jere7my | Oct. 13th, 2006

SWIL had its 28th reunion last weekend. It was perfectly pleasant. I think we collectively accomplished my chief goal, that being demonstrating to the current students that alumni are fun and friendly and worth getting to know.

showergrrl called it "good PR."

I flew in on Friday, arriving at just the right time to rescue

carpenter's afternoon by helping her to buy $200 worth of snacks. On Sunday, much sleepier and fuller of cheese, I returned to the airport, said trip punctuated by a brief chat with

_swallow at University City, a wave of bonhomie washing through airport security when the Eagles made that intercept, tiny forced-perspective sculptures of houses in Terminal E, and a sudden realization that I was actually supposed to be in Terminal B. Jog jog jog, went j7y. In between:

We climbed the belltower. I'd been up before, but only halfway. If you'd like to recreate the experience for yourself, lean your left shoulder against a metal pole, close your eyes, and walk around and around it half a hundred times. This might save you the vertigo of the real thing, but you will not then get the wonderful view from the top that we did: all of campus spread out like a model, with Philadelphia soft and blue and gleaming in the haze of the horizon. Personally, I was more taken by the massive gray metal bells, the dark stone, the rust.

To buy a thank-you gift for the guy who allowed us access to the bell tower, I collected dollars from most of those who went up. I made the mistake of asking for these dollars during the ginormous SWIL meeting, and...well, to make a long story short, I wound up shaking my junk for creed_of_hubris and taking a dollar bill from ajacs's teeth. I spent the rest of meeting finding money in my pants.

During that meeting, SWIL, in its own chaotic way, collectively named their new lounge after Alex Weirich, a large, fuzzy man with excessive weaponry whom the world lost a few years ago. It made me tear up a little. I suspect I was not alone.

There was a SWIL talent show, which was quite splendid. My favorite act was eclectic_boy's liquid nitrogen demo, which started with crumpled balloons and ended with ice cream. sinsofthedove read a very funny Barthelme story about the problems of gaming, which included the plaintive line, "My mind is full of Diplomacy, and my heart is full of Careers!" I myself performed It's the End of My Last Year at Swarthmore (And I Feel Stressed), which went over well enough, though photographic (and cartoon) evidence suggests I should close my eyes less often.

sinsofthedove invited me to dinner in Sharples on Saturday, which turned out to be a successful sort of ambassadorship. Nobody scurried away or gave me wary looks; indeed, people laughed and joked and made me feel quite welcome. (Bonus points to Herbert here.) I even had the honor of shaking philthecow's hand in the burrito line. Unfortunately, I then had to eat the burritos, but it was totally worth it.

sinsofthedove also invited me to photograph the Pterodactyl Hunt, which worked out very nicely; I didn't feel comfortable actually taking part in the festivities, but I got to soak up the aura of chaos while blinding monsters and players alike.

jedediah demonstrated his glow-poi-spinning in the chilly night air, then gave the onlookers a chance to injure ourselves with them. Thanks, Jed!

I became slightly more familiar with some excellent people, such as crystalpyramid's lovely roommate Jean (source of my subject line), ricerurouni, nautiluspq, and the aforementioned Herbert/Sam.

Attending reunion went a bit against my better judgment; when I found out I wouldn't be seeing Kira there after all, I nearly backed out. And there were the requisite moments of stress and melancholy; they seem to percolate up through the soil of Swarthmore, like swamp gas. But I'm glad, in the end, that I went. I felt warm and welcomed, and there were sleepy late-night moments that felt like SWIL as I remembered it. My friends are good folks.