Oh Jayna, dear, sweet, naive Jayna, sounds like you have a case of that deadly bug going around campus called social retardation. The illness that gave NIU the nickname “suitcase college”. The disease that frightens an estimated one-third of the students here to pack up and leave at dusk on Friday. Don’t misunderstand me, roadtripping is great. In fact, my friends and I make it a point to roadtrip every couple of weeks in order to visit our friends at different campuses. Not to run from our own.

First off, if you’re past the age of 19, I hope you’re not still burrowing in a room with the other dormrats waiting for a party to happen within the walls of resident housing. If that’s the case then no college or roadtrip is going to be able to cure what you have. Furthermore, you based your complaint on a “whole realization” from one roadtrip to the University of Chicago where kegs were allowed in dorm rooms and the door guards were lenient. Again, who wants to be cooped up in a dorm room? You should get out more Jayna.

If I sound angry it’s because I am. I am angry at the pessimistic attitude of some of the rotten apples who have to spoil the bunch here at NIU. Call me a Pollyanna but I believe if you want something bad enough, it is possible to attain it. As a freshman, I was put on the hearing impaired floor of Grant South with only four other hearing girls and I still managed to have fun, drinking my way to a 1.0 GPA. Whether this is a good thing or not isn’t the point here, the point is, that when you make your own fun you can have it anytime and any place. Those who wait for others to entertain them, unless they are royalty, will wait an awfully long time.

No Jayna, we’re not missing out on anything here at NIU. If you feel that something is missing maybe it’s your motivation to get dressed and push the elevator that allows you to exit your dorm. Or maybe you’re lacking the imagination and adventurous spirit necessary in everyday life at NIU, U of C or any campus to look for and lunge towards new and exciting experiences. The kinds of experiences that when we become parents will give us stories (like your mother’s) to top our children’s any day.

Yes, the prognosis is complete; lack of motivation and imagination … continuous whining and self pity. Jayna, I’d say a severe case of social retardation has set in.

Prescription: Get a life!!

Tammy Lekas

Pre-Journalism