Marie Deschamps is a senior. She’s also a hot French feminist who took time out of her insane schedule to give me the pleasure of finding out exactly what makes her so cool.
  We have the same major.

Yes we do.
 

I think it’s amazing that we’ve never had a class together, nor do we know each other, because Macalester’s a pretty small school.

I think that because I’m pre-med I spend a lot of time in Olin—that’s my second home.
 

Were you a transfer student?

I was.
 

Okay. Where’d you transfer from?

That’s . . .um . . .confidential. [Marie laughs. I laugh.]
 

Really?! Okay, well I guess we’ll move on from there . . . So you’re planning on going to med school, then? Have you applied yet?

I am applying for the year after. I’m taking a year off. I’m going to Senegal for one year. Me and my roommate, Matilda Svensson ’04, we’re going to Senegal for one year to work in a humanitarian organization.
 

What interests you in political science?

Mostly development. I’m a Women’s and Gender Studies minor too—
 

Damn.

Let me explain the whole thing to you. I want to be a gynecologist at a humanitarian organization and a feminist leader. That’s why I’m a political science major—because humanitarian medicine and so forth have politics involved. And pre-med because obviously I want to be a gynecologist and a doctor. And a Women’s and Gender Studies minor because I’m a strong believer in women.
 

Are you on the Harassment Committee?

I am on the Harassment Committee, the Security Counsel and I am the co-chair of STARSA—Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault.
 

What do all those duties involve?

Well, for me, sexual assault, rape and sexual harassment are issues that are very important personally and ethically. I try to do as much as I can to prevent it on campus. So, the Sexual Harassment Committee was redrafting a new policy for the campus—that was a really interesting experience because it was outside of student orgs; it was actually the president’s committee. I know that this policy is going to be implemented at some point and I’m glad that I could participate in it. The security meetings are more like—well, after the sexual assault happened on campus last spring—about finding better ways of dealing with campus security. And STARSA—I just love it. Especially this year because I became co-chair and I tried to make it a little more fun for people, because usually when people think about violence and rape they shut down and don’t want to talk about it.
 

So, how do you make violence more fun?

Well, for example, on Halloween we went trick-or -treating to collect canned goods. We were all dressed up and went with a bunch of friends to collect canned goods and we gave all the food to a shelter for battered women. It’s not making violence fun, it’s just making it something that people would like to get involved in.
 

What do you do for fun? Do you go to The Tap often?

Just came back from it. [We both laugh.]
 

Uh—it’s Thursday afternoon.

You know what I mean—I’m still in the Tap mindset. I like it there because I think that one of the problems at Macalester is that there’s this divide between international students and American students—we don’t mix too much. And for the past two years I was always with a lot of international students, but this year I really made a point of meeting American people so I’ve been going out to house parties. And keg stands. [I’m trying to imagine Marie at a keg stand.]
 

Every once in a while I stumble into the international realm of people on campus and I’m always shocked by how different it is.

Yeah. That’s why I like it because I feel like I can kind of switch off between the two groups and that’s fun. I try to stay connected to both, but this year I really wanted to meet American people because, after all, we are in America. We should learn about our host country—the culture, the food.
 

You can put culture in quotations.

Uh, I don’t know about that. Put the food in quotations, that’s what I would say.
 

What do you think of the cafeteria food?

Actually, I like the cafeteria. I like the cafeteria people—I think that they do their best, but there are always conflicts and there’ll be nothing else to eat. Maybe, like, every two days or something I get really fed up with it, so we go eat at the Ethiopian restaurant or we do a little mini-dinner in our room after we go to Kowalski’s and get some French stuff—it’s all good.
 

What’s your secret?

Sorry?
 

What’s your secret to looking so good every day?

Oh! That’s a sweet one.
 

But it’s true!

I know, I know . . .It’s just, I don’t know about that. I just . . . I just have this . . .
 

Is it because you’re French?

Well, first of all there’s that. You know, I love being an immigrant and I love being a French person abroad because I think there are a lot of misconceptions and stuff and I like to at least, you know, encourage the—
 

Positive stereotypes?

Yeah—the positive stereotypes. I’ve worn high heels since I was, like, 13 years old. I don’t know how to walk in flat shoes anymore. These are my snow boots! [She points to the lovely tall-pointy-heeled-deep-brown-suede things on her feet.]
 

I have absolutely no idea how you manage to keep your balance on those things.

It’s my nature. I feel better like that. I’m just used to it. If I’m in flat shoes I feel like, “uh . . . Where’d my extra six inches go?” I feel short. I like to do it for myself—especially with the weather being so crappy. It’s so depressing, so I’m going to put something on that will make me feel good and I like . . .uh. . . You know . . .getting peoples’ attention, I guess.
 

I heard some rumor that you went to London just for a weekend last semester?

A weekend? No—it was five days. I went during Thanksgiving to see my family. They had just moved into London and my mom was a little depressed and stuff so I wanted to check out how she was doing. But we did it as a surprise. Me and my sister planned it out.
 

I once surprised my mom for Mother’s Day by flying home to Seattle—she cried.

Yeah. My mom cried, but when I did it we did a little joke, I pushed the button and she was like “who is this?” and I say “Delivery!” and then she opened the door and was like “AHH!” and I was afraid that she was going to have a heart attack.
 

Have you spent much time in London?

Well, I was there in January. I was home and in France and we visited Morocco with my family. But I don’t know it—I mean, it’s not my city. But I’d like to get to know it at some point. I’ll take Paris as my city. My adoption city—I love it there. There’s just something about that city—and not because I’m French. When I go to Paris there’s just this feeling. And you don’t have anywhere else that’s like that. The way people walk; the way people just put their scarf over their shoulder; go have a coffee—
 

Smoke a cigarette?

Cigarettes—tell me about it. I really should quit sometime—[laugh] people argue loud; people love each other; they kiss in public. I miss some of that here. People expose themselves more in France I think.
 

You’re in The Vagina Monologues?

I am. Last week we were at the U of M, Augsburg and Hamline, and we were at Macalester in the Chapel. Which I think is quite interesting—we were preaching about our happy vaginas. It’s a wonderful thing. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about feminists. You know, many people think that feminist means hating men and wanting to dominate them and that’s not it. It’s just about respect, that’s all I want. I want respect for being a woman.
 

Is that what feminism means to you?

There’s this thing that means French Feminist with High Heels. And it sounds like a contradiction, because you would think of feminist women as wearing, like, hardcore things, but I do not think that it’s a contradiction. I think that you can be as feminine as the stereotypes go—like high heels and make-up and skirts—and still have strong beliefs about respect.
 

How do men react to this?

I think it intrigues them a lot. Some get scared, like my ex-boyfriend. He was a Brazilian man, and I have this sticker on my car that says “Women are great leaders. You’re following one.” And he would never want to drive my car just because of that and I was like, “Why not? It’s just a stupid sticker.” Like there’s something wrong with saying that you’re a feminist—like it’s some sort of plague. But I’m proud of it. I’ll scream it out loud. I don’t mind.
 

Do you have anything else you’d like to share with me?

I feel very bad for my roommate because I lost my keys again. And because I’m late all the time—but that’s the French cultural thing and there’s nothing that you can do against it. I have tried and I just think that it’s my nature. I don’t have a watch. There’s another French guy on campus and he doesn’t have a watch either. There’s just something about French people. We just don’t care about time.