During the witching hours of August 19th, 2021, I was drowning. Drowning in a sea of clothes, that is. It was half past 2 a.m. and I had to catch an 8 a.m. flight to Philly the next morning to start my freshman pre–orientation here at Penn. Like many other freshmen who arrived on campus two weeks ago, I severely overpacked.
I didn’t need the six sweatshirts and the stack of books I impulsively squeezed into my suitcase. Because when freshman year ended, nine months later, most of those sweatshirts and books accompanied me home to California, unworn and unread.
Now, 1,096 days since I packed my first college suitcase, I am sitting on my same bedroom floor, surrounded by a much smaller pile of clothes and books, but this time I am swimming in nostalgia.
When I arrived to Penn I was naive to the campus culture and history, (despite my persistent efforts to learn everything I could about student life at Penn via Reddit for the months leading up to my arrival). My pre–orientation, PennCORP—a program in civic engagement and social justice—was a crash course in the legacy of Penn’s often invasive relationship to West Philadelphia. The weeks that followed were my crash course in traditional college life. I navigated an ugly bout of pneumonia, failed my first economics midterm, and spent too many early mornings taking math quizzes in DRL.
My trials and tribulations, entirely non–unique and completely universal to the college experience, shaped this September’s back to school issue, “Word on the Street.” Partly inspired by Street’s personal narrative section “WOTS,” this issue highlights the raw testimonies of students on Penn’s campus. We know that being a college student is myriad experiences. You’ll spend back–to–back nights stumbling down Locust late at night, sometimes emerging from an all–nighter study session and other nights linked arm and arm with your friends after a party. As your campus magazine reporting on everything relevant from West Philly and beyond, this issue is here to tell you everything we wish we knew about college and everything you need to know about Penn—the good, the bad, and the occasionally ugly.
This month's featured article, “A Well–Oiled Disciplinary Machine,” explores the aftermath of the spring’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Our profile article, "Disorient Yourself!," further highlights the decades of campus activism that preceded the encampment.
These past weeks you've probably been walking down Locust, noticing all of Penn's iconic admissions brochure landmarks. If you're curious about the unbelievable backstory and lore about the Compass, the Tampons, and the Button, you will definitely want to check out our article "The Lore and Lingo of Penn's Campus." But as you've traversed campus you may have also noticed signs around College Green delineating new restrictions about campus events and demonstrations—and for that our feature article will get you up to speed.
This will be the reality of your college experience: a complicated imbalance of joyous friendship and learning all while inevitably navigating the reality of Penn's institutional legacy. So I encourage you to find your niche and find your people, but when you find your voice, utilize the privilege of this education to contribute to a cause greater than yourself.
Because when you arrive at the beginning of the end of your college career, wading in the waters of nostalgia and ruminating on your time at Penn, I hope that you too can feel satisfaction for the life you built for yourself on this campus.
In the meantime, 34th Street Magazine will be here, capturing the campus’ and city’s Word on the Street, in print and online.
SSSF,
Natalia
