Yet again, a totally reputable and non-arbitrary ranking from a sterling publication (Newsweek, in this case) has made it official: we are the happiest school in the universe, and if you’re not happy for every single minute of your Yale experience, there’s something seriously wrong with you.  We have 204 sunny days a year (204!!!) and we’re only graduating with $10,717 of debt (10,717!!!!).  WHY AREN’T YOU SMILING????  BE HAPPIER.

Alexandra Addison as Georgia in "The Hickey Chronicles"

Alex Klein as Tom in "The Hickey Chronicles"

Justin Dobies as Max in "The Hickey Chronicles"

Alexandra Addison, CC ’12, Yale’s very own rom-com auteur, is making a splash presenting original stories of young women weathering the bumps of life and love–stories that are unique, heartfelt, and have a reach far beyond that of the average boy-meets-girl fare.  She wrote and starred in The Sad Girl’s Guide to Wallowing Professionally, a “romantic comedy about depression” that was at once hilariously funny and achingly affecting, staged at the Morse/Stiles Crescent Theater April 13th and 14th as her senior thesis for the Theater Studies major.  She’s also the driving force (creator/writer/director/actor) behind The Hickey Chronicles, a new web series about the joys and pitfalls of the hook-up culture at a university not entirely unlike this one.  A few weeks before Addison bids farewell to her Bright College Years and heads off into the real world, the Bullblog grabbed coffee with the enthusiastic senior to discuss her inspirations and the culture of creating new work here at Yale.

The Bullblog: We really loved Sad Girl!  Do you have any plans for the show after graduation?

Alexandra Addison: Thanks so much!  I’m so happy you liked it.  There’s going to be a reading of the play at an Off-Broadway theater in June, and I’m hoping something will come of that.  I love that play, and I hope it does have a life beyond Yale.

BB: Where did your inspiration for The Hickey Chronicles come from?  Were there any specific events relating to the sexual climate at Yale that pushed you to make the show?

AA: The Hickey Chronicles really didn’t begin with any grand aspirations; it wasn’t meant to coincide with the dialogue already occurring around hooking up.  I’m an avid romantic comedy lover, but the reality of life is that oftentimes the girl doesn’t get the guy, or vice versa.

The web series Casual was definitely an inspiration.  It begins with this great scene of the awkward morning-after, and the feeling of being trapped by a one-night stand.  I really wanted to see what happened to the girl after the guy left, but [Casual] didn’t show that.  That’s definitely part of what The Hickey Chronicles set out to do…It’s meant to be a story for all the people who don’t always have the happy ending.

BB: Would you say that, overall, Yale is a conducive or a difficult environment to present new work?

AA: Overall it’s a wonderful place to present new work; it’s a safe environment, and people will always be honest with you, which is rare and critical [when you're making new work].  That being said, there’s a leap between support for creating and presenting new work, and having a place to do so.  There was no curricular support for The Hickey Chronicles.  For theater, there’s a stronger, more structured way of presenting new work, but a web series is still unknown territory, especially at Yale.  Ultimately, if you have a project you feel passionately about, you just have to do it; you can’t wait around for something to happen.

BB: If you had to give advice to the prefrosh who were here a few weeks ago about navigating the hook-up culture that The Hickey Chronicles portrays, what would you say?

AA: Self-respect is definitely the most important thing: do what’s going to make you feel good.  If you’re the kind of person who can really enjoy a one-night thing and feel good about it the next day, go for it; you’re in college, and you can do things here that don’t fly as much [out of college].  But if you don’t necessarily feel good about [hooking up] and won’t emotionally benefit from it, respect yourself and don’t do it!  That’s where Georgia, the main character of The Hickey Chronicles, is at.

To reiterate, this show isn’t meant to make an overarching judgment–this is something that’s deeply personal–but just to chronicle it, one hickey at a time. At the end of the day, The Hickey Chronicles is about people surviving life’s hickeys, both physical and emotional, and that’s something I feel we can all relate to in our four years here.

"That's why I chose Yale"

Yale BUTANE (apparently, it’s the Yale Bureau for Undergraduate Tradition And Nostalgic Enrichment…) just sent out an email that the first annual Yale Hunger Games takes place in two days.

From the email:

The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. Each of the twelve colleges must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. Over a period of several hours, the twenty-four tributes will take part in tests of mental and physical skill. The last college with a tribute standing wins.

 

Each student may submit up to two names — one male, one female, to be entered into the reaping. The more times a student’s name is entered, the better chance that student will have of being chosen as tribute. You may enter yourself into the games, or you may submit names on behalf of others in your college.

Submit tributes into the reaping here. May the odds be ever in your favor!

if it rains enough, he can sing "I'm On A Boat"

• SPRING FLING IS TOMORROW! In honor of Spring Fling, you got Dean Gentry’s email, aptly titled “Important information regarding Spring Fling 2012.” In a nutshell, Dean Gentry urges students to stay safe during Spring Fling, which will occur rain (unfortunately this looks like a possibility) or shine tomorrow from 2:30 – 10:00 pm. The most important line: “Parties in individual student rooms on the Old Campus are not permitted during Spring Fling, and for this day, parties are defined as any gathering in a room that includes more than the residents assigned to that room.”
• Classes are over… unless you have a language/chem/other class that meets during reading week (ha). The course evaluation email was sent out earlier today–they are available online starting 4:00 pm. If you feel so confident about a class that you can evaluate it before finals, go ahead and contribute to the classy, elegant alternative to Ratemyprofessor.
• Help improve Box 63! - The survey email was sent from boxvstoads@gmail.com, an address we all wish we’d thought of first.

The annual post you’ve all been waiting for… This year’s members of the top three Yale societies and the activities that got them in. Who are they? Will they be President one day? Are these really the most talented people in the junior class? What? How the hell did he get in? All these answers and more below. We’ve been madly researching them for the past few weeks but if you see any mistakes feel free to send them to tips@thebullblog.com

SKULL AND BONES

Jacob Paul
Went to Alaska last summer, is very serious about the trumpet (actually!), did National Quiz Bowl in high school and is in the band Jamestown.

Dakota McCoy
“Once discovered several strange skulls that were classified as rodent-like”.

Julian Reid
Head of the “Julian Reid Jazz Trio,” plays in Stiles once a week with Orlando Hernandez (Keys ’13).

Meredith Potter
Miss Teen North Carolina first runner up 2005!!!!!!!!

Ilana Harris-Babou
Former Bullblog Crush of the Week, excellent at knitting.

Yishai Schwartz
Won the DS prize despite thinking they should make more time for the Hebrew bible. 

Amalia Skilton
Apparently her friends believe her to be a superhero. 

Fatymatou “Tyma” Dia
A Senegalese member of Asempa who is currently studying abroad in Jordan.

Max de La Bruyere
An adorable Canadian ginger who “wouldn’t call himself a writer but loves trying.”

Teddy Collins
Andover class of 2008 president whose real name is Tantum and has a vaguely foreign accent.

Maddy Sharp
Is  ”proud to be a Bulldog“!

Elizabeth Asai
Hosted an end-of-summer Yale-in-Washington pool party.

Bay Gross
Hacked his way in.

Lawrence Lim
Wanted to be in the teacher prep program.

Samer Sabri
Wrote a majority of the content on the “Useful Applications” page of the Yale Wiki page.

Wolf’s Head

Katie Ballaine
A St. Ann’s graduate and a squash player.

James Campbell
Once played a highly contested game of croquet, dating Hope Weissler (WH ’12).

Gus Steyer
A legacy and a BD.

Omar Njie
Once attended a Super Sweet Sixteen party that was on MTV.

Nathan Yohannes
A Pierson Master’s Aide who has been to Indonesia.

Victoria Buhler
Is rumored to have dated James Franco.

Adriana Ortiz
A slam poet.

Ellie Morse
Made a super helpful video about radiators.

Sanjena Sathian
Needs help with her cover letters.

Michael Solotke
A carillonneur. 

Kevin Lunn
Heartthrob cross country runner (and blogger!)

Diana Enriquez Schneider
Don’t call her Die-ann-uh.

Nolan Becker
6’6”!, was on the varsity bowling team in high school

Brian Ruwe
Father was a football captain, Wolf’s Head member.

Efe Chantal Ghanney
Considers herself a “citizen of the world”.

Leeron Tur-Kaspa
Still has a myspace! 

Scroll and Key

Henry Gottfried
Attended the same premiere for “It’s Complicated” as Allison Williams, did puppet theater with Willa Fitzgerald.

Willa Fitzgerald
Dramat diva!, was in the straight-to-DVD film For the Love of a Dog, Cory Finley (Keys ’11) is her  boyfriend.

Orlando Hernandez
A tap dancer and drummer who once played in the Ezra Stiles dining hall with Julian Reid (Bones ’13).

Nicolas Medina Mora
Has an accent, thinks everything is fascist. 

Diana Saverin
Rae Bichell (Key’s 12)’s protégé.

Aaron Feuer
Thinks that “Making copies on the Senate floor is the coolest place to make copies.”

David Carel
His parents wish he’d be “more respectful“.

Adele Jackson-Gibson
Wants to be a DJ next year.

Jessica Oddie
Violinist.

Cassius Clay
Took a semester off to be Kanye West’s stylist.

Xiaosheng Mu
Apparently a math genius.

Sinye Tang
“Lives to make people challah”.

Christy Nelson
The Softball captain who, “with ten homers in two years is more than halfway to the school record of 17,” and has only been caught stealing once.

Josh Penny
50 most 2012!

Natalia Emanuel
Rahm’s niece!

What time is it?

April 20th is coming up!  It’s the last day of classes this semester! It’s the 111th day of 2012 (make a wish)! It’s going to be sunny with a high of 68 degrees! We feel like there’s something else special about that day, but we can’t remember what. Either way, here are 24 things that might be more fun on this glorious Friday than they usually are.

1. Rent a movie from Bass and have a screening in your college theatre. Might we suggest Pineapple Express?

2. Explore East Rock!

3. Caaaaaaaaaaaasssssseeeeeeeuuuuuuus.

4. Try to figure out what the fuck is going on with the Morse lipstick.

5. Take a nap in every single college hammock.

6. Take the elevator up to the top floor of the Loria Center for one of the most breathtaking views of the New Haven skyline.

7. Exit Players Senior Show at 11. We have a feeling it’s gonna be extra funny tonight.

8. Chill in the YUAG sculpture garden.

9. Occupy’s out, but you can still set up your own drum circle on the Green!

10. Weeeeeeeeennnnnnzzzzzzeeeeeellls.

11. Throw another of the millions of Old Campus barbecues that have been happening in the past few weeks. Extra points for suns out, guns out.

12. Downside watson. You know you’ll want it.

13. Hookah, falafel, and iced tea at Mamoun’s.

14. The absolutely beautiful Farnam Gardens at the top of Science Hill. So worth the walk.

15. Use the Women’s Table as a slip-and-slide.

16. Help out (perhaps doing some weeding?) on the Yale Farm. There’ll be brick-oven pizza at 5.

17. Get a group of friends together and sample every kind of smoothie and chips they sell at G Heav.

18. Go to class. Professor’s “What have we learned this semester?” spiel is bound to sound a whole lot more profound.

19. Throw a picnic (blankets and cute baskets required).

20. Go to one of the 7 shows going up Friday night (Yale Drama Coalition). Just probably nothing too plot-heavy.

21. Make a pan of brownies! Yum!

22. Ivvvvvvvvyyyyy Noooooodddddddllllllle.

23. Frequent the kettle corn stand. (He’s going to make SO MUCH money that day.)

24. Lay back and do absolutely nothing.