What is on a Shooter's Mind: Speculation on a part of Durham's Party Scene
by Snezhi Kovacheva
It is 1 a.m.-ish, Friday night. I gave up going out, because I was too prejudiced (I won't pretentiously claim this is an objective note, but won't be as harsh as I can either) about the quality of the "fun", attainable down here. Somehow, the party scene fails to = provide the crazy, dancy, easy-going atmosphere I once took for granted. And why would I even bother about the party scene, when I am in one of the most competitive schools in the nation?
May be because this element is indicative of deeper, more significant trends.
My conscience is unstained. I gave a chance to the Frat parties and "Shooters", one of the two bars in Downtown Durham that reminds me how most of my disoriended classmates (including me) partied in 9th and partially 10th grade. The same short skirts (two friends recently commented that they found where all minies retired, having fallen out of fashion in Europe. Well, no need to search any longer. Great observation, girls); the same I-am-puttin'-the-fanciest-top-hanging-with-my
-girlies-and-hopin'-he'll-show-up attitude. Only, instead of kissing once or twice in public when it "gets hot", people rather casually make out, putting across the message that rubbing against each other intensively is as normal and acceptable as working out at the gym, or studying hard for an exam. For those who prefer the art of subtle flirt to the "play hard" doctrine...well, you can always study harder, so that you don't have time to dwell over this fascinating question. "Metamorphosis" perfectly describes those studious hyper-competitive respect-generating achievers, who transform into "random-play" paradigms over the weekend. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or, rather, Dr Einstein and Mr Weddingcrasher.
I am taken aback by the multiple identities on campus. It is amazing to take a chemistry class with a devoted a-capella singer, or be in a study group in Economics with a supertalented drummer, whom you considered supertalented in integrating and differentiating. The strive for academic excellence, and pursuit of intellectual challenges is tangible in the air. The message is powerful, and empowering: be yourself. Push your limits. But then, a crouching sense of restraint haunts our Southern home. In "The Chronicle", the daily paper, an add shouts from between (may be even not from between) the lines that "Your employers read the "Facebook!". Every conscious reader should have got the point by now that putting pictures that will make your "Shooters" friends pround to hang out with you...won't do too much good unless "dirty dancing", "flip-cup", or "I-smash-self-with-Budlight-koz-I-have-zero-drinking-culture" skills fit in the job description. The more pertinent message should be: compare your facebook self with your non-facebook self. If you spot major contrasts, think about it...is the problem that it might get on the Facebook, or that you produced the material, without being able to face the consequences.
May be I am committing a huge mistake by publishing this very note on "Facebook". My future employer might turn out to be anl r'n'b-adoring party animal, who might deem pretentious such elements as jazz/techno/retro; dancing in a circle rather than chafing your back against someone else's front; drinking Bailey's while having a hard-core metaphysical conversation with your friends etc.
Still, there are islands of hope. I won't refer to particular clubs, but the formal activities of some organizations, which add extra intellectual flavor on campus, tend to transcend into pretty decent party-gatherings, where "Lady, hear me tonight" remains smooth background for save-the-world-despite-a-bit-tipsy talk, rather than a quick prelude to Jay-Z's "Can I get a ...".
I admit I have not explored in enough detail the "alternative" side of Duke to pronounce a sentence. I am postponing, koz I thus still retain hope. Don't get the impression that it's all about partying here."Study hard" is the doctrine everyone worships and follows. These are just a few subtler aspects I dwelled upon, while smoking my cigarette.
Legenda: Snezhi a fost colega mea de camera la conferinta de la Budapesta. Vine din Bulgaria si studiaza cu bursa Soros la Duke University, North Carolina. Este o persoana vesela, exuberanta si plina de spirit. Dar este si o fire profunda, care simte nevoia unor relatii interumane mai substantiale.
I am taken aback by the multiple identities on campus. It is amazing to take a chemistry class with a devoted a-capella singer, or be in a study group in Economics with a supertalented drummer, whom you considered supertalented in integrating and differentiating. The strive for academic excellence, and pursuit of intellectual challenges is tangible in the air. The message is powerful, and empowering: be yourself. Push your limits. But then, a crouching sense of restraint haunts our Southern home. In "The Chronicle", the daily paper, an add shouts from between (may be even not from between) the lines that "Your employers read the "Facebook!". Every conscious reader should have got the point by now that putting pictures that will make your "Shooters" friends pround to hang out with you...won't do too much good unless "dirty dancing", "flip-cup", or "I-smash-self-with-Budlight-koz-I-have-zero-drinking-culture" skills fit in the job description. The more pertinent message should be: compare your facebook self with your non-facebook self. If you spot major contrasts, think about it...is the problem that it might get on the Facebook, or that you produced the material, without being able to face the consequences.
May be I am committing a huge mistake by publishing this very note on "Facebook". My future employer might turn out to be anl r'n'b-adoring party animal, who might deem pretentious such elements as jazz/techno/retro; dancing in a circle rather than chafing your back against someone else's front; drinking Bailey's while having a hard-core metaphysical conversation with your friends etc.
Still, there are islands of hope. I won't refer to particular clubs, but the formal activities of some organizations, which add extra intellectual flavor on campus, tend to transcend into pretty decent party-gatherings, where "Lady, hear me tonight" remains smooth background for save-the-world-despite-a-bit-tipsy talk, rather than a quick prelude to Jay-Z's "Can I get a ...".
I admit I have not explored in enough detail the "alternative" side of Duke to pronounce a sentence. I am postponing, koz I thus still retain hope. Don't get the impression that it's all about partying here."Study hard" is the doctrine everyone worships and follows. These are just a few subtler aspects I dwelled upon, while smoking my cigarette.
Legenda: Snezhi a fost colega mea de camera la conferinta de la Budapesta. Vine din Bulgaria si studiaza cu bursa Soros la Duke University, North Carolina. Este o persoana vesela, exuberanta si plina de spirit. Dar este si o fire profunda, care simte nevoia unor relatii interumane mai substantiale.
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