Pete Davidson is coming to Kodak Hall, folks.
The Instagram post announcing his imminent appearance (slated for Feb. 5) has over three times more likes than any other update from the account. The Eastman website, home to the Davidson tickets, crashed multiple times for over an hour. Prospective ticket holders were forced to wait, and wait they did. But what’s the reason? Why is everyone going gaga over Davidson, and what does it have to say about our student body and our University as we return back to campus this February?
As Davidson said in last week’s SNL Cold Open, playing a Joe Biden from an alternate world, “Everyone on Earth is better off in the real world except one man named Pete Davidson. This world is maybe more fun for him.”
Honestly, he’s right. We’re not having fun, and maybe the surprising day-by-day recaps of Davidson’s life via his frequent tabloid appearances are just what we need to escape it all. Obviously, we’re not privy to the inner workings of his mind (at least not yet), so we could be missing something. Maybe the reason Davidson is seemingly having a good time right now is that he’s living life to the fullest. Maybe the tabloids and the social media haze are creating a false depiction of his life right now. The only person who really knows is Davidson himself. The one thing that’s certain, though, is that it’s much easier and way more entertaining to pay attention to anyone’s life but your own right now.
But is this a little too soon to start celebrating?
Considering the University’s current announcement that all students are expected to return to campus by February, the updates are whiplash. While COVID cases are beginning to drop as expected, it’s a stretch to pretend that COVID is magically over once February hits. It’d be a convenient lie, but it’s not one to live by.
The Omicron variant, while less fatal than other variants we’ve experienced, has spread quickly through Rochester. The tens of cases being announced on UR’s COVID-19 monitoring website goes to show that our community isn’t free from consequence. Returning to campus with full-blown festivities after arduous weeks of all-remote learning, especially with the potential for Winterfest coming in full swing (and serving as a spring orientation by proxy), isn’t necessarily the safest option.
Our ed board last week condemned the University’s slow decision-making in a time when the right choice — having an online January — was obvious. The decision to return, though welcome to us students, leaves us with a lot of fears. We have a responsibility to treat this privilege with the care it entails.
It’s difficult to have a sense of permanence on this campus. Our smallest choices could send us back online. It’s hard not to hole up in your room, zealously avoiding participating in classes and extracurriculars, and praying that if you just don’t touch this world, you’ll disappear into a new one.
But let’s try to be optimists this semester. There’s plans to have an in person graduation. We will be escaping the Zoom rooms and be back in lecture halls on Jan. 31. Connections will be open again, and there will be bagels galore. Pete Davidson will be coming to UR for what is sure to be an entertaining night. Let’s all try to make this crazy Earth as fun for ourselves as it is for Davidson, because it’s all we’ve got.
The Editorial Board is a weekly Opinions article representing the view of the Campus Times, co-written by Editor-in-Chief Corey Miller-Williams, Publisher Megan Browne, Managing Editors Melanie Earle and Alyssa Koh, and Opinions Editor Allie Tay.
