Last week I reached a milestone in my career as a journalist: my first piece of fan mail. It came in response to last week's column that focused on life (or lack thereof) in Hereford and offered survival tips to first years recently placed there. The column also mentioned my current residence in a place I lovingly referred to as "Party Central," behind the Corner.
The letter I received, which came from a professor at another university, reads as follows:
Dear Dan,
You are an embarrassment to your institution and quite frankly to yourself. I am sure your parents are proud of the fact that you are now living in "Party Central". I am equally sure the funding that the Federal government, the State and your parents are investing is being well spent on your development into a full blown slacker. You are arrogant in your stupidity. To quote what I am sure is your guide to life, Animal House "being fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life". I am unsure of the fat but you are well on your way to fulfilling the other two goals, congratulations.
What a sad commentary you have put forth on your generation and your fellow students at UVA.
I very much appreciate Dr. Creighton-Evans taking time out of her apparently much-less-busy-than-I-imagined schedule to not only read my column, but also draft a critical response.
To show just how seriously I take her correspondence, I decided to devote this column to addressing her concerns.
I'm a little unsure how to go about this, however, as her letter seems to be little more than a series of untrue and unfounded accusations which, given their lack of veracity, hardly concern me personally.
I suppose I could start by attempting to make her feel better about the state of my generation and U.Va. itself. I could tell her my GPA, or that I am on the Dean's List or that I'll be graduating this year with a double major. I could add that my roommates here in Party Central also perform exceedingly well in the academic arena. It would seem that such assurances would help Dr. Creighton-Evans form more positive snap judgments of me and my peers, but I feel it would be a more noble goal to prevent such hasty reactions altogether.
The most effective way I can think to do this is for us to interact in person. To that end, I hereby publicly extend an invitation to Dr. Creighton-Evans to visit my humble residence on Gordon Avenue, and to stay as long as she likes. My roommates and I will make sure our futon is available and our Animal House DVD is hidden.
Perhaps if the good doctor came to U.Va., she could meet the kinds of people I know, people who can make their parents proud and live up to the reputation of their school while still remembering how to have fun and enjoy a great film like Animal House, people who can do all these things and still take the time to avoid making hasty character judgments about those around them.
I hate to tell a senior member of the academic community how to do her job, but I believe she could benefit from broadening her horizons by stepping outside her comfort zone. Given my own conservative background (read: Utah), I speak from experience. I remember having similarly naïve reactions to U.Va.'s "party culture" when I arrived here.
I soon learned, however, a lesson more important than any that comes with a Ph.D. I learned that people will surprise you, and that your immediate impressions are nearly always wrong. The only way to really know someone, I have found, is to spend time with him or her.
In doing so I have learned that yes, there exists a party culture at U.Va., but it hardly defines any of us; I learned that the popped-ness of a collar really tells you very little about the person wearing it; I learned that frats are not all the same, nor are they negative influences and, after enough such surprises, I learned to stop making character judgments of people I don't know.
So, to Dr. Crieghton-Evans, and anyone else who feels offended by the "arrogant stupidity" exhibited in my columns, please contact me soon and we'll get together to talk about it. There's beer in the fridge.
Dan can be reached at danstrong@cavalierdaily.com.
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