The War against Boredom

Houghton's a great college.
We have decently warm dorms, good-looking buildings, superb professors, and great meals.

Despite all of this, Houghton is a stullifyingly dull place. Effectively isolated from society by miles of barren, snowy wasteland, boredom is more prevalent than even the common cold, and far more dangerous. Some Houghtians attempt to combat boredom by engaging in pointless relationships, screwing around on Facebook, or attempting to throw cards into upside-down hats. Still others will listlessly haunt the library's scant video section in a vain attempt to find a movie that was made after the late sixties. In more serious cases, students, desperate for any release possible, will attempt to blog or create replicas of famous paintings, using only toothpicks, shredded newspaper, and their own tears.

Solutions have been tried, by both students and by the College administration, with no sucess. Everywhere are the remains of experiments, still living on in agony. SPOT, Cloak and Dagger, the Shakespear plays, Babbette's Feast, the endless line of lectures and forums- the list goes on and on. Somehow, enough desperate students show up to these to keep them alive (despite the fact that the only humane thing to do would be to put these sorry excuses for asumesment and diversion out of their misery). There's not a whole lot one can do, really. Sure, there's a small movie theater several towns over, but unless you have a car (and most of us don't) then you can't actually go (and even if you did, the chances that they'd be playing something other than the 1980s travesty War Games II are virtually nihl).

"So what?", you might ask. "Sure its not exactly an exciting place, but we came here to study- not to party". That's absolutely correct, we did come here for the excellent academics. But at some point, you must ask yourself, "What have I become? I'm sitting here writing a blog! A FREAKING BLOG!". If youstep back and look at ourselves, you see how pathetic we're becomming. Yousit in our rooms staring blankly at a computer screen- do you really care what your freind just changed his status to? We sit in Java listening to our boy/girlfreind drone on about something insignificant- do you even give a flying puke about this idiot? We sit listening to our Ipods for hours- isn't this the fifth time that song played?

So what's the answer?
I honestly don't know. Perhaps one day someone will find the solution. Until then, I say that we must keep fighting boredom (lest it overwhelm us and we wake up one day to find that we're teaching Western Civ at Houghton Academy) however, let us also keep our dignity. What's the point of being entertained if we lose all our pride and honor (which in all honesty is the only thing that lets me get out of bed in the mornings). Unlike Bush's America and its "War on Terror", let us not sacrifice our self-respect for temporary personal gain. So I say this to you: As you sit alone at your cafeteria table, attempting to chuck a crumpled-up tissue into your plastic cup- do it proudly! Sit straight and throw it like the fate of your soul is hanging in the balance...

Because it is....