COLUMN Sex and the College

Author: Andrea LaRocca

During those two weeks of eternity at the end of the summer - you know, the weeks when everyone else has gone back to college and we Midd-kids are left still counting the days - my summer fling ended in a dramatized version of "Well, um, since we're both going to college in opposite directions ..." My friends were away, and now I had a broken heart; the two weeks of eternity had suddenly become purgatory. What was I going to do? Well, I did what every self-respecting, heartbroken girl does: I got in my car and drove to the nearest supermarket and video store. But somehow, despite my best intentions of drowning myself in ice cream and fairy tales, I ended up tearless - and addicted to the HBO sitcom "Sex and the City."
At the supermarket, I balked at the fat content of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked and went for the frozen yogurt instead. And then in the video store, I passed over every proven tear-jerker chick flick ("Pretty Woman," "Jerry Maguire," "The Wedding Planner") until, wait, what was this? "Sex and the City"? The video jacket promised stories of four women in New York City trying to find themselves while also finding husbands - about as chick flick as possible. I checked out the first season, and soon I forgot my cry-fest and, yes, became addicted to "Sex and the City".
But what about it had I become addicted to? Did the stories of the four women empower me beyond chick flicks and ice cream? Or was I obsessed because "Sex and the City" raises almost every question about relationships that begs to be asked? Was I - and the other millions of "Sex and the City" viewers - just addicted to the answers of these questions, to the thought that maybe by watching this show I would learn what relationships are all about? When my brother stopped by to shake his head in disgust at me and then ended up staying for an entire episode, I realized: We are all obsessed by the questions and answers of relationships.
Which is where this column begins. Club Midd is full of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes but also full of its own dating rules. So it's time to start asking some of the Middlebury sex and relationship questions ... What's the deal with sex at Middlebury? Why does it seem that most Midd-kids don't date other Midd-kids? How has Stalker Finder - oops, I mean People Finder - changed the dating scene? And what happens if you actually talk to your Proctor (or now Ross) crush? "Sex and the College" will finally answer all these questions (and more), so stay tuned and get addicted. And hey, brush up on your "When Harry Met Sally" trivia for next week ...