I still remember the first time I ever told someone I was thinking about writing a column for the Opinions section of the Orient. I proposed the idea over brunch in January of my sophomore year, and my friend said in a distinguished tone, "Ah, yes?perhaps an exposé on the state of the war in Iraq?"

The first column was about coming back to campus early for preseason. The following about comment cards in the dining hall.

They're telling us that this is a terribly frightening time to be a young adult. That fallen into our hands is a laundry list of major domestic and geopolitical issues that will come to define us as an era.

A professor I had last year put it most aptly: "When people read our literature hundreds of years from now, they will see two things: war and carbon."

It comes as no surprise then, that on college campuses?always hotbeds for political and social activism?students are packing their newspapers with articles and editorials aimed at addressing such pertinent issues.

For the past couple of weeks, as the 2008 presidential election approaches, the Orient's opinion pages have been stocked with intriguing letters such as "McCain's Economic Plan Values Liberty" and "Obama Promotes Middle-Class Economic Growth." If you chose to gloss over the "Ladd Mansion Party" controversy that lit up last week's "Letters to the Editor" section, you might, in fact, be tempted to answer a past week's "Campus Question"?"Is Bowdoin an Intellectual Campus?"?in the affirmative.

But then you would see a headline just beneath that section, "Assassin II: Bowdoin becomes a polar-bear-eat-polar-bear campus," and you might start to wonder.

I've always avoided any hint of political sentiment in my columns, if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassing myself.

I'm probably more qualified to write a column about skate fishing than I am to write about this election. If, for some unimaginable reason, someone were to examine my column for notes of the social forces at work in the early 21st century, they would see not war and carbon, but Watson anxiety and comment cards.

It is exciting, though, to think that this is my last column before what I'm told is a watershed election will take place. Years from now, I will look back into the Orient archives to see what I had to say on this threshold of American politics, perhaps looking for youthful idealism and vivacity.

But I can't lie to my future self, nor to everyone else. I can't #&%!$# wait for this *%@&!* election to be over with. I stopped reading the news long ago partially because cryptic graphs with steep, downward sloping lines and dramatic photos of stock traders clutching their hair were unsettling to look at over my pancakes. In large part, though, I was sick of reading tedious and obvious headlines like "Candidates Contentious at Debates" and "McCain Disagrees with Biden's Policy Ideas."

Now before I open my door to find concerned-looking activists bedecked with pins and clipboards, let me clarify: I'm going to vote. I promise. Nor am I completely indifferent to who wins this election.

But I think it's worth noting that even the most active campaigners are relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This election, both because of the length for which the campaigns have been drawn out and for the captivating candidates?Obama and Palin, for obvious reasons, have more sex appeal and intrigue than Gore and Bush did back in 2004?is starting to feel a little sensationalist.