We didn’t ask for this to be easy. We didn’t come to Penn looking for a relaxing four–year spring break. Those arriving to NSO ignorant of their new home’s bevy of intimidating epithets (pressure cooker, boot camp, the School at the End of the World, etc.) are either in denial or not so good at Google. We signed up for hell, and damn have we got it in abundance around here.
But fuck, am I tired. I think everybody is. To call the first half of the semester difficult would be a cruel understatement. As a student body, we have weathered immeasurable losses since September. Moreover, undergrads and administration are distinctly at odds. We closed out Spring Sem Part One by taking a digital shitstorm of hate and negativity to the face and then getting buried in like thirty feet of snow. We wanted the hard knock life, but maybe not this hard. This has not been a good semester.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t be.
This is our school, and however untouchable capital–P Penn might feel, it’s never been anything more or less than what we make of it. That’s why, this very moment, I launch my campaign to take back our Penn, and I hope you’ll join me.
I propose a simple solution to our midsemester woes: getting wild and crazy. Forget work hard, it’s time we played. The temperature’s slowly creeping back towards non–lethal and let’s be honest, you’ve done as much reading as you’re gonna do before shipping off to that internship come May. “Darty” is on the lips of every bro, and as hard as it is to part with our leather jackets and “talk to me and I’ll break your arms” winter glares, I think it’s time everybody loosened up a little.
This doesn’t have to involve substance abuse. For some, Jack and Coke makes grinning a little easier, but getting fuzzy is in no way a prereq for joining my club. All you need to do is anything that makes you feel like day one fresh meat—anything that makes Penn feel huge and impossible and yours again.
Close out of your Google Cal and ask yourself how you’re doing. Forget depressed; are you bored? Are you restless? Do you feel like violently striking out at your peers via the internet? Then take a deep breath, let your jerk self take five and have a little fun. There’ll be plenty of time for cramming during finals, and if you feel the need to anono–hate, I urge you to do so somewhere productive, like Collegiate ACB or your diary.
There’s still a lot of sad hanging around, and that’s okay. Somebody told me once that the deeper sorrow cuts you, the more room it makes for joy. I know we’re not so good at embracing no–strings–attached positivity around here, but I ask that we all give it a try. Life around here won’t get better until we screw on our biggest smiles and make it better.
So break out your sundresses, spark up if that’s your thing and let’s get happy again.
