#aggiering

                                                                                                                            “The eagle is symbolic of agility and power, and ability to reach great heights.” 

( The above was reprinted on page 1 of the November 1977 issue of The Texas Aggie from the October 1969 issue of the same publication. )

I didn’t expect this bird to be so heavy.

Only five or six grams, but it feels like a fifty pound anchor holding me in place. To Texas, to Aggieland, to the Liberal Arts and Humanities Building, to this present iteration of my reality.

I don’t know what’s going to happen to that reality once I leave it.

This eagle is meant to symbolize our ability to reach great heights, so why does it feel like the fifth floor of the LAAH is high enough? 

I feel like Gatsby.

Standing at the end of my dock, reaching for the green light that is graduation. What will happen when they hand me that diploma? Will I realize everything I was reaching for was an empty dream? Will I end up back in my grand empty home, waiting on a call that I will die before getting?

My sensibilities as an English major tell me no. They tell me this is a grandiose writing style and Fitzgerald was writing in a drunken, pessimistic mania. Those same sensibilities also tell me that this story, my story, is concluding it’s introduction. The main players have been introduced, the theme has been established, and we’re ready to ramp up the action. I’m ready to see what this story builds up to. I’m ready to see how my legacy is written.

Some dreams aren’t empty. Some stories are worth living.

Fighting Texas class of 2018