By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
Welcome back again, Penguins. What a time for us to be the Penguins, am I right? Whether you even sojourned through the blizzard onto campus this week or you’re reading this from the comfort of your warm homes, welcome back. Let’s make this semester “lit,” as the youngsters say.
I know you may be wondering, “What did you do over winter break, Matt Sotlar?” My reply? Not much. What is there to do when it’s freezing cold and there’s snow and ice everywhere? Sit back and write, and that’s what I did. I wrote this column in the middle of a snowstorm.
Having an entire month off, I had plenty of time to explore a lot more diverse genres of music. I didn’t listen to just a few albums, I dug deep. All types of artists too — Scritti Politti, Joy Division, Aztec Camera, Big Country, Visage, anything I could get my hands on. The weirder, the better.
How were the holidays? They were okay. We all get to a certain point in our lives where holidays are a little less magical than when we were young. I enjoyed Christmas. I got plenty of nice gifts and a fair deal of money, but it wasn’t as fun as it used to be.
I went far and wide over winter break, from New Castle, Pennsylvania all the way to Lisbon. What a worldly, scholarly man I am. I also had to stop and get new winter tires before the start of the semester. An expensive investment, but it’s worth not skidding off into a ditch.
I did plenty of reading over the break. If you did not know, I am a huge fan of horror and thrillers, especially old horror like H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood and Ambrose Bierce — all of which are perfect names for cats.
Now, we are in a new semester. We are in a new year, with new opportunities for success. I say we should all seize this opportunity and use it to our advantage. We only have one New Year’s Day, and we all make baseless resolutions out of societal pressure, but how many people can say they followed their resolutions?
I know you all don’t want another pep talk from Coach Matt. Well, guess what? You’re getting another pep talk.
This is 2025, the Year of the Snake. Chinese symbology notes that snakes are courageous and intelligent creatures. Now, while this may sound wrong, act like snakes this year.
Learn something new, take a chance and be daring. You only live once, make the most of it. Those were all posters my computer teacher hung up in her classroom in high school. Why do I remember them? I never paid a lot of attention in computer class.
More than likely, we’ll have one more column by me this year. Who knows how 2025 will go? All we can do is hope for the best and above all, be our best.
