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students jump on the next generationās Soul Train with the latest 'chicken soup' edition

Arizona Daily Wildcat Kimberley Kirberger editor of Chicken Soup for the College Soul

Sometimes, you just feel ill with the world. Things just aren't their usual sunshine and cotton candy way, and all you can do is sit in your bedroom and write poetry about how deep and blue the deep blue sea is.

What you need is chicken soup. Chicken soup for the soul, that is. More specifically, Chicken Soup for the College Soul.

Yes, those master chefs of spiritual healing have cooked up a book especially for those of us pursuing a higher education. It's a menagerie of essays and personal accounts from people who've experienced college, to bring those big happy poofs of sweetness back to your life.

To let you know a little more about the newest installation in the soup series, we spoke with Kimberley Kirberger, one of the editors of Chicken Soup for the College Soul. She also edited Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul parts one and two and The Teenage Soul Diary, so she's an expert when it comes to young souls.

Wildcat Why did you decide to do a book for the college soul? Kirberger Basically, you know, I love teenagers. I love young people...my sort of self-appointed job in life is to communicate to young people to be easy on themselves and have compassion for other people, and through the stories I pick, I'm really saying, "you're okay" and giving them a big hug. It's a different approach than the other Chicken Soup books. W How so? K Well, I think, when putting together the chicken soup books that are for older people, there's a lot of focus on going for your dreams and (reaching your goals). The stronger message (of the teen books) is it's okay to make mistakes, learn from them, forgive yourself and move on. They're not so future-oriented as they are comforting in the moment. W How do you get the different essays in the book? K For the college books, what we did was we sent out a fax alert where you get the names of all the professors of the universities. We had two contributing editors, James Malinchak and Tony D'Angelo...they're motivational speakers at college campuses, so every time they put up fliers. We also contacted our previous writers, the popular writers from the teenage books. We got 8-9,000 entries; for the Teen books, we got 27,000. We've already started receiving entries for College 2. W So when do you think College 2 will come out? K We really release books according to public demand. For the teenage book we were getting 400-500 letters a day saying, When is Teen 2 coming out? So we'll see what the demand is. W What's your favorite story in the book? K I don't have one! I can give you some favorites...The Wonder Years. It's an answer to an essay question (the writer) was asked... "Are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?" And he lists probably 600 things, most of which he's never done...it's very humorous. So that's a great one. He had the courage to go beyond, to step out of the boundaries a little bit and that's what made that so great.... Shoes in the Shower, by Lia Gay... I also love College Wisdom Seldom Exercised in the Summer, by Beth Mullaly. She is a newspaper columnist...she just has a great sense of humor. I tend to love stories where people are not afraid to show their vulnerability and their mistakes because I really think it helps (to create) acceptance. I think it's so important for young people to hear other people's mistakes and share what they learned from them. W What other chicken soup/soul books are out there? K There's like 24...books for women, teenagers, kids, couples. I just work on the ones for younger people. W How did you get involved with the chicken soup books? K Primarily, (co-editor) Jack Hanfield is my brother. I was managing editor of the series from the beginning, and I've always been a teen advocate, so even from the beginning, I wanted to do a book for teenagers. W Who else do you think needs chicken soup for their soul? K I really would like to see a chicken soup book that promotes tolerance for all people. W How did you come up with the title Chicken Soup for the (blank) Soul? K I believe Jack was the one who came up for the title. They had the book done a long time before they had a title, and they took a long time coming up with a title. When they came up with "Chicken Soup," he knew that it was the right title, because it represents something that's healing and nurturing, and for everybody. W Except vegetarians. K Well, we thought about doing a Vegetable Soup for the Healthy Soul. W But somehow that doesn't quite work. K Yeah.