Sewanee: A Few Years Later

Today's guest blogger is one of my best friends, the wonderfully talented and beautiful Catherine Clifton, and she's writing about one of my favourite places in the world!

Picture taken by Caroline Williams, C'14

“Where’d you go to undergrad?”

“Sewanee: The University of the South.”

“Oh. Cool.”

You have no idea, person who has never seen my mountain views and my Gothic architecture and my black-gowned scholars and my madras sportcoats. “Cool” will suffice if you’ve never heard of Sewanee, but let me educate you, because the love I have for my alma mater just can’t be contained.

Picture a place where it’s entirely possible to meet a new person, but feel like you’ve known them for a good long while. After all, they had that English class with Reishman and his tattered gown that only covers one of his shoulders; they missed the sound of bells over the summer when they went home; they know that Lake Trez is probably radioactive; they’re familiar with Highlanders, Wellingtons, heathens, and lurches; they tap the roof of their car without knowing they’ve moved their hand from the wheel; and they know a girl with a red flower behind her ear will drink them dry of Cuervo.

There are places in the world that people of faith refer to as “thin places”—places where the barrier between God and man is thinner, more transparent. Go to the Cross on a snowy morning. Walk through Abbo’s Alley after a storm, and let the smell of green fill you up until you feel chlorophyll in your veins. Snap your fingers in All Saints’ and wait for the echo from the stone and glass.

Here is the place where abandon is found not only in the fraternity houses but in the classroom and the grandstand. Abandon: to give (oneself) over unrestrainedly. To revel in the moment of discovery, of accomplishment, of fragility, of competition, of young love, of debauchery, of growing pains and growing joys.

Here is the place that teaches all aspects of life. It is not perfect; far from perfect, it is deeply flawed, and it has danger and hurt and conflict and fear. But it brings together people who have felt those feelings and people who have lived in bubbles, and it flings them toward an embrace made of diverse arms and hands. Sewanee holds itself together, and it never lets go. You leave the Holy Mountain. You take your angel with you, and your friends’ phone numbers, and your pictures and T-shirts and bachelor’s degree—but the Mountain keeps you close. Even in the deepest fog, the cornerstone waits and does not move.

Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum.

Behold how good and joyful a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Picture taken by Caroline Williams C'14

Post Graduation Sewanee Appreciation

As shocking as it may seem to me, I'm not a college student anymore. All I have to do is look at this picture (attached for proof), showing me beaming and holding my degree, to confirm this. 

Of course, in the months after graduation, I don't think my fate had yet sunk in. It seemed like any summer vacation; I was away from my friends, and we were all doing fun, random things, many of us still unsure where we would 'end up'. But come end August, reality hit. My Facebook started blowing up with posts and pictures of people who were returning to Sewanee, and I realised that the next time I was on campus would be as a proud alum. 

Pic by Steven Alvarez

(Yes, Sewanee is really gorgeous. I've taken a tonne of pictures of the campus over four years... but somehow can't find them right now). 

It's weird after so many years of it, to be away from formal education. I keep having these irrational fears that my brain is going to rot away due to disuse. Irrational, as I said. But strangest of all is to be away from Sewanee, although this time has given me ample opportunity to reflect on just how lucky I was to go to school there. 

It's weird living near a large state school, and seeing undergraduates wear things like jeans and sweatshirts to class. Sure, I've worn jeans to class plenty of times on the mountain. However, we at Sewanee adhered to a tradition of class dress, and most people dressed up to attend classes. Professors were almost ALWAYS formally dressed, and wearing their academic gowns. I remember the first time I saw one of my Economics professors in jeans, I was mildly taken aback. 

There are countless wonderful things about Sewanee that I could go on about, but one of my favourites is the large Sewanee family that you become a part of (and stay a part of, even after graduation). As a student from a large city in the heart of East Africa, you could say I was a little apprehensive at the thought of attending school in a small college town in Tennessee. I soon realised that I had absolutely NOTHING to worry about. The people there were happy and friendly, and warm even to strangers.The Sewanee motto is 'Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum'. Translated, 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity'. I've met alumni from the sixties who are still so absolutely in love with their alma mater, and I have witnessed firsthand the strong and caring alumni network that Sewanee has. 

Great luck doesn't even begin to describe how I found Sewanee; or rather, how Sewanee found me. 

YSR!

Gratitude: Your Emotional Salary

Yes, I finally found motivation to write again. Can bloggers get writer's block? Because apparently I did. And now the words are back.

Anyway, gratitude. Such a simple thing, yet so constantly underestimated. I'm not just talking about the two words (thank you) that sometimes are thrown around so carelessly but appreciation that is sometimes unspoken and not so obviously stated.

This semester, at Sewanee, I am helping to co-ordinate the Gratitude Project for its year (and my second helping to run it). What this entails is thank-you notes written to every single employee of the University of the South. Professors, policemen, chefs, custodians, everyone gets them. They're written by students, and distributed toward the end of the semester. Everyone gets at least one, although some people may get more. While it wasn't the easiest thing to organise and get done, for me, hearing feedback from those who got the notes made this more than worth it for me last year. One person last year thanked us for the gift that we had given the community, and I recognised that gratitude was indeed that; a gift that we give to others. When interviewed for the student newspaper, I tried to explain the importance of the Gratitude Project by comparing it to a salary. Employees get paid money for what they do, and that takes care of their physical needs, but gratitude is a kind of emotional salary, although so much more than just that.

Gratitude is definitely an important part of my life; I like being able to let the people around me know that they are appreciated; for what they are and for what they do.
Thank you all for reading this!

97 Days to Graduation

My goodness. I don't know if the fact that I'll soon be leaving this beautiful place behind has fully sunk in until now.

Before I came to Sewanee, I was a very different person. I definitely wasn't as confident as I am today, or even as appreciative of the people around me or the experiences that I had as I should have been. These past three and a half years have gone a long way into making me into the person that I am today, and saying goodbye is going to be difficult!

I doubt that I can sum up why Sewanee is so great in just one post, so I know I'll have to spread it out over a few. While I'll have the opportunity to reflect on what I'll be leaving behind later on, right now, what's on my mind is what I'll be going towards.

I (and most of my peers) have been students for all our lives. We've had the comfort of Christmas holidays, long summer breaks, and the certainty that we know what's about to come in the next few months; more school.

Scarily enough, this is all about to change. People ask me why I'm not going directly into graduate school, and I give two reasons:
1) To get an MBA, I'd like to have some work experience first.
2) I know how to be a student. I could even argue that I'm pretty good at it. So, I'd love to challenge myself in a new way; by taking on a "real-life" job.

Where am I going to be in May? Honestly, I don't know yet. The question can sometimes scare me, and and at others, motivate me. Many peers I speak to are going through the same things. Some have their post-graduation plans neatly planned out, while some will run far, far away if they're made to think about what they're going to be doing.

Fortunately, thankfully, luckily, (and you get what I'm saying here), I know that wherever I am, it's going to be the best thing for me and I will still be able to learn. I know this not just because my experiences at Sewanee have done a fantastic job of preparing me to handle anything that comes my way, but because I have a strong support system of mentors, family and friends who believe in me.

This reminds me of a time in my final year of secondary school; I had no idea where I was going to be in September, but somehow, Sewanee happened to me, and completely changed my life.
To all the soon-to-be graduates who're terrified by the thought of leaving familiarity behind, know that graduation will not mean the end of friendships and meaningful experiences; rather, we will build up on the ones that we've had, and have some amazing new ones too. Best of luck!

Purple Haze: Rugby at Sewanee

Despite being Kenyan, I've never really had much interest in rugby before. Going to Sewanee changed that though; while I still don't completely understand the game (derp), I appreciate a sport well played, and our team certainly lives up. All bias aside, despite rugby being a club sport at the school, the Sewanee rugby team is really, REALLY good, and has had a couple of undefeated seasons. Coincidentally, the team captain next year graduated from a Kenyan high school
I try make a point of going to the games as often as I can, and sometimes manage to drag Bob (my camera) along. While I've got lots of pictures of the team on my computer, I thought I'd put up some here.
(These are all unedited, and some were taken on a foggy day.)