Student Life Archives

1. The fact that I can read Student Life and pretend it’s the real news. 2. Center Court fried okra 3. Every night of the week I could attend some free event and/or program if I looked hard enough. 4. I know people who triple majored in three years. 5. The architecture on campus-only when I speak to visitors (“this place is beautiful”) do I actually stop and appreciate it. 6. I was here before the bunny. 7. Intramural Co-Ed Inner Tube Water Polo 8. It’s not in a big city but is driving distance from a big city (only 5 hours to Chicago). 9. Sitting in Graham Chapel by myself. 10. That Weird Smell as you exit the Greenway path onto Kingsbury… I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to it and now, oddly, look forward to it. 11. The fact that Kingsbury, Pershing, and Washington Avenue are just Koenig, Ruby, and Lee two years later. 12. The echo spot in the middle of the Campus Y courtyard. 13. The Hot Rock 14. The fact that you can avoid the Quad if you want. 15. The fact that you can avoid the Bakery if you want. 16. Ragtime (Music 109), the easiest course in five states. 17. Where else could I have dinner with someone from Kuwait, Springfield, Missouri, and Seattle? 18. Sam, the old guy with the huge white beard and the plastic bags. 19. Dr. Katz, the physics professor who runs EVERYWHERE. 20. The school’s big enough that you keep meeting new people, but small enough that the rumors come back around like boomerangs. 21. The fact that I’ve never really “needed” anything at Bear Necessities. 22. The guys who bring the giant bricks to the basketball games. 23. “Chunder,” the track team’s midnight running/ drinking fest. Running and drinking beer intermittently. Gotta love it. Unless they puke on you. 24. Bonita and Arthur at Holmes Lounge… the nicest people anyone will ever meet. 25. That whole “people respect a degree from this institution” thing. 26. Making money through psychology experiments (you want me to stare at the screen until I see a what?) 27. The fact that our Law School is “Anheuser-Busch” Hall. 28. The jocks, the nerds, the activists, the lazy potheads, the transfer students, the ultimate frisbee-ers, Mama’s Pot Roasters, the engineers I’ll never see, those kids on my freshman floor I have weird stories about, professors who’ll drink with students, Admissions receptionists, commuter students (computer students?), Matty Klein, Sex Week, and people who read Student Life columns all the way to the end.

How many times have you overheard the following exchange during your walk to class?
“Hey wanna have dinner later?”
“No, I can’t, I’ve got a test, two papers, a group meeting and six quizzes tomorrow, and I’m swamped for the rest of the week…how about next month?”
Ok, I don’t actually hear that all the time. But I am disturbed by the lengths to which people on this campus go to tell me about all the work they have.
Take for example another conversation.
“Hey what’s up?”
“Nothin, just a little tired, I’ve got seven hundred pages to read by six o’clock, I still haven’t copied these notes that Sara gave me, and now I can’t find her, and…”
Does anybody talk about anything else? In my years here I’ve done my share of work, but I’ve also done a fair share of aimless hanging around, which is quite therapeutic I might add. I’ve been asked, repeatedly, why it doesn’t seem like I have any work to do. Shut up. I’m just as swamped as you are, I just make time for other things too! And I don’t complain about it (often)! It’s a novel concept! This is what I’d like to say to these people, except usually it’s more like…”No, I’ve got work to do, but I have a special ‘Get Out of Homework Free’ card which allows me extra leisure time. It’s like buying a brown parking permit.” What bothers me most is that it’s an anomaly that someone is smiling on campus.
Then there’s this whole other category of people who complain about all the extra-curricular activities for which they have to go to meetings and how much time that takes up (Okay, don’t hate, I do this too). To these people I wanna say “You signed up, Big Bird.” Next time someone says they’re stressed out over those activities, either kick them in the shins, or tell them about some made-up group you’re a member of.
More than likely they won’t be listening anyway because they’re probably looking for a clock to tell them how late they are to their next line in the red planner.
Then, when they’ve given you a half-assed, “Maybe I’ll see you this weekend.” say something like, “Nah, probably not, I’ve got this big (insert assignment) coming up in about 2 weeks and I gotta get started.” You’ll fit right in.
Don’t get me wrong folks, I’m all about some academia. But we’re here to learn, most of all from each other. And if the best subject we can come up with during daily interaction is how close we are to heart attacks and ulcers, something is seriously wrong.
I understand the pressure to do well in school; we all feel it, some to greater degrees. But that B+ in History that you’re gonna sweat and drool over and complain about until it’s an A-? I hate to tell you, but it just ain’t that important. Happy Hour, however….
So next time you’re chatting with someone about school (which you’ll probably be in ten minutes) think before you begin griping…Does this person really care? Is their work situation trivial enough that they’re gonna remember how much I have, much less empathize? Maybe you could subtly steer the conversation elsewhere and we’ll all be better off.
Thanks for reading this. Now I’ve got to get to work on my five papers due this Tuesday.