Memoirs of a couch potato

Whose idea of college came from “A Different World”?
Freedom from parents, spacious rooms, endless activities on campus and lasting relationships with the boys and girls was the dream “A Different World” provided for the millions of viewers every week. They made HBCUs and campus living seem like the ultimate experience.
I envisioned myself being Whitley Gilbert, excellently played by Jasmine Guy, who came to Hillman College with the hopes of finding the pleasures her family once had as college students. Slightly less naïve and a softer Southern accent, I came to the university with the theme song in my head.
Then I moved into Boley Hall.
Even though Marisa Tomei played Maggie Lauten for one season, she was an important part of the cast. Maggie represented the two percent of non-blacks who attend HBCUs for whatever reasons. Just look at the staff at the DIGEST.
“World” also tackled the under appreciated student: the non-traditional student. In almost every class, there is that one student who is a little more mature than the rest of us. Jaleesa Vinson (Dawnn Lewis) was that person. I loved how she was on Denise Huxtable’s (Lisa Bonet) case about fees, grades and finances. Although I thought it was very awkward that she would have been allowed to live in the dorms when she was over the twenty-something age limit. But then again, it is television.
But “World” did not just tackle life on campus. In one episode, Whitley goes to the mall in search of a birthday present for her mother. When she enters the jewelry store, the white clerk makes comments on Whitley’s inability to pay for it in cash. She also follows Whitley around the store to make sure she does not “steal” anything.
When Winifred ‘Freddie’ Brooks (Cree Summer) convinces Whitley to take the jewelry back, Whitley finally realizes that money may buy a lot of things, but it does not buy the respect of white folks, even though it is the late 1980s.
I was a little disappointed in the male choices for the show. In essence, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), Ronald Johnson (Darryl Bell), Col. Bradford Taylor (Glynn Turman), Coach Walter Oakes (Sinbad) and Vernon Gaines (Lou Myers) did not show what the general male on an HBCU campus looks like. Not every man on campus is as clean cut as Ron and Dwayne.
In all, the show made me realize that college is really a mini melting pot. There are people who solely depend financial aid like Kimberly Reese (Charnele Brown) and there are some who come to college because it is their only option, Jada Pinkett (Lena James). It is not really a different world. And in the years following my graduation, I hope that I will only remember my college days like episodes of “A Different World.”