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“To find love, throw a party,” wrote Opinions Editor and senior Caroline Kurt in her Oct. 16 column.
The ghost of Jay Gatsby looks on in silent agony.
We suggest an important qualification to Kurt’s argument that throwing parties can be a solution to singleness. Our disagreement lies in the distinction between two terms: to “throw” and to “host.” The editor properly represented the tact and skill behind “hosting” a party while using it interchangeably with “throwing” a party. To equate these terms is understandable, but they are markedly different.
Choosing to look for Ms. or Mr. Right at parties only makes sense if they’re the kind that are hosted.
Hosting a party requires an actual occasion to celebrate — a purpose for existing that’s beyond itself. This might be a time-honored tradition, a holiday, or an engagement. It demands real intention to curate the environment to dodge professional boozers, unbearably loud music, and the like. This creates an alarmingly tolerable atmosphere filled with people of like backgrounds, interests, or friends. It’s the type of event where fun doesn’t require guileless sensory overload. If your future spouse is at a party, he or she is at this one.
But if a student fears social pressure, blind dates, or the dreaded “campus rumor mill” so much that it prompts them to “throw” a party to find someone of the opposite sex, they simply don’t deserve to.
On Hillsdale and other college campuses, “throwing” means to put on a raucous event with little to no thought behind it, as in, “We’re throwing this weekend.” Essentials are limited to drinks, darkness, and a complete disregard for personal space — without the sting of conscience. Occasional features can reportedly include minors in possession and fraternity pledges vomiting on the neighbor’s lawn.
For those looking for love, we echo Mr. Gatsby and strongly recommend students stop “throwing” parties. Remember, old sport: Gatsby only got the girl because Nick hosted the two for tea.
Ezra Phillips is a senior studying English. Lewis Thune is a senior studying politics.
