Vagina Monologues…say what, you mean they talk too?

Catchy title huh? Yeah, I know…I figured it might catch your attention. But before you jump to any conclusions or get the wrong idea, no I’m not trying to be fresh or explicit in any way, shape, or form. However, if you have never heard of the Vagina Monologues before, then today is your big day. It’s almost like getting ready for the first day of school after a long summer, and being filled with so much excitement and anticipation that you can’t eat or sleep and all you can think about is which outfit you’re going to wear to impress all of your friends. Okay, so maybe it’s not all that intense and maybe I’m the only one who used to get excited about the first day of school, but many students in the Vanderbilt community genuinely embrace the Vagina Monologues making it apart of our campus culture and something that you should know about.

Now, if you don’t know, the Vagina Monologues is an episodic play, written by Eve Ensler, that initially premiered Off-Broadway in 1996. Since then, the Vagina Monologues has been translated into 45 languages and is performed in theaters across the globe, Vanderbilt’s Neely Theater (the campus student theater) being one, where Vanderbilt women put their own twist on the 11 year production. What’s exciting about the women of Vanderbilt, is that the Vagina Monologues is apart of the V-Day celebrations, which is a worldwide movement to end violence against women. The program also gives the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center the opportunity to bring awareness to the campus about much of its programming including Project Safe and Take Back the Night. Plus, fellas, don’t fret because you don’t have to be a woman to speak out against violence to women. There are many organizations on campus to get involved with as well including one called Men Promoting a Solution, a student organization striving to promote gender equality on Vanderbilt's campus and throughout the nation.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Why in the world would Angelo bring up the Vagina Monologues in his blog?” Well, oh inquisitive one, I’ll tell you. The campus is buzzing with excitement because it was announced a day or so ago that Eve Ensler, the award-winning author of the Vagina Monologues, will be visiting Vanderbilt in February as a part of her college campus tour. The Women’s Center will be sponsoring this lecture and quite frankly it is this kind of inclusiveness and awareness that you can expect as a student on Vanderbilt’s campus. But, then again, this is just one aspect of Vanderbilt’s culture that makes it great. Tune in again soon and I’ll enlighten you about another exciting aspect of Vanderbilt’s diverse culture and if you’re interested, check out The Women’s Center website at ( http://www.vanderbilt.edu/WomensCenter/) to find out more about the Vagina Monologues and additional programming that the center sponsors.

Work it Harder, Make it Better!!

(Work it, make it, do it, makes us harder, better, faster, STRONGER!)

(Work it harder make it better,
do it faster makes us stronger,
more than ever, hour after hour work is never over )

“N-now th-th- that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can't wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can't get much wronger
Man I been waitin' all night now
That's how long…”

Hello world…this is your boy Angelo and I am one of the Admissions Counselors from Vanderbilt University who was selected to serve as an office blogger for the ‘07-‘08 school year. How exciting right? Well, I am quite enthused to offer you, the reader, some insight into Vanderbilt University, and as a 2005 alumnus and a current Vandy graduate student, I feel that I am more than equipped to do so. In fact, what’s great about serving as an office blogger is that I have been given complete autonomy about what I talk about. So as a result, I have decided that the main purpose of my blogging, outside of the standard admissions questions and the like, will be to focus on the cultural aspects of VU’s campus that defies typical stereotypes of Vanderbilt.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking…oh great, here’s another blog from a university employee that’s going to try and stress the school’s evolving ethnic diversity! Well, let me relieve your fears right here and right now. Although we might talk about Vanderbilt’s ethnic diversity on campus and how it has significantly increased over the last few years, this blog will focus primarily on Vanderbilt’s student culture and I am defining culture as, “the characteristic features of everyday existence” (Thanks Webster!!) So, essentially, this means that I will be talking about organizations, issues, current events, etc. that affect student life at Vanderbilt. Is that cool? Cool!

Now with this being my first entry and all, I must say that I am more than excited to report that one of my favorite hip hop artists was announced, a few days ago, as being the 2007 headliner for Homecoming. I’m not sure if many people have heard of him before, but his name is KANYE WEST!! That’s right folks, Kanye West is coming to Vanderbilt and his newest single “Stronger” is my favorite cut from the Graduation album that was recently released. In fact, the lyrics above are from Kanye's newest single, “Stronger”, and for those of you who struggle, like me, to understand the robotic section of the song, I have included those lyrics for you to sing along to if you wish. Yes...you’re welcome! GUSTER is also hittin’ up campus for homecoming this year. For those of you who don’t know, Guster is an alternative rock band from Massachusetts that is largely known for their top 40 hits “Fa Fa” and “Careful.” Random fact, but The Weather Channel selected a Guster song to serve as its slogan. Now if the weather channel is into Guster, then you know those dudes must be hype! What’s funnier though is that you should have seen the line outside of our campus ticketmaster for tickets for the homecoming concert; there were folks who even slept in the Sarratt Student Center to get tickets. Students are all a buzz for both Kanye and Guster’s arrival to campus and please believe that yours truly will be there too. My ticket has already been claimed!! Anyway, until next time, GO DORES!!