V o l u m e I V, N u m b e r I I I
Celebrating The Precious Human Tapestry
September 11, 2009
Deis fashion relief after European adventure BY SRI KUEHNLENZ Editor
Returning from a semester in Spain, I admit, I feel a little displaced, especially when it comes to fashion. After all, where are the t-shirts with the scandalously deep V’s or the tight jeans with a bedazzled skull on the pocket? And then there’s women's fashion. For anyone who has not had the pleasure of witnessing harem pants in action, let me tell you, that after a semester of wincing every time a girl strutted by in these baggy pants (think MC Hammer) with fitted ankles, you’re not missing anything. However, I’m not here to discuss the finer points of European fashion. Rather, I’ll attempt to reconcile my experience in Spain with the more subtle fashion of American college students. There were a few things that I knew were a no-go for the Brandeis campus right off the bat. Namely, that sequined dress with the feathers that was on sale at Zara. (While still a bit of a novelty over here, Zara is to Spain as H&M is
to America. One street in Seville boasted three Zara stores.) So I put that dress in the box of clothing that will hopefully still fit and look age appropriate upon my return to Europe. While the sequined dress may have flown during a night out in New York, Boston is decidedly more bookish and casual. However, dressing for the Beantown suburbs does not necessarily mean donning a Red Sox cap. Now how does one begin to dress as a Brandeis student? Well, for upperclassmen, it means eschewing most Brandeis apparel, except for the most subtle pieces. After all, this isn’t Penn State. Besides the general lack of school pride as displayed on their clothing, Brandeis fashion is pretty diverse. There are the kids who still cycle through the five outfits their mothers picked out for them before they were dropped off freshman year. There are also the hipsters with their Wayfarer sunglasses, plaid shirts and select vintage pieces – probably an act of rebellion to the outfits their mother picked
out for them. And then there’s the in-betweens, both guys and girls, who throw on a nondescript t-shirt and jeans and head to class. Unlike Spain, where publicly wearing sweatpants of any kind draws odd looks and “the tighter the better” is the general rule of thumb, it is surprisingly refreshing to be back at the Brandeis campus. While Brandeis certainly does not have the architecture to rival any street in Europe, in comparison with Spanish fashion, the Brandeis student body does a remarkably good job of incorporating the subtleties of style. Fashion in Spain is decidedly more blunt. Over there, my Spanish equivalent would wear black parachute pants, a neon shirt, with heavy black eyeliner and a black lip piercing that just looked like an overgrown mole. So, in the end, perhaps this is one thing from my experience in Spain that I can transfer to my life in the States. After all, I’d look slightly out of place walking up Rabb steps in harem pants.
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
BRANDEIS COUTURE: Tyrone Calliste ‘11 models his stylish shades.
A meditation on love and friendship A lesson from under the chuppah
BY ALISON CHANNON Editor
My cousin got married last weekend, so I made the trek from Boston to Chicago to be present on his special day. The wedding was beautiful and, of course, I cried. I didn’t think I would, but as the music started and my cousin walked down the aisle to await his beloved, like a Pavlovian response, my tears began to flow. I don’t know if it was my cousin’s look of solemn expectation or the bride’s failed attempts at remaining dry-eyed, but something about the two of them under the chuppah moved me. This was the first wedding I’ve attended that I’ve been old enough to remember, and as a valiant chuppah attendant (I didn’t know this existed, but basically, I stood next to one of the four poles holding up the canopy during the ceremony), I got to see the show up close. Perhaps it was proximity that got me, but now I think I would have cried even if I had sat through the ceremony. On the one hand, it's not surprising that I cried. “Ten Things I Hate About You” made me sentimental even before Heath Ledger’s untimely death. But on the other hand, I’m not a hopeless romantic and I have many bones to pick with
PHOTO FROM Internet Source
the institution of marriage. Most importantly, I have never cried at an episode of TLC’s “A Wedding Story.” I’m going to credit the rabbi’s words about love, commitment, and respect. In life, we’re looking for people who bring out the
better angels of our nature, who temper our faults, who help us to grow, and who make us feel like it’s okay to be just who we are. And though our culture privileges (heterosexual, monogamous, married) romantic relationships above all others, that does not
signify that love, commitment, and respect do not exist in nonromantic relationships. In fact, those values may be even stronger in the platonic relationships in our lives. As college students, some of us are consumed with finding
romance – so much so that we forget that we have amazing relationships all around us – our relationships with our friends. A pretty young thing’s attention at the frat house might give us a temporary high, but in the end, it is the love, commitment, and respect of our friends that should fortify us. Our friends know us. They’ve seen us at our best and they’ve seen us at our worst. They’ve laughed with us, cried with us, partied with us, studied with us. And they haven’t run for the hills. It’s a blessing. Unfortunately, the messages we receive from our culture that tell us that the only meaningful relationships are (heterosexual, monogamous, married) romantic unions prevent us from fully understanding the value of the blessing of friendship. Unlearning these messages is no easy task. I have no advice to offer but I might start with my rereading of my cousin’s wedding. Perhaps I was moved not by the pomp and circumstance – the dress or the music or the open bar – but by the idea that people are capable of profound love for others, romantic or otherwise. Maybe, underneath the layers of patriarchy, a wedding might be beautiful because it is testament to the human ability for love, commitment, and respect.