for Community Council Co-Chair
jack
Carew
Dear Fellow Students,
My name is Jack Carew and I am running to be the co-Chair of your Community Council.
Community Council is a body of students, faculty, and staff who discuss issues and pass recommendations to the administration with solutions to those issues. The student co-Chair of the council works with the faculty co-Chair to engender a close relationship between the council and the administration.
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I am running to be your Community Council co-Chair for a variety of reasons - most importantly, to voice others’ concerns. I love talking with people, and my main priority is to allow the widest possible range of voices to be heard. I would like to collaborate with members and non-members of Community Council to allow any and all voices to be heard.
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This election coincides with a tumultuous time at Middlebury, obviously. Only a least-woke individual would assert that Middlebury does not have its problems. That is a fact. And while I am saddened by the divisions that exist on campus, solutions to these problems do exist. After all, the first step in making something better is identifying that it is a problem in the first place.
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Those of you who do know me - as a wannabe drag queen, the kid who delivers your GrilleMe, or the one who writes poetry during biology lectures - may also know that I have never participated in student government before. This is true; I have never run a campaign—bar my bid for fourth grade class representative—nor am I involved with the political science department here. And while I do receive CNN push notifications on my phone, I am certainly not the most ‘political’ candidate. I embrace this aspect of my identity. I am uniquely able to provide an outsider’s unbiased perspective on student government at Middlebury, and if I am lucky enough to be gain your support, I will bring no preconceived notions to Community Council.
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Finally, I would like to return to my identity. I am (candidly) a white, gay, cisgendered male running for elected office, in a time when three out of four of these identifiers estrange me from many Middlebury students. I ask you to look beyond politics or previous affiliations in this election, and see me as an individual who cares for people and the issues that affect them, not just those that affect himself.
Graciously,
Jack Carew
Haikus
Time is ticking by
Many clickers click away
Need to blow my nose
Oh! to blow is good
A sensual act—I like
Really clears my nose
Energy bonds of
Hydrogen and Nitrogen
Maybe we will melt
The Life
This was the most uncomfortable I have ever been being straight my straight white cisgendered male friend tells me
You can say that when your existence is not preached against on a weekly basis
When my friend from Kansas is not afraid to introduce her girlfriend to her parents
When I am allowed to go to my high school prom with any man I choose
When my sexuality is not professed as an “objective disorder”
When my grandfather does not yell “it’s all because of the fags” when binge watching Fox News
When I am not told by the Westboro Baptist Church that I am going to Hell for wearing a pink shirt
When my brother does not say that Jeeps are “lesbian cars” or that a nondescript pink shirt is “a gay shirt”
When inanimate objects do not have sexualities
When men are not murdered for going to a local nightclub on a Saturday night
When I am not bombarded with straight white cisgendered male literature, films, music, television, and culture
When you make effort to try to understand a life other than your own
When you are forced to experience any of these
That is when you can begin to be uncomfortable in your straight white cisgendered male skin
The Red Arrow
My eyes scan the worn page
I read those words
“The dunes of Wellfleet”
I flashback
Me in my European bathing suit
You in your Mr. Monopoly “get out of jail free” shirt
We just came from the lighthouse tour in the town over
It’s drizzling a bit and I get out of the water to lay with you in the damp sand
I am content
I wonder what you are thinking
You betray no hint
You smile and look at me
I am happy
Because of this I must grasp the cold metal box always by my side
Slide my digit across the surface and press on the yellow and white icon
Snap a picture of the page
Puzzle for a moment, then make my fingers write
“All lovers go to the Cape”
And press send
In that late summer haze
I thought it would mean something
If not mean something I thought you would at least laugh
All I receive is that hollow red arrow
I try again tomorrow
GET IN ToUCH!
Questions? Concerns?
Email Jack at jcarew@middlebury.edu
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For further inquiries, please contact Chief of Staff Apparent Galen Fastie: gfastie@middlebury.edu
For complaints please contact Senior Advisor Grace Vedock: gvedock@middlebury.edu