A Non-Traditional Student

Wanna-be politicians are in almost every college class, but in my Mass Media & Society course, there's an attendee who... well, is a politician.

Colorado state representative Mark Cloer sits in the front of my Communications class at the instructor's left flank. Until we went around the class giving name/major/year-in-college introductions, no one knew who the hell he was. So it's not like having Ted Kennedy in my class, but I am thankful for that always having been the case.

Now, I wanted to write about this a couple weeks ago, but I forgot the man's name. This week I was reminded thanks to the large print on the stylish tote bag he carries around.

Rep. Cloer certainly has a sense of humor. Not that he ever says anything funny, but rather if you direct a corrupt-politician stereotype at him, he laughs instead of maybe hurling his tote at you. He had put up his best laughing for a recent class discussion in which the centerpiece was a debate exclusively between himself and instructor Sharon Peters, former editior of the Colorado Springs Gazette.

"The news media presents positive and negative stories with equal frequency -- it's just that people remember more of the negative stories," said the former newspaper editor.

"No, the media loves negativity because that's what sells, especially stories on political figures," said the politician.

"This is kind of surreal," said the rest of the class to themselves.

The man really sticks out in this class, which is actually unusual considering my college. UCCS is agreeably a commuter school with more than its share of older attendees, but in this particular Mass Media class the seats are mostly filled with typical Abercrombie-clad, WB-addicted(excuse me -- CW-addicted) Communications students. One would see this as the 38-year-old politician's opportunity to get hip with the kids, you know, see what's cool with the young voters, but so far we see him as a real L-7 square, daddio. You can feel the energy in the room just drop with a groan whenever he raises his hand.

Oh, great, Cloer wants to talk again.

Again, he isn't a disagreeable guy by any means, but he's one of those, you know: having something to say about everything without ever seeming opinionated, which doesn't go over well in this setting. All I'm saying is that Rep. Cloer would have to leave the class if it came to a vote.