Chelsea Bruno

After sitting down with Matt Marr '13 to talk about the launch of his upcoming clothing line, it became apparent that this project is much more than a random attempt at starting a business. For Matt and his business partner Ian Lee ’13, starting this business is an opportunity to take a risk and learn a lot along the way.

So you’re starting your own clothing company. Can you tell me a little bit about it? How did it get started?

It’s called Marlee and Company. Ian Lee ’13 is my business partner in this. His parents are both in the garment industry, and they own several boutiques in Hong Kong. His parents encouraged him to use their connections and then we saw each other at a bar in NYC this summer and he said he was going to call me the next day with a crazy idea. He called me and explained his idea to me, we went back and forth, and finally I decided this was something I really wanted to do. Ian came up with the name [a combination of their last names], he brought me in and engaged me and got me pumped up, I can’t stress how important this was. You can’t go one foot in and one foot out with these things, and it was Ian that got me pumped to go all in.

Why did you want to do take this risk and start this company?

I’ve always enjoyed clothes. I love finding clothes that I think are unique and have a good feel to them. But there are clothes I wish I saw on the rack that just aren’t there. That was a little bit of my inspiration for jumping at this. I feel like I have ideas to contribute fashion-wise. I want to take what I know about where I come from and the community I’m involved in and use that to figure out what people want to see and want to wear.

As the end of the semester is now upon us, it is difficult for many of us to understand how the time passes so quickly here at Bowdoin. It feels like just yesterday it was move in day, with nervous first years saying good-bye to parents, and excited upperclassmen reuniting with friends from far away. But now, eight months have elapsed and we are all entering new chapters of our lives. For many seniors this is one of the scariest times of their lives, as they enter the world beyond the Bowdoin bubble and begin a new journey. For those of us who still have time at Bowdoin, this is often a period of reflection and growth, as we consider what the future at Bowdoin will hold. With all of this in mind, I think it is important to reflect on the words of advice that Bowdoin offers us. The offer of Bowdoin College is as follows:

TO BE AT HOME in all lands and all ages; To count Nature a familiar acquaintance, And Art an intimate friend; To gain a standard for the appreciation of others’ work And the criticism of your own; To carry the keys of the world’s library in your pocket, And feel its resources behind you in whatever task you undertake; To make hosts of friends...Who are to be leaders in all walks of life; To lose yourself in generous enthusiasms And cooperate with others for common ends —This is the offer of the college for the best four years of your life.

This is the offer of Bowdoin College, which all of us have probably heard a handful of times while here. However, I doubt that many of us have have ever given meaningful consideration to this offer. By applying the principles put forth, we can find guidance and purpose in our present lives and in the future.

The Vagina Monologues. The name alone sometimes gets strange looks and apprehensive comments. I must admit that before I came to Bowdoin, I had never even heard of The Vagina Monologues, let alone thought that I would ever participate in the show. However, all of that changed after I saw last year's performance and my perception was forever altered. After hearing the various monologues and having my eyes opened to the incredible world of the V-Day organization, I knew that I wanted to participate in The Vagina Monologues. This year as auditions rolled around, I grew anxious, thinking that maybe this wasn’t something I could do after all. However, I auditioned, received a fantastic part, and my life changed from the entire experience.

The Vagina Monologues is a collection of stories recorded by award winning playwright Even Ensler. Ensler interviewed over two hundred women, translated their stories, and compiled these stories into an exceptional performance. The V-Day organization is a global activist movement that strives to end violence against women and girls. V-Day is a force that puts on events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention regarding the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery world wide. Each year V-Day works to support productions of The Vagina Monologues all over the world. Since the play was written, it has been translated into 48 languages and has been performed in 140 countries worldwide[1].

As date week comes to an end, I thought it would be particularly interesting to write about how my peers, both male and female, feel about the Bowdoin dating culture. I can’t even count the number of conversations I’ve had about the Bowdoin dating scene, or more specifically the lack there of. It seemed necessary to look beyond my immediate friend group and get feedback from other students about their thoughts regarding dating at Bowdoin. As a result, I sent an anonymous survey to over fifty Bowdoin students, some friends, some acquaintances, some complete strangers, and 26 people responded to my survey, which may seem like a small sample of the Bowdoin population, but it’s a start. I should warn you, most people I talked to rated the dating culture as a 4 on a scale of 1-10, meaning that the majority of students don’t feel that the dating scene on campus is prevalent or successful.