Modern Love

I initially was not going to enter the New York Times' "Modern Love" essay contest. In my experience with their last one, I feel that they picked a pretentious, abstract, self-consciously philosophical and trite essay over the many other thoughtful and personal entries (including my own!). I figured that this would be no different...until I read some examples of the Modern Love column, which I had never heard of before, and found many touching, humorous and very personal pieces. A particular one I liked was written by someone exactly my age about being a gay man who goes to prom with female friends as a favor. He balanced sharing his own experiences in detail--my favorite moment was getting eyed oddly by the florist for buying so many corsages--with commenting on high school society in general, homophobia and the innate awkwardness involved in every pubescent social situation. I read parts of it out loud to my roommate, a gay man, and we had a long talk about his high school experiences at prom and elsewhere. I knew this piece was good because it made me want to discuss it and ask questions, and it also proved an opportunity to learn more about the man with whom I share a tiny dorm room.

The other essays came from equally unique perspectives. One horrifically detailed what it's like to date as a bipolar person. Another talked about a bipartisan marriage. My only worry in attempting to write my own is that, as a straight, white, upper-middle class college student, my perspective isn't unique enough to merit the gracious attention of the all-mighty Times.