My parents wanted me to major in computer science. They told me that it was “practical,” that I would be making money right out of college, and I might even like it. And they were probably right.
However, I chose to pursue a degree in American literature and culture, with the ultimate goal of eventually becoming a filmmaker.
I joined the Daily Bruin not because I wanted to be a member of the staff of UCLA’s official news source. I didn’t join for our readers; I was selfish and joined for myself.
But what started as dedication to my own passions of writing and film (I got to write about film ““ awesome!) eventually became a yearning to educate the UCLA community.
My educational interests have manifested themselves at UCLA in many forms, but the Daily Bruin Arts & Entertainment section provided an outlet for me to grant validity to a part of my life which is often unappreciated: the arts.
We call a university an academic institution. And, as a society, we don’t count the arts among the respected academic disciplines.
“Those are the art students,” we chide. “What are they doing for the world?”
Most of us do not understand the value of an arts education. We view an art exhibit, dance class, or movie as something fun to do on the weekends. But I am here to say that the arts ““ from music, to painting, to film ““ have been a formative element of who I am today. My relationship with artistic expression may not directly benefit my society, but I am fulfilling an obligation to express myself as a human.
Art grants us an alternative sense of perception. Unlike physics or linguistics, art allows us to discover, sense and interpret.
The arts, unlike any academic discipline, teach us about ourselves and the world we live in. We are not delving into books, but delving into our minds, our thought processes, our emotions.
Personal growth and intellectual growth sit hand and hand. Intelligence is not only the protraction of knowledge, but the ability to achieve comfort with who you are. And the college experience doesn’t intend for us to memorize the textbooks and continue on our merry way; college is a time of self-realization. I pity those who every day turn away from opportunity and continue up Bruin Walk with an empty stare.
Those who have experienced the arts at UCLA have perhaps learned less about research studies and writing technique, but have learned more about who they are as people in an ever-evolving society.
I may not be an art student, but UCLA has let me be an artist ““ both as a practitioner and connoisseur.
I have watched the performances, visited the museums, and even taken the classes.
And I hope because of our work here in A&E, you have done the same.
Dickau was the 2006-2007 Arts & Entertainment Film&TV editor.