Wednesday, February 18, 2015 // The Statement 3B
O
ne fateful January night, I
downloaded Trivia Crack
— a smartphone app based
around answering trivia questions
in a variety of categories — and pro-
ceeded to beat several of my friends
for ten straight games.
Omg why are you so good? my
friend Jessica asked in the app’s
chat function.
Lol, I replied, adding two nail-
painting Emojis for good measure.
It wasn’t until Trivia Crack that
I realized how much useless infor-
mation I had actually managed
store in my brain from years of
hardcore Internet-ing and my par-
ents’ general lack of observation.
Here’s the thing — my parents
never monitored what my siblings
and I read, watched, or listened to.
It’s not like my parents didn’t
care about what I was doing with
my free time. I could tell you many-
a-tales about chilly Friday nights
spent doing extra homework at the
kitchen table under my mother’s
watchful eye.
However, they thought if I was
reading a book that there was defi-
nitely nothing to worry about. To
them, reading a book automatically
translated to reading something
educational and helpful. And they
were right.
Most of the time.
Reading “Howl” by Allen Gins-
berg when I was eleven years old?
Probably not advisable, but defi-
nitely enriching and formative to
my future literary interests in the
Beat Generation.
Reading
“Much
Ado
About
Nothing” on my own and forming
an ardent love for Shakespearean
comedy and the name Beatrice? My
dad would be hella proud.
But both my parents would prob-
ably be horrified to learn that I had
once locked myself in my room for
seven hours the summer I was a
thirteen-year-old to engross myself
in a 200-page anthology of Spider-
Man, of all things, cover-to-cover.
The collection of comics, spi-
noffs, and character histories lit-
erally changed my life, and I now
know more about the Spider-Man
universe than any normal person
ever cared to know.
Did you know Venom eventually
moved to California to become San
Francisco’s superhero?
But, like many of the things in
my mom and dad’s brand of parent-
ing, their lack of oversight when it
comes to my reading material has
been both a blessing and a curse to
my life.
Being able to absolutely pum-
mel my friend Amy — a total baller
at life outside of Trivia Crack —
because she didn’t know what the
name of Han Solo’s ship? Definite
blessing with a much-needed boost
to my self-esteem.
And it’s the Millennium Fal-
con, if you were curious — but let’s
be real, who, except Amy, doesn’t
know “Star Wars?”
Caring way too much about
things that no one but myself gives
a shit about? A curse I wouldn’t
wish upon my worst enemy. That is,
if mortal enemies actually existed
outside of movies and TV shows.
Marvel Studios and Sony Pic-
tures announced last week that they
would be collaborating to include
Spider-Man in the new Avengers
movie. And I (figuratively) died.
But as usual, I was the only one
in the general vicinity that cared.
It can definitely be disappointing
when you excitedly turn to your
roommate to share this news only
to get the following reply:
“Okay … I thought they already
made that movie? With that guy
from the Social Network?”
It’s a lonely road, but then I
remind myself that no one has to
share my weird obsession with Spi-
der-Man.
Because, at the end of the day, I’ll
still crush my roommate in Trivia
Crack.
My Cultural Currency: On Trivia Crack and trivial facts
B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I
T H E T H O U G H T B U B B L E
“I really like Eleanor Roosevelt. She was very
forward-thinking. She was kind of the first ‘First
Lady,’ the first one to go out and make policies and
have opinions on things instead of staying at the
White House and throwing parties.”
–LSA FRESHMAN ELENA HUBBELL
LGBTQ IN THE MEDIA
STATEMENT
VIDEO
How do students and faculty perceive recent changes to
portrayals of LGBTQ individuals in popular media? Daily
video staffer Andrew Zick takes a look at this topic from a
social and academic standpoint.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
Women’s Studies Prof. NADINE (DEAN) HUBBS discusses issues
of gender identity and gender expression at her office in Lane Hall
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/DAILY