Letters to the Editor
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@ jeebery_wonkers
You realize you're working out your ideology on a depressed kid struggling at a school. I guess, you have your own bitterness, and need to feel good about yourself, and this thing is a lightning rod. But it's completely thoughtless.
Plus, it's just prejudicial thinking, never a sign of intelligence in any discipline. Being thoughtful and aware equals being intelligent, too, right?
So, it doesn't seem like you're in much of a position to judge whether anyone is smart enough to be anywhere. And you ought to have thought about that before posting (another simple definition of intelligence: using your brain a lot.)
The psyche out of these old attitudes is powerful, and I'd be horrified if she read the letters and took any of this to heart, even subconsciously. Plus, it's just so embarrassing when people like you act so cluelessly in front of everybody.
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Oh yeah, sail on the Charles
Go join that boat club by the Charles MGH T-Stop, it's on the red line. It's super cheap, like $100 a year or something.
Also, by the Boylston T-Stop there are a whole bunch of nice flowering trees that should be in bloom right about now, or in a week or two. Spring's a nice place to bum around Back Bay. Also, go to the Arnold Arboretum in JP. Just, get out!
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Jebus, Cary
Yeah, right, Cary - get a massage or a facial. Like college students have money for bs like that. I could barely afford to get my hair cut.
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Keep on truckin'
California Dreaming,
You remind me of myself in college. I realize my advice may be cliche and something your mother would say, but here it is: The first year of college is ALWAYS the worst, so hang in there, and don't give up.
I just officially finished my Ph.D. today so I'm feeling rather nostalgic at the moment, but... I remember how much I hated my first year of college. I was so smart in high school -always getting A's, always standing out as the 'bright kid.' Then I went to a competitve college and I was surrounded by all the other kids who always got A's, and suddendly my high school A's turned into college B's. The roommates were terrible (the first sucked her thumb, and the second never showered!!!). The lack of simple privacy or a quiet place to study without having to defend a corner of the library was at times unbearable.
But here's the really important part: even if college SUCKS (which it naturally will for anyone who cares enough to take the really challenging coursework), you're getting a degree from a top school. That's your Golden Ticket. That's your ride to the top. Keep it. Ride it out. Believe me, if you're as busy as you say you are, the next three years will pass quickly, and then you'll have your well-earned Golden Ticket, and you can cash it in for whatever you want. Don't give up.
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Stanford
I've already commented on the LW's letter, but I just re-read it and feel even more strongly that she's not looking for "advice" but *validation* for the choice she's already made. People are telling her to stay at Harvard, because they'd want to stay at Harvard, and yet she calls herself "California Dreaming." She's already told us what she wants to do - she's dreaming of California. Look at what she says:
"I don't want to run from my problems, and I harbor no illusions about how much better life there might be than life here, except the way I figure it, even the worst there is better than the worst here because my friends and my family are nearby, and it's not freezing six months out of the year. I just have no place here anymore, and I'm really alone and isolated and depressed nearly all the time."
As someone who now lives in a friendlier, less pretentious, sunnier city near family, I can say: You know of what you speak. You can't run away from your problems but, YES: the worst of the worst is SO much better when you're surrounded by family and friends and familiar physical terrain. Just because a person is 18 or 19 years old doesn't mean she doesn't know herself.
Will you still have issues with depression at Stanford? Probably. But will you want to secretly kill yourself and sit alone at pizza parlors for hours at a time? Probably not.
Yes, you bring yourself with you, but to a place that looks better and where the people are nicer. What's wrong with that? I don't know if the other institution is Stanford, but if it is, that is also quite the impressive place. An intelligent woman of any color with a degree from Stanford will go on to do anything. Trust yourself; always trust yourself - in your life and in your writing.
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Desperately unhappy in the top Ivy League school
Honestly, I don't intend to be mean but "Boo Hoo." You have a chance to do what 99.9% (that's a guess) of the rest of the world doesn't. You have a chance to pick from the best of the best in schooling. It is easy to feel sorry for yourself. It is hard to make decisions. Get off the pity train and go make a life for yourself and stop with the crybaby crap. Best of luck and I hope you find your destiny or muse or whatever it is you are seeking.
Peace,
Tony
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Sports!
I just have to say, I'm sorry to see so many people openly ripping on Boston and New England. I too am a transplant for college - from Michigan to Massachusetts, but I originally hail from the South - and I have to say that I love New England. Yes, the winters are cold, but the fall and the spring are to die for, and the summers are pleasantly warm and not smothering. Plus, I think Boston is a fabulous city. (But, I mean, I'm comparing it with Detroit.)
But enough about me. LW, the best advice I think I can offer you is to go play a sport. No, it doesn't matter if you're not athletic. No, you don't have to be good at it. Besides, if you're at an Ivy, it's unlikely that most people there got in because of their ability to throw a ball.
People have suggested joining clubs to ward off the isolation you feel, but I think that directing you specifically towards sports is what'll cure your ills. Why? Well..
1. Working out always makes you feel better. There's very little a steady dose of endorphins won't cure.
2. Working out with other people is easier. It's not hard to slack off going to the gym if nobody knows you didn't go but you. A teammate will say, "Dude, where were you Tuesday?"
3. You will be OUTSIDE. Yes, there is sun in New England! No, it's not as warm as it is in California, but if you're running around, you won't care!
4. You seem competitive. Sports will feed off of this, and also give you another outlet for it other than grades and classes. This is not to say being competitive about grades is inherently bad, but it's good to have other, less serious, ways to express it.
5. Friends. Join the intramural soccer team, and you'll have a cohesive group of individuals to get together with on a regular basis. One or two of these individuals WILL become your close friends.
I'm biased, but I made it through my own brand-name ivy tower with rugby. Tackling somebody else is about the cheapest and most effective type of therapy you could ever hope to try.