My Foot is in the Door (And Other Thoughts)

And just like that, my last few weeks of school have arrived yet again. Strange how paradoxical time seems; on one hand it seems like only yesterday that I was graduating high school, yet on the other hand, I feel like so much has changed within myself and in my life that my old life seems an eternity ago. But I'm trucking on, because I know that getting a good ejookayshun is in mai best inturests.

But I've been neglecting the blog, and that just ain't good of me. My thoughts this month have been pretty scattered, and I guess it's just the stress of upcoming finals and projects and junk. But I'm enjoying school otherwise; it's Spring Fest here, which means that the whole school is being super-extra tight about underage drinking, to the point where all the doors are locked except for the main entrance, which is constantly being monitored by RAs (who have brilliantly set up a TV and what I think is a Wii and an XBox 360 to pass the time while they're sitting doing nothing).

There was a concert last night that they have every semester called "Jam for the Lamb," and, while I neglected to go last semester, I went this time. My props go out to all those people for having the guts to go out on stage and perform, but I really didn't see any rock and roll happening up there. My roommate told me that the last semester one rocked, but this one, we both agreed, was just not rockin'. I saw progressive jazz, Spanish folk songs, generic Christian music, and one bizarre-yet-slightly-endearing techno remix of Mumford & Son's "The Cave," but no rock. 

Next semester, I'm bringing some rock and roll to this place. And once again, sorry for the lack of updates on this thing, it's been a crazy month.

Original Ideas: No Vacancy

College is dead.

This revelation came to me just this evening during a talk with my writing professor. We were discussing an essay I had written about how and why capitalism and the media had become the principle driving forces behind sports, and how they’ve changed sports. One of the parts of it that I loved the most was a piece about current Orlando Magic point guard Gilbert Arenas that illustrated a key point of my argument, that athletes have been so remarkably changed by money and media time.

For those who don’t know about Mr. Arenas allow me to enlighten you. He is probably the strangest man in the NBA today. He plays poker on a computer part-time. He once traded a pair of shoes for 50,000 All-Star game votes that he cast for himself over a one month time period. Arenas made a free throw ritual just so little kids would copy it. And he owns a hyperbolic tent, a contraption that simulates high altitude oxygen levels by sucking the oxygen out of the air. All of this is strange because Arenas chooses to share it in a world were NBA stars are not supposed to be strange or remotely controversial.

The reason I bring this up is that my professor had issues with me bringing it into my argument because it was subjective and thus not arguable. At the same time, I’m supposed to come up with an original argument that hasn’t been seen before. On one hand I’m forced to conform to what has already been argued, keeping in line with what has already been said while being tugged by forces that say, “NO. You have to keep it original,” by coming up with something of your own. This is a no win situation, but more importantly it’s the reason why college is dead.

No one wants you to come up with your own ideas. Yes, you’ll hear stories about how some undergrad student testified before Congress for migrant workers’ rights or something similar, but colleges really can’t take credit for it. Colleges will say that innovation by their students is one of the most important things they want to accomplish, but colleges don’t structure themselves to foster independent thinking since learning in college is so much like high school. The teacher tells you facts, you commit them to memory, you regurgitate them onto a piece of paper, you get good grades, and the school gets funding. This is a cycle of bullshit that I thought would end in college. This is not the case. The first test I ever took in my first year of college was multiple choice, the ultimate embodiment of remember-and-repeat schooling. The vast majority of learning is rigidly structured. There’s no imagination when it comes to schooling like this, no chance for the mind to grow outside of the box that your curriculum sets for you.

Should I be that surprised though? After all, colleges are institutions with bureaucracies, red tape, and everything else that comes with being a monolith of American society. College has become a process, a business that over time has become set in its ways and patterns. The only place where the truly free and independent college student exists is in the naïve fantasy of high school seniors leaving for college, fresh-faced and bright-eyed.

So yeah. College is dead.

Happiness

Ah, Happiness, my old friend, it's been so long. I'm glad we've decided to see each other again.

This morning, I woke up in a daze. I dressed myself with almost no thought, and I was listening to Something Corporate as I walked up to my class when I suddenly realized something: I live in a beautiful place, surrounded by some of the nicest people I've ever met. I could not ask to be in a better place to spend my college years. Maybe it wasn't the most thoroughly researched decision, but I'm convinced that it was the right one.

During my two month stint in the prison of Misery, I questioned going somewhere so far away from home and everyone I knew. I told myself that I should never have come here, that I don't belong here, that I had no future here. It took a very tough decision to make me finally see just how beautiful things were here. I can finally drink deep from the cup of life and really get the most out of my college experience.

I'm going to meet people. I'm going to push my limits. I'm going to grow as a person. I'm going to learn more than I ever have before, and I'm going to actually experience life in ways completely new ways. Sounds cheesy, but it's the thing that I want more than anything right now. I can't wait.

It only took me a whole semester plus two months to actually get to begin that. Oh well, there's no time like the present, eh?