Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Exams Week

So this week is MIDTERMS WEEK!!!

Beware incoming freshmen . . . the middle of the semester suddenly creeps up on you while you’re still stuck in “summer mode” and then you’re sitting at your laptop typing notes for a class you skipped all semester long thinking the midterm was far away. There was always a reasonable excuse . . you weren’t feeling that well one day . . . you had a paper due another day . . . you thought you’d go in early to work . . . your friend just got dumped and needed a shoulder . . . . you had to take care of dropping a class . . . . you had to meet with your advisor . . . . this is college, the excuses are creative and endless. It’s very easy to convince yourself not to go to class and then you end up with about half the material you need to know in your notes and the other half in the notes of other people who DID go to class on those days.

Luckily for you, you have good friends and sorority sisters who are there when you need them . . to give you all those notes from all those lectures you missed.
And now, you have exactly two days to learn everything you need to know.

Welcome to college, ladies and gentlemen, because the all-nighter, the cramming, the borrowing notes, the energy drinks to keep you up, and the general lack of sleep pretty much describes it! =)

I promise you guys will hear more from me as soon as my midterms are over!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Sex Signals

So last week my Office of Multicultural Affairs little sister and I attended a presentation entitled Sex Signals- a funny show on college dating. Many others had the same idea- our University Center was PACKED with people wanting to see this show. It was put on by the Newcomb Institute, which is dedicated to furthering women’s education at this school.

The show was HILARIOUS. It asked for a lot of audience participation in terms of pick up lines to start scenes and defining stereotypes. For example, the beginning scene was a guy hitting on a girl at a party. Someone in the audience came up with the winning line, “Are those space pants? Coz baby your ass is out of this world . . .” And the scene proceeded from there. The next scene worked in the stereotypes that often define these interactions, with the women expected to be docile and sweet and the men expected to be macho and tough. Somehow these presenters managed to capture the awkwardness of trying to impress someone of the opposite sex in an intense situation like that and every single person in the audience understood!

But then the show took a more serious turn and started addressing the topic of rape and what exactly constitutes rape. We learned that any slightest lack of consent is all it takes and the legal and social implications are very severe for someone who doesn’t realize that. I was honestly impressed that the majority of the audience, my fellow Tulanians, stayed through this portion of the show. During our Resident Advisor Training we had to attend a seminar on Louisiana laws in terms of sexual assault and rape but this presentation was purely voluntary. The people at my school cared enough to sit there and listen and the presenters did an awesome job informing while at the same time exposing how confusing the issue can be. The Newcomb Institute did well in picking this show to bring to Tulane.

So if you want to go to a school where people will work to guide you even through even the most uncomfortable subjects, Tulane is the one for you. An issue like this has to be addressed and it was frankly amazing the way it was done.

Only at Tulane . . . .