september 2008

CounterpointTHE WELLESLEY COLLEGE

JOURNAL OF CAMPUS LIFEVOLUME 31 / ISSUE 5SEPTEMBER 2008

[also inside: dispatches from St. Petersburg, saying ‘goodbye, love’ to RENT, and

the limits of ironic humor]

The Bear Awakens Russia and Georgia at war

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Wellesley 101Everything you need to know

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CounterpointThe Wellesley College Journal of Campus LifeSeptember 2008Volume 31 / Issue 5

a r t s & c u l t u r e

r e g u l a r s

9

Goodbye, Love

JULIETBARBARA

4 /etc“Reading the Bibes”: Reaching the limits of irony

HAILEY HUGET

MARION JOHNSON &VERONICA COLE

18 Women who will...self-medicate

c o u n t e r p o i n t 3

p o l i t i c s5 Back in the U.S.S.R.CARLOTTA

CHENOWETH

7 Reconciling the West with the RestBenazir Bhutto and the pursuit of tolerance

ALEX CAHILL

15

Exploitation, Drama and Fingerless Gloves

MISSYFORD

Our collection of Wellesley-specifi c drinking games.

Help Elect Barack Obama!Oh, yeah, and get yelled at by crazy people for no pay!

A Rent-head’s fi nal adieu to a Broadway legacy

Why we won’t miss Rent16

KRISTINA COSTA

Russia and Georgia clash. What is the real cause of the crisis in the Caucuses?

14MACHERIEEDWARDS

Summer in the Brainchild of Peter the GreatEB BARTELS 10From Counterpoint’s overseas correspondent

Stuff in the CityMovies as the new commercials

c a m p u s l i f eKRISTINA COSTA & MARION JOHNSON

WOST 399: Intro to Wellesley CollegeMore important than your textbooks

14

E D I TO R I A L S TA F F

B U S I N ES S S TA F F

T R U S T E ES

S TA F F W R I T E R S

D ES I G N S TA F F

CO NTR IB UTO RS

S U B M I S S I O N S

S U B S C R I PT I O N S

Editors in Chief Kristina Costa WC ’09Marion Johnson WC ’09

Layout Kristina Costa WC ’09Hailey Huget WC ’10Caroline Sun WC ’11

Artistic Director May ChenWC ’10

Treasurer Sarika Narula WC ’11

E.B. Bartels WC ’10, Veronica Cole WC ’09, Kris-tina Costa WC ’09, MaCherie Edwards WC ’11, Marion Johnson WC ’09, Ami Li WC ’10, Sarika Narula WC ’11

Elana Altman ’11, Alexandra Cahill ’11, May Chen ’10, Caitlin Contag ’11, Megan Cunniff ’11, Rayla Heide ’10, Johanna Hudgens ’09, Cammie Lewis ’09, Elizabeth Pan ’11, Jane Repetti ’09, Caroline Sun ’11, Anna Prendella ’11, Christina Tran ’11, Alyssa Torres ’09, Shu-Yen Wei ’11

Matt Burns MIT ’05, Brian Dunagan MIT ’03, Kara Hagde WC ’08, Edward Summers MIT ’08, Miny-ing Tan WC ’08, Vivi Vasudevan MIT ’07

Counterpoint welcomes all submissions of articles and letters. Email submissions to [email protected]. Counterpoint encourages cooperation between writers and editors but re-serves the right to edit all submissions for length and clarity.

One year’s subscription: $25. Send checks and mailing address to:Counterpoint, MIT Room W20-443

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Counterpoint is funded in part by the Wellesley Senate. Wellesley College is not responsible for the content of Counterpoint. Counterpoint thanks its departmental sponsors at Wellesley: Middle Eastern Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, Art, Philosophy, and Africana Studies; and at MIT: Writing & Humanistic Studies.

Business Manager MaCherie Edwards WC ’11

Managing Editor Alex Cahill WC ’11

Copy Editor Veronica Cole WC ’09

c o u n t e r p o i n t4

/ E T C

Reading the BibesReaching the limits of ironic humor

{ b y h a i l e y h u g e t }

Everyone has that friend, or that sibling, or that classmate, who likes to speak in a ridiculous ver-

sion of English. For example, she might say “totes” instead of “totally”; she may say “like” literally every other word; or, if she is really special, she might use instant messaging shorthand such as “lol,” “ttyl” and “g2g” in spoken communication.

Another common variant of this is the guy who uses archaic slang terms, such as “da bomb” and “score!” – popular in the ‘90s, among third graders – without a trace of irony. Yet another is the nerdy guy who, in a misguided eff ort to be cool, starts speaking like he is in a mainstream rap video.

When you recognize the absurdity of these speech patterns, it becomes clear

a typical response like “good,” or “bad,” you automatically jump to something ri-diculous, like “it was so totes craze-craze.” Or, in another variant, “it was positively b*tchin’.”

And when you start to produce such ridiculous speech in such a terrifyingly automatic fashion, you start to won-der whether your entire personality has been reduced to one long string of ironic jokes.

My sister and I had this sort of real-ization recently, at a big gathering of our extended family, where a sweet, elderly relative said to us: “Girls, when you grow up, you will cherish the memories of your youth.” While we responded politely at the time, this struck us as so hilarious that we later incorporated the word “cherish” into a series of absurd jokes. For example, whenever we would see something gross and unattractive, such a compost heap or a pile of garbage, we would point to it and say “Cherish that.” If one of us was doing something inane, such as watching Gos-sip Girl or America’s Next Top Model, the other would say, “You are so totally cher-ishing that episode right now.” We even adapted our jokes to the future tense: “I’m like, totally about to go cherish this bowl of teriyaki ramen noodles.”

It is important to understand that no part of this running joke was directed at our lovable old relative. We actually ap-preciated her comment, understanding that it was very nice and probably pretty wise.

Instead, what we found so absurd about the word “cherish,” and the comment in general, was its complete and total sincer-ity. When your lexicon is couched almost entirely in ironic humor, it makes it dif-fi cult to take anything – even the nicest bit of advice – seriously.

At that point, when we were speaking to each other in “abbrevs,” saying “lol” out loud, and thought that the word “cherish” was entirely absurd, we realized that the joke was, ultimately, on us.

Hailey Huget ‘10 ([email protected]) is the Microsoft Word of hip-hop.

{ {While using ridiculous English is quite funny for a time and can often create an array of inside jokes between you and your friends, it can quickly slide out of control.

that they off er to us a veritable buff et of comedic possibility. At least in my expe-rience, a typical way of actualizing this potential is to incorporate the ridiculous English into your own lexicon. It is criti-cal, however, that you do so in a way that is thoroughly ironic, even if the irony is apparent to no one but you and your im-mediate circle of friends.

While using ridiculous English is quite

funny for a time and can often create an array of inside jokes between you and your friends, it can quickly slide out of control.

For example, a friend of mine who liked to use abbreviated words – or, more appropriately, “abbrevs” – began by using them, ironically, among her close circle of friends. However, as she grew more comfortable using words like “totes” and “whatevs” in her regular speech, she be-gan to use them more frequently and in the company of a wider circle of people. It grew to the point where she might say “totes” in a completely inappropriate con-text, like the classroom. She also began to abbreviate almost every word, and once – in a particularly egregious incident – re-ferred to the Bible as “the Bibes.”

When people start to inject this sort of ironic spirit into their everyday speech, it tends to follow a trajectory similar to the one described above. Th e whole thing begins in humor; it ends when you real-ize that you might have lost the ability to take anything seriously and that you can no longer speak like a normal person. Instead of replying to a stardard ques-tion, such as “How was your day?” with

A taste of the Russian news coverage on the confl ict in Georgia, provid-ed by Komsomol’skaya Pravda, the

number one selling Russian newspaper:“8 August: Georgia begins its assault

on the South Ossetiya capitol. Tskhinvali is massively fi red upon by howitzers… followed by the Georgian air force, tanks, and infantry. Georgian forces shoot down peaceful civilians and Russian peace-makers. Th e number of victims reaches 1,500…To ward off the Georgian aggres-sion, a sub-unit of the 58th Russian Army enters South Ossetiya.”

If you spend a lot of time reading the New York Times or CNN, you might no-tice something strange about this report: in particular, it is the exact opposite of the American press’ rendition of the confl ict in Georgia when it initially erupted. In America, you’ll fi nd it begins along the lines of, “Russia, nostalgic of its Soviet past, crushed innocent Georgians into a million pieces with the force of President – oh, um, pardon me – Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin’s judo-trained fi st.” Or, to use the leading article from Week in Review on August 10th, “Georgians are a melodramatic people… but they have good reason to fear the ambitions, and the wrath, of a rejuvenated Russian seeking to regain lost power. Indeed, a renascent and increasingly bellicose Russia is an omi-nous spectacle for the West too.”

Concerning the Russian press, its dubious prerogatives have long been ac-knowledged; it’s more or less assumed that any article concerning the international

P O L I T I C S

Th e Cold War is Over...?August found Russia and Georgia at war.

What really caused the confl ict?

arena is going to be strongly pro-Russia. Moreover, given the commonplace rac-ism against Georgians in Russia, few would oppose the “defense” of South Os-setiya and its (legally) Russian inhabitants against Georgian infl uence or attack. In-deed, one of the few remaining indepen-dent, liberal newspapers in Russia (avail-able only online since they lost their right to print), Novaya Gazeta, has been legally reprimanded for “inciting hatred against Georgians,” which is, as anyone who actu-ally reads the newspaper knows, a highly disputable claim at best. Th e paper had actually been quoting “ultranational” groups in Russia, who support “isolating Georgians living in Russia.” What Novaya Gazeta had been reporting were stories of protests in Tbilisi and in Moscow against the Russian invasion and un-censored ac-counts of the situation in Georgia.

Most of the time in the American press the Russian media is cited as be-ing “government-controlled”; however, it might be much more appropriate to label it as Gazprom-controlled. Gazprom, the largest corporation in Russia (and third world-wide based on market capitaliza-tion) and provider for 25% of natural gas in the EU, has made media acquisitions one of its highest priorities in the past fi ve years. For example, if you consider the publications cited so far, Komsomol’skaya Pravda and Izvestiya: the former is owned by an energy company with strong links to Gazprom, and the latter was purchased by Gazprom in 2005.

To briefl y explain the connection be-

tween Gazprom and the Russian Govern-ment, these were the power shifts that took place earlier this year: Viktor Zub-kov, Prime Minister, became Gazprom Chairman; Dmitri Medvedev, Gazprom Chairman, became President; Vladimir Putin, President, became Prime Minister.

Putin’s presidency could potentially appear unrelated to Gazprom, at least knowing about these events only out of context; however, if you’re looking for at least one piece of cold, hard evidence, Pu-tin (along with the almost unanimous ap-proval of the state Duma) was responsible for signing into law Gazprom’s exclusive right to export natural gas in 2006.

We, Americans and Westerners (I dare to presume), have been dedicating so much of our attention to Russia’s political and military tactics lately, but what has its petro-darling been up to?

First and foremost, BP was, for lack of a better term, kicked out of Russia. In fact, BP, within about a three week peri-od, has been systematically removed from Eastern Europe.

First, BP lost all control of TNK-BP, Russia’s third largest oil company and joint venture between BP and three major Russian conglomerates. Th e Russian at-tack on BP started gradually, with months of labor inspections, visa complications, and police raids, culminating in the re-moval of all the BP engineers and employ-ees of TNK-BP. Th e fi nal step took place on July 25th, when the chief of the joint venture was denied his work visa and is now forced to (try to) manage the com-pany from abroad. Analysts are currently projecting that “a company controlled by the Russian government, like Gazprom or Rosneft, will eventually assume control of the joint venture.”

Second, BP (and Western Europe for that matter) has lost control of all its oil in Central Asia. Th ere are three major pipelines running through central Asia: the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) line, the Baku-Supsa line (which runs direct-ly across Georgia to the port of Supsa), and the Baku-Novorossisk line (which runs across southern Russia). Th e BTC was recently bombed by Kurdish rebels

{ b y c a r l o t t a c h e n o w e t h }


in Turkey on August 5th and will be un-der repairs and thus out of commission for several months. Th e Baku-Supsa line, controlled by BP, had been under repairs for 18 months until the end of June, when

and the New Russia. Th e one message this confl ict is sending to the West is not that the Cold War has returned or that Rus-sia won’t tolerate independent post-Soviet states; it’s that Russia and Gazprom intend


Carlotta Chenoweth ‘09 ([email protected]) is a real squash champion.

Nicholas Sarkozy negotiated the so-called “Six-Point Plan for Peace” between Rus-sia and Georgia (which, considering Rus-sian forces then neglected to actually fol-low these six bullet-pointed obligations, amounted to more or less nothing), BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, announced its plans to purchase one of the major brokerages in the burgeoning Russian market. Not long ago Sarkozy negotiated a similar peace-for-banking deal in Libya that consequently increased French politi-cal infl uence in the region as well as giving BNP Paribas fi rst priority in the privatiza-tion of Sahara Bank, the Libyan national bank.

Condoleezza Rice has announced that it will not support Georgia to be admit-ted to NATO at the upcoming emergency meeting, a decision that refl ects both the reluctance to go to war with Russia and the apparent signifi cance of NATO mem-bership in the post-Soviet world. As for what this confl ict will mean for Russia and for U.S.-Russian relations, one thing can be said for certain: the Cold War is over.

{ {We, Americans and Westerners (I dare to presume), have been dedicating so much of our attention to Russia’s political and military tactics lately, but what has its petro-darling been up to?

it fi nally returned to full operation. Unfortunately, immediately after the

Russian invasion of Georgia, there were reports that Russian plans had bombed the Baku-Supsa line (although it lies far outside the area of confl ict). BP denied that any claims of damage to the line; however, BP has closed the pipeline “in-defi nitely”, due to the risk of confl ict. And why would BP avoid labeling Russia as the creator of its pipeline woes? Th e oil BP has crossing Central Asia accounts for approximately a quarter of its worldwide oil production, and the only remaining functioning pipeline is that third line that runs through Russia to Novorossisk and is entirely Russian-controlled. Not to add BP has also just lost a major joint venture to the Russian government.

Many journalists and commentators have been speculating as to why Russia has continued to occupy areas in central Russia and the city of Gori. One answer often posed is that the central road and railroad across Georgia lies in this area, and obviously cutting if off could desta-bilize the entire country. However, the main target appears to have been a bridge in western Georgia that was blown up on August 17th by Russian troops. Th e rail-way bridge had been used to transport oil, and now all oil exports through Georgia have been suspended.

“Russians treasure the fact they had a monopoly on oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia, as it gave them considerable clout. By agreeing to have an oil pipeline, Georgia made itself more vulnerable,” said Marshall Goldman, professor Emeritus in the Economics department at Wellesley and author of Petrostate: Putin, Power,

on maintaining full control over Central Asian and Central European energy.

Th e rival to the Russian energy-mon-ster is the proposed Nabucco pipeline, which would bypass Russia on its way to Europe by traveling through parts of east-ern Georgia. It was initially thought that the confl ict would deter investors, but the opposite has in fact occurred. Nearly two weeks after the Russian invasion, “a survey of potential customers showed its capacity would be overbooked from the fi rst day it goes onstream”. Russia’s sudden assertion of Central Asian energy has exposed not only the unpredictability of the Russian market, but the necessity for some kind of back-up plan, independent of both Rus-sian territory and fi nancial infl uence.

Russia may have re-asserted its infl u-ence, but its come at a steep price – name-ly, seven billion dollars, according to the Moscow Times. Th is is around the fi gure in outfl ows since the beginning of the confl ict, with one rather important excep-tion. Th e very day that French President


P O L I T I C S

Reconciling the Westwith the Rest

Benazir Bhutto and the pursuit of tolerance

{ b y a l e x a n d r a c a h i l l }

In October 2007, Benazir Bhutto re-turned to Pakistan after eight years of exile to pursue her goal of replac-

ing Pakistan’s military dictatorship with democracy. Less than two months later, she was assassinated after a campaign rally

for the People’s Party of Pakistan, making her the fourth member of her family to be killed in the pursuit of democracy. Bhut-to served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and 1993 to 1996 and was the chairwomen of the People’s

Party of Pakistan. Hours after she arrived in Pakistan for the fi rst time in eight years, her convoy was attacked, killing over one hundred of the supporters that had come to greet her. Even before the tragedy ac-companying her return, Bhutto had to have known she was returning to meet the fate of her father and brothers. Her hon-orable commitment to her party despite having to endure continuous violence has set a precedent for the rebuilding of the Muslim world and the resistance of reli-gious extremism and militancy.

In Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, a book completed days be-fore her assassination, Bhutto approaches the challenge of rebuilding and moderniz-ing the Islamic world with optimism and resilience. Her arguments challenge West-ern perceptions of Islam and she argues that Western intervention in the Muslim world has been wholly more debilitating than helpful in the pursuit of democracy. For Bhutto, the most pressing problem for the Muslim world is resurrecting itself from its past and ascending into the mod-ern world.

Reconciliation is as much of a political strategy as it is a personal refl ection and eye-opening history lesson. As Samuel Huntington so famously predicted, the West and the Muslim world have clashed and continue to clash, but Bhutto argues that through tolerance and moderation, the Muslim world can achieve democracy and reconcile its contentious past with the West.

Bhutto interprets Islam as an “open, pluralistic, and tolerant religion” that has been misinterpreted for the purposes of religious extremists, causing a “battle within Islam.” She claims that religious extremism has caused Islam to be associ-ated with terrorist actions and believed incompatible with democracy. Th e mis-use of the term jihad, whose true meaning is “the basic endeavor of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong,” the subjugation of women, and breeding of intolerance are misinterpretations that Bhutto claims serve violent interests akin to “Christian fundamentalists’ attacks on women’s reproductive clinics or Jewish fundamentalist attacks on Muslim holy Ill

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sites in Pakistan.” Th is calls to attention the way in which religion is often univer-sally hijacked as justifi cation for a violent end. In the case of religious extremism, Bhutto argues that religion is used to mask non-religious motives. Th e West is waging a War on Terror. But this “terror” is derived from a long history of misguid-ed religious zeal to sustain dictatorships that have fed off of the debilitating legacy of colonialism and Western intervention, not from Islam itself.

Most alarming is Bhutto’s refl ection of the histories of over twenty Muslim countries that demonstrate the legacy of the West’s misguided political interven-tions and imperialism. Bhutto reveals a trend of the West’s commitment to short term political and economic goals rather than humanistic values. A primary ex-ample is Iran where the United States aided in the overthrow of a fairly elected democratic government in 1953 because it was supposed to be pro-Soviet and anti-American. It was replaced by a militant dictatorship the US supported fi nancially. In Iraq, Bhutto argues that democracy is unobtainable because it has no founda-tion to be built from, “it is a quagmire for the West and a great and unfolding trag-edy for the people of Iraq.” Furthermore, she hints that if Afghanistan had not been used as an “instrument” against the So-viet Union and later abandoned by the United States, it could have been rebuilt and used as an example for the Muslim world. Th ese repeated failed and incon-sistent interventions have not only made Muslims distrustful of the West, but have repeatedly been permanent obstacles for the growth of democracy in the Islamic world.

While she claims the West is largely

responsible for the failure of democracy in the Muslim world, Bhutto does not blame the West exclusively, “it is shared responsibility and often shared failure.” All the while, Bhutto remains optimistic about the potential of future relations and looks to westernized democratic na-tions for aid. In so doing, she revisits and denounces Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations predication. His fi fteen-year old theory claims that in a Post Cold War World, “the dominating source of confl ict will be cultural,” and that “the fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.” Bhutto disagrees with the theory because it pivots the West and Islamic civilization in inevitable confl ict. Th e events of September 11th gained Huntington greater acceptance for his predication that Western intervention in the Arab world would “strengthen anti-Western political forces,” but Bhutto’s thesis disagrees with Huntington’s claim that modernization increases violence. Bhutto argues that modernization, in-creased interaction, and dialogue have the potential to prevent violence, not provoke it. Above all, she argues that the central necessity for the Islamic world is to break from its past and that the real clash “is a battle between the past and the future. It is the resolution of this battle that will de-termine the direction not only of the rela-tionship between Islam and the West but of international relations in this century.”

Bhutto’s strategy for building the foundation of democracy in the Muslim world is not new. Her dedication to the establishment of programs that promote a middle class through equal opportunity education, women’s rights, and the pro-motion of economic independence and reconstruction are morals that the West

preaches at home. But what the West preaches at home has been diff erent from its practices abroad, and though Bhutto’s strategies may be straightforward, they re-quire signifi cant support and action by an association of democratic nations and a wider acceptance of her interpretation of Islam. Islam is compatible with democ-racy and central to the Muslim world, but it must be interpreted in a modern context. Th e continuation of religious ex-tremism and militancy fuels the needs of dictatorships and authoritarianisms and is a gigantic step backward for progress and economic growth.

While the West may condemn the Muslim world for its militancy and ex-tremism, Reconciliation demonstrates just how complex the so-called “war on terror” is. To build democracy successful-ly among Islamic nations and to stop the clash of civilizations is perhaps as simple as the consistent application of the universal morals we value and to acknowledge that militarism and extremism have led, and continue to lead, the Islamic world into the dark. Reconciliation is a testament to how militaristic control fails to lead to the tolerance and liberty of a democracy. Th e history of the Muslim world has shown us that militant control cannot lead to a moderate government. Th e West now faces greater responsibility in evaluating its role in the tense political climate of the Middle East. Bhutto’s commitment to her country and to its people in her life-long quest for tolerance is a lesson in ear-nestness that should not be neglected.

Alexandra Cahill ’11 ([email protected]) wrote this article instead of stuffi ng envelopes during her summer internship.

{ {Above all, she argues that the central necessity for the Islamic world is to break from its past and that the real clash ‘is a battle between the past and the future. It is the resolution of this battle that will determine the direction not only of the relationship between Islam and the West but of international

relations in this century.

“CAMPAIGN JOBS. Help elect Ba-rack Obama.” Sounds great, right? I thought so, too, when I responded to this ad in Austin, Texas in August. But the offi ce-based summer job I was hoping for turned out to be canvassing—door-to-door fundraising for the Democratic National Committee. We worked from 1 pm to 10 pm, Monday through Friday, walking 10 miles a day in temperatures usually over 100 degrees. (Try doing that sometime, John McCain.)

Blisters, heat rashes and mosquito bite scars aside, this job taught me many im-portant lessons about American politics. I’d like to share a few of the more enter-taining ones here.

1) Networking is fun. To a DNC can-vasser, a “democratic event” means inebri-ated, wealthy people peer-pressuring each other into contributing. Th at’s why when a homeowner invited our crew to one such event at the end of our shift, we made a unanimous decision to attend. When we arrived at what was actually an “Olym-pics Ceremony Watching Party—Dress as your Favorite Olympian!” an Oksana Baiul look-alike told us to “ditch the clip-boards and grab a drink.” We didn’t make any money that night, but we did take advantage of the infl atable castle bouncer and the human growth hormone punch. And just for the record, there were plenty of Democrats there.

2)Teenage boys want to get involved (with me). In general, teenage boys I can-vass seem interested in politics, but their allowance is earmarked for gas and movies.One concerned 18-year old, however, re-ally wanted to contribute. He didn’t have

cash, but he told me to stop by later for a contribution. Later, I found this note (plus a Post-it that said “GO OBAMA!”) wrapped around a wad of cash in the mailbox:

“Sorry Julie I had to leave but here is 40 dollars, I know it’s not much but I hope it will do. Also here’s my number, like if you want to go to a dinner and movie, just give me a call. But if you have a boyfriend then I guess not. Anyways have a great day. Also if you could just call me to give me your answer so I’m not left hanging, that would be awesome. Th anks, bye.”

When I called him for the details on his contribution, I told him I had a boy-friend. He told me to keep his number just in case, like, after the election I want-ed to get together sometime. I just love to see politically-aware young people taking initiative.

3) I love gun control. In an election year when evangelical Christians and Hillary-supporters need a lot of special attention, issues like gun control are often ignored. But when one of our canvassers was held at gun point by a crazed homeowner, gun control became a hot-button election issue for our offi ce. To be fair, this particular house should have never been canvassed—it was surrounded by a metal fence and an unleashed, growling dog—but a rifl e re-ally wasn’t necessary. When our canvasser saw the armed man exit his home, he immediately put his hands in the air and cried “don’t shoot! I’m with the DNC.” It wasn’t until 15 minutes later when the cops showed up that he ran inside to hide his gun, which he later claimed belonged to the canvasser. It didn’t help that our canvasser was originally from Guinea and

had just been mistaken for Barack Obama the week before by an elderly woman (that’s Texas for you). Rumor has it that he later received a call from DNC Chair-man Howard Dean, who expressed his apologies and sympathy. I’m not saying it was worth the trauma, but come on, it’s Howard Dean.

4) I should have studied Spanish, not French. I learned this lesson in the di-lapidated home of a 90-year-old woman who only spoke Spanish. After I ex-plained our goal of electing the “candida-tos democráticos,” her English-speaking daughter stepped in—“You need to be bi-lingual around here.” She also informed me that I should be giving her mother a donation, not asking for one, because her mother lived off 50 dollars of food stamps a month. After that, I decided to You-Tube (and memorize) Obama’s Spanish-language ads, and be more careful about who I asked for money.

5) Old people get tired and cranky, too. Th e most discouraging (and, coin-cidentally, most familiar) people I met canvassing were angry, middle-income Americans in their 50s and 60s. Th ey’re burned out from the last eight years and disillusioned with corrupt politicians and our handicapped Congress. Th ey’re broke because of our fl awed health care system and high infl ation. Th eir arguments for why our political system no longer works are powerful, though not always substan-tiated. Th ey made me want to throw my clipboard in the bushes and go home. But even when they vowed to stop par-ticipating in American politics (“I’m not voting for either one of them!”), they al-most always told me they were happy to see “young people” who still had some “hope” for our nation’s future. And when I heard them borrow one of Obama’s big-gest election buzzword, I knew that even they, whether they would admit it or not, still had a little hope, and I could move on to the next door.

P O L I T I C S

Th e Right to Bear ArmsFive lessons I learned as a canvasser

{ b y j u l i e t b a r b a r a }

Juliet Barbara ‘10 ([email protected]) is a surrey with the fringe on top.



A R T S & C U L T U R E

Summer in the Brainchild

of Peter the Great

{ b y e . b . b a r t e l s }

Right now I am living a lie. Accord-ing to those who have lived in this city before me, this sunny, hot,

white night version of St. Petersburg, Rus-sia is a fake construction of the city that in probably just a few weeks will become an endlessly cold, gray, wet mess of slush where I will live for the next ten months. Well, if this is only a make-believe version of St. Petersburg, a fantasy out of a Push-kin poem, then I will play pretend for a little longer. I’m going to enjoy this while I can.

I, your friendly overseas Counterpoint correspondent, have spent the summer

living in an apartment with a host fam-ily in the middle of St. Petersburg, one block away from the home of that fa-mous dude who wrote Crime and Pun-ishment, amongst other popular romance novels. During the summer I enrolled in the Bard-Smolny eight-week summer intensive language program, having class daily and cultural excursions three times a week. Our excursions consist of a lot of churches where I have to wear a scarf over my head because I am female (Wellesley women, have a fi eld day with gender roles in Russia) as I try to subtly take photo-graphs from my hip to avoid paying the

50r ticket (approximately $2.00) that would give me legal permission to do this. Once the summer program ends in Au-gust, I will still be here, in the same apart-ment, on the same street, with the same family, but this time directly enrolled in the Smolny Institute of St. Petersburg State University, taking classes and living my life.

So, you wonder, what kind of fantasy life I have been living in St. Petersburg this summer? One full of mosquitoes, fi rst of all. Upon coming to Russia I purchased a tiny notebook that I carry around with me at all times to record useful new words that I should remem-ber. Th e fi rst words I wrote were “mos-quito,” “mosquito bite” and “fumiga-tor,” which should have been a sign. Much like Montezuma’s Revenge in Mexico, mosquitoes are Russia’s way of getting back at Peter the Great for being such a genius and building his majes-tic European city on a swamp. After the fi rst week I purchased a green fumigator that I plug into my outlet every night to help silently fi ght in my battle against the tiny minions of the devil. Despite this, my legs continually look like a war zone in a cycle of healing bites, peeling bites, bites that I had no self control not to scratch, and new ones from just moments before. No wonder Russian women always wear nylons, no matter what the temperature or type of shoes they have on.

Perhaps the best place to experience said mosquitoes is when relaxing at an-other major part of summer life in Rus-sia – the dacha. A dacha can be anything from a fancy mansion on a lake near Fin-land owned by a wealthy Petersburg busi-nessman to a wooden lean-to against a tree in the woods an hour outside of Moscow. Dachas are owned by a large percentage of city-dwelling Russians, who travel out to the country on summer weekends to grow fl owers, fruits and vegetables, most of which then they can eat now or pickle and preserve for the winter. I am lucky enough to be living with a family who has a dacha of their very own, located about two hours from St. Petersburg by metro and bus. My family’s dacha is not what

From Counterpoint’s overseas correspondent

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Early in the morning in Lenin’s Square, St. Petersburg.

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you would stereotypically expect in terms of being located in the Russian country-side. It is on the outskirts of a Soviet ad-ministrative town, and from the dacha’s garden you can still see the block apart-ment buildings in the distance. But in the neighborhood of gardens, one-room hous-es, wild fl owers, wrought iron or wooden fences, it feels like you could be in a small village on the shore of Lake Baikal. While at the dacha the number one activity is sitting: sitting while reading, sitting while writing postcards, sitting while drinking tea, sitting while eating fresh green on-ions, sitting in the sun, sitting in the rain, sitting while taking photographs, sitting while swatting mosquitoes, sitting while sleeping, etc, etc. Th is may sound boring, but trust me - you will never feel more refreshed than after a weekend of sitting at the dacha.

Why is that? Because you can sit out-side for hours, all through the night, and you won’t even be aware that time has passed. Th e most amazing thing about St. Petersburg summers is the white nights. Sure, in Massachusetts it stays light out until 8:30 or even 9:00pm in the summer, and we think that is pretty great; but in St. Petersburg this whole “getting dark” thing doesn’t ever hap-

pen. Around 3am there is a dusky dip in the light when it looks like it is simul-taneously getting dark and getting light again, and then all of a sudden it is 4am and you have class in fi ve hours. At fi rst this takes some getting used to – the fi rst week, when jetlagged and confused, sleeping was close to impossible when I tried to go to bed around 11pm and the light in my window still looked like 4 in the afternoon. But once used to it, white nights make your life feel twice as long. No one ever sleeps - who needs to sleep when there is light all the time to give you energy? Each day seems to be two or three days long because of the number of activities you can fi t in during “daylight hours.”

You might wonder, what are sorts of activities keep me busy during all these hours of the day? Pretty much just pic-nics. Russians and ex-pats alike love pic-nics. Someone in my program plans a picnic at least once a week. Naturally, a picnic seemed to be an appropriate way to celebrate our nation’s birthday, and on the fourth of July everyone in my program was quite excited about the holiday. When I say “everyone,” I mean everyone who was not American; Americans who study Russian gener-

ally tend to be liberal, artsy, apathetic, unpatriotic smokers. Still, do not fear - I celebrated the birth of our nation in Russia with perhaps more fl air than I ever did in the U.S. We had a picnic together in our favorite park and tried our hardest to live up to our American stereotypes: we played baseball, drank beer and ate chips. Except that the only kind of baseball we had was Wiffl e ball, the beer we were drinking came in un-labeled plastic bottles from a micro-brewery near Novgorod, and the chips were mushroom-fl avored. So, Ameri-can style with a Russian edge. We even ended the night by setting off fi reworks in the street – a practice that is, if not technically legal in St. Petersburg, done almost every night by some drunken merrymakers.

So this is the lie that I am living right now. Mosquitoes, twenty-four hour day-light, dachas, and picnics. I will update you again after the fi rst frost when all those little suckers freeze to death, my legs fi nally heal and my life has become nocturnal due to continuous darkness. We’ll see how the fall goes.

E.B. Bartels ([email protected]) who can now appreciate a good dose of mayonnaise on anything. If you would like to read about the daily musings of this staff writer, check out her blog at http://ebinpetersburg.blogspot.com. She also shamelessly promotes her photography work at http://www.pbase.com/theeeebster/russia.

This course will attempt to help students, via a series of collabora-tive, discussion-based seminars,

to answer some of the more pressing questions put to them during their four years at Wellesley College (see also: Camp Wellesley, Wellesley College for Women, Hellesley). Just how much can you milk the Wellesley alumnae network for jobs, internships, and free lunches? How suc-cessfully can you, as an upperclasswoman, regain some of your $50,000 by engaging

in the time-honored tradition known as “drinking back your tuition”? And, most importantly, can you manage to maintain a life beyond the exquisite terrarium of Wellesley College? Th is class will focus on both theoretical and practical approaches to solving the Wellesley Paradox—name-ly, can one balance the necessities of day-to-day existence with the unique stresses of single-sex education and maintain one’s senses of humor, perspective, and accept-able fashion? You will be graded on the

basis of several practical examinations, outlined in the syllabus to follow.

Week One: Beyond OrientationFirst year students will receive a primer in how to downplay their status as terrarium neophytes. Topics of discussion will in-clude forgetting the minor glories of one’s high school days, eradicating the phrase “Wellesley is so strange because most of my friends from home are guys” from one’s vocabulary, and downplaying expec-tations for MIT Rush Week.

Week Two: Identifying Campus Flora and FaunaPuzzled by the slight diff erences between science majors and the dread Wolfshirt Girl, studio art majors and WZLY hip-per-than-thous, and philosophy majors and the average hobo? Th is week’s class will focus on the subtle identifying char-acteristics of Wellesley students. For ex-tra credit, complete lab exercise 3 (“Gay, Straight, or Lying?”).

Week Th ree: Introduction to Nap-

pingTh e afternoon nap is a time-honored tra-dition of college students everywhere, and nowhere has it fl ourished quite so thor-oughly as at Wellesley, where the catnap is an essential supplement to the four to fi ve hours of sleep achieved by the average student. For extra credit, complete the comparative practical assignment (“Prime Napping Spots Campus-Wide”).

Week Four: Appreciating AlcoholForget your parents’ liquor cabinet. Th is lesson will focus on the balance between tolerating the inexpensive intoxicants ne-cessitated by collegiate frugality (Smirnoff , Jose, PBR) and enjoying the discovery of little-known microbrews. For those of age, the Wintersession course on the “Beer Necessities”, taught by the Davis Museum’s own Jim Olson, should be con-sidered a graduation requirement.

C A M P U S L I F E

WOST 399:Intro to Wellesley College

{ b y k r i s t i n a c o s t aa n d m a r i o n j o h n s o n }

More important than your textbooks


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Week Five: Midterm ExamLikely topics: the grading policy and why you should stop complaining about it; that time you worked in a Guatemalan orphanage and why nobody cares; what to do if you encounter a thesising senior (hint: “feed her” is the wrong answer).

Week Six: Th e Second SexToday’s discussion will center around one general thesis: men exist. Th is central no-tion and its various corollaries, such as the perennially applicable “It Is Neither Relevant Nor Necessary To Discuss One’s Uniquely Female Perspective On Th e No-ble Gases” theorem, are to be discussed.

Week Seven: Taking UmbrageOff ense is a key component of the Welles-ley experience, and the ability to embrace it (e.g., to “become off ended”) with maxi-mal swiftness – and minimal provocation – gives one a competitive social edge over one’s peers. Today’s lecture will consist of two multimedia components – the fi rst being an examination of Community; the second, a recent instructional fi lm en-titled Th e Art of Preemptive Off ense: When to Become Off ended, and How to Become Off ended Before Th at Point.

Week Eight: Stuck in Folsom PrisonBy this point in the semester, students are

expected to have mastered the basics of the Senate Bus Canon, and are required to demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of Harvard Square, the MIT Student Center, MIT Fraternities, and Newbury Street. We will discuss important topics such as the Ville (including where and when it is appropriate to spend $12 on a sandwich) and the MBTA. (A brief ar-ticle entitled “It’s After Midnight: You’re Screwed” is posted on e-reserve, and is required reading for the MBTA section of this lecture.)

Week NineFinal Exam: How to Have an OpinionPolitical Science majors are going to be working with a handicap, as having an opinion may well ruin their electability 35 years down the line, but are nevertheless asked to do the best they can. Opinions will be expressed in an oral examination and a short in-class essay, and will require a fi rm grounding in historical fact, com-mon sense, and assigned course readings.

Course Pre-Requisites:CS100 - Internet EtiquetteA thorough overview of the guidelines by which human beings should communi-cate online. Special attention will be paid

to the CAPS LOCK button, the appro-priate use of multiple punctuation marks, and accountability for one’s comments.ENG128 - Sarcasm DetectionNo, of course you don’t need to learn this skill. You’re fi ne the way you are. Misun-derstanding sarcasm doesn’t make you look like a moron.PSYC117 - Intro to Sense of Hu-morStudies have shown that humans with even a basic understanding and apprecia-tion of comedy are happier, less stressed out, and less likely to be mocked by irrev-erent college publications. Test the theory for yourself as you learn of wit, banter, parody, and (cable television) stand-up.CAMS213 - Movies Th at Are Not Romantic Comedies, Musicals, or DisneyTo fully appreciate being an adult, and to understand the scoffi ng you hear when people look through your DVD collec-tion, it is imperative to watch more mov-ies. Th is course will not include Kate Hud-son, animation, Jane Austen adaptations, rock operas, fi shnets, or Hugh Grant.


Kristina Costa ‘09 ([email protected]) and Marion Johnson ‘09 ([email protected]) are your favorite summer read and the Wellesley Anime general meeting.



Stuff and the CityMovies as the new commercials

{ b y m a c h e r i e e d w a r d s }

I’m no stranger to product placement, especially when it comes to the Sex and the City series. Besides wondering

how a column writer can aff ord an $800 pair of shoes, I’ve honed my ability to dis-regard the extravagant aspects of the show.

Taken in thirty minute increments, Carrie Bradshaw’s shopping sprees seemed more irresponsible than implausible. Stretched out to fi lm length, however, SATC plays out like a two and a half hour commer-cial. Dubbed “the Super Bowl for women”

by an executive at New Line Cinema, the movie takes product placement to new heights, incorporating advertisements into the plot and dialogue.

While I expected Jimmy Choo, Mano-lo Blahnik and Louis Vuitton to reappear for the sake of continuity, I was surprised to discover that even the New York Public Library couldn’t resist the urge to appear on screen alongside Charlotte, Miran-da, Samantha and Carrie. Over eighty brands followed suit. If you’d like to fi nd out whom, start with Fergie’s “Labels of Love.” Producers asked the singer to re-vamp SATC’s original theme song. One can only assume that this trend grew to include incorporating as many product placements as the movie itself. Besides the brands briefl y mentioned in the fi lm (and on the soundtrack), SATC: TM boasts eight offi cial promotional partners- Skyy Vodka, Bag Borrow or Steal, H. Stern, Swarovski, Glacéau Vitaminwater, Mer-cedes-Benz, Coty Fragrances, and Bac-ardi Silver. Th ese partners created SATC inspired products, contests and giveaways in the hopes that a little screen time will encourage sales. It’s hard to blame retail-ers for wanting a piece of the action; after all, SATC is responsible for turning high fashion designers into household names. Th is symbiotic relationship between re-tailers and movie executives may only be a sample of what’s to come in an age where advertisers are losing their grip on consumers.

In the age of TiVo and other DVD recording devices, increasing numbers of viewers are fast-forwarding through com-mercials. It’s therefore no surprise that product integration has become adver-tisers’ weapon of choice. Less noticeable than an extended close up of a Coca-Cola can, embedded advertising sells both a product and a lifestyle. Often referred to as “advertainment,” this form of market-ing straddles the fence between entertain-ment and paid advertising. Despite the fact that SATC: TM made a record break-ing $55.7 million at the box offi ce during its opening weekend (the most made by any R-rated comedy), it’s hard to believe that anyone outside of the movie industry Ill

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really benefi tted from all of this advertis-ing.

It seems as if the women of SATC have spent the years in between the series and the fi lm stocking up on designer goods, but I doubt consumers will follow suit. Although Carrie had written a few more books by the time the movie took place, I found her shopping sprees unbelievable. Th e thought of buying a pair of Manolo Blahniks in today’s market is more comi-cal than it seemed ten years ago when the show fi rst aired. But despite today’s econ-omy, marketers aren’t ready to give up on imbedded advertisements. Although it’s unlikely that the movie industry will be targeted any time soon, the Federal Com-munications Commission is making an eff ort to notify viewers about the use of this stealthy form of advertising on televi-sion shows.

Current FCC rules require one spon-sorship announcement to be made during a television show. Unfortunately, these announcements are usually among the commercials fast-forwarded through by those with DVD recording devices. In the future, the FCC would like to implement improvements such as longer-lasting an-nouncements that take up more space on television screens. It is unlikely, though, that these changes will be made anytime soon, due to pressure from advertising as-sociations.

In the mean time, I guess I’ll have to increase my product placement tolerance. Some of my friends argued that advertise-ments in the SATC movie weren’t much worse than what you’d see walking down the streets of New York. Still, I couldn’t help but think as I heard the movie’s third Bag Borrow or Steal-related pun, “I paid $12 to get into this place! What more do you want from me?”

MaCherie Edwards ‘11 ([email protected]) is still doing layout at 3 a.m. However, she is excited about the Large Hadron Collider and the prossibility that it may allow for observation of the Higgs Particle.


Goodbye, LoveA Rent-head’s fi nal adieu to a Broadway legacy

{ b y m i s s y f o r d }

I was solicited to write this article in response to a “Good riddance to Rent on Broadway” opinion, but I

question how I can write an opposing piece (dare I say- counterpoint?) to an argument which simply doesn’t exist? For a happy sentiment to the epic end of Rent on Broadway cannot be, or, if it does, it persists in a state of uninformed arrogance. I suspect this is the case in most “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya” feelings toward Rent. While critics spout conservative values, or skepticism about its reality, or its turn to mainstream en-tertainment, they often overlook the underlying wisdom and innovation that Rent brought to Broadway.

Th e magic of Rent lies in the timeless plot and enduring characters. Hopeful-ly you’ve been alive and well enough in the past twelve years to know the basic elements of Rent. My opponents would probably sum up the musical as thus: A bunch of mid-20s nobodies - half with AIDS, half dirt poor - struggle to pay rent and survive in the Bohemian ha-ven of 1990s New York City. While this is generally the right idea, we mustn’t forget the key elements that contrib-ute to the remarkable essence of Rent. It’s a rock musical, and though it pays tribute to earlier Broadway rock operas, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Th e Wiz, and Dreamgirls, it truly revolutionized Broadway. It perfectly bonded the grun-ge and angst of early 90’s music with emotionally-charged characters. How can you best portray the 90s in New York City? With a kick ass guitar solo.

Rent was written by Jonathan Lar-

son, another element in the magic of Rent. Barley making ends meet as he penned the revolution, Rent represented the culmination of Larson’s dreams and tragedy. His dream was realized the day a studio picked up his script, his trag-edy when he died before opening night of an undetected aortic aneurism, never seeing his dream fulfi lled. Th e poetic end of the creator of Rent can only add to its truly unique soul. In what other play can you say the author lived and died for his art?

I have no doubt that other criticism will be raised that Larson borrowed heavily (ok, stole) from Puccini’s La Bo-heme, and thus his work is no longer innovative or special. But if we concede that point, we must also write off West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, Man of La Mancha, and so many others. We can-not dismiss Larson’s work as a simple remake of an oldie-but-goodie. Instead, we must see it for its relevance and striking nature.

Rent was a cry for help in a time when politicians were more concerned with superfi cial elections and cloning sheep than fi ghting AIDS or poverty. Like any piece of true art, it poetical-ly and beautifully portrays issues that make us wince and squirm in our seats. Life support meetings? Homosexual sex scenes on stage? Getting beat up by cops? Not uses you would see on the fi ve o’clock news, let alone 42nd Street. When a piece of art makes you laugh, cry, wince, and hope all in three hours, you know something is truly special.

You can argue that in the past 12


Exploitation, Drama, and Fingerless Gloves

Why we won’t miss Rent

At last, at long last, the Broadway curtain falls on Rent. For nigh 12 years this tuneless, self-aggran-

dizing, fi ngerless glove-wearing monster preyed on the ears and eyes of all it sur-veyed, consuming the souls of countless college students and theatre types. All the fuss made over its revolutionary portrayal of a rarely-discussed topic drowned out the most important question – was it any good? Emphatically, no.

Th e problems begin with the charac-ters. If one looks past the hobo-glamor-ous costumes, one fi nds a cast of revolt-ingly unsympathetic people. Th e type of people who accuse others of being too closed-off while jabbing syringes into their arms. Th e type of people who cling to rather childish ideas about selling out, while refusing to fi nd a job that can both pay the rent AND sustain their romanti-cally self-abusive habits. Who aggressively try to seduce a man with no intention of saying “I’m HIV-positive” beforehand.

Th e plot also does Rent’s subject a dis-service, in so many ways. It manipulates the audience in an almost mean-spirited way, starting with the big refusal to start paying rent. Th e Benny character, who insists that his friends behave like normal people and pay for their palatial apart-ments, is painted as a monstrous Scrooge who evicts our heroes at Christmas of all times. Of course, having a rent strike and expecting to sustain no consequences for no reason other than one’s “friendship” with the landlord would be villainous if

{ b y m a r i o n j o h n s o na n d v e r o n i c a c o l e }

someone rich did it; somehow, though, it is a noble and valiant act here.

Th e death of [spoiler alert] Angel is one of the cruelest and clumsiest of the plot machinations. It is no more sophis-ticated than putting a bichon frisé puppy on stage, letting it gambol around ador-ably, and then wringing its neck. It’s the oldest trick in the book, but rarely is kill-ing the audience’s angelic favorite char-acter done eff ectively or with good taste. Th is was not one of those rare times; this was the playwright clubbing his audience over the head screaming, “CARE! CARE ABOUT AIDS!”

Angel’s death is further cheapened by the stupefying fi nal scene, in which ex-heroin addict Mimi comes back to life (after dying of, you know, AIDS) because she had to listen to Roger sing her the lamest song on the history of Broadway. Th ere is absolutely no successful argu-ment to make this make sense. If Rent is supposed to be this gritty real-life de-piction of poverty, drug addiction, and death, why this sudden magical turn? If Mimi’s return is supposed to signify that she and Roger have a true and sacred love, then what went wrong with Angel and Collins?

Th ere is, of course, no denying that Rent made an enormous cultural impact. Th e impact could have been so much greater, however, if the musical had been of any kind of quality other than medio-cre (at best). Its message, and the people it represents, deserved better. Th e play’s

years, Rent has lost its special some-thing, turning away from its original anti-mainstream, “challenge authority” mentality to a “come and pay $100 for a theater ticket!”, and you would be right. Rent has lost its edge; it is no lon-ger a turn from society, but has turned into society. But such is the way with art today. Our culture today is so ma-nipulative that it can take a revolution-ary, striking piece of art and transform it into a normal Saturday night activ-ity. Yet the message of the musical has not changed though the environment around it has. Rent still screams for ac-tion against AIDS and poverty, even though a CEO may be in the audience. Th e mark of a truly worthy piece of art is its ability to retain its message in a world that would rather make it an after school special.

Perhaps the end of its Broadway run will do Rent some good. Maybe in 15 years, when a new generation can ap-preciate its message, it will return with vigor and relevance that we fi rst saw in 1996. Or maybe in 100 years, some-one will remake it, proving again that true art can never die, it can only lay dormant. No matter how many reviv-als, how many remakes, the essence will always remain the same. Th e magic of Rent lies in its ability to re-create a clas-sic tale of struggling young individuals, each affl icted with their own kind of disease, in a world that insists on push-ing them to the side. Th at story will never end.

Missy Ford ‘09 ([email protected]) liv-ing no day but today, bitches!!!!


subjects suff er to be members of the avant-garde; shouldn’t original, envelope-pushing music be the medium through which their stories are told? Why are we treated to cloying love songs, overwrought guitar riff s, and clichéd lyrics instead?

But herein lies the bigger problem with Rent: its entire existence betrays the avant-garde world it purports to repre-sent. Th ough it started at smaller New York Th eatre Workshop in the East Vil-lage, Rent’s music – in that it is not ex-pressive of any sort of avant-garde code but instead features wholly mediocre and conventionally schmaltzy numbers – begs the question of whether or not the show was ever meant to be anything other than a lowest-common-denominator Broad-way phenomenon. Th e show claims to be a chronicle of those struggling to maintain their originality, but does it re-ally intend to impress upon the audience the importance of non-mainstream exis-tence and art? Aside from Roger’s song and Mark’s movie (both of which scarcely count as original, considering that they both draw on hackneyed traditions of their respective media), the show’s one representation of the avant-garde – Mau-reen’s one-woman act – is presented as a pointless exercise in self-gratifi cation. She scampers around the stage, mooing like a cow, in a fashion that tends to elicit more laughter than awe from the audience (or at least they’re laughing until she pulls down her pants and moons the whole room).

In Rent, Maureen isn’t a struggling, brilliant artist; she’s a self-aggrandizing, immature, vaguely sociopathic diva who seems impervious to reason. Are these supposed to be the fruits of a life lived in the margins of society? Or, simply put, is this supposed to be the best that these champions of the underground have to off er? It’s such a shame that the audience probably leaves Rent with their negative stereotypes about Rent’s marginalized characters – that they are irresponsible, self-absorbed, producers of art that is either entirely unoriginal or entirely in-comprehensible – confi rmed.


Of course, that’s assuming that anyone who actually wanted to understand the world at urban society’s fringes would see Rent in the fi rst place. Perhaps this isn’t why people go to see Rent – after all, they could just go to other parts of the city, where the play’s subjects actually live and work, and check out some of the work they actually create.

Considering that such a venture would probably cost about one tenth of the price of tickets to Rent, we can only assume that members of Rent’s audience are paying for the convenience of being able to watch a play that purports to rep-resent an entire subculture, but doesn’t require that one actually attempt to un-

derstand it. And when people or cultures are used for the purposes of entertaining those who have no interest in under-standing them, we call that exploitation. In this sense, Rent does not empower, but rather, exploits its subjects. For this reason among others, while we can’t stop you from continuing to enjoy the show’s (inexplicably) persevering legacy, blasting the Rent’s lame musical numbers in the Quad during fi nals; neither can we say that we’re sad to see the show go.

While Veronica Cole ’09 ([email protected]) and Marion Johnson ‘09 ([email protected]) don’t like fi ngerless gloves, they do like mittens.


L A S T P A G E

Women Who Will...Self-medicate as necessary.

College is all about tradition, and none more so than Wellesley College. Step-singing, Flower Sunday, hoop-rolling—with so many antiquated celebra-

tions hastily made modern by token moments of multi-culturalism and feminism, how can one possibly manage to retain consciousness through all of them? Luckily, we at Counterpoint have realized that these traditions are not only good for reminding us of the old days of “a ring be-fore spring.” Th ey also provide a prime opportunity for that other collegiate pastime: drinking games. And we’re here to help with some starter rules.

Event: Let Me SpeakDescription: Upperclasswomen perform monologues about the many trials and tribulations they have faced in their twenty upper-middle-class years during Orientation. First-years feel awkward and are later encouraged to share their own tales of struggle with the fi fteen strangers in their FYM groups. How to make it palatable: Drink every time anyone talks about being gay, being depressed, being gay and depressed, being a minority, being a misunderstood minority, being a minority misunderstood by other members of her minority group, or “overcoming adversity.”

Event: ConvocationDescription: Technically the event that opens the aca-demic year at the college, convocation is an exercise in endurance for seniors hog-tied into purchasing their graduation robes on the first day of school, first-years who foolishly believe that the event will be important and interesting, and professors left sweltering under their doctoral hoods. How to make it interesting: Drink every time you spot a particularly grotesque accessory in the seniors’ class color; whenever K-Bot relates an anecdote that has, at best, only a peripheral relationship to the themes at hand; and whenev-er the student government president tries to make it sound like College Government is relevant. For seniors, drink whenever you feel an impending sense of doom.

Event: Flower SundayDescription: Originally an event to help religious fi rst-years feel at home away from their childhood parishes, Flower Sunday has evolved into the worst nightmare of any student allergic to pol-len or schmaltz as all of the fi rst-years and any upperclasswomen who can be bothered crowd into the chapel to listen to still more speeches, this time with a weird “nature” overtone, and to celebrate “sisterhood.”How to inoculate yourself: Drink every time the “nature” theme is mentioned (water, shooting stars, water buff alo), whenever Yan-valou starts gyrating spontaneously, and every fi ve minutes if your little sister is a wolfshirt girl.

Event: CommencementDescription: Congratulations, seniors! You survived four years. Now get the hell out.How to survive the last two hours: Start drinking at the beginning of senior week. Do not stop until…

Event: ReunionDescription: Alumnae of all ages gather for a weekend in June to cavort in the New England humidity, be driven about in golf carts by current students who “volunteer” in exchange for not being forced into homelessness in the interim period between academic-year and summer housing, and to pretend that their four years of drama, celibacy, borderline alcoholism, and stress were the best of their lives.Oh, screw it: Just keep drinking.

{ b y k r i s t i n a c o s t a }

Kristina Costa ’09 ([email protected]) is a one-woman happy hour.

deadline for October issue:September 20

[email protected]

BLACKWOMANHOOD

september 2008

Documents

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