If you are young and reading this - meaning that you are perhaps a) an idealist b) a Penn student and c) well versed in the works of such Revolutionaries of Ghandi, Ch‚, and now Bono (or sort of versed, you at least know who they are to the extent of identifying them on a poster in one of your friend's room) - chances are you are at some point going to attend a political rally, protest, or heated conversation at 3, 4, or 5 in the morning, catalyzed by some pernicious sort of drink or herbal supplement.
Chances are you have thrown around words like 'Iraq,' and 'Bush,' and chances are you have not been talking about stones and short shrubbery. Chances are other such phrases as 'if only,' 'Gore,' and 'no s*&@! inconvenient,' were involved. Maybe you even speak in symbols.
Chances are you have noticed your friends sporting clothing called 'citizens of humanity,' and 'free people.' This may come as a shock to you since you are less confident in your ability to find your own 'true religion.' Perhaps you are even wondering how spending $250 dollars on a pair of jeans makes you a member of the brotherhood (or sisterhood to be P.C.)of (wo)man.
Chances are you have noticed that the actual price of those jeans (all seven of them) for all mankind may actually equal the per capita GDP of some less globally minded fellow citizens of humanity in say, the Sudan. And you are curious as to whether all of humanity can afford such prices for clothing (but they really do fit better than regular jeans, really). But maybe you have seen the facebook.com group called 'For Every 1,000 that join this group I will donate $1 for Darfur,' with its 478,833 group members (aka $478.83) and maybe you are even a member and because of you 1/10 of a penny is going to a war-torn region.
Perhaps you listen to the Velvet Underground, or you have it on your iTunes at least, and thank god for shuffle, right? Right?
Keep in mind, this is all figurative, metaphorical, theoretical, hypothetical, probably a simile or some other literary device that no one outside of the English department really understands. This week Street takes a look into (in)activism here at Penn and whether the croc totin', Bono lovin', pot smokin', liberals here are really what they claim to be. In other words. viva la revoluci¢n!
