Columbia's BIG problem

New Year’s. Fourth of July. Thanksgiving. Christmas. These are all major national holidays, but which is unlike the others?

Take a closer look, and you’ll find that of these — and of all 10 public holidays established by U.S. fFederal law — Christmas is the only one with religious significance.

When was the last time you tried out a new restaurant or shopped at a new store?

 

A lot of students live in a bubble. We limit ourselves to shopping and eating within the confines of Five Points and the Vista. We run into the normal weekend crowds and visit the same restaurants and stores. After almost three years at USC, I am guilty of this as well. In an effort to branch out, I discovered what West Columbia has to offer. Whether you are looking for a new spot to grab Sunday morning brunch, a bargain store to hunt for the perfect DIY project or a venue to expand your musical taste buds, check out what lies west of the Congaree River, the other side of Columbia.

I like what I’m seeing around campus this year: rollerblading in front of Russell, boys in neon windbreakers and girls with floral tights and scrunchies. On TV, there are reminders of childhood with the re-airing of classics including “Doug,” “Kenan and Kel” and “Clarissa Explains It All.” Facebook groups with names like “The ’90s Are All That” have hundreds of thousands of followers, and #MarkMcGwire and #BFFnecklaces are trending on Twitter. The 1990s are back in a big way, both in popular culture and at USC. With the graduation of the class of 2012, the last of the ’80s babies will move on, and this new generation of children born in the ’90s will officially rule the school (and, very soon, the world). These are what adults call “the best years of your life,” and given the breadth of technology and social networking at the ’90s generation’s disposal, it’s hard to argue this sentiment. And yet—what is it about Bel-Air, snapback caps and dreams of orange soda that inspire the students of tomorrow to turn to the past?

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Today, in 2010, only a decade after the inauguration of the feared millennium, your CarolinaCard doesn’t work off campus, Cocky’s Caravan absorbs the majority of your student fee and the Thomson Student Health Center is an eyesore rivaling the scoreboard after a Clemson football game.

You know the game. You’ve probably played it in some form before – sitting in a circle, all 10 fingers displayed and each person admitting to some “sexcapade” or exaggerated act of humiliating indecency that he or she has never done. If the competing players are guilty of the action, they put fingers down and drink.

It was my sophomore year, and the round was coming to an end with bursts of empathetic laughter over the slyly revealed misdeeds of my friends, but I still had all my fingers up. My turn came, and reluctantly, I said: “Never have I ever had sex.”