I have a confession:
My experience of Barnard was largely social.

When I read the Barnard magazine (ummmm . . . how GLAM does that Annie Leibovitz cover shot of President Shapiro look by the way??) and they talk about the various Barnard traditions, I pretty much draw a blank. In the magazine world, I’ve met lots of people who went to Barnard or Columbia that I didn’t know back in the day. When they ask me what I was involved with at school, I always turn 12 shades of pink and admit that I spent most of my time at the West End Gate and Cannons . . . none of which exist anymore! I don’t think I’m alone (come on, sisters, I wasn’t the only one there!): I think a lot of people go to college and they’re not necessarily into the traditions or the things that they write about in the college guidebooks. But I still think that you can have a meaningful relationship with your college. For a long time I was a bit embarrassed of how party-centric I was in college. But then I remember the sheltered girl I was when I arrived and realize that girl had to be unleashed at SOME point. Once I came to terms with that, my relationship with Barnard totally changed.

Instead of thinking of my college years as a bad Paris Hilton movie starring me, I remember it as a time of great growth (and turbulence) surrounded by women unlike any that I’d ever met before. I remember that it was in the Barnard Career Services office that I found my first magazine internship (I went onto become an Editor in Chief at age 26 — that never would have happened without that leg up from Barnard). I remember the financial aid officer that I desperately tried to FORGET in the years following school because I was so ashamed that my household income was $25,000 and I needed to rely so heavily on grants and loans. Today I think of her fondly. She helped save my life from going in a very different direction.

I think that sometimes people don’t get involved with their alma maters after graduation because they weren’t into the traditions or stuff like that: As if that gives them less of a connection. But everyone’s college experience is different.

So back to my original point! Let me go on the record as saying: My favorite Barnard tradition (and I’m not sure it even really qualifies as a Barnard tradition) was the frat parties. I wasn’t active in on-campus groups. I was active with my friends and our OFF-campus . . . activities. I guess there’s a part of me that sometimes feels ashamed that, for those four years, my main focus was spending time with my friends — but that was also the greatest gift ever. I sometimes WISH I could speak more coherently about the various traditions at Barnard – especially since I’m writing this blog. That would make me seem so much more dignified. . . but that would also make me into something that I’m not. For me, the frat parties were great — the formals, the mixers . . . I had such a fun time at the Pi-ki-ki party my senior year, I still have the t-shirt.

So, what’s YOUR favorite Barnard tradition? I’d love to hear!

xx
atoosa

Tags: , frat parties, traditions, West End