By Stefan Deeran

We begin new Senior Spotlights this year by focusing on two noteworthy, heterosexual life partners, Coin Flip (NW) and Bus-Stop (TC). These Gandolf-like Kirk marvels have been to the bottom of the barrel during their Macalester careers. The ever wiser individuals recount their remarkable rise back to the top of the game over a power luncheon at Caf’¨ Mac. Below are some excerpts. Stefan Deeran: How did you receive the Coin Flip moniker?

Flip: Well I was playing the $1,000 tables on partypoker.com and I was rolling with ace/dick off suit. It was five handed and soon as I saw the ace, the ace in the hole, I plugged it all in for $380. You guessed it. I got sucked out on the river for all my money.

SD: You guys are Thursday night legends at Plums. Tell me how it’s done.

Bus-Stop: Well it’s all in the preparation…umm, let’s see. You gotta imagine the sheer jubilation when I wake up Thursday morning and know that I’m gonna be on that dance floor come evening.

SD: Flip, Indiana has some of the most prominent white musicians–Axl Rose, Michael Jackson, John Mellancamp. I’m interested, however, in your states’ diverse cultural heritage.

F: Let’s see. Well, the white settlers moved into Indiana from Kentucky bringing with them, you know, a lot of the great white cultural heritage we all know and love. My hometown of Indianapolis is a real city, however.

SD: Bus-Stop, how would you reconcile participation in a Women’s and Gender Studies class with an affinity for porn?

BS: The main problem I see with pornography is that it degrades sex for everyone. It makes use of the male gaze to allow a man to imagine he is doing something to an objectified female. Sex could be seen as an intimate form of communication between two people- or at least it should be. I think the popularity of pornography is a product of our alienated culture.You do have to remember to look at things within a context.

SD: Where do you see Mac in 10 years?

F: These are hard questions; these are not the type of questions I expected.

SD: Best Mac professor?

BS: Two, Sonita Sarker and Sung Kyu Kim. Sonita, cause she’s so fly. No, to be honest, umm, both of them are excellent teachers, because of, uhh, they have a structure they stick to, they break things down to basic and digestible elements and they are passionate about teaching.

SD: How does it feel to be the last seniors living on campus?

F: Alright. I made lots of money working freshman year, trying…yea…then things took a turn for the worst when I saw the headlights coming at me. I made an amazing maneuver to save my life and spent some time down at Ramsey. Since then it’s been a long climb up hill, you know, building my bank roll back up.

SD: Both of you will be somewhere else next semester. What are the hot plans?

BS: Well, I’m through with this joint in December, so I’m gonna pick up my satchels and head to the mother country. (Flip interjects: Tambov!)

SD: Flip, Favorite Minnesota sports memory?

F: We blaze in Metrodome when Twins clinch.

SD: Bus-Stop, you were a clown last summer. How can we bring more joy to Mac?

BS: Well, umm to be honest, I recommend anyone take a summer and go to a beach town. Don’t do anything serious for your career, ’cause your gonna meet beautiful people from Russia, Brazil and all over. They come to beach towns to make money. It’s a different vibe of multiculturalism.

SD: You guys are Caf’¨ Mac’s most dedicated patrons. What is your favorite Caf’¨ Mac station?

F: Well, it used to be the North, but then B-Wags stepped in and fired a twenty-year veteran. I can’t even stand eating at the North Station anymore.

SD: You guys have been more frank than I expected. Do you feel we can speak openly about issues of race, color, class and sexuality at Mac, a presumably tolerant space?

BS: To be honest, I am a little uncomfortable about what we have said here. These are usually things that I’d only share with intimate friends who understand where I’m coming from and know when I’m being ridiculous. I think this has something to say with the nature of, you know, I don’t know, discourse in this age of mass communication. True meaning and understanding and therefore democracy can only take place on an intimate level.

F: I’m sorry for all that I have offended during the process of this interview…I understand that I’ll get burned for this.

SD: Flip let’s hear your sickest rhyme.

F: You got roaches/ spiders in the basement/ can’t remember how I got here/ ready to bust/ I cant take it/ she working it/ she working it all night/ ready to bust/ lucky I got a rubber/ ohh shit/ I caaaan’t trust it/ my worst nightmare/ a paternity test/ hide in the bushes all day/ hit me up on my pager/ time for me to get paid.

SD: Any parting last words for Macalester College?

BS: Lately I’ve noticed that certain individuals in the past that I pretty much always saw alone, now with friends and having conversations all over the place, all over campus, perhaps they had friends all along but it makes me feel really good to see that they’ve grown socially, I feel we all grow in different ways here. I came here really social and I’ve learned to do my own thing too. So, it’s good to see that loners grow to be social too.