By Emily Howland

The Mac Weekly: What do you three have in common?EF: Radicalism.

How so?

EF: Oh, where to begin?

MW: You’re interpolating him; you’re fixing his identity already.

AV: I think all of us unabashedly love academics on some level.

MW: We’re knowledge producers, I would say.

EF: We’re all feminists.

AV: Quit fixing my identity, Ed.

EF: I’d say we’re all generally friendly guys.

MW: I’d say we’re all three serious academics and we’re also three guys who identify as mostly heterosexual males and we’re trying to figure out how to manage our masculinity within this more or less masculine space within an academic and lived framework.

AV: I think the succinct way of putting it is that we all take our intellectual endeavors very seriously and believe that practical engagement built on our intellectual trajectory is a necessary component.

MW: Yeah, like how to be responsible bros within this society.

AV: Theory and practice cannot be separated.

How do you play that out in this house?

AV: Our house is at the forefront of the war against space fascism. Kill Zone-possibly the greatest video game ever made.

MW: Kill Zone is a specific medium that mediates the way we talk to each other within this masculine space.

AV: We’ve been living together in some permutation for the majority of our college life so we have played a lot of Kill Zone. It has almost become like a meditative ritual because to some extent we know what will happen-we will win. So when we sit down to win again and save the earth again, you know it’s something to do with your hand and your mind is freed up because, let’s face it-fighting space fascism is a very simple process.

What are your main differences?

AV: I’m not from Hawaii.
MW: And I don’t know what’s gonna happen in Rome before it happens on HBO. It’s a TV show about Caesar and the rise and fall of Rome.

AV: As a Classics major, I sort of knew how it ended.

EF: I guess we’re all at different points.

AV: Sports is a much bigger part of your life than either Matt or I.

EF: I play football.

How do you have fun in your house?

EF: Drinking.

MW: Sitting in the NASCAR chair.

AV: The NASCAR chair entered our lives about a year ago when Ed saw it at a garage sale and bought it for a mere $9.99 and it sat firmly in the middle of our Kirk triple as a throne sits in a place of prominence.

MW: You see, we sort of descended the masculinity. And now it’s the study corner! So it’s evolving.

AV: My college education was completed from a NASCAR chair.

Andy, have you been to Hawaii?

AV: I have not.

What similarities do you see between Minnesota and Hawaii?

EF: SPAM! Hawaii is the number one consumer of SPAM in the world and Minnesota is the producer.

MW: Twice in the last week we’ve made SPAM sushi.

EF: It’s the hotdog of Hawaii.

AV: Ironically enough, this was my first SPAM experience.

How do you like it?

AV: Everything in moderation.

What are the main differences you’ve found between Minnesota and Hawaii?

EF: The weather. Minnesota is definitely a lot more ethnically homogonous than Hawaii.

MW: Hawaii is the only minority white state in the union.

What do you identify as?

MW: Well, you can’t use Hawaiian because that means native people, indigenous. I’d say I’m local. It’s kind of a catchall category that means non-white people. Ed and I are both part white but I’d say we identify as local.

EF: I was not born in Hawaii, but I’ve lived the majority of my life there. At this point I identify as a local.

What language do you speak in Hawaii?

EF: Pidgin, which is a hybrid of English, Hawaiian and the various languages that have come to Hawaii by means of immigration.

What are your main areas of interest, academically or otherwise?

MW: Let’s talk about how Andy was the seventh grade electric slide champion.

AV: In seventh grade physical education class, we had a dancing unit where you learned such useful skills as waltzing and square dancing, but at the end they threw in a unit of the electric side. I performed the electric slide with such “electricness” that I won the Dancing Bear certificate for my skills. The mascot of my middle school was a bear. Once I become a star-“Dancing with the Stars.”

Do you see that in your future?

AV: We’ll see where a Mac degree can take you.

What else are you involved in at Mac?

AV: We’re all members of Feminists in Action/Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault. It’s the feminist organization on campus.

MW: We meet every Wednesdays at 10:15. A year ago we were the only male-identifying people in FIA/STARSA. Now we have “n” genders, infinite genders.

AV: I would like to think I’ve taken the liberal arts very seriously because I’ve dabbled in as many different things as possible. I’ve probably most consistently been involved in jazz band. I play bass trombone.

EF: Also, we’re all very religious.

Are you of the same faith?

AV: We all come from culturally Christian backgrounds. I’m a confirmed Presbyterian but I also operate in a very Unitarian fashion. Inclusiveness is emphasized above all else.

EF: Liberation theology is a really big part of my life.

AV: We talk about politics of all types almost non-stop.

EF: My dad identifies as a liberation theologian so I was brought up around that.

Where do you think you will be in 5 years?

EF: In the basement of our parents’ houses eating Hot Pockets and playing Kill Zone.

AV: Some struggles will never be over.

MW: Fascism is not dying anytime soon.