After receiving criticism about the quality of content in my columns last semester, this August I spent some precious free time at home reading back on two years' worth of my tirades against cold weather and glorifications of digital cable.
Not surprisingly, I came to the same levelheaded conclusion as my critics: the intellectual level of this University community could be shamed if I continue to speak to my audience as if it actually cares about things like "The O.C." and "90210" when our country remains faced with terrorist threats, a weak economy and a little something called a presidential election.
But then again, since historical pretext has dictated that the realm of my opinionating focuses on the merits of Rainbows over Reefs, I must also wholeheartedly agree that I do not find myself qualified to comment on such weighty matters.
Nor would I ever seek to.
Not to state the obvious, but this is the Life section. Regrettably, that title does not provide much help in attempting to differentiate and pigeonhole many of the columns that are printed on this page.
This is not for lack of trying.
Editors do assign general focus areas to some writers (i.e. "relationships" or "fashion") in an attempt to compartmentalize the subject matter into neat and tidy bundles for our type-A readers. They make every effort to run time-specific columns, such as advice for first years during move-in or diatribes against ISIS during course registration. And they brainstorm headlines and column titles considered crucial in helping the reader "get the point" of the columnist's message, whatever it may be.
However, more often than not -- and with admittedly (almost) limitless freedom -- many Life columnists end up writing about the one thing with which they are most intimate and comfortable: their own lives.
In hopes that something, literally anything, will resonate with the random reader who by chance grabs a crumpled CD from the floor of Cabell looking for a crossword to combat lecture ADD, a Life columnist such as myself faces the daunting task of selecting a topic that might mildly entertain a poor soul suffering through 75 minutes of 1960s tax policy.
We've all been that unfortunate creature. In my case, after pondering such pressing issues as whether I want sushi for dinner or if I will be able to read 50 pages on citizenship in Brazil before "The O.C." starts at 9, (sorry, I had to throw it in there), I come to realize that I have yet to hit the 30-minute countdown mark and thus desperately need some other form of mental stimulation.
Perhaps I am way out in left field here, but when I inevitably flip to the daily Life column with an already uninterested mind, the last thing I really want to read about is some random columnist's condemnation of American job outsourcing overseas.
But that's just me.
At that crucial moment of sheer and utter boredom, I might find it appealing to join someone -- anyone -- in complaining about the foot of snow on the ground in late March. Or the craziness that was Spring Break. Even the complexities of whether Seth and Summer will get back together.
And why is that? Because these little idiosyncratic commentaries are life. Our lives. Here. Now. At the University of Virginia. In 2004.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. We live in a bubble -- one that is not exclusive to U.Va. Only at this age can we conceivably enjoy a ridiculously self-absorbed, Monday-through-Thursday (if you're lucky) dreamland. College is a life worth loving, a life worth living...and a life worth noting.
It is a life that Life columnists try to capture for you each week, in varying ways and with varying degrees of success.
I'm certainly not saying that what my fellow columnists write is insignificant -- usually they address very important topics, even if tackled in a jesting manner. I only wish to point out that, in a chaotic world already filled with (in my opinion) too much seriousness, room for the lighthearted always exists.
Thus, if you've ever gotten yourself five minutes closer to lunchtime by reading my miscellaneous ramblings on life, then I consider my goal achieved.
That said, I do apologize for the times I've come off sounding shallow, materialistic and West Coast-obsessed. I apologize for trying so hard not to offend anyone that it's almost offensive. I apologize for perpetuating stereotypes and giving free advertisement for The North Face and Polo.
And I apologize for the columns that have basically said nothing. (There have been a few.)
So I will leave you with this: iaf cable news networks and protestors on the Downtown Mall leave you wanting more and you feel the need to contemplate the feasibility of affordable health care for senior citizens during your lecture zone-out, please do so. Just pick up the A-mate to the B-section of this paper and there you go: the Opinion page. That's their job, and they do it well.
As for me, I'm quite frankly sick of writing about a life you're probably sick of reading about. I'm going on hiatus for the semester. Hopefully, we'll rope in some new blood -- yes, first years! Think resume builder! -- and continue to provide you with reliable sources for criticism, contemplation and hopefully even entertainment during that unavoidably dull late-afternoon class. Happy reading.
Megan Peloquin can be reached at peloquin@cavalierdaily.com
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