I like underdogs, and I like to be supremely proud of places I come from and am affiliated with: I am proud of Riverside for being my hometown, I am proud of Bordeaux for being my European home away from home, I was even proud of the 10025 zip code my first year in New York and then of the 7 train when I was out in Queens. And above all, I am a superbly proud UCSB Alum, Santa Barbara Gaucho. And I love when things get on the map and I love when they are winning. But I never wanted UC Santa Barbara, or that UCSB-extension and every student's home Isla Vista, to get on the map like this.
The weird thing was that I was sitting down for lunch in San Diego with my UCSB senior year college roommate on Saturday after the events, when she asked if I had heard about what had happened the night before, and I hadn't. But right after she told me, my phone then blew up with everyone texting and getting in touch and remembering and mourning.
To see it on national headlines is a little surreal. To see the streets I lived on for 4 years, the deli I went to, the places I napped inbetween classes... to see them now with bullet holes in glass, huge memorials stacked with flowers, candlelight vigils walking through the parks, around the frat and sorority houses I went to parties at or visited with friends, it's so sad. That was me six years ago. That could have been me and all of my friends six years ago. They were just like us. Laid back, partying, studying, roaming Isla Vista for the evening... cut short by a national-headlined mass murder.
I am lucky to be at a sister school. All the UC campus flags are at half-staff and there will be a memorial here tomorrow as well. My office has been kind and understanding, since I have already flaunted my UCSB pride in their faces and they know of my affiliation and love. It's just so disheartening. So I wanted to post some pictures to reminisce on my pride and good times at UCSB and in Isla Vista while I also mourn with them.
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| San Nicolas Residence Hall, where I lived (happily!) from 2004-2005 |
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| A 2009 trip back to my exact dorm room I shared with my great roommate Neva, and made lasting friends on that dorm floor til now |
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| Freshman year in the dorms... before going out somewhere... |
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| Known for the Halloween parties, my sophomore year roommates and I dress up as the characters from Clue |
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| Senior year Halloween fun out in Isla Vista |
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| Senior year Halloween on Del Playa in Isla Vista, I ran into Richie Tenenbaum... my favorite! |
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| Senior year shenanigans around finals time, waiting for Bill's Bus in Isla Vista |
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| And my 2008 graduation from the best UC ever. |
Go Gauchos.
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