This past Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Academy Awards for the second year in a row. By all accounts, he did a very solid job. However, it was obviously a fairly safe pick for ABC. I hope that in the future, the producers pick some more exciting, perhaps less established hosts. I’ve decided to try and think of who I’d like to see hosting the awards. Like my column about late-night hosts, these choices are mostly very unrealistic, but I don’t care. Below are my top five picks, in no particular order:
1. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele
When I was growing up, my hero was Hermione Granger. She was a young woman notable not for her head-turning looks, but for her outstanding mind. Intelligence and bravery were her defining characteristics. She was the brightest in the class and relentlessly teased for her eagerness, but she was proud of her brain. Reading about Hermione’s coming-of-age in terms of intellectual and emotional instead of physical maturation gave me a hero to look up to who cared about the same things I did. I desired to be intelligent first, beautiful second because of Hermione.
In general, my music taste does not align well with that of my peers. Primarily, I enjoy a category of music known to many as “jam-rock,” wherein bands improvise long passages of music. These jams can be wandering, dissonant and altogether weird; it is no surprise that they are not everyone’s cup of tea. This is to say that often, when I am in a position to see one of my favorite bands live in concert, I don’t believe that any of my friends will enjoy the show enough to warrant attending with me.
Sometimes, the thing that gets you out of bed isn’t the hearty aroma of coffee and breakfast food or the refreshing splash of sunlight in your face, but the dreadful realization of how much work you have. Our self-imposed pressure to stay productive keeps life moving at a bustling pace that’s well-suited to the mammoth expectations of an elite institution like Amherst.
On Valentine’s Day, a day that should be filled with love, 17 beautiful children and staff members lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, my home state. When the news notification popped up on my screen, a sense of dread washed over me. To me, Florida is a place of happiness, laughter and sunshine. It’s a place to go and enjoy life. It is not a place where people should be collectively heartbroken on Valentine’s Day.
Last week, high schoolers across the country took the issue of gun control into their own hands. They held protests and school walkouts, pressured CNN to hold a town hall with Florida Senator Marco Rubio and compelled several sponsors to drop their ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA). The support the students have received is heartening to see and a welcome change to the general apathy characteristic of gun violence tragedies. Of course, the support is not unanimous, and many high school officials threatened to discipline students if they held protests during school.
There are these well-trodden paths that a typical Amherst student follows. Try to avoid them. Don’t go through life like you do on the path to Val from your dorm — mindlessly following pre-determined trails. Amherst can feel like a funneling system, one that takes our passions and dreams and sucks them into a hole where we feel a need to do what others are doing. After college, most people will end up in New York, San Francisco or Boston in fields like finance or medicine. Instead of passively following this path, think carefully about the road you take.
