I have publicly admitted that I really prefer to write about celebrities being bad to being good. I try to cover all the stories equally, but the bad stories get sooooo many more comments. So, in an attempt to point out the positive, I’m going to start posting a “Good Celebrity” article a day. Unless I get yelled at a lot for doing it, in which case I’m going to slink away and go back to posting 18 Lohan articles alone. So be nice. Our first celebrity is…. hold your breath… Shakira!

Shakira has been secretly (and by secretly, I mean not bringing X 17 along) taking classes at UCLA this summer. While the rest of us have been sweltering at our offices – or if we’re lucky, sweltering at the beach – Shakira has been studying the history of Western civilization. Just because.

“Shakira has been using her free time to study at UCLA. For the past month, the Colombian pop star has been attending a class at the University of California, Los Angeles, titled “Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations from Prehistory to Circa 843.”

Shakira’s manager Fifi Kurzman told the Associated Press the 30-year-old singer started attending classes August 6 following the conclusion of her latest tour. Classes ended September 13, although instructor Robert Cleve said Shakira didn’t attend the last few sessions. He said he hadn’t known she was a celebrity and was astonished to find out her identity.

“‘She told me she was visiting from Colombia and that she was just doing this for her own enlightenment and enjoyment,’ Cleve said. ‘She looked just like an ordinary student. She wasn’t flamboyant…she didn’t act like a big celebrity or anything.’

“Cleve said Shakira, who sat in the third row in the lecture hall, would often discuss material with him after class. ‘I was really impressed with how intelligent she was,’ he said. Kurzman said Shakira has for years studied on her own, also taking tutorials on the history and languages of the countries she visits.”

[From Voice of America]

Um, I love Shakira now. That is so cool. I only took Western civilization because it was required and all I remember about it was that the professor looked like a pedophile. Yes you can look like a pedophile… and if I wouldn’t get sued, I’d put his picture up so you all could understand. Unfortunately I mentioned that to a few classmates who all agreed, and I found out years later that students still call him that. That’s why you shouldn’t call people names, kids. Anyhoo, let’s give Shakira some points for doing something good. In the wake of all the other pop-tarts’ drinking, boozing, sleezing, and DUI-ing, Shakira is taking college classes just for fun. While I’m sure Paris got quite an interesting education in jail, I doubt she could tell you all about Gilgamesh. She’d probably tell you that it was some new kind of undergarment.