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sign up today—it's free! On This Day1850 — Harriet Beecher Stowe arrives in Brunswick seven months pregnant after 18 years in Cincinnati. While living in Brunswick in 1850-1851, when her husband Calvin, of the Bowdoin Class of 1824, was teaching theology, Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” one of the most influential novels in American history. Stowe wrote in her husband’s study in Appleton hall and in the family home on Federal Street, where she hosted Bowdoin students to read and discuss the book before it was published. StorePurchase Bowdoin merchandise online. |  Angus Wall ’88 picked up an Oscar last year for his editing of The Social Network, about the rise of Facebook, and wasn’t expecting a second win this year. Typically editors of movies that are nominated for best picture get the top prize, according to the Los Angeles Times. And Wall’s movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on a popular Swedish novel, hadn’t been one of the nine films selected for best picture.
Nonetheless, Wall and his Australian partner Kirk Baxter were honored for their work last night at the annual Academy Awards. The duo were also previously nominated for their work on 2008′s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of the Class of 1825 One of the College’s most illustrious graduates, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a member of the Class of 1825, was born on this day, February 27, in 1807. Garrison Keillor mentioned the poet and his connection to the college this morning on The Writer’s Almanac, as he did last year. Keillor said, “Today is the birthday of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , born in Portland, Maine (1807). He entered Bowdoin College at the age of 15, and one of his classmates was Nathaniel Hawthorne; the two would remain lifelong friends. When Longfellow graduated, the college gave him a chair in modern languages, and he worked with translations for the rest of his life.” David Needell ’15 has always been interested in art, and growing up on an 800-acre ranch in tiny Elbert, Colo. gave him plenty of peace, quiet and inspiration to draw. Later, in high school at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado, he took a ceramics class and became captivated by another art form: pot throwing. “It’s one of the most ancient arts,” the Bowdoin first-year said recently. “You go to the museum and see pots and vases from Chinese dynasties. It’s always been a form of art and functionality.” History aside, it’s just as much the physical act of making pottery that appeals to him. “I like throwing. It’s like a meditation when you’re doing it. The whole point of throwing is to get [the pot] centered, and it takes concentration. You have to be in the zone,” he said. “If I’m ever stressed about something, I go throw. It’s a good way to calm down.” This semester Needell was hired to teach a four-week pot-throwing class at Bowdoin’s Craft Center, and is offering a weekly two-hour course to five students. The class size is limited because the center has only so many wheels, and there was a wait list, he said. He’ll offer the class again in the fall. Continue reading Video: First-year Offers Wheel-Throwing Class at Craft Center 
The February issue of DownEast magazine features an article on Linda Nelson ’83 and Judith Jerome, whose purchase of the Stonington Opera House 13 years ago helped reinvigorate that small Maine town. 
Here’s another smart reason to get your feet moving. Japanese researches have determined that regular exercise provides the brain with a “supercompensation” of fuel that especially benefits the cortex and the hippocampus, the parts of the brain vital to learning and memory formation. (With thanks to Jan Pierson ’74 for the heads up on this article.) 
A team of Newcastle University scientists in the United Kingdom have found that bacteria in the Earth’s stratosphere can generate enough current to power a lightbulb. This breakthrough might mean that Bacillus stratosphericus, which live 10 to 30 miles above the Earth, could be harnessed in the future to produce a cheap, portable source of green energy. 
Men’s Ice Hockey — Sophomore goaltender Steve Messina made 31 saves to lead the Bowdoin College men’s ice hockey team to a 2-1 win over Trinity in the NESCAC Quarterfinals Saturday evening before a capacity crowd at Sidney J. Watson Arena. Women’s Ice Hockey — Stephanie Ludy ’13 scored the game-winning goal with 21 seconds left in overtime to lift the Bowdoin College women’s ice hockey team to a 3-2 win over Williams in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament Saturday at Sidney J. Watson Arena. Women’s Basketball — The Bowdoin College women’s basketball team jumped out to an 11-0 lead but could not hold off Tufts in a 55-40 loss in the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Amherst. Nordic Skiing — The Bowdoin College nordic ski team posted some of its finest finishes of the season in taking 10th at the Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association Championships hosted by Middlebury College this weekend. Women’s Squash — The women’s squash team lost to Wesleyan 8-1 on Saturday. Men’s Swimming & Diving — The Bowdoin College men’s swimming and diving team earned its best-ever finish at the NESCAC Championship this weekend at Williams College. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of the Class of 1825 Maine’s poet laureate Wesley McNair gave a poetry reading and spoke to a packed Main Lounge in Moulton Union this past Thursday about an often overlooked aspect of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetry as part of Brunswick’s annual Longfellow Days celebration. 
Owen Strachan ’03, a professor of theology and history at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, will speak at the Bowdoin Chapel tomorrow, Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 7pm, as part of the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship Chapel service series. Strachan, who was recently in the news for his Atlantic Monthly article, “Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?”, will deliver a sermon on Romans 8:18-30, “The Hope of Glory,” which will cover Nietzsche, adoption, and the human quest for hope. 
Women’s Squash — The Bowdoin College women’s squash team blanked Wellesley College 9-0 in Friday action on the home courts of the Lubin Family Squash Center. | On This Day in Civil War History…Bowdoin Talks: Lectures, Discussions and Events |
