The McCollumn - 2/25: Turn off the iPod; there's work to be done

What wonderfully superficial problems we here in the first world have.

I set out this week to write a column about the battles with my iPod, how picking the music on there and trying to have the focus to stay on one song until its completion requires more effort than you would think.

But, as I re-read my frantic writing, I thought, “I sound so stupid. This is worthy of a column? This is what you’re concerned about?”

For some of us, namely folks my age, sadly, yes.

We are so seldom able to remove ourselves from our own self-importance to take notice of the goings-on around us.

Revolutions have ousted dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.

Colonel Gaddafi is calling for all-out war against his citizens to try and cling to power in Libya.

China and Iran are moving quickly to stamp out dissidents spurred by the actions of revolutionaries in other countries, attempting to maintain their stranglehold on the status quo for their regimes.

On the home front, we face record budget deficits and an economic downturn that doesn’t seem to be moving upward any time soon.

Even here in Opelika, we aren’t immune to the bad economy, as just last week I heard some friends of the family were having to go through foreclosure proceedings on their house.

But, hey, it’s not my problem.

I’m too busy trying to figure out what songs to keep or cull on my iPod, wondering if I should upgrade to a unit with more storage capacity so I won’t have to make that decision any more.

As often as I attack the generation directly below mine for their self-centeredness and lack of awareness about the world around them, I realize I’m just as guilty as they are, if not more so.

They don’t seem to know any better. I should.

As someone who’s always prided myself on knowing things and having information, I’ve certainly done a great job lately of not caring at all.

I know just enough about major issues to get by, skating around with vague statements and platitudes until I can shift the conversation back to a field where I have stronger footing.

It’s shameful, but I know I’m not the only one who does it.

One of the great benefits of living in the “Digital Age” is that information is readily available to us whenever we need it in almost any place.

With the advent of wireless internet, we can use our phones to get news and weather updates, making sure we stay abreast of the goings-on in the world around us.

Instead, we more often use these devices to update our Facebook status or tweet some amusing anecdote or comment on Twitter.

We declare war on pigs in our Angry Birds game.

Or, we just turn on some music and let the world become a part of the background as we listen to our self-developed life soundtrack.

For a generation that was told we had such promise and greatness within us, we certainly haven’t done much with it.

We’re self-important. We’re lazy. We’re good with excuses, but horrible with results.

Is it informational overload that’s done us in? By having so much at our disposal, do we simply shut down and do nothing because we can’t process it all? Possibly.

But, I think that’s the easy way out and keeps us from accepting blame for our actions.

We must do a better job of keeping in touch with the world we live in, for our sake and for those who may come after us.

We must use these new social networking tools (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) for more than just remembering birthdays and posting what we had for lunch.

We have the ability to connect with people around the world, a way to try and affect some change for good.

We have to use that power. We must fulfill the promise those generations before us saw in us and rise to the challenges we’ve been given.

Social responsibility should be our watchword, trying to find a way to help our local communities and the global community in whatever ways we can.

If my generation could just get off their collective butts and do something, I know we are capable of great things.

We just need the motivation and reason to do it.

The world is hurting right now. Name an issue; there’s work to be done.

It’s time to step up and do something, folks.

What are you going to do?

McCollumn Classic III: Saturdays at the Cottage Cafe

(Author's note: This column ran in the Opelika Observer last March, in celebration of the Cafe's 10th Anniversary. )

A rather important anniversary managed to slip by me a few weeks ago, one that actually has had a fairly significant role in my life.

Ten years ago in February, the Cottage Café opened for business at 817 South Railroad Avenue.

Almost every Saturday since then, I’ve worked up at the Café, performing the same sandwich-making tasks tens of thousands of times over my tenure there.

A revolving cast of characters have always been on hand with me those days, each of them bringing different skill sets and personalities to the table with them.

The original Saturday crew consisted of Mary Louise Gore, Mallory Drake and me. At times, we bickered and squabbled, as middle schoolers tend to do, but we somehow managed to successfully run a small café ourselves (with a small amount of occasional assistance from Homer and Tim when necessary).

As the business began to grow, so did we, and my old crew moved on to other, more interesting employment.

The faces may change, owners may come and go, but the atmosphere and feel of the place has stayed roughly the same.

Much of this continuity has been the work of our well-loved manager, Pat Hamby.

She is undoubtedly the glue that holds our ragtag little group of misfits together and her workhorse spirit and energy is admirable.

I’m not entirely certain she isn’t part robot with the amount of tasks she’s able to undertake in a morning.

I’m several years her junior and she has the energy levels of three of me.

There were a few instantly forgettable seasonal employees that worked there after the departures of Gore and Drake, but none stand out until Amanda Phillips stepped on to the scene.

We’d known each other since childbirth and she automatically both understood and accepted my natural affinity for insane comments.

I tolerated her being an Alabama fan.

It was a partnership that worked exceedingly well, until Amanda decided to head to Atlanta for culinary school.

While I was sad to see her leave, I’m anxious to see her hone her culinary skills to higher levels, if only so I can say there was a time when I worked in the same kitchen as Chef Amanda.

Following Phillips’ tenure, weekday Café veterans Barbara Ann Lutrell and Nicole Baggett generally have been alternating Saturdays, providing our regular customers with a bit of intrigue and mystery as they wonder what poor girl has to work with Cliff this week.

As much as I’ve complained about being forced into “indentured servitude” over the years, I generally find myself quite lost on Saturdays when I don’t work.

I’m a horrible creature of habit, and Saturday at the Café is an ever-present part of my life.

I enjoy getting to see our regulars every week, getting to talk to Mama Campbell and Brittany, Ms. Lindsey and Becca or Ruth and Ross about how bowling went this week.

In fact, Ruth’s order is written on the side of the fridge in case I am MIA one week. She has a very specific order, and we aim to please.

Outside of Bulldog Stadium, the “prayer bench” in the Café is one of my favorite places to read, and woe be unto the person who thinks it’s a good idea to take the high chair with my book sitting on it.

For 10 years, the Cottage Café has been a monolith in my life.

Here’s to 10, folks, and hundreds more.

The McCollumn - 2/4: Keep sports in perspective

I’ve never really been a sports fan. Many of you know this.

That’s why this column should be taken for what it is: an outsider’s perspective.

I don’t speak football. I barely know the difference between quarterback and halfback. I don’t know the difference between halfback and fullback.

I enjoy the social aspects of the game, the camaraderie and the joys of fandom.

This week brought us National Signing Day, the day when high school athletes ink the deals that will send them to college to bring gridiron glory and fame.

ESPN has full coverage of the event, even broadcasting the signing of some of the top-shelf recruits across the nation.

Sports fans remain glued to their favorite blogs or Twitter, waiting to find out what fresh blood will be brought in to help save/rebuild/continue their football program’s legacy of excellence and victories.

These young athletes have worked hard for these 15 minutes of fame (or 2.5 in today’s fast-paced news world), putting in hours of training and practice in order to get to where they are.

I don’t begrudge them for wanting to put on a show or have a bit of fanfare. We all like to be noticed.

But, I still can’t shake the feeling that this little ritual is intensely stupid and could actually be harmful.

By feeding the egos of these young athletes, we feed them the idea that celebrity and attention is a part of being an athlete.

We perpetuate the hero worship of these young men for their ability to catch a ball and run (or stop someone from running with their bulk), not for their good deeds or works in their communities, not for their academic successes and not for their humanity or who they are as a person.

Their existence, who they are, gets boiled down to the sport, the position they play.

The mantle of “student athlete” covers all manner of sins, as the fandom will let you get away with almost anything you want.

Want to grope women in a bar? Why not? You’re an athlete; women are a part of the spoils of victory.

Don’t’ have time to study for a test? Don’t worry; we’ve got tutors and researchers here to help you study (or just do the work for you … and don’t be naïve enough to think that isn’t what often happens).

How on earth is this seen as a good thing?

I wonder honestly how people can act surprised when they complain about the egos of professional athletes, the behaviors that they engage in and broadcast.

We allow it to happen by feeding the egos at a young age, especially here in the South.

Athletics, not academics, rule schools. Your school might have a leaky roof and computers from the late Reagan era, but if your football team makes the playoffs, well, by God, you’re doing okay.

Athletics should be but one part of a well-rounded education.

We can’t neglect the education part of the school experience.

We have to celebrate our scholars and creative students as much as we celebrate our sports stars.

Show me the signing ceremony of the kid that gets a full ride to school on an academic scholarship.

Broadcast the young people whose artistic abilities or singing skills are giving them the chance to attend college, too.

Those kids are lucky to get a short two-paragraph blurb in the local newspaper, much less national press coverage.

Throwing the pigskin around on Saturdays isn’t going to cure cancer, but that kid on the academic scholarship may.

Blocking that punt may win the big game, but our art student may find some new way to show us a view of human experience we’ve never seen before.

Football is fun and it provides us an escape from our boring lives for a while.

But, at the end of the day, it’s just a game.

Why don’t we give it the attention that a game deserves and focus on what really matters?

People matter. Games do not.