I’m a male graduating senior, girlfriendless, and freaking out that after Harvard, the dating pool is gonna shrink faster than a water balloon thrown at a bed of nails. Now, the clever bit: I am only really interested in Harvard girls — and maybe actresses but that’s another story — picky and vain, but it’s who I am. I’m running out of time and all the hot girls have boyfriends! Can you give me hope?

I can indeed, T.B.

First, you needn’t worry too much: there is indeed an after-college dating world, and it is awesome. It seems scary because there won’t be so many single women your age all living within the same square mile you do, but it’s really not any harder to meet them.

Another thing playing in your favor: as men continue to mature emotionally through their 20s and beyond, they tend to become more desirable – this is because personality tends to affect women’s attraction to men more than vice versa. Since you’re so particular about your tastes in women, that will help you as you get older.

You’re right in your observation that the most desirable girls tend to have boyfriends, but clearly not all of them do, although those that are single tend not to stay single long. But as Randy Munroe helpfully articulated, you have more time — a lot more time — than you think.

Of course, meeting the girl you want can be a challenge: most environments where single women might go for the purpose of meeting men will have a lot of single men competing for them (e.g., bars). And in such environments where singles are actively mixing with other singles, the most in-demand ones are more likely to be defensive. So looking in environments like that can actually be quite counterproductive.

Instead, I recommend you look for an environment where you have little or no competition – the idea being, if you’re the only (or clearly the most desirable) single guy in the place, it doesn’t matter if many of the women aren’t single, or if some of those that are single aren’t the type you’re looking for, because when you have no competition you can approach only the ones you’re interested in. You get first pick.

So, where are these places? It’s interesting you should mention actresses specifically, because theater is my go-to example for this: of those involved in student theater, girls usually outnumber guys, and a disproportionate number of the guys are usually gay, which makes getting involved in student theater as a single straight guy a great strategy for meeting someone. Common Casting has already passed you by this semester, but you would be a welcome additional hand on shows’ load-in and strike days, which can be a great bonding experience for all involved. And even after you’ve graduated, wherever you end up, similar activities are good places to look: dance classes, art galleries, community theater, and so on. And all of those can be done for free.

I know you’re specifically fixated on Harvard girls, but if what you’re looking for in that label are brains and prestige, once you’re out and about in the real world you’ll find that Harvard doesn’t have a monopoly. If you’re still set on Harvard girls though, you should stay local and remain involved in the campus social scene.

More important than all of the above, if you’re afraid you’re running out of time you’re probably going to come off as desperate or sleazy, which usually doesn’t go over well with the ladies. If you’re less worried that you’ll eventually find the right girl, you’re more likely to meet her in the first place and make the right impression when you do.

Hope that helps! Cheers!

Special Thanks to K.V., M.G., E.W., and Alexandra Petri‘s sense of humor. Email Some Dude at somedude.harvardfml@gmail.com.

Okay, maybe not.  Noice hadn’t realized either until recently, but it turns out that the entire month of November marks the celebration of “Forever Young: Folk Music History Month in Harvard Square,” an effort co-organized by the New England Folk Music Archives and the Harvard Square Business Association.  More information on the concerts and other events happening in the Square all month long can be found here.  To name a few, the legendary Club Passim has folk concerts every night, Tommy Doyle’s has a few special events planned, and the Brattle Theatre is showing “Festival!,” a documentary on the Newport Folk Festival.

The most exciting part of the History Month is that businesses all over the Square from J.P. Licks to The Tannery have exhibits on folk history set up.  At each business, photographs are set up in the window and a page of history about an influential photographer, club owner, concert promoter, band manager, musician, or artist is displayed.  The full list can be viewed here.  This blogger recommends not walking the distance to the Irving House because he couldn’t find any set-up there, but the rest of the businesses have some great photographs displayed in the window.  Examples follow after the jump.

Rowland Scherman's famous photograph of Bob Dylan currently hangs in the windows of the Z-Square

Hand-printed calendars from Club 47 (Now Club Passim) sit in LF Stores.

Robert Corwin's photograph of Bob Dylan at Newport Folk Festival, 1965 can be seen in the windows of Dado Tea.

Mint Julep displays "sexy" portraits of Joan Baez and others.

Artists Nancy Brooks Brody and Carrie Yamaoko assemble the fierce pussy installation.

With the flu season upon us, dear old UHS has been constantly urging Harvard students to wash wash wash our hands. But the next time you want to de-germify, head over to the bathrooms in the Carpenter Center or the Sackler Museum where you’ll get not only a dollop of soap but the chance to experience powerful activist art works.  fierce pussy, an artist collective focusing “around lesbian identity and visibility”  has transformed sets of Harvard bathrooms into installation pieces. Formed in New York City during the early 1990’s, fierce pussy has used wheat pasting, a type of postering technique, and text as their chosen medium to reclaim derogatory words used towards lesbian women.

We dropped by the exhibit while the some of the group’s founding members, Joy Episalla, Carrie Yamaoko, Zoe Leonard, and Nancy Brooks Brody, were in the process of gluing posters along the bathroom walls. They Harvard students were also involved in the construction through out the day. With our formal art background consisting of only elementary school paint fights, the application processed seemed a little random. However, these awesome women freed us from our ignorance and showed us how the different layers of the paper was representative of the different layers of identity and sexuality within individuals.

Keep reading to find out more about this work.

By including the words “And I Am Proud” at the bottom every poster, fierce pussy aims to “reclaim the derogatory language used towards lesbian women.” Similarly, the posters in the men’s bathroom end with the words “And So are You” seek to “bring them into the conversation.”

the finished product.

The next day we stopped by the bathroom to take a look at the completed work. Posters run across the walls with effortless continuity. Remembering how that guy in section just couldn’t stop sneezing, we decided to quickly give our hands the ole scrub scrub. A quick glance into the mirror became a longer one as our face was juxtaposed against such harsh words. Although the Carpenter Center and the Sackler are bit further out than the soap dispenser in the Science Center, it’s definitely worth the walk to check out this collaboration between Harvard students and professional artists.

hen entering Leverett’s dining hall after an exhausting day of class, even the hungriest student will notice the garishly colorful mural hanging at the head of the hall above the fireplace, a notorious work of art known among all Leverites.

In 1990, Leverett House Masters John and Judith Dowling commissioned painter Jerald Webster to compose the mural, entitled “Coltrane.” The modern piece—composed of abstract shapes and lines of vibrant and divergent colors—acts as a wild and unfortunate contrast to the beautiful Georgian-style dining hall. The painting supposedly depicts a bird’s-eye view of Harvard Yard, and pays homage to the influences of famous jazz musician John Coltrane, whose music Webster listened to while he painted the piece. Webster originally painted three separate murals to allow house residents to choose their favorite, but over the years, the selected mural quickly fell out of favor among Leverett’s denizens.

Perpetuated as a part of Leverett House lore, “The Turning of Coltrane” remains a legend passed down from old to new residents each year.The infamous mural was so hated in fact, that in 1998, a group of mischievous tutors and HoCo members snuck into the dining hall under the cover of night and turned the painting upside down, documenting their work through photos.  No one noticed the prank until Leverett’s previous Master, who also happened to be an art critic, visited.  Perpetuated as a part of Leverett House lore, “The Turning of Coltrane” remains a legend passed down from old to new residents each year.

The painting soon became immortalized in house t-shirt designs and continues to be a constant source of scandal.  Some students even claim they find the mural so unappetizing that they only sit with their back facing it while eating. Each year, Leverett’s Master offers students the opportunity to one-up the painting, but no one has attempted to improve the dining hall’s atmosphere until recently. Julia Rozier ‘10, a Biological Anthropology concentrator, approached House Masters Howard and Ann Georgi (better known as “Chief” and “Coach” respectively), proposing a “serene” replacement that “reflected the house.”

Chief explained that this was not the first time a student had approached him with an idea, but he was “surprised” that someone actually carried through with the plan. In a project that spanned approximately six weeks, Rozier worked from the ground up, creating a new mural called  “John W. Weeks Bridge in July” that would better reflect the house and its residents. Proclaiming Leverett as “the best house on campus,” Rozier was motivated by her love of the house, its staff, and its residents. “I wanted to give back to a community that has given so much to me,” she said.  As a small token of gratitude, Rozier added a small rabbit—Leverett House’s mascot—to the corner of her mural, paying homage to the house she’s called home for the majority of her time at Harvard.

With the help of Leverett House superintendent Paul Hegarty and a crew of co-workers, the first step in the new mural’s installation was making and sealing a canvas large enough to suit the space. “We had to actually stretch the canvas because they don’t sell canvases at that size, which took about two weeks,” Rozier said.

“I wanted people to remember that there is a wide world out there, beyond our safety.”Not only that, but feedback for Rozier’s work came in real-time, as Julia painted her mural in the dining hall and was able to receive direct comments from her peers. Inevitably, her original plan was influenced by viewers’ continuous opinions. Her product depicts the Charles River with Weeks Bridge as its focal point; the sun shines brightly and lush vegetation surrounds the scene, reminding library-bound and thesis-laden students of the beauty and natural wonder that is easy to forget. Rozier hopes to communicate a sense of “serenity and tranquility,” adding calm and peace to a hectic dining hall atmosphere.

Even though mass opinion still orbits around distaste for the previous mural, Rozier has no explicit standpoint against Webster’s work, saying that she was grateful to Webster for giving Leverett “something of interest” during its time as a part of the house.

As Rozier sees her plans become something concrete, she emphasizes what she hopes to achieve through a project that will affect the daily grind of her peers. After all, there is a good reason why she chose to paint Weeks Bridge with Boston in the horizon instead of another typical Harvard scene found in most house common rooms. “I wanted people to remember that there is a wide world out there, beyond our safety.”

Photos courtesy of Julia Rozier

Look for this feature in the October Issue of The Voice.

This piece is a part of Featurettes on Noice, in which writers submit personal essays and lengthier,  featuresque articles. Submit your guest Featurette today at harvardvoice@gmail.com.