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6B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 14, 2005
The Michigan
point counterpoint
the capricious life (with Adam Burns
POINT: WE ARGUE THE BEST!
COUNTERPOINT: WE HAVE NOTHING ON NICK AN
FRESHMAN YEAR IS THE BEST YEAR
By Alien
Daily Arts Writer
Recently, my friends and I
were discussing what we were
going to do after graduation.
Instead of talking about the future,
the conversation turned to the past.
We wondered: "What year of college
did we think was best?"
While everyone else thought that
senior year was the best, I stuck by
freshman year, that magical year
when living in a 9x12 room was
heaven. I can definitely see their
argument for senior year, which runs
like a year-long Welcome Week and
is so full of fun and so without home-
work that it almost prepares you for
your departure from the University.
Almost.
I suppose that I was in the minor-
ity for my choice because I loved liv-
ing in Markley. I loved the fact that
I could walk upstairs to eat, visit my
friends at four in the morning or feel
like I owned a PlayStation 2 because
some kid down the hall had one.
Freshman year was the only year
that friends could be made simply
by asking someone if you could eat
with them or telling someone that
you liked a poster in their room.
In many cases, it was the only
year that you would truly be friends
with those people - as it was before
you moved in together or lost con-
tact with them, either way realizing
that while they may like "Swing-
ers," they're otherwise pretty weird.
There's nothing like a sink full of
dishes and an apartment full of gar-
bage to make you wonder why things
can't be more like they were fresh-
man year.
Freshman year is a time for firsts.
A walk through the Arb, a pizza from
Bell's, ice cream from Stucchi's, a
football game, a broomball game or
a movie at the State Theater. All are
great and definitely worth doing over
and over, but they can never again be
as special as they were the first time
you experienced them and thought,
"I've got to come back here again."
In freshman year, you eat at Bell's
without the thought that it could be
your last time.
Some people say that senior year
is the best because you are old
enough to go to the bar and have
the free time to do so. While the bar
is indeed a blast - at least it was
when Mitch's was ope -, even it has
trouble competing with the fun of
watching "Zoolander" for the 11th
time with 12 people crammed into a
dorm room in the early hours of the
morning.
As a senior, you don't have to deal
with the embarrassment of traveling
in a herd of 30 in search of the rumor
of a party on a street no one in the
group has ever heard of. But while
you may miss out on the embarrass-
ment, you also miss out on the privi-
lege of walking the streets with 29
other people, none of whom care if
they find the party because walking
aimlessly is fun enough.
I met all my friends in my fresh-
man year at sign-ups for intramural
soccer, when we all jumped at the
chance to play for Big Blue. Later
that year, we signed up for broom-
ball and the highlight of our season
was walking at 1:40 in the morning
to Yost in the freezing cold to play
a game. As we headed out for our
1:20 game this year, we tried and
failed to remember the score of that
game freshman year. But everyone
remembered the walk - where we
laughed, skipped, sung and did our
best to feel like we were young and
in college.
Listen dude,
I know we don't
agree on much
- politics,
socializing, the
promiscuousness of your older sister
- but I have make one point totally,
spring water-clear: We have, like,
the best arguments ever.
There's no other source in Ann
Arbor - nay, the entire post-indus-
trial world - where people can get
their fill of my punk-ass antics and
you ... I don't know, old-people talk
and shit. Face it, I'm easily the illest
Alien on campus and tons of people
like what I say. Seriously, this one
chick totally asked if I was the Alien
from the Alien vs. Predator column
in my English discussion. She ended
up yelling at me, but whatever, she
knows who I be.
For all year we've been the two
polarizing, galvanizing voices on cam-
pus. Republicans vs. Democrats, Pro-
Choice vs. Pro-life, and even Michael
Phelps vs. Sobriety take a back seat to
the battlefield that is Alien vs. Preda-
tor. We answer to no one.
Punt vs. Counter-Punt? Those two
old dudes who sit around in grimy
"We have,
like, the best
arguments ever."
- Alien
Daily Arts Writer
sweatshirts, yapping about how
sweet the football team is? Their
magazine gets tossed to the street
as soon as the creepy and virginal
freshmen kids stare long enough
at the Ddja Vu ads next to the arti-
cle. Extraterrestrials talking about
boobs and colonoscopies? That shit
lasts forever, my friend.
So have some confidence. I know
you're a butt-ugly space pirate, but
come on, if you don't have some
pride in your work, what can you
believe in?
By Predator
Daily Arts Writer
Though I have
enjoyed our well-
meaning and
often witty repar-
tee, Alien, I must
cede The Michigan Daily award for
"Best Point/Counterpoint" column
to the two gentlemen who write
"Punt/Counterpunt" for the Michi-
gan Football Guide.
Though most often used for con-
fetti after a thrilling Michigan
football victory, the nuanced and
thrilling discourse between Nick
Rou'M'el and Ken "Sky" Walker is
as important to the autumnal mood
as the hued leaves themselves. Plus,
you can't discount the public service
The Michigan Football Guide is pro-
viding, giving those two charming
homeless men jobs!
But that's not my favorite part. My
favorite part is how no matter what
the odds are, one of them manages to
find something nice to say about the
opposing team. It makes the game so
exciting!
"My favorite part
is how no matter
what the odds
are, one of them
manages to find
something nice
to say about the
opposing team. It
makes the game
so exciting!"
- Predato
Daily Arts Write
Whenever I think our footba
team is going to just walk all ov
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WEEKEND MAGAZINE.
DON'T CRY. BE HAPPY.
ALIEN AND PREDATOR ARE SAFE AND SOUND
BACK AT THEIR HOME PLANETS.
MAYBE THEY'LL COME BACK SOMEDAY*
STUCCIIS. 1121 S. Uveao
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