Initially, I had a hard time deciding how to respond to Melissa Knueven’s opinion column in Friday’s Post.
Should I laugh? It was pretty funny to read that grocery shopping was too “real-life” and it sucked the excitement out of a new apartment.
The English instructor in me wanted to “headdesk.” Summer was so boring she had to (shudder) read 11 books?
I know for a while I was angry — really angry — at the not-so-subtle classism in Knueven’s story of being “traumatized” by her interaction with a grown man/farmer riding the Baker escalators for the first time.
In the end, though, I decided that what I really felt was, well, kind of sorry for her.
While Knueven was busy not watching cable and wandering up Mill Street looking for people to watch, summertime in Athens was passing her by.
Nothing to do? What about the twice-weekly Farmers Markets, teeming with gorgeous fresh produce, delicious baked goods and live music (and plenty of people watching if you really need it)? Or the Athens’ Community Pool (free for students on the weekend, and they installed a waterslide this year!) and the Nelsonville Water Park? Hiking or sunbathing or kayaking at Strouds Run? Brew Week in July (when the bars are packed every night, not just Thursdays)? The Ohio Valley Summer Theater? The Athens County Fair? The “Under the Elms” Concert Series? Thunder in the Valley (4th of July fireworks)?
All that and Knueven still felt that her “energetic student life” was being “stifled”?
If this is published, I suppose I’ll get accused of being one of those “native residents” ranting about kids these days, the kind of townie who loves when the students leave. Hardly.
I love the energy of Fall Quarter. I love seeing everyone come back to Athens and reacquaint themselves with their home-away-from-home.
I wouldn’t be a college instructor — let alone a full-time, year-round resident of a college town — if I didn’t truly enjoy being around college students. I don’t look forward to the summer because the students leave, but because there are so many fun things to do.
Knueven did get something right though—it isn’t the same here in Athens without the students. It’s wonderfully, busily, energetically different. I hate to think of all the new Bobcats out there who might miss out on it all because of Knueven’s article. It isn’t the town that “needs its students.” It’s Knueven. Thank heavens everyone is back.
Megan Villegas is an Ohio University alumna and an adjunct instructor in the English Department at OU.
