Columnist’s thoughts encompass piano man, pageants and pagans

Libby Hill

Libby Hill

So, Ben Folds, huh?

The news that one of my absolute favoritest small time musical artists would be performing in South Dakota for the first time , thanks to a local university made me very excited.

The fact that the university in question was not SDSU, but rather (ugh) Augustana, had me less than excited. Believe me, had I known 5 years ago that Augie would bring in such a great concert I would have thought a little harder about the the $32k they threw at me. But I digress …

What upsets me about this concert announcement is the fact that Augie doesn’t even have the facilities to appropriately feature an artist like Folds. No Performing Arts Center for them; they’re having it at the Washington Pavilion. Thus my question is this: why exactly didn’t we get an artist like Folds to perform here at SDSU? The beauty of an artist like him is the fact that even if interest is limited on campus, he has a cult following that would likely still cause the concert to pull in plenty of money.

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Is it so wrong of me to feel bad about myself every time a beauty pageant rears it’s beautiful head? Ahem, excuse me, scholarship pageant. Personally, I think that most of my problem is the fact that no matter how much scholar I put on or how I get my scholar dyed or how fit and trim I look in my, um, scholarship, I’m never going to be scholarly enough to be in one of those pageants. And I’m pretty smart.

It really irks me since I have just as good a personality as the next person. Actually, that’s not true; just play along for the column’s sake.

While I’m sure I have very little room to gripe here, I think that in the future when I’m rich and crazy I’m going to start scholarship pageants for the fat and unattractive, in other words, for the average woman. Anyone have a problem with that? Because I feel that there are just as many talented and worthy people out there who deserve free stuff. And also, because I’ll be rich and crazy and because eccentricity is the spice of life. Well, mine at least.

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In the March 8 edition of “Newsweek” Anna Quindlen wrote her column on the recent trends that equate liberals with those who don’t know and/or love Jesus.

As a moderate with liberal tendencies, I felt buoyed by Quindlen’s stand against those who view the world in only two categories: the “religious right” and the “irreligious left.” For me, it was about time that someone pointed out that one’s political beliefs do not necessarily brand them one way or another when it comes to the question of Christ.

It’s been a long year at my house, with letters coming into my husband and I accusing us of being everything from perverts to pagans, accusations that I gather (from Quindlan’s column) are not unusual in the world of journalism. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s nice to know that you’re not alone when you come under fire and that if you’re lucky, there’s going to be someone strong enough to say enough is enough.

Reach the scattered mind of Libby Hill at [email protected].