Cliché to Rarity: Becoming a Smith Alumna
Maggie Mertens
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: Opinions
I don't think it is possible to write a column about my feelings upon graduating from Smith College without coming off as cliché, which is strange, because until this year I never quite felt like I fit the Smith cliché. It was hard for me to fit in here at first; I grew up in a family of boys, and the "female sisterhood" concept was new for me. I wasn't really interested in partying at Amherst or UMass either, and I never seemed to make it into the right clique in my house that had that special girl connection thing going on.
Even so, these past few months I've begun to feel this twinge of sadness when I smell the tree blooming outside of Nielson, when I see how intensely white Helen Hills Hills Chapel looks against the blue sky and streaking clouds or when I remember picking out my first-year classes on that swing by Paradise Pond.
This got me thinking, what exactly is a cliché? I'm about to get my college degree in English - I should be able to figure this one out. "Anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse," dictionary.com tells me - I'm sure Professor Seelig would have preferred I look it up in the OED, but I overdosed on the library the past few weeks, and the Internet will have to do for now.
Commonplace? Is that what this feeling is? Overused? Commencement is quite commonplace. It has happened once a year for the last 130 years or so. And perhaps this rush of mixed emotions I am experiencing is overused, especially on a campus like Smith's, where "I feel…" begins approximately half of all sentences uttered, inside the classroom and out.
Is it trite to stare longingly at that wave of hills behind Paradise Pond whose foliage gets painted each season, realizing with sadness that I will no longer be able to track the time of year by their changing colors?
Is it commonplace to lie on Chapin Lawn with my friends from my Junior Year Abroad while studying for our final exams, and getting distracted by our conversation that wonders what the "real world" will bring us in a few short weeks?
Even so, these past few months I've begun to feel this twinge of sadness when I smell the tree blooming outside of Nielson, when I see how intensely white Helen Hills Hills Chapel looks against the blue sky and streaking clouds or when I remember picking out my first-year classes on that swing by Paradise Pond.
This got me thinking, what exactly is a cliché? I'm about to get my college degree in English - I should be able to figure this one out. "Anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse," dictionary.com tells me - I'm sure Professor Seelig would have preferred I look it up in the OED, but I overdosed on the library the past few weeks, and the Internet will have to do for now.
Commonplace? Is that what this feeling is? Overused? Commencement is quite commonplace. It has happened once a year for the last 130 years or so. And perhaps this rush of mixed emotions I am experiencing is overused, especially on a campus like Smith's, where "I feel…" begins approximately half of all sentences uttered, inside the classroom and out.
Is it trite to stare longingly at that wave of hills behind Paradise Pond whose foliage gets painted each season, realizing with sadness that I will no longer be able to track the time of year by their changing colors?
Is it commonplace to lie on Chapin Lawn with my friends from my Junior Year Abroad while studying for our final exams, and getting distracted by our conversation that wonders what the "real world" will bring us in a few short weeks?
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Karen Spindel
posted 5/14/09 @ 10:02 AM EST
This article is beautiful. It made me cry even though--or maybe because-- I did not attend Smith. I am so thankful that my daughter is a Smithie.
Ian
posted 5/15/09 @ 2:41 PM EST
Congratulations on your graduation from Smith College, Maggie. I'm sorry it has to end for you but what's important is that Smith marches on and what a great place to have attended college and spent your most significant years developmentally. (Continued…)
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