Debate team is so high school. Someone always gets a bloody lip in intramural ultimate frisbee. The president of the Bach Society refuses to experiment with Jamiroquai. But an eternity of classes, WB teen dramas and pickup ball at the MAC is hardly a satisfying stand-in for a non-existent love life. Steer clear of the Zolaf scene, and head for the extracurriculars. But this semester, venture beyond the mainstream and mundane.
1. The Harvard Tiddlywinks Society meets up a few times a year to work the wink and test the tiddly. According to President Frank E. Pacheco `99, the Society lies "somewhere between a club and a team, and is in a continuous battle to find intercollegiate competition." It seems that few are up to the challenge, though, and the Society's games remain confined to intra-Harvard play. Pacheco says the club welcomes newcomers and is basically just a social game that's not very strenuous. The club organizes one tournament per year and insists on using only the finest imported English winks and pots. As an aside, tiddlywink novices particularly adept at the popular yet pedestrian drinking-game "Quarters" should strongly consider hustling their way into the patrician club. E-mail htws@hcs for more info.
2. The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) brings role-playing to a frighteningly bizarre level. The Society credits itself with "recreat[ing] the good aspects of the Middle Ages in the modern world." Yes, membership in this club does indeed require one to don chain mail and brandish a rubber saber. But consider the perks. One staged spar in front of the Science Center will surely hook you-there's nothing quite like that first "Connecticut Yankee" adrenaline rush. President Alice H. Kao `01 says club membership is tailored to individual interests, noting that "there are different parts of the club. Depending on your interests, you can make costumes, and learn about medieval gaming like archery and fencing." A subsidiary of an international SCA network, the dozen or so members of the Harvard branch are invited monthly to a large-scale social event hosting the anachronistically inclined from all over the greater Boston area. E-mail sca@hcs.harvard.edu for more info.
3. Five classes, captaining dorm crew, intramural curling: every Harvard student knows how to juggle the parts of their so-called life. Now learn how to do it with bowling pins! Every Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Harvard Juggling Club meets to practice pin-tossing and other aerial acrobatics. In rare good weather the stage of choice is Tercentenary Theater; the club gathers in the MAC Mezzanine the other 11.5 months of the year. Newcomers are welcomed with open and dexterous arms, as founder and President Daniel I. Cousin `00 stresses that absolutely no previous juggling experience is necessary. E-mail juggling@hcs.harvard.edu to find out more details.
4. For the dreamers and the philosophically inclined (especially the social studies fanatics of Harvard), the Harvard Objectivist Club (HOC) welcomes interested students to attend its weekly meetings, lectures and videotape viewings. Ayn Rand, mother of Objectivism, preached "objective reality, reason, rational self-interest and capitalism." According to HOC President Joseph C. Anderson `99, philosophical experience is helpful but not necessary for understanding guest lecturers and essay discussions. "One can still grasp Rand's meaning," notes Anderson, "without being an expert on continental philosophy or the English empiricists." Oh goodie. E-mail hoc@hcs.harvard.edu for meeting times and more information. Happy pondering!
5. Besides having a super cool website (click on the yin-yang!), the Harvard Tai Chi Tiger Crane Club offers a kick-ass, karate-choppin' good time. The club, Harvard's original martial arts group, runs the February Harvard Martial Arts Expo in Agassiz Theater and organizes the Annual Harvard Conference on Tai Chi and Health. Members of the club can choose to focus on tai chi or kung fu (there are separate practices for each, plus a joint practice on Sundays), and follow the professional leadership of Master Yon Lee. Members also perform at occasional events and make appearances at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire as well as in the Cultural Rhythms festival at Harvard. Membership also entitles one to join in "discussions on issues of health and philosophy that are the foundation of Chinese martial arts [which] happen over Peking Ravioli and potluck dinners," according to club President Andrew J. Green '99. E-mail ajgreen@fas for more info.
