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Anti-advice columnist’s satire
appealing
■The success of the Help
Me Harlan! author's witty
retorts to college students
has lead to a new book
By Rebecca Newell
Oregon Daily Emerald
Harlan Cohen grew up in the
northern suburbs of Chicago and
studied at Indiana University, re
ceiving a journalism degree. After
working as a columnist for the
campus paper, the Indiana Daily
Student, he spent the summer of
1995 as an intern for “The Tonight
Show With Jay Leno.”
That summer, he visualized cre
ating a national forum where col
lege students and young adults
could share their thoughts and re
ceive laid-back responses full of
useful information and humor.
Help Me Harlan! was created for
the students of IU from Cohen’s vi
sualization.
When he met with the editors of
the Indiana Daily Student to pro
pose his idea, they wanted sample
columns, which he wrote using
his own personal problems. They
took the bait with the catchy Q&A,
and the column began its life in
the paper.
Starting off slow, Cohen was
forced to write and answer letters
to himself to publish in the paper.
When he noticed he was actually
helping himself, he realized he?
might be onto something and be
gan writing up his friends lives.
Before long, real letters were
rolling in, seeking advice on is
sues ranging from roommates, re
lationships, sex, loneliness, drink
ing, drugs and parent issues.
“This whole thing has been a
challenge,” Cohen said. “I want to
keep it consistent, funny. I want
people to open up.”
Six years later, the column ap
pears in more than 60 daily and
college newspapers and can be ac
cessed on the Web at
http://www.helpmeharlan.com.
With established success and a
plethora of answered letters —
currently rolling in at more than
100 a week — to choose from, Co
hen is now publishing his first
book, due out this month.
“Campus Life Exposed: Advice
from the Inside” reads a little like
“Chicken Soup for the College
Soul” meets Dave Barry. The book
is on sale at most major book re
tailers including Borders and
Barnes and Noble.
Chapters include “And the
Minivan Pulls Away,” “Dating
and Hooking Up on Campus: The
Most Important Chapter” and “No
One Ever Said College Would
Suck and Other Random Prob
lems.”
Cohen spent three years work
ing on the book, compiling letters
from his column and personal sto
ries, as well as the stories from
hundreds of college students na
tionwide.
The issues Cohen addresses are
a universal part of college life and
the reason his column is being
syndicated by TMS Campus,
which will soon distribute his
words of wisdom and wit to more
than 200 daily and college papers
and 60 high school publications.
The following excerpt is part of
Cohen’s introduction to Chapter 2:
“My disgusting, angry, irresponsi
ble, alcoholic, pot-smoking room
mate.”
“Before you get any further into
this chapter, I want to remind you
that not all roommate situations
belong in a chapter on dysfunc
tional roommates. While the fol
lowing pages might make it seem
like you’re destined to live with an
angry, oversexed, underachieving,
beer-drinking, drug-sniffing, mas
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No topic is taboo in Harlan Cohen’s new book, which is now on the stands.
turbating, inconsiderate, lying,
stealing, cheating, psycho room
mate, chances are you will end up
with none of the above.
“Then again, there is the chance
you might. If that’s the case, you’re
actually lucky because this may
be the only time in your life that
you’ll be able to live with a totally
insane, alcohol-swilling, beer
drinking, snoring, gas-expelling,
feet-stinking roommate. (Then
again, if you ever shared a room
with a brother who drank like a
fish, smoked like a chimney,
touched himself, ate lots of
roughage and bathed irregularly,
this kind of roommate might actu
ally be comforting to you!)”
- Thje success of Cohen’s column
stems from the fact that it is actual
ly an anti-advice column. He says
he feels most advice columns are
very “blah” and tries “to make it
sarcastic and funny at times but
with an underlying theme that
we’re all part of the same commu
nity.”
“You don’t see it in the
brochures that college might actu
ally suck at times,” he said.
“Campus Life Exposed” is more
than just 250 pages of college
geared Dear Abby. It’s an honest
insight into the ironies of campus
life, complete with all of the strug
gles and humor that make college
such an experience. And with
Harlan Cohen’s help, you might
actually get some good advice.
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