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The Fun-In-The-Sun Issue
by Krinka Sigurdsson '01
The 2000-2001 school year is an historic one for The Yale Record because, for the first time ever, the magazine has elected a chairwoman instead of the customary chairman. When the magazine was founded a hundred-something years ago (please have one of the boys look this up – thanx!), Yale was still an all-male school, and for this reason The Record was male-dominated as well. In the years since ____ (sorry, guys, I'm no good with numbers and stuff!), when women undergrads – or "coeds," as the fellas like to call us – were first admitted, The Record still managed to escape feminine influence because, while females proved themselves useful at the News as typists and women's sports reporters, they are widely known to be incompetent humorists. Very few women have ever succeeded in being intentionally funny (with the possible exception of slapstick comedienne Lucille Ball, who, let's face it, really made it on her looks).
You may ask, with the inadequacy of female comics so well documented, how did I, a modern coed – and a blonde one at that – manage to attain such a high-ranking post on the Record? Well, after a failed campaign last year, I reexamined my strategy: instead of promising to sleep with anyone who voted for me (which attracted little attention from the guys), I instead offered to cuddle affectionately with supporters. I've learned that men just like to be held. My supermodel-like name also helped me to win over the male staff members – who, lucky for me, make up ninety percent of the vote (perhaps more, as I suspect that the other girls' votes weren't counted anyway. No one really takes them seriously). Also instrumental to my success was the fact that no one else ran.
Trailblazing is seldom easy. Sometimes, when the catcalls in the Record office reach a fever pitch, I wonder whether my pioneering spirit can survive another pat on the ass. But, I remind myself that boys will be boys and I make a mental note to wear more lipstick to the next meeting. In spite of my inability to come up with any funny ideas of my own, I maintain that women do occupy a significant place in comic history because, as a glance through any WWII-era copy of The Record will show, jokes about women are a vital part of any humorist's oeuvre (ask one of the boys if I'm using this word right). So I am honored to be the first woman ever to sit in the Chairman's chair, and relieved to have a solid staff of men beneath me to do most of the actual work. A wise alum once advised me, "The Chair is really just a pretty face." A pretty face – now that I can manage!
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