My favorite things: The Husky remix

For this last column before winter break [HTML_REMOVED] a finale of sorts [HTML_REMOVED] I thought it fitting to compile a Seinfeld-series-finale-esque column. No, not with a Kramer racial tirade, but rather with a collage of the great stuff that has helped me get to this point. Without further ado, then, here is a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic adapted for college.

(Sung to "My Favorite Things" [HTML_REMOVED] you know, the one that goes "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens"...)

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Camping for DawgPack and tearing down goalposts

Taunting the Cougars as bad Apple Cup hosts

Volleyball champions bringing home rings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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A-S-U-(Dub) feuds and views of Rainier

Protesting injustice and slipping in Red Square

Foucault and Plato and democracies with kings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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When the Dawgs lose

When the Cougs win

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things,

And then I don't feel so bad.

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Practical progressives with visions for change

Olympia politics bringing tuition in range

Learning to give thanks to all the UW brings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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Stephen Colbert gags and Jon Stewart Bush-bashing

Sunday New York Times and Drumheller dive rashing

Dunked on by B-Roy and IMA swings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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Thaiger Room takeout and sweet Teriyaki

Caf[HTML_REMOVED] Allegro with Fair Trade iced coffee

Ice cream at The Mix after hot, spicy wings.

These are a few of my favorite things.

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Awkward first days and sleepless finals weeks

Frisbee in the Quad and mocking drunk Greeks

My first apartment with bad poker night stings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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Sunsets with girlfriends in faraway places

Bullshitting essays and dorm kids with braces

Freedom from parents, and sorority flings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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Study abroad and adventures with gypsies

Inspiring lectures by victims of atrocities.

Parallel parking without making dings

These are a few of my favorite things.

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When the Dawgs lose

When the Cougs win

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things,

And then I don't feel so bad.

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Please forgive the lyrics and non-entirely-true-to-the-original format, but the point stands: As students at this premier institution, we have infinite opportunities that most of the world can only envy from a distance. We tend to victimize ourselves when we fall behind in homework or return home dejected from a fourth quarter meltdown. But our plight as university students is no more than a new learning experience, shaping us to be all that we can be with daily challenges.

Hope is on the way for our generation of cynics [HTML_REMOVED] and it comes in the form of you and me. We can do great things with our shot at saving this planet and even making it better, but first we must prepare with a meaningful education. That's why we're here at the UW. The next step will be to do everything we can with the skills and knowledge that we are accruing.

It will be a difficult challenge to protect the many things that we love, as many obstacles lie ahead for us to overcome as a community. The problem, however, is not that we have so little power to defeat them. Rather, the problem is that we don't use the power that we have.

Enjoy your time at the UW, but also accept your responsibility to become an upstanding member of the world community. As you prepare over the break for another quarter, remember all the reasons you have to strive for success.

Columnist Ben Golden: bengolden@thedaily.washington.edu