Passing through the town of Huixtan on the road up to San Cristobal de las Casas from the jungle, we came upon a traffic jam. Traffic jams being something of an anomaly in rural Chiapas, the sudden stop surprised us, and we pulled over, spilled out of the van, and began asking around to figure out what was going on. The story emerged slowly, with many confused details, but it seemed that members of the autonomous community just down the road had decided to set up a roadblock. The Mexican authorities didn’t want to provoke the community by using force, and we were told that the roadblock was likely to end by five or six in the evening. We decided to wait. But our brief delay was quite lengthy: we sat by the side of the highway until nearly two in the morning. And so began our adventures in Zapatista country.

From the beginning, it was clear that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary term. We had our textbooks, yes, but also malaria pills and insurance policies that covered us for evacuation in case of revolution. Though it was January, our first class was conducted outdoors, and was interrupted by a sound like thunder coming from the erupting volcano on the horizon. That first night, we stood in a circle around a campfire, burned copal incense, and listened to Uncle Jay (back on campus, he’s called professor Jay Levi) sing us a traveling song in a language that none of us could understand. And that was before we even stepped out of our hotel.

Carleton College recently honored retirees and longtime employees on April 15 at a lunchtime ceremony and a dinner at the Nutting House hosted by Carleton President Robert Oden Jr. and his wife Teresa Johnson Oden.

The Carleton Ethics Bowl team of seniors Carmen Ross, Chris Logel  and Dan Kagan-Kans recently advanced to the national semifinals of the 16th annual Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The Carleton squad, in its fourth year of existence, suffered a narrow two-point loss to eventual national champion University of Alabama at Birmingham. The national tournament featured 32 teams that qualified through regional competitions. Carleton was the smallest institution to crack the final four.

Carleton held its traditional Passover Seder with nearly 150 people in attendance, including well-known radio personality Garrison Keillor, along with his wife and daughter. Keillor was invited to the event by Carleton associate chaplin Shosh Dworsky, whose brother, Rich, is a member of the "Guys' All-Star Band" which performs each week on Keillor's public radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion."

Carleton College’s Panel on Haiti on Wednesday, Jan. 27 was packed to the brim with students and members of the Carleton and Northfield communities. The event featured four guest speakers who discussed not only the current situation in Haiti, but also the country’s economic, social, and political history to this point. The panel was organized by Carleton junior Hunter Knight (Brookline, Mass.) along with several groups on campus, including the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and International Relations Council; both groups have been providing and organizing fund-raising events since Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake on January 12, 2010. 

Student photographer Henry Moskowitz '11 captured images from one of the winter's highlights, a performance by the student-run dance company Ebony II.  The dance company is open to beginners, experienced dancers, and everyone in between. All dance styles are welcomed. Each term the company performs student choreography in a performance open to the entire campus, which is heavily attended and of the social highlights of the term.

Carleton media relations photographers Nate Ryan '10 and Teddy Wolf '10 captured images of a random igloo, supposedly constructed by a Carleton student or students, in the lower portion of the Cowling Arboretum. It is unclear if the igloo was merely for entertainment purposes or constructed as an actual domicile!

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010, the Carleton campus awoke to the scene of the entire campus painted white following a hoar frost. According to a post on wikipedia.com, a hoar frost (also called a radiation frost or hoarfrost) "refers to the white ice crystals, loosely deposited on the ground or exposed objects, that form on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air."

A group of Chinese educators recently visited Carleton in conjunction with its stay at The Mingda Institute for Leadership Training of the University of Minnesota’s China Center. The delegation and their counterparts from the University of Minnesota spent Thursday, Dec. 17, at Carleton. This site visit was meant to introduce the Chinese educators to a very strong, small college and to demonstrate the diversity of American higher education.

In a year rich in student film projects at Carleton – there were at least five movie productions underway this fall – Nova Roma, an alternate history of the Roman Empire conceived and directed by Alexander Cooney ’11 (Golden Valley, Minn.), stands out for its creative use of resources.

On Sunday, October 18, Carleton commemorated the Hindu “festival of lights,” Diwali, with a celebratory event held at the Severance Great Hall. The event featured a keynote address by guest speaker Suhag Shukla, co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, followed by vocal and dance performances by members of DESI (Dedicated to the Exploration of South-Asian Interests) club and other Carleton students.