Sometimes, The World > My Grades

Orange Bubble Syndrome is something that many of us take for granted. We get stuck in a cycle of rotating between weekends at Prospect, weekdays at Firestone and occasional excursions for late meal at Frist. We micromanage our days in GCals of rainbow-colored sleep deprivation. We might stop once in a while to read something from the Prince UPC, complain about P-Safe's lockout policy, scoff at Dean Malkiel's dog or laugh at the bicker plans for Cannon Club.But where is the globally aware citizenship that all the admission brochures advertised? Where are the scholars in the nation's service and in the service of all nations (aside from sharpening their get-recruited-for-I-banking skills in Robertson or Tower, that is)? A Prince column earlier this week (okay, we do read them too) called for more campus dialogue on current events. The Middle East is erupting. Japan is in shambles. Basically, 2011 thus far has reached a point where I expect a new revolution or disaster every time I refresh the NYT homepage.I know, I know. We're busy. We're tired. We work really hard. Sometimes it is easier to just sit in Whitman dining hall, discussing the merits of different types of fruit-cereal-froyo combinations (banana, Smart Start, vanilla. Win!) instead of debating the pros and cons of intervention in Libya.In the last week or so, though, I've become increasingly convinced that it's actually easier than you think to break out of the Orange Bubble. Meaningful campus dialogue can exist! Even when it's not awkwardly facilitated by Sustained Dialogue! Here, I give you five reasons why we can and should think outside the bubble:1.) IT'S SO EASY.It's not just that we get to catch all kinds of big-shot guest speakers here every week (anyone catch Toni Morrison a few weeks ago? Or Mia Farrow talking about Sudan on Friday? Yeah, no big deal). Princeton is teeming with its own supply of experts, policy makers and diplomats on any topic you read about in the news. Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter, for example, has been all over the media with her analysis of the situation in Libya. Woody Woo has an "Up to the Minute" series that hosts discussions on world events as they happen, and they held a panel on the nuclear crisis in Japan on Thursday. Most of our politics and policy professors are Wikipedia-ble (a true measure of their legitimacy), but all their baller achievements don't stop them from posting their office hours up and being genuinely accessible to students. As in, you can walk into the former ambassador to Egypt and Israel's office and ask for his personal opinion on Egypt's constitutional future. Try it.2.) It makes us appreciate our Princeton creds.I had to write an article on Iraq for my journalism class last week, and decided to email the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on a whim that they might reply. They did, and I found myself Skyping with a spokesperson the next morning:Him: You know, I actually once did a program at the Woodrow Wilson School myself.Me: OH really?? You were in Woody Woo too?Him: Yes, that's why I was happy to see an email from Princeton. And I'm glad to give you background information for your article.Me: Yeah that's great! Maybe I'll see you at Reunions!Him: ... Except I'm in Iraq.Oh. Right. Oops.The point is that Princetonians are EVERYWHERE. Not only does this mean that we can creepily use Tigernet to track down important/rich/famous alum to ask for interviews/internship help/whatever (you can easily find David Petraeus' phone number, for example), but most of them are also really happy to meet current students. Work those connections.3.) These things are closer to us than we think.I was struggling with a familiar dilemma last Wednesday afternoon: to stay in Small World and get some more work done, or to go hear a talk on something not required, but interesting for me and relevant to global affairs? Basically, should I or should I not compromise my institutionalized academic pursuits for the sake of wider self-education? At the very last second, I made the dash to McCosh 10 and spent an hour and a half listening to PLO activist Hanan Ashrawi speak on the "Dislocation of Palestine"... while discreetly trying to finish a report on China's legislatures for my precept that night.So yeah, I barely finished my assignment, which was kind of stressful. But the next morning, I was at the gym when CNN started reporting breaking news about bombings in Jerusalem and the associated tensions in the West Bank and Gaza. IT WAS SO RELEVANT, I got really excited and nearly fell off the treadmill.4.) In fact, they often get really personal.The most common argument for staying uninformed is that we're just too busy, and these things are too far away. Dude, I have papers to write. Why should I worry about earthquakes in Denmark or rebels in Benghazi?But we never know when the next huge world event will come into our personal lives. The times when I've seen Princetonians get most involved with current affairs are when they're affected by them directly. Like when my friend sold samosas to Street-goers on Saturday nights, trying to raise money for flood relief in Pakistan -- because of the huge need there in general, but also because that's where her boyfriend was from.Or when I thought nothing of a Japanese kid in my lab being absent one morning, until I saw him folding cranes in Frist later and found out that he'd been checking on friends and family after the tsunami. Or when we realized last year that one of our Whitman janitors was from Haiti, and had an initiative to bring clean water to Haitian villages that was devastated by the earthquake.Moments like these remind us that what's happening in the world can be (gasp) more important than our GPAs. But how great would it be if we didn't need tragedies and disasters to remember that?5.) FREE FOOD.If nothing else, there's one tried-and-true source of motivation: these talks are often followed by receptions. Which are usually catered by Olives. Mmm. Need I say more?(Look here for weekly events that nourish both mind and stomach.)