"what else is there..."

fun fact -- as of this past may, every single one of the folks in my friend group from college (the ones with whom i graduated, at least) has some sort of graduate degree. i was the last one. we're this nerdy bunch of masters and Ph.D.s and JDs. how unbelievably ivory towerish of us!

but when you think about it, this is consistent with who we were back then. we were a secret society, a crazy-youth-inspired collective of writers and collaborators. we had this standing sunday night date where we'd get together to talk about stuff we had written. this was sacred time, holy time. nothing interfered with this time. it all started at the beginning of our junior year. it sprung out of casual acquaintances with each other while working on notre dame's 1996 sophomore literary festival. it was bryce's idea. i remember running into him near south dining hall one spring evening in my sophomore year and he told me he was thinking of getting some folks together to share some stuff we were writing, kinda like a student-run workshop. i was hooked from that moment.

i don't know what it was -- probably the right mixture of ambition and inspiration and curiosity and desire and collegiality and need, and i'm sure the alignment of the stars might have had a hand in it -- but it stuck. every single sunday evening was giant steps night. giant steps -- like the coltrane song. and when the weather permitted, we would actually meet on the steps of bond hall, the ND architecture building.

i was never a strong creative writer, and i knew this then. but some of us were amazing, even in those days. and it felt so important. the thought of not meeting wasn't even really an option. some folks had church on sunday -- we had giant steps. it's still important, really. i feel like in a really critical way, those weekly meetings defined my college experience. and the friends who were a part of it continue to be very important to me, even if i don't talk to them nearly often enough.

this morning i was trading stories about college with a co-worker and i got all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic for my friends, my classmates, my colleagues; for our silly conversations about jack kerouac and miles davis; for our love of john matthias and valerie sayers; for that one place you could stand in front of bond hall and hear the acoustics bounce your voice back to you when you spoke out loud. our ten year reunion is in may. i'm going. those were good times. they're still good times.

so, friends, if you happen to check in on this blog after i used the google to hunt you all down this morning and tell you that you must join me at the reunion, well, (this is terribly and unforgivably silly, but) this blog might not exist (or might not have become so important in my life) if it weren't for those sunday night meetings and for the friendships that resulted. see you in may!

love,
emily