O Week

So Orientation Week had come to a close. It was bloody eventful, I tell thee, they don't do things by half at Reed. I will describe some highlights of O-week, in list format because I am lazy:

Giant bonfire with marshmallows and free revolting beer, drunken freshers and people with super-soakers full of tequila squirting shots into people's mouths (I got tequila up my nose, eww).

My favourite could be the half-naked sexy hipster fire dancers. They did amazing things with flaming torches, firey whips and infernal hulo-hoops. Seriously, I will try to find some photos online. They were really good...

The Big Art Room, which had art materials with which to make posters for your room. I made some amazing creation with a blue Sharpie and silver glitter. It is on my wall right now, looking very smart.

Some more touchy-feely talks and discussions. I am all for talking about issues and things, but there was about four hours worth. Talks on drugs and alcohol, sexual assault and consent, diversity at Reed, and the Honor Principle (a thing they have at Reed where they don't really have any rules but they expect everyone to be nice to each other anyway). There was also meeting of the Queer Alliance where we introduced ourselves with our prefered gender pronouns and discussed issues we'd like to see addressed on campus. Oh, and we sat in a circle. There is a lot of sitting in circles.

We skipped the talk on the Honor Principle (so it might be more complicated than just generally doing as you would be done by) to go to downtown Portland. I haven't seen much of it so far so I can't really elaborate, but the parts I did wander through I just loved. We went to the Saturday Market (Camden-esque) and for a quick visit to Powell's, the hugest most wonderful bookshop on the continent. It might be my new spiritual home. The sidewalks are all pleasantly wide and about every block there is a sculpture or a fountain or a mural. Here is a mural near the Saturday Market; there are many many more.

The Noise Parade. Oh my god, that was what really convinced me that Reedies are all nutters. This involved the entire school wandering through campus dressed in crazy costumes, banging on pans, yelling and playing instruments. Basically making an infernal commotion til we reached the quad, whereupon there was some kind of pagan ritual where half-naked men and women painted red chanted and threw beer on a gigantic pyre. Beer and coffee actually, these being the twin demons of student life.

There was a zine workshop, which I really enjoyed. Some people from the IPRC came to visit, that being The Independant Publishing Resource Center, a zine centre downtown. We looked at examples from the IPRC's extensive library and put together a zine which they later gave out at Orientation Wrap-up. The workshop got me all inspired, but when am I going to have time to put out a zine?

Oh and here is my room at Reed. You will notice the Cat Power poster in prominent place. It is my new favourite possession. Randomly noticed that the wonderful Chan Marshalls was doing a solo gig at the Aladdin Theatre, a local venue, so we went down on Saturday night to see her. (The bus didn't turn up so we got a sketchy lift from some non-sketchy people.) She was really great, did new and interesting versions of all her best songs and some covers, and only flaked out when she stopped for a couple of cigarette breaks- making up for it by telling some rambling but entertaining stories.

What else did I do? Well, a whole bunch of stuff, and I talked to a lot of pissed Freshers. Can't quite remember any more highlights though. As an added bonus here is a picture of me standing in front of Old Dorm Block looking quizzical.