We are finding ourselves at the crux of a sociopolitical and ecological tipping point, where we need to pressure the government to take definitive action against climate change. Although we don’t quite have groups of hippies acting as our guides, that does not mean we should throw in the towel because we think the government won’t listen or that we are too young or inexperienced to incite change.
After only a year on this campus, I feel that most of the sophomores see themselves as too good for any “adventure.” Everything feels below them, in the bluntest way possible. The rose-colored lens that covered freshman year has been ripped off our faces, and now we are confronted with the realities of college life: the routines.
You’ve probably read a dozen articles like this before: “Instagram linked to depression,” “Social media leads to decline in self-esteem,” “Snapchat crushes your soul”—each and every one being more dire than the last. And they usually end with “DELETE SOCIAL MEDIA NOW!” What they fail to recognize is how unrealistic those expectations are, especially as a college student.
In politics, one needs more than just determination and a good platform: one must also be a good entertainer. A successful politician, just like a successful showman, must know what the audience wants to hear and see. The most recent performance was done by none other than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
When my tour guide said that Boston College is “only as Catholic as you make it,” they may have been reflecting a true reality for many students. As a Jew and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it has not always been true for me. When I first learned that BC refused the creation of a student funded LGBTQ+ resource center on the grounds that doing so would compromise the University’s “Catholic values,” I was astonished.
When the COVID-19 pandemic put the world on pause for a year, it felt to me that enthusiasm for Boston College athletics reached an all-time low. Combine that with lukewarm performances in some of the major sports last year and you end up with a student body that stays for an hour and then dips after mumbling its way through “For Boston.”
The Bobbing Orb, as I have experienced it, occurs when I am overstimulated with noise, assignments, and social interactions. It is when my brain ceases to be an ordered arrangement of reason, memory, schedule, and responsibility and collapses—rather artfully—into a series of floating tendrils that barely keep me tethered to my basic obligations.
All of the campus visits, carefully crafted supplemental essays, and emails to BC admissions are made in a desperate hope to convey that you’re the “right choice.” But simultaneously, you might try to convince yourself that BC is truly the right place for you. So, three years after applying with two years of college in the rearview mirror, this is my “Why BC.” To my surprise, it’s wildly different from when I applied.
I will say it loud and proud: I love fanfiction. You can find smut and fluff, G-rated content and R-rated content, and everything in between. There are works that are fewer than 500 words and longer than 500,000 words.
I gained more from my internship by realizing that although college is kind of like playing pretend, the feelings we experience are very real, so we shouldn’t take them lightly. Addressing what you feel is needed and will make you feel more secure about experiences out in the real world.
