From the Editor - May 17, 2000
When during my first week on the job a sophomore walked into my office talking enthusiastically about a trip to Cuba she and other students were planning, I reacted with skepticism and surprise: skepticism that they would actually manage it, and surprise that they cared enough to try.
During my time as an undergraduate there were, I'm sure, many students who were vitally interested in foreign affairs. I was not one of them. My world was bounded by 48 University Place-the Prince-Cloister, Jadwin Gym (during basketball season), and Firestone Library (OK, OK, the Annex). Carless and clueless, I rarely ventured beyond these landmarks. I had to be reminded where Route 206 came into town and needed a map to find Route 1.
After four years of cheerful ignorance of what lay across Nassau Street, I grew up, and I moved. And moved, and moved, and moved again. Chicago to Utah to Chicago, briefly back to New Jersey, and then on to Singapore before settling, once again, within hollering distance of Princeton.
Not surprisingly, familiarizing myself with the unfamiliar changed me. I learned about different religions, different cultures, different basketball teams. Not only do I know where Malaysia is, I can tell you what Malays eat and wear, that they don't like dogs, and how they treat politicians who have fallen out of favor (poorly). I can recognize David Beckham, Manchester United's star. I've golfed in Indonesia, played 16-inch softball in Chicago, and gone snowmobiling in Wyoming. And I've come to understand how important it is to reach outside your comfort zone, even just a little bit.
So after I got over my skepticism-the students did make the trip, by the way; we tell you about it in our Notebook section-and my surprise, I found myself proud that today's students are stretching themselves beyond the familiar slate and gravel walks of campus.
This issue is supposed to prepare you for this year's Reunions and your annual, or perhaps quinquennial (yes, that's the word for every five years), trip back to Princeton, and indeed you will find a story about the hard work that goes into preparing for a major reunion. But we're also offering a few pieces to push you off campus, literally and figuratively: walking tours that take you beyond Nassau Street and Alexander Road; a tale of an epic bike race between Princeton and Poughkeepsie; and that Cuba initiative.
Because you can't appreciate coming back until you've actually left.
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