I can remember in third grade, just before the MSU-University of Michigan football game, being exposed to the still-growing rivalry between the two schools. We each had an assigned seat on the bus on the way to school and to show support for the rival teams, each of us had to write either an “M” or an “S” in the frost on the window.
Even then, I wrote a proud “S.” So it was with much disappointment that I read an opinion article in Tuesday’s edition of The Michigan Daily, U-M’s daily newspaper. The column is available at www.pub.umich.edu/daily/2000/ oct/10-10-2000/edit/04.html.
It was a column that not only disrespected our fine university, but every student who has chosen to attend and pay dues to remain a Spartan.
The column, which was obviously written by a student who cares not what we think of her, persistently attempted to rip apart the very fabric that holds this university together, the very green-and-white heart that makes us all Spartans.
In her article, Erin McQuinn recounted her experience during a weekend in East Lansing and how it made her further appreciate her life in Ann Arbor - a quaint, little, snobby life that I now unfortunately look down upon.
I am not bitter about what McQuinn wrote. I’m not going to pout and whine about how she cold-heartedly made fun of MSU, but I think MSU students would like to know what she wrote.
So, here goes nothing:
First, McQuinn started off her column by explaining how after high school she “somehow ended up in-state” at U-M, thanks to some parental convincing. And then she busted out one truly pathetic sentence after another. She explained how she and her friend “stuck out like sore thumbs in East Lansing,” questioning not only the morals of my fellow Spartans, but their fashion sense as well.
“In our Michael Stars stretch-tees and black booty pants we were highly contrast to the standard American Eagle boots and big orange fleeces (at MSU),” she wrote.
If that isn’t pathetic enough, she went even further, claiming that U-M “parties are about 500 times better than theirs.” Wow! I was not aware we were at battle, striving to have bigger, better fiestas than those that take place at the delicate coffeehouses of Ann Arbor. I have always tried to remember that when it comes to grand keggers, U-M takes the cake.
But wait, it gets even better.
McQuinn went on to describe a fraternity party that she and her friend, whom I now feel terribly sorry for, attended. She says the people there “weren’t dancing, they were trying to have sex while still wearing clothes,” and “whoever started the myth that State has ‘really hot girls’ must not have been at the party I was at.”
McQuinn then, in a most professional manner and still keeping her bitterness aside, said that all the girls at the party “seemed terribly plain - not hideous, just plain.”
“State isn’t a party school - it’s a continuation of high school for all the kids who grew up in Michigan,” she said.
By this point in the article, I was laughing harder than I did last year when the MSU men’s basketball team spanked U-M by nearly 50 points.
And still she continued with the ranting, adding that U-M students don’t riot when one of their teams wins. It would help if she got her facts right. She adds even more about the girls at the party, stating her belief that “about 99 percent of them hail from ‘The Great Lakes State’ - probably the second plainest state next to Idaho.”
That deserves another “Wow,” mostly because McQuinn herself is a homegrown Michiganian, only too ashamed to admit it, I guess.
“I think Michigan State can be summarized by the sole factor that they think it’s super-cool to have one person dance in the center of a circle while everyone else claps,” McQuinn concluded.
“At MSU I stopped to think for a moment how different my life would be now if I had gone for the Green and White rather than the Maize and Blue (even our colors are more sophisticated),” she wrote. “I would probably have more hiking boots and fewer Prada bags.”
To Erin: Ouch. That hurts, Erin. But it’s good to know you have that handy Prada bag to lug around all your sophisticated, high-class books. This article is merely jumbled arrogance unprofessionally translated from the language of “snob” into something that tries so hard to wear a mask of self-respect.
Are all U-M students as bitter as you, Erin, having to compare the strength of your parties, the style of your clothes and even your hair color? I don’t think so. I have friends who attend U-M, and frankly, I hope they’re ashamed of you.
If there is one statement Erin said that I agree with, it would have to be her belief that “we are all products of our environments.” And, as I am the State News film reporter, I feel compelled to quote a movie.
In a simple statement, a one-liner from the Hughes brothers’ brilliant movie, “Menace II Society,”: “I feel sorry for your mother.”
Cory Vowell, State News film reporter, can be reached at vowellco@msu.edu.
