Author Archives: Rachel Dempsey

It’s Saturday night at Eli University. Normally you’d eat dinner at the Calvin College dining hall, but it’s already closed, and let’s be honest, the food is kind of gross anyway. Instead, you head down the street to Lenny’s Lunch, where you order a hamburger — no ketchup, of course — and a bag of »

The Berkeley dining hall may have lost its status as Yale’s only all-organic eatery back in fall 2006, but if the comment cards posted by the dining hall’s dirty trays are any indication, not all change is bad. “Those muffins were tasty damn delicious! I GOTTA HAVE MORE!” says one. “I was having a bad »

“Antmwannabe” loves Victoria Marshman ’09. “Kaizen” thinks Marshman “has no booty,” and “Mr Yes” guesses she is probably irritating. None of these people — commenters in the “America’s Next Top Model” forum on fansofrealitytv.com — have met Marshman, who goes by Tory to her friends. In fact, all of their judgments are based on a »

Joe Sciarini didn’t think he would make it past his first week as a grounds worker at the Yale Bowl. The only thing he hated more than having to punch a time clock was his uniform: navy blue polyester pants with a crease down the front. “I had my dermatologist write me a note saying »

It may not have any buildings named after it, but Laticia Hyman’s family has a long history at Yale. Her mother was a University telecommunications operator for over 25 years, and her aunt was an employee for 40 years before retiring. Her cousin is currently a custodian on Old Campus, her sister is a guard »

The day Thedosia Lucas got into Yale changed her life. “Yale is the hardest place to get into,” she said. “If you can get into Yale, you’re good.” Lucas, a bubbly 30-year-old who goes by T.T. to her co-workers, can name the day — September 9, 2005 — she started her job as an employee »

Justin Kan ’05 has gone through four phone numbers in the last two weeks. Every time a new number leaks to the public, he said, his phone starts ringing nonstop with prank callers, well-wishers and “a lot of people being like, ‘Hey dude, I really like your site; this is awesome. Can you give a »

In her poem “Education,” professor Elizabeth Alexander ’84 imagines the life of a Yale student nearly two centuries ago. “In 1839, to enter University/ The Yale men already knew Cicero,” she writes. “Dalzel’s ‘Graeca Minora,’ then learned more Latin prosody,/ Stiles on astronomy, Dana’s mineralogy.” The poem comes from a series of 23 poems about »

Over a dozen customers peruse the racks at Wishlist on a Saturday afternoon, sorting through piles of So Low sweats, Michael Stars tanks and True Religion skinny jeans. But while the store is just yards from three residential colleges — and sells high-end Yale T-shirts at $48 apiece — many of the patrons are suburban »

Amani Kitali ’07, an international student at Yale who was born and raised in Tanzania, said that even though he has now spent almost four years in the United States, he is still struck by the large role race plays in the way American Yalies define themselves. “I consider myself to be part of the »

Jeff Lassen of Louis’ Lunch said his family has been serving the same hamburger — a grilled beef patty on white toast, with optional tomatoes, onions and cheddar cheese spread, but absolutely no ketchup — since his great-grandfather invented the iconic sandwich over 100 years ago. “We’re about making the first hamburger sandwich in the »

John Hodgman ’94, the newest regular contributor to “The Daily Show,” credits his Yale education with teaching him the art of timing a joke — even though he spent his hours studying Shakespeare instead of performing comedy. “I was profoundly influenced by the incredibly withering and perfect comic timing of Harold Bloom,” he said. “And »