Trials of Room Draw

**WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MORE THAN 300 WORDS.**
During the Nuremberg trials, after the fall of the Nazi regime, many officers of the Nazi army were pressed to explain just why and for that matter how they were able to commit such atrocities. Where they brainwashed? Did they enjoy it? Many broke down and proclaimed that no one knows what kind of person they will become until put under such extreme circumstances. Many survivor say the same, a good man becomes a murderer while a shrewd man saves lives. We’re far from Nazi Germany and no one is being burned alive but today I witnessed first hand how human nature can change.

Far stretched metaphor? Not really for Main room draw… Personally my friends and I had a set plan for the last week. We scoped out the rooms, called dibs, and worked out the numbering for where we would go. We decided to stick together next year as we had done this year. By 7:10 we saw the rooms left after the seniors and juniors drew, and panic ensued. Suddenly, over the next hour, friends began gossiping, plotting their own rooms for their own selfish desires. I watched roommates abandon others far down on the list for singles. I saw others tell someone to their face they would pull them in and then leave with someone else or no one at all. Girls cried. Each time another room was crossed out another person revamped their plan to suit their needs.

Never before have I felt so abandoned as my friend came back to say she picked a room far away from our original plan. Now what? Where the fuck do I go when we’ve all scattered? I guess I fail the test of humanity because I took on of the largest singles I could. There was nothing left for me to do, our group had scattered and that was that. Am I bitter? A little… Maybe two floors and the length of Main will give us enough space and we’ll stay close, maybe not. All I can say is next year will be different. I’m just ready for summer and a break from Vassar’s occasionally excessive drama.

Yours Truly, contrASt

The Attack of the Killer (Imaginary) Zombies

One night, as I was bored to tears, I decided to watch a classic horror film: Night of the Living Dead. I found myself pondering a zombie attack on campus and envisioned the living dead slowly working their way across Noyes Circle. Since Noyes is mostly glass, I quickly decided it would be the worst place on campus to ride out a zombie attack. It wouldn’t take long for those hoards of the undead to smash every piece of glass and infiltrate the dorm.

Next was Jewett. I determined it wasn’t too bad for an attack, but the problem with most quad dorms is an abundance of doors that need to be blocked from the onslaught. Its height is an advantage but bad if you get trapped near the top as there would be limited options aside from jumping. Joss, same issue…. The rest of the quad, if fortified, would be good for a small standoff, but not enough for any long-term holdout. Cushing is way too small for the campus to flock to.

So what’s left to defend Vassar from demonic flesh eaters? Naturally Main! There are 3 main stairways in Main. All 3 have double doors only opened by your v-card. The other two stairways are equipped with heavy fire doors, shutting down the building from the 2nd floor up. For every entrance there is a logical, simple way to keep the dead out and the living in and safe. The more I thought the better I felt about living in Main! Outlandish? Maybe. But when the Umbrella Corp. unleashes (un)death on the world, you know where to go.

contrASt

Sex Myth Laid to Rest (finally)

The debate has raged for years. Is sex-ed a useful tool or a gateway to sin? (At least that’s how the argument went in my town) Finally, after years of searching, there is an answer, and, go figure, the results are not really surprising. As it turns out there is a correlation between teen pregnancy and sex-ed. Teens who received abstinence only education were just as likely to wind up preggers as those with contraceptive education. Shocking huh? Ready for another shocker? Teens educated with contraceptive use and safe sex practices do not have more sex, start earlier, or have higher STD levels than those taught abstinence only!

Naturally, as unsurprising and obvious as this may seem to anyone who has had to sit through a health class, this is big news to most schools and the government. “Currently, the federal government champions the abstinence-only approach, giving around $170 million each year to states and community groups to teach kids to say no to sex. This funding precludes mention of birth control and condoms, unless it is to emphasize their failure rates” <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080324/hl_nm/teen_pregnancies_dc;_ylt=Ag0yklQJcEshjSV.Cv49_ZnVJRIF> .

So now that you know this breaking and pressing news doesn’t it leave you to wonder a bit? I know as a psych major I often find myself shaking my head at many recent ‘groundbreaking’ studies. Is it necessary to waste research funding on things that are a bit obvious or is it really that crucial that we have the facts on record as scientific evidence? Oh well, maybe now more schools will be open to sex-ed that is actually educational as opposed to dogmatic.

contrASt

Image Issues

Hey ya’ll! So this is my first post on Blog9 but I’ve been watching all others so I wanted to bring up an issue I see more frequently as the year has progressed: political/social factions. Is the typical Vassar student is as in awe of our campus as I am? Probably not. Personally this school is the best opportunity I’ve been given in life! It came down to State University of (insert unknown small state title here) or Vassar College…the choice was obvious!

Within the first few weeks of class I noticed that many people perceived me as backwater conservative even though I self identify Democrat and moderately liberal. I suddenly fell victim to multiple stereotypes and pre-conceived notions of my character, and quickly felt alone and stranded in a new world far from my familiar farmlands. As I listened to the conversations about high school dropouts or teen pregnancy, I was reminded of all my friends back home living happily without a college education and with children at 18 or 19! Happiness doesn’t always mean a masters degree and a NYC flat or a liberal lifestyle.

I wonder if Vassar’s image doesn’t fool its students into believing only a certain type of person attends, and this could be a problem. It is rarely recognized that there IS a faction of Vassar students who are of lower class, conservative, and even extremely religious. As vivalawhitegirl’s recent confession shows, many people refuse to accept that conservatives have the right of free speech too and that stigma’s may not always be true.

contrASt