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March 28, 2024

  • Visiting Author: Sheila Squillante
    Last week, the visiting author, Sheila Squillante, presented the art of creative non-fiction at BGSU. Last year, her memoir came out. From Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, Squillante visited BGSU, last week. Previously, she has published collections on poetry, but most recently, her memoir, All Things Edible, Random and Odd  was published in 2023. “I […]
  • Petrofiction Review: Oil on Water
    Here’s my review of Oil on Water by Helon Habila – a petrofiction novel which won The Commonwealth Prize and Caine Prize. For context, petrofiction stems from petroleum and fiction. A specific text that focuses on petroleum culture in political economics and environmental impact. Although Habila’s novel begins with a journalist investigating a kidnapping, the […]
Spring Housing Guide

Imperfect moments make the best memories

When kids decide to attend college, they are all looking to create the best four years of their lives.

Students want the perfect GPA, the perfect friends, the perfect social life, the perfect relationship and the overall perfect experience.

We want our college experience to be something like out of the movies or a book. We picture ourselves being flawless; acing exams, being involved on campus by day and being the life of the party, while making friends with ease by night. We want to sense that unrealistic feeling of perfection in everything we do in college. But that is simply that: unrealistic.

We live in reality, not the movies, and reality includes things that are not perfect.

What becomes an issue is that everyone’s definition of perfect is different. The way that someone chooses to live out his or her college years may not be perfect in your eyes, but it may be perfect in his or hers.

Nothing is perfect. So why go out seeking the perfect college experience? Why not let things happen perfectly or imperfectly?

Part of the reason is the desire for the perfect life after college. People think that having the perfect college experience will ultimately lead them to the perfect life afterward including the perfect job, house, family and car. Essentially the American Dream.

But I say the opposite. Being imperfect will lead you to the perfect college experience.

Go ahead and take that silly picture with your friends instead of doing the perfect hand-on-the-hip pose. Pull that all-nighter hoping for a perfect score and still get a C. Talk to the boy that does not fit your picture of the perfect man.

If you do not go outside your comfort zone of perfection, you will never experience the true purpose of college.

College is all about making mistakes and learning from them so that you can become a better person in the future. It is so easy for kids to get caught up in trying to create the perfect experience that they think they are entitled to that and they miss out on the perfection that is happening in the imperfect experiences around them.

When people talk about their college experiences, they do not talk about how perfect things went, they talk about the things that were not perfect because those are the things people remember. Imperfect moments are the ones that make stories. They are the ones that create the most impact. That is why imperfection is perfect.

Just because something does not work out perfectly does not mean that it is wrong. Instead it is still perfect because you can learn how to make it more perfect by doing it differently or changing how you perceive what perfection is.

I am not saying do not strive for perfection, but instead I am saying not to be afraid of being imperfect because without imperfection, perfection would not exist. Be the best you can be and do the best to experience college to its fullest potential, but always remember to learn from what comes short of perfect.

We are human beings and we are going to fail to meet our criteria of perfect. We must embrace those imperfections and move on.

In the end, it is the imperfect moments we experience that make life so perfect.

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