By Rachel Adler

The Mac Weekly interviewed Dupre 5 RAs Mac McCreary ‘12 and Sarah Mueller ’12 on Dupes pride. TMW: What are your majors? How are your capstones shaping up? Sarah: I’m an English major with a Literature emphasis, and Art History and WGSS minors. I’m doing my capstone next semester so I’m just not thinking about it. Mac: I’m a Chemistry major and Biology minor. Chemistry has a class that’s capstone in everything but name, and I’ve just been trying to keep my head above water in that. You also have to do a presentation in seminar, but I’m going to do that next semester as late as possible because I have to figure out what I’m going to do in that. Probably something about making zooplankton think they’re going to find a mate, and really it’s just a trick. Sarah: That sounds mean. You’ve both been RAs on Dupre 5 for the last three years, which, according to my very reliable sources, means that 1/10 current Macalester students have had you as RAs. Were you aware of this statistic? Mac: It’s unreal; there are times when I’ve been in the Leonard Center working out and every single person there had lived on Dupre 5. Dupre 5 is an institution. The Penthouse? Mac: That’s our name this year. There have been times when I thought it should be ranch-themed, so that when I see my residents I can be like, “See you back at the Ranch.” That’s never really happened. Sarah: You can just say that. Did you live on Dupre 5 freshman year? Mac: I was down on Dupre 3, but I had a lot of friends up here on Dupre 5 so I was up here quite a bit. Sarah: I was on Turck 1 my freshman year. Mac wins the prize for living all four years in Dupre. We don’t need no sinks! Mac: Most people think that Sarah and I have been friends forever and ask us how we arranged to be on the same floor as RAs, but Sarah and I didn’t really know each other until we got up here. Sarah: ..we clicked. What sort of legacy do you hope to leave with your residents? Sarah: I think that we do a pretty good job of breaking them down. Mac: Over the summer we had high hopes of starting a cult. Sarah: That’s a lot of effort. I think we do a good job of acclimating them to Macalester and getting them ready for the weirdness. We’re also real with them because there’s a lot of bulls**t Macalester throws at you like “global citizenship” and “social justice,” not that those aren’t good things in moderation, but you have to have a sense of humor about things like that. Mac: A big thing for me is getting them away from their parents and encouraging them to take classes that interest them even if their parents don’t approve. Sarah: We also want to open their minds to new ideas. Mac: We definitely have no issues talking about sex. Sarah: My door decorations this year are about sexual fetishes, and Mac’s are pictures of prisoners and old people. What have your other door decoration themes been over the years? Mac: I got so into door my decorations the first semester. I spent the entire summer with a mythical creature coloring book I had, colored them all by hand and put those up so that everyone had their own mythical creature. That spring of junior year we did my favorite theme by far. Sarah: It took us more than 8 hours to make them. Mac: Somehow mustaches came up, and then baby animals and macaroni art. So I decided to find famous people with mustaches. We had Wilford Brimley, Clint Eastwood, I think we gave Oprah a mustache, Saddam; a Walrus was my favorite, Geraldo Rivera, the Monopoly guy, just classic mustaches. Then with an exacto knife I cut out all the mustaches and gave them to Sarah. In the space where the mustache was, I filled that in my macaroni noodles. Then Sarah put the mustaches onto picture of baby animals. Sarah: And then we put ridiculous macaroni art around the edges with sparkly poof balls, sequins and googly eyes. Second semester, I did cult classic movies. Some of my residents kept them and still have them on their doors. The next year I did Adventure Time. It’s a weird cartoon that I love. And this year I did sexual fetishes, which sort of goes along with the building theme this year. Mac: I was really upset about the building theme this year because I had a really complex idea. I wanted all my residents to have a prisoner pen pal because I think that would be really interesting. Sarah: We can still try to do that. Is the theme Duprison? Mac: [Laughs] No, well I wanted to do something with cults and crime. Sarah: We really wanted to get a police SUV Power Wheels car and ride it around on rounds, but they’re like $300 so that didn’t happen. What’s your favorite nickname for Dupre? Sarah: I like the Duprojects. Mac: I don’t like Duprojects, actually. I think it’s slightly degrading. Sarah: They’re all slightly degrading. Mac: I just like Dupes. Sarah: That’s probably the one I use most often. Mac: Dutopia. I just made that up. We’ve tried to make some good puns, like Dupraise. Currently there’s a drawing in the hall office of a Duproctopus. For Halloween, Sarah was Duprayshawn. Sarah: Most people thought I was just Kreayshawn, if they even thought I was Kreayshawn. Most people thought I was just a hipster. What other Macalester hats do you wear besides your RA positions? Mac: In the past I’ve been the men’s captain and president of the rowing team, but this year I took on the task of being the Financial Affairs Committee Chair through MCSG. I’ve been on MCSG since sophomore year, and that’s taken up a lot of time this year. I don’t think anybody really understands how much time it takes to be an MCSG executive until you do it. Thus far it’s been rewarding. The budget’s done so I have a feeling that I’m going to get a lot of emails in the next week. Sarah: You’re not making all the decisions alone. Last year and this year I’ve been the co-chair of Queer Union and I also write for The Mac Weekly. I have a radio show that I’ve had since sophomore year called SEXYTIME that I do with my roommate from freshman year, Mollie Hudson. I’ve been on the Sex+Positive Week planning committee since sophomore year. That’s what I do. Mac: It’s a lot of sex. Any last words? Mac: Being up here on Dupre 5, especially with Sarah, has been such a good experience. I appreciate all the time spent with everybody who’s lived up here. People will ask me, “Oh, what year is the best?” I honestly don’t think I can answer that question because every year has been so different and so great in its own way. What I love about this job is getting to know people and having fun with them. I’d just like to say thank you to everyone up here who’s made Dupre 5 great for us. Sarah: I definitely agree with that. It’s been really rewarding to work with Mac, and I feel like we’ve lived together for 3 years even though we live in different rooms.