As the job field has become as cutthroat as this year’s Big Ten race, attending college has become the great equalizer for Americans trying to gain an edge. The same applies for the upper echelon of society, including already successful actors, musicians, athletes and entrepreneurs.
Rumors circulated two years ago about where Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen would end up going to college. When someone told me they were sold on Northwestern, my heart skipped a beat. I became high on hormones at the thought of spotting the Olsen twins at Norris, standing in line behind Ashley for stir-fry at Hinman or sitting next to Mary-Kate in Shakespeare class.
Even though the Olsen twins foolishly settled on New York University, NU, like any other college, has its own share of icons hanging around campus. And in today’s celebrity-obsessed culture where Janet Jackson’s secret child seems more important than a Supreme Court nominee, I’m star-struck thinking about the school’s present and future celebrities.
Although he isn’t turning heads as he used to, former Chicago Bears running back Darnell Autry is a star as he finishes his theatre degree. When we exchanged a high-five one evening, I felt like a 13-year-girl who had just touched Orlando Bloom. I didn’t wash my hand for days.
I get chills every time I hear Sociology Prof. Charles Moskos drop a borderline offensive remark during lecture. Sure, he might be famous nationwide for writing the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but he’s a legend on campus for being one of the best ways to have fun for an hour in Evanston. And if that doesn’t tell you something about our social scene, I don’t know what does.
Dennis, Evanston’s friendliest homeless person, has dreadlocks more recognizable around town than Bob Marley’s. Participants in improv comedy group Mee-Ow loom larger than stars on “Saturday Night Live” – and they’re 100 times funnier. Dorm presidents and drum majors have fan clubs on facebook.com devoted to their awesomeness. And it’s easier to score tickets to Kanye West than it is to meet with Associated Student Government President Patrick Keenan-Devlin.
But nothing has the stigma of popping up in a campus newspaper. A picture in The Daily catapults normal students into the stratosphere alongside Brett Basanez or Vedran Vukusic. Daily Editor in chief Robert Samuels has a nine-member posse following him around campus. And mobs of rabid fans constantly pound on my door demanding for an autographed copy of my latest column.
Sure, we might not have recent Columbia University graduate Julia Stiles working out at Blomquist. And we don’t have USC’s Matt Leinart, the most hyped and revered athlete on the West Coast, filling a spot in our ballroom dancing classes. But NU’s own blend of campus legends and future superstars will fill us with stories we’ll be proud to tell our grandkids.
But I still wish the Olsen twins were here.
Matt Baker is a Medill sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].
