Communities Annie Malamet
Marlboro as a microcosm
On visiting Marlboro
I really wanted to go here because of how small the community was, how everyone knew each other. I was so dazzled that everyone was doing such interesting things. Even though it is so small (and it feels small to me now) it felt really big because there were so many different types of people. On my overnight visit as a prospective student I got to meet so many people. Unlike at other schools, I got to meet the overnight host’s whole group of friends. When I got here the next year, I already saw familiar faces. They said “Hi” to me…They remembered me.
On Marlboro as a microcosm
Though I came to Marlboro thinking it would be a paradise, free from the constraints of the outside world, that’s kind of a silly notion: you bring those things with you. Its not going to be a paradise like you thought it would be, but that’s good; the real world is not a paradise, it’s not a bubble. As much as we like to say Marlboro is in its own little world, it’s really a microcosm of the world. But here you can work things out, and learn to handle these issues in a way you wouldn’t be able to in a larger setting, because you know everyone.
On academics at Marlboro
I feel like Marlboro has really sharpened my mind. It is now harder for me to be in more basic classes because I am in tutorials and classes specifically designed for what I study. When I was a freshman, I took a lot of different introductory classes. I was really stimulated in a way I’d never been stimulated before. Now I go into tutorials and it's one-on-one, and it ends up being this hour- or two-hour-long conversation about something I’m really interested in. I’ve never talked to anyone from a school that has the same kind of relationships with professors that we develop here.
On studying broadly
Seriously, study broadly. Everyone says that, but it’s really important. I took a bunch of classes this year not related to my field, and I found that classics were very interesting, and would be very helpful to study. I’m studying the Renaissance, and the classical period was really important for the Renaissance. I learned that I wanted to read more of the ancient sources in order to round out my knowledge for my Plan.
On the Plan of Concentration
I study female artists and patrons in the Italian Renaissance, especially artists that choose to represent themselves in the guise of mythical or religious figures. I also do visual arts, video installations. I plan to do a video installation that portrays female celebrities as mythical or religious figures. I’m interested in themes throughout time, how things, though they may change, don’t actually change that much.
The thing about Marlboro is that it is really intense. But it's all about just doing your best and knowing that if you’re trying your hardest and invested in what you do, then it's okay, and it's great. If you know you want to learn, and show your professors that you want to learn, they love teaching what they teach, so they are going to be more than happy to help you do what you want to do. Plan is a lot of work—whether you’re writing or doing sculpture, it is still work. But as corny as it sounds, if you find something you love, it won’t feel like work.