A little known fact about me is that I was a fairly unsuccessful child actress, starring in "When I Grow Up I Want to be... A Veterinarian." Though this was the peak of my acting career, it wasn't the end of my life as a performer. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while someone will accuse me of being the tiniest bit overdramatic. Maybe a performance theme for The Mirror seemed like an obvious choice. But the truth is that we're all performing every day. We put enormous pressure on ourselves to produce the academic results we've personally deemed acceptable. We avoid telling our friends the hardest parts of our lives to keep from being "the downer." I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with this; it's a natural human urge to present a better version of ourselves to the rest of the world. But performance at Dartmouth does deserve a critical eye, whether it's in the form of the resources we assign to arts initiatives or in the way we tackle our workload. If your performance lines up with the person you want to be, full steam ahead. But if you've cast yourself as the villain in your own life, it might be time for a reality check. Happy Friday everyone! Let's take the stage.
Editor's Note
