The Bucknellian

Caroline Schaeffer

Writer

Now you may ask, what’s so enticing about a show set in the past? There weren’t even cell phones! The main characters can’t communicate at the speed of light! What’s the point of living in the past when the present is just as entertaining? To that I answer–at least from a girl’s perspective–escapism and costumes.

I’m going to throw it to the girls for a second and talk about how fun it is to watch a show with legitimate costumes. Sure, I love my shows that take place in present day and I admittedly covet some of the clothes I see on them, but there is something so much more elegant about the costuming in period dramas. Without sounding too silly about it, the costumes are almost like works of art. The care and detail put into what characters wear is so much more important in period dramas than in a show that takes place in the present. People of different classes, ages, and genders wore such starkly different clothing in 1912 than they did in 2012. One can sit back and appreciate the extra effort these shows put into “the little things” that make their shows special.

Escapism may be a much bigger draw for the general populace than costuming, but both of these elements (along with many others) are what draw me into period dramas. I have yet to get into “Game of Thrones,” but I’m quite the “Downton Abbey” enthusiast, and I’ve also been known to enjoy the late HBO drama “The Tudors.” The thing I like most about these shows is that they take you into a different world. They take the boring words from your history textbooks, the personality-less historical figures of your middle school history class, and turn them into real, relatable people. One of the most enjoyable parts about watching a period drama is allowing you to escape into the past, even if it is for just an hour.  The characters on the shows, whether they be are from the 16th century, 20th century , or a whole different world together, share relatable problems and feelings with people today. This makes the shows more applicable to our own lives and makes the past feel more real.

Ginny Jacobs

Contributing Writer

The University administration and local officials are considering a number of proposals to reduce the number of students living off campus in downtown Lewisburg and to regulate parties in students’ downtown houses more tightly.

I agree that as a campus community, we need to address out-of-control parties in downtown houses. But I feel it’s time to speak up about some of the advantages for students who are enjoying “the downtown experience.”

Living downtown as a senior has been one of the most valuable experiences of my time at the University thus far, and I think that it should remain part of the University’s culture. I would urge the various governing authorities to consider these pros before they rush to crack down.

Living downtown, I’ve had to pay bills, deal with a landlord, and take care of keeping a house clean and maintained. I’ve obtained a checkbook and written my first check. Working with my two roommates, we set up a plan to put all of the bills (for electricity, water, and internet) in our names and make sure they’re paid on time every month. During the summer, we had a water leak that caused extensive damage to the kitchen before we moved in, so we had to stay in constant contact with our landlord, figuring out how to proceed with getting the damage fixed and the problem corrected.

This followed the summer where I lived alone in New York City, about 1500 miles from my family in Dallas, and both experiences were valuable. After living in a dorm for the past three years, I think the autonomy that we learn by living on our own is an invaluable part of our education and of the college experience.

College provides a gateway between dependence on our parents and total independence. Ideally, it eases us gradually into that independence. By taking this away through stricter rules and regulations, the University risks depriving students of a good “middle step” between dorm life and independent life. That’s only going to hurt students in the long run.

Living downtown, I’ve had to learn how to live communally in a way that a dorm doesn’t require. I share a bathroom, kitchen, and common living area with two roommates, and we are solely responsible for keeping it clean. My mom isn’t around to wipe the sink or empty the dishwasher when I’m too busy to keep it up myself. I can’t call on my dad to install my 60-pound A/C unit or kill the big bugs.

The beginning of my school year was a little rough, as my roommates and I have different ideas about how clean the house needs to be. For the first few weeks, the cleaner of the three of us harped on the dishes that were left out, the coasters we forgot to use, the toothpaste left in the sink, and the hair in the shower drain. But now, after a few arguments and a series of passive aggressive “reminder notes” (love you, Sarah!) we have learned to work with each other and resolve conflicts.

Isn’t that the point of a broad liberal arts education? I may not remember all of the formulas and facts that I learned in college, but I know that on a daily basis I will rely on the values and ideals that my time at the University taught me. I know I can work on a team at a job after living with roommates. I’m better prepared to make decisions for myself on my own after living in my own apartment.

Arguing that we should adopt certain rules just because other schools have done so doesn’t make sense. In fact, plenty of other universities give students much more autonomy for off-campus living, yet we rarely consider that approach.

Many of my high school friends at other schools haven’t lived in a dorm since their first year, and I think they’re growing up faster than many of my fellow students. When I tell them about some of our problems with binge drinking and sexual assault, they are appalled. Given the freedom to live on their own, they act more responsibly. They no longer feel the need to get as drunk or go as crazy.

More rules, I believe, might serve to make University students even more reckless, rather than giving them the chance to learn self-responsibility. And that’s a lesson many college students need to learn, just as I did. Many of us have already had helicopter parents growing up. We won’t learn if we have a “helicopter university” micromanaging our last year before adulthood.

Justin Marinelli

Writer

Making headlines this week was the news that New Jersey just became the 14th state to allow same-sex marriage. This sort of thing hits home for me, especially as New Jersey happens to be where I was raised. This is normally the segway at which I begin to discuss my own position on gay marriage, but I feel no need to do that here. It strikes me as much more intellectually satisfying to point out that gay marriage is a societal inevitability, and that in the future we shall see more states enact similar resolutions.

To show why, I’m going to go off in a few different directions, and then tie everything back together. First, let us begin by defining exactly what laws are. Laws are merely codified social tenants backed by government force. Social norms may be the unwritten rules of society, but written laws are the other side of the same coin. If cultural norms change, the laws will eventually change as well. This is why, for example, trial by combat is no longer a legally valid method of settling disputes.

The second thing we must realize is that two big cultural shifts have precipitated the now common acceptance of the idea of same-sex marriage. The first has been the evolution of marriage from an economic contract for the purpose of raising children to a public declaration of mutual love and affection. The second has been the gradual acceptance of public homosexuality. The combination of these two things means that people of non-straight sexual orientations are more free at this time to publicly express their love for each other, and this is reflected in societal views on same-sex marriage.

The third thing to understand is that now we have legal recognition of same-sex marriage in some states, so the pressure on lawmakers in other states to enact similar legislation will increase. Lobbying groups for this sort of thing are going to step up their efforts, and public demand is going to rise as well.

Tie all this together and what do you get? First, the cultural shift leads to a legal change in a only a few places initially. Then, this leads to a build-up in pressure on other states to legally recognize gay marriage as well. Eventually, the tipping point is reached, and same-sex marriage becomes accepted in short order across many states.

We have reached the tipping point at which the push for same-sex marriage is now insurmountable, and I believe we will soon see legal recognition of same-sex marriage become official in many more states. Do I think that same-sex marriage will become recognized in every state? Perhaps. States like Alabama and Texas will probably hold out for many years yet. But I would not be surprised to see same-sex marriage become legally recognized in a majority of states by 2020.