Miss SWE

Nobody ever told me before I got here how much cross-dressing takes place at Mudd. At this point, we've had more men in dresses in our room (4) than women (2) in the time we've been at Mudd. And then there's Skirt Day every month at East. It's quite funny, actually.

The reason why I bring this up: Every year at Mudd, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) puts on an event called Miss SWE. It's a lovely little pageant in which students from Mudd dress up in ball gowns and vy for the title of Miss SWE, the lovely and talented lady to represent the ideal of both femininity and scientific prowess. Of course, naturally, all the competitors are male. Eight gentlemen participated in this pageant yesterday, each modelling a particular talent and a dress and answering questions posed by the MC, Prof. Lyzenga, my Physics recitation professor. There was singing, lighter tricks, prancing, sandwich-making (it's a talent) and dancing. To "Single Ladies". Twice, in fact...props to the Proctors for their excellent dance moves and terrifying unitards.

Life has gotten somewhat relaxed here since midterms...the homework level is slightly lower than usual due to classes just getting into swing, and Halloween's coming up, so people are planning various celebrations to accompany it. And it's just beginning to get cold...I believe that it went below 50 the other day. Mind you, it's still sunny 90% of the daytime, but considering it's almost November, it seems about time for fall to begin.

Say hi or ask questions if you like. If you want a direct response rather than one just posted on the comments page here for whatever reason, feel free to email me (xanda underscore schofield at hmc dot edu).