“You Were. You Are. UMass.” The slogan of the alumni association seems innocent enough and down right cathcy. It evokes a picture of an army of maroon-clad students—let's say in a square, somewhere—united in a common pride in the institution. Alma mater, nourishing mother, what have you. If you can easily envision this image in your head to the chant of the phrase that gets loader as the crowd strips itself of individualism for the sake of one, uniform identity—You were, you are, UMass—then I can't be blamed for readily drawing this parallel to Soviet Russia. Or this next one. 

I should preface my brain excrement by saying that the nourishing mother and I are bound by a passionate affair of youth. Only in this morning-after phase, in the clarity of daylight and sobriety, does she bear witness to the ravages of chauvinism. A drive down route 116 showcases a pastoral western Massachusetts complemented by modest homes speckling fields bordered by the Connecticut River. That is until you come upon the University of Massachusetts in much the same manner someone stumbles upon an alien monolith: surprised and horrified. Rising up out of fertile grounds are monstrous towers and other sprawling cement invasions. As a collection the buildings are reminiscent the kind of gross and thoughtless construction of the Soviets that were meant to be tokens of eminence. The library is a 26-story brick obelisk that was engineered without thought to the weight of the books it would eventually house and so now they must be stacked every other floor. Four buildings north of twenty stories each that appear to be a housing project are actually dormitories. The congregation of brick and cement dominate the landscape and are devoid of any apparent style or consideration to landscape. And while there is some reverence for these massive structures, I can't help but think, “should have, could have, would have, UMass.”

Perhaps as a subtle protest, Calvin and I made an excursion into the outdoors, ascending to the top of nearby Mt. Toby. The weather was agreeable and considerably warmer than what we have seen so far which also made for more surer footing along the snowy path. At the summit there stands a fire watch tower which we climbed up for better view of the Pioneer Valley and the Connecticut River. We ended the day with a few slices of Antonio's Pizza. Their chicken, bacon, and ranch slice is hands down the greatest combination to make its way onto a pizza. I foresee an unconscionable amount of money being spent there over the next few days.

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Follow our adventures at RunnerSpace.com/Travels! We'll be posting a blog update each day until "RunnerSpace Travels Season 1" is done at the end of June. You can also expect school visits and fun adventures to be posted along the way as we hit up many of the top meets from around the country to provide the RunnerSpace meet coverage we all know and love! Make sure to leave a comment below about this update or post on our guestbook to say hi!