0 Wedne sda," 2027 2B WednesdayOctober 3, 2012 The Statement THE JUNK DRAWER from last week: personal statement random student interview by kaitlin williams / illustrations by megan mulholland You will never put a ring on it, so don't try PERSON FALTENby KaylaUpadhyaya 4'. 4w Online comments Regarding: "/ am a first-generation college student" Terra I just want to say thanks and wow!I am a Michigan graduate from way back in 1986. I was also a summer bridge student in the summer of 1980. I remember watching the Empire Strikes Back at the campus theater, dancing in the Michigan Union Club under the summer stars and experi- encing life away from home with my fellow bridge students. How funny that!I now work for Lucasfilm. It was just a dream back then but I've learned that dreams come true...with hard work. I understand where you are now and what you still have to go through. I would like to offer some wisdom from an older person. I understand the less than utopian experience of being the first in the family to attend college. There are real pressures from all sides. Trust your- self. Trust your dreams. In the eod it's your choices that will define your desired reality not others expectations. Michigan is not paradise but it is a great micro universe where you can explore, observe, grow...and have fun. Go Blue and thank you! David P.S. I lived in MoJo too. Great dorm! -David Taylor Welcome to the Random Stu- dent Interview, where our hopes and dreams haven't been crushed by an overwhelming sense of self-doubt ... yet. So, the semester's getting underway. You're a freshman. Feeling the stress yet? Oh yeah, little bit. What's that stress feel like? Give me a descriptor. 'A descriptor of stress? Like, I'm always feeling busy... I don't know. Describing stress, that's a tough one. Is it crushing? Are you strug- gling to stand up straight under the weight? It's not crushing. I'd say it's stretching. Stretching. That's a good one. I was just wondering because mine's more like a crushing sen- sation. I'm a senior so things are just piling up. You're a freshman so you must feel like you have everything figured out. Oh yeah. I've got a system worked out now so it's not so bad. I mean, I'm only taking 13 credits. Oh, you did it right! Who gave you that great advice? An Engineering advising person. OK, good. So, let's take this oppor- tunity youhave with anonymity inthis interviewtounload some of the things onyour mind. This could be a mini therapy session. So vent to me.Is your roommate doing anything annoying? No. My roommate's pretty cool. And venting? There's nothing for me to vent about right now. I don't know. I love it here so far. You're just living a great life. The sun is shining because Matt tells it to shine. Yeah, I'm just having a great time. I'm very happy. Get back to me on that in four years. (Laughs) So where are you headed to know to spread your happiness? Back to West Quad to chill out. Maybe eat something. How about that burrito bar? I've actually never tried it. Seriously? If you think you're life is good now, wait until you stuff your face with a personal- ized burrito. I know. I just don't want to be dis- appointed. Because you have Ssuch high hopes? « I'm from California so we have very good Mexican food. Did you know that the burrito is not Mexican? No. I didn't know that. Apparently it's not from Mex- ico. I read it somewhere so it must be true. Oh, OK. It's fast food Mexican. It's notMexican. We just went over this. It's a step up from Taco Bell. Wait. Let me get this straight. I just realized that you're - happy here even though you're from California. Yeah. I mean the weather hasn't gotten bad yet, but... You are just too optimistic for me. I take back what I said about coming back to talk to me in four years. Come back and talk to me after the first snow- fall. Yeah, well, I'm planning on mov- ing back there once I'm done with undergrad. OK, so this is temporarily endurable. Yeah. It's like going on an adven- ture for four years. An adventure into a wilderness that you can't get out of and have to pay for and have to do Engineering homework in. Yeah. And you have to walk five miles uphill to and from schog. ;k < F° , r, y .a°aA : Y 'i::::.. _. , : " :cz zz'M J Like Michigan football? Buy The Michigan Daily Football Book! book.michigandaily.com tweet, too. FoHow us on Twiter @thestatementmag Have I broken your spirit yet? Maybe. Come talk to me tomorrow and I'll get the job done. How do you feel about Chipotle? -Matt is an Engineering freshman. don't want to get married. I've been telling people this since I was about 12, though the thought was in the back of my mind before then. Whenever I tell people I don't want to get married, I'm met with one of two responses: They either react as if I've just informed them that I have a nuclear bomb in my purse or they laugh and say I'll change my mind. Though I could talk about heterosexist institutions and the nuclear family for days, my not wanting to get married isn't some kind of feminist endgame. For me, my stance on marriage isn't any different from the fact that I don't want to get a tattoo or live in Texas or become an investment banker. Though my mother brings up the 'm' word from time to time (those times have come up more frequently since she started watching "Downtown Abbey"), most people who are not the Dowager Countess would probably agree that I'm a bit voung for all this sedding talk, so let's put that issue aside for now and focus on something more relevant: datine I .m.>e at ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND I don't want to be good at dating. I used to join in with my self-berating single friends and lament over failed attempts at relationships. After all, years of watching too much TV had taught me I'm supposed to long for a life of romance. It took me a while to realize that most of my social ineptitude has a clear cause: I'm bad at dating because I don't want to date. Because I've never cried during a movie, many of my friends call me a robot. The guy I took to senior prom told me that I'm cold and distant. My go-to piece of advice for any friends who are fighting with their significant other is: "You're probably better off without him/her." One time, I attempted to have a heartfelt discussion about relationships with a friend of mine over Facebook chat. I ended up quoting - verbatim - a Joey monologue from season two of "Dawson's Creek" just for laughs. He never noticed. Dating is just not something I want, or need, right now. I am content with my single lady status. I'm perplexed bcon c's ts as simple as holding ha.ris and cuddling. Those a.: things I want, and unfortunateI that snot somethmn p'os are uii!to eccept. I've had people accuse me of bemj <' il,. damaged, insensitive. Yes, I'm afraid of commitment, but I also don't want the most commonly accepted incarnations of love and romance. So back to that whole marriage hoopla. The only thing less appealing to me than marriage is a tattoo. My attitude toward dating is something I see as temporary and mostly circumstantial, but marriage hasn't ever sounded like some- thing I want. As it turns out, my unwillingness to settle or compro- mise is becoming an increasingly popular trend. New York University sociologist Eric Klinenberg conducted a study of adults who choose to stay single and published the book "Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone." Spoiler alert: They're not all selfish, heart- less monsters. And I'm not destined to end up a bitter woman with 17 cats or an uptight bitch married to her career (though I fail to see what's necessarily bad about either scenarie Maybe this is something I will outgrow. Maybe t will change im mind. In the meantime, I'd like to have ius one person rest'ons)::. i 'yn' 2i2'3"i"'-n't-fosr-me deckira-en in mhe sameN' wt e :' to strang'ers who hit on me at pa tces: Xvith comp' e anI Iutter indiff'rece. Kaitlin Williams Zach Bergson Design Editor: Nolan Loh Copy Editor: Josephine Adams Photo Editor: Terra Molengraff Illustrator: Megan Mulholland