In her last days as a University of Chicago student, fourth-year Jackie Todd hopes to revive “Vita Excolatur,” the sex publication made by and for students that contains questionably pornographic material. Taking its name from the University’s motto, the magazine attempts to show “the life enriched” by sexuality. Although “Vita” has been short of writers, photographers, models, and a leadership structure since the magazine last made it to print in 2007, Todd has a strong interest in carrying out the project she inherited after her first year at the College. Many have expressed interest in “Vita” since then, but Todd says the problem has been students’ fears of commitment. Getting people to lay bare their bodies and thoughts about sex has proven difficult, even in a periodical that anticipates selling only 200 printed copies and will not be posted online, and editors have received last-minute requests to use pseudonyms or pull nude portraits. Contributors to the magazine cite anxiety of potential discovery by future employers or law school admissions officers as reasons for their preference for anonymity. Todd, calling herself the “Vita girl,” does not share this anxiety, stating plainly, “This is the bed I made for myself.”

UofC second-year and photographer Edward Menéndez, the only other actually named Vita contributor, is proud of the work he has submitted, although it was not shot for the magazine specifically. Like many UofC students, Menéndez is interested in questioning sex and gender roles, and believes “Vita” would be the appropriate venue. In this upcoming issue, he poses one female model in such a way that “it’s hard to draw sex out of the image.” A black-and-white side profile of a girl staring into a window located outside of the frame, the light spilling onto her slightly slumped shoulders, offers to its viewers no suggestions that are explicitly sexual. And yet by virtue of the fact that she is a naked woman, he admits that her image is sexualized. Menéndez prefers to inspire reflection rather than hand viewers any definite assignment or conclusions. “It’s a provocation, be it sexual, physical, psychological.”

As a rule, Todd would not ask “Vita” contributors to do something that she herself would not feel comfortable doing, which includes shots of penetration or masturbation. For her, a spread that involved any live sex act would be “crossing a line I’m not comfortable with,” adding, “There are some things you don’t get to see.” Though Todd’s boundaries may have influenced the direction of this last issue, her bold direction sets the bar high for issues to come, as she will be posing for “Vita”’s staple photo of “hot chicks reading books.” Said one of the magazine’s photographers, Tuncay Esref, “People are scared of other people’s judgments, which I think is why ‘Vita’ is necessary.” Esref hopes to find a future venue for “a shoot that involved sweat and bulges of skin and pubic hair.” With Todd graduating in just a few short days, her hope to “bring sex to a more public arena,” beginning with her own full exposure, is the first step to reclaiming the world of academic erotica. And with students like Esref and Menéndez sticking around, “Vita Excolatur” will live on as the counterpart to this crescat scientia institution.
“Vita” will be printed and ready for sale by the start of the second week in June in the UofC Reynolds Club.

“Why not put food and entertainment all under one bun?” Taylor Mallory asks, reciting the slogan of his new food and music webshow, “Music Burger.” Wearing a smart sport jacket and his signature black baseball cap backwards, Mallory doesn’t look stressed, but the musician and teacher has a lot on his plate. Read the rest of this entry »

A woman in a black dress and a man in a black tie and white-collared shirt stood on stage. Black binders in hand, they read from a collection of letters, diary entries, philosophical musings, and poetry from diverse authors. Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, Islamic mystic Ibn al-Arabi, and Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk were all spotlighted in little more than half an hour.

“Voices of the Middle Eastern City” was performed on May 14th at the University of Chicago as part of the 25th annual Middle Eastern History and Theory Conference. Read the rest of this entry »

The poet Fanny Howe, a slight, jittery woman of 59 years, visited the University of Chicago last Thursday and Friday, giving a reading the first day and a lecture on her philosophy of poetry the second. Preferring to sit on the edge of her seat at a cluttered table in Rosenwald Hall rather than stand at the nearby podium, Howe spoke to Friday’s audience like it was full of familiar faces. The winner of the Ruth Lilley Poetry Prize in 2009 for her lifetime of work delivered selections from what she called her “read-aloud” book. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Strand, former Poet Laureate of the United States and former professor on the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, visited Hyde Park last week to give a reading of his work and a lecture on the poems of Wallace Stevens. Weekly editor Clare Fentress, along with Euphony’s Cat Greim, caught up with him before his talk. Read the rest of this entry »

“So what do you guys think?” asks Tony Lindsay, the workshop leader for the King Library’s branch of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance. The question is met by wordless expressions of approval, and a few satisfied “phews” and “yeahs!” With the immaculate intonation of an audio book narrator, Lorraine Minor has just read her new story, “The Deceased,” to kick off the writers’ workshop. The story turns a stroll down the sidewalk into a meditation on domestic violence, animal abuse, and the feeling of being powerless to stop them. “…Excellent,” someone ventures. “Excellent why?” Lindsay presses. And then things get rolling. The group of about ten fellow writers analyzes Minor’s story using Aristotle’s narrative arc, identifies its themes, and jots private comments down on their copies of her piece. Read the rest of this entry »

Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” was supposed to discuss her book last Wednesday evening in the large central room of the Experimental Station, but the heating went out. So instead, about a hundred of us packed tightly into a small, multi-purpose room next door, filling even the kitchen at the back of the space, piling our coats together on refrigerators and over each other’s seats. Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Bernstein has been a major figure in American poetry since 1978, when he coedited the influential magazine L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E. “One of the things that interested me was poetry that was eccentric, that diverged from the norms, that was weird and queer and extreme and very self-conscious about how its forms were provisional and imaginary and invented,” Bernstein said in an interview. Since the 1970s, Bernstein has published more than thirty books of poetry, essays, and libretti. Read the rest of this entry »