One of the central ideas behind If/Then, the new Broadway musical starring Idina Menzel, is that little changes change the course of your life -- whether or not you take that phone call, whether or not you go on that date. I find it fascinating to compare this new show to Rent not only because the shows share two leads but also because If/Then's cast is that bit older -- the twenty-something bohos from the East Village are 20 years older and evaluating their choices. 

I'm probably still too young to identify with the did-I-choose-the-right-path questions of the show (the low-key community activist of ambiguous sexuality, on the other hand...), but I did think of Menzel's character the other day as I was talking about classes and my major with someone. 

If I go ahead with the classes I've chosen for Fall 2014, I won't have time to complete a Journalism and Political Science double major in the regular 32-credits-over-4-years track. (I could probably still do so taking summer classes, but I'm against doing so on principle.) I feel okay with this decision now, swapping to media analysis and criticism, but as we go through life choosing between innumerable forks in the road, accompanied by an inexorable feeling that our choices are being limited and that our options are being closed off. 

I think my mild unease is mostly caused by the fact that, throughout high school, I was so sure Journalism and Political Science was what I wanted to do. I was that kid, the one who thought he knew exactly what he wanted to do. While I'll be the first to say that it's okay not to know what you want, I can't help but wonder if there are more seemingly absolute truths about to shaken. 

Maybe, but we'll take them as they come.