As dedicated Argus readers may have noticed, the Wesceleb column has recently taken a bit of a break…but one Wesleyan senior is such prime Wesceleb material that her friends and classmates begged your humble Wesceleb writer to come back for one last chance to make Kate Heller ’09 an official Wesleyan Celebrity before she graduates. If you don’t know her by name—which you probably do because she’s extremely friendly and excellent at making small talk–I’m sure you at least know Kate by her eye-catching Spongebob backpack, bright blonde hair, and panda face hat. After a busy weekend of performing in the Wesleyan Melodrama,, Kate sat down with me to explain just what it is that makes her so worthy of celebration.
CB: So Kate, I know this past weekend was the Wesleyan Melodrama—how did it go?
KH: Yeah—the floor in the Nic lounge is really atrocious right now. We’ve been bantering about using something other than marshmallows, because although they’re funny to throw at people, they make everything really disgusting. I proposed using fresh fruit and making everyone wear white.
CB: That sounds dangerous, too. Just for anyone who might not know, can you explain a little bit about what the melodrama is all about?
KH: Sure. Yeah, I just got involved in it kind of by accident when I was a freshman because I did improv and responded to this e-mail blast sent by the directors that year to everybody doing anything remotely funny or creative. It’s a two-step process: first quarter of second semester, anyone who wants to be involved gets together and brainstorms what we want the show to be about—this year we kind of stole from Shakespeare. The overarching plotline was made off a villain antagonist who’s very loosely based off Bernie Madoff. He steals all the gold from the endowment mine of “Foss Flats.” I think this year was really strong…there’s always one song or moment or something that I really love. This year there was a great cast and it was a really fun process. There were a bunch of cuties, which is always fun.
CB: I heard a fun fact about you recently…
KH: What’s the fun fact?
CB: That you are a belly dancer.
KH: [Laughs] I’m glad that’s the fun fact that you heard. I was worried it might be something far less discussable. It’s less that I’m a really good belly dancer and more that I know how to, which puts me in a very small category at Wes. I took belly-dancing lessons in high school for like two and a half years. It’s really fun and loose and hot, and it’s about isolations, and shaking your hips, and having a belly, which is fun. I got to be in a couple of belly dances this year, which is probably why you heard about it: I was in Samsara, and also Azara Golston ’09 did one belly dance for Terpsichore.
CB: Well, you seem to be pretty active in campus and community life, with your interests as diverse as belly dancing and puppetry.
KH: Yeah, I do way too many things on campus. [The puppetry] is this thing called Kids On The Block, not “New Kids on the Block,” because we would be the worst boy band ever. We go to fourth grade classrooms in Middletown and we teach them about disabilities through puppetry. We put on these totally goofy scenes with one girl who is not “differently abled” and some others that are. She’s basically a huge bitch. She’s this blind puppet who just says really nasty shit. And the disabled puppets take things really well. There’s one scene where she’s talking to this puppet with Down syndrome, and she goes, “You can’t do it, you have Down Syndrome!” and the DS puppet is like, “But hey, we’re all special—yeah I can.” The kids ask really ridiculous questions all the time that have nothing to do with anything. Everyone’s favorite puppet is Mark, because he’s a badass and has cerebral palsy, and drools a lot.
CB: Sounds like a blast. What is the reaction from the kids like?
KH: It feels like it’s an important thing to do. It’s cool, I think the kids like it, even if its just to get out of class. Fourth graders.
CB: Is it you who goes around during finals to give out candy dressed like a little fairy?
KH: I did that once, but it’s not a pattern yet. I gave everybody Hershey’s kisses dressed like a fairy. It was partly out of guilt because I didn’t have any finals so I didn’t have to be in the library. I decided to do it as a sort of penance, to go brighten everyone’s day who still had to study. And yeah, Davy Knittle ’11 helped me tape up candy to everyone’s thesis carrel doors the day before theses were due. We taped up a little good luck note too. I feel bad because not everybody got a carrel, so I didn’t get to hit everybody up. And we left out science. So I apologize to Mike Lubrano ‘09, the one senior bio major I know who wrote a thesis.
CB: That is so nice of you. Well, we’re about out of space, so this is your last chance to say anything you want to say in the Wesleyan Argus before you graduate.
KH: Ummm…oh, I really hope somebody carries on “Fun Panty Fridays,” which is a personal holiday of my own—because every Friday should be fun panty Friday.
CB: Well then, I guess I’ll let everyone know! Fun panty Friday. That sounds like kind of a secret fun fact…not so secret anymore.
KH: Or before, unfortunately.
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