Humanity is destined, whether it is our sole purpose or not, to create kinship patterns, to associate with some members of our species closer than others and to create culture along the way to help us function, then to justify our group distinctions by reasserting the symbols and norms of our imagined communities as essential proof.

But we at Sacramento State have a problem with fulfilling this destiny: We live on a “commuter” campus where, supposedly, we are too busy, too droll and too boring to create culture.

Too busy to create culture? Anyone who’s been here long enough can tell you that there is a definite culture at Sac State: a culture of apathy. We can’t stop student loans from increasing. We can’t elect anyone competent to run Associated Students , Inc. Parking sucks, our Administration sucks, the professors are okay, the Greeks are just a bunch of partying fund-suckers, there’s no communication, there’s nowhere for students to hang out and Sacramento sucks.

Is that not a history? Is that not a border that we, as a student body, have created? Aye, and a broad, boring culture with avoidant personality disorder, one safe from gossip but far from feeling, a culture that doesn’t demand that we think about our community, interact with our social environment, or question those given statements listed above.

But how can I fault our populace when we hate on our city, our school? Jesus Limon, a senior studying English, makes a great point about Sacramento’s highly touted diversity.

“It’s patches?It’s like a checkerboard. You can’t walk more than a mile (between) the suburbs (and) the ghettos,” Limon said.

To find this principle at work, just peek out of the Empire Club line and take a gander at both sides of the 16th Street light rail tracks and ponder the difference in socioeconomic status between the people who drink coffee at the Naked Lounge and the people who live across the street in those houses with weather-bleached paint. And perhaps the diversity on this campus seems as seemingly unattainable and present as our city’s reality: people are talking, but how did they meet?

Skepticism would say a pair were friends from high school, roommates, lovers?but more likely? They know each other from classes, from finding each other at a campus function, by being part of the same club or organization.

As a member of the Sac State community, Nicki Croly, a graduating senior in public relations, found that once you find a core group of friends, “It’s like a tree that expands out with its branches.”

So on the one hand, our city is like a checkerboard, and myself running with the analogy, I take it to mean that we are pieces destined to be moved by the will of another, helpless to do anything but move forward in time towards our degrees until we make it to the end, get degrees and then move along our merry ways in the job market.

On the other hand, our campus is alive, every one of those “checkers” able, if it has the will, to act as its own tree, branching out into adjacent squares, perhaps extending to reach for other pieces rather then merely attempting to move around or jump over them to reach the flat line border beyond which their opportunity for campus life is gone Our apathy is as real as our city’s, as real as our school’s infrastructural shortcomings.

In some ways, yes, we have to plod forward toward our goals, and, at times, we have to corral our time and hoof it toward an inhuman destination.

But our destinies as members of our species, to create culture, to find a niche in a very real, dynamic social environment?it’s there too. All you have to do is look up, and even if the Greek system isn’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of alternatives. Last year, there were approximately 260 official clubs and organizations on campus. It was estimated that 10,000 students participated in rec sport events. And, there must be at least 500 students who dwell on campus between 8a.m. and 5p.m.

So here’s my challenge to those of you who feel checkerboard syndrome: look up, up from the soles of your feet, and into the eyes of someone sitting next to you?in the University Union food court, in the library computer lab, in your 10:30-11:45 lecture class, and say, “Hello.” Start up a conversation.

Does it seem awkward? Sure, but it can’t be any more awkward than resigning yourself to social seclusion.

Be brave enough to find out if someone as busy as you has the same interests, and perhaps, we, the supposedly avoidant, helpless drones of Sac State, can prove that we can interact like humans do.

Because no, we can’t solve the socio-economic grid that defines our city’s borders, but our university has such potential for life?only it is our job, if we choose to accept it.

Then maybe you can move on to find the gems in the city of Sacramento itself?ahhh, but that’s another article. I’m afraid I’ve said too much already.

Frank Loret de Mola can be reached at [email protected]