College Happenings

Today my friend Ashley and I went to see the Debutante Ball at the University of Montana. The play was written by Beth Henley. The play is set in Hattiesburg, Miss., at the Turner family’s mansion.

When we first meet Mrs. Turner, the mother, played by Robin Lindsey Rose, she is conducting a walk-through with her youngest daughter, Teddy, on how to enter her debutante ball. This part is sure to get a laugh from the audience as they watch Teddy, played by Nora Munde Gustuson, struggle to walk elegantly down stairs while stretching her neck out and holding her chin up.
I did not expect this play to be so good or to keep me so interested.

I was pleasantly surprised. The plot had a nice twist, it was funny and dramatic. I was impressed by all the actors.

I assumed by the title that the play would be about, well, a debutante ball, full of snotty southern bells. It was about a family and their struggle to overcome the past. They hope that the ball will be a new start for them and elevate them in the eyes of society. Unfortunately their past sticks with them.

It was nice to go see a play I actually enjoyed. When I went to Sheridan College I took a required theatre/drama class and we had to go see a lot of plays. I usually found my self fidgeting in my seat and checking my watch every five minutes.

Today, when the intermission came I looked at my watch and saw that an hour had already passed. I was so intrigued by the play that I hadn’t checked the time once.

If the Debutante Ball comes to your town, you should check it out. It is worth the time and the ticket price ($12).

I got a history paper back today. I did rather well.

The nice thing about getting this paper back is that it means there is only one more paper to go and then I’m done. After that paper, I am only 10 weeks away from being completely done.

I love school, but the thought of being done and having my degree is so wonderful!

No more long drives to Missoula everyday, no more annoying freshmen girls shrieking over some new gossip and showing way to much skin, especially for January.

No more competing, no more worrying over assignments and due dates.

No more hearing about the path I should be on as a future journalist. No more feeling like I am not good enough because my goal isn’t to work at the NY Times.

There are the things I will miss. My favorite professor, Clem. Seeing my friends and hearing them freak out about school and I do enjoy the whole learning thing, I will miss that.

I will really miss being on campus. The University of Montana has a beautiful campus. There are mountains in the backgrounds, vast green lawns, a variety of lush green trees and bushes. Flowers are planted around many of the buildings. Many of the buildings are old and have interesting architecture. The forestry building for instance is two toned brick and has little pine tree tiles around the building near the roof. It’s cool.

I guess I don’t need to get all misty eyed over it yet. I still have five weeks of this semester and then summer classes.

Still, at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am so jaded with the journalism school. Sitting in opinion class listening to the juniors reading their extremely wordy attempts to be witty is going to kill me. I can’t stand that flowery type of writing, the “please look at how smart I am and what big words I can use�? style is so over-done. Who reads shit like that?

Today we talked about our book reviews of the dreadful I Am Charlotte Simmons, by whom else but Tom Wolfe.

Pretty much everyone agreed that they didn’t like it. It is a look at college life through the eyes of an old guy. He apparently thinks a college student can’t carry on a conversation with out using the word “fuck�? at least twice.

The book centers around four main characters. Charlotte a brilliant and beautiful naïve girl from a small town, Jojo white power forward on a mostly black basketball team, Hoyt, your typical frat boy and Adam the nerd who is pissed because he is not cool.

So we’re supposed to write reviews on the book. Did it suck? What was the plot did you like it or not? Those types of questions. It was not supposed to be about how brilliant you think Tom Wolfe is.

The teacher calls on a few juniors to read. They’re papers all start out, “Tom Wolfe has shown his literary genius yet again as well as his sharp journalistic eye.�? They all mention the Bonfire of the Vanities, the Electric Cool-aid Acid test and some of his other works. One gets the feeling that they are well read especially where Wolfe is concerned. Then the teacher asks them, “have you read other stuff by Wolfe?�?

“Well, no, but….�?

Then why go on about him for five paragraphs, talk about the damn book. Gosh!

The book sucked, it was trite and predictable. There’s my review.

“You’re blog has been boring lately,” she said.

“I know, I said, nothing is going on my life,” I said

“Well, that’s not true!” she said.

“Yeah, I know that, but I am not going to talk about that,” I said

“I am going to rip it up tonight!” she said.

“Good, write about it and I’ll put it on my blog,” I said.

“I’ll do that!” she said.

So maybe on Monday you’ll get to read about Luella’s awesome adventures.

For now, you get me.

My boyfriend cut his hair off. He looks like he is about 20-years-old now.

When I met him he had long hair. I had never dated a “long hair” before him. I was a bit nervous about it, afraid my dad would hate his long hair look.

Eventually I got used to it. I never got fully got used to the stares from every single person in the grocery store we shopped at. I didn’t like the way police officers would eyeball us.

Sure, he did kind of look like a kidnapper with his dark sunglasses and sgraggly hair, but I also thought it made him look like a bad ass.

I always got the feeling people thought he was a drug dealer or something.

Why don’t people associate long hairs with a fondness for cake? -Mitch Hedeburg.

BUT NOW!!!

People are all smiles and sunshine toward us when we go to the store.

We, as people are odd creatures.