Diana D'Souza

The Office of Student Life sponsors an annual Barn Babies event for students to hang out with rabbits, kittens, goats, piglets, and puppies. Fellow blogger Sydney and I swung by Sarner Underground to hang out with the animals for a quick study break before our economics midterm. Sydney is definitely more a dog person, but I insisted that we get back in line again to cuddle with the bunnies.

This meet features a series of competitive outdoor events between Dartmouth and 11 other universities. I ended up stumbling upon the event on my way to lunch when I noticed a massive portion of the Green sectioned off. Teams were standing on chunks of wood and hacking with axes as fast as they could. My friend and I cheered on for the Dartmouth team, but unfortunately we placed last in the event (and the meet overall). I had no prior interest in timber sports, but couldn’t help myself from getting caught up in the excitement, especially since this was the first time that any current Dartmouth students were able to attend a meet since the pandemic.

As part of Dartmouth PRIDE month, I attended the drag show Transform, hosted by the House of Lewan student group. Transform featured 15 student performers and 3 professional drag queens, Rhedd Rhumm, Grimm Noir, and my personal favorite, Sasha Siracha. The 2-hour show included performances ranging from burlesque to lip syncing, as well as a fashion show that highlighted audience participants. My first drag show definitely exceeded my expectations, and I’m looking forward to participating in more PRIDE events this month, such as the Pride Parade and Collis Trivia - Pride Edition.

Unwind Your Mind is a day dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health awareness. The day started off strong with a free nachos bar in Collis Common Ground. There were also many booths in the surrounding area, with students getting chair massages, playing with therapy dogs, and participating in mindfulness activities. The festivities continued outside along Mass Row, with students lining up for Kona shaved ice. The line was too long for me, but I did get to pose with a moose mascot roaming around and pick up a succulent from the Counseling Center. The day was ultimately a well-needed reminder of the resources that the college makes available and a great chance to see the entire community come out to support student well-being.

There is nothing more exciting to me than Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM). Since coming to Dartmouth, I have only become more proud of my Asian American identity. I plan to attend almost all of the AAPIHM programming, starting with their kickoff event, where students can pick up free bubble tea, mango lassis, and T-shirts. All in all, AAPIHM could be an entire blog post in itself. Just this week, I’m going to check in the Geisel Night Market, Seoul Food Lunch, and our Keynote Speaker Priya Krishna, a ‘13 turned food reporter at the New York Times!