For some, all you need is to get away from love for a while. This Valentine’s Day, a group of students created a safe space for those who, according to the Facebook event page, “seek a place where they can be miserable and alone without seeing anyone who is miserable and in a relationship.” The Facebook event had an impressive 250 people attending, so Street trekked to VP basement to observe the festivities firsthand.
The organizers of the event were Rebecca Green (C '18) and Harry Berkman (W '17). “We wanted to choose the most depressing place on campus so obviously this is where we ended up. This is a safe space from love, but also a general sense of optimism. VP basement does a good job of sucking that out of you,” Harry explained. Like any good Penn event, there was plenty of free merch: attendees could take home a voodoo doll, Celine Dion album or any of a wide variety of vibrators. The safe space was open from 8 to 11 p.m. At 9 p.m., attendees were required to take a Math 104 midterm.
People from all walks of Penn life were represented. One student who told us her life was “completely changed by the monk class” said she came “just to get away from the hyper–commercialization of it all.” A male student sporting a “Love Trumps Hate” shirt said he stumbled on it looking for a Democratic safe space. “My love life is doing about as well as our country right now, so I think I’ll stick around,” he told us.
Before leaving, students were encouraged to contribute to the space’s own “Wall of Rejection.” In the center was a card that read: “I have a higher response rate from Penn Course Notify than from guys I meet at Smokes'. By the way if anyone wants to drop COMM352, txt me first ;).”
