21 Questions With... Emily Rutherford '12
CAMPUS RADICAL EMILY RUTHERFORD '12 WISHES WHITMAN DINING HALL WOULD SERVE A STROGANOFF AS GOOD AS HER OWN
Name: Emily Rutherford
Age: 19
Major: History (American studies certificate)
Hometown: San Diego, CA, but I claim dual allegiance to Saturna Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: All my loyalty is to Rocky.
Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
Shirley Tilghman has done more than anyone else in Princeton's history to make this university a place in which a great many different kinds of people from a wide variety of backgrounds can feel wanted and welcome.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
Prospect House hors d'oeuvres and desserts at history professor Margot Canaday's book talk. Three words: chocolate-covered strawberries.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
I sit in the Rocky dining hall drinking lots of coffee and reading, blogging, or talking at people; also, I go to class.
What’s the worst place on campus?
The Whitman dining hall. The acoustics there are terrible—it's impossible to have a conversation. Plus, I heard a rumor that it was named "Community Hall" after the eBay community, and that's just fucked up.
What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
'80s dance music. I'm so ashamed that I will never listen to it without headphones, but that shit's good.
What’s the last student performance you saw?
My Fair Lady.
What are your favorite ways to relax?
Hanging out in friends' rooms socializing, reading for pleasure, and going on walks.
Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
I think the only ones I know are "Old Nassau."
What’s your drink?
In theory, white wine; in practice, lots and lots of coffee.
What’s hanging above your desk and/or bed?
Desk: a poster from the Beat museum in San Francisco and sundry newspaper clippings/photos. Bed: the LP sleeve of the Original Broadway Cast recording of Hair, postcards of various fin-de-siècle portraits, and my collection of political buttons vintage and contemporary.
Where do you do your best thinking?
I've written nearly all my papers in the Scribner Room on Firestone B-floor.
Greatest fear?
Underwhelming and disappointing my professors.
When’s bedtime?
Sometime around 1 or 2 am.
Favorite medication?
The combined oral contraceptive pill, which revolutionized women's ability to have the final say in what happens to their own bodies.
Last book you managed to read for pleasure?
Plato's Symposium, translated by Benjamin Jowett. It's totally hilarious—and I'm not a nerd at all….
Last meal you cooked?
I'm ashamed to say that I haven't cooked since summer—but the last meal I made in the kitchen of my D.C. sublet was a mean mushroom stroganoff.
If you could change something about Princeton, what would it be?
Generally speaking, I want Princeton to be a place that is welcoming to all people and all kinds of people—from TI members to kids like me who can walk into Terrace and still feel profoundly uncomfortable; from very devoutly religious students to students with no religion; from varsity athletes to the athletically incompetent; from New Jerseyites to students from Europe or Africa or Asia or South America. I want women and LGBT students to feel safe on the Street; I want minority and low-income students not to have to feel like strangers on their own campus. I don't have a coherent set of policy proposals for how to accomplish this, but I'm doing what I can to increase the safety and comfort of LGBT students and to support and promote alternative, non-Street social spaces as a viable and non-shameful option.
Who is your mortal enemy?
I'm writing this on a train that's running about two and a half hours behind schedule, so right now I'd have to say Amtrak.
When’s the last time you used cash?
Small World, last Sunday. Caffeine withdrawal kicks in at 10am, regardless of whether the dining halls are serving breakfast.
In 25 years, I will be…
In my dreams? Tenured at some hoity-toity private university (with lots of research funding and a reasonable teaching load) in a town where I don't need to own a car. Realistically? An adjunct at some near-bankrupt satellite state campus in a Midwestern suburb where a car is essential. (I've got nothing against the Midwest, just against driving.)
What makes someone a Princetonian?
Technically, being a part of the university community—students (undergrad and grad), faculty, staff, alumni. But I'd add caring enough about this place to want to make it your own, and putting in the occasional effort at taking action that you think will make Princeton a better place to live and work.