“Ho sposato Bardolfo!”
November 1st, 2006 | Tags: osv.
Apparently, the perennial Madison Halloween rioting was rather subdued last weekend. I’m sure that this is in no small part due to an email from the Dean’s office to all Wisconsin students (yes, even grad students) that contained a great deal of common-sense advice: don’t get drunk in public, stay with friends, obey instructions from the police, etc. While I am a little saddened that people who are old enough to vote apparently need such reminders, I am no longer surprised.
However, the real gem of the note was the following paragraph:
Finally, remember that the anonymity you may feel from wearing a mask or costume does not negate your rights or responsibilities as a Madison resident or a UW-Madison student.
This is good advice for the hordes of drunken undergrads, and it is equally good advice for people who plan to be characters in a comic opera, a farce, or in any other staged drama that does not end in death, apocalypse, or paralyzing endemic ennui. Such people are also well-advised to back out of any wedding in which they or any other participant is masked; they should also remember that the joke is likely to be on the tenor.