Oberlin is home to diFranco fans

It's rumored that Oberlin has one of the largest per-capita populations of Ani diFranco fanatics of any place in the world. diFranco, whose music has been described as punk-folk-rock, could be one of the most popular artists at Oberlin.

"You are the first audience that let me sing `fuck you and your untouchable face' without shouting it back at me," said diFranco during her set Oct. 15 in Finney Chapel. "You're blessed with heretofore unheard of maturity."

First-years Jill Warsett and Catherine Barrett reached out to diFranco directly. They left a note in diFranco's tour bus. "We told her we loved her and we gave her our numbers and said that if she ever wants us to be her personal slaves to call us," said Barrett.

"I'm gonna feel her sweat in my face, I just can't wait," said sophomore Susanna Kannenberg, who was one of many fans who waited outside Finney for over three hours until the doors opened to secure good seats. She thinks diFranco's following at Oberlin is strong, and that those that aren't familiar with her still enjoy her music.

"Her music is very straightforward and honest. She doesn't bullshit," said Kannenberg. "For every social situation, there's a song that pertains [to it]. She speaks to everybody about everything."

"I've been a hardcore fan for a long time," said sophmore Marianne Noreika. "Hell yes there are a lot of Ani fanatics [at Oberlin]. Ani's politics kind of lend themselves to Obietalk, Obiespeak. She looks from a very different angle, and Obies like that."

"She's an amazing, out-of-this-world guitarist," said junior John Bartley. "Rumor or not, we're a small school and there are a lot of Ani followers here." "It's a positive, political campus," said Kannenberg of Oberlin. While she thinks the campus can get too narrowly focused on certain issues, she thinks that diFranco has a broad, realistic view of many things.

"There's a fair amount of angst and bitterness at this school," said college junior O'Dhaniel Mullette-Gillman in reference to Ani's popularity here.

"Ani writes about lots of things in our society that we're concerned about here at Oberlin," said Bartley. "She's visceral about so many issues. People talk about her being angst-ridden and I don't know how I feel about that. She doesn't sing any happy-happy songs. Why are artists so unhappy? Because passion and extreme emotions inspire art."

Double-degree first-year Jim Altieri thinks that diFranco has gotten more popular in the mainstream over the last year or so.

"She's a little too honest for the mainstream to be comfortable with," said Altieri. "She says a lot of stuff that needs to be said but people aren't comfortable hearing it." Whether Oberlin students are more open-minded than those at other schools or not, Noreika and others don't think diFranco is that popular outside of small circles.

Kathryne Hill, a sophomore from Wooster, came to the diFranco concert as one of about 30 students from her school. She thinks that the majority of diFranco lovers at Wooster are in the "feminist subculture." Wooster is a "much more mainstream school than Oberlin," said Hill, which is one of the reasons she's not as popular there. "She's not listened to enough. Maybe it's because of the stigma that she has male-bashing lyrics."

That didn't keep men out of the audience at the concert. "There [were] more boys [t]here than I expected," said junior Laura Shaver. One of the reasons Shaver isn't a big diFranco fan is because of the performer's "riot grrrl" background. "I'm not out to hear her rant about guys," she said. It's not male-bashing to people like Bartley. "I think it has to do with the straight-on approach she has with men, and what assholes men are," said Bartley. "A lot of straight men on campus take offense at that."

"If you get that defensive about it, then maybe there's a reason. Maybe it's true," said Bartley.

"I don't know if I'd consider it bashing," said Mullette-Gillman. "Bashing goes along the lines of stuff that isn't true, and I think that what she says is true. The bashing isn't true, but what she sings about happening happens too often, and probably shouldn't. I don't watch the gender so much."

Neither does Altieri. "I had a dream the other night," he said, "that I was camping in front of Finney and Ani comes up to me and everyone out there and thanks everyone. She says, `Thanks so much for coming out early. I know you're my true fans.'

"Then she says, `Is there anything you guys wanna ask me?' and I said, `Will you marry me?' and she just did that laugh like she does at the end of `Not a Pretty Girl' where she trips and falls and laughs. It was a great dream."

Whether diFranco is a good star for Oberlin, or Oberlin is a good place for diFranco lovers is hard to determine. But at a school where people seem to think it's cool to wanna kill your idols, diFranco seems to be one. "She's just a rockstar," said Bartley. After all.

Walk this way: Ani DiFranco played to a wildly enthusiastic crowd in Finney on Oct. 15 (Photo by Mike Oleson)