I've got spirit, yes I do!
I'm not generally much for school spirit, but I've apparently become susceptible to the public relations campaign from my alma mater to celebrate Friday the 13th. You see, Colgate was founded by 13 men with 13 prayers and 13 dollars, which any good tour guide would tell you right off the bat, and every Colgate student knows that 13 is the school's lucky number. What I do not remember from my college days was that Friday the 13th holds a special place of honor as "Colgate Day," which sort of makes me think that someone introduced that idea pretty recently.
Anyway, earlier this week, the school sent out an email reminding alumni about Colgate Day coming up, encouraging us to wear Colgate gear to work today, and informing us that 13 Colgate alums would be ringing the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange this morning, which I thought was pretty cool.
My co-worker in the office next to mine also is a Colgate alum, and we agreed we'd celebrate together. She ended up work from home today, so it sort of fell flat, but I did wear my Colgate t-shirt (which I normally wear only at the gym) to work today, hidden under a button-down.
And I kept it on tonight, without the button-down, when the Smelmooo, Tucker and I walked downtown for ice cream after dinner. Our town was hopping, both because it's a beautiful night, and also because there was a well-publicized (albeit poorly executed) arts festival. And suddenly, as I walked out of the ice cream shop, this woman on the sidewalk raised her arms over head and whooped, "Woooooooooo!! ColGATE! Friday the 13th!! Wooooo!" Which completely startled me, until I realized that she works at the gym, and she'd seen me in the shirt before and told me her daughter also went there. But still, a little unsettling.
As we walked home, a 20-something guy yelled out the window of a car. Again: "Woooooooooo! ColGATE!" I had no idea there were so many fans in our little town.
As much as I haven't kept up with my college friends, as much as I sometimes hated my college experience, as much as I ignore the emails and postcards encouraging me to support the Raiders when they play New Jersey schools in sports or to join a local alumnae book club, I do feel somewhat connected to the place, and my stupid shirt made me feel like a part of something tonight.
Sort of like the Smelmooo belongs to our actual community; he seemed to know 80% of the people we passed tonight. Whereas I recognized exactly three, and knew only two of their names, because I'm pretty much a civically disengaged misanthrope.
Anyway, earlier this week, the school sent out an email reminding alumni about Colgate Day coming up, encouraging us to wear Colgate gear to work today, and informing us that 13 Colgate alums would be ringing the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange this morning, which I thought was pretty cool.
My co-worker in the office next to mine also is a Colgate alum, and we agreed we'd celebrate together. She ended up work from home today, so it sort of fell flat, but I did wear my Colgate t-shirt (which I normally wear only at the gym) to work today, hidden under a button-down.
And I kept it on tonight, without the button-down, when the Smelmooo, Tucker and I walked downtown for ice cream after dinner. Our town was hopping, both because it's a beautiful night, and also because there was a well-publicized (albeit poorly executed) arts festival. And suddenly, as I walked out of the ice cream shop, this woman on the sidewalk raised her arms over head and whooped, "Woooooooooo!! ColGATE! Friday the 13th!! Wooooo!" Which completely startled me, until I realized that she works at the gym, and she'd seen me in the shirt before and told me her daughter also went there. But still, a little unsettling.
As we walked home, a 20-something guy yelled out the window of a car. Again: "Woooooooooo! ColGATE!" I had no idea there were so many fans in our little town.
As much as I haven't kept up with my college friends, as much as I sometimes hated my college experience, as much as I ignore the emails and postcards encouraging me to support the Raiders when they play New Jersey schools in sports or to join a local alumnae book club, I do feel somewhat connected to the place, and my stupid shirt made me feel like a part of something tonight.
Sort of like the Smelmooo belongs to our actual community; he seemed to know 80% of the people we passed tonight. Whereas I recognized exactly three, and knew only two of their names, because I'm pretty much a civically disengaged misanthrope.
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