Carla Aronsohn

My definition of the strong woman varies, I suppose, based on their role in society, and how much of an impression they make on the people around them. There are those like Gloria Steinem, who fought for her rights as a woman, and is part of the reason that women are even considered remotely close to men in terms of social rank. And then there’s someone like Carly Simon, who expressed her discontent with men’s vanity through song, and looked and sounded great doing it. And then there are those like Serena Williams, who has received nearly the same amount of respect as a tennis player as any man has, and who also could bench me upwards of fifty times. And then there are those like Carla Aronsohn, who demonstrates her strength with her role as “Lesident” of The Bridge, as she so aptly puts it, as well as her role on the woodsmen team—both physical and emotional strength apply.
 
Carla and I don’t have a whole lot in common, except that we lived in the same dorm freshman year, and we both went on the Sundance Jan Plan last year. But somehow, we’ve developed a friendship, which I think was, at first, based on the fact that Carla inspires me, not only because she is so active in the Colby community, but also because she is so comfortable with herself. I’m not sure I’ve ever met somebody with such strong convictions and such a radiant personality who gets along with so many different types of people. She’s so versatile—the opposite of an introvert; she is open to getting to know people, and always speaks her mind. But she doesn’t judge those who are far more closed-minded than she is, the way I do. She suspends all presumptions, and instead, gets to know someone based on the content of their character. I wish I could say the same about myself.
 
Carla’s wit goes a long way—the way the answered the questions I asked her was both intelligent, and hilarious. She just tells it like it is. Whether she’s doing things for The Bridge, video-blogging for Inside Colby, chopping wood for the woodsmen team, or preparing for Green Graduation, Carla brings her spunk and talent wherever she goes. And because she’s so articulate, I’ve decided to write this article in question and answer form so that you, as a reader, can hear Carla’s voice, her endearing sense of humor, and her articulate nature of speaking.
 
EA: Tell me a little bit about the woodsman team. How did you get involved? What do you do for them?
 
CA: The woodsmen team is awesome. It’s my favorite thing I do at Colby. The group of people whom I do it with are so interesting and diverse and beautiful. Going down there is completely different than being on campus. You feel like you’re in a completely different place. We chop wood, saw wood, toss wood, throw axes at wood, etc. We do anything you can do with wood, and make sexual innuendos about wood, all the time. I axe throw, and I like the vertical chop—it’s really a simulation of felling a tree. And I usually do fire building. We do activities as a group, too, like we did an outreach program with Hardy Girls Healthy Women. We got to tell them why we love being on the woodsmen team so much, and they got to try stuff out. They use hatchets to split cookies; it was so adorable. There are always a few that say, “I thought only boys do this!” but then they try it and they’re just like “yes!”
 
EA: What do you do to prepare for a woodsman meet?
 
CA: We do two-a-days for two weeks before a meet. I think that we’re not recognized on campus as a team that works really hard and displays a lot of effort, but we really do. Woodsmen women won the New England championships last year. We also do lots of team bonding. I think it’s just as important as practicing. I think that when we’re bonded, we do much better. We spend time in either really hot temperatures, or really cold temps and working our butts off. It’s important to have team spirit to get through it.
 
EA:How often do you practice?
 
CA: We have practice 5 days a week from 3-5 or 4-6 depending on the winter or summer. Most people probably go down 2-3 times a week when there isn’t a meet coming up. We do it all year round, like we have a meet in February in Nova Scotia, which is going to be really cold and really awesome. The practices aren’t closed off to people on the team. Anyone can bring someone down and try anything with someone on the woodsman team.
 
EA: Have you found that your woodsman skills to be particularly helpful outside of your meets?
 
CA: Yeah, I mean I think in a way it teaches you to be efficient in hands-on skills that you do. To be able to light a fire quickly while not wasting time getting bad kindling is pretty important. Since I’m an Environmental science major, knowing a lot about trees is really helpful. And it’s so important to the Maine economy. The wood that we cut up is sold as firewood to people in town, or the Colby Outing Club buys it. Our “snacks bin” with cookies and chips (wood-shavings) goes to the biomass pile. When the biomass plant goes in, we’ll be making energy for the school. It’s pretty cool to think about.
 
EA: Tell me about your role in the Bridge.
 
CA: As of now, I’m “Lesident,” but in the spring, I’ll be a co-president. Pat, who is abroad, will join me when he returns. We’re trying to help Colby be a more inclusive environment for both the queer and the allied. Jess Acosta (former Bridge president) always talked about how closeted people were her freshmen year, and how people are much better and more open now. I’ve seen freshmen coming in with much more openness, which is really great. To make people feel part of the community, we do a lot of programming on campus. We also do outreach into the community. We work with Waterville High School, going into their health classes once a semester. It’s really important for people to know gay people and successful queer people who get through those tough times in high school and are comfortable with themselves. We open the floor to any questions they have and answer any misconceptions. We usually have a really good dialogue, too. It’s so amazing. Something I see that gets swept under the rug is that people with conservative view points don’t speak out about it as much as kids in the Waterville Public schools. Often times it’s the discussion of “why should we not say that’s so gay?” because in high school, people say that all the time. Educating people on how things you say can be hostile towards people who are different from you.
 
EA: What are your plans for the Bridge as a leader in it?
 
CA: One thing we did this semester is focus on trans issues. Transgender November. It included a faculty staff dinner, Rachel Isaacs talked about trans in the Hebrew Bible, and Jenny Boylan will read from her gendered memoir. We had trans rappers come, and we had a performance in the coffee house. That’s something that doesn’t get touched on as much. It seems further from people at Colby. That sort of education is really important. People do have to come out again and again. It’s not just like the Bridge has a “coming out meeting,” I have to go if I’m gay. It’s not that. It’s that these spaces are available, and it’s celebrating the sexual diversity of people. We have pride week coming up in “Gaypril” which is such a blast because it’s such a visual disruption. Last year we had the rainbow columns of Miller, which we weren’t really supposed to do, but hell, we did it anyway. And the drag ball is always really well attended. Last year, there had to have been more than 300 people there. Ww might have to move it to page this year, but I love it in Foss, too.
 
EA: How do you think Colby could improve gender and sexuality resources on campus? Do you have any ideas about how to make this campus a more comfortable place for everyone?
 
CA: Well, with recent events on campus, I think about it in two ways, that first of all, men need to be held to a higher standard, and that they need to take responsibility of their actions. And then that girls need to be more empowered on campus. Freshmen women coming in need to understand what the animal is that you’re dealing with at Colby, and they need to feel empowered. Upper classmen women need to pass the empowerment down to the younger ones. And then there were a lot of homophobic acts that were happening at the beginning of the year. Keeping those dialogues going. People who have posted on the discourse are so brave to come out and say these things on a public forum. If there are athletes on this campus who are willing to be out, it says a lot. We have come a long way. People need to fuck the status quo and just do their own thing, not worry about pressures, etc. Just do what you feel is right, and support your friends who seem happy, even if they’re not doing something that’s congruent with the group mentality. People are becoming preoccupied with a lot of things that just don’t matter.
 
EA: You are involved in environmental stuff on campus. Tell me about that. How did you get involved?
 
CA: I’m pretty involved in green graduation. Green graduation is set up to help make graduation as green as possible. Which ends up needing to have a lot of hands-on involvement. We need to compost things at the outdoor dinners. It’s a really good event for publicity for parents and alums to know what’s going on on campus. The “greening” of Colby is pretty institutionalized. Buying almost 100% renewable energy, biomass, etc. They do a lot.
 
EA: What is it like coming from Miami and going to college in Maine?
 
CA: It’s extremely different. First off, it’s probably 80 degrees there. And it’s, what, 20 or 30 degrees here? I wanted to get far away, and be in a very different environment. I love the different terrain, and the forests that you don’t get in Miami. But I miss being on the water and going to the beach and being able to sail. My public high school was on an island that there was 1 bridge to get to. It’s great, but I love traveling, and this is kind of just like getting to immerse myself in 2 completely different cultures. And it’s great to go back to Miami in the winter. It’s also fun to tell people about Miami because when you meet people and they ask where you’re from, they expect Boston or NY. They just don’t know how to handle people from Miami. Someone asked me if I was from Canada because I wear flannel or something.
 
EA: How do you find time to do all of the things you do, and still get your work done?
 
CA: Oh if only I ever got my work done. This is all my work, I mean, I’m putting it on myself. I could stop, but I don’t because its’ fucking important. It’s important to the people who go here, it’s important to me. I also think what I’m involved in is very liberal arts, and all the classes I take are all every interconnected.
 
EA: What’s your favorite thing about Colby?
 
CA: The people. I mean the people are what make this place. We kind of have this blank slate to work with. 25% of the population is overturning, so it’s the people who make everything happen here on a social level. And then the teachers are amazing, too. It’s so great when they can engage in class with what’s happening on campus. The people that make it up are what make Colby, and keep the traditions going.
 
EA: What’s your favorite Colby memory?
 
CA: When in Foss there was a spontaneous dance party, which started at a woodsman cookie dinner, and we put in one of our woodsman CDs. Everyone just felt that the energy was so high. People were on tables and chairs. We need to bring that energy back to Colby. But the problems shouldn’t be silenced, either. We can’t just go back to the way people were feeling before break. Things get silenced and swept under the rug all the time at Colby. People need to learn to break the silence and get away from those patterns. Oh and then obviously breakfast with Bobbi Star (porn star that came and talked at Colby last year)—best breakfast of my life. Bagels and talking about strap-ons and fisting? Yes.
 
EA: What’s your favorite place on earth?
CA: Above the Arctic Circle. I was in Greenland this summer doing some research with a geology group on climate change affects and melting Permafrost and studying ice core samples. It’s nothing like studying science in a class. Just being in the heart of a study is so amazing, which is why I think I’m interested in film and science. Just being in your study is what living life kind of is.
 
EA: If you could meet one celebrity, whom would you meet and why?
 
CA: Rachel Maddow, and I’d ask her to be our graduation speaker. That would be awesome. Even though it probably won’t happen.
 
EA: Anything else you’d like to add?
 
CA: I made a “Sexumentary” last year. It was a big film project that I did with Tamar Hassan ‘11 and Madeline Gordon ‘11. She helped a lot in production and getting a lot of those interviews, like people Tamar and I couldn’t necessarily tap like Pat Burns. I guess we got the idea after watching some sexually liberating films at Sundance last Jan Plan. The ways in which people interact with each other and how they think about sex and how they talk about sex interested us, but the real thing we wanted was to hear was sex stories. So we made this film: sex tales of Colby and creative reenactments of it. It was really fun to do. With the group of very comfortable actors and people we had, a lot of people were telling stories, not directly about themselves, but about other people. I want to make another short film, a sort of genre called “gender fuck” for drag ball. I have a super 8 camera, and I want to look into how we’re supposed to perform in our gender. And I want to do a 2^nd installment of the “Sexumentary.” I think I’ll call it, “The Animal Behavior in the Page Mating Grounds.” That’s a joke, though… or is it?