LIKE MILLIONS of college students around the nation, I've been recently finding the time in my hectic schedule to return back to an era when life seemed so much simpler. The boob tube has always been my place of respite --catching old reruns of some of my favorite television programs has become as much of a past time as any in the latter weeks --running a close second to sitting in front of the leisurely ISIS monitor (for the last and final time).
While most of us think that watching the wannabes on "American Idol" is more like pure comedy than a showcase of real talent, and I know a good number of my lady-friends are mourning the loss of Carrie and the crew as they close the final episodes of "Sex and the City," I've been spending my weekday evenings (and even some Saturday mornings) reliving my youth with some characters I once adored- my very own world, much like those of Harry Potter or in Frodo's Shire.
For me, it's the Class of 1990 at Hillman College that seems to simplify time and space, and the complexities of college life. To some, "A Different World" is nothing but a Cosby spin-off. But to me, it's the first real opportunity I had to see black college students hitting the books on a college campus -- something that confounded me and hypnotized me all at once when I was a mere ten years old. The program was the only of its type to depict young black people attending college classes, living on their own, and graduating into the real world -- something that at the time, may have seemed like a small feat for television, but in truth, was pure milestone.
Watching characters like Brooklyn's own Dwayne Wayne boast about the 1600 he got on his SATs, and his ultimate romance with a southern debutante who once hated him gave me an inkling that college might actually be fun, funny and something worth working harder for. It's what made me want to go to a university far from home in the first place, and even though it wasn't real, those characters helped me realize that there is more to the world than what I saw outside my New York City apartment window.
As I re-watched Whitley, Ron, Freddie and Kim and the gang navigate the heady waters of college life, go through finals, pledge sororities and fraternities, deal with roommate issues, and fall in and out of love time and time again, I had to compare it all to my own college life -- and agree that the experience was indeed, a different world. Reminiscing with them led me to think about my own experience, where I went wrong, where things seemed like they could never get better -- and I felt like I got a better grasp on what those television writers -- albeit in their simplified, half-hour window of space -- were trying to teach little black boys like me. At college, there is a wealth of knowledge to learn in the classroom as well as from our relationships, and if we all (especially those of us in our final moments) get so caught up in the day-to-day mode of filling out applications, going on job interviews, dealing with trying to please the parents and not losing sight of all we wanted in the first place, then we might be just missing out on all the real life lessons we're supposed to be learning while we are here.
Even though some may say it's just television, somewhere in the back of my mind I can't front and say I didn't take something from watching the program, or from watching it a second (or seventh time around.) College isn't always about social justice, raising awareness or competing for the highest GPA -- it's just as much about learning about who you are, and when it comes down to it, these fake people taught me real lessons about how I might try and do that.
I know some of you hardcore enthusiasts who breathe to see opinion columnists whine and loathe about the society and the community we live may think that this week's opinion is rather contrite, if not simple. But you know what?If you happen to stumble upon that old TV show that made you think, or got you interested in a subject in the first place -- then you'll know what I mean. There's something special in realizing what may have motivated you to accomplish something in the first place, and there's nothing that says an old re-run can't do that.
And besides, if you're not feeling up to TV-Land or reliving your youth quite yet, don't worry. You can always relive watching Carrie mack it to Aidan, Burger and Big anytime in the future on DVD. Most likely, if you found something in it then, you'll find something in it now.
(Kazz Alexander Pinkard's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at kpinkard@cavalierdaily.com.)
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