“So you guys are a pretty big party school, right?”
I couldn’t help but agree with my newly acquired roommate as I prepared myself for a long, cold Winter Quarter in Columbus.
“Oh, and journalism too, right?”
This man obviously bled scarlet and gray and, truthfully, had a pretty decent grasp on what Athens is known for throughout the state. I can’t blame Todd for bringing these things up. I also couldn’t blame myself, in one small moment of weakness, for feeling self-conscious about the university from which I hope to someday earn an undergraduate degree.
Dangit, Todd.
I tried to formulate the perfect Rufus-gate comeback burn, but I’m not entirely sure that exists. For what it’s worth — cheers Brandon Hanning.
The next morning I was riding the bus to my first day of work and couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the conversation happening in front of me. Nobody could, really, as a 6-foot-2-inch woman with purple hair and no concept of appropriate decibel levels bonded with her seat buddy about her four years at Ohio University.
“You know, back in the stone age, when I was in school ... heh, heh, heh,” she began, confirming Todd’s initial hints that small talk was not hard to find in this city.
But, I thought nothing of it and continued toward my destination — The Columbus Dispatch.
Those inside were nothing short of warm and totally accepting.
“You’re the Scripps intern, yeah?”
“Oh that Scripps thing, right? You’re here for the quarter?”
“Hey! You’re from Athens! Go Bobcats!”
“I did my laundry in Gam once!”
I never thought laundry would be so emotionally charging, but as I headed to meet and speak with The Dispatch’s managing editor, I couldn’t help but think of all the things that had brought me here in the first place.
One of the reasons, of course, being the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, and the other being early Saturday afternoon laundry sessions in Gamertsfelder Hall during my freshman year.
I was then greeted by the managing editor, a man by the name of Alan Miller — a former Post employee, and, you guessed it, a former Bobcat.
“How’s it going?” he asked with a smile.
“Oh, you know, cold,” I responded.
Come on, Todd! Apparently this jive Columbus small talk was here to stay.
Fortunately though, the feeling of insecurity about my college choice was long gone.
The network is real. Athens does happen. I could see the jealousy in the eyes of every fellow Bobcat I ran into, as they knew all too well the time I had left in Athens as an undergrad.
I saw it probably more than I wanted to in the eyes of the University of Toledo graduates I came to meet later that day.
Nonetheless — thanks for everything, Athens. And if anybody finds an old Wesleyville American Legion baseball T-shirt behind a row of washers in Gam, it’s mine. Navy blue with a big, white number two on the back.
Pat Holmes is a junior studying journalism and local news editor of The Post.
