You Know You Are From SJ If…..

SJC Alumnus Nicole Paggett asked me to post You Know You Are From SJ if….. Written by Erin Keenan. Since I liked it and thought much of it rang true for past students, faculty and staff I figured I’d post something fun here for a change.

Both Nicole and Erin also send there best to all.

You Know You Are From SJ If…..

1. Your Professor ever canceled class because it was sunny.
2. You have ever volunteered to spawn salmon.
3. Class was canceled to watch the herring run.
4. You were ever afraid to stand in front of David Sweetland's portrait.
5. Celebrated the day they took it down.
6. You know who David Sweetland was.
7. You know ghost stories about him and the cafeteria.
8. Sundays equaled waffles.
9. You could recognize every single state trooper while in uniform.
10. Once a month you wondered when the Whitworth students had arrived, then realized they were the troopers in civilian dress
11. As a freshmen in DSH you could name all the students and where they were from.
12. You lived in NPH or Whitmore and had no clue who the freshmen were and did not care.
13. Ate more food off campus then on.
14. You ate Pizza Express at least once a week.
15. You knew what the phrase "the troopers are coming" meant.
16. You could run from the Raz to DSH in 10 seconds.
17. You weighed 250 and could make it in the same amount of time.
18. You could do it in flip flops.
19. Your shoes of choice were Extra Tuffs, flip flops or sandals.
20. Everyone would notice if your boot were not Extra Tuffs
21. You could wear long johns, two pair of pants, rain pants, a tee shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, a hoodie, a polar fleece, down jacket, two pairs of gloves, and a stocking cap and still have to use the blanket you brought with you to stay warm in class.
22. You have slept in the above mentioned outfit and were still cold.
23. Classes were canceled because it was warmer outside then in.
24. You took a cab or the school van to the bank, but would walk over a mile to Lakeside for groceries and carried them back.
25. You know the difference between "Big C" and "Little C"
26. You have to think about the real name of "Little C"
27. You know what donkey meat (or seagull, eagle, raven, crow) was and looked forward to eating it.
28. You have eaten pork for ever meal for two weeks in a row.
29. You now know all the possible culinary uses of pineapple.
30. Some days not even the kitchen staff knew what was in the lasagna.
31. The vegetarian enchiladas were stuffed with chicken.
32. Just a glance at the menu would cause you to eat a $12 bowl of lucky charms.
33. Some times you had to resort to eating a $12 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because the milk was bad and so was the lunch meat.
34. You gained 40lbs in one semester on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
35. There were days when even the gravy ran away from the mashed potatoes.
36. Fried chicken was on the menu you would get a shriveled up wing because anything bigger would be frozen solid on the inside.
37. Some days the potatoes would make great snowballs that never lost their shape.
38. You have ever been asked by a trooper for meal advice.
39. You have ever stood in the middle of the trooper line, and waved to all your friends.
40. You have seen troopers do push ups in the snow.
41. You have seen troopers do push ups in the main lounge.
42. You have felt bad for that trooper still in the bathroom when the others have already left.
43. You are female and have had a trooper open the door for you and call you Miss.
44. You are female and remember Sgt Spitzer.
45. You have ever been serenaded by troopers on your birthday.
46. You have ever been afraid that people would find out about you birthday.
47. You know what the flume is.
48. You have been thrown in the flume.
49. You have ever jumped in the flume.
50. You have ever seen someone physically dragged from their room kicking and screaming in the middle of the night and taken outside in winter with snow on the ground, surrounded by a mob of people and no one questions it.
51. You were there when it happened to Bryner. (I was, it was great. Erin)
52. You knew when the salmon came in due to the smell of death.
53. You could name every mountain whether you climbed them or not.
54. You walked through Totem Park because you were bored.
55. You could hear the ocean from your dorm room.
56. Though you could see it, you rarely ever walked the beach.
57. You have been told not to walk around campus at night because of bear sightings.
58. You got excited when you saw a deer on campus.
59. You got really excited when you saw a deer behind the cafeteria.
60. You either know him, or know someone who knows that guy that saw a deer behind the cafeteria ran to his room and shot the deer with a bow and arrow out his window.
61. You know the handbook has a rule about not cleaning game or fish in the bathrooms or bedrooms.
62. You know people who have broken that rule.
63. You are one of the people who broke that rule.
64. You don't know where the designated cleaning place is.
65. You are, or know, a hippy tree hugging vegetarian who hates bald eagles and wishes they would all die because they perch on boats and crap everywhere.
66. You know what a bear stick is.
67. You have threatened to hit your best friend with one if the need should arise.
68. You know what the "Gloria" is and still wonder who owns her.
69. You know the location of Superman's phone booth is.
70. You know where the Raz is, but not the Rasmuson building.
71. You and your teachers wore Extra Tuffs to graduation.
72. You have referred to Whitmore as a cult and as a group distrust them.
73. You got excited when the new staircase in NPH and Whitmore were built.
74. You watched the crack in the smoke stack of the laundry room get bigger.
75. You have ever wondered when the Allen building was every going to be finished.
76. You have ever failed a class because the server was down.
77. You can recognize the sound of rage when the internet goes down.
78. You know who Gizmo was.
79. You could recognize a certain person’s whistle and take a different path.
80. You have seen an ice ax, a sleeping bag, and a math book strapped to the same bag.
81. You have worn hip waders and brought your fishing pool to class.
82. You did that after fishing.
83. You have had a beer with a professor.
84. You have been given a hug by Duna.
85. You know which teachers to refer to as Dr. and which go by their first name and to this day still refer to them as that.
86. You have ever been hunting or fishing with a professor, staff member, or VIM.
87. You know what VIM stands for.
88. You had a favorite VIM.
89. You had a VIM you hated with a passion.
90. You know Marcel and speak of him always with high praise whether you knew him or not.
91. You think Pat is pretty much the coolest guy ever.
92. You know who Martin was, even if you have never met him.
93. You have ever been sea sick on a teacher’s boat.
94. Two words. Sock Wars.
95. You know for a fact that in the end, sock wars always turns out to be a battle of the sexes.
96. You have ever been one of the body guards to the last two sock war members.
97. You have ever had Pat Shehan try to set you up on a date.
98. You have ever dated your ex's present partners ex.
99. You realize that the couple that broke up has only been together for two weeks (not two months like you thought) and are now on their forth or fifth girlfriend/boyfriend.
100. The first week or two of classes girls wear makeup, cute clothes, and high heels, then stop due to weather conditions and the fact that no one cares if they are cute or not, but weather or not they will have sex in the woods.
101. You understood what "she is going to Juneau" meant.
102. You remember Cohabitation.
103. You remember when Cohabitation was defined as vaginal sex.
104. You remember when that changed.
105. You laughed your ass off when they thought it would make a difference.
106. You know people who justified having sex during the day, then saying that as long as they were out of the room by curfew they were not breaking any rules.
107. You were one of those people.
108. You did not care and had sex whenever you wanted.
109. You fantasized about Sgt. Spitzer.
110. The smallest rule to break was watching a DVD in one of the lounges.
111. You would hide the DVD and swear it was a movie on TV.
112. You would search for movies that said "Public viewing rights included" just to piss people off.
113. You have ever stood in the snow at night in a towel and wet hair because the fire alarm went off.
114. You have ever had the misfortune of the happening while the troopers were there.
115. You have ever been excited about a trooper saying something, anything, to you.
116. After all this time you still keep track of SJ by reading Bryner's blog.
117. The name Brian Chamberlain causes intense anger and uncontrollable rage.
118. You love Louis Driver.
119. You knew the other mail box es that your mail box key opened.

And last but not least, and I am sure there are many, many more great things that made SJ such a great place...

120. You still know the address to SJC.

American Library Association highlights Stratton

The American Library Association (ALA) recently published an article about the situation at Stratton.

I'll miss Martin

It was with great sadness that I read today's paper and discovered that Martin Strand passed away on August 14th in Anchorage.

Martin was as much a part of my SJC experience as anyone. I had been responsible for supervising Rasmuson when it reopened, and Martin was usually first in and last out most days. We'd whistle a bird call to each other in the street, and I always greeted Martin with the drawn out "Haaaaaaaaay" he was famous for. He'd come in and order his "usual" (apple cider) from the cafe and then hold court over a billiards table for hours on end. Students were schooled around a pool table with Martin, each break and subsequent shot another opportunity to listen and learn from a gifted poet, photographer, hunter, and lifelong learner.

We all have mourned the closure of SJ, but few people have been with the school for so long. Martin, like SJ was an institution that will be sorely missed.

Memorial services are being held on Thursday, August 21 5:30PM at the ANB Hall, and a Celebration Martin's life is being held at First Presbyterian Friday at 10:00AM.