m(A)tt

I'll be a sophomore at Purdue in the fall. The point of this college experience, however, is to create a community that is free of alienation, exploitation and the other ills of capitalism, the State, and a a myriad of other institutions under which we all operate. We all notice them, and we are all left with the question: how can we live differently? Grandiose theories of future revolutions are fantastic and interesting, but all of us want to live differently now. Most of us choose to remain fairly ignorant of political theory and politics in general, instead pursuing a life defined by socialized encounters with hundreds of like-minded individuals, following the status quo during the week and exhibiting our assumed individualism every weekend with a roaring good party, and enough drugs, booze and sex to prepare us for the next tough week. The focus of our attention is forever the future. "I can't wait til the weekend," or "I can't wait for the party." Once one good time is complete, all our energies go towards a new one. But they never seem to lift the alienation of everyday life, do they? They never seem to make our lives more meaningful. We place ourselves within a box, constructed by the institutions around us as we are continually socialized into understanding the correct social norms. And we operate within that box, without ever peeking out. Homophobia, racism, classism, the norms and iron truths of society which are drilled into our skulls since the day we step into the world. We try to be happy. We strive for happiness. But the walls which we construct keep us from this lofty goal. The only way, then, to live happily is to create this community I speak of, a community in which the seemingly solid walls surrounding us are revealed to be fluid and temporary. This is a community in which the institutionalized hold of the human spirit is broken, and we can finally glimpse that which a body is capable. This is a community not ignorant of but fully aware and appreciative of the scope of political theory, realizing within it the way to liberation. This is true individualism within a collective sphere, with individuals who recognize limits and then surpass them. Most of all, this is a community in which everything known, everything witnessed, and everything taught is scrutinized, criticized, and eventually destroyed, and through this creation something new is created: possibility, becoming, and most of all, and inkling of happiness in a word so defined by misery and suffering. This is the revolution of everyday life, and it is a state of being (or rather, of becoming) for which all of us strive.