Luke Mechem

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Luke Mechem

Assistant Director of Admissions
Originally from: Madison, Indiana
E-mail: ldmSA@hampshire.edu
AIM: LukeDavidHC

Reason I love working at Hampshire: There are so many incredible people here—students, faculty, and staff. Not only are the folks in Admissions great, but I have many wonderful friends in Student Services and Residential Life.

Favorite thing about living in the happy valley: Septuagenarian war-protesters, of course! Recently I’ve fallen in love with the Northampton farmer’s market. (I’d like it even more if I weren’t forced to at 7:30 in the morning on Saturdays.) You have to love a place where there’s hundreds of restaurants and thirty museums at your fingertips, but where you can still be surrounded by nature (i.e., in the summer, cow manure and fresh corn!).

Piece of advice for prospects in the college search process: Think holistically. Academics are certainly the most important aspect of your time at college, there’s no question about it. But you’ll be living where you study, too! Find places that meet needs that go beyond your brain.

Piece of advice for applicants/something you wish they knew: Sign up for an interview! Even though they’re optional at Hampshire, interviews are a really important part of learning the most about your options and really letting Admissions Counselors get to know you.

Favorite book and why: I spend a lot of time skimming through old critical favorites by Freud, Lacan, and Slavoj Zizek, usually to try to make sense of the things that are going on in my world. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of comic books. (No, they’re not called “graphic novels”.) I’m in love with the new Astonishing X-Men, written by Joss Whedon of Buffy fame. (Has Emma Frost really been working for her erstwhile colleagues, the infamous Hellfire Club? Has Cyclops lost his optic blasts for good? And why am I so relieved that Colossus and Kitty Pryde have finally sealed the deal?!) Also, Anne Lamott’s latest was incredible.

Favorite way to procrastinate: I’m a recovering Sudoku addict, so I try my best to steer clear of pencils. I enjoy watching my housemate’s kitten attack inanimate objects incessantly (she’s stealthy… just not that bright). Lately I’ve been cooking a lot. There’s also a Playstation, but we really don’t talk about that in public…

Favorite Quote: At the moment it’s a toss up between something Bertrand Russell said about public opinion in 1930 and something my best friend Julie said about tennis a couple of weeks ago:

“One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.”

and

“Any court is an open court if you can climb fences.”

I am inspired by: Morning people. Oh, wait, no, I thought it said ‘annoyed by’…

What three things would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island: 25 bucks and cracker, obviously. And Buffy.

Hampshire College