Parks and Recreation

Weekend Update's Amy Poehler plays an ambitious deputy director of Pawnee, Indina's parks and recreations department named Leslie Knope. With all odds against her, she still manages to hold on to her hope of becoming the first female president. Although it is meant to be a joke it is inspiring to some especially those who live in small towns like Pawnee. Everyone wants to believe that they are special when they are a kid; I am still in that phase of my life. This show is about a woman who still believes. She still believes that the worst is over and now only good things will happen to her. It is only these people who will accomplish anything in their lives. Only these people will wake up in the morning and tackle on the day with an open mind because anything can happen.

Her team is affected by her as much as the viewer. When you first see April Ludgate, played by Aubrey Plaza, you see a cynical intern who wants to leave and make more of her life. By the end of season two, she has decided that she wants to stay in the parks department a while longer. She is one of Leslie's friends that help her run for city council in season four along with her other office friends. Ron Swanson is the anti-government leader of the pack. He represents those within government who don't care about what they are doing. The viewer laughs at his silly anecdotes, his seemingly careless attitude, and his capacity to eat three porterhouse steaks in one sitting or demanding all of the eggs and bacon. We must also think of what he symbolizes in our modern government. In the words of Collin Meloy in his song sixteen military wives, “Eighteen academy chairs, out of which seven really even cares.” What if all of our affairs were governed by people who could care less about what they do? Would you really want to live in a world like that?

The answer is, of course, no. We want people like Leslie Knope to be in control. Even if she is sometimes absent-minded and makes mistakes, she cares. That is a lot to say about anybody now a day. I’m not saying that every person should want to go into politics because can be bothered to be interested in such affairs. For those who are not quite interested in that, the show also appeals to those who are the romantic types.

Season three is partially about Leslie and Ben and whether or not they should get together. The city manager, Chris played by none other than Rob Lowe, could fire them for having a relationship in the office. For those who are interested in the comedy of this sit-com style show, every character chips in.

Tom, played by Aziz Ansari, is an overenthusiastic man who acts like a child half of the time. His entrepreneurial approach to everything is sure to leave you giggling to yourself. His lovable style is a great addition to this amazing TV show. April is also hilarious in the way that she hates everyone. One of my favorite quotes by Ron Swanson said to Chris would be, “You made April the assistant to everyone, you know who April hates? The answer is everyone.”

This show has one fault in my mind. That would be in the moment when you walk away and realize that Leslie isn’t a real person. My question is, why that isn’t so. We all have the inner child inside of us to believe that we will all be accomplished beings. Why don’t we all follow our dreams? Is it too hard? I want to be an author, therefore I write. I might give up and listen only to the people who criticize my but instead I chose to listen and adjust to what they want. This is not much unlike the town forums that are held in Pawnee city hall. These consist of people screaming at Leslie and saying that her ideas are awful and that she doesn’t know what she is doing. This show teaches us that there are just people like that in our lives, and we should just accept their presence and try to learn about what they want.

There are obstacles that Leslie has to overcome, but it all comes down at the end of season four (the last aired season so far) to an election. The season had consisted of her fighting against Bobby Newport for a place in the city council. If this election was lost, so would all of her hopes and dreams. If she won, the world would be a just place, and Leslie would get what she deserved. Do you think she won or lost?

This show has touched so many. If you haven’t watched it yet, I recommend that you do because it might change your life. Long live the parks department of Pawnee, Indiana.