“Is this really a new year? Are we bottoming out? Or are we into The Age of The Fear?”
–Hunter S. Thompson
For the normals out there — you know, those not in college — this is simply the middle of the year. For the rest of us, especially the graduating folks, this is a new year. We will be heading out into the belly of the beast. Some of us will fail miserably, some of us will get rich, fat and ugly. Some of us might do something brilliant.
Personally, I’ve still got a little time left, but in all honesty, school is coming to a screeching halt. I’ll be waving my $30,000 diploma like a golden flag, hoping for a chance to go big time. But one thing that has become terribly clear is that my ideas before school about my hopes and future have all melted into one sad truth: I need a job. And I’ll most likely struggle to get into something I would call a dream job, but most likely, I will take whatever I can get. Don’t forget, dreams are mirages, kids. They look a lot better further away. The closer you get to the damned things, the more you realize it’s just more sand.
So in that, realize the range of your weapons, your skills, and don’t try to hit something that you can’t reach. Don’t take that stupid age-old advice that says aim for the stars. No one is going to make it to the stars without some serious engineering, cash and a firm grounding in reality.
But on the brighter side, I’ve done well with my time here in university land. I’ve paid attention to the facts, the details and the errors of my missions. I’ve sharpened the blade. I must give props to the people who have helped, in whatever way they did.
The Emerald was gracious enough to give me 15 or so inches every two weeks to basically say whatever the hell I want. It’s been fun, for the most part. Some people were really cool, some people I would say honestly hated me. But that could have been deadline stress talking.
Much love to KWVA, the beacon of hope for the future of radio. Keep pumping out the jams and thanks for giving me the chance to squirrel with the sound.
The professors — the good ones I mean — I thank you for your insight. For the rest of you pompous jerks with favoritism hidden under liberalism: Go to hell. I won’t name names, but you know who you are.
For my parents, for giving me support in the millions of ways you have, I thank you. For your criticism on my future plans, however, please stop. It’s hard enough.
And finally, for my friends who put up with my ranting and, most importantly, for giving a man a drink when he’s down.
So now that that is out of the way, the only thing in front of me is the horizon.
We have a summer of terrorist threats, forest fires, festivals, the Olympics and one of the most deadly presidential races in America’ s history looming in the fall. I’ m not taking sides here, as I don’t favor either of the competitors, but if you vote for Bush this year, you are a miserable beast. Oops. Did I say that? As Janeane Garofalo said, a vote for Bush is a character flaw.
But I’m diverging again. Where was I?
Oh yes, the horizon. This world, as I see it now, is in terrible stress. We have made a horrific mess of things on so many levels I can’t even begin. But what that means, for all you capitalists, is that there is much work out there for all of us! And that means a job! But “What job?” is a question that plagues generations of college students every single year.
I guess I could suck up and get some mediocre job at some horrendous corporation, start wearing a tie and chugging triple mochas four times a day, just to make the guys above me in the bigger, shinier offices just a little more money. I could do that.
But those are the cannibals who are eating us. And I don’t think feeding them is the way to make this world better.
No, I will move on, my friends. But to where, I don’ t know. Someplace real, someplace important, to somewhere that will make the world — not the corporate bottom line — a better place. I’m not sure what that means, but there is a gut feeling that guides me, and thus far, it has not failed me.
There is no question that we have entered The Age of The Fear . And many of you, myself included, are going to be attacked by it forever. But the trick is to look Fear into the eyes, grit your teeth, and say to it, “I’m bigger than you and you can’ t do a damn thing to me.”
Then calm down, because we still have a long, long way to go. This is just the beginning. Cheers.
Now, where IS that rum…