We conducted extensive interviews in an effort to assess the viability of each royal member of the Homecoming Court to lead Northwestern University as its Homecoming King or Queen. Sophie Freedman appears tolerant of our lack of journalistic integrity and has the best tattoo out of any Homecoming Court royalty we've seen thus far.
So what are you studying?
I'm a Journalism major, but with a minor in film and media studies. It's always, you know, I decided on journalism but I came to Northwestern and it was the only thing I had really done before, but then I got here and there are so many interesting things to do here!
Then what's your favorite movie, if you're film and media studies?
That's really hard. I watched a lot of scary old movies, old scary movies when I was little. So I've always had a thing for the original Dracula, the original Frankenstein and things like that. I really love Vertigo, it's one of those things you always watch in film class and I always feel silly that I love it, but it was another one of those really freaky movies that when I was little scared me, but I love now.
So when did you discover your passion for combining Journalism and Film and Media Studies?
I think I just sort of took a film class because I thought why not, I've never taken a film class before, and I really like movies. I hadn't really thought about declaring a minor yet, but I've actually taken a lot of classes that are film classes that almost apply more to fields like Gender Studies or things like that, which work with my other interests. History, Jewish History, and classes like that. But I never do a lot of film critiques. I'm just generally watching films and talking about them.
Why did you choose to go to Northwestern?
I actually get this question pretty much every day of my life because I work in admissions. It's mostly the people that are here. I didn't know anybody who goes here -- I'm from Buffalo, New York -- and there's like 3 people in the world from there here. I just sort of came here not knowing anyone and not knowing what to expect, never having been this far west in my life. I found that people here are so passionate about the things that they're doing, outside of the classroom, and I found it to be a very unique sort of thing in the student body that you can come to a place where everyone is very academic, but at the same time you have kids who are doing these great projects they're working on that have nothing with the things that they're studying but that they're doing because they just wanted to do them. I think that was something that really threw me in to the Northwestern experience. I definitely have become one of those students, and I want to use my time more doing these practices, working on a magazine, being on a student board.
So who's the most relevant person to come from Buffalo?
We don't have a ton of things from Buffalo. Like, we have chicken wings? That's pretty relevant. We invented the chicken wing. That's why it's called the the buffalo wing. They don't taste the same anywhere else. I don't really like Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings Over is okay, but it's not authentic because the chicken wings don't have bones in them. So I'm a little bit picky, and my friends think that I'm strange, but if you eat wings in Buffalo it won't ever be the same. We have sort of this chicken wing cult following.
So you work in admissions. How many people do you see come here that have no business being here?
There are a lot of people who come in and you don't know where they came from. Or students who email you and they have like 52 different questions that are numbered and have a, b, c, d outlines. It's amazing sometimes. My one friend, Andrew [also on Homecoming Court] gets a phone call a day from parents. Like this one guy who must have been about 55 or 60 who was like "I really want to come to Northwestern. I never got an undergrad degree, and I'd like to get it here." And then he asked "Can I live in the dorms?" Isn't there a rule against that? The rest of the conversation was just about whether or not he could live in the dorms, and what it would be like. It's a fun job, and you get to experience everyone from the people who are super qualified to be here to the rest.
So if you had to marry, kill, and screw somebody on the Homecoming Court, then who would it be?
If nobody's answering that, then there's no way I am.
On a scale of 0 to 1, how would you rate your comprehension of the binary system?
Ooooh, definitely like a negative 50. Those are the things that I don't ever think about in my daily life.
How would you use your position as Homecoming Queen to further a two-state solution in Israel?
These are great questions [we know]. I mean, obviously if I was Homecoming Queen at Northwestern, I would have tons of power. I've never been to Israel, so maybe I'll go on birthright and then use my power there.
So I really want a sash. Where can I get a sash?
You can order them online!
Really?
Yeah! You don't have to be a Homecoming Queen to get one.
Really!?!?
If I don't get this, I might as well just go online and order one, so it looks like I won anyways. I order a lot of trophies for Panhellenic and IFC, so I've spent a lot of time ordering sashes and trophies and plaques. I'm an expert on plaques.
If given the choice, would you rather be eaten by a shark in the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean?
I guess... This is testing my geography skills. But I haven't taken geography in a long time either. Do I have to be eaten by a shark?
Yes.
Hmmm... I guess the Pacific. I haven't spent a lot of time there. It would be a new experience.
Then say you're getting married and your spouse wants to spend a weeklong honeymoon in a place without electricity. But the chosen week for the honeymoon is during the Discovery Channel's Shark Week. How do you respond?
So I've only watched Shark Week once, which was this year for the tour guide Shark Week party. I've found that when people have Shark Week parties, they generally don't watch Shark Week party that much. I think I would be fine with it, because I would just know in the back of my head that somewhere, Shark Week's playing.
Can you define 'Northwestern hot?'
I guess with most people, I feel like it's someone who does a little bit of everything. And I think it's very different here than at other places. People are always saying that the girls at Northwestern are not attractive, but I think the guys are less attractive here than at other places. Have you ever been at a state school? Everybody looks different. I guess someone who is super powerful at Northwestern and are in all these different groups.
So would you rule the Homecoming Court like Roberts on the Supreme Court, or LeBron James on the basketball court?
LeBron James.
Okay! So Karl Marx once said that "social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included." Discuss.
Oh my God. Okay, wait, repeat it one more time.
Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included. Discuss.
I... I feel like in order to make social progress, we have to be social. And I think Northwestern students sort of have that ability to be really smart and also social. I don't know if I would say that men are more social beings than women at Northwestern. The number of conversations I've had with awkward men...
So what's your favorite book?
Well, I could try and take the intelligent route, and say something classic, but I have to say Harry Potter. I have a Harry Potter tattoo. It's the last line of the seventh book. My dog was named Harry Potter. I named all my stuffed animals after Harry Potter. When my dog died, I got the lines tattooed.
Which ethnically ambiguous character from Harry Potter would you most want to be your TA?
I feel Harry Potter is one of those series where there is not a lot of ethnic description of characters.
Hogwarts doesn't engage in a lot of affirmative action.
They don't. But I thought it was pretty cool when a centaur became a Professor, and I'd really like to have a magical creature that's half-man, half-horse as my teacher. Also, my high school mascot was a centaur. I went to a very academic school. We weren't very good at sports.
Now what we want to do is give you a set-up for a joke, and then in 30 seconds have you come up with a punchline. So a priest, a rabbi, and Morty Schapiro walk into a bar....
Uummmmmm....
I guess...
...
I guess Morty and the rabbi stick together. I've always wanted to go to his house for passover. Maybe if I'm Homecoming Queen I'd get invited to Morty's house for passover.
Sweet, so last question. If all of the members of Homecoming Court were one of the twelve tribes of Israel, who would Andrew be?
Oh my God. I don't even know. I need to study my Jewish history. It's been a long time.
I don't know any of the twelve tribes. Okay, then of the Harry Potter books, which one would Andrew be?
Well, I guess he's Chamber of Secrets. We both did Pottermore, and ended up in Slytherin. I feel like he would probably open the Chamber of Secrets.
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