Having an office: taking advantage of LC apathy
Why you absolutely must have a Templeton office.
My thesis proposal is due tomorrow morning. Tonight, campus smells bad from the damp stupid rain. The path to the library is wet and cold, and every room in the library is probably filled with sniffly giggly phone-talky people. And this is why your goal should be, as a student at Lewis & Clark, to get your own office.
People complain about apathy at Lewis & Clark, how no one shows up to events even when awesome bands are playing – how there is no community or institutional memory (though I have some problems with these claims on their own..) All of this apathy, though, and people transferring away from LC–works for the advantages of those who love LC and stay here.
When I came to Lewis & Clark I had no experience with newspapers, reporting, or newswriting; I wasn’t an English or Comm major, and I wasn’t terribly great at making friends or influencing people. Now I am the editor-in-chief of the Pioneer Log. The clips and experience I’ve gained by pulling my own bootstraps at the Log have gotten me internships and hopefully a real-person job and real-person grad school admission someday. The pond at LC is tiny tiny, and if you stick to anything, you can get it. Maybe not Pamplin Society membership–maybe not that national internship everyone at well-connected colleges is vying for… but you can be an oversized fish. Just think of the possibilities in all the upcoming ASLC elections–none of those are looking to be terribly contested: your chances are good! Getting involved inside the LC workings is really, really easy, and really, really rewarding.
I feel like part of a legacy tonight, as it creeps toward 1 a.m. and I sit in the Piolog office. I know there’s probably someone over in ASLC, studying or sleeping or abusing power to seduce freshman; I’ve bonded with the ASLC kids mostly by proximity (and our similar extreme importance within our own inflated image of what LC means). Other nights there would be people at KLC, there may be someone over in the Womyn’s center… there is community here. And big, beautiful offices where you can study, store stuff, sleep…
We also complain at LC about the cost. It’s high. Very high. But LC’s money just bought the Piolog two huge and obscenely nice Macs for our office. LC money will be sending me and 5 other Piologgers to a National Journalism Convention in a couple weekends. LC’s money bought me a t-shirt at Piofair and the cool photo booth there… it prints my newspaper, brings me free concerts and speakers: networks me with alumni and gets me lots of free meals (everything worthwhile is catered.)
I guess what I’m saying is that getting involved at Lewis & Clark has really given me an opportunity to take back what I’ve given to the school. Is that the point?
[Administrator]
Cary
kennner
dshack
maishaparadox
angelalc
I consider Unisex and the Womyn’s Center both my personal offices in which I can camp out and do homework, sleep, store stuff, or engage in more questionable behaviour.
Basically: I agree, Angela! Get involved — it’s super easy, and suddenly you have Powers. Access Powers. And you can make things happen totally easily if you’re somewhat familiar in a good way to the Administration. You can be like hey I wanna bring this band to campus and suddenly whoa, there you are having dinner with the band members! It’s a sweet gig.
Seriously people, take over a club! Start your own! DO SOMETHING! Competition is small. Rewards are big.
Loved this post… coming from France, it’s really the impression I had of LC… it’s GREAT, you get some many ressources and opportunities everywhere, for everything… so of course it’s far from perfect, but god it’s still an amazing place to study, much better than many other places around the world… so take advantage of it!
thanks for this post!
Amen! I love being involved at LC and although I’m an ASLC kid I’d like to clarify that I’m not the one that abuses my power to seduce freshman. I’ve loved being involved here because it’s my way to give back to the community that I love so dearly.
Talk about your involvement at LC turning into a real-person job: I got involved in multicultural affairs as a student and helped with recruitment my senior year, and the week before graduation was offered a job in the admissions office. LC hasn’t been able to get rid of me since.
You guys just made me cry. I’m so proud of all of you. <3
Angela, you are so right. I realize that I can come off as hypercritical and/or pessimistic about Lewis and Clark, and sometimes I am… but you bring up a great point, and it’s something I also truly enjoy about this college. It is so easy to get truly involved with *anything* here, in a rewarding way both emotionally and tangibly. It’s almost the school’s best-kept secret in a way (though less-so now that it’s all over the series of tubes).
I really couldn’t agree more. Thank you for writing this, Angela. As someone who transferred to a different school and returned (in the same summer), I can say confidently that the ability to get involved here is second to none. This really is a great place to be, if you make your experience what you want it to be.
Also, for the record, we here in ASLC do use our offices for business, sometimes. And its been great bonding by proximity with you too.