Big Blue Nation: From the University of Kentucky Campus

I was born and raised in Lexington, KY--the heart of the Big Blue Nation.  I bleed blue and love watching my beloved Cats play.  I cheer them on and wear all my many UK blue t-shirts on game day.  All through school, if there was an NCAA game during the class hours, class was put on hold and the game was put on the TV.  In high school, we'd congregate in the theatre to cheer on the team on a bigger screen together.  While other people might say their favorite season is spring, summer, fall, or winter, the favorite season in the BBN is basketball season.  You get my point...I am as big of a fan as anyone.

I am now a freshman at the University of Kentucky, staying loyal to my wildcat upbringing, and I am just as big of a fan as ever before.  Honestly, probably a bigger fan.  Yes, I am going to try to get tickets to all of the games.  Yes, I will be donning my UK blue along with every other student on this campus when basketball game days roll around.  Yes, I will be watching the away games with large groups of people--all cheering obnoxiously for every point scored.  I am still a huge fan.  I will always be a huge fan.

However, this morning, I started to think about the obsession of Big Blue Nation as I passed the 26 billion people (ok, not billions, but hundreds nonetheless) camping out for Big Blue Madness.  I walked by the masses of tents that have been preceded with people clogging up the sidewalks students use with their lawn chairs and tarps--sitting in one line to get in another.  I passed by the "madness" that probably inspired those "You people are crazy" t-shirts on my way to class, and not five minutes later I passed Marcus Lee on his way out of White Hall--one of the classroom buildings on campus.  Now, I pass basketball players all the time...in fact, I pass Lee every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at approximately 9:52, as he is leaving his class and I am going to mine.  I passed Jamal Murray and Isaac Humphries walking home from class today.  I've seen Skal at CSF events.  I've seen several others at athletic events.  Heck, they ALL live in a residence hall on north campus like I do...I could walk over there in about three minutes.  The list goes on...point being, I am a college student, and so are they.  We go to the same school...our paths cross.

Back to this morning though.  I passed these masses of people camping out days in advance to get tickets to a glorified pep rally and then passed one of those players that they put up on a podium...and I felt for him.  As he and his teammates walk from their residence hall to class, like any other 18-22 year-old college student does--they have to pass these people camped out to see them.  These people...the Big Blue Nation...you and I...expect them to win.  We fill Rupp Arena with 23,500 people and, yes, absolutely support them, but also expect them to win.  We yell at the refs when we don't like the call.  We get mad at the team for screwing up plays, missing shots, and...heaven forbid...losing.  We fill arenas, travel around the country, camp out for days, miss work and school, the list goes on...just to see them play.  And there are reminders of it everywhere.  On t-shirts.  On TV.  On all forms of social media.  On the streets...tents lined up as a reminder that we, the Big Blue Nation, are huge fans.

No pressure, Marcus Lee.  Just continue on your way to class.



Now, the players knew what they were signing up for.  They knew UK basketball was a big deal.  They knew the fans were nuts...we are.  And in some ways, it is great.  I think that Big Blue Nation is 100% the absolute best fan base in the world, and I completely mean that.  But, as a student at the University of Kentucky, I am reminded of who these guys we are cheering for are.  They are humans not so different from me or any other college student.  They live in residence halls, walk to and from class, attend sporting events, go to organizations on campus...they are just college kids.

The madness is beginning.  I am so pumped, as is the rest of BBN.  But this year, because of my experiences as a UK student, when I watch the games, I am going to see more than the players, and I suggest you do too before you snap the next time they miss a shot.  I am going to see the Marcus Lee I see every day leaving class.  I am going to see the humans that are extraordinarily talented young people.  Let's treat them like that, not going off every time they screw up.  Because I screw up too. So do you.  So do they.  And it's okay.  Because regardless of whether they make that point...we have the greatest tradition in college basketball.

With that being said...

On, on, U of K!
Let the madness begin.

"Do What You Love"

"Do what you love."

So cliche, right?  Everyone says to "do what you love"--until that means that someone who loves the arts wants to go into them or someone who wants to be a teacher in some small country across the earth follows that dream.  We are quick to place so many judgments in the academic world, and I am just as guilty as the next person.  This blog post isn't about how much the arts matter and how those degrees are just as valid as math and science--though they are.  It is about how yesterday when I was sitting in one of my honors courses, I totally understood what passion was.

I never understood how anyone could major in something math-y or science-y unless it was for money purposes.  "How could anyone actually love doing that kind of awful stuff?" thought my arts inclined brain.  In class yesterday we were discussing what it means for my university to be a "Research-1 University," so of course, I was prepared for a discussion completely irrelevant for me--the one fine arts major in a room full of "normal" honors students--math and science majors.  And, to some extent, it was pretty irrelevant.  Odds are, I won't do much, if any, undergraduate research--it doesn't help me get to where I want to go.  However, one of my professors was talking about her neuroscience research and she was telling a story:  One night, she and another lady were doing research at one in the morning, and the lady turned to her and exclaimed, "I CAN'T BELIEVE I GET PAID TO DO THIS!!!!!!!"  That hit me.  That's how people in the arts feel.  That's how I hope to feel.

In that moment, it clicked.  People are just as passionate about biology and chemistry and political science as I am about the arts.  Now, there are people who go into that kind of stuff because it is "the smart thing to do" or because the jobs pay well.  However, my professor's eyes lit up with that light that is only present when someone is really passionate about what they are talking about.  Neuroscience research sets a fire within her, just like the arts do for me.

Maybe I didn't learn anything relevant to my major, career, or time at college.  But I did learn something about life.  We all have different passions, and maybe your passions make me want to bang my head against a wall, but the passion it sets within our hearts is the same.  It helps us grow and serve the world.  That is crazy cool.  So, HEY YOU...DO WHAT YOU LOVE!

P.S. My next post is going to be a "hey the arts matter a lot" post, but relating to academic life and what we as a society value as "intelligence" because me and my roommate talk about it all the time, and I love our conversations!

Never Forget

I've been debating what my next post should be.  I've done a lot in the first few weeks at college--there's a lot I could write about, but I haven't felt inspired to write any of those posts...yet...they are coming.  However, on today, September 11, 2015, I wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on the tragedy that occurred on this day 14 years ago.

I don't remember what I was doing.  I do remember watching the news.  I remember the sadness in the air...the atmosphere was full of sadness and brokenness as the air was full of smoke.  I remember drawing a picture of what I was seeing--trying to use art to comprehend in my four year old brain what had taken place.

My heart hurts even today for everyone affected by the attack on 9/11...it always will.  That day will remain one in history that scars our nation.  It cut deep, but the love and community ran deeper.  The beauty on this day is the way people came together--all people.  There were no stereotypes, no labels--we were human, united in our love for each other and the nation we call home.  There was love.  There was community.

I am reminded on this day of a song that we have been singing at Christian Student Fellowship at my university.  The words, sung out loudly by hundreds upon hundreds of college students, tell this story: "I've seen many searching for answers far and wide, but I know we're all searching for answers only you provide, because you know just what we need before we say a word.  You're a good, good Father.  It's who You are; it's who You are.  And I'm loved by You.  It's who I am; it's who I am.  You are perfect in all of Your ways."

He is good.  His ways are perfect--all of them.  He knows what we need before we say a word.  How beautiful is that?  We are each loved so much by him.  We are loved, and every person affected by the tragedy of 9/11 is loved.  That is clear, and we should strive to make it known.  The love shown in our nation towards one another on September 11, 2001 should be shown on September 11, 2015 and every day in between and hereafter.  Love that comes from knowing He is a good, good Father that loves us.  His promises are good.  His promises are true.

Never Forget.