On Monday, June 2nd, the nation watched as Jeopardy champion Julia Collins finally fell to her opponents, taking home a cash prize of over $400,000, accrued over 20 wins. For those of you unfamiliar with the lore and legend of Jeopardy, allow me to fill in the details: with 20 wins, Collins is the top female player in the show’s history, and the second best player of all time – second only to Ken Jennings.
I’m a big fan of Julia, to put it lightly. Of course, I’m a huge Jeopardy nerd. I grew up watching the show every evening, yelling answers to the chagrin of my family members, who were just trying to eat dinner. Every year since I was fourteen, I’ve taken the online qualification test, a desperate attempt to find my place in the limelight. I haven’t made it, but found a small niche in my high school quiz bowl team. Still, Jeopardy has always been the ultimate goal of trivia lovers everywhere. Julia is perhaps my favorite champion to date; She’s from Kenilworth, Illinois – rather close to my hometown. She’s a strong proponent of liberal arts degrees, having obtained an art history degree from Wellesley College, and claiming it was instrumental not only in answering Jeopardy questions, but in her professional life. In an interview with The Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham, she said that the art history degree helped with attention to detail, distinguishing differences, and communicating her ideas. (Take that, naysayers! My English degree may have a purpose someday!)
Additionally, as stated before, Collins is the winningest female player in Jeopardy history. What I love about her is her attitude towards this achievement. She does recognize its significance, don’t get me wrong. She claimed, “It’s good to see women being applauded for being smart,” in response to widespread support for her fame and abilities. But Julia also said that the recognition of being one of the top players is more rewarding than being the top female player; “I would love it if we were at a place where gender wasn’t even part of the story,” she said.
This idea is reminiscent of Morgan Freeman’s famous 60 Minutes interview, in which he claimed the way to get rid of racism is “to stop talking about it.” While the idea of eliminating gender, race, and other factors from achievement stories is a nice one, it may be unrealistic in today’s society. An integral part of our culture is assigning minority history months, building museums, and including minority status as epithets in every news story – first female president, first openly gay NFL draftee, etc. It will be very difficult to turn around from this path. What we need to realize is that the epithets detract from the achievements of these individuals. These movers and shakers, regardless of their gender, race, or sexual orientation should be recognized for their abilities first. Julia Collins is the 2nd best contestant in Jeopardy history, and it is in this, not her status as “best female,” that we should be most proud.
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