Daily Lobo spotlight

Sean Placencio

Sophomore

English

Daily Lobo: What's your favorite part about the first day of school?

Sean Placencio: I don't know. I always say to myself, "I'm going to do so good at the beginning of the semester," and then I just dick off and get a B. I'm always so optimistic. That's the best part, the optimism.

DL: What causes you to lose the optimism?

SP: Oh, homework, and me just not doing it anymore and not remembering how difficult it is from the semester before.

DL: What kind of classes are you taking this year?

SP: English, literature, stuff like that.

DL: So you like to read?

SP: Yeah, absolutely.

DL: Who's your favorite author?

SP: Currently its Chuck Palahniuk.

DL: What do you like about him?

SP: They're just incredibly bizarre stories, and none of them have a satisfactory ending. I like that.

DL: Why do you like that?

SP: Because stuff really doesn't end. At the end of a book, the guy's not dead usually. So, technically, there's no such thing as an ending. That's kind of what I like about him. You could totally write a book about it, like a sequel. But he just kind of leaves you wondering what's going to happen.

DL: You don't like having a sense of closure?

SP: No. Nothing ever ends.

DL: What experiences have you had in your life like that?

SP: Well, I'm still alive. So, there's going to be a tomorrow with stuff to do. I have class in a few minutes. So, nothing really ever ends. School seems like it will never end. But I'm sure it will one day, at which point I'll have to get a real job. So, even if one thing ends, it's just where another thing starts.

DL: What do you want to do when you graduate?

SP: Go to law school.

DL: Do you want to be a lawyer?

SP: Criminal defense attorney. It's my dream.

DL: If you could argue any case in front of the Supreme Court, what would it be?

SP: I remember a story recently that a kid lost. He was holding up a "Bong hits for Jesus" banner, and I guess the school punished him for it. Even though technically he wasn't on school property, the Supreme Court didn't totally back him up. So, I believe that in America, you have the right to hold up a "Bong hits for Jesus" sign.

DL: If you weren't going to do law school, what would you do?

SP: I'd teach high school history.

DL: Why would you want to do that?

SP: My high school history teacher was a big influence in my decision to continue school after high school. I don't know. He taught us that it was just so cool to know stuff. And just all kinds of crazy lessons, like little tidbits that you don't get in the history book. Like with the invention of the car, teenage pregnancies skyrocketed. Backseat marriages and that type of thing you don't think about. King George, during the American Revolution, had a disease that made him crazy, and he peed blue every once in a while. I can't think of it right of the top of my head. He just taught us all kinds of cool stuff to know. It was him who taught me that education isn't really boring. It's just that teachers make it that way.

DL: Where do you think you would be today if you hadn't had that influence in your life?

SP: Dead or in prison. I know that's the lamest answer, but what can I say. I had shitty role models.

~Jeremy Hunt