Camellia sinensis broth protocol
Camellia sinensis broth is an aromatic solution with vaguely medicinal properties. Commonly consumed by the British, many Asians, as well as hipsters trying to be pretentious, this broth is widely used to calm anxiety and is widely accepted as having magical properties.
Reagents:
H2O liquid buffer, maintained at pH=7
15% lipid content homogenized, heat treated cream
Solid saccharose(C6H12O6)
Preparation of C. sinensis sample
1) Using a mortar and pestle, grind 5-10g of C. sinensis leaves into a powder.
2) Transfer sample to a .1mm pore size silk filter
3) Seal filter bag completely.
Preparation of C. sinensis broth
4) Heat H2O liquid buffer(pH=7) to 95C
5) Submerge C. sinensis sample into the buffer.
6) Incubate at room temperature for 4 minutes.
7) Remove sample from the buffer and discard in appropriate waste receptacle.
8) Reheat solution to 80C
9) Vortex to mix thoroughly.
10) Using a volumetric pipette, add 2.5 mL of 15% lipid content cream into solution
11) Using a magenetic stir bar, mix solution until homogeneity is reached.
12) Add 6.0g of solid saccharose(C6H12O6) into solution
13) Mix until all saccharose has been completely dissolved into the solution.
14) Maintain solution at 80C.
A month or so prior to the writing of this blogpost a Facebook page entitled "Wendy Quiet" was established amongst the Wellesley community. Students and alumnae were encouraged to "send in secrets" and other messages that they wanted to be broadcasted but remain anonymous. What started out as a useful outlet for general frustrations about the college/life or even small encouraging messages quickly turned into a vitriolic rant-fest of epic proportions. Not only were several groups on campus targeted, so too were major demographics such as heterosexuals and first years. (Side note: I would like to point out that if someone were to bring those posts to the administration[even though they are anonymous], they would be considered hazing, which is not something the college takes lightly.)
Most recently was the post about "reverse discrimination" which received(in my humble opinion) a lot of really violent backlash from people, as though they couldn't possibly fathom why someone might feel like they were being "reverse discriminated" against.
For the record, no-I did not send that in to Wendy Quiet.
I do however understand where they might have been coming from.
The activist culture at Wellesley is very vibrant and very vocal. If someone things you are being privileged(by not being accepting of those of another sexual orientation, class, race, gender etc), you will IMMEDIATELY be informed of their thoughts, and most of the time not in a respectful way. There was even an instance where someone wanted to be a stay at home mom and was subsequently called "a waste of a Wellesley education". While I think that it was a bit of a misuse of the term "Reverse discrimination", it's understandable that some people may feel that they are being penalized for being born into a life which makes them more privileged or more sheltered than other students at the school.
While I completely support peoples differences in being, thought and action, being disrespectful to your peers is something I absolutely can not condone. Nothing, not your sexuality, gender, class or ethnicity gives you the right to treat your peers disrespectfully. And to be clear, if this were the reverse case where it weren't minorities being volatile, you can be absolutely sure that I would be saying the same thing. You are allowed to be think/act/be any way that you see fit, but you are not allowed disrespect others because they are different for you. Just because you're responding to a majority does not give you the right to patronize them and it does not make issues they have less legitimate. (edit: also, I have posted to that group 3 times(not telling you which) and each time I have gotten roughly 40 likes by members of the LGBT*QIA community and straights alike so you cannot tell me my experience is not legitimate). I'm not really sure what the posters were trying to achieve with lashing out the way that they did. Respect is a two way street which a lot of people seem to be forgetting.
It's really quite unfortunate that the page evolved the way that it did. I think that having the knowledge that you were not alone in your struggles here was invaluable for some students. There were posts about feeling alone, feeling like not fitting in, feeling not good enough. These feelings I think were really helpful as a reminder that everyone is struggling here, that no one was perfect. It was a great platform for humanizing the community again, which I think was the creator's intention. It's sad that people couldn't find a better way to vent their frustrations in a more productive way.
So what does this say about Wellesley? The past month has demonstrated that, given enough time the Wellesley community ultimately succumbs to hatred and is unable to sustain a supportive network when you hear what the students are really thinking about one another. Frankly, I think that's part of the reason people have such negative feelings about the school environment; people are spewing negative energy at eachother like it's absolutely nothing and no one is calling them out for it. While we like to think of Wellesley as the liberal, progressive and accepting place, I think this shows that we still have a lot of work to do because the student body is still ultimately divided to a certain extent.
To the creator of the page, it was a good idea. Just crappy timing. I hope we as a community can work through this.
