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Reflecting on the Holy Cross experience
Perhaps
more than any other community, a college campus marks the
rhythm of life with intensely emotional arrivals and departures.
The momentous and public nature of commencement, reunion,
convocation and homecoming get the most attention - as
well as several pages in this issue. But for all of us
traveling to and from College Hill over the years, the
private, more intimate occasions are what truly give shape
to our lives at Holy Cross.
I’m new to campus, but not to the Holy Cross family.
My great-uncle was Rev. Michael Earls, S.J., Class of 1896,
a writer and poet who also served as a teacher and administrator
at the College for many years. His sister (my maternal grandmother)
was a musician who composed the 1919 version of Linden
Lane (although, apparently, the spirit of the times
kept her from being fully acknowledged: she is credited only
as EL.C. Earls on the sheet music). My father, Owen ’50,
my late uncle, Robert ’53, my sister Jane ’82
and many friends and relatives have let me in on their own
Holy Cross experiences and memories. Plus, having grown up
in Worcester , I knew my way around the Hart Center , Fitton
Field and Hogan; and every trip in or out of town was marked
by the sight of Fenwick and O’Kane from I-290.
So, I always saw this as a special place. But that didn’t
prepare me for the emotional wallop of coming “home” to
Holy Cross.
This spring and summer I gained a new perspective on the
distinctive culture that exists here and among the wider
community of alumni and friends of the College. Attending
events that happened to be associated with those “momentous” college
occasions - award programs, alumni gatherings, Commencement
- I saw Holy Cross reveal itself in small moments, exchanges
and gestures:
Associate Professor of music Osvaldo Golijov hurrying to
the stage to embrace the musicians of the Kronos Quartet
who so beautifully performed his work during the Sanctae
Crucis dinner honoring alumni achievement . . .
The laughter and tears punctuating Class Dean Victoria
Swigert’s address at the ALANA dinner on the eve of
Commencement, as she acknowledged each student with a personal
recollection . . .
The mix of excitement, pride and trepidation on the faces
of a soon-to-be first-year student and her parents stepping
up to the Gateways orientation registration desk in Hogan
. . .
The quiet descending on a hotel ballroom filled with New
York area alumni as poet Billy Collins ’63 read from
his work Questions About Angels.
In this issue, you’ll certainly find other “moments” that
uniquely informed the experience of Holy Cross - Pulitzer
Prize-winning novelist Edward P. Jones’ account of
spotting his mother in the crowd at his 1972 graduation;
Joseph Califano’s memory of how Fr. Henry Bean’s
rhetoric class taught him “to think on his feet” - to
cite just two examples.
If these pages inspire you to reflect on your own classroom
experiences, we hope you’ll consider submitting an
essay about “The Teacher Who Changed My Life.” We’re
gathering these for a future issue of Holy Cross Magazine. You’ll
find more information about this at www.holycross.edu.
On behalf of everyone at Holy Cross Magazine, I hope you
enjoy the reporting and reflections in this issue.
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