The view from Gile Mountain
Out through Norwich, past Dan and Whit's, is a road which runs ten miles out to Gile Mountain, a hill in Vermont. A fifteen minute walk and a few flights of rickety steps bring one from the roadside to the top of the fire tower on Gile's summit. This affords beautiful views of New Hampshire and Vermont, and of an uncharacteristic broad valley which runs from Gile down to Norwich. Hanover rises steeply behind Norwich and Baker Tower stands gleaming white against the background of the mountains.
From off the top of the chair lifts at the Holt's Ledge side of the skiway, it is possible to walk to the summit, just off the Appalachian trail. The view to the east is of the rising foothills of the White Mountains. To the south is a goose pond, in the distance rises Ascutney, and in the middle ground, Hanover can be made out nestled beside the Connecticut.
Ten miles south on the Appalachian trail from Holt's Ledge is Velvet Rocks shelter. Velvet Rocks sits on a bluff along the side of Balch Hill. The shelter overlooks Hanover from the east. From this vantage point, Dartmouth actually looks like it is on a hill, though at one time it probably perched on it instead of sprawled across it.
In the media, on the sports pages and front pages of newspapers, on radio news, and on local television, Dartmouth looks like an embattled institution. From this perspective, it would seem that students, faculty and staff are in a pitched battle with the administration. But the media is trained to look for controversy, and the most prominent images are ones of dramatic opposition. A football coach making a goal-line stand against his own athletic department is a great image of opposing forces.
Perspectives can be obtained from any vantage point. The view of Dartmouth from Gile Mountain is different from the view from Balch Hill. The view of Dartmouth from the president's office is different from the view from shantytown. Being careful about where we obtain our perspective and being sensitive to the perspectives of other people is the first step toward getting rid of the siege mentality we seem to have about controversy.
If we continue to have a love affair with the dramatic, if we continue to be convinced of the awesome importance of our own opinions, if we continue to see things as us versus them, it will continue to be agonizingly difficult to affect change at Dartmouth. Perspective is a valuable commodity, and appreciating the perspective of others is a valuable trait. The perspective of Dartmouth from Gile Mountain beats the one from The Boston Globe any day.
Chris Keating is a senior at the College and president of the Dartmouth Outing Club. As an English major, he is preparing an honors thesis onWhite Mountain Literature. His essay appearedearlier in The Dartmouth.
