I have achieved my revenge, and I believe the picture says it all. Anything more I could say would be superfluous...therefore I ask you to simply enjoy my artistic use of silly string and window paint.

In other news, the end of the academic year is nearly upon us. When did that happen? I sure don't know. Previous to starting here at Saint Vincent last August, many people told me just how quickly the four years blow by; I didn't really believe them, though. I can now say it's very true...only been a year for me thus far, but it's come and gone like a winter squall. I expect the successive years will seem as short, which is disappointing: as I've said more than a few times before, I really do love this school, and it's a love that has only grown with time.

My experience with colleges is, of course, pretty limited, at least so far as being a student is concerned. Saint Vincent is the only one I've ever technically attended, but I think it's still safe for me to say that Boniface Wimmer's creation is a unique thing. This is...well, it's a humble little place (although the basilica is quite impressive), half-hidden in the wooded hills of western Pennsylvania. At first glance, I suppose Saint Vincent doesn't look like much more than an unobtrusive semicircle of dignified brick buildings set against an attractive countryside...and, strictly speaking, this is true--if you consider a school to be merely the product of its physical parts, which is of course ludicrous.

Saint Vincent's religious atmosphere makes the school. Indeed, it made the school: brick by brick, building by building, the monks built it out of nothing and into what it's become. That means a lot more than I can say in these relatively short blogs. When Father Vincent said during orientation that the Benedictines give everything they have to the students, he wasn't kidding...these guys are dedicated like nothing I've ever seen, and I can tell you from personal experience that their secular counterparts share the same devotion. I have been shown no shortage of kindness and support by this school, with little but my word and two semesters of grades to speak for myself and my academic worth. I really can't say enough about how SVC embraces its Catholic foundations and strives to integrate that faith into everything the school does.

Anyway, I'd write more, but I'm off to attend Hutchapalooza, a benefit concert orchestrated by the Human Rights Organization. The word on the street is that the snowcone vendor for the event is something of an exquisite princess.

...although her royal carriage is, perhaps, still a bit besmirched by paint.