A very brief note regarding today’s presidential debate: a group of new friends and I stayed up until 4am to see it live. We laid out cookies and chocolate bars, brewed some tea, and watched on a laptop in the dark common room. I was quickly reminded that I am no longer at Pomona, the liberal utopia that has so captured my willing little heart. I spoke to one girl who informed me, assuredly, that Obama lost the debate because he seemed too tired while Romney was vivacious and looked alive. Part of me fought the urge to roll in a pile of broken chandeliers while the other part now wonders if I’m too unquestioningly liberal to make proper judgments anymore. I know that debate and discussion at Pomona are sometimes criticized for lacking something, perhaps political correctness, but this self-reflection may be an indication of the thoughtfulness and eagerness of the student body to amend and improve its dialogs in the first place. As someone in the (sometimes lonely) camp that believes debates on campus are often hindered by this sensitivity, I want to tip my hat to the collective Sagehen spirit this evening and to note that I’m definitely not in Claremont anymore. I’m both terrified that I’m too liberal to function and proud to be part of the campus that taught me to be self-aware enough to question that.
Goodnight, Pomona.