The League of Ivy…

I don't know what it is about Ivy League schools but I've always been attracted to them. Something about the feel of it. I love the prep look that's associated with it, it's a classic.

I love to imagine myself walking to class in the middle of autumn wearing an off-white Oxford shirt, navy knit tie, slate gray cardigan with brown trim, brown leather belt with a brass buckle, khakis slightly rolled up to show off my red socks and brown wing-tipped shoes. I'd be carrying my books in my vintage leather backpack. And I'd also have a 1950s bike.

Having attended Buffalo State College for one year I got the feel of having a campus. Now at the Fashion Institute I don't have that. I'd love to throw a football in the middle of campus or sit under a tree doing homework with friends. I can go to one of the many parks here but it just isn't the same.

I've always wanted to experience a New England autumn. The picturesque trees, sidewalks crowded with leaves of orange, red, yellow, brown…

Some of my favorite movies and books are set in New England and or prep schools. The Dead Poet Society, Mona Lisa Smile, A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I love a good bildungsroman. (I just learned that word right now when I went to look up the author of A Separate Peace on Wikipedia and the novel was described as a "bildungsroman." It is German for "formation novel" or more commonly known as a coming-of-age novel.) I really enjoy reading about boys, usually teenagers or young men in their early twenties, maturing and becoming men.

I just wanted to mention that I'd be on the volleyball and crew teams.

I have also been intrigued with the clubs, the traditions that have been kept alive and also the secret societies. I'd be the student to get out of bed after-hours to go with my friends to a secret club meeting. A club that has been only a whisper throughout the outside student body. Harry Potter comes to mind. I can see myself living in a place just like Gryffindor Tower.

The college halls… how breath taking. I wish I knew more about architecture to describe them… but I guess that's what the pictures are for right? The brick buildings, the clock tower, the ivy growing up the sides…

…and one more thing…

I just had to include this…

This is Yale's mascot, Handsome Dan. Throughout the decades multiple Handsome Dans have been kidnaped by Harvard and Princeton students all because of their hatred for each other… ugh I love it. There have been 17 Handsome Dans and I would just like to go over each one by stating their original name, if given, and why they retired.

Handsome Dan I - 1889-1897; moved overseas to his original master

Handsome Dan II - 1933-1937; died of a broken leg

Handsome Dan III - 1937-1938; retired due to emotional instability, fear of crowds

Handsome Dan IV - 1938-1949; spine fracture due to a car

Handsome Dan V - 1940-1947; "Bull", died of old age

Handsome Dan VI - 1947-1949; died mysteriously at age 2

Handsome Dan VII - 1949-1952; retired due to emotional instability, bad temper

Handsome Dan VIII - 1952; retired due to emotional instability, intense discomfort with public appearances

Handsome Dan IX - 1953-1959; "Danny", died of acute kidney disease

Handsome Dan X - 1959-1969; "Woodie" aka "Boodnick", retired due to old age

Handsome Dan XI - 1969-1974; "Oliver", retired due to arthritis

Handsome Dan XII - 1975-1984; "Bingo", only female Handsome Dan, was kidnapped by Princeton students and was eventually returned

Handsome Dan XIII - 1984-1995; 1996; "Maurice", retired due to old age, twice

Handsome Dan XIV - 1995-1996; "Whizzer" aka "Hetherbull", died of a heart attack

Handsome Dan XV - 1996-2005; "Louis", unknown death

Handsome Dan XVI - 2005-2006; "Mugsy Ragoon", still living

Handsome Dan XVII - 2006- ; "Sherman"