No room for generalization in the Opinion section

all out of love: Ode to the sexual deviant: laughing at politics

I know I may be lonely in this opinion, but I’d like to raise my glass to Anthony Weiner. And Eliot Spitzer, for what it’s worth. But not to Mark Sanford. No, Mr. Sanford can go celebrate elsewhere.
I’d like to raise my glass in honor of these (not-so) fine men, who so willingly made us laugh time and time again this summer. These men, who showed us that given even when the spotlight one more time, they could still fail so profoundly. A special thanks should go to Weiner as well, for showing us how close we can all get to real, tangible political power despite our proclivity for provocative picture taking.
As a young kid, I sincerely wanted to believe in politics. And even as a starry-eyed young high-schooler, I still tried to take the good with the bad, to see the virtue in even the greatest failure. I desperately wanted to not cringe at seemingly every other story coming out of the Capitol. And then John Boehner flipped off Harry Reid, and I realized how absurdly comical it all was.

all out of love: Getting news at school: keeping up with news outside the bubble

Throughout my childhood, I had a problem sleeping. Unlike seemingly everyone else in the world, I hated sleeping. I’d lie in bed for hours, thinking about the cool stuff I was sure I was missing.
Once I thought I’d suffered long enough—generally by 4 a.m.—I would jump out of bed and run down the stairs in search of fun activities. While I never found much more than a warm, staticky TV screen, I did get a lot of TV watching done. My days typically began with a few reruns of SportsCenter until my parents came down and subjected me to the Today Show. This usually just made me angry—I really, really didn’t care about cupcake recipes.
But over time, I learned to appreciate the Today Show. I didn’t start baking cupcakes but I did begin to learn what was going on in the world. Sure, I didn’t have a deep understanding, but I got enough information to dominate political arguments with my other 8-year-old friends. Over time, this interest flowered into a really convincing college essay topic. I wrote about how I read newspapers every morning and followed every update from the Capitol like a really boring gossip columnist. I talked about how I wanted to be involved with politics for the rest of my life and how much I loved knowing what was going on in the world.

all out of love

No room for generalization in the Opinion section

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Drew Van Kuiken

Columnist

October 3, 2013

Last Tuesday, the federal government shut down. And while I likely have some civic duty to provide you with my enlightened opinion on this legitimately significant event, this column is a selfish endeavor, so I will not. Also, go read the New York Times.

Instead, I’d like to use this precious space to brag: two weeks ago, the Orient published the first of my ramblings. Now, for those of you who have been calling me Edward R. Murrow, I’m flattered, but please stop. I know many see the Orient as a steppingstone to the National Review Online, but I must stay humble in the face of great success.

And although seeing my delightfully pixelated headshot appear next to the column name I spent so long perfecting certainly gave me a thrill, something was amiss. I looked around the paper, closely examining my compatriots in rambling. Their articles provided serious reflections on issues important to every Bowdoin student. Mine told people to laugh. Oh well. But then I glanced at the editorial, which proudly proclaimed: “Help Us.” (September 13) I shuddered before realizing I could still probably write for the Drudge Report one day.

The editorial went on to call for an Opinion page that “[reflects] the diversity of perspectives, activities, and personalities we see on campus” and lamented the lack of diversity among the “white males between the ages of 18 and 22” who typically dominate the section. While a little hurt, I recognized the importance of age diversity in an opinions section and wanted to help.

Of course, finding someone older than 22 on a college campus proved easier said then done. I turned to my roommate, Mark Schiller ’17, who is a goalie on the hockey team here, and who I’m pretty sure is 38 (young for the team). He declined my offer and went to Moulton. Clearly, I wasn’t going to find any age diversity on campus.

But before searching for racial diversity, I did some thinking. Why did the Orient feel desperate enough to ask for literally any writer not fitting my exact description to come write? As a white man aged 18-22, do I feel a cultural obligation to share my opinions with you? My dad certainly never told me that a white male’s duty includes shoving my opinion in everyone else’s face. Still, it’s hard to deny the homogeneity of the opinion page.

Granted, Bowdoin is a relatively homogenous place. I come from a high school with a surprisingly high level of diversity for a boarding school, and coming to Maine has been an adjustment. While the College’s efforts to bring racial diversity to campus certainly deserve praise, Bowdoin remains a relatively homogenous place.

Of course, the school came under fire last year for placing too much importance on racial diversity via a polarizing report authored by the National Association of Scholars (NAS). The Orient’s decision to call for a diversity of opinions is fodder in the cannon of the NAS report, which was written by two old white men, Peter Wood and Michael Toscano.

But assuming that, campus diversity stays constant in the near future, I tried to make do with what we have. After asking Reyada Atanasio ’17, an African-American student, why she doesn’t want to write, she told me she had nothing to write about. I told her that wouldn’t be a problem. She still declined.

So, the onus has fallen on me to provide a fresh perspective. The problem is: what exactly is that new perspective? Don’t get me wrong; I fully support affirmative action and I often argued with my friends about its merit this past year. I understand the tangible impact a diversity of perspectives brings to a campus and I trust the smart people who tell me that affirmative action effectively brings in many of those perspectives, but I may be lost after that.

It if helps, I promise I won’t write too much about Wes Anderson or folk music. Four columns each, tops. I could reexamine my left-leaning political beliefs—I have a hard time seeing that perspective as one that a large number of white males 18 to 22 years old would provide in my stead. I’m kind of stuck.

But I don’t totally believe that is a bad thing. My attempt to find a new writer actually showed me that. The search for diversity can often be a noble cause, but, beyond that, I take issue with the logic of the Orient in their editorial.

To say that my opinion too closely mirrors any of my fellow opinion columnists largely discounts both their upbringing and mine.Our opinions don’t come from a mythical guidebook restricted to certain races and ages.

While affirmative action can ensure that people from different cultures and places attend a certain school, it doesn’t ensure a difference in their outlook. Just the same, my race in no way ensures that I provide the same outlook as any of my peers. I would hope that next time, the Orient takes this into consideration when assuming what it is that I believe.

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