To be honest, I am writing this for purely selfish reasons. Since I graduated from UCLA in 1994, I have rarely, if ever, received an opportunity to write creatively. While in school, I was a writer for the sports section of the Daily Bruin for three years, which left an indelible impression on not only my experience at UCLA, but the years after. Most of my best friends from UCLA came from the Daily Bruin and our time there provides a bond that keeps us together even today.
On top of that, I was able to do two things I thoroughly enjoyed — sports and writing. By writing about sports, I thought I was doing the next best thing to playing sports for UCLA. I received access to players, coaches and games at an intimate level and every day got to tell the rest of the UCLA community about it. As college gigs go, it’s as good as it gets.
In four faster-than-you-ever-thought-possible years, I graduated. I traded the pen and pad for a laptop and a Palm Pilot, and creative writing as I knew it became a hobby of the past. Then, in a moment of spontaneous school spirit, I decided to R.S.V.P. for the Young Alumni Reunion in March. (A small side note: My class, at 10 years out, was the “oldest” of the young alumni. Does that make me officially middle-aged next year?) Two days later, the editor of UCLA Magazine called with an offer I couldn’t refuse: “Would you like to write a story about the reunion and your feelings about UCLA from the alumni perspective?” It took all of two seconds to say yes. After all, getting a chance to write again about something that I enjoy seemed a no-brainer. Why not dust off the writing cobwebs for another go-round? And besides, I think my alumni street cred is pretty solid: I’m a paid-up, lifetime member of the Alumni Association; the company I work for matches annual contributions to the UCLA Alumni Scholarships fund; I return to campus to recruit upcoming grads for my employer; I faithfully renew my Bruin football season tickets; I have the 1995 UCLA-Missouri NCAA second-round tournament game permanently stored on my Tivo — and if you have to ask why that’s such a big deal, you are reading the wrong magazine.
As I’ve noted, however, attending the reunion event was a somewhat spontaneous decision for me. That’s because for all my self-proclaimed “I bleed blue and gold” associations, I have never before partaken in an official UCLA alumni function. I have always felt that being a UCLA alum in many ways spoke for itself. It needs neither explanation nor excessive display.
Not like our cardinal-and-gold rivals. I have always felt that declarations of the “Trojan Family” were overtly effusive and ostentatious. It reminded me of the notion that if you say something enough times and prominently display it enough times, you may actually start to believe it.
On the other hand, just the four letters U … C … L … A provide a simple but effective connotation. Has an alum ever had to say they were part of “the Bruin Family” or an official member of “Bruin Pride”? No. UCLA is self-explanatory. It has always implied a world-class education, preparation for a successful post-graduate life, a reputation without peer and, if you can make yourself forget that the last two years ever happened, a superior basketball team.
So what I have always felt, or wanted to feel, is that UCLA as an institution need not require excessive self-promotion or chest thumping by the masses. Do Bruin alumni really have to be spurred, invited, encouraged or even downright prodded to announce their true colors? Was this truth not held to be self-evident? Did I really need to attend an official alumni function to reinforce my eternal loyalty to the alma mater?
Yet, I felt compelled to attend. Why was that? Was it to catch up with long-lost friends? Not necessarily. I had no expectations about seeing anyone and, as noted, I am still close with most of the people who were my friends in college. In fact, in looking around, I really didn’t see a lot of “I haven’t seen you in so long …” going on as much as I saw people just having a good time.
I also didn’t find myself or anyone else breaking out into spontaneous bursts of spirit. I didn’t perform any sudden eight-claps, high-five Joe Bruin or point out to my girlfriend the exact spot in Pauley where I sat when Ed O’Bannon kissed center court on his last home game. Although, of course, one could argue that decorum was as good a deterrent as any on that one.
Ultimately, I realize that I went to the reunion because it was for UCLA, and I felt obliged to give my thanks. I think it’s that obligation that makes me feel proud to be a Bruin. I am reminded in so many ways that I am fortunate for what UCLA gave and continues to provide me. So, if UCLA asks me to show up at Pauley Pavilion to say thanks, well, that’s the least I can do.
In thinking about this obligation, I did something that I hadn’t done since my college days: I opened a dictionary. I looked up the definition of alum. At the basic level, it says that an alum is “a former student of a school, college or university.” But it takes its root from the Latin “alere,” which means “to nourish.” If you check out nourish in the dictionary, you see secondary definitions of “to foster the development of” and “to keep alive; maintain.”
So, it seems to me that being an alum means I am the end product of all the growth and nourishment provided to me by UCLA. This, in turn, was only provided because of the growth, nourishment and maintenance provided by the alumni. If I am proud to be a Bruin, it is because I am proud of those who have graduated before me and with me.
In summary, it should be a self-sustaining cycle. The quality of the school will produce quality alumni, who in turn improve the quality of the school, and so forth. Therefore, as young alumni, or soon to be middle-aged ones, it’s our turn at the plate. In retrospect, we will, hopefully, realize that UCLA gave us a great gift. What we do with it is our gift back to UCLA, our obligation in this cycle.
Before I started to write this, I looked at my last-ever column for the Daily Bruin. One of the perks of writing for the Bruin was that you got to pen a “good-bye” column for the graduation issue. In it, I noted the importance of “taking all that UCLA has to offer.” Even today, I realize that I am still taking UCLA’s offers, such as this invitation to attend such a wonderful event and to write again. Unselfishly, I hope this helps repay the favor.
