It's a wonder Cory Anotado has friends

By Cory Anotado
Collegian Editor
April 26, 2006

It’s good to have friends. Coming to La Salle as a freshman with none of my fellow high school graduates joining me, finding friends and making connections seemed to be a daunting task. I quickly found a whole bunch of people who would take time out of their busy schedules to talk to me, and I quickly found myself with a bunch of compatriots (thanks, Facebook!). My friends are diverse and interesting, but I cannot, however, talk to them about anything. They’re all just a bit too off-kilter.

I can’t talk to anyone about music. That might partly be my fault, but still. My music is somewhat obscure and unique. A normal playlist of mine might have They Might be Giants, Pearl Jam, Atmosphere and Outkast all in a row. That’s not the weirdest set, and it’s either mainstream or popular enough for people to recognize. Of course, my friends always have something to say. The music snob thinks most of the bands I like suck and will refuse to tell me why. Indie is the way to go, he says. I show him Death Cab for Cutie. He cringes and says that Circa Survive or Gray Tiles are way better indie bands, and they’re local to boot. I give him a strange look and brush him away. The Top-40 girl will think that most of the music is odd and will refuse to listen. Q102 plays the best music, she says. I tell her that Q102 only plays new music. She insists that “new music” is a genre. I get frustrated and scream. The rap fiend thinks my selection of rap is too mainstream and radio-friendly. I play Outkast specifically to make him cry. The rock fiend thinks that because I have rap, I’m not rock enough. I get sick of everyone and refuse to talk to anyone about music for the rest of my tenure at La Salle.

As bad as trying to deal with people and their odd music habits, it’s even worse when I’m trying to talk to people about sports. I am a dedicated fan of Philly teams. Thick or thin, I’m cheering for them. For whatever reason, however, I can’t really keep up with the rest of the teams in any given league. I watch SportsCenter as much as I can, but keeping track of every other team when mine is doing so badly is overwhelming. I tend to want other people’s opinions about how they see the Philly teams. The sports fanatic will spout off random stats about how the Mets have a wonderful bullpen ERA of 2.01 and how Kaz Matsui can do wonders. I’m sure that’s all true, but I didn’t ask about the Mets. To be honest, I don’t care about the Mets until they play us. So, shut up. (As a side note, same for you, golf/curling fans. I want to talk about real sports.) I get frustrated with everyone and refuse to talk to anyone about sports for the rest of my tenure in Philadelphia.

Even worse than sports, unfortunately, is politics. I am registered as a Republican, and I do carry conservative views when it comes to fiscal matters. Socially, I’m a moderate, holding to some conservative Christian values, but also holding onto other more liberal values. The conservative will interrogate me about my more liberal values, asking me why I don’t support President Bush, and what’s so wrong with owning guns? The liberal will grill me about my Christian values, asking me why abortion’s such a big deal, why God should be let back in schools and what’s the deal with small government anyway? The apathetic sits in the corner mainly because he doesn’t care.

Sometimes, I join the apathetic.

anotadoc1@lasalle.edu