AS YOU wade through the jumbled catalogue of '80s sitcoms and straight-to-DVD sci-fi movies that is the Netflix "instant play" list, you might come across a gem or two. One such film is a documentary made in our very own backyard. "The Parking Lot Movie," directed by University alumna Meghan Eckman, chronicles the not-so-thrilling exploits of the employees who work at the Corner Parking Lot and it has grown to become one of the most watched movies on Netflix.
The employees at the CPL are a rather eclectic bunch, encompassing every group from anthropology majors and masters candidates to law school students. These highly-educated attendants are able to find joy in the job's monotony and companionship, even while enduring the dreariest of settings and reflecting on the nature of their chosen trade. Next time you clumsily stumble over the railroad tracks behind the Corner, pause to look back at the CPL and the little ramshackle booth that guards its entrance. Despite its humble appearance, the attendees there can teach us a thing or two.
As students, the weeks tend to drag on as we feel increasingly burdened by the sheer weight of academic responsibility. Many of us often question whether it's all worth it, whether wasting some of the best years of our life in Alderman Library dissecting the finer points of ancient Scandinavian poetry is worth the degree. We often become easily discouraged with the tedium that faces us with every passing week, especially when the work mounts and exams loom ever closer. Many of these worries are further exacerbated by the fact that, for some of us, more schooling and unfulfilling jobs await us after we walk the Lawn, diploma in hand.
Much of the discouragement and malaise that can result from academic saturation can be alleviated by looking at our academic careers from a different perspective. The employees at the CPL, though they are more educated than a majority of the standard working-class population, have adopted a blue-collar work ethic and way of looking at life. "The brilliance of the movie comes from the characters themselves - the philosophers, so to speak. They work as attendants commenting and analyzing every last detail
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