There's an episode of "The Simpsons" in which Bart gets his friends to tell their parents they've been invited to compete in the National Grammar Rodeo in Canada. Of course, such a rodeo doesn't exist; it only serves as a cover for the gang to get away from their parents for Spring Break.
When it was announced last semester that Ball State would be competing in the International Bowl in Toronto, I was reminded of the National Grammar Rodeo. I'd never heard of it. Actually, I thought someone made it up to try to generate some publicity for Ball State's Athletics Department. So when the newspaper reported that there were 10,000 tickets up for grabs for an event I usually don't even travel across campus for, much less across the U.S.-Canada border, I suppressed a chortle about the audacity someone must have to make me miss part of my Winter Break and continued eating my gelatin-free yogurt.
In the aftermath of all of the International Bowl excitement, the newspaper reported that around 8,000 tickets went unsold, and everyone was aghast at yet another lack of student involvement in historic Ball State events. Events taking place in Canada near New Year's Eve, no less, but historic all the same.
Though, come to think of it, why would anyone be shocked about such apathy at Ball State? A year or so ago, a similar event happened when Emens Auditorium featured a Strokes concert, which again lost money for the school. Many students I talked to said they didn't like the Strokes and simply didn't want to see them in concert.
There seems to be a pattern developing of the powers that be presenting mediocre, undesirable or otherwise unfeasible options to the students that be, and when the students that be say "no," the powers that be react with shock and large, red numbers in the Daily News. (Then there's the inevitable avalanche of misspelled and poorly executed "Your Turn" responses in the Forum section, and everyone experiences the sweet catharsis of emotionally misguided blame.) But let's answer a question that has plagued many of us since the dawn of Generation X: why doesn't anyone care anymore?
The name of the game is separation, and the players are the students who feel left out in the cold by this school's heavy focus on the wrong things. Pick up your average issue of the Daily News, and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you don't want to read about whatever athletic department restructuring or book-stealing scandal is usually splayed across the front page (often with full-page exposure), you've got two to four pages near the back to sate your hunger for all things faux-ESPN. Meanwhile, other events going on at Ball State, like theatrical productions, art shows and concerts, must wait their turn until deemed acceptable for mainstream publication. Somewhere along the way, the youthful instinct to act up and be seen has been suppressed, and we're paying for it in our lack of care for our community and the world around us.
Reader, John Mayer's song "Waiting on the World to Change" has come to represent and condemn this generation. We cannot wait any longer; reclaim your right to act up and be seen. Do you feel misrepresented by the Daily News or other such publications? Don't wait for the news to come to you; make and reshape the stories in progress. Invite Fred Phelps, Michael Woroniecki and Ward Churchill for an on-campus panel discussion. Bring back the Flash Mob, the Students for a Democratic Society and the Feminists for Action. Reinstate the Anti-Censorship Concert. Ask the Body Modification club to do a demonstration at the Scramble Light. Ball State is much more than its shoddy record in athletics and money losses, and it's time we started acting like it.
Apparently, competing in the International Bowl is something to be proud of. (Seriously, I didn't know it existed before last semester, and even then I had my doubts.) But I'd hate for the most important thing about my senior year of undergrad to have happened in another country.
Write to Joel at jtmiller@bsu.edu
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