Amherst Couples Reflect on Love, Relationships

Continued from page 9 erywhere. Though, in Jenn’s words, “the clouds of time and other substances” have made the meet-cute’s details hazy, the couple first clicked in the basement of Pratt dormitory: They were working as editors in what was, at the time, the newsroom for The Student (yes, the very same!).

“It was kind of grimy. There was one big room and a little room with computers, like really old fashioned computers. You had to be in the space, on those computers, and you’d run into people,” said Jenn. “And it was all encompassing … [we] lost three days a week to it.” of Amherst or Northampton were frequent — often to restaurants or pubs that have since been replaced, they noted. Now, the couple live only a few hundred feet away from that newsroom, and walk into the same downtown they visited when they were college students. “It still has the same earthy, liberal-New-England vibe it did then,” Jenn confirmed, though certain 2000s classics — like Antonio’s, which opened in Michael’s senior year and after Jenn had already graduated — are notable new additions.

Perhaps Amherst’s most wellknown alumni couple, Michael and Jenn provide a glimmer of hope for self-proclaimed newspaper nerds ev-

In their (limited) time outside of the newsroom, the couple focused just as much on getting off campus as staying on it. Trips into the town

“Mind you, I've never actually done theater before. I hadn't been in any kind of production,” Stuart said. “But I thought Michael was really cute.”

On the day of auditions, Stuart arrived feeling prepared (“I have an audition. It’s gonna be great. I show up.”), and was promptly informed that there will be a singing component to his audition (“And I am not a singer, I will tell you that”).

Though it’s perhaps a bit “swankier” now, the couple feels that Amherst’s campus also holds the same charm that framed their “golden experiences” at the college. As they

I forget the alphabet… at H.” list off different buildings, comparing those that stood during their four years at Amherst, certain places and anecdotes shine through those clouds of time — setting off the Hitchcock fire alarm with an attempt to make nachos for the Super Bowl; the classrooms where Michael did research assistant work for Emeritus James E. Ostendarp Professor of English Barry O’Connell, who would later officiate the pair’s wedding. off campus.”

Michael asked him out for a celebratory coffee anyway, and Stuart ended up as the butler in “The Importance of Being Earnest” — a play that does not require any singing.

“We tried [dates] in Val a few times,” Michael explained, “and we always ended up eating with six or seven other people,” finished Stuart.

Stuart and Michael are getting married this September –a celebration that will also serve as a reunion for their Amherst friends.

Driven by a crush he was harboring for the head of Green Room, and with absolutely no acting experience under his belt, a freshman-year Stuart decided to audition for one of the theater club’s plays.

Ellen Lake ’91 and Chris Green ’91 Years Together: 33

Ellen and Chris seem like a case study in successful Amherst socializing — their cross-quad friendship began their freshman year (when they lived in North and Pratt, respectively), and held strong through the following years. Both were heavily involved in campus clubs and activities, working as DJs for WAMH and in the then-campus center snack bar, playing rugby and soccer.

It was near the end of their junior year that their friendship started to transform. Chris, a geology major, helped tutor Ellen, who was taking an introductory geology course — a rock-tray-inspired connection that

Faced with the choice of any existing song, Stuart decided on the ABCs.

“And so I’m walking around the stage, singing my ABCs for this group of Michael and his friends,” he continued. “And then, I kid you not,

Ellen pointed to as a significant step in their shift towards romance. The two finally got together at the school-sponsored Casino Night, a semi-formal event held in Valentine Dining Hall and “one of the only dress-up parties” they attended at Amherst. The next morning, Chris overslept and missed a geology field trip, a mistake that he did not hear the end of from his teasing friends.

Ellen emphasized the role of spontaneity in both their relationship and other Amherst relationships at the time. “Things have changed so much — we had no cell phone, no laptop. I mean, people were just starting to get emails at Amherst in the computer lab. So it had to be a lot more spontaneous.”

With respect to dating culture at Amherst, or lack thereof, the couple mentioned hearing more conversations about hookup culture than actually bearing witness to examples of it. “It’s a very different experience to be dating at a small school,” Michael said. “A lot of people at Amherst are very awkward, and it does feel like things are very high stakes, but [they’re] really not.”

Stuart’s words of wisdom: “If you want a private date, you have to go

Their adventures took place in and out of the classroom — at the bird sanctuary; the art studio where their shared printmaking class was held. With Chris living in Humphries House and Ellen in off-campus housing, the two would trek back and forth — “down the tracks, which then wasn’t paved, wasn’t like a real path, it was just railroad tracks. So we would walk down the tracks over the trestle,” Chris described.

“There was no social media… you hung out with somebody physically all the time,” Ellen reiterated — food for thought, perhaps, or something to disregard altogether as we reach for Instagram.

A parting disclaimer — at the end of the day, whether you spent Valentine's Day yesterday with the love of your life, crying into a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, or leafing through homework in Frost, “it’s all nonsense,” in the words of President Elliott.

“There’s a constant state of anxiety on college campuses — there’s al- ways somebody wringing their hands about how terrible it is that there’s hookup culture and not formal dating. It was true 30 years ago, and it will be true 30 years from now. And it actually always turns out just fine.” After all, we can’t all be the guy who proposed in front of Jenkins.