Heyo illustrious soft-mores! I just wanted to hop on here to brag about how I just made the most important decision of my life—declaring a concentration! Boy, was this hard! Some people will claim that other life decisions are harder: whether or not to take grandma off life support, or if you should pull the lever so that a speeding trolley will kill your mom instead of seven strangers. But they’re wrong. Declaring a concentration is without a doubt the hardest choice you’ll ever make. Now that I’ve made it to the other side of this hero’s journey, I’m here to tell you six reasons why I finally settled on a special concentration in Lin-Manuel Miranda studies:
1. TDM wasn’t enough. I wanted more theater. I wanted more dance. I wanted more Lin-Manuel. And above all, I wanted more Miranda. The seminal work and godly individual that encompasses the being that is Mr. Miranda is T, D, M and so much more. It’s time to think bigger. It’s time to think LMM.
2. A hero for our time. You ask: why do I devote myself to the study of, about, and around Lin-Manuel Miranda? I answer: who has had more cultural impact? Who has offended more while also trying so hard not to offend? Who used the word love no less than eight times in one (1) sentence and yet is so gleefully hated? He’s the true Anti-hero (Taylor Swift reference (((wink)))
3. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. To that end, like my passion for the theatre, this guy just doesn’t quit. I appreciate the rollercoaster ride of will-he won’t-he be canceled in any given week. Is he problematic? Ahahahaha. Baby, I live to problematize.
4. On that note, he’s getting stronger. We need to be ready.
5. An untalented genius. It’s about damn time the mediocre singers of the high school drama club had their moment to shine. Can I get a woop woop? And let's hear it for the sound cloud rappers! The most visionary composer, lyricist, and historian of the great year 2015 is just like the rest of us — fundamentally unable to make pleasant noises with our mouths!!
6. It’s been SEVEN years and you still know every word to his lil founding father raps. I guarantee it. A lil experiment: Pardon me, are you Aaron ....
Burr, sir? See. You still got it.
7. What is culture anyway? In this essay I will
Like what you hear? Well come check it out for yourself! I’m pleased to announce three years in advance that my special concentration will culminate in a ten hour self-scripted, self-actualized, self-centered adaptation of the life of Lin-Manuel Miranda as experienced through the complete discography of one Mr. Lin-Manuel Miranda. You will come. You will hate it. You will feel obligated to congratulate me anyway.
Image Credit: The Harvard Gazette