Words of Warriors

College is the best four years of your life...right?

Coming into my first year, I remember arriving full of a giddy delight in all things college: new friends, a new city, and a long-awaited new sense of independence and adventure. I was really going to have the best four years of my life. And I still believe these four years are wonderful and important: a sweet season of life.

But even at a place like Westmont, life can still be hard. Maybe this year you have been overwhelmed with classes, never having had to put in effort for an A (or even a C) before.

After the Trader-Joe’s-inspired Grocery Store Showdown, I was inspired to take a critical look at another college necessity: coffee! Many of the coffee shops in town are like little Westmonts off the hill. With the new addition of Caje Coffee, I figured it was time to decide which coffee shop is truly (subjectively) the best. Now, I know this is a controversial topic, so don’t take offense if I overlook your favorite study spot. This is just my take on how best to get your caffeine fix.

Every Westmont student considers dinners and game nights at professors’ homes as highlights of their college experience. My first invitation came from Dr. Gregory Spencer, affectionately known as “Spence,” famous for his theatrical teaching methods and his hard exams. But outside of the classroom, he is a fantastic author. I recently read two of his fantasy novels: The Welkening and its sequel, Guardian of the Veil.

It’s a Sunday, and like usual, I walk into Trader Joe’s after church. We all love Trader Joes for many reasons: the snacks, the dark chocolate almond butter cups (not sponsored, just very passionate), and the decent prices. As I passed the ninth Westmont student on my weekly TJ’s run, I started to wonder: Is Trader Joe’s really the best spot to grab groceries in Santa Barbara? 

Dear Spring,

There are many things I’d like to say to you. First of all, thank you for finally arriving! We were all getting pretty tired of 2020. I would like to request, though, that, you do much better than last year. It would be great if you could give us Spring Sing, graduation, and maybe even the end of a pandemic. In exchange, I am willing to make a few new-semester-resolutions. I will try my best to follow through with them.

“This isn’t how I expected my last semester at Westmont to go,” I reflected, as my papers swirled away from me in the wind and the tent poles above me creaked ominously. I briefly weighed whether or not this tent would blow down a second time; it collapsed during Christmas break, which was why I was sitting in the gym parking lot and not on Winter lawn. “I’d give it a 30 percent chance,” I decided.