I've been sitting here for a few hours, deep in thought, looking through a list of topics that I meant to cover this year but never had a chance to. There are so many things that I could have rambled about. Add some research or a clever joke, and you've got a column.
For example, "Are college students bad tippers?"
Being the unhealthy eater that I am, I constantly notice how little some of my fellow students tip servers at restaurants. Some of these establishments pay their help a low hourly rate and force them to live off tips, and in a college town, I imagine that that can be tough at times. Perhaps it is simply because we students don't have a lot of money to give away, but what's a dollar more?
After careful observation, I started noticing that extremely attractive servers got tipped a lot compared to others, so perhaps college students don't tip very well because they are saving up for the really hot server they may have down the road. Having little energy to try to dissect that one, I ordered a milkshake and wrote about the anti-spam bill instead.
Another good topic, or so I thought: "Self-expression on T-shirts is stupid."
The only thing tackier than expressing an opinion on a bumper sticker is putting your thoughts on the front of a T-shirt, but since the Columbine shootings, several lawsuits have spurted up against school administrators for punishing students for wearing shirts with controversial messages. The latest case was a teenage girl from New York who was suspended for displaying a "Barbie is a lesbian" shirt. Just like in all of the other cases, the school was found guilty for improper censorship and unfair treatment.
The problem with this topic is that both sides are wrong. You want to support free expression, but what kind of person would proudly pay money to wear a shirt that read something that stupid? And who sees a T-shirt like that and says to themselves, "They should suspend her?" Calling everyone stupid isn't a very good argument, though, so I wrote about "romance versus studying" that week.
Nevertheless, I could make an argument for or against just about anything for you, my dedicated readers, until tonight. Then I read this story:
In Central Park last Thursday afternoon, a 17-year-old boy -- angry at his parents for not accepting his gay lifestyle -- climbed up a 55-foot larch tree with his 32-year-old transvestite lover. As a crowd started to gather, the two gentlemen waved and shouted obscenities at police officers, and one performed oral sex on the other. After five hours, they were finally lured down. For some reason, this was their method to gain acceptance in a world that won't accept them.
There are so many people out there who deserve respect, and I could spend hours writing about why they should be listened to, but I haven't been able to move since I read this. I could say so many things right now, yet I don't know what to say. I couldn't opine my way out of a wet paper bag right now. And for some reason, that makes me happy.
Maybe there's a lesson to this whole column thing, but I'm out of space.
Thank you for reading.
Write to Greg at gttwiford@bsu.edu
http://www.twiff.com
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
