Combating the Anthrax ‘threat’ ER-style

The presence of three House residents in surgical masks has given Quincy House residents a reason to wonder if an ER casting call has gone out. In fact, these are just three attention-seeking white Rastafarian types, two of whom have been identified as Bradford Z. Mahon ’02 and Mark Frumkin ‘02. Rumors are currently circulating that these three students are protecting themselves from the well-established threat of anthrax here on campus and specifically in New Quincy. Both Mahon and Frumkin have refused to be interviewed, calling it “too risky.” When repeatedly pestered by a reporter, the two sent an e-mail again refusing to be questioned, but asking that any article about them include the following quote from Jean Baudrillard’s “Our Theater of Cruelty” : “The media are terrorists in their own fashion, working continually to produce (good) sense, but, at the same time, violently defeating it by arousing everwhere [sic] a fascination without scruples, that is to say, a paralysis of meaning, to the profit of a single scenario.”

Readers may question FM’s policy of endangering article subjects, but the burning desire to know the reasons behind the masks is widespread. A completely unscientific poll of Quincy House residents conducted on Sunday suggests that everyone is confused by this mask-wearing trio. Neighbor Phillip M. Chan ’03 observed that the three “seem like pretty socially active guys.” Having noticed the unusual costume following one of Quincy’s recent nighttime fire alarms, Chan speculated that “maybe they were protesting against the fire drill.” Crimson editor and Quincy resident Harriett E. Green ’03 saw the trio in the dining hall. She suspected that the protest was either anthrax-related or “some sort of commentary on smoke inhalation” in light of the numerous fire drills. Whatever their protest truly concerns, Quincy students will remain in the dark until these boys feel it is less risky to explain their bizarre Michael Jacksonesque taste in accessories.