By Lindsay MeckThe Daily Northwestern
In a Daily guest column (“Challenge Us, Sen. Obama,” April 18 2006), Elaine Meyer, Weinberg ’06, called for last year’s Northwestern commencement speaker to call us to action. This year, I, a member of the Class of 2007, invite NU alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus to “Entertain like Elaine.”
Unlike Obama, Louis-Dreyfus has walked in our flip-flops. At NU, she was a member of Delta Gamma and the improv troupe Mee-ow. She met her husband and fellow “Saturday Night Live” performer Brad Hall when they were theatre majors. Following SNL, she landed a role on “Seinfeld” and yada yada yada, she became a big star.
While Obama may be the next President of the United States, can he do the Elaine dance? Louis-Dreyfus helped establish the success of “Seinfeld”, a series based on the minutiae of daily life, in essence, nothing.
We all can stand to learn from the vacuity of Jerry and friends, who like college students, exist on cereal and pettiness. They confront problems that we ourselves face regardless of our academic discipline: waiting in long lines, going on awkward dates and misplacing your car in the parking lot. Their lives reflect our own: an endless sea of minor characters and odd encounters.
When we look back at our careers at NU, we too will discover many seasons with episodes of nothing. As we recall Dillo Day or the Kanye West concert, we will likely forget the set list at the Lakefill or Welsh-Ryan. Instead, we will recall running into our drunk CA or decorating a “We want Pre-Nup” T-shirt.
As we anticipate our post-grad future, we consider jobs or further study. But “Seinfeld” wonders if these occupations are just distractions that prevent us from pondering real questions: Who is sponge-worthy? Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries? Do we all have our own personal Soup Nazi? Mine works at the registrar.
“Seinfeld” teaches us that life, like college, is what happens when we aren’t watching, when the ordinary becomes extraordinary and sometimes funny. Commencement is not just about the day, the pomp and circumstance or the puffy shirts. Rather, it is a culmination of all the little things over the course of four years that have defined our NU experience. The day will be remembered for the events big and small. From choking on your honors cords to deciphering the mortarboard messages on the heads of the clueless engineers in the row ahead of you, graduation will undoubtedly give rise to memories of “nothing.”
We may not remember a word of Louis-Dreyfus’ speech in 20 years, but we will sure as heck chuckle at the memory of “MATREIAL SCEINCE.”
A whole lot of nothing amounts to something. Now tell us Julia, what’s the deal with a capella?
