Posts tagged Bennington Free Press

I think students here hold the school to an incredibly high standard and thus have some strong opinions. Personally, I think the language that the school is ‘falling apart’ is melodramatic, but not everyone would agree with me. These posts, I think, speak more to the seriousness of our students than they do to the state of the school. Bennington will always be going through changes because we are always trying to get the school as close as possible to the values that drive it. In a sense, if you join our community, you should be concerned: Bennington students get involved and engage in discussions about these issues. But you shouldn’t be worried.

As for FWT, I would say you are getting a pretty fair portrayal between this blog and some of the articles on the BFP. We all make judgement calls regarding money going into FWT — balancing realism and idealism is a real world lesson, too.

-Alan ‘15

Also, I think it’s important to note that these “burden FWT” articles aren’t reflecting any change in the nature of FWT. Not everyone has 4 amazing FWTs. In fact, I don’t know if anyone has ever had 4 straight FWTs that met every one of his/her expectations. However (and I think that we only realize this after FWT is over), we can always learn something about ourselves and our aspirations during an internship, even if the internship is not great, or even awful.

And I will happily second Alan’s point about “falling apart” being an overstatement. Yes, President Liz Coleman is leaving, but she is staying on for the next 2 years as Director of CAPA, and will definitely continue to have input re: Bennington’s direction well into the future. Apparently, she’s apartment-hunting in North Bennington, but that might just be a rumor. Also, we have no idea what the Office of Student Life will be like without Eva.
As long as Bennington College is full of students, faculty and staff who are invested in nurturing and following the values and ethos of this institution, it will not fall apart.

-Eric ‘13

A link to another current student’s response can be found here.

Plenty! In addition to the work you’ll be doing in classes, there are extracurricular groups such as:

• The Bennington Free Press, our alternative student newspaper which is currently in the process of securing online publication in addition to its long-running print edition (watch this space for more updates).
• The Silo, which is a student journal of arts and letters that strictly publishes current work by Bennington students. This can be any type of work - visual arts, sciences, and plenty of fiction/nonfiction/poetry. You can view the Silo online here to get an idea of what’s usually published.
• Plain China - a national anthology of undergraduate writing curated by Bennington students and professors. As their website puts it, “the work of undergraduates has often been featured only in their respective institutions; with this anthology we want to honor and connect young writers and artists, and to create a collective narrative reflective of and relevant to the undergraduate writing experience.” The Plain China website is here.
• Tea and Fantasy, a (rather self-explanatory) club dedicated to the appreciation of tea and sci-fi fantasy. The club meets on weekends and combines discussions of current fantasy lit and (I believe) workshops of material written by club members.

In addition to these clubs, there are always opportunities to form clubs of your own through the Office of Student Life, as well as less-formalized extracurricular activities, like open workshops for student fiction, or poetry readings in your common room. Hope this helps!

-Evan ‘13