The Art of Being Conflicted: Snooki

Two Thoughts for Tuesday

First Author - Tony Morrison

Tony Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist, editor, and professor.

1977 National Book Critics Circle Award for Song of Solomon
1977 American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award
1987-88 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award
1988 American Book Award for Beloved
1988 anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations for Beloved
1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Beloved
1989 MLA Commonwealth Award in Literature
1993 Nobel Prize for Literature
1993 Commander of the Arts and Letters, Paris
1994 Concorcet Medal, Paris
1994 Pearl Buck Award
1994 Rhegium Julii Prize for Literature
1996 Jefferson Lecture
1996 National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
2000 National Humanities Medal

Second Author - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi

attended a community college (no reference to which one)
appeared on a show called Is She Really Going Out With Him in a episode called Jerz Pud
got put into a TV series called Jersey Shore after responding to a Facebook ad
wrote a book called Snooki, A Shore Thing

What do these illustrious authors (well in Snooki's case lets say ~~trashy~~, ~~slutty~~, infamous author) have in common.

Both authors have been hired by Rutgers Univ. for speaking engagements.

Snooki appeared last Thursday evening to speak in an informal Q and A session where she imparted such nuggets of wisdom as

her version of a PHD, which is a "poof hair do"
the proper way to do a "fist bump"
Oh and the wise advice of "Study hard but party harder!".

For this she was paid .......$32,000.00

Tony Morrison, is due to speak at the university's commencement on May 15th so, I really can't say what her speech might include. I venture to guess that it will not include anything to do with fist bumping but why should she give out such detailed instruction on anything that important. Because.....

She is going to be paid $30,000.00

My two thoughts on these two authors and their two paychecks is this....

Rutgers can claim that Snooki's fee didn't come out of the school's operating budget but that still doesn't justify anything. They can also say this is a speaker that the kids wanted and Snooki is their peer. I call Bullsh***. There is NO REASON, a respected school should hire a vapid, ill behaved brat to come and speak to students. The fact that they are throwing $32,000 down the toilet to have Snooki spew her trashy philosophies is just WRONG.

Tony Morrison is being quoted in the news today that the disparity in the pay doesn't bother her at all. She is looking forward to speaking with the students. Good for her, I guess. (I think, I wouldn't take it that well)
One way to look at it, is she won't have to try very hard to have a better speech than Snooki. The bar has been set pretty low.

The Good for the day....The students at Rutgers will have a great speaker for their graduation.

The Bad for the Day....That Snooki would make that much money for being crass.

The Weird for the day....See Bad for the Day

Really I think the girl doing this parody is so much cuter than the real Snooki but she somewhat captures Nicole Polizzi's Snookiness.