Happy sophomore summer, Mirror readers. My hiatus from the Mirror is over, although I return alone, without my co-editor Hayley. With nobody to monitor my coffee consumption and comment on it in editor’s notes, my coffee habits have only gotten more excessive.
This week, the Mirror is a bit unorthodox, in that I both wrote and edited it. Inspired by the controversies surrounding Planned Parenthood last summer and a recent Supreme Court decision in Texas, I elected to write about a much more serious topic than typically graces the Mirror: abortion.
Upon telling people about this topic, some responded with skepticism and questions. To be fair, an article exploring abortion at the College and the Upper Valley doesn’t quite align with the typical light-heartedness of sophomore summer. But in my opinion, is there ever really an “appropriate” time to discuss difficult topics like abortion? Issues like these don’t discriminate based on season; they’re omnipresent, and therefore always merit discussion. A trend I’ve noticed about Dartmouth is that we sometimes tend to brush tough issues under the rug — mental health, socioeconomic inequities, sexual assault — because they don’t quite align with the idyllic Dartmouth façade. I believe that is especially true over sophomore summer, the quintessence of the “happy” Dartmouth. The truth is that difficult issues have touched us all, but sometimes discussions about those can get buried beneath topics that are easier to discuss, like the length of the KAF line or who is playing in Masters, and platforms for meaningful conversations can be lost.
But in my opinion, bringing these issues to light will help to put an end to the unhealthy cycles of shame and silence that students often face. So, it may not be the most carefree Mirror article, but hopefully it challenges you to think about the issue in a new way.
