everything from the specialty drinks to the latte art to the culture that surrounds it originates with students themselves. It isn’t just a coffeehouse; it’s an animated reflection of what belonging looks like when the institution steps back and lets students take over.
Though Mary Low dormitory was constructed in 1942, named in honor of the first woman to attend the College, the Coffeehouse itself only opened in 2016. It began not as an administrative initiative but as a student passion project. “The coffee shop originally began as a club of students that had a passion to make coffee for themselves and friends,” manager Taylor Bailey `26 said. “Eventually, someone had the idea to make it into a real business that all of campus has access to.” From those modest origins, something quietly remarkable took root.
That growth has not been without its challenges. Because the College does not subsidize the Coffeehouse’s budget, the operation runs entirely on its own payroll and financial support, a precarious arrangement that requires careful stewardship. This past fall marked a significant milestone: the first year Mary Low turned a profit.
“It was a lot of deliberation and discussion about where we could cut costs,” said manager Aidan Kwong `26. “We had to switch vendors and start sourcing at cheaper prices in order to keep prices low for students and make our drinks accessible for the greater Colby community.” Prices were raised slightly to keep pace with rising supply costs, but the achievement was hard-won. For a student-run business operating without institutional subsidy, breaking even isn’t just a milestone, it’s a necessity.
Mary Low also creates space for other communities to coalesce. Charlotte Rotenberg `28, the Coffeehouse’s events manager, oversees a calendar more expansive than most students might expect. “Weekly gatherings like IVCF and Autism Circle have found a reliable home there, alongside events for the Asian Students Association, the Russian Club, the Spanish Club, and the Colby Korean Club.”
One recurring highlight is Saturday Night Live, hosted in collaboration with CMI — an evening of live music and good coffee at the coffeehouse’s most social and unhurried. “For baristas, they can be some of the most fun hours to work,” Rotenberg said.
The space resists rigid programming by design. “At the end of the day it is also just a space,” she noted, “so it leaves a lot of freedom for clubs that might want to do something specific. I think students appreciate Mary Low as opposed to other event spaces on campus mostly because it is student run.” That sense of student ownership runs deeper than event logistics — it shapes the way people relate to the place altogether.
Bailey, who has worked at the coffeehouse for all four years of their time at Colby, speaks about what drew them there in the first place. “The thing I like most about Mary Low is it reminds me of home,” they said. Back in Nebraska, Bailey spent six years working in their parents’ coffee shop, learning the rhythms of a small business that knew its regulars by name. “That same feeling of community has followed me to Colby within the Mary Low Coffeehouse.”
Other baristas echo that sentiment, though with their own particular emphasis. Doris Simpkins `26 described the coffeehouse less as employment and more as inheritance: “Mary Low doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like a second home. Students don’t just come for coffee. A lot of the time they just come to interact with their friends on shift.”
That distinction matters. “Working here gave me a community I didn’t even have to go searching for,” Simpkins said. Where college culture often frames belonging as something to be actively pursued, the coffeehouse offers something rarer: an immediate, built-in network, formed through shared labor and daily ritual.
That labor, however, is unusually social in nature. “It’s a job that requires a lot more socialization than almost every other job on campus,” Sofia Escobar `26 said. The cafe runs on collective rhythm rather than hierarchy; shifts depend on intuitive coordination and an almost choreographic trust between baristas. Escobar described a moment that is hard to imagine anywhere else on campus:
“Once a fellow barista wanted her hair braided when she was taking orders, but obviously she had to be standing by the counter and I wasn’t tall enough. So I stood on a tall chair and was giving her Dutch braids hovering over everybody during a rush.” The image is both whimsical and oddly apt — efficiency coexisting with intimacy, neither one compromising the other.
What these moments reveal is something that transcends the average campus coffeehouse. The existence of Mary Low seems to be aimed toward fostering a community, whether behind the bar, settled into a corner table, pulling a shot, or having your hair braided mid-rush.
Reflecting on what he hopes Mary Low continues to represent, Kwong put it simply: “I think since day one, Mary Low has been a welcoming and inviting place for anyone to come and grab a coffee or do some work. I’m really happy I’m able to contribute to that culture now as a manager.” It is, at its core, a modest aspiration, and perhaps that is exactly why it endures. In a place as transient as a college campus, where each class arrives and departs on a fixed schedule, the Coffeehouse persists as something genuinely continuous. Students graduate, but the warmth remains.
~ Josefina Moehn-Aguayo `26
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Road Conditions in Waterville, Maine This Winter
As winter weather continues across Maine, students at Colby College with cars are navigating slushy roads after snowfall. While the snow-covered scenery can be picturesque this time of year, slick road conditions and vehicles buried in snow present less welcome challenges. For some students, shoveling out cars and adjusting to slippery driving conditions have become routine parts of the season.
Mia Dinunzio `28 has a car on-campus and she normally drives about two times a week. In her opinion, Dinunzio thinks the road conditions this year are better or worse depending on if a snowstorm recently happened. She thinks “it has been fluctuating because of the change in temperature and just the fact that, especially in recent weeks, it has been really cold and it’s been snowing quite a lot. We have had two snowstorms already in the last two weeks.”
After a recent snowstorm, Dinunzio found more troubles awaiting her after a wintery hike up to her car, which was parked in Colby’s West Lot. “When I actually did get to my car, especially during that first snowstorm that we had, I had gotten up there early in the morning, probably around 8 a.m. to get breakfast, and nothing was plowed in the parking lot.” She then said, “I obviously haven’t cleaned off my car yet, so it took me 40 minutes to clean off my car and then sort of make a path for my tires to get through in the parking lot. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to skid as I backed out.”
Fortunately, Dinunzio did make it out, but she admitted that getting out “was kind of a struggle.” In terms of the greater Waterville area, Dinunzio said, “I would say it’s always been pretty cleared out.”
In regards to a different snowstorm that happened this year, Dinunzio left in the morning and got onto the road, which was “pretty filled with snow.” she said “there was a track, I would say, of previous cars driving through the snow. There wasn’t even that much on the ground. It just created a sort of barrier that I didn’t want to test.” Playing it safe, Dinunzio said how she was “cruising around 25 mph” in the 40 mph speed limit zone turning out of West Lot.
Still, once the snow melts, the roads are not guaranteed to be much better. This weekend, Dinunzio said, “I was driving this morning, and it was really warm, so the majority of [the snow] melted, but the backside of that is it freezes overnight.” The spot that Dinunzio parked in had “quite a lot of ice underneath,” so she had to back up quite slowly because her “tires were pretty much sitting on ice.”
Still, Dinunzio mentioned how the snow was cleared when she got on the road. She also said, “Both the college and the town have done a really good job of salting.”
On drives back home to Massachusetts in the winter, Dinunzio said the main difference between driving in Maine versus in Massachusetts is that “there would be a lot of snow in Maine,” and then in Massachusetts, “the snow just lessens.” In Massachusetts, she finds herself “getting more relaxed in her drive.” When driving in the snow, Dinunzio said, “If I see a lot of snow around me, whether it’s on the road or not, I feel like I have to subconsciously drive five miles below the speed limit, just to be extra safe, even though I know I’m nowhere near the snow.”
Although winter driving in Maine presents obstacles, students are adjusting to the conditions over time. Until the snow melts, drivers continue to bundle up, brush off their cars, drive carefully, and make their way through another stretch of winter.
~ Haley Hegarty `28
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A Town Hall with Angus King III
Colby Democrats continued their Thursday Democratic Candidate speaker series with a visit from gubernatorial candidate Angus King III. King began by offering advice to students: get involved in political campaigns. He describes campaigns as “one of the rare meritocracies in the world.” Unlike traditional career paths with rigid hierarchies, he argued, campaigns reward initiative. He pointed to his own experience working on political campaigns, which began at the age of 17.
He first worked on the 1988 Dukakis presidential campaign, clipping newspaper articles for senior staff, and within a short time, he became an assistant to the press secretary. He later worked on the Clinton-Gore campaign, traveling from city to city doing advance work to prepare events for the candidate. Eventually, he joined the Clinton White House, where he directed a research group working on domestic policy.
But King quickly pivoted from career advice to what he sees as the urgency of the political moment. Referring to the upcoming elections, he said, “This one’s pretty darn important.” He noted that Maine now sits at the center of several highly competitive races, including an open gubernatorial seat, a U.S. Senate contest, and an unexpected open seat in the second Congressional District.
Turning to his reasons for running, he said that “life has become too hard for too many people here in Maine.” He acknowledged that the College’s campus may not always reflect those pressures, but argued that affordability has eroded. Heating costs, housing, groceries, and healthcare have moved farther out of reach for many families.
King emphasized that many of Maine’s challenges are not urban or rural problems, nor red or blue; they are Maine’s problems as well. To illustrate how he believes progress happens, he shared a story about George Smith, a former head of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and, as King noted, “a pretty staunch Republican.” According to him, someone once told Smith they disagreed on about 90 percent of the way the world works. Smith’s response: “Let’s work on the 10 percent.” The two began there, found areas of agreement, and over time discovered they shared more common ground than they initially thought. King said the lesson was not to ignore disagreements, but to begin with shared priorities and build from there.
He said that mindset has guided his own work in Maine. In Clinton, for example, he helped bring together utility companies, dairy farmers, clean energy advocates, and community leaders to convert manure into renewable energy. The project now heats thousands of homes and factories while lowering emissions and creating jobs. Throughout the talk, he returned to the idea of building and implementing solutions. He cited his experience constructing affordable housing units, developing solar and wind projects, and launching renewable energy initiatives as evidence of his approach. He emphasized the importance of listening, accountability, and a “bias for action” in order to get things done.
King closed by returning to the idea that this political moment calls for a different kind of leadership. “I do not have the ordinary resume for someone who’s running for governor,” he acknowledged. “But I really don’t think this is an ordinary moment.”
~ Sophia Ikiri `29
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Scrolling for the Truth
At a school where assignment deadlines pile up and phones very rarely leave our hands, the way we consume news has quietly shifted. Morning newspapers have been replaced with push notifications. Cable broadcasts compete with TikTok short-form videos. And somewhere between Instagram stories and group chats, information spreads faster than ever.
So where are students at the College actually getting their news?
I asked two members of the Class of 2028, Summer Woo and Mara Reba, to walk me through their habits. Their answers reveal a generation balancing convenience with caution.
“Most of my news comes from NY Times, CNBC, or Yahoo Finance,” Woo said.
When a major event happens, her first instinct isn’t to open Instagram. “I normally google it and scroll through a bunch of sources to see if the major event isn’t some troll on social media,” Woo said. “I do that because most news sources can have underlying biases, and having the ability to read through the same topic coming from several different sources allows me to come to a general consensus on what the major issue is.”
For Woo, truth is built through comparisons and cross-referencing. “I decide if it is or isn’t by the validity of the source or I cross-check between major headlines,” she explained. Rather than relying on a single platform, she pieces together coverage across different outlets to form her overall understanding.
Reba’s habits fluctuate depending on where she is. “When I’m home, I usually get my news in the more traditional method of listening to NPR in the mornings or watching cable news with my parents in the evenings,” she said. “But now at Colby, I’m often busy with work and unfortunately just get my news from Instagram.”
On social media, she follows accounts like Democracy Now!, Zeteo, and The New York Times, along with mutual aid organizations in her neighborhood. Still, when something major breaks, she turns to a well-known outlet first. “I usually open the NY Times app on my phone when a major event happens, then I look at social media,” Reba said.
Verification matters to her too. “I google the major headline that I’m seeing to make sure this is an event being covered by multiple news outlets and not just some false information on social media.”
Despite growing up in an era dominated by social media, neither student relies entirely on a single post or platform without checking elsewhere. Their approach to credibility is logical: look for repetition across established outlets and confirm the story exists beyond a singular viral post.
When it comes to actually reading the news, both admitted that it depends on interest and time. “I read full articles if I believe all the small details are necessary, but once I get the gist, I stop,” Woo said. Reba echoed that view, “I will occasionally read full news articles from the Times or Al Jazeera if it is a major event or something that really interests me. I typically feel like I can understand what’s going on from reading headlines.”
The existence of scroll culture is real. Headlines are quick and getting through articles in full requires much time.
As for the future of journalism, both sophomores expressed cautious optimism. “I think it depends on AI and how widespread it becomes,” Woo said. “Traditional journalism definitely has a chance to survive, but I think that because news has become so convenient to access online, as the newer generations get older, it might be harder to keep it up.”
Reba is hopeful. “I’m hopeful, and I do think that journalism will always persist in our media,” she said. “There’s a lot of great independent reporting outlets that are gaining traction right now. I think it just depends on whether AI will fully take over social media or not.”
Social media may be the quickest and easiest access point. But when credibility matters, these students still turn to established outlets, cross-check information and at least sometimes, read beyond the headline.
In a world where information travels nearly instantly, the challenge for student news consumption may not be access, but attentiveness.
~ Mia Dinunzio `28
March 9, 2026
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