BLUE BOOK It’s a Family Affair
The Varsity Show was born in 1894, four gloriously quiet years after The Blue and White
emerged from Alma Mater’s iron womb. As the bookish older sibling sat doodling in the corner, the Columbia family fawned over the precocious little runt. The Show, as it was known, could make “spirit fingers” before it learned to sit up, inspired the invention of the phonograph, and hung out with way too many socialists. What began as a sibling rivalry soon turned into a sibling rout: paralyzed by the onset of modernity, our blue-inked quills turned green, and we took a century-long hiatus while the runt charmed the socks off of the masses. But 100 years of solitude can ameliorate the pain of favoritism, and our new partnership should stand as a monument to the eternal light of siblinghood. After a brief and forgivable flirtation with a satire magazine named for the party of one notorious Treasury Secretary, this year, The Show returned to The Blue and White on its knees. When our dear sibling finally realized it was Lin-Manuel who’d earned the eleven Tonys and that Alexander himself was rather a powder-wigged prude, we were only too happy to revive our partnership once and for all. But like every other family reunion during these unprecedented times, ours was bittersweet. Thwarted by the Columbia Community Health Compact’s ban on hugs and unfulfilled by elbow bumps, we took to Zoom to rekindle our familial flame. In this spirit, we ask: Why is this night different from all other nights? Because, like on the great holiday of Passover, tonight, you recline. Tonight, worlds away from the plastic chairs of Roone, you are undoubtedly curled up in sweatpants in your unmade beds. And so are we. So strap on your $145 Warby Parker blue light glasses, pour yourself something stiff, and
settle in. From our humble abodes to yours, we sincerely hope The 126th Annual Varsity Show finds you well.
—The Editors, Past and Present Varsity Show
Blue & Whit e
Illustration by Lyla Trilling
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THE BLUE AND WHITE