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September 1, 2006 > Arts & Entertainment > Socialites, bookworms co-mingle on campus

Socialites, bookworms co-mingle on campus

By Julia Bursten | Thresher Editorial Staff

You know what I love about Rice that is hard to find at most high schools and many universities? Hanging out with friends and pleasure reading do not have to be mutually exclusive.

More often than not, social butterflies and bookworms can coexist symbiotically. And as someone who embraces both these insectual personality stereotypes, I have to appreciate this campus’ acceptance of both the social and antisocial in group settings.

For instance, sometimes books simply make better mealtime companions than people. The written conversations good authors start are often more intellectually stimulating than gossip about Dis-O. And while you may not learn who hooked up with whom last weekend from the latest Thomas Friedman bestseller, you will pick up useful information about the world around you.

You know, the one outside Rice’s bubble. It may not have been cool in high school to be the kid sitting alone with a novel at the lunch table, but finding a bookworm-friendly corner in a Rice commons should never be a difficult or shameful pursuit. And it is rare to be the only one reading instead of talking over breakfast. Although, let’s face it, many students are just using that time to catch up on homework.

Personally, I have spent the week eschewing Lovett College’s usual lunch discussions for Clifford Pickover’s Sex, Drugs, Einstein and Elves. Pickover, who has spent most of his adult life publishing science fiction and nonfiction, invites his readers to read leisurely and stop often to look at pictures and wordplay lists as he explores the anthropology of hallucinogens, how people’s native languages affect their abilities to understand science and hunt small game, how Jesus would have done math, and whether aliens have smellable art. Although I’ve gotten a little grief from my friends for not joining in the debate on whether South or North Servery has better food, Rice students generally understand and respect their peers’ desires for literary companionship.

Normally, I love participating in Lovett commons conversations, in large part because they often manage to turn to topics similar to the ones in my Pickover book. But it is really refreshing to have cited, published references instead of well-aimed projectile croutons backing up claims like, “[T]he Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that the structure of a language colors some aspects of perception and the way we approach reality.” And when the occasional inquisitive tap on the shoulder does interrupt my reading and prompt me to explain the passage I last read, I am usually just as happy talking about the books I read as I am reading them. In fact, I’ve started more conversations than I’ve ended by sitting down at a table full of people with my nose buried in a book.

The phenomenon goes the other way, too. Everyone likes study breaks, and many impromptu study breaks result from one or two partiers who stumble into a roomful of students doing homework. The respite is usually welcome, and it often results in higher productivity once the studiers return to their problem sets and papers, if for no better reason than that they are more pressed for time. When students are caught up in pre-midterms cramming, it is not uncommon to see study groups meeting at Willy’s Pub or students talking chemistry over a keg at a public party.

So embrace Rice’s unusually accepting environment, and open a book in a roomful of people. At least when I’m around, you won’t be the only one.

Julia Bursten is a Lovett College junior and lifestyles and arts and entertainment editor.

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