I shouldn’t be interested in reading trash like this, but I totally am. The following is a review of Mark R. Dye’s College and the Art of Partying.

The atmosphere in Westfall Hall on the west eleventh floor, where the four live, is chaotic. Music is blaring, weed is blazing, and partying is the only recreation of choice. Mike, the narrator, makes it perfectly clear that “West 11″ is not the place for studying or sleeping. That’s what the library is for, he reasons. Needless to say, Colin, the born-again Christian, didn’t last a week.

Though entertaining and funny at times, Dye’s descriptions are a bit too explicit. For example, he goes into great, and almost inappropriate lengths (i.e. two whole pages)to “accurately” describe his friend Cyndi’s breasts. From his distincly male perspecive, her boobs are a work of art that needs addressing. This is one of the few passages in the book, where if one is a sensitive reader, one is likely to want to close the book and label the book “filth.”

I like to party, though I’m not a crazy partier like some folks I know, and I don’t live in that kind of atmosphere, quite. But part of the point of this blog is to do just what Dye wants to do. I want non-college students to know what it’s really like to be a college student. And I want college students to feel a little solidarity. If Dye and I are coming from have different ideas about what that means, so what? We’re still playing the same game.

It’s hard to talk about college right now when I’m not in it. Lately, I get to talk about a lot of politics, some work, but never about what it’s like to be at school. I miss being at school (and not just because I’m tired of living at home). School is where I belong, and being here for four months is like standing in line, wondering when you’ll get to the front so you can get on with your life.

So maybe reading about school this fall will be fun. Even if it’s inaccurate and trashy. That’s what I’ll be hoping.

Besides, I really do wonder how one talks about a single set of breasts non-stop for two pages.

Posted on October 2nd, 2004 by Lee
Tagged: College