Typical Columbia tradition

This week is a toxic mix for our productivity: it’s beautiful out, yet there is so much to be done before we can bask in the sunlight forever. It seems like we can’t do one without sacrificing the other, because there aren’t enough (any) outlets in the great outdoors to keep your computer charged long enough to actually make real progress on your paper. We instead settle for indoor spots on campus that have ample amounts of sunlight via modern use of glass.

Or you might have given up on work completely and spent the last three days roaming the city warmth, and the positive UV rays reassure you that you have time later to complete whatever’s on your plate.

Whatever your decision on how to spend the last few days and whether or not you regret it, finals is a time when we unite under our beloved stress culture and when you want Bwog to write about what you’re feeling. We can’t help you decide whether the indoors or outdoors are better for you, but we can help raise your faith in the restorative nature in tonight’s activities: Orgo Night and Midnight Breakfast.

Both events have been under fire this year, and while political backlash and political support for the events have merit, their goals might have been overlooked in the war on their content.

Midnight Breakfast, for one, is rooted in the idea that our very own educators and administrators want us to be academically successful this semester. That rare well-wish of appreciation matched with delicious food at a proper hour for tater tots is a soul-nurturing remedy for your final tomorrow or your final next week. Getting out of the library is ok and you should grab a bite with friends while you’re showing your face for the first time this week.

Orgo Night has perhaps deviated a bit from its original intention, but achieves the same purpose of taking us out of stress-filled rooms and into a look at the past semester that doesn’t involve ruminating over a missed reading or a late assignment. And yes, we can’t ignore that portions of our campus community will be subject to criticism, but isn’t that a goal the Varsity Show shares as well? Where was the ranty Spec Op-Ed urging people to rip their tickets and a ranty review of its offense to hard-working administrators? The tradition of the Varsity Show outlives Orgo Night and successfully brought our campus together in critique and satire of the academic year gone by. Isn’t there value in that?

You owe it to yourself to shovel Spar-served syrup down your throat tonight, and you owe it to yourself to bring your full stomach to Butler 209 if you want a good laugh coming in to your finals. It’s rare to see even slight cultivation of Columbia spirit, and finals is all but a good time to diminish the power of campus traditions. Go on with your semi-productive day in the sun, and thank some higher power that it’s still warm at night during your walk to whatever campus tradition of your choice.

School spirit via Shutterstock