"Study Hard, Party Harder"

Recent headlines and world events have given me a number of excellent reasons to sit down and start writing again. From compounding disasters in Japan, to democratic uprisings in the Middle East, to the GOP's all out war on the United States' middle class, the need to shout out my opinions from the rooftops has been brewing furiously over the past several months. And what is the reason for my kettle finally boiling over and bringing me here to this page? I wish I could say that it was something high-minded and morally righteous, like defending social entitlements or a woman's right to choose, or a vote of support for government employeess and union activists in Wisconsin and Ohio. I wish I could say that it was something even along those lines. But it is not.

Astonishingly, the thing that has ultimately broken my months-long period of blogging silence this time around is... 'Snooki' from the 'Jersey Shore.' I know, I know. I mean, of all of the meaningless media topics to be attracted by... But seriously, who can resist hearing about these people? It's practically impossible if you a.) live in the United States and b.) have had any sort of interaction with the world outside of your bedroom in the last year.

So, I heard about them. And ever since that first faithful time (I'll never forget being at that bar while a friend of mine told me about a girl being punched in the face on T.V.), I have been subject to these irritating tidbits about Snooki, Vinnie, The Sitch, etc. But never before have I actually taken an interest in (or been incensed over) what I heard about them... that is, until today.

As it turns out, Snooki is a published author (and a successful one at that), and something of a public speaker. So much so, Rutgers University recently paid her $32,000 to come speak on their campus. Now, let's put aside the fact that she's a highly inappropriate speaker at a university with an already less-than-savory reputation. What really got to me was learning that Ms. Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize Winner, Pulitzer Prize Winner, and all-around literary hero, also set to speak at Rutgers as the keynote speaker at this year's commencement, is to be paid $2,000 less than a woman half her age and with half the amount of wisdom to offer. Not that Ms. Morrison is in any way put-out by this discrepancy: she's a NYT bestselling author multiple times over, and I'm sure the payout from her speech at Rutgers' commencement is a mere drop in her enormous bucket of success.

What aggrevates me, though, is the context and the appropriateness of Snooki being invited to speak at any academic institution for that price tag. I understand that she is technically "an entertainer," and that non-academic events on campus can provide students with much needed stress-relief from writing papers and studying for finals. I think that is healthy. But to pay the cost of one student's entire tuition for a year just to have a person preach unapologetically about her arrests for public drunkeness and shameful shenanigans is deploreable for an institution which should be enriching students' minds.

While Toni Morrison epitomizes the depth of intelligence, cultural richness, and amazing creative possibility within all of us, offering an inspiration to students as they prepare to enter adulthood; Snooki has become the figurehead of a society completely devoid of any cultural substance. With colleges and universities all over the country crying out about fiscal instability, and with tuition costs rising every year, there is no excuse for a university to shell out that amount of money on a speaker who's advice to students was "study hard, party harder." (Yes, she actually said that to Rutgers students).