Hello from Denison (Granville, OH)! I can't believe I biked out here (well most of the way). While I would love to write about biking from Chicago to Denison, I won't just yet because the trip is still ongoing and I'd prefer to write about it after it is over. Also... I have yet to blog about my Milwaukee trip, which... won't happen this post, because I have so much to say about my teammates.... so keep reading!
My teammates. What can I say. What can I actually say to explain what it's going to be like between us for the rest of our lives? Other 4K alum will understand, but even still, how to explain how we feel towards each other?
Well, I think I have a way... and *dun*dun*dun*... it's going to take the form of a confession, which will be quite the surprise for even my own teammates. Also enjoy some of my favorite pictures with the team (there are SO MANY MORE PICTURES than I have space / time to show here).
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| Ligonier, PA Day 3... one of the earliest and one of the best |
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| Hmm not sure where this was taken either, but it must have been very early in the trip because my hair is not insanely long yet. Those of you who are art critics will be able to appreciate the sharp contrast between Taylor's light tone and my mocha tone |
On May 30 when I flew into Baltimore, I felt very mixed about the trip. It isn't that I didn't want to go or anything so drastic, but I had no idea what it would be like to spend 70 days with people who are essentially strangers (oh how that has changed). And to be brutally honest, I felt uneasy about spending that much time with that many non University of Chicago people. Let me explain what I mean (I went to University of Chicago in case it isn't obvious by now).
As my University of Chicago friends know all too well, UChicago people... often do not mesh well with non-UChicago people. I don't know if it's snobbery (on our part that is), whether it's just a different way of thinking about the world, whether it's whatever it may be, but for some reason a lot of UChicago people have the mentality that no one in the world can really understand us except for other UChicago people (hmm yes it is sounding more and more like snobbery). I'm not joking when I say that when I walk around everyday, I often think about how to better apply Aristotle's concept of the philosophical friendship to my life, what lessons about language I can take from Antony's famous funeral oration in
Julius Caesar, what exactly Heidegger means by present-at-hand vs ready-at-hand and thingness and the meaning of being and yadi-yadi-yadi you get the point (wow I am a snob someone stop me). Above all we're supposed to be intellectual. The purpose of our education is NOT a job or a career (although those are nice too), but the improvement of our minds. Every year at UChicago a professor gives a speech called the "Aims of Education." It's a very big honor and privilege as a professor to be asked to give this speech. It's funny, every professor has his or her own style and delivery, but in the end EVERY YEAR the speech has the same message: that education's value is education itself, and that everything else is secondary and not as valuable.
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| At the Navigator's in Columbus |
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| Peter's birthday in Oakwood, OH |
Maybe to hammer home this point about UChicago even more, in the early 90s President Clinton offered to come to the University of Chicago to give the commencement speech for that year's graduating class. Bill Clinton! The President of the United States! And you know what UChicago students, faculty, and alum said? No thank you... you can give a quick speech about policy, but we want our commencement speech to be given by a member of the academic faculty and not a politician. That is how dedicated UChicago is to pure intellectualism.
The point of saying all this is to try to explain just how much of a culture shock it was for me to start the 4K. The things that make up the essence of 4K - sharpeeing people's names on your legs, team cheer and dedication circle every day, biking across the country to fight cancer - these things do not belong to the world of UChicago. We're talking about the school that had a president who wanted to abolish all sports, fraternities, and most extracurricular activities, because he saw them as a distraction to the intellectual development of the students (this place is insane! although I love it...)..
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| Not even sure where this was taken but thumbs up. I think it was Columbus actually |
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| Cancer Hope Lodge in Cincinnati, OH. Feels like a lifetime ago... |
Maybe the final point about this confession will be that as UChicago students, we have a tendency to question EVERYTHING, and especially question things that are intended to be symbolic and gestures of goodwill. When I told some of my UChicago friends post-trip about what we would do each morning... write people's names on our calves, dedicate our rides to people in our lives and let them know we were riding for them that day, I was greeted with skepticism. Nothing malicious, but questions like, well what's the point of that? It's not like riding 120 miles for your cousin who is fighting cancer right now is going to cure him or her of cancer. I don't want to make it sound like my friends didn't support me during my 4K ride (they definitely did) or that they don't support the program, but again, a lot of what we did on the trip simply does not belong to the world of UChicago.
To be perfectly honest, I was just as skeptical as they were about all of this at the beginning of the trip. I remember thinking to myself it was a bit odd or maybe even awkward to dedicate your ride to someone who wasn't even there, someone who might not even know that you were riding for them. But as my teammates can attest to, I don't feel that way anymore. I don't know exactly when my mind changed, but I can tell you what changed it.
I saw how much it meant to our hosts along the ride when we told them that we would ride for either them or their family who were cancer survivors or had lost their battles to cancer. I saw how much it meant to Jamie's family that we were riding for her and those for whom had intended to ride. When I saw all these things, I realized that the things we do on 4K are not only symbolic gestures but real and meaningful ways to make a difference in people's lives.
But most importantly, I saw the example of my teammates, who truly took to heart this coast to coast bike fight against cancer. I saw them set an example for me as they got up everyday at 5AM (or 4AM sometimes ugh) and cover themselves with sharpie, send text messages to those for whom they were riding, and so much more. When I saw how riding for someone made my teammates ride that much stronger and helped them finish days that they might not have finished otherwise, I couldn't help but change my own mind about everything on the 4K. My teammates are the ones who truly made 4K what it is.
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| One of my favorite from Chicago... my Chicago friends will (or at least should) recognize where this is |
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Sorry Dorothy, but I don't care what you and your dog think. We're definitely in Kansas. Now take Toto and go home before your aunt and uncle get worried.
If it weren't for my teammates, I would never have made this transformation. If it weren't for them, I would still be stuck in the pure UChicago mentality, wondering if I could ever really get close to non-UChicago people. They're the ones who helped me break out of this mentality. Without them I would not be the same person I am today.
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| with Team San Francisco in Boulder, CO (also for some reason Team San Fran's average height is 2341241 inches more than our average height... although I certainly do not help even out the difference |
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| Not sure what is going on here but I think I need an adult (by the way I'm currently drinking out of that water bottle sitting in Denison's library... I don't think drinking of a cup will ever feel quite right) |
As if it isn't incredibly obvious, we are still in contact constantly. Our GroupMe (group texting app) has new messages every single day, most of us have left our Life360 on (GPS tracker) so we know where we are... I know a bit creepy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. There have been a number of visits and reunions already (including mine in Denison right now!) and more to come. In just about a week I start a two week long trip down the East Coast, going friend to friend and visiting so many teammates. Leaving Portland was truly depressing, but I can't tell you how good it will feel to see so many of my teammates very very soon.
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