Cheer up, Emo Kid!: Or how I learned to despise these workshop titles.

There are many things that higher education professionals do that piss me off. The first thing that comes to mind is that many professionals often try too hard to connect with students by using references to pop culture. These higher education professionals, are my people, BUT they need to know when the line has been crossed. I am looking forward to visiting the District at the end of this month when I attend the national ACPA conference. I love to plan ahead when it comes to scheduling the workshops that I will attend. This is what irked me yesterday as I was planning my workshop schedule for ACPA:

Cheer-Up, Emo Kid! Working with the New, Emotional Student

Monday, March 30, 2009 
5:45 PM - 6:45 PM
Gaylord National, National Harbor 14

What’s up with the tight black jeans, dyed black hair, and black eyeliner? What’s with these bands with names like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy being so popular? Have you noticed a growing population of emotional or “emo” students on your campus? Join our roundtable discussion where we will explore the historical significance of this pop-culture phenomenon and discuss best practices available for understanding our students and how we can positively impact their college experience.

I know what you must be thinking, "Oh know they didn't!". Those were my thoughts exactly! How dare they refer to the bands My Chemical Romance and FALL OUT BOY as emo!!! The coordinating presenter is a Res Life person from Coker College in South Carolina and his co-presenter is a person from Arkansas. There presenters have shamed the genre of emo by associating it with a faux-goth-rock band and the biggest tool-bags that ever picked up a musical instrument. Bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, Texas is the Reason, The Promise Ring and even the brotastic, Dashboard Confessional must be like, wtf?

Another thing that I am quite bothered by is the reference to tight jeans and this new trend in "emotional" students. Through my ethnographic research from my freshmen year in collge until now, I have always noticed emotional students. I have had emotional roommates. I was even referred to as "emo" by my peers when I was the first in my undergraduate experience to wear a wrist band for non-recreational purposes. Why is this a roundtable discussion at a national conference?

I am quite bothered when professionals in my field try too hard to relate to students. Granted, these presenters are from the South and are probably frightened of these little scene kids that are appearing on their college campuses. Their hearts would stop if they ever decided to visit my campus, as they would be overwhelmed with tight jeans, the color black, and a very unconventional student body who opposes the "mainstream". Hell, these presenters may see Portland as a utopia for all things they consider "emo".

I will take this fight to DC where "emo" was born out of the hardcore scene in the mid-1980s. I will be at this roundtable discussion to defend these "emo" students, my music, my profession and to provide a little Left Coast insight to this discussion.

To be continued...