A Provocative Spring SPOT

Last Saturday marked this semester's SPOT, with seniors Chelsea Ellis, Zina Teague, and Sarah Wangai hosting. This SPOT celebrated (and poked fun at) Houghton's peculiar quirks and oddities. The humor was often poignant and at times possibly painful, directed at specific institutions and even specific people.

However, the hosts of this semester's SPOT welcomed such humor, attempting to make this SPOT about satirizing certain college policies and college and student organizations -- a trait that past SPOTs have traditionally had. According to Teague, "Our goal was to get back to what SPOT was originally for, to make fun of the many things that happen here at the College...We went out there and had fun; we enjoyed the experience and the opportunity we had of putting SPOT together."

SPOT featured a large number of performers, ranging from comedy duos and trios to musical acts to parody videos. The hosts each gave examples of the eccentricity and at times downright strangeness of Houghton life, drawing from their own experiences and the experiences of others to point out the flaws and idiosyncrasies of living at a Christian liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere with a population of 1300.

Unlike previous years, however, this year's SPOT seems to have generated an air of controversy. I have heard from several people that they thought SPOT was too harsh this year, saying that it was mean-spirited. While I can see where these objections are coming from, I am not sure they are completely fair. The only two skits that I felt even a little uncomfortable during were the skit pointing out the flaws of the basketball team and junior Sarah Jacoby's song about the first-year class.

About the song: I thought it was hilarious and, drawing from my own recollections of myself as a freshman, pretty accurate. I only worried that to some first-year students it would seem like a personal attack, though that was clearly not what it was meant to be. However, I didn't think it was mean-spirited, simply because everyone either is or has been a freshman. Everyone knows or remembers what it is like, and recognizes that being a freshman (and all that comes with it, both good and bad) lasts only for a season. Everyone has been there.

I found the basketball skit a bit harder to stomach -- it's so hard to toe the line between witty satire and hurtful commentary. I thought it went a bit too far to call out specific members of the team by name and to point out the specific flaws of each person and the team as a whole -- it made me feel uncomfortable and bad for the team members. Granted, I know almost nothing about Houghton basketball, but it seemed harsh to call out a group of people for failing to do what they, presumably, are trying their best to do.

However, I feel certain that the SPOT hosts did not mean for the skit to come across in this way. It is difficult to know how a skit will seem to a live audience, and how much satire is too much.

All in all, I thought that this semester's SPOT was hilarious. It accomplished its goals of being both funny and provocative, and I for one had a great time.