 Welcome Newcomers!
I feel old really, for the very first time in my life. I see pretty young people on campus
now. I know it is hard for the newcomers during these first days in school. Last year in
my first column, I mentioned some activities and gave advice about being new. I hope it
worked for those who read it. This year I have a few more things to say, whether or not I
feel a huge generational distance between newcomers and myself. High schools are no longer
places I recognize. People have a tendency to appear different compared with what they
really feel. People appear different from who they actually are, but they are not
different from each other. I hope all of the high school graduates find their real selves
and become individuals. Because university is an opportunity for this: being an
individual.
I feel very distant from the new generations. Actually, I did not even know that I became
the older generation. Anyway, at the music fest that I went to last week, there were
people around me between 16 and 19 years old. They can really freak me out with the way
that they wear and put on makeup. While I was resting at the festival, a very young boy
sat next to me and asked me to make up his eye. I said yes.
I was surprised because it was the first time that I had put makeup on a boy! I asked his
age and he said 18. That was not all. The next thing he wanted was lipstick! I said no and
added that you may look feminine with it. And he could not say anything, because he did
not know why he wanted it. The way he did his hair was like a cartoon character's, like
Bart Simpson. I asked if he goes out in normal life with that hair, and he said no. Since
we are not at a mask party, he looks really funny. And he is not the only one. There are
many teenagers that look like him. I can assure you though, that these people do not wear
their hair like this in normal life. Mass communities push people to certain kinds of
appearances. As though there are only two or three factories that produce types of people.
I am really open to what one feels like. But looking like some people you see on TV or
around you, or expecting to be respected with a clothing style… it is really fun to
watch the MTV-like rock stars around me and though it makes me feel old to say this, where
does youth go? :) I do not want to see the same people who are under the same kind of
style. I want to see real people with different needs and minds with their own free
styles. University is a great chance to improve your personality. There are a variety of
departments, different courses and different social clubs at Bilkent. These communities
need different people. Not a colony of people looking and talking the same way. I want to
see different colors on campus, because here at Bilkent, there are different brushes.
I welcome the newcomers and would like to remind them to not forget that university is a
good place to improve your personality, instead of imitating someone else's.
Gülay Acar (COMD/IV)
howtoreachgulay@yahoo.com
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