The Hot Sheet

Black & White, Gambier Style
Students hosted a black-and-white ball, including Oreo cookies and such fashion choices as white T-shirts and crocheted sweat bands. Things sure have gone downhill since the days of Truman Capote.

Snug Denim
Guys' jeans have gone from skinny, to super skinny, to skin tight. Attention Kenyon men: Steven Tyler has reportedly left Aerosmith. This may be your big break.

African Dance
Visiting Adjunct Professor Olivier Tarpaga, a native of Burkina Faso, taught traditional west African dance at Kenyon in the spring. The class was filled to capacity with students and live drumming that filled the dance studio with a polyrhythmic intensity.

Crazy People
The student group Beer and Sex sponsored a winter polar plunge in the Kokosing River to raise money for the Kno-Ho-Co clinic, a local organization that provides low-cost health care assistance to women. Organizers proclaimed it was a chance to showcase an insane personality. We don't think it's necessary to attend a polar plunge to find that at Kenyon.

Bill Lowry, Pioneer
College Trustee Bill Lowry Jr. '56 delivered the one hundred and eighty-second Commencement address in May. When he arrived at Kenyon as an African-American student from inner-city Chicago in 1952, he found minority representation meager in the student body and nonexistent in the faculty. Nevertheless, he thrived at Kenyon and made history in the process. In the spring of 1954, he became the first black student to be initiated into the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Playing Games
The library and the wellness group sponsored a game night in the library for the community. It's as if we're on an express train back to the innocent fun of the 1950s, but we would have needed a different sponsor back then. There was no such thing as “wellness” because everyone was considered to be, well ... well.

Funky Hats
Students wore novelty hats in the winter months with big tassels, animal motifs, fringes resembling mohawks, and oversized flaps. That reminds us of a joke: What did the hat say to the hat stand? You stay here. I'll go on ahead.

Trying Trayless
Following a national trend, the Environmental Campus Organization sponsored a trayless dining day. Removing trays from Peirce dining hall reduced food waste by 200 pounds, or approximately 30 percent. Some students have proclaimed themselves “pro-trayless” while others are “anti-trayless.” When the anti-silverware group forms, we're outta here.

Dining Woes
Despite the new Peirce servery offering a tasty array of locally grown meats and produce, students still complain. One student made her outrage public, criticizing the “horrifying” lines and waits of up to ten minutes. Can you imagine waiting that long for cucumber and melon insalata accompanied by whole wheat penne with fresh marinara? We think a healthy serving of adulthood should be offered on the menu.

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