Partying and Public Policy

When I signed up to attend a student symposium sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Presidency, a counselor at the Office of Career Services Advised me to view the conference as a learning experience.

I went to Washington, D.C., last weekend fully expecting to immerse myself in an intellectual experience. But when I learned both the VIP tour of the White House and the president's keynote address had been canceled, my academic interest in the conference waned.

So I decided to take a different approach.

Although I attended several leadership seminars in high school, all I have to show for it are the required textbooks and program sweatshirts. My socialite 16-year-old brother, on the other hand, has used these programs to gain friends throughout the world and boxes of compromising snapshots.

I decided to skip some panels and do what the Harvard admissions application claims we can do here--get to know a diverse group of people and learn about society through them.

What follows are my memories and impressions of the weekend. For better or for, worse, it will be these sociological observations, not the policy discussions, that I will always remember.

Clear skies do not a timely flight ensure.

Last Thursday, high winds prevented planes from landing at Logan Airport during the late afternoon. I arrived at Washington National two hours late and missed registration.

It could have been worse, though. My sympathies are with the poor souls who were trapped in the plane, circling over Providence, R.I.

Imagine hearing the Captain say over and over again, "On your right you can see Brown, University...and on your left the city's social center, a shopping mall."

Our nation's young people have an extremely high tolerance for alcohol.

I don't.

I like pop culture. And I'm proud of it.

Given that the Square's economy can't seem to support a mainstream movie theater, I've always considered it a lost cause to convey my enthusiasm about popular films.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that one of my favorite film, "A Few Good Men," seems to be a leadership seminar cult movie.

So although suppressing my base cultural instincts has previously been an emotional burden, I'm happily on the way to recovery now.

For the first time since prep school I can admit I like, no love, McDonald's food.

The White House has five full time florists.

In some circles, puffy red hair is considered attractive.

Not all sorority women are flaky.

My seminar roommate turned out to be president of a sorority and the front-runner for student body president at U. Michigan.

Though she was a green-eyed size six with shiny hair, I respected her intelligence and leadership skills.

Apparently, so did some high ranking administration officials, one of whom invited her to go to the White House and "meet the big guy," whatever that means.

Hum...I wonder if Theta would let me rush now?

Fax machines were the key to the democratization of Eastern Europe.

Mississipi State men are more fun than Harvard men.

At other college, professors don't lecture; they teach.

There are computer gnomes living underground in Harvard Square who retrieve our papers when they get lost in the Harvard University Arts and Sciences Computer Services system, according to Former Counsel to the President of the United States C. Boyden Gray '64.

Gray commended Harvard's efforts to speed along the information super highway.

The White House, on the other hand, learned from the Iran-Contra affair never to use a system which makes backup files, Gray said.

Although a 3-day conference on "Issues--'94" may not be your typical rite-of-passage, it nonetheless reminded me I have indeed grown older since high school. I wasn't afraid to sleep through a lecture and I didn't come back with any souvenirs this time.

While I may not have learned anything about public policy, I did have a good time--and that's more than I can say for most Harvard weekends.