University of Mississippi - Ole Miss Yearbook (Oxford, MS)

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Jotm Biggs John Biggs John Coker Opening 7 i

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Ole Miss is a place; but for a place to have meaning and for a place to be something more than merely a dot on a map, the place must be inhabited by people living out their lives making a mark on each other. The marks left by others are what give a place vitality. It is the impressions carried from that place that maintain its livelihood. As a child, I was surrounded by people who carried with them the mark of Ole Miss. There is something about human nature that causes all to seek out some reference of identification. As children we most readily identify with our parents. In fact, we bear their name as one source of our identity. It didn ' t take long for me to realize that a part of my father ' s identity was closely tied to the impact Ole Miss had had upon his life. Nor did it take long for me to realize there was something about this place Ole Miss that lured my grand- father back decades after his graduation . . . something about mere- ly mentioning the name of Ole Miss that caused a spark and arousal in my grandfather when he was a bedridden patient lying listlessly in a hospital bed. There was something about this place that evoked tears and anger in my older brother when Rebel football suffered a loss. As a child, there was a sense of wonderment when I attended Ole Miss football games here on campus. What stirred people to show up in mass donned in red and blue apparel? Initially, my fondness for Ole Miss resulted from my identification and support of that which was valued by those whom I most admired and respected. That is the means by which traditions are started as the value of one generation is passed to the next and then on to the next. However, in order for these kinds of traditions to be perpetuated, each generation must at some point examine the values being passed down; the values must somehow become real to that generation. My affection for Ole Miss no longer stems solely from an identification I have with the values of members of my family, but instead it comes from my having been marked by the people in this place. Because of these marks, I too will be able to pass down the spirit of Ole Miss to future generations. by: Allison Pickering Steve Davis Opening I