Homecoming

Here at the beautiful University of Illinois, the fall air is crisp with homecoming spirit. While this may be a common tradition among large, state universities, UofI's is especially well celebrated because we allegedly started the tradition. While the premise of bringing alumni back to their old stomping grounds for one day to relive the glory days seems like a great idea, I find it rather depressing.

The concept upon which homecoming is based implies these, my collegiate years, are defined to be the best years of my life. While in many circumstances this may be true and  I do enjoy my activities (both academic and extracurricular) and the people here in the 217, I sincerely hope my personal halcyon is not spent here in the corn fields of central Illinois.

Being a recreational runner, I am no stranger to jeers while jogging, but today the tailgaters who 'came home' were especially quick to notice that I was indeed exercising. I would have no problem with said taunts if they came from notable alumni such as Steve Chen, Fazlur Kahn or Nick Holonyak, but instead these poorly constructed insults came from orange-clad men with substantial beer guts. The homecoming variety is the type that whose life peaked at age 20 and since has gone downhill. In a quixotic endeavor to recapture the lost days of yore, they pilgrim once a year to the place where for four years they were the coolest guy at KAMS.

While I have no clue what the future will bring, I don't foresee an annual trip to Champaign after my graduation due to the fact I will have something actually important to do.