The argument
presents itself to me like this: Does one find who they are by associating
with a certain group, or does one lose themselves by associating
with a certain group?
When one comes to college choices are thrown from every direction.
Does one stay who they have been in high school, or does one accept
the obligatory statement when seeing old friends and acquaintances,
“College has changed you.”
When I came to Appalachian I chose to take the route of joining
a sorority. Since that day I have had to prove myself as being more
than a stereotypical sorority girl and have always tried balance
my time between different types of people.
When Kevin, our entertainment writer, walked into the newspaper
office the first day of training, I didn’t see a guy with dime
size plugs in his ears or distinguishable star tattoos on his forearms.
I saw the guy who wrote an awesome review of “Hamlet”
last year.
However, since the day we met we have run circles trying to understand
the world the other lives in. Instead of putting down the lifestyle
one leads, why not try to understand it?
On a much larger scale, isn’t that how we can reach peace as
a nation one day?
Sun. Oct. 27, I was no longer the sorority girl. For that night
I was only to be Jana, Emo girl, fan of Indy music and the punk
rock scene.
I walked into Tremont Music Hall clutching the nearest arm.
My T-shirt read “Every time I Die” in blood-scrawled writing.
My sweatshirt expressed the name of a band called “Snapcase”
I had never heard of. I smelled of incense and cigarettes. My jeans
were cuffed halfway to my knees, my hair was pulled back in two
tight buns and black glasses hopefully covered the fear in my eyes.
The only thing that felt familiar was my New Balances.
But I fit right in. No one knew the difference. It was so easy.
I had never been to an Indy concert in my life, but for that night
I was someone completely different and I liked it.
I met a girl with a barbell through each forearm, a guy with plugs
in his ears big enough to hold small tires and I saw a guy with
tears tattooed down his cheek. Shaggy haired boys I could never
date on account of the fact that their jeans were all smaller than
mine and political statements printed on T-shirts filled the music
hall.
Before the bands went on I could feel the excitement in the air
and Kevin said, “Get ready to back up, you’ve never seen
anything like this in your life.”
The music started and I found myself being pushed back as the crowd
moved into a circle and began dancing.
Admittedly, I am that white girl that tries to booty dance and occasionally
shags. This dancing looked so violent I thought a fight had already
broken out.
The more the band screamed the more violent the dancing looked.
They flung their arms and kicked their feet and if they fell back
the crowd pushed them back up.
I was mesmerized.
Sweat soaked everyone’s faces and smoke filled the place, but
nobody cared. The effect that this band had on the crowd was spiritual.
I used to think the kind of music where the band screams words into
the microphone were just angry souls and those that followed them
weren’t much different.
I was wrong—there was not an angry soul and I loved the music.
Now, I’m not saying that I would necessarily be comfortable
blasting this music out the windows of my ’97 silver Sable,
but this scene could be my own so easily.
Think about that though.
No one knew I was there undercover and I could just lose myself.
Would that be conforming though? Could I cross that line of Emo
girl and sorority girl?
Or does one group define who I am?
Do we stay in our comfort zones because it is safe or because we
have to?
If I had gone to that concert dressed in a collared Ralph Lauren
and a jean skirt would I have still felt as if I belonged there?
I don’t think so. I don’t know if anyone would have judged
me but dressing like an Indy fan made no one question my knowledge
of music.
If I was an Emo girl and went through Greek Rush, I have to wonder
if I would have gotten in.
The major question is then, is it conformity to dress the part and
act the part in order for people to accept you?
Or is it a matter of being a person who can fit in or adapt to any
situation?
It doesn’t matter what group you belong to, there are pressures
to roll with the crowd. There is a certain role one must either
play or become, but we shouldn’t limit that to one role when
a person can have several.
College is supposed to change a person; that is one of the reasons
people come. So, I say live and learn from classes, professors,
experiences and choices but mostly, learn from the people encountered
along the way. |
