Senior Spotlight | A Series of Speculative & Intellectual Inquiries | “Mary Shelley,” The Movie: Hot or Not? | A Little about “London Lives”
Senior Spotlight
“It’s all about love these days,” Senior Will Prim begins as he and Drew Rodriguez-Michel squeeze onto a coach and grin at the camera. “A love wave if you will,” Drew finishes.
Will and Drew’s lively banter is undoubtedly full of love, laughs, and good stories.
First Memories and First Meeting?
Drew: Been there since the womb. No, I saw someone on Seinfeld, and I was like, that’s Will Prim!
Will: Ever since freshman year I’ve been getting Jerry Seinfeld comments.
Drew: And this is why you had to get a bunch of tattoos.
Will: Yes. If we’re going back to the question, I think we met through music.
Drew: We met through our own mutual love of music.
There was also the time they met, fishing off the Goodhue bridge.
Drew: Who do I see on the Goodhue bridge, other than Will? I happened to have some really nice blond hair at the time. I caught a fish. That was when we first really locked it in. Our mutual love of fishing. And then it’s just been history.
Will: We like to get down. Chill. Steady. And then farm—that’s another point of bonding. But then Drew decided to go abroad for two terms.
Drew: I was in London—growing into myself, growing out another bad haircut. I had to do that off campus. Then I came back and it’s been . . . it’s just been love. It’s finally blossomed.
Streaking Culture at Carleton
Will: Real streaking has to be when you’re out in public.
Drew: Exactly—no one that’s not a Farmie has ever seen me.
Will: I heard that Carleton alums, every time there’s a big political event or sports event or anything, there’s always people streaking if it goes the right way. Either, things have just not been going the right way politically or people have lost that. I’ve streaked across the Bald Spot a couple of times.
Wildest Carleton Memories (Redacted, guess how heavily)
Will: Staying up for 36 hours during Rotblatt last year. We had one of those parachutes that you have in elementary school, all the refs, and I was a commissioner. It was six in the morning and we just hung out under this parachute. That’s fun, that’s zany.
Drew: The craziest thing I’ve done. Actually Second Laird related. I love the tea here, it’s one of the reasons I’m an English major. (Discovered the editors were unaware of the English Department tea stock.) This is such a fault. We haven’t passed this on. At lunch, I need to have some seltzer water, so sometimes I’ll just leave the bag in here like right now. Honestly it’s delightful, and I think everyone else would think I’m crazy, but it tastes like a fancy LaCroix.
Will: Me and my dear friends—Jeremiah, Dylan—stole Schiller.
Drew: You can’t say that.
Will: It’s good because it’s in the past.
Drew: You just want the clout for that.
Will: I do, a little bit. I feel like it’s getting overshadowed now, with all of the competition. Me, Jeremiah, and Dylan took Schiller on a road trip, and we revealed that we had it when we were in Utah. Mr. E, he’s a great guy—love what he’s doing—but he said people don’t do shit with Schiller, no, people are so boring. We took him to Zion.
Advice
Will: Take Shakespeare one, freshman year . . . you’ll be awesome.
Drew: Music is not worth dying your hair for—oh, that’s a dangling participle! Do not dye your hair blond for music.
Comps
Will: I chose the research essay option . . . The focus of my comps is on an Appalachian poet. I wanted to focus on something that I haven’t really learned about here, something that’s fresh and exciting and also connects me to my home, which is in the mountains of Georgia.
Drew: I chose the colloquium. I love talking with Brewer and Valentine twice a week about very specific old texts. It’s like the highlight of my week. I actually really love community and my fellow English majors. You chat, you write. It’s that simple, and there’s something really beautiful about that. I’m making mine about sacrifice as a gendered act.
A Series of Speculative & Intellectual Inquiries
We ask, professors answer.
There’s a rumor out there that, among Carleton faculty, the English department is stocked with foodies and pretty decent home cooks. We asked our beloved English Department—If dinner’s at your house, what is your piéce de resistance or signature dish?
Gwen Kirby: I am a very indifferent cook but I make a mean dessert! I wouldn’t say I have a signature, unless chocolate counts? My most recent dinner party creation was a two-layer chocolate cake with blueberry compote and vanilla buttercream.
Arnab Chakladar: “Pretty decent?” I’ve never been so insulted in all my life!
Peter Balaam: If dinner’s at my house and you eat meat, we’re having the arroz con pollo I picked up in Spain this past winter break—Old World comfort-food made sexy with dark smoky paprika, green olives, and chorizo. If you’re veg, we’re having my total kitchen-crush Melissa Clark’s ginormous spanakopita, big as a bread box and crammed with feta and fresh dill. Come either way! It will be good.
George Shuffleton: My family gave very high marks for my pozole this past weekend (dried chiles, slow cooked pork, hominy), but I’d say my finest culinary achievements come in the warmer months, when I’m smoking ribs on my comically large grill.
Constance Walker: Not to brag, but I do make a pretty mean sticky toffee pudding.
“Mary Shelley” The Movie: Hot or Not?
The students in Connie Walker’s class (including your two lovely SLM editors) watched Haifaa al-Mansour’s 2017 film “Mary Shelley” for class last week. We asked them to sum up their thoughts in one word.
Valentine Weiner: Girlboss.
Ryan Bernstein: Overdramatic.
Peter Marshall: Oversimplified.
Kaelyn Rothe: Disappointing. (But kinda hot?)
Jiao Jiao Nelson: Mid.
Quinn Lander: 37%.
Peter Kenedi: Injustice.
Yet, keep in mind–a film that is unfaithful to reality may offend historical scholars and still be an excellent watch–and a stunningly beautiful cast does some work to make it worthwhile! Watch it yourself and see if you agree.
A Little About London Lives
Spring of 2026, Professor Connie Walker is leading London Lives. Let her convince you.
This week on campus, Carls engaged in the mundane pleasures and trials of winter term: wielding every hat, scarf, and pair of gloves they own to brace against the cold as they strode across icy paths, eagerly exchanging whisperings of Date Knight gossip in Sayles, stoically heading down into the depths of the Libe, and even forsaking the Goodhue bridge to cross directly over the frozen Lyman lakes.
Yet, once again, your editors invite you to imagine your friends, lovers, and enemies 4029 miles away in London. After hearing their adventures, sightseeings, and favorite aspects of the city in our last issue, this issue is a call to any theatrically inclined student. For a term, would you trade these typical Carleton scenes to experience such London excitement?
How many times have you led the London program so far?
As many as possible! 6x so far. Every time has been exhilarating and revelatory.
What does your program title, a slight shift from previous years, “London Lives,” refer to?
London Lives is going to explore the city as home and inspiration for the creators of brilliant art, music, film, theater, and literature over the centuries: think Blake, Dickens, Zadie Smith, Steve McQueen, Amy Winehouse, Tom Hiddleston. We’ll visit their studios, study and attend their works, and engage with their lives and creative processes.
What is it about London theater that makes it so renowned, impressive, and memorable?
The quality of the acting, the imaginative vision of the productions, and the way that UK culture takes theatre seriously as an absorbing means to explore social and political issues. It’s literally life-changing!
In your experience, what do Carleton students gain from 10 weeks in London?
The extraordinary chance to make a city that’s been a vibrant cultural hub for two millennia your home. (Plus, endless Instagram material. And sticky toffee pudding.)
Add a comment