This play takes place at a small liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania, modeled after the playwright’s own experiences at Kenyon College (a small liberal arts college in Ohio!).
Kenyon College
A library at Kenyon College
Greek Life
Kenyon College had and still has an active Greek Life scene on campus. Approximately 25% of Kenyon’s student body is involved in Greek Life, which seems to have remained consistent over the years. For such a small college campus, that means about 400 students in total.
At Kenyon, the student body size is around 1,700 where 100% of the students live in on campus housing. That means life there is deeply concentrated to the college campus, and student life/social dynamics take up a lot of space, if not all of it. Kenyon does not have graduate level academics, so that also means the entire community is made up of people in their late teens/early twenties, excluding the faculty and staff.
A concept of how rural Kenyon is on a map! Surrounded pretty exclusively by nature, with the nearest big city (Columbus) being about an hour drive away.
Snacks:
Beverages:
WINE PRONUNCIATION!
Sauvignon Blanc: saw-vee-nyon-blahnk (video)
Riesling: REE-sling (video)
Albariño: ahl-bah-REE-nyoh (video)
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West get married
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7dPqrmDWxs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450p7goxZqg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk
Big on Snapchat!
Although 2014 puts us squarely in the middle of Obama’s second presidential term, it wasn’t necessarily the pre-Trump utopia we might imagine. The November midterm elections resulted in a massive red wave: Republicans gained control of the Senate and also expanded their majority in the House. This would mark Obama’s last two years in office with deep political polarization. A Pew Research Center study found that ideological divides in the United States were the deepest they had been in twenty years, with “92% of Republicans to the right of the median Democrat and 94% of Democrats to the left of the median Republican.and of course eventually pave the way for Trump’s rise to power.”
2014 was also a very politically active year for college students. There were several large scale movements sparked across college campuses that spoke out against sexual harrassment, racism, immigration, and more. Here are some highlights:
Carry That Weight
A student at Columbia University, Emma Sulkowicz, carries a mattress with her across campus as a representation of the weight survivors of sexual assault carry around with them, sparking a nationwide conversation about sexual assault on college campuses.
U Alabama Ends Segregation
Student government at the University of Alabama finally vote for full integration of Greek Life at the college. This comes after years of maintaing the status quo at 28 white fraternities and sororities.
Protests Against Tuition
Students across the University of California schools hold a walkout to protest significant tuition increases. At UC Berkeley specifically, more than a thousand students protest and occupied a building on campus, Wheeler Hall.
How present was Trump/rumours of Trump in politics in 2014?
Trump has always been a huge presence in American media for his polarizing and brash comments on American politics and society. Throughout his career, he made many claims about getting involved with government at various scales, most of which no one took very seriously. In 2014, he teased running for governor of New York, but ultimately passed on the idea, saying instead that he had “bigger plans.”
This is a video of Donald Trump responding to the question of why he hasn’t run for presidency:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYp2A_1w8bU
What is Adderall???