DukePlays would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly agree with the Beastie Boys. As Jon Detzel pointed out in the Dec. 7 column, "Go 'play well' with yourself," Duke students are never as powerful as when they gather together behind an idea-including our right to party.
DukePlays does not, as Detzel wrote, want to spread the idea there's something horribly wrong with having a social life. In fact, we think there's something wonderful about saying that Duke students lead a well rounded lifestyle: that "work hard, play hard" actually suggests what in theory is a great idea to have about ourselves-that we're incredibly smart and cool as hell.
Unfortunately, the catchphrase has been co-opted by just about every other college in the country, not to mention every critic who runs across it, and it no longer serves to distinguish Duke in the way that we might hope. But even if he was only going for shock value, Detzel's suggestion for a new motto-"work hard, play hard, f- you"-is probably what a lot of people think about us anyway after last spring; that we're a bunch of uncreative assholes.
"Playing well," then, is first and foremost about Duke students, in the most perfect of moments, putting out something else to world about how we define playing and partying around here. But it is also, we are not afraid to say, about applying a standard to the things we already do-or if you're already doing it, just recognizing what a true player you are. If playing hard is keg parties/funneling beers/partying five nights a week, playing well could be all that plus treating your guests well and not just trying to avoid "fumbling the tradition," but elevating the tradition itself.
For example: We found out that in the 1950s, frats used to give out nightshirts as party favors to the girls who came over-complete with the frat's greek letters. Bringing them back could be playing very, very well. Of course, it could be played out badly too. It's all about how you pull it off, and a little bit of perspective.
So playing well is a consciousness, really, about how the ways we already play make us different from everyone else, and also about how we might make it better. It's making sure that we have the best intentions-which we think pretty much everyone has, even though we don't give ourselves credit for them and find it hard to see in others.
Playing well is defining a tradition worth living up to. Being ridiculously good looking. Making fun of ourselves just when everyone thinks we can't. And making sure every party thrown, every hour spent, is something we can enjoy and be proud of: from section parties to house parties, sandwiches on the quad to wine in the gardens, from how we spend our Friday nights to how we spend our Wednesday afternoons.
Think about this. If we could make what separates Duke from other schools a cool factor-sure, we're brilliant, but you should see how we play-then when we fight for better partying venues, on-campus bars, and anything else that may be cramping our style around here, we'll be standing up for ourselves with the knowledge that we play well instead of being on the defensive.
Hell, with some work on all of our parts, those hard-fought divisions in social life might just start to shift. After all, chess players and frat players alike (or some awesome combination thereof) might-just might-be able to agree that they too are playing well when they are playing hard.
We currently spend a lot of energy drawing dividing lines between social groups and niches, philosophies of campus culture, administrators and students, Dukies and outsiders. DukePlays just wants to say that by exercising our right to party in a new way, we'll be fighting for that sense of pride that we're always going after when we say, "Duke works hard and plays hard."
And while we still refuse to allow play to be defined only by our drinking culture, we ourselves are far from the prohibitionists we've been made out to be and thought of this idea with our own social lives in mind. So please. Throw the parties. Think multiple section parties around the same theme, the same night-with era-inspired drinks. A wine party in the gardens (why hasn't this happened yet?). Delta Sig: Playing Well Since 19xx.
DukePlays is not an organization, administration offshoot, or anything other than than the idea of playing beyond the lines that have been drawn in the sand. With a little creativity and a whole lot of pride, cocktails when you want them and four square even still-fighting for our right to culture was never so much fun.
Rachel Weeks and Haley Hoffman are Trinity seniors and co-founders of DukePlays.
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