BLOG: The Exciting Life of the Pretend-A-Freshman
I'm not such a current events girl anymore
By Aisha Stern, blogger
February 1, 2008 | 10:58 a.m.
In the past three months, the only things I have found out about in a timely fashion have been Heath Ledger's recent death, the results of the Iowa Caucus and Dennis Kucinich's decision to drop out of the presidential race. I used to be in touch with world news and events, but apparently, for all that I am learning, college has sucked out my brain.
At first, my distraction and suddenly out-of-touch life seemed odd. Bad, even. I contemplated going to Hudson to find out if I had developed ADD or some other fun acronym-oriented attention disorder. I could cope with not knowing if Britney Spears remembered her underwear, but not knowing that someone has pitched putting a gentlemen's club on Stimson Avenue? How am I supposed to maintain my street cred as a townie if I can't even tell you what is going on with my town?
But as winter quarter started, I realized this knowledge deficiency was not mine alone. College students just have no idea what's going on in the world the minute they buy their first textbook. Sure, I could tell you all about celebrity gossip or how the university sucks at salting even after the snow has stopped coming down, but the former is from living with my family, and the latter is from nearly falling over several times since this snow thing decided to rear its sparkly head. But nationally? Locally? My 8-year-old brother could probably tell you more about current world affairs than I could.
I wish I could blame my current events deficiency on the university and my professors, but it's my choice to be so out of touch. Sure, I have more homework than mental capacity for it, but that's never stopped me from watching World News with Charles Gibson before. It's just that I have enough stress worrying about my classes, college applications and impending high school graduation. While the news can spoon-feed me every detail about exactly how screwed up the United States and the world have become, I'd rather remain utterly oblivious and have all my stress be about my life and how screwed up it can be.
Maybe being out of touch isn't so bad. I would rather have no clue what my friends are talking about when the word primary, Iran, or elections is used, than know and, by association, worry. Give me Lindsay Lohan slipping up after her several-month stay in rehab, give me papers on Gilgamesh, hell, give me homework that involves watching silent movies. Just don't give me news that makes me doubt the sanity of everyone around me. I do that enough as it is.
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For more from the mind of Aisha Stern, check out her regular blog at FusionofMe.blogspot.com.