Senior Writing Portfolio Fall 2005 / Lindsey Yanchus
Millikin University
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LindseyYanchusLindsey Yanchus

Lindsey Yanchus

Lindsey Yanchus was born in Champaign IL, in 1984. In her high school years she enjoyed acting in many high school productions, having leads in both Antigone and Grease. She was also won many awards in IHSA speech competition.

She attended college at Millikin University double majoring in English Writing with a concentration in Journalism and Communication and a minor in Political Science. In her four years at Millikin she created a large body of work containing poetry, journalistic pieces, literary criticism, communication theory, research papers, and legal briefs. Her ability to express her ideas and opinions through her writing has been of the utmost importance in accomplishing her goals.

She currently plans on attending law school after, hopefully, completing two years of civil service in the Teach for America corps. She hopes to use the writing skills she acquired and honed during her time at Millikin to author many influential motions and briefs as an attorney.

Poetics

As a child I used to love notebooks, piles of unwritten lined pages. The possibilities contained within these books, I could create anything I wanted to on these pages. I used to keep stacks of empty notebooks around me because the thought of what I could create within them was so exciting to me. As I got older I graduated from empty notebooks to computers with word processing programs, but that passion for creation stayed the same. To this day sitting in front of a computer screen with a blank word processing document lifts a small thrill through my body and gives my stomach a jump that no roller coaster can quite match.

Just like the physical avenue of writing outlet changed as I got older, so has the direction of my interests with what to do with my ability to create. As a child creative writing, fiction and short stories were my creative outlet. As I have gotten older I have found research, literary criticism, journalism, philosophy, and legal texts are more preferred outlets for not only my creativity but also my intellectual interests as well.  

The work in my portfolio is a collection of assignments, personal interests, and writing done over the course of my undergraduate collegiate career. These works all showcase different segments of what writing is to me. The literary criticism shows my love of analysis and deep reading of a good piece of literature. My ability to pick out and critique minute details of literature has enhanced my ability to analyze slight distinctions in difficult readings.

The research papers that I have done over the past four years have given me the experience of countless hours of library time. They have also given me the challenging task of reading and processing material that can be dry at best and then taking that material and transforming it into something interesting for my reader. This will benefit me greatly in planned career as an attorney.

Every type of writing that I have done has helped me to grow as a writer and as a person. Writing has always been an important part of who I am, the past four years have given me the tools to make writing more than a part of me, I can now use it to represent me in my chosen profession.

Introduction

I remember sitting in my apartment staring at a blank word document, staring at the masses of paper surrounding me and feeling the mounting pressure. How could I turn this mess of interviews, quotes, and sources into a bona fide newspaper article? I had my assignment, I had all the necessary information, and I most definitely had a story, a little controversial to say the least. But now, I had to take all of the information I spent weeks collecting into an article. Stripping and the adult entertainment industry are an interesting and complicated topic to say the least. However given the amount of time I put into interviews, surveying, and research I feel that I was able to do justice to a divisive topic. When I finally got to look at my completed article, Flash for Cash: College Students Who Strip, it was the most validated I had ever felt as a writer.  
 

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Cash for Flash: College Students Who Strip...

Why would a college student give up respect, and so much more for a job in the adult entertainment industry?

A base beat pulses so loudly that my heart beats to the same rhythm of the song, the lights are low, and through the clouds of smoke I can see a female body twisting and writhing to the rhythms that are pulsing through me. The girl on stage drops a shimmering translucent shirt on to the stage floor, and is left standing in her bra and a tiny g-string. I look up at the girl, she twists around the pole, contorting her body into an impossible position and I see her face. It's the girl who sits behind me in 20 th Century American Literature class.             

This scene is not as uncommon as you might think. In fact it actually happened to me my freshmen year of college. I got dragged along to a strip club with a group of friends and ended up seeing a girl who attended the same university as me, working there. It is becoming more common for college students to pay for their education in unconventional ways. And stripping is a more lucrative way than most.

So why would a college student with a bright future in the professional world ahead of them take a chance and enter the seedy underworld of adult entertainment? According to Missy*, my American Literature classmate, she does it because of the money. "I make between $200 and $500 dollars a night, I pay my tuition, my rent, my bills, and still have money left over to have a little fun." When I asked her if she felt demeaned or if her job affected her sense of self she replied, "look, you are here, do you feel like you are morally wrong for being here? If someone comes to this club and sees me dance, they were here, and if I am wrong for being here dancing, they are wrong for being here watching me dance."

However others do not seem to share her perceptions of right and wrong in the world of adult entertainment. When a convenient sample of Millikin University's student body was surveyed, 85% of those students responded that they would think less of, or look down on a classmate that worked in a strip club. "Look I have to pay my rent too, but I do the old fashioned way, by working long hard hours at a real job," said junior Meghan Cole.  

Members of the faculty seem to agree, in a similar survey, 95% of Millikin professors responded that they would think differently about a student they knew stripped.  

In a 2001 article in Sports Illustrated there was a story about a student athlete who was kicked off of her college track team after it was discovered that she worked at a local strip club. The story also related her legal battle to be allowed back on the team. She maintains since she was found out by members of the schools baseball team visiting the club, and none of them were penalized for being there, she should not be either. Her court case is still awaiting decision.

While Millikin has not had any incidents so high profile as that one, there are students here on campus who work as strippers. Some fear being found out, others, like Missy are less apprehensive about possible consequences. Millikin's student handbook does not contain any rule or regulation that would prevent a student from working at a strip club and being a student.   However the stigma of a job as a stripper is not a positive thing.

"I'm sorry but taking off your clothes for money compromises your morals and anyone who associates with you morals as well. I would not be friends with a stripper and would be uncomfortable with sitting near one in class," junior Sara Kendall said. Millikin's student body seems to be split on feeling that strongly about the issue. While 55% said they feel that stripping compromises a person's morals, less than 10% said that they would not be friends with, or want to sit near a stripper in class.

"Look, do I want people to know what I do to pay my tuition, no! And I really would not be comfortable having fellow students or professors watch me dance. I do what I need to in order to stay in school," sophomore Candace* said. She is among the several Millikin students who work as strippers that I interviewed. She was not at like what I expected a stripper to be like. She met me for our interview in the coffee shop, she was wearing a navy blue hooded Millikin University sweatshirt, worn jeans, and running shoes. She had her backpack full of books, and was friendly, cute, and very sweet.

"I sort of fell into stripping, I mean it's not like I woke up one day and decided that it was the career for me. Stripping is a way for me to make enough money to stay in school. I mean I work two nights a week and make more in a night than most students do in a week working full time, and I still have time to dedicate to school. What good does paying for school do me, if I am too busy to spend time on my schoolwork?" Said senior Jane*. Ironically when surveyed and asked if they could make enough money to pay for school while only working a few nights a week 100% of students surveyed said they would.  

There seems to be a stigma attached to stripping and the adult entertainment industry that no amount of liberated thought can change. In a recently released book, Ivy League Stripper, Heidi Matteson, a graduate of Brown, details her experiences paying her way through college as a stripper. While Brown publicly denounced Matteson's portrayal of her financial need forcing her to strip to pay tuition, the story that the numbers tells is pretty black and white. Tuition was $22,000, and Matteson received only $8,000 in aid. In an article in People Matteson said, "I could see stripping again.   It's fast cash and freedom of expression. It's my American Dream."

However her sentiment does not seem to be echoed by her fellow strippers. While all the girls I interviewed said they liked the money, none said they would continue stripping after graduation. "Look I have a goal, I want a degree and job in the professional world, stripping is just a way to get there," junior Gina* said. In fact every girl I interviewed had every intention of quitting.  

This seems to be a consensus in the industry as well. In a 1998 article in Jane magazine on the adult entertainment industry, "everyone has a plan to get out, this is not what they want to be doing with their lives, they just see it as a means to an end."

While the perceptions of students who work in the adult entertainment industry are still overwhelmingly negative this does not seem to faze them. The students I spoke to who work in that industry are working there now, so that they can get their college degree's and be able to work somewhere else.  

*Names changed to protect identities.

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©2005 Randy Brooks—all rights return to the authors upon publication.