The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Commentary

As I sat down to write this column I realized that it was the last column I would ever write for The Daily Campus. I normally write my columns on Sunday mornings and this week was no different, except once I started writing I thought about what else I had to do this Sunday. After I finish this column I have to go to my last event for the UConn College Republicans and after that, go to my last event as a member of the Undergraduate Student Government. I was going to write the normal obligatory senior column where I tell people to get ready for the real world and enjoy their last days of college. You know, the column where I tell all the under classmen to make sure they go to the a capella concerts at least once and make sure they make the most of the opportunities that UConn will offer them. But those columns usually bore me and since people write them every year, no one takes the advice. So instead, I thought I would take this opportunity to write about what it has been like to pen right-wing invective at UConn for my four years here.

I started writing for The Daily Campus my freshman year. My first column was about Ward Churchill. Since then it has been really interesting seeing people react to the columns I have written on page four and five of The Daily Campus over the years. During my time writing for the newspaper I have been called just about everything in the book. I'm a racist Nazi who spews "hate speech" and can't form coherent thoughts. At the same time, I'm a closet liberal who is just trying to fool everyone into thinking I'm a conservative just so that my parents will love me more. All the while, people write to me or post on The Daily Campus Web site telling me I'm a mean person who should burn in hell. Since we are not allowed to directly respond to letters submitted to the editor critiquing our writing for The Daily Campus, I decided that I would do some of the more avid letter-writers a favor and give them some advice.

First and foremost - get a sense of humor, and if you think you have one, get a better one. It will help you live a happier and healthier life. Also it never hurts just to crack a smile. There are so many situations that a good sense of humor and an appreciation of irony can help you get through. If people laughed more, the world would probably be a much better place. Don't be so quick to get offended. If I got offended every time someone in one of my classes has called me a Nazi or joked about how Republicans are racist, I would probably sit alone in my room and listen to a lot more Dashboard Confessional.

Continued...

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