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"What people do isn't determined by where they live. It happens to be their damned fault. They decided to watch TV instead of thinking when they were in high school. They decided to take blow-off courses and drink beer instead of reading and trying to learn something. They decided to chicken out and be intolerant bastards instead of being openminded, and finally decided to go along with their buddies and do things that were terribly wrong when there was no reason they had to. Any who hurts someone else decides to hurt them, goes out of their way to do it...The fact that it's hard to be a good person doesn't excuse going along and being an asshole. If they can't overcome their own fear of being unusual, it's not my fault, because any idiot ought to be able to see that if he just acts reasonably and makes a point of not hurting others, he'll be happier."
Uneven but somehow still consistent and surprising enough to make me keep reading. By the time Sarah Jane Johnson, the Student Government President, speaks the lines above I felt like Stephenson improved on the design of what Ballard established with n High-Risen as an examination of what happens in enclosed space with different societal groups slowly descending into chaos. Whereas Ballard peaked early with his work, Stephenson slowly drags you along and establishes a world that reminded me of my time in college.
Much like American University, my school was downtown and close to the interstate. Although we didn't have a Plex, the towers I lived in sophomore year always seemed to be at the edge of a chaotic meltdown. However, it was my freshman year in a six-story dormitory that closely mirrored the violence of the book--my floor constantly staged boxing matches in the cramped hallways and by the end of the academic year, there were enough holes in the ceilings and walls that nearly every resident on the floor had over a $500 bill to fix the damage.
I will admit that I am guilty of everything in that above speech. My college time was mostly spent drinking or sleeping off a hangover and it is a minor surprise that I actually graduated in four years. I say minor because once the tuition check cleared, it was in the university's best interest to have me graduate so they can use me as a statistic in their recruitment efforts. Since those days, I have slowly matured as human to know only slightly better, to not view the world the foggy glasses of cheap beer, and only occasionally use my higher thinking skills for less selfish purposes such as not standing idly by when I feel a wrong has been committed (either against myself or a fellow human/animal/external element that is not me yet a part of me on a cosmic level).
That Sarah Jane Johnson has a lot of great wisdom in the book and clearly the character I most identified with. Here's another wonderful nugget:
"I don't need some terrific reason for resigning. If I'm spending time on a useless job I don't like, and I find there are better things to do with that time, then I ought to resign."
That's a statement which I am currently in the process of living out.
Uneven but somehow still consistent and surprising enough to make me keep reading. By the time Sarah Jane Johnson, the Student Government President, speaks the lines above I felt like Stephenson improved on the design of what Ballard established with n High-Risen as an examination of what happens in enclosed space with different societal groups slowly descending into chaos. Whereas Ballard peaked early with his work, Stephenson slowly drags you along and establishes a world that reminded me of my time in college.
Much like American University, my school was downtown and close to the interstate. Although we didn't have a Plex, the towers I lived in sophomore year always seemed to be at the edge of a chaotic meltdown. However, it was my freshman year in a six-story dormitory that closely mirrored the violence of the book--my floor constantly staged boxing matches in the cramped hallways and by the end of the academic year, there were enough holes in the ceilings and walls that nearly every resident on the floor had over a $500 bill to fix the damage.
I will admit that I am guilty of everything in that above speech. My college time was mostly spent drinking or sleeping off a hangover and it is a minor surprise that I actually graduated in four years. I say minor because once the tuition check cleared, it was in the university's best interest to have me graduate so they can use me as a statistic in their recruitment efforts. Since those days, I have slowly matured as human to know only slightly better, to not view the world the foggy glasses of cheap beer, and only occasionally use my higher thinking skills for less selfish purposes such as not standing idly by when I feel a wrong has been committed (either against myself or a fellow human/animal/external element that is not me yet a part of me on a cosmic level).
That Sarah Jane Johnson has a lot of great wisdom in the book and clearly the character I most identified with. Here's another wonderful nugget:
"I don't need some terrific reason for resigning. If I'm spending time on a useless job I don't like, and I find there are better things to do with that time, then I ought to resign."
That's a statement which I am currently in the process of living out.
