Isn't it funny how we tend to criticize those things in others which we see most clearly in ourselves? What's really gonna bake your noodle later on is whether I would have written this rant if somebody else hadn't ranted first.
So the latest copy of The Drone was sitting on the desk in Founders 3rd lobby. I grabbed one. I read it. I was embarrassed. I mean, the thing I admire most about satire is the knowing just how to highlight just the right things to make people think differently than they had before. It's a very delicate thing that I love.
There was nothing delicate about the Drone. No offense, but it looked as if freshmen had written it - the very talented but very narrow and cynical "I don't need this school cuz I'm a higher critic of LIFE" kind of person. Now listen, I know at least two of the guys who are behind the Drone, and I think they're great. I really do. In fact, I found myself desperately wishing that they had passed it off to someone else. Someone please tell me that the Drone is working under new management than last time I checked!
"...written by and for Covenant's proletariat" be damned -- excuse me, darned. I think it's about time folks stopped painting the college with a broad institutional brush and started recognizing the variety and complexity of the decisions Covenant employees have to make. Take Barb Michal for example.
I also happen to think that it's about time folks started treating the English language like a valuable and intruiging co-worker in the labor of communication rather than a back-alley whore to be paid in exchange for a one-time pass at making a statement. Take the huge cover article about the end terminus of the Covenant Student Body's GI tract. Were we TRYING to sound like 5th graders? Who knows? Maybe we contracted that article out to a group of kids on a playground somewhere.
Lastly, I've had enough of people taking their talent and giftedness for granted. I quite confidently assert that the level of writing talent I see all over our campus (AND off-campus, by the way) is rarely reflected in our student publications. Rarely, IF EVER. Come on, kids. Use those brains. Why waste your time beating the dead, dead horse of our chapel program? Ok, ok, ok, I know you're not the first and that you never had any real role models for constructive criticism in the public forum. Heck, if Don Graham had received some affirmation and constructive feedback on all his work for the chapel program, we might actually have kept this amazing man on staff a little while longer. I'm glad he's leaving for Ireland because I think they will at least be happy to have him over there...
But now I'm generalizing. It's a curse, really. I read one copy of the Drone and I start pulling in all the ways that our student body has behaved like spoiked high schoolers from rich neighborhoods with nice cars. I am not without sin in this regard. But I am willing to slap up a post. At least this way I can assuage my conscience and go on not taking any real action. Good grief, I need to stop. I'm not anti-Drone. I'm PRO-DRONE. That's why I'm all riled up. I think the capacity tragically exceeds the production. Step it up, boys. Show some respect and step it up.
...good thing my comment buttons are all broken.
Posted by nickles at April 1, 2004 12:38 AM