Katie Colaneri ’10

“Many, many, many…”

One voice gave the pitches. The circle around us drew a collective breath I could not see for the scarf covering my eyes. Then, they sang: “Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken, and many times confused…”

Roughly an hour before, I sat on a dryer in the laundry room of the Severance basement—crying, homesick. Suddenly, they came laughing down the stairs, dressed all in black, looking, apparently, for me.

Willingly blindfolded, they walked us through the night, over cold grass, to the Tower arch. Our chattering and laughter called up echoes. Then, a solemn hush. The sacred assurance of tradition. The relief of belonging.

“Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken and certainly misused. But I’m alright, I’m alright. I’m just weary to my bones. Still, you don’t expect to be bright and bon vivant so far away from home…”

So far away from home.