Friday, December 9, 2011

Marywood & Me Again

It is my greatest yearly challenge as a bad amateur photographer-- the Marywood Christmas tree.

The rotunda of the Liberal Arts Building is relatively dark.  A flash washes out the LED tree lights.  The tree lights overwhelm the photo without the flash.  I always try a shot or two on every setting my camera has, and I usually get something barely passable.

The photo above was taken late Tuesday afternoon.  To quickly review, the Christmas spirit does not come to me easily.  The Marywood tree lighting gives me a nice little kick.  And, thank you Marywood for continuing to have the tree lighting AFTER Thanksgiving, as it should be.

For years, I wondered why I never attended the rotunda tree lighting as a student.  The answer finally appeared on Marywood's web site.  The tree lighting was an outdoor thing until 1982-- mid-way through my senior year.  I took an excess number of credits during my freshman and sophomore years.  I took at least one class every summer.  By the time my senior year rolled around, I wasn't spending much time on campus.  In fact, I wasn't even considered a full time student in the second semester of my senior year.

This year's tree lighting took place just three days after I chided Marywood, via blog, for a few things.  Several people spoke to me about it when I was on campus Tuesday.  Some agreed with what I wrote.  Some disagreed.  All were civil, and I can thank Marywood's culture for that.  I tracked a spike in blog hits on Friday, so I knew I was going to hear about it.

Part of Friday's blog dealt with the operation of the radio station.  I remarked on the lack of local content on a recent morning.  I was informed that the station is staffed with real live bodies beginning in the late morning, and continuing all afternoon and in to the night.  While I was relieved to hear that, it is still disappointing that all I heard was an endless stream of music.  Please, do something that reflects your city and your university community, even if it's recorded, and even if it lasts one minute out of every hour.  The station never sounded better, and in a lot of ways, that's a step backward.  Remember, owning a broadcasting license carries responsibility.

A few people encouraged me to visit more than once a year, and get involved in some alumni activities.  I'm not sure it will happen, but it was nice to be asked.  I'm not what you would call a "joiner."

I could tell there was some hurt and resentment over the Princeton Review "unhappy student" survey.  In some ways, it should be a wake up call to the Marywood community, even though the Princeton Review process appeared flawed.  Coming from one who doesn't bleed Marywood green, it even bothered me a bit.  It's been said many times, many ways.  A higher education is what you make of it.  My four years wasn't a barrel of laughs, but I was grateful my parents afforded me the opportunity.    I kept myself busy, on and off campus.  The time flew by, and I didn't regret choosing Marywood.  You wouldn't know it by reading the quarterly alumni magazine, but I've done okay.

In retrospect, Marywood was a good choice.  I'm from a small town, and I went to a small high school.  A relatively small college made sense.  Location and expense were the big issues at the time.  More things became clear after I received my diploma.

I won't pick apart last week's blog and Tuesday's visit issue-by-issue.  I do understand the blog was discussed and distributed in some Marywood offices.  It's possible absolutely nothing will change, but at least the university listened, and I thank the people there for that.

Same time, next year.