Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Worst University Ever

I am not much one for hanging around YouTube. First of all, it is a time suck. Second of all, there are things on YouTube that are just wrong. I do go on YouTube occasionally to watch music videos.

One of my work friends had mentioned Telephone by Lady Gaga. I had no idea what she was talking about as my only reference for Lady Gaga is Eric Cartman on Southpark singing Poker Face. So to watch the music video I went to YouTube. Lady Gaga is theatre of the absurd who dethrones Madonna as the diva of the innuendo and sexually charged video, so don't go to YouTube watch the video and get all, "OMG I can't believe Kimberly told me to watch this. My eyes! My mind's eye! I'm going to puke." and ruin your computer board from all the barf.

But I digress....

When I was looking up the video, I noticed that some of our troops stationed overseas had made their own music videos for their favorite Lady Gaga songs. I watched a few of these videos and thought about how the troops needed to blow off a little steam.

Then I thought about my days at the university. We had fun dancing to Madonna, playing in garage bands, and doing roughly the same thing, but all pre YouTube (Thank you Jeazuz! Nobody needs to see that today). We would dress up and do spoofs, copy the latest fashions of our rock idols, actors, etc. It was us, in a war zone.

Now, I don't know about many of you, but when I was looking at universities this was not my criteria: Come roast in our plywood dorms with limited air conditioning and uncomfortable beds while suffering in the dusty heat from boredom alternating with heart thumping danger. Come enjoy our fitness program with motivation provided by live gun fire and explosions while wearing 100 pounds of protective equipment to tone those thighs and tighten those abs. Learn how to write fiction telling your parents how you are doing okay and how things are fine, so your parents don't worry.

I thought about how many of the guys, smiling and dancing in the videos would come home to Dover, Delaware with no fanfare and no public witness in a black body bag. Most of us would not even think about it because although we have been fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq longer than any other war, we have indulged ourselves in that we refuse to watch news of the war on t.v. because it is too depressing.

I am just as guilty. I used to go on nytimes.com every morning to see the list of the dead and offer a silent moment for their families. I don't even remember when I stopped. I didn't even realize until I sat down to write this post that most of the websites I relied on to provide this information no longer have it posted on the home page.

We are creating a new group of alumni of the university of war. They will receive no diploma and we won't attend their graduation.






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