WE WON!

Warning: Proving that even the most hardened cynic has her maudlin moments....

Mizzou beat the previously undefeated Kansas Jayhawks! Yahoo! Now if I only had the courage to send an email to my former boss, an alumnus of Kansas.... But what would I say? If I were honest, I'd say, "My school beat your school. Nyah, nyah, nyah!" And what I'd mean by that is silly: "I'm as good as you are. I'm a grad from a school that is garnering national attention." Of course, that is true anyway. Mizzou can boast of many academic accomplishments and dozens of famous alumni, as well as famous former students who didn't quite finish degrees, like Brad Pitt, Sheryl Crowe, and the late George C. Scott. Walter Cronkite went to Mizzou. James Lee Burke was at Mizzou. I'm really proud of my school.

I remember when I first saw the campus. I didn't know the story then of the columns, or of the Beetle Bailey statue, or any of the other wonderful things there. All I knew is that the campus looked old and academic and scholarly, all the things that an institution of higher learning is supposed to look like. It felt like a place where I would be at home, learning things I should always have known. I even fell madly in love with Tate Hall, where the English department is housed. I loved the weird almost hidden library on the upper floors, the leather door to the room on the first floor where I later had so many classes, even the dungeon-like basement that housed all the grad students. Some of my best friendships were formed in that room. People I will always love shared laughter, anger, tears, success, failure, everything worth sharing, in that building, and especially in that room.

In less than three weeks, I'll make the graduation walk. Then, other than alumni dues, my connection with Mizzou will officially end. However, I will always love Mizzou--Big MO--even though the pigeons make the grounds smelly, even though the last part of gaining my degree was a torture of the soul that I may never recover from, even though no one else in my family has gone there or will likely go there. It's MY school. Even when the football team is losing, which is what they have done most years since I began in 1994. Even when scandal rocks the basketball team. As long as the columns stand, Mizzou is my alma mater. Mi-zoo-rah!