Farewell, Gettysburg!

Posted By AnnaMarie Houlis on May 2, 2013 | 0 comments

Abigail Lovell, Editor-in-Chief

My life is perfect. I am currently unemployed and I have no motivation to write any of the five papers that will decide whether or not I graduate in three weeks. But my life is completely perfect.

My grades aren’t exactly as high as they could be and I don’t think that I’ll be graduating with honors. But ask me a question about the influence of Darwinism in the novels of Thomas Hardy, or about gender relations among the Huli in Papua New Guinea, and I can give you an answer. My education at Gettysburg has little to do with grade point averages and transcripts. (In case any of my professors are reading, I still care. Please give me an A.) My classes and my professors in Anthropology, Africana Studies, Art History, English and Political Science have provided a great selection of conversation topics, especially my most recent reading for Professor Amster about transgendered prostitutes in Brazil. I’m well-versed in Victorian-era literature and American government, but, more importantly, I’m aware. In its diversity and occasional obscurity, my education at Gettysburg has allowed me to be present in the world and has encouraged me to learn for the sake of learning. I’m definitely prepared to ace my exams, but I’m even more ready to be an active, productive citizen beyond the Gettysburg community.

I can’t say that I’ve spent every day and night of the past four years doing homework on the third floor of the Library. This year, I’ve found a new home-away-from-the-Library in The Gettysburgian office in Plank basement. My work as Editor-in-Chief has been easily the most rewarding, worthwhile experience that I’ve had at Gettysburg. I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside a staff of wonderfully creative and talented editors who have challenged me – for better and for worse – and have trusted me to lead this publication. Even as I’ve sat glued to a computer screen for hours on end and edited article upon article, our staff has made the monotony so enjoyable and generally a little crazy, too. I’m unbelievably proud of the work that we’ve accomplished together and I’m so excited that AnnaMarie and Casey will take the lead next year. You’re both more than capable and I’m grateful to have had opportunity to share EIC with you for the past several weeks. I know that The Gettysburgian will continue to thrive and, even though graduation is bittersweet, I’m so looking forward to seeing the amazing work that you’ll do next year. And when the Orientation issue rolls around and you have no idea what you’re doing at 10 p.m. on Monday night, I’m here for you guys…unless I change my number.

All of this has brought my life fairly close to perfection, if you ask me, but my sistaz, my wonderful B.C. babez, have made the past four years absolutely perfect. This is the fanciest bunch of fools on campus and I’m proud to be a called a B.C. lady. You might not know our names, but you’ve probably heard of our obese diva of a cat. She goes by the name of Big Gurl and she’s got her own Twitter account (@BigGurlBigProbz) with more followers than our other resident cat (for some wit and wisdom follow @callme_ciaracat). Big Gurl has long since moved on from the B.C. to the rolling hills of Oley, but she’s a fine B.C. girl like any other. We’ve all been told that we’ll need to leave the B.C. in a few weeks, but I don’t think we’ll be apart for long. These brilliant, sophisticated ladies are all heading in different directions, but if I’ve learned anything, it’s that you can take a girl out of the B.C. but you can’t take the B.C. out of a girl. We’re for life, gurlfriendz – and you know we’ll always come home to Mama’s.

So, for all of its imperfections, my life and my career at Gettysburg have been perfect. I haven’t always made the best decisions and my parents think that I should really study more often, but I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. And I know it’s only going to get better.