Let me get serious for a second.

Over the course of a long while, I have submitted a bunch of columns whose quality has varied greatly (in my opinion, get it).  

I have tried to cultivate this persona that exists in this strange juxtaposition of being not at all representative of who I am but, at the same time, still expressing my opinions. 

I have done it mostly for laughs because I feel as though I do not truly have any strong opinions about subjects I would be comfortable writing about for the public.  

That is not to say that I do not have stances on serious matters because I ABSOLUTELY do; I just feel as though it is not my place to write about them.  

I am by no means a journalist, that much should have been clear from the get-go. But there are a lot of people at The News that are, and I find myself asking:  

Does writing as I do cheapen their more serious pieces?  

If an issue of the paper covers a serious matter (as it most often does), is it worth trying to be funny in order to mix up the formula? Is it my place to do so when my investment starts and ends with the one day a week I submit a column? The truth of the matter is that I have no clue. 

I have almost never written on-topic for an issue of The News. It is not out of malice or contempt that I do so; I just find that I am often terrified of talking about serious topics because I am a moron whose only real ability is spouting nonsense.  

My columns have dipped in quality, in my opinion, because I often have to force myself into adopting some kind of stupid, wacky opinion in order to maintain the aforementioned persona I have crafted. 

But who is that for?   

Sure, my columns may get a laugh or two and I know that some people really enjoy them (humble brag). There are so many people who look to the paper for current events and coverage of the goings-on around campus and my idiotic columns about pita and crosswalks do little to contribute to that. 

On the other hand, would another weekly column steeped in contemporary issues do anything more than what my current style does?  

Mine is just a single voice with no real authority or expertise; my commentary on current issues would pale in comparison to that of my peers because I am just a mind-numbingly boring individual. 

I am sure that next week I will have some kind of nonsensical, rambling column for you to enjoy, hate, or barely notice.  This week, however, I wanted to ask that titular question to both myself and to you: is it worth trying to be funny?  

Writing for The News has proved cathartic in a lot of ways.  I finally get to write in the conversational manner in which I speak without having to cite any pesky sources or otherwise engage in academic writing.  

As a grad student at the end of his rope, you have no idea how freeing writing stupid things has been.  

But what does it do? Does it actually break up the monotony and dryness of your day? Does it get you out of your head for a split second and make you forget that the world is steeped in REAL wackiness and absurdity and not the good kind? 

If so, then I would say, without a doubt, it is worth trying to be funny. Maybe that is too big a task for a 450 word column in a weekly college newspaper, but I figure that I have got nothing to lose in trying.  

See you next week. 

Will Padgett is an English graduate student. He can be reached at [email protected] or 217-581-2812.