Where in the world is Michael Murphy? For those of you that don’t remember his smiley-faced picture, he used to be the weekly humorist of The Marquette Tribune’s main opinion column. This year, the ultra-conservative Paco Nava replaced Michael and his jokes, and for the second time this semester, the new column page was littered with right-wing thoughts on the lives of an apathetic student body.
The first article covered the addictions of pornography in our community. I could not make myself believe that this was newsworthy. If someone really wants to look at porn, so be it! It’s a pretty big waste of time, but so is Philosophy 1.
What should be covered by Mr. Nava or any other Trib columnists, are not societal complaints but suggestions of things to do beside visit the adult-website of your choosing, i.e. get a girlfriend, go to Blow’s, play bubble spinner, etc.
There was so much negativity in last month’s article regarding who we are. If writers such as Mr. Nava are running out of positive things to say, talk about Fr. Naus… he’s hilarious!
The most recent article just added fuel to my fire. I think Mr. Nava’s point was made pretty clear — many of Marquette’s students don’t give a hoot about wearing their ‘Sunday’s best’ to a Monday 8 a.m. lecture. This is probably as accurate as he gets regarding our attire. His reasons for our ‘lack of dignity in appearance’ include ‘myths’ like buying cheap clothes due to lack of money, relaxing dress standards, the necessity of being slim and even the falsity of ‘less is more.’
The truth of the matter is that I’d love to buy designer clothes, but 100 percent of my paycheck goes toward National Liquor Mart; that I do relax my dress standards because I couldn’t care less what someone sitting across from me in a Sodexo cafeteria thinks of my ‘see-behind glasses’; that slim isn’t a necessity, but it’s certainly healthier than being the robust ‘peacock’ that Mr. Nava described; that less is more (at least for the first month of school — gotta show off that hot body before you gain the “inevitable freshman 15”).
Jokes aside, Tribune opinion columnists should recognize their audience. This is Marquette. It’s not J Crew-U. Hipsters will dress like hipsters. Bros will dress like bros. Preps will dress like preps. And I will continue to wear my ‘see-behind glasses.’ College grunge shouldn’t end, because for some people, grunge is life. We must not change who we are for the sake of appeasing others, for in doing so we lose our identity.
Peter McCormick is a junior in the College of Engineering.
Centered • Oct 8, 2010 at 12:50 pm
…a central objective of op-eds is to challenge views and elicit responses, whatever they may be…
Anon • Oct 7, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I understand old habits die hard.
But I honestly don’t see anything wrong with proposing changes to things like porn addiction, unhealthy eating habits, lazy dress, and greed.
Marquette is a Catholic school for goodness sakes, Paco Nava is only trying to uphold its values.
Your spiel here is proof that you barely looked at Mr. Nava’s column, much less read it. You’ve missed/misinterpreted so many of his points that frankly, you’re embarrassing yourself.
On a side note: If more people listened to him, I’m sure the freshman 15 can be avoided altogether.
Shelly • Oct 7, 2010 at 1:24 am
I’m sure your audience is waiting for you at the bar. Speak for yourself. I think Paco Nava is spot on. We do dress like slobs and hardly have an excuse for it besides the fact that we are lazy. Also, as a woman, I think porn sucks and becomes MY business when perverts are watching it in the library or loudly in the dorms.
Jacob • Oct 7, 2010 at 1:18 am
Okay, so I don’t really like Nava’s columns either; they’re just too critical of Marquette. But I REALLY don’t care for your cheap humor. I think you brought out the worst of Marquette that columnists are gently trying to point out. Your attitude about college is a reason why so many people dismiss Marquette as a lame Midwestern party school.