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Smoke & Mirrors Zachary M. Raimi |
"A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning."
- Benjamin Disraeli
This past weekend, thousands of University students returned home to the sleepy streets of suburban America. Ten minutes after walking through the door, I can imagine, a wave of ennui hit and never left.
Yes, the return home after months in a university setting is a bit of a culture shock, especially if you live in calm and courtly suburbs. After you say hello to parents, siblings and pets, there is nothing much to do and not many places to go. You glance through your mail, skim the local newspaper, chit-chat with your mom and dad, and then there is a wasteland of time.
Thanksgiving Day is not much better. You can watch football games all day to pass the time, but then comes dinner. All of your relatives, whom you have not seen in many months, ask you the same boring questions over and over again. Notice the questions are never about what you have learned, what new ideas you are discussing in your classes, or what great works of literature you have read.
Instead, you get bombarded with more topical and practical questions that lack the intellectual depth to which we've become accustomed. Your distant cousin may ask what your major is, and then he may proceed to tell you a long, boring story about what his major was when he was in college 40 years ago - and why his was better than yours.
And then someone asks the dreaded question: "So, what are you going to do next year," a question that sends lightning bolts of fear through the hearts of seniors.
They mean well, of course. But it is annoying.
Thanksgiving dinner reminds us that suburban life lacks a spark of creativity and excitement that this city - and most other university towns - cultivate and possess. I went home last Wednesday talking about Shakespeare and FDR's New Deal and returned here Sunday talking about strip malls and the neighbor's new dog. I shudder to think what I'll be talking about after Christmas break.
There are many benefits to growing up and living in the suburbs. The crime rate is low, there are many decent schools and strong families, and wholesomeness abounds. Shopping establishments and eateries are close - after all, suburbs are the heartland of American consumer culture.
As I ate my turkey, cranberries and Jell-O mold (which, Mom, was quite good) Thursday evening, I could not help but be thankful for attending the University and spending most of the year in Ann Arbor.
This may sound like blasphemy to some, and not so long ago, I wanted nothing more than to return home and escape this town. After all, college is often tough, gritty, lonely and hard. The teachers assign so much homework, papers are due every week and exams consistently lurk around every corner. There is no escaping this unpleasantness.
But after visiting home, I realized how much I've grown to like this place. Disraeli was right. A university is a place of learning. And through learning comes a sense of liberation - a freeing from old ideas, stereotypes, attitudes and notions. And with this liberation, the whole world looks lighter and brighter. Suburban America rarely challenges one to find this liberation.
Think about it: A university setting is one of the only places in America -perhaps the world - where ideas count. People thrive on deep discussions about the meaning of life, the existence of God and the fundamental role of government. It is hard to find such topics of conversation on the sidewalks of your suburb's strip malls or the booths of your town's coffee shops, if it has any.
There is always something happening at the University. Famous lecturers from around the world give talks on all sorts of topics - some interesting, others shockingly terrible. There are always film and music festivals at the local movie theaters or parks. And, if bars are your thing, I hear that you can indulge your alcoholic needs in many a watering hole around town.
This university, in particular, has taken great strides in the last decade to diversify its student body. I have come to appreciate this diversity as I learn about all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. It is a nice diversion from the monotony of the suburbs.
So, as you begin studying for finals, don't forget to be thankful for attending the University: The work may be difficult, but it is, in a strange way, exciting. This town and this university provide one with a chance to indulge in ideas and experience diversity as no other community can offer.
Taking a tough physics or English exam is a small price to pay for a chance to live in a place like this.
- Zack Raimi can be reached over e-mail at rmz@umich.edu.