Though the room was divided on exactly how we each felt about the subject, there were several objections to this notion, and I must say that I agree with them fully. This is not coming from an internal belief that our country must always be number one. Rather it comes from the idea that competition breeds excellence and that a victorious camaraderie can establish bonds that last a lifetime.

Have you ever wondered why some war veterans or famous sports teams meet on a yearly basis? The experience of battle, stained with sweat and blood, forms a tight-nit fraternal bond among its participants that cannot be extinguished by the hands of time. These collective experiences bind teammates together, ensuring that they will never be alone in their memories.

Winning is not everything, but excellence recognized is eternal for those lucky enough to experience it. If you have the ability to savor a win with those that you earned it with, it only gets sweeter.

I do not think that it is a coincidence that we as a country recognize the soldiers of WWII as the “greatest generation,” while many Vietnam Vets have struggled with acceptance and recognition since their unceremonious return from home.

From WWII to the Miracle on Ice and the focus on World Cup soccer the past two years (men’s and women’s), America invests their time in idolizing winners. Is this a bad thing?  While an obsession can be dangerous, humanity has a natural disposition to root for the winner.  Were Romans known for their mercy towards the weaker gladiators or celebrating the loser?

While we should not take pleasure in another person’s loss, we must look to Darwin to finally put this to rest.  Life is a survival test of the fittest, and we should all strive to be the best that we can. There are many ways to be successful in this world and we should encourage the talents that lie dormant in everyone, not focus on whether people may or may not have their feelings hurt by losing.

Seven years ago, this was a dramatic shift in the landscape of collegiate athletics. For better or worse, the shift of those three schools triggered an acceptance of major schools freely switching conferences. Just last year saw two schools leave the legendary Big 12, Nebraska (for the Big 10) and Colorado (for the new Pac 12). Smaller perennial powerhouses Utah and Boise State also switched conferences, and recently Texas A&M is attempting to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

With the announcements last week that Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Texas were considering leaving the Big 12, and that Syracuse and Pittsburgh are moving to the ACC, there is little doubt that collegiate athletic competition will look quite different in the near future.  Before, there were six major conferences that have almost always represented the NCAA in championship games. But with the suspected dissolution of the Big East and Big 12 looming, we are entering a period where there will instead be four major conferences of up to 16 teams each.

This represents a changing of the guard in competition, where it will be even more difficult to reach championships if you do not belong to the ACC, Pac 12, Big 10, and SEC because of the strength of schedule and recruiting/marketing capabilities such mega-conferences will generate. To some fans, it will surely signal the end of traditional competition, where everyone starts the year 0-0 with a chance to run the table and hoist the champion’s trophy.

However, for those 50 or so teams in the new mega-conferences, life is about to get even better. More money, more prospects, and more television exposure await the schools that join, as the area they cover will encompass more of the country than ever before. The ACC is poised to control the entire eastern seaboard, the SEC the entire south and Texas, the Big Ten the Midwest, and the Pac 12 the entire western portion of the country.

While traditionalists will surely dismiss these re-alignments as greedy power plans by large, money hungry universities, I do think that it is important to look forward to the increased level of exposure and competition that could result from the joining of such storied programs.

“Well, Jonathan, do you consider this to be art on the same level as other novels we’ve read this semester?”

Damn.

Other than the use of catchy academic buzzwords in classroom settings and the wanton use of barely understood psycho-babble in evaluation of everything, this question has plagued me since my high school art and poetry classes.

My response? A carefully measured one, I assure you, dear readers. While I may have had to vent uncontrollably to The Roommate and The Roommate’s girlfriend later that evening for nearly half an hour, I tried to remain objective in the face of adversity.

“Well, honestly, I don’t know if I have the right to determine what art is for other people. There’s art that I connect with and may identify as such, but someone else may not share that viewpoint. To me, art should be accessible to as many people as it can, and that connection between the viewers and the object providing that connection is what art is.”

I sat back in my over-reclining desk chair in the hellish basement conference room that is Scobey 026, heart-pounding, hoping to see minor nods of at least sympathy on my peers’ faces. I was not to receive much love from that room.

“So, you don’t know art, but you know what you like, is that what you’re saying, Jonathan?” The professor then chuckled a signature laugh and smiled.

Hell, I set him right up for that joke. I should feel a little ashamed. While I understand the point of view that there are different forms of art (high, low, folk, period, etc.), I began to say to myself, “wait a minute.” While there may be elevated language or images in some artistic expression, I don’t think art has to be snobbish.

Manet or Lichtenstein, Monet or Warhol. It seems to me to be like Bourbon and Champagne for connoisseurs, because the Bourbon producers in Kentucky have an expression, “There’s no bad Bourbon, only better Bourbons.” Sommeliers agree that when it comes to bubbly, it’s all about personal preference of the senses.

So if spirits can be relegated to personal tastes, when many around the globe view them as an art unto themselves, why not other art we encounter? While no one is going to pick up a Harlequin romance or a Backstreet Boys album and proclaim, “This is high art,” I think that many of us in the field can keep our own standards relatively high, while making art more accessible to people.

Just imagine, you didn’t start out with Shakespeare and Chaucer, or Beethoven or Mozart. Nope, you started with Dr. Seuss and some weird guy covering Beatles’ tunes. While I’m not suggesting we infantilize others to bring them up to our level of literary analysis, I do think that a wider range of acceptance of what we consider valuable artistic source material could garner greater enthusiasm for what we all love so much, and want to protect and nurture.

It’s been said, “Art is subjective, and means something different to every single person on earth.”

So I ask you, what is art?

Jonathan is a graduate student studying English. Reach him at jonathan.willett@sdstate.edu

While there was a significant amount of people there from all walks of life, it was not difficult to move about and explore all the different cultural varieties of food. I attempted to try something from every different nationality’s table, and was not disappointed by any of the food I was lucky enough to taste. I would have to say that my personal favorites were the Chicken Tikka and Semosas I had at the Indian booths; their sauces really made the experience special.

Some of the tables were remarkably authentic in their presentations of the food, while some left a little to be desired, or seemed a little confused in their message. The “Friends of America” booth was interesting in their food selection, offering a variety of treats from Vietnam and Mexico that included egg rolls, spring rolls, and tortilla de patatas.

Finally, I just wanted to acknowledge that while the Festival of Cultures may not be the most elaborate, 100 percent authentic cultural experience that some may have experienced, for many people, it is a great opportunity to test the waters of something different without the fear of immersion that keeps so many away. So I ask you, try something new when the situation presents itself. Don’t ask yourself, “how long has that been sitting out?” or “why is that thing brown?” Instead consider yourself fortunate that you can instead inquire, “I wonder what that tastes like?”