Back to Chicago

By Genevieve Buthod

Hey cougars! Hope you all exercised your rights as citizens yesterday. My polling spot was packed—it made me so happy. I had to wait in line for quite a while, and there were tons of people coming in behind me, too. It was so great to finally be one of the people in there, rather than one of the people handing out fliers in front of the doors. I’m no longer one of the activists, begging people to vote for local control of the police department; I get to be one of the people ignoring them!

I’m finally back to SXU after an awesome weekend home. My friend called me up Friday at noon—totally last minute—and told me he was heading home this weekend, so I could come with. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I was so glad I got to spend it with my friends in St. Louis. I went to the skeleton/Day of the Dead parade in my neighborhood—beautiful costumes and makeup on all the dancers. I participated in a Samhein ritual, which was a little strange, but still cool. And then on Halloween itself, I took my five-year-old nephew trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. People go all-out in St. Louis for Halloween; the streets are blocked off, parents set up bonfires for kids to roast marshmallows, and there was even an outdoor screen playing Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride”. Needless to say, it was a great evening for him, and I’m so happy I got to take him out again this year.

I’m glad to be back to Chicago, though. Back to the classes and chaos, back to the awful sound of my alarm every morning. It’s such a relief to be able to do assignments on Blackboard for all my teachers, and be able to e-mail them papers that were due today. So no matter where I go for the holidays, I’ll always be able to stay on top of everything at Saint Xavier.
Gotta go to class. See you next week!

-Genevieve



Genevieve Buthod is a freshman from St. Louis, MO. She is computer science major and a women's studies minor. Buthod is a vegan and part of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Saint Xavier.Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.