Amidst the dark fog of midterm week, a sleepy, masochistic archaeology student sits in a tiny room in a tiny co-op in a tiny town in Ohio, pounding away at a keyboard. The clock's fierce ticking is the only sound; the night presses ever onward; his tea has long since grown cold. But the Oberlin blogs wait for no one.
So without further ado: hey there! I'm Eli; I'm a sophomore from Vermont studying classics and archaeology; and this is my contribution to the flood of intro posts.
As the spawn of an alum, I grew up listening to my dad's memories of Oberlin. I decided at the tender age of eight that I wanted to study at the Conservatory and become a world-famous concert pianist. (While I didn't end up following that particular path, I've taken lessons here with a fantastic student teacher, and banging away on a Steinway in one of the practice rooms is my one of favorite ways to unwind.) When I started considering colleges in earnest, it was pretty clear that Oberlin was where I wanted to be. I applied early decision, and tore open my acceptance letter on a miserable afternoon in mid-December. From that point on (don't tell my teachers), my senior year was a waste. Physically, I was taking notes in an 8 a.m. AP class. But mentally, I was frolicking through viewbook-esque scenes of collegiate rapture: the museum! the laboratories! the stately quads! the barefoot co-opers wandering through Wilder Bowl, eating raw tofu and discussing the ways that capitalism reinforces the gender binary! It was true love.
My relationship with Oberlin could have stayed in long-distance limbo for a while - sending each other paperwork and tuition checks, dreaming of an idealized future together. But the day came when we had to meet face-to-face. Moving to Ohio was the scariest thing I'd ever done, but within weeks (to my parents' chagrin), I'd started calling this place home. Since then, I've moved into the craziest of co-ops and jumped into the worlds of pizza-making and co-operative theory. I've declared an archaeology major and spent the summer at field school in Italy. I've co-DJ'd a radio show, played Javanese percussion in the gamelan ExCo, organized campus activism with the Trans Advocacy Group, learned to fix my own bike at the Bike Co-op, cooked vegan meals for 100 people on the fly... and met the most bizarre and inspiring people I've ever seen. I hope this blog will give you a sense of some of that.
Finally, I love talking to new prospies and I love answering questions ... so don't be shy! And maybe I'll see you around Oberlin sometime.
