The Michigan Review

Starting Anew?

by Julie Jeschke

The buzz around campus is that it's cool to recycle! Here are some Recycling tips that will help you to be COOL!" As I sat in my residence hall's dining room, eating some wonderful, overpriced institutional food, I had to laugh at the little sign on the table that was meant to promote recycling. Obviously, its message was worthwhile, but the strategically placed bees used to illustrate "buzz" seemed to go too far, and the language sounded painfully juvenile. I could not believe Waste Management Services would employ such a tacky slogan! And what's this? We can all win an ice cream party if our hall improves the most from last year's recycling trends?! As much as I desired to jump on the bandwagon, I had to sit back and consider what my eyes had just beheld. Ice cream? "Cool" to recycle? How gullible did they think we were? Why was I being bombarded with all this environmental gibberish? Then I realized that dining halls are nothing more than souped­up cafeterias, except we get to use real plates instead of trays with squarish compartments. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that for the entire year, I had been treated like I was still in high school. The "ecolympics," appear to relegate us to elementary school, and I am told that it only gets worse!

Soon, the similarities between now and then made themselves completely obvious to me why did not I realize it before!? Resident advisors pick up where our childhood camp counselors left off. We used to join clubs and get involved so we would have things to put on our college applications; now, we are merely interested in beefing up our resumes. Sororities and fraternities offer the same opportunities for deep, meaningful friendships as the cliques in high school did. Free pizza was an effective motivator in high school, and sadly, it still is. There are still dances to go to, except they are now referred to as "mixers." The only distinguishing characteristic between the two is that now, the people who would not dance with you are total strangers, whereas at dances, they were people you knew. We still have stupid rules (i.e. the Code), and we're still being forced to take pointless required classes in order to broaden our horizons (yawn). The parallels do not end there.

Much like our high school days, fashion trends run amok on campus. I must confess that if I see another person wearing a puffy North Face parka or a peacoat with flared pants, I might vomit. Thankfully, winter is over (knock on wood) and the parkas have been packed away, but I am still somewhat apprehensive about the fashion horrors that Spring and Summer have in store for us. More cute little tank tops? Oh boy! Sundresses? Hooray! Regardless of what will be "in," I'm sure everyone with a Visa card will be pleased as punch to jump on the bandwagon and spend, spend, spend. Are not we all supposed to be individuals, here? Why, then, this uncontrollable urge to conform?

The recent MSA elections also reminded me of the good old days seeing the stairwells in Angell Hall plastered with mindless slogans sure brought back memories. While the "vote for me or the monkey gets it" approach might have won Johnny Prom King the class presidency in high school, that kind of thing could never happen in college, could it? No . . . ! Never! Alas, it just did last week. I don't know about you, but I feel rather insulted by having a president who was elected based on a Dr. Seuss book and riding on the coat-tails of his vice presidential candidate, no less! "Hopp on Chopp with Trent?" How did we let that happen? At least in high school, everyone voted, even if they only wanted to keep geeks out of office. We all should have voted, if only to keep Greeks out of office; it's nice to see that Trent got votes from his purchased friends.

If we have to have the negative elements from high school forced on us (i.e. those things we would rather forget), why can't we have some of the benefits, too? Free textbooks would be nice, as would easy classes, the occasional snow day, and the absence of the infamous freshman (insert number here) weight gain. I am not saying I am not happy where I am, but haven't we earned the right to be treated as adults? Aren't we paying enough? I suppose all the money and power in the world will not necessarily earn us respect. Just look at Bill Clinton. Just look at our student government. MR

Juile Jeschke is the Copy Editor of the Review and is a freshman majoring in English.

This article was published in the Date edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 16, Number 9).
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