An Ode to Winter Carnival: A Sophomore’s Perspective

Dear Old Dartmouth, set a watch… lest the old traditions fail! Or so our alma mater proclaims. Dear reader, did you know that those words are the opening lyrics of our alma mater? If you were asked to, would you be able to hum its melody? Hell, perhaps you haven’t even heard it being sung at all! I’m afraid that’s the case for many students these days—especially those oblivious, crude computer science students who don’t give a damn about Dartmouth culture. 

But, dear reader, I wouldn’t blame you or even those grimy computer science students for not knowing about it. What has the College ever done to pass down its old traditions that once made Dartmouth so marvelous? It has been inactive in teaching most of its traditions while also proactive in purging those that are struggling to survive. 

It’s quite peculiar to see how nobody bats an eye at the senior fence on the Green. It was once an exclusive spot where the grand old seniors would hang out. Pesky, eager freshmen who sat on it would be dunked into a water trough nearby. During Homecoming, who now would dare to touch the bonfire or rush the football field during half-time? Even if they did so dare, who could act on it? The administration and the town place security measures to such an excessive extent that one might say we are akin to incarcerated juveniles watching fellow inmates playing football. 

Dear reader, I’m sure your experience of Winter Carnival is fresh in your mind—of how vapid, dreary, and pointless it was. In the past, it wasn’t so; in fact, it was perhaps more integral to Dartmouth culture than Green Key and Homecoming combined. There were exuberant dances between students and their dates. Students designated a “charming girl in a winter sports costume” as the Winter Carnival Queen. Colossal ice sculptures stood proudly on the front yard of Greek houses and the Green. Daredevils conducted ski jumps as spectators jubilantly slobbered themselves with wine. As we at The Review like to remind readers, Winter Carnival was such a vibrant celebration that National Geographic called it the “Mardi Gras of the North”. 

After this Winter Carnival, it is evident to me that Carnival is dead. Did anyone exactly know what took place during the weekend? Even the last of all the Winter Carnival activities, the polar plunge, was canceled. All that remains is the corpse of the tradition that will soon rot and be completely forgotten in the next few generations of students. If the College continues to sabotage its own culture, dear reader, be  prepared to see Green Key become grey, Homecoming burn out, and Sophomore Summer without sun.