April 30 marked the ninth year of Orono student housing complex, the Avenue, being used as the location for Maine Day partying. Annually, hundreds of University of Maine students trespass the apartment complex to drink alcohol in a large crowd from the early hours of the morning until night on the Wednesday before Finals Week. Originally sanctioned by UMaine as an opportunity to volunteer in the area, Maine Day has also become a massive illegal gathering. Since 2016, when the Ave was built, the fences have been knocked down, the grass torn up and the streets littered, regardless of attempts to make it stop. This year was no exception. Maine Day swept through Orono raising more concerns about damage and public health. 

After safety issues were reevaluated by UMaine Administration two years ago, Maine Day was readapted into Maine Day Week. Yet, the concerns are still very much present with the Ave lacking support. While a nearby apartment complex, The Block, sent out warnings over email before the event to residents about participating in Maine Day, Property Manager of the Ave Kendall Lane and Maintenance Supervisor Tim Mishou mentioned that the Orchard Trails complex tore down their fence bordering the Ave. 

Lane expressed concern for the safety of students and liability for damage. Maine Day has become a day of reckoning for the Ave, with reported damages being the torn-down fences, doors kicked in and massive amounts of litter and debris. Underage drinking, trespassing and criminal activity has limited enforcement by the Orono Police who monitor the party. From accounts of Lane, this could be due to the worries for the possibility of starting a riot. Safety and security have been nearly impossible to balance, leaving the Ave with the cleanup. 

“This is not something that we want to have happen here and we have taken steps to try to make it not take place. We hire security. I get in touch with the Town of Orono and state police so that we have a game plan to try and stop people from coming here. We know it is inevitable, people get in, but we are doing our best to make sure it does not happen” said Lane one day after the gathering this year. 

However, the perspectives of some students in attendance were more positive. 

Benji Gilman, a third-year student at UMaine revered Maine Day as a unique opportunity to connect with students of every type.

“Maine Day is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because you get to experience everybody in every grade. There are marketing majors, there are chemies – it does not matter who you are, but you [are] drinking,” said Gilman.

“I think it [Maine Day] is one of the best events we have on campus. Obviously, there are parts of it that are not sponsored by the school, but it is one of the more fun events we have,” said Kendra Williams, a second-year student at UMaine.

According to the University Volunteer Ambulance Corp (UVAC) Student Chief of Service, Anthony Mazzola, there were two ambulances on the perimeter of the party, one staffed with advanced EMT-level equipment and the other basic with the addition of a paramedic. Additionally, they set up a first-aid tent in partnership with Orono Fire Department at the American Legion. The party also had alcohol compliance surveying. Staff member with Waterfront Security Mary Chessa explained her duties.

“We get hired through certain venues to make sure people are safe, protected and [that] no one gets hurt, everyone’s safe,” said Chessa. 

When asked about what Waterfront Security staff do if something were to occur, such as a fight or an overdose, Chessa shared that, “If anything escalates, it is PD and EMS.” 

Partnered with police presence, the staff was focused on the aftereffects of physical altercations, alcohol poisoning and injury, as opposed to prevention. Mishou spoke to his disappointment with police allowing certain behavior and taking photos with participating students. Reported from the event, there were two assaults that required police intervention. Deterrence, noted Mishou, is far more difficult to enforce with multiple attendees climbing light poles being a serious concern. 

“When you have a kid climbing the top of the light pole– those poles are not that strong. One of these days, it is either going to break or fall. If they do, they are going to die,” said Mishou. “That is my biggest concern.” 

The light poles swayed under the weight of a steady stream of students climbing them, not as isolated incidents but as part of a continuous rotation throughout the event. As they went up, the masses from the grounds threw beer cans at the climbers. For the property manager and maintenance supervisor, it is not a matter of if they fall, but when.  

Given that students get contained within their block, Lane noted that Maine Day being at the Ave could be benefitting the town of Orono to have it there rather than students in neighborhoods or near businesses. Nonetheless, the stress of the party on the Ave is large, leaving Mishou and staff to re-focus multiple days of work on Maine Day duties which stops work being done for the residents. 

“The trash is horrible. It is everywhere. We have to use a bucket loader to clean it. There is urination everywhere,” said Mishou. 

In pursuit of paying for damages, Lane works with police looking through their security cameras to identify students. Residents of the Ave are charged in accordance. In case of crime, Orono police launch investigations to name participants. 

In any situation with large masses of people, similar concerns are raised, not just for the damage and harm they may cause, but also for the possibility of tragedy.

“The other big concern I have is that… there is a whole road full of students. All it would take is one vehicle to go nuts and drive right down it and I worry about that. Someone could bring a gun,” said Mishou. 

The safety of students at Maine Day cannot be guaranteed, with the worries from this years’ Maine Day voiced by the management of the Ave. Eager to look for new deterrents, the Ave hopes next year’s party will look different given right support from the town and the university.

April 30 marked the ninth year of Orono student housing complex, the Avenue, being used as the location for Maine Day partying. Annually, hundreds of University of Maine students trespass the apartment complex to drink alcohol in a large crowd from the early hours of the morning until night on the Wednesday before Finals Week. Originally sanctioned by UMaine as an opportunity to volunteer in the area, Maine Day has also become a massive illegal gathering. Since 2016, when the Ave was built, the fences have been knocked down, the grass torn up and the streets littered, regardless of attempts to make it stop. This year was no exception. Maine Day swept through Orono raising more concerns about damage and public health. 

After safety issues were reevaluated by UMaine Administration two years ago, Maine Day was readapted into Maine Day Week. Yet, the concerns are still very much present with the Ave lacking support. While a nearby apartment complex, The Block, sent out warnings over email before the event to residents about participating in Maine Day, Property Manager of the Ave Kendall Lane and Maintenance Supervisor Tim Mishou mentioned that the Orchard Trails complex tore down their fence bordering the Ave. 

Lane expressed concern for the safety of students and liability for damage. Maine Day has become a day of reckoning for the Ave, with reported damages being the torn-down fences, doors kicked in and massive amounts of litter and debris. Underage drinking, trespassing and criminal activity has limited enforcement by the Orono Police who monitor the party. From accounts of Lane, this could be due to the worries for the possibility of starting a riot. Safety and security have been nearly impossible to balance, leaving the Ave with the cleanup. 

“This is not something that we want to have happen here and we have taken steps to try to make it not take place. We hire security. I get in touch with the Town of Orono and state police so that we have a game plan to try and stop people from coming here. We know it is inevitable, people get in, but we are doing our best to make sure it does not happen” said Lane one day after the gathering this year. 

However, the perspectives of some students in attendance were more positive. 

Benji Gilman, a third-year student at UMaine revered Maine Day as a unique opportunity to connect with students of every type.

“Maine Day is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because you get to experience everybody in every grade. There are marketing majors, there are chemies – it does not matter who you are, but you [are] drinking,” said Gilman.

“I think it [Maine Day] is one of the best events we have on campus. Obviously, there are parts of it that are not sponsored by the school, but it is one of the more fun events we have,” said Kendra Williams, a second-year student at UMaine.

According to the University Volunteer Ambulance Corp (UVAC) Student Chief of Service, Anthony Mazzola, there were two ambulances on the perimeter of the party, one staffed with advanced EMT-level equipment and the other basic with the addition of a paramedic. Additionally, they set up a first-aid tent in partnership with Orono Fire Department at the American Legion. The party also had alcohol compliance surveying. Staff member with Waterfront Security Mary Chessa explained her duties.

“We get hired through certain venues to make sure people are safe, protected and [that] no one gets hurt, everyone’s safe,” said Chessa. 

When asked about what Waterfront Security staff do if something were to occur, such as a fight or an overdose, Chessa shared that, “If anything escalates, it is PD and EMS.” 

Partnered with police presence, the staff was focused on the aftereffects of physical altercations, alcohol poisoning and injury, as opposed to prevention. Mishou spoke to his disappointment with police allowing certain behavior and taking photos with participating students. Reported from the event, there were two assaults that required police intervention. Deterrence, noted Mishou, is far more difficult to enforce with multiple attendees climbing light poles being a serious concern. 

“When you have a kid climbing the top of the light pole– those poles are not that strong. One of these days, it is either going to break or fall. If they do, they are going to die,” said Mishou. “That is my biggest concern.” 

The light poles swayed under the weight of a steady stream of students climbing them, not as isolated incidents but as part of a continuous rotation throughout the event. As they went up, the masses from the grounds threw beer cans at the climbers. For the property manager and maintenance supervisor, it is not a matter of if they fall, but when.  

Given that students get contained within their block, Lane noted that Maine Day being at the Ave could be benefitting the town of Orono to have it there rather than students in neighborhoods or near businesses. Nonetheless, the stress of the party on the Ave is large, leaving Mishou and staff to re-focus multiple days of work on Maine Day duties which stops work being done for the residents. 

“The trash is horrible. It is everywhere. We have to use a bucket loader to clean it. There is urination everywhere,” said Mishou. 

In pursuit of paying for damages, Lane works with police looking through their security cameras to identify students. Residents of the Ave are charged in accordance. In case of crime, Orono police launch investigations to name participants. 

In any situation with large masses of people, similar concerns are raised, not just for the damage and harm they may cause, but also for the possibility of tragedy.

“The other big concern I have is that… there is a whole road full of students. All it would take is one vehicle to go nuts and drive right down it and I worry about that. Someone could bring a gun,” said Mishou. 

The safety of students at Maine Day cannot be guaranteed, with the worries from this years’ Maine Day voiced by the management of the Ave. Eager to look for new deterrents, the Ave hopes next year’s party will look different given right support from the town and the university.

For some of us, our dreams of being in a cappella came from films like “Pitch Perfect.” Others, however, continued the legacy of non-instrumental singing on college campuses. While perhaps not as eccentric as in the movies, the Mainely Voices at the University of Maine has quite a cast of its own. Graduating Senior and President of the group Emma Brusie led the final sera on April 24. With nine songs and guest appearances from two other a cappella groups on campus, UMaine Renaissance and The Maine Steiners, the performance was strikingly lively. 

The only co-ed group on campus, the mixed ranges and voices are well represented among 12 students with majors varying from mathematics to social work, with only one singer pursuing an education in music. Do not let that fool you. This is a group of unmistakably talented and full-heartedly passionate individuals. 

Kiera Hundley started the show with a rumble, shake and strike (“with a bang” does not do it justice). It is utterly shocking that she is only a first-year member. Hundley sang effortlessly and mesmerizingly. This rich voice, followed by the rest of the talented soloists, stirred one major criticism: these singers could have benefited from microphones and a larger stage. Two other soloists, Sydney Sotir and Abby Stevens, would have smoked out the auditorium if they had any more fire in their performances. Their gentle intros were haunting in comparison to their belts, with Stevens having a remarkable range.

Tenor Ryan Boulay sang with confidence and melded beautifully with Stevens, Brusie and Sotir. Participating as a soloist in three songs, Boulay brought charm and a deeper tone to the female-dominated ensemble. Taking on songs like “Want You Back” by The Jackson Five is a sheer testament to the power of his vocals. 

“Work Song” by Hozier was a crowd favorite, but from my seat, “The Bidding” by Tally Hall was the showstopper. Not only is this a classically fun song for a cappella, but it gave a chance to show the personality of the group and shine a light on other soloists. Bass Daxxtyn Williams, tenor Eros Mendoza, alto Kasey Howell and sopranos Lauren Smack and Stevens were perfectly coordinated. What had been a largely auditory performance became a full act, roaring with enthusiasm. While the audience was intimate, it was not quiet. This year’s concluding Mainely Voices showcase was a great farewell to the seniors and did a phenomenal job self-promoting itself as an inclusive space for singers.

Looking to Mainely Voices in fall 2025, it will be interesting to see how the group changes and adapts. With the ever-angelic Emma Brusie and the other senior singers bidding adieu in just two weeks, it will go to show how strong the foundation of the group is without such compelling forces. Given that the executive structure of the group will be graduated, there could be new tides and new attitudes at work within the group. However, the future looks bright given the talent of the other undergraduates. It will be fantastic to see other members without soloist performances, such as Elaine Boody and Mary Cross, see their time in the spotlight. 

This book changed my life. Its narration, its psychology, its… brain rot. For those unfamiliar with this run-on sentence confused to be a book, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,” is a text written by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. While Hubbard was a science-fiction writer by trade, this book is not fiction, but an account of a new science with clinical tests, case studies and experiments that the reader is supposed to believe are not made up. This book changed my life. It wasted my time and gave me mixed feelings about Tom Cruise. 

To understand lunacy, I will break down the main “sciences” that are written about in the book. Keep in mind that these created an entire religion. The book is broken down into three main components: describing the goal of man, the reasons man is so damaged and the therapies needed to combat our mental illnesses. The base component for all people is not only to survive, but to do it well. To do so, man must evolve. According to Hubbard, we live as a mind-body system composed of the analytical mind and the reactive mind that clash. In our reactive mind, some engrams cause psychosomatic illness, traumas and memories that make us sick. According to this, we are all deeply damaged people. However, there are ways to get “fixed” through auditing. Auditing from Hubbard’s brilliant mind is a psychotherapy with hypnosis to treat these engrams and cure our poor, miswired minds of overreaction. 

The humor of the book cannot be matched. Constantly there are ridiculous lines: “This is the truth,” “Factually, this is the case” and “According to science…” Yet, I see no footnotes, in-text citations, bibliography or “Dr.” title in front of Hubbard’s name. However, he did get a mail-in degree from the unaccredited Sequoia University (doctor perhaps spelled with a k?). “Dianetics” pulls inspiration from Darwin and Freud, with some lines of the book feeling more like projection from Hubbard’s mommy issues rather than real psychology. 

For example, Hubbard writes, “Mama often has had a couple of more men than Papa that Papa never knew about; and Mama would very often rather condemn her child to illness or insanity or merely unhappiness than let a child pursue the course of the pre-clear.”

In “Dianetics,” abortion is incessantly mentioned. Hubbard asserts that nearly all women attempt to abort their children and that pregnant women are obsessed with not being pregnant. They supposedly want their husbands to beat them to cure them of their child-ridden states or attempt to find pleasure outside of marriage to condemn their fetuses. Masturbation is an attempted abortion and a woman’s innate sexual deviancy is a testament to their pregnancy. This is not mentioned once, twice or three times. It is mentioned 60 times. There is so much insanity in this book that the creators of “South Park” never touched on, but the comedy writes itself. 

Pseudoscience or not, the book itself is insufferable. It skips between interesting paragraphs detailing hypnotic ideas and then jumps to disorganized chaos that jumbles words into ill-formed mulch. Above all else, it is rambling. All 194 axioms that are labelled are no guidance to the treasure chest of the point.

 In some chapters, Hubbard explains the meanings of common words, even applauding himself for his vocabulary. “Therefore, in studying this book be very, very certain you never go past a word you do not fully understand. If the material becomes confusing or you can’t seem to grasp it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood. Don’t go any further, but go back to before you get into trouble, find the misunderstood word and get it defined.”

To me, these notes give Hubbard a scapegoat: he is not crazy, the reader just has difficulty with two syllable words. It is unbelievably pandering to itself, lathering ridiculousness cover to cover. 

“Dianetics” is to Scientologists what the Bible is to Christians or what the “Art of the Deal” is to the worst person you have ever met. It has been sold worldwide with the souls of the buyers safely in the grasp of Lord Xenu’s jetliner, but that’s a discussion for the sequel. 

Walking home from this drag show, my ears were ringing. Not from the magnitude of the microphone but from the sheer volume of audience applause. The University of Maine’s 2025 Drag Show at the Collins Center for the Arts on April 5 welcomed hundreds of students and guests to watch performances from local queens, kings and everyone in between. Hosted by Carrie the One, the show was electrifying with the crowd of 400 people wholly enthralled and enthusiastic. Five-inch heels, pink synthetic wigs and 160 BPMs — the Collins Center of the Arts will need weeks to clean out all of the glitter and falsies from the auditorium floor. 

For readers only familiar with drag through RuPaul or Trixie Mattel, drag shows are a new medium themselves. As a night of entertainment with flashing lights, loud music and carefully placed dollar bills, drag shows are the culmination of makeup, costume and personality extravaganzas. These drag queens and kings lip sync and dance, sass and strut. As someone who loves drag shows and is a fierce first-row audience member of live “Rocky Horror Picture Show” performances, I did not know what to expect from an Orono, Maine production. While far from a big city, Mainers know how to show up to a drag show and have some fun. 

The show started outrageously fabulous with performer Mama Martini strutting, dancing and owning the stage. The reception of the opening was utterly magnetic— cheering, clapping, stomping and throwing dollar bills— the energy was high. Multiple songs danced to in a tight black leather skin suit and heels slamming into the stage is simply not something a Mainer sees often. Speaking on behalf of the entire audience, two main questions popped into mind: “How does that leather not rip?” and “How many jumping splits can a human body possibly withstand?” While those remained unanswered, I did get an answer of who to request for  my next party hire. Mama Martini— you were fabulous. 

  Not only professional drag queens were present on the stage, as student performers made up a large chunk of the show. Allowing drag debuts and visibility for blossoming personalities, the night was a slam dunk for future queens and kings. The student performers were met by an electric audience, cheering them through every movement. 2 B Frank, who did not lip sync but rather belted “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra, was mesmerizing as well as the other students. Lavished in glitter so glamorous it could take down a plane overhead, Danny B. Goode— Mister Gay USA New England winner 2023— was an enthusiastic addition. 

Standing just under five feet, clad in a glorious red, long-sleeved jumpsuit, Gotta Believe We’re Magic had every single attendee standing. With a heart of gold, this spitfire in crimson had a message to share: “Some of us have had setbacks and failures… so I am excited to celebrate all of us tonight. We are still standing.” Hundreds of students were singing along, swaying and on their feet, which was a testament to the energy in the room and the energy of the person on stage. If anything could crack the foundations or bring down the roof of the Collins Center, it would have been this performance. 

The charm, charisma and confidence of the entertainers were undeniable. At the beginning of the show, the fabulous host, Carrie the One, asked the audience which of them were first-time drag show attendees. Alarmingly, a significant amount of the crowd cheered. Drag— below food, housing and medicine— should be a necessity for people. It is an art form, an expression of identity and a fantastic time. While toned down for the Collins Center, drag shows are, by their nature, as much as possible. An unapologetic space eager to welcome anyone and an energetic convention of “oddities,” drag shows are phenomenal. On college campuses, it is another level of fun with a built-in community cheering each other on. 

Ayn Rand may have been a raging capitalist extremist, but wow, can she write. The famous figurehead of the libertarian movement and proud ethical egoist writes novels that mirror her philosophies. Critical of government and holdfast for personal liberties, Rand’s writing has no ambiguity of her stances. “The Fountainhead” stands alone — a literary cornerstone that is a must read for anyone. While Rand can come off as hostile in her politics, I have been continuously floored by how uplifting and empowering “The Fountainhead” really is. 

The book follows the competitive inner workings within the world of New York City architecture. Howard Roark, the protagonist, gets expelled from his school for being too unconventional and postmodern in his designs. Nonetheless, he finds himself crawling to the top on the contemporary stairs of his ascent. His opposite, Ellsworth Toohey, advocates for everything Roark despises: classicalism, tradition and absolute power and control over others. Constantly, Roark is undermined by the looming conformists who try to pick away at his holdfast personality. 

What is so notable about the character of Roark is his nonchalant determination that often reads as satirical comedy. He is such a force of a character, I found myself skimming through chapters focusing on other characters to get back to him. 

Toohey: “Mr. Roark, we’re alone here. Why don’t you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us.”

Roark: “But I don’t think of you.”

This book put me in a battle with my own ethics and ideas about myself. I was at odds with how I viewed others. The way that Roark unemotionally pulls himself up and pushes himself through life is admirable and something to strive toward. His unwavering individuality is a cornerstone of Rand’s philosophies, although his demeanor is more idealistic than realistic. He is an incredibly-written character who does not ask validation of the reader, as his journey is self-assured. The reader does not have anxiety for Roark’s predicaments — he has it covered.

The largest message pushed in the book is the notion of individualism over collectivism. Roark is such a notable character because of this radical individuality. Other characters, like Ellsworth Toohey, look menacing in comparison, as they advocate conformity. What I appreciate about this novel is that the mass conformists are not abstracted. They are given their own personalities, chapters, names and identities. Rand does not expect the reader to classify Toohey as a bland conformist. The clues and attributes are right there. 

Being a philosophical writer, Rand clearly uses reason through arguments in this book. It is a genius fiction-disguised essay on the mediocrity of the masses. In my opinion, of the famous books about the capital ‘O’ Outsider, this is vastly superior to “Notes from the Underground” by Dostoevsky or “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. It is empowering to the value without being hateful, andpolitical without being a call to action. Read the book, get to the end and watch your mindset crumble. 

“The Fountainhead” is a compelling literary work, providing dimensional commentary on mass conformism and the contrasting radical individualism. It is certainly worth reading for anyone interested in advancing their perspective and mindset pertaining to political issues. 

“Lolita,” the very highly-contested pedophilia “love” story by Vladimir Nabokov is the among the first stacked in the “banned book” debates. However, just as Brett Eason Ellis’ writing “American Psycho” does not make him a serial killer, Nabokov does not promote perversion in “Lolita.” Instead, he writes a deep dive into the psychology of a solipsist, showing that evil is nuanced and comes in more forms than a man with horns. 

Humbert Humbert, or H.H, is the protagonist of the novel who tells the story of his love affairs through first-person narration. He leads with his narcissism, unable to see his wrongs as he subjectivises each misaction and fends off the emotional turmoil of others through his inflated self interest. Humbert always knew he liked a specific type of girl – his “nymphets.” His attraction is constantly justified through his incessant monologues of their natural seduction, their teasing nature. In all reality, he is an older man perverting innocence without remorse. 

Dolores is the 12-year-old daughter of Charlotte Haze, a widow H.H. stays with while moving to a quaint New England town. Nicknaming her Dolly, Lo, Lola and then, Lolita, the child becomes the object of his obsessions. What begins as discreet releases of his urges becomes body horror after Humbert devises schemes to get closer. The novel turns quickly with Humbert going from internalized perversions to becoming a kidnapper and an overt abuser. 

The scariest part of the book is the profoundly beautiful writing. Humbert is an intelligent character who is charming and often sympathetic to the reader. The flowery language flows through the disgusting nature of the plot, spoon feeding the reader sweet-tasting rot. The sexual depravity and erotica is uncomfortable but poignant to the message. Nabokov crafted something defying. While it looks bad for this to be a favorite book, it should be given its literary flowers. 

To walk side by side with a predator is not a passive experience for the readers of this novel. In fact, walls are consistently broken as Nabokov embraces meta throughout – a ploy in making the reader feel complicit. 

“Please reader: no matter your exasperation with the tenderhearted, morbidly sensitive, infinitely circumspect hero of my book, do not skip these essential pages! Imagine me; I shall not exist if you do not imagine me; try to discern the doe in me, trembling in the forest of my own inequity; let’s even smile a little. After all, there is no harm in smiling.”

This is not a love story. I read “Lolita” with white knuckles and a visceral discomfort. Only great writing like this can unsettle a reader, and only profound legacy can make a book so contested after 70 years of publication. 

The devil has never been represented so well. Cormac McCarthy must have been having lunch dates with Satan himself to craft the character of Judge Holden in “Blood Meridian.” The book’s premise is the annihilation of humanity and the immersion of bloodlust. This is a wild-west journey that goes from war of bounty to war for pleasure. A gang of mercenaries fall in and out of grim adventures, contorting traditional morality for vulgar indoctrinations. The main character, “the Kid,” is a largely passive absorber and narrator of these stories, a doodled stick figure in comparison to the megalomaniac writing of the Judge, the antagonist of “Blood Meridian.”

The Judge leads the Kid with his mercenary scalp hunters through a rampage of the west, his seven foot stature dominating his Glanton Gang. Yes, Native American scalp hunters. It is as demented as it sounds. In the beginning, Holden leads with a level of camaraderie, showing himself as a gentleman, curious about geography and the arts. For most of the book,  he is hairless, nude and pale while he murders, scalps and abuses animals and humans alike. Evil is not something that treads lightly in “Blood Meridian.” It is shouted at  and spit on the reader. It is overt and demanding. If the gore does not make the reader queasy, the philosophies will. The Judge has nuances within his psychopathy, but all of his ‘good’ traits somehow still add to his malignancy.

In this book, men are playthings in war, and war is everywhere. The scalp hunters do not fight for their nation, they fight for the craft of bloodlust. Alongside the Judge, they wander the desert following this law, not in acceptance of its violence but in idolatrous worship. There is a mysterious supernatural element to this book as well. In the end, the Kid (now the Man) meets the Judge again to which the ambiguous writing assumes the godlike nature of the antagonist: “He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.”

The way it is written also feels like an assemblage of Grimms Brothers-like stories. This is because there is not a dominant overarching plot, more a collection of evils with the Judge lingering nearby. The intensity of this book is not to be underestimated. The incredible prose and poetry of McCarthy highlights every heinous scene, showing each wrinkle and curve.

McCarthy’s writing deserves all of the praise. He wrote the war to be second hand to the abstraction of brutality. Every line, besides its well-written flow, feels symbolic of something else. The overtness of the evil is backdropped by this insatiability of something more that must be there. Reading the book felt like becoming dehydrated, desperately clawing onto the pages in hope for water. McCarthy is an extremely tantalizing writer, and the Kid is not the only plaything along for the ride.

“Today I’m the butcher, tomorrow I might be the cattle.”

In this dystopia, people eat people. Grocery stores serve packaged human, and family prayers circle a roasting man on a spit. Nutrition, economy, politics and ethics surround the worldwide heartbeat of state-sanctioned cannibalism. After a disease made animal meat inedible, the mysterious transition began, allowing “ethical” consumption of meat through lab-modified humans raised in farms to be slaughtered for the plate. This book has the sort of plot that can overshadow the writing itself. 

“The human being is the cause of all evil in this world. We are our own virus”

Agustina Bazterrica wrote “Tender is the Flesh,” which became a bestseller in Argentina in 2021. Its praise floated to the states, primarily because of the shocking premise. It follows Marcos, a worker at a human slaughterhouse, and brings us through the narrative of his world in graphic detail. I would say it makes your skin crawl, but it also makes you all too aware of the skin you do have. Skin, flesh, tendons, putrid muscle, rotting corpses— the words in every paragraph paint a squeamish picture. Marcos walks the reader through his own tumultuous personal life, making him an empathic character even through his moral corruption. Although, he makes it clear- there is no morality with the masses. 

“He tried to hate all of humanity for being so fragile and ephemeral but he  couldn’t keep it up because hating everyone is the same as hating no one”

This book is not one you read with a pen in hand. It is read to savor the bitter aftertaste. While reading this, I did not think it was necessarily as fantastic as it was made out to be. At times, it just felt like torture porn with vague stabs to this abstraction of society. Other pages felt self gratifying. Until I got to the ending. 

“After all, since the world began, we’ve been eating each other. If not symbolically, then we’ve been literally gorging on each other. The Transition has enabled us to be less hypocritical.” 

It does not tie itself into a neatly-arranged bow and there is no sigh of relief. The nausea of the pages turns from bodily discomfort to guilt, moral sin and the outrageous urge to try vegetarianism for a while. 

“[…] she screams as if the world didn’t exist, she screams as if words had split in two and lost all meaning, she screams as if beneath this hell there was another hell, one from which she didn’t want to escape.”

For the horror reader, the excruciating detail of dressing human flesh and screams of pain and all of that sick stuff “Terrifier” fans like will please the unsettled. For those who get a kick out of political dystopias or dog-eat-dog philosophies, “Tender is the Flesh” will satisfy that craving. But mostly, it will make a reader reconsider their own consumption of meat. The unfortunate part of this plot is that the horrors of a fake human slaughterhouse are picked from our very real meat processing plants in our world. Carnivores beware, vegans steer clear.

 I am not a man using this article as an excuse to bash women. I am a woman who hates this book and stands by the fact that people who enjoy it have been brainwashed and deceived. If you adore the book or got too emotionally involved with the Greta Gerwig adaptation, please read with caution.

 Louisa May Alcott did not care about this book at all compared to its reception now. Her publisher, Thomas Niles, pressed Alcott to write a “girl’s book” to appease a new reading demographic. Alcott said no. Then Niles got her father involved and she reluctantly spun out a generic “yay girls!” book. Just like that, the masses were fooled. 

“Father saw Mr. Niles about a fairy book. Mr. N. wants a girls’ story, and I begin ‘Little Women.’ Marmee, Anna, and May all approve of my plan. So I plod away, though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing. Never liked girls or knew many,” according to Lousia May Alcott’s Journal entry, May 1868.

That is how the book felt for me reading it as a child and revisiting it now, at 20 years old— passionless. It was written to sell well, to appease men trying to appease girls, and while I respect the nostalgia others have about this book, I think Alcott’s journal entry speaks for itself. I can already hear every major dissenting point people can make to those who dislike  “Little Women”. So, let’s break them down. 

The biggest pro I see for “Little Women” is that it was ahead of its time, a piece of feminist literature. I argue that people who think that either haven’t looked too closely at the book or are simply getting on a Saoirse Ronan-frenzied bandwagon. Jo is a starkly independent woman, individualistic in her personality and a figure of adoration for little girls reading Alcott’s work. For a lot of the book, this is true. Jo defends her dreams and works to become an author. But what happens in the second part of the book? She moves away, meets an older man, burns her stories and settles down. More than that, Jo is supposed to be this feminist figure fighting for women’s education and dreams – but works at an ONLY BOYS school with her husband. 

Frankly, I think Alcott’s writing in “Little Women”  is so unbelievably preachy. All of the sisters are essentially chasing Christian values —not embracing progressive views like some argue. Mrs. March continuously talks about this Christian book, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” overtly telling the children to follow these examples through self sacrifice. Marmee helps the Hummel family using the classic religious phrases that feel like elitism of the March family. Meg leads the sisters in reading the Bible every day. The reader is lured into the “goodness” of these girls, mimicking feminism but projecting religion. I have no issue with Christianity or biblical persuasion in books, but this feels like it is doing nothing more than pandering to an audience of the time to sell the book better. Alcott was not even religious! It was to make money. 

“Don’t laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragical romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under sober gowns … they have missed the sweetest part of life,” said Lousia May Alcott.

Let’s talk about the portrayal of marriage in this book. The sisters push the notion that a woman’s place in the world is within matrimony. Jo marries the older man and quits writing. Amy marries Laurie and lives traditionally, thus happily. Meg desires a higher social status (which is written as a “bad” ambition compared to Jo’s “good” ambition of fame through writing) and lives a “sinful” life with her husband because she still has ambition on top of her marriage. The fourth sister, Beth, dies as a spinster after saying this line:

 “I’m not like the rest of you. I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up. I never thought of being married, as you all did.”

An old spinster does not fit into the value set here, so she must die young. It is frustrating how this book has become such a “feminist masterpiece”. It is wrapped in a bow of women’s empowerment but the only message it actually pushes is Christian values for women. 

The worst part of this book is its mundanity. It is boring. Every sentence lingers with filler words and inedible proverbs. Some people like the “flowery” language, but this is just fistfuls of food without seasoning. It is bland, long and served without love. I have read all 1,400 pages of “War and Peace” and it does not hold a candle to the literary crucible that “Little Women” is.