Written by Jessica Ardrey
You know, I like to think of it more as being “culturally savvy,” really.Everyone should know what a jawa is, or the origin of the One Ring. It’s only natural to find this stuff outstandingly fascinating, right? Especially if you expect to pick up on various social cues and jokes in normal,everyday conversations, right?At Harding, yes.This is particularly true when it comes to chapel and Bible classes. I would count the “Lord of the Rings” and C.S. Lewis references I’ve heard in the past four years, but I’m a writer. I’m not good enough at numbers to count that high.Countless times I’ve had the religious parallels drawn out for me, even though they’re usually fairly weak comparisons because of Tolkien’s clear lines of good and evil, but that’s a different column entirely.Now, before we go any further, please believe that I am not above this generalization. Over Christmas break, SPIKE TV was showing a “Star Wars” marathon, which I was watching after a heavy dose of NyQuil for that classic ‘tis-the-season infirmity.Halfway through “The Empire Strikes Back,” and deep into my haze, I launched into this lecture about how revolutionary the movie was for its time and how the series fits every major archetype there is.My poor mother paused mid- towel folding, gave me a blank stare and said, “Jessica. You’re a dork. In Christian love, of course.”Well, good ol’ Mom was right. And chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a dork, too.I remember when people first started sword fighting on the front lawn and wearing Renaissance clothing. They got some strange looks, and folks tacked on names like “the cape people” and “the capers.”But here’s the thing: No matter how much you deny it, somewhere deep in the dark depths of your Harding-ized soul, you want to sword fight on the front lawn. You want to look as cool as Viggo Mortensen when he’s charging the Black Gate of Mordor. And, yes, you want to wear chainmail.You don’t have to, though. The fact that you want to, however, is the important part.But it’s OK if you don’t want to be Mr. Tumnus. Actually,that’s extremely uncomfortable. I don’t really want to think about that at all.As many of you know, I’ve already addressed Harding’s affinity for a certain lightning-bolt-shaped-scarred boy, so I won’t go much further into this one, but seriously. Harding kids like Harry Potter.Being a senior, my mind is constantly occupied with thoughts of the post-grad life. And, naturally, I haven’t the foggiest idea of what to do or where to go. So, naturally, my backup plan is to move to Florida and convince the execs at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to create a position at their park for Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet, which, naturally, will go to me. Journalist. Duh.I’m going to have to go ahead and give some of the credit for our sci-fi obsession to our era.We grew up with epic moments like the velociraptors in the kitchen and the Truffle Shuffle.Kids these days have to worry about the distressing images of a once-pro wrestler dressed as the tooth fairy.The tooth fairy, for crying out loud. Get your act together, Dwayne Johnson. Do you see those arms? That means you are never,under any circumstances, allowed to wear a tutu. Just because your name is Dwayne doesn’t mean you get to be a princess.But on our way back to the Harding train, I’ve composed a little fanciful something of my own to sum up our experience on this wonderful campus:One swing in semester fall. One or two more, plus a hymn. One ring to fulfill them all andmake Jess Ardrey barf all over her computer screen.JESS ARDREY serves as the opinions editor for the 2010-2011 Bison. She may be contacted atjardrey@harding.edu
