Heya

Here are some lyrics that have been on my mind lately: "Even mollusks have weddings, though solemn and leaden..." -Joanna Newsom, and "Let's not try to figure out everything at once." -The National Take care.

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A Moment in a Dickinson Chemistry Laboratory

We stumbled into a chemistry experiment today.  The smell was nauseating, the liquid was gurgling, and the energy was exploding.  Here's what we* gathered of the experiment:

The goal was to extract essential oil out of cloves using steam distillation.  Hopefully, one is able to separate extract out Eugenol, which is a compound with antioxidant properties.  In measuring this isolation, these scientists used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Infrared Spectrocity.  Hopefully, these two methods will show not only the isolated Eugenol, but also other components of the compound and their relative proportions.

*We are two students whose Plans mainly lie in the social sciences, and so we felt overwhelmed and awed by this experience.  We take full responsibility for any information stated above that is inaccurate.  We're out of our element here.  Pun intended. 

~Michael '15 and Arden '16

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Spring Has Arrived #2

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...And then there is the other story of Jennings.  Feeling eccentric on a rather bleak Vermont afternoon, Sarah and Michael plunged into the depths of Jennings, with the intention of practicing their piano work. Instead, they encountered more than just music notes.  Though, like music notes, the forces they encountered were not visible to the naked eye...DUN DUN DUN

Cheers,

Michael and Sarah

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Sarah Goldsmith and Michael Thomson thought y'all might like to see some of the practice rooms in Jennings, our music building.  These rooms are open 24/7, and are equipped with mirrors for people who'd like to see their hands while they play their instrument (woodwinds, I'm talkin to you), pianos, and often half-crazed people trying to finish compositions, performance pieces, and anything else they're working on!

We have music workshop once a week in the Deane Carriage Barn (the other music building on campus), where music students perform for one another and get feedback on their work.  I'll be performing for the first time in it tomorrow, with the Allegro Movement of Joseph Haydn's Sontata in F Major.  Wish me luck! 

~Sarah and Michael

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Not all those who wander are lost

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Another picture from my first FWT.  This one was taken from a historical village called Slunj.  The old town sits on the edge of a waterfall and has rivers running through it, sometimes with a stream running right through a home.

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My first FWT, teaching two amazing kids (Mateo and David) to play drums in Croatia.  These guys rock!