We’re only beginning to understand the extent to which targeted advertisements played a role in the 2016 presidential election, and we’re still reeling from the fallout; the Equifax leak has left thousands of people’s personally identifiable information vulnerable to exploitation; and every day, a rash of new startups make grand claims about using Big Data […]
Queering Athletics, Part I: Nicky
Nicky is a queer trans femme and recent Vassar grad who played on the Vassar Men’s Volleyball team for two years. She is currently attempting to adult in Brooklyn, NY, where she is a social worker at a community health center connecting underserved populations—primarily low-income queer and trans folks—to social and medical services. Nicky strives […]
Boilerplate Interviews President Elizabeth Bradley
In an exclusive interview with Vassar’s new president Elizabeth Bradley, inaugurated September 24th of last year, Boilerplate Editors-in-Chief Saskia Globig and Dakota Peterson sought to bridge the gap between students and administration. They attempted to explore a difficult terrain of inquiry whose answers have, and to some extent continue to be, obscured from the student […]
Introducing: Queering Athletics, a New Series
I am an athlete. I’ve been an athlete ever since I could crawl. As soon as I was able to run, I started playing on organized sports teams. While these teams solidified my self-given title, they also gave new meaning to the word “athlete,” a term I naively thought was my own. When I was […]
Burlesque: Community of Vulnerability
Lights are dim and the audience is full. Excited murmurs ripple throughout the crowd waiting in anticipation. The show begins with some rules and guidelines for the audience. We are entering into the performers’ space, and in order to earn that privilege we first agree to respect the people and the space. As the show […]
Holding Each Other: Reflections on “No Prisons, No Wars”
In July and August 2017, my Facebook newsfeed was crowded with condemnations of Trump’s “trans military ban.” I was disappointed with the scope and rigor of many of the critiques written by national transgender activist leadership as well as those penned by fellow Vassar students. While the appeal for transgender inclusion in US institutions is […]