Some random thoughts.

For some reason unknown to me, I always seem to become a bit more nostalgic at the start of softball season.  Tomorrow, the season starts at 7 a.m.  I'm often reminded (on my seemingly endless walk to the gym) of last season's mishaps and laughs, and everything that contributed to finding a place on the team at Purchase as the new girl from upstate New York.  So with the hours winding down before the start of this year's season, I found myself looking through portfolios of material that I wrote prior to transferring to Purchase and some that I wrote at the beginning of last season... With that said, cheers to softball on Sunday mornings - enjoy.

New York City

Her center of the universe,

From above a portrait of uneven silver specks,

But from the Hudson and East River,

Towering grey surrounds

and stare down.

Before the blinding city lights,

Here lies New Amsterdam

Filled with filth and misery

Home to new thought and life

But tonight our skyline shines,

A thousand stars yet none in the sky.

Today she weaves her way

Through square blocked streets

Imagining how her life should be

And brushes past a three-piece suit of a man,

Caged in by his iPod, 

Thinking the same.

He is the song she sings at night,

and she is all he'd been hoping for

Yet both go on about their ways,

This man walks past his towers

On down the crowded street

To his 11th floor cubicle called a job,

No window and no view

But the grey walls surrounding him

Much like the world he knew.

At 5 p.m. his day is done,

Just like her and millions more

He heads underground to his studio

on the G to Brooklyn 

While she takes the A train home to Harlem

Neither know each other and chances are neither ever will.

These alienated strangers are the products

Of once huddled masses

That only sought and yearned for freedom

That we now ignore in this steel fortress,

Lit with neon and chrome,

The city is our being and all we know.

***

On a side note, let me just say that this year's Superbowl is more than disappointing.  First for the fact that the Giants didn't even make it past the Eagles, followed by the dread of the start of my own season bright and early on what is traditionally an amazing day for the final game of the football season.  I'm indifferent about the outcome, but I guess if I had to, I'm picking Pittsburgh to win it.  I'll still be wearing my Eli jersey during the game simply out of spite at this point.

Still on the search.

Since I came back to Purchase for the Spring semester I've been on the hunt for a new job. Beginning in September I worked at a restaurant just off campus despite not having a car. Riding a bike had its perks, which were particularly evident on my calves and thighs, but as soon as the snow fell, transportation became a more serious issue. Even more of an issue for me this semester is my overloaded academic schedule and varsity softball - making a job off campus virtually impossible. So, with softball starting in less than a week I'm not left with many options other than to try to find a job on campus. With that I have had even less luck, emailing almost every office on campus with only one being returned. But - after forwarding my schedule, I have yet to hear back again.

Starting the semester jobless isn't exactly the most uplifting experience one can have. But it could be worse. My roommate, a dancer from New Mexico, has it just as hard as I do, however, her tuition increase for the semester severely outweighed mine. Against my $300 state increase, my roomie had to pay an increase of $1,300. I guess now more than ever, attending a state school as an in-state student has its' perks.

A little intro perhaps?

So for the millions or more who don't know me, my name is Meghan. Like many others my age, I am just another financially stressed and struggling student, attending Purchase College just north of New York City. I take pictures and play a lot of sports, but above all I love to write, which perhaps explains my choice to major in journalism.

To start, it would be fair to say that I am not the type of person to write with the intention of complaining about how terrible school is and how life could not get any worse. I'm more the type to use my experiences as a chronicle of a student attempting to make the best out of a worsening economic situation. So, although I'm sure these entries will be laced from time to time with things that aren't as ideally reflective as they ought to be, it will at least provide a sense of the difficulties encountered by many more than just myself.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm sure there will be more to come.