The College Compendium: my attention whore thread

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

While my hometown is a mere six hour drive away from Portland, it's been a complete culture shock to live on a college campus where being an avowed "left-Communist" is par for the course and where Lou Reed is a household name. While moving to Portland alone would have been a major shift in environments, going to school at a difficult liberal arts college compounds the change exponentially.

Scattered thoughts:
-Many of these kids are completely ignorant to how most mainstream Americans think and act. Growing up in Brooklyn, Austin or NorCal in an AP/IB bubble at school and in a cosmopolitan upper -middle class neighborhood is not the reality that most people face yet a sizable minority of my peers don't get it.

-Going from being the token "intellectual" in classes to being an average student has been jarring for me. I hope that doesn't sound narcissistic but my life's narrative has been constructed around being "that guy". Most of the time I thoroughly appreciate my friends intelligence and thoughtfulness. They have interesting insights and are rarely boring but there are times when I feel like I don't have a real identity anymore or a worthwhile personality and where my self-esteem bottoms out.

-Those on the far-left are very despicable and their dogmatic attitudes remind me of the worst of the worst on the GOP. This far-left encompasses such a miniscule portion of the American public that they usually aren't worth mentioning but at Reed they're non-negligible (~20%). Trust fund anarchists aren't fellow travelers of mine. The educated arsonists want to burn and pillage our society and aren't to be trusted while the naive followers don't understand anything outside of their bubble.

On the bright side I feel like I fit in here, I find myself picking up material in social science/literature classes as fast as the star students and I actually have a busy social life. Life on the whole is good but challenging and constantly oscillating between feelings of elation and mild depression/anxiety. I suppose that's what drastic change causes: rapid evolution and a general sense of uneasiness and fear even if much is being accomplished.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I hate these types of threads but surely someone is interested in the thoughts of someone who moved from a conservative wasteland of rednecks and exurban retirees to a left-wing paradise where the children of quants, lawyers, ceos and professors attend school.

Give me a place to poop out my thoughts please. Also, tips and advice would be great. There are times when I feel hopeless and unsure of everything.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Other input: juggling what to prioritize is tough. Now I don't have the luxury to spend much time idling around, even if the idling seems more meaningful because it's in a social situation. I have to determine which shows to go to even if it means missing seeing many bands I love. It's tough.

@koenkai Perhaps you're right. I have noticed that it's pretty easy to disguise how much you truly know via use of intelligent vocabulary and vague wording. Many of these kids might not know as much as I think they do or simply have attained a better work ethic than me. On the other hand there are quite a few legitimately brilliant people who can juggle earning a 3.7+ (super rare here) while getting stoned daily and taking hard science/math classes. I feel like so pathetic in comparison.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

You go to Reed? Good for you. Yes, the left is detestable.

That wasn't necessarily my point but there is something so obnoxious about those who contrive themselves to fit a narrow dogma.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

of course you should begin by drawing the elementary distinction between those who claim to be very left-wing but in reality spend their entire lives sleeping until 2pm, drinking cheap beer, and smoking weed, and others who may well do all of the above but also spend part of their lives engaged in concrete activism, even if it be merely within the unfortunate cultural sphere like w/ the LGBT movement.

This is true. There's quite a few activists who actually put some time into the IWW or anti-homelessness protesting but at the same time there is an equally large amount of trust funders who claim to be communists or anarchists but contribute nothing and have their comfortability via the system they claim to hate. The irony is that the people from poor/lower middle class backgrounds are less radical than the wealthies.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

This is true. There's quite a few activists who actually put some time into the IWW or anti-homelessness protesting but at the same time there is an equally large amount of trust funders who claim to be communists or anarchists but contribute nothing and have their comfortability via the system they claim to hate. The irony is that the people from poor/lower middle class backgrounds are less radical than the wealthies.

The rich kids who claim to be communists and anarchists and then go hunt for jobs at Wall Street and try to jump into corporate recruiting should be destroyed.

As long as they try to absolve themselves by donating to the DCCC or gay rights initiative x, I can be content with their existence.

Another amusing observation of mine was seeing white boomers buy more indigenous Mexican art than Mexicans themselves buy. Zapotec rugs will never be hip to me, they're just a part of my existence.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Latest vague contributions to thread: infatuation is unchill, the loneliness that stems from an initial lack of close relationships during college can be hard to handle at times and riding your bike while high during rush hour is a bad idea.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

You guys who like telonovela nonsense will enjoy my latest contribution to this thread. I got friend-zoned by someone I accidentally fell madly in love with (as it turns out I'm a romantic and kind of conservative in a few ways). Pree normal but I was also told that I was very attractive and that she needed to get to know me better before committing. Socially inept females confuse me. Say no and be like "ur a nice guy" or something if you want to let me down easy. Don't make up lies or be inadvertently mean.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

You guys who like telonovela nonsense will enjoy my latest contribution to this thread. I got friend-zoned by someone I accidentally fell madly in love with (as it turns out I'm a romantic and kind of conservative in a few ways). Pree normal but I was also told that I was very attractive and that she needed to get to know me better before committing. Socially inept females confuse me. Say no and be like "ur a nice guy" or something if you want to let me down easy. Don't make up lies or be inadvertently mean.

Brand New - "Secondary"

+1, good contribution.

I already feel unchained from this situation outside of my puzzlement that I could be so madly attracted to someone who is far less interesting/bootiful than me. Pheromones can piss off.

Also I get to meet Ezra Klein.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Update: I met Ezra Klein and gave him a fanboy shout out. I am feeling defeated by college in so many ways. This school is tough.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

This is a sad thread.