Strange Whitworth

Whitworth is a strange place in many ways. If I was picking a college now, as the person that I am right now, I don't think that I would choose it.

It's the social dynamics. The education here is fabulous; the professors are exceptional, and I love the music department. It's the other parts that are a bit off.

First, there is the fact that so many girls here want to get married. In the near, near future. There was an article in the campus newspaper about how we (women) should focus on preparing ourselves for domestic life and learning how to please our husbands, rather than on our current studies and future careers. I kid you not. That was the essence of the article. It was a ridiculous argument. And the writing was horrible.

The friends that you make in your first couple semesters here are your friends for the rest of college. At least that's what it seems like. It's hard to meet people, unless your friends know their friends or you sit next to each other in a class. There are unwritten rules of social interaction which no one talks about, but everyone knows that they exist. There is no such thing as going on a date. If you are going on a date, you are already dating.

If you are interested in a person(romantically, you know) and do not know them already, then a good strategy (and an often used one) is to position yourself near them and have a loud, witty conversation with someone that you know who also knows your object of interest. Hopefully, your love interest will be astonished at your amazing conversational skill and will come over and talk to the person that you are in conversation with (but not to you.) Then, your mutual friend will most likely introduce the two of you. And then you will instantly fall in love and be married by the summer after graduation.

Whitworth is in Spokane, so that's a bummer (I never tire of complaining about Spokane. Never.) Spokane has a high concentration of huge, ridiculous-looking trucks and is populated with middle-aged, conservative couples with a penchant for yard sculptures. They don't believe in landscaping. North Spokane is not a place for diversity of opinion.

So if you, like me, didn't make a ton of friends freshman year, then you are stuck. Unless you are an exceptionally outgoing boy who plays in a band/is loud/lived in B.J./is a theology major or if you are a girl who is in Young Life/plays the guitar/enjoys rock climbing/ is a theology major, then you probably won't find many kindred spirits.

Of course, this is a little biased. And probably not true for most people who go here. But I still think it.