Oxford, Mississppi: my life, my love, my home.

“On Friday nights before Ole Miss home games, Oxford’s courthouse square becomes a mini-New Orleans.  By 9 o’clock, the sidewalks are filled with students and alumns.  Sorority girls in cocktail dresses and high heels stroll from bar to bar, while frat brothers whoop it up in front of Proud Larry’s, Rooster’s and other noisy hangouts.  Later, a few of the more literary types will be visiting nearby St. Peter’s Cemetery, where spilling a shot of bourbon on Faulkner’s grave is an honored tradition.  It’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ meets ‘Animal House,’ part fashion show, part pep rally and part hangover in the making.”

These are the words of Bill Thomas in the Washington Post after his visit to Oxford, Mississippi.  (I intend to shoot him an email about a few of errors in his piece.)  There it is.  I can’t keep it a secret anymore!  I go to Ole Miss.  Loud and proud, I proclaim my loyalties.  The University of Mississippi, that school, Ole Miss: whatever you call it, we all know it is a cultural phenomenon.  Whether or not you like it, you have to admit this as fact.  Because it is. 

The first time I saw what is now my home; I was a mere fifteen-year-old girl.  I even remember what I was wearing.  Is that weird?  I came with my best friend and her parents, they went to college here.  Right when we drove onto campus I said, “This is where I’m going to college.”  And I did. 

I could talk for days about how awesome Ole Miss is, but I’ll save you the time.  What really makes Ole Miss so special is the atmosphere; from times to come and times past.  I began studying African American studies my sophomore year in a class where I met Jake!  I have gone on to unofficially make it my second minor.  Where could be a better place to study African American history?  I once went to the special collections section of the library and read folders upon folders of negative and positive letters written to James Meredith when he came to Ole Miss.  There was a lot of negativity from white folks then, but you should see the positive letters.  They are astounding. 

I have walked the same streets as Archie and Eli Manning, Barry Hannah, Willie Morris, James Meredith, William Faulkner, Barack Obama, and John McCain.  How many people can attest to that?  Not many. 

William Faulkner is everywhere.  You can see him and read him and feel him.  I was not originally a Faulkner fan, but now I am a bit obsessed.  Have you ever been to his home, Rowan Oak?  If you’re a fan of Faulkner, and even if you aren’t, you need to go before the end of your lifetime.  You can just feel him lurking around the halls, irritated that people are using his house as a spectacle for a bunch of weirdos.  You can even see his handwriting on the walls of his office turned bedroom when he could no longer make it up the stairs.  I believe he died in the room, and I knew he was there when I walked inside.    

The food in Oxford is to be envied by many.  We all know Southern food is far superior to any other but these guys have really got it down.  It’s so good it will make you want to slap your momma.  Food + wine + Oxford = Enjoyment.  People really know how to live down here.  Coming from Little Rock, I was quite manic and high strung when I came down here, but that ended real quick.  People drive, eat, drink, and talk slow.  Don’t let that fool you for one minute that we aren’t as smart as those up North.  In fact, I’m certain many of my teachers are better than those at Ivy League universities.  They are great because they are actually writers.  Therefore they actually know what they are doing.

The shopping is great here too.  But I’m not talking about clothes or make-up (though we have that a-plenty).  I’m talking about BOOKS!  Square books, to be exact.  You see, Oxford, Mississippi is the playground for the literary.  Ole Miss led me to find my way as a reader and a writer.  How could you not enjoy such things down here?

Then, there’s The Grove.  Football is like religion down here.  But not to me.  You know what I like about The Grove?  The drinks.  Mimosas, specifically.  I find it strange that everyone doesn’t dress up to go to a football game.  We have a type of attire here called “Grove Wear.”  If you don’t dress right, we sure will stare at you funny.  They say the most beautiful women in the world go to Ole Miss.  It’s a tough life out there with all the competition.  But I don’t know if we are actually the most beautiful.  I think instead we are the most detail oriented in the vein of beauty.  We work pretty hard to look so nice.

Why do I love Oxford and Ole Miss so much?  I think it’s because they gave so much to me.  Friends, lovers, tears, laughter, and so much more.  But I think I owe Ole Miss most for the lessons it has taught me.  How can a place teach lessons, you ask?  Well, why don’t you come down and see for yourself?  I can make a believer out of you.