The Magnificence of Transience

I vaguely remember about 2 months ago that I had issued a bold decree to post more to this blog as I had just recently been unchained from my old laptop and was in possession of a new sexy one. As with most things I say, that ended up being a lie. But this is America, and we are about nothing if not redemption. So here's what's been going on.

I suppose it would be too precious if I didn't mention that the singularly important event of the past few months is that I graduated from NYU. You could call it a bitter sweet moment to leave college, but I think that's underselling it--it's just plain damn bitter. If there is a just and right God in Heaven, I believe that he created the 4 year undergraduate experience in order to give us mortals the best approximation of what his home is like. I do not think an 18 year old can hope for a better prospect than to go to college (previously established as Heaven on Earth) in Greenwich Village (Heaven in Heaven). I completely, whole-heartedly and unashamedly loved college. I loved college in general and NYU in particular. I even love that because of college I constantly use the rhetorical structure "I like X in general and Y in particular." I did not have a single class that I regretted, because even in those courses that I totally bombed I made good friends who I would meet later in a different class that I would also bomb. My course selection was greatly aided by the fact that because of AP classes and such I placed out of science and math requirements and was thus spared their hellishness. I did not mind taking classes at 9:30 in the morning (telling NYU students that you have a 9:30 class is a sure way to get sympathy from them. Telling people you have "an 8 AM" will almost surely get someone to buy you a drink) because walking down University Place or Broadway at those hours are the best way to see the Walk of Shame being conducted on campus. I could have done without the exams, but those moments of panic were notable as much for their brevity as they were for their intensity. I cannot say enough great things about college, NYU, the intellectual activity, the late night carousing that extended into early morning carousing and, at its best, to mid-afternoon carousing.

As trite as it is, all good things truly must come to an end, and while I am incredibly heart broken that I will never get to live the college life in the same way again, I know that what made it so magical, so almost transcendent was its impermanence. Knowing that we would never be young, carefree and so thoroughly inoculated from consequences is what gave us our splendid defiance. This knowledge does something to comfort me, but it cannot be said too strongly that I write this with a heavy heart: I am no longer an NYU student. I am that oddest of characters now--the alumnus. Here's to hoping that while I've lost the vaccine, I retain the defiance.