Senior trips, gets back up

By Melissa Mongi
Senior Staff Writer
April 25, 2007

Lately, I’ve been having memory loss. I barely remember when 20th street was two-way and protestors fought for it to stay as such. It’s hard for me to recollect the football fields with real grass, St. Basil’s Court and Treetops Cafe when they were merely woods and when the Dan Rodden Theatre had a stage that creaked more than a 90-year-old woman. I have forgotten when La Salle had a full shield instead of just the chevron, what the Creepy Statue looked like on the quad, when Café Metro was Intermissions and what Dean Cicala’s moustache used to look like.

Over the course of my four years at La Salle, I have seen many changes in its facilities, its students and its faculty. Each change has taken some time to get used to. Yet those changes, as well as my own, have made for an overall amazing college experience. It is time for me to make another big change by graduating from the place I have become so very fond of and, worst of all, say goodbye to the Collegian that was an outlet for me over the past two years.

Since the first issue I wrote, my mother has held onto the articles, saving them more for me than herself. In looking at what I’ve written, I see the changes in my opinions and my writing. Yet, the consistent theme of my article topics have been ones in which I note the ridiculousness in the seemingly commonplace. I’ve tried not to burden you, the reader, with my condemnation of certain aspects of life so much as reflect how some societal norms should be thought about, laughed at or praised.

The Collegian holds a very special place in my heart, right next to Oprah and cheese (and I love both a lot). I was brought into the Collegian by the urgings of Anthony Chwastyk, former Philly File Editor of the 2005-2006 school year. I remained with the Collegian thanks to the helpful nudges of then-Commentary Editor Sam Fran Scavuzzo. I am indebted to both for their belief in my abilities. I am also thankful to Scavuzzo for giving me the room to write about any weird topic I wanted.

The Collegian staff is a great group of people dedicated to putting out a well-rounded university paper. Their dedication to writing is something I admired from afar, intimidated by their late night edit-sessions and good writing. I urge others not to be intimidated and to get involved as soon as possible. The Collegian editors and staff have been one of the most welcoming groups on campus, and I am grateful to be part of something I admire so much.

Since Commentary Editor John O’Riordan told me I get to have 700 words in this goodbye, I will now tell a story. Once upon a time, in the year 2003, a freshman girl with big curly hair walked from the Union of La Salle University to 20th Street. On the way back to St. Katharine’s dormitory, our heroine, prone to clumsiness and wearing defective flip-flops, tripped and fell on the sidewalk and into a bush. When a nice stranger asked her if she needed help she swallowed her tears and exclaimed, “No!” To her dismay, she looked at her knee and noticed a cut. Trying not to faint, and having no band-aid or tissue, she went to the next paper product she could think of and slapped a piece of notebook paper on her knee. As she climbed up the two-way 20th street, avoiding the stares of fellow students, she felt alone and ashamed. She made her way to her friend’s dorm-room—a friend she knew would surely have a band-aid and compassion. Hunched over in pain, clutching the paper to her knee, she burst into her friend’s room and cried out, “I fell!” as the tears finally streamed down from her face.

The moral of my story is this: even if you trip, fall and embarrass yourself (like I do on a regular basis) you can still write for the Collegian and have a great time in the process.

Thank you for reading, write for the Collegian, don’t listen to “The Christmas Shoes” song and, if you can help yourself, don’t date or marry anyone like Kevin Federline (it will only end in a shaved head and a bad reputation).

mongim1@lasalle.edu