Thoughts from a recent Moody Grad:

I heard through the grapevine about Moody's new policy about going out to see movies, and the present discussion regarding televisions and movies in the dorms. Granted, I am no longer a student there, but I wanted to share about my own experience on 10W. I am sure that many students, especially the younger ones are voting to allow movies in their rooms. During my first years there, I also would have voted that way, because I didn't know just how big of an impact it would make. But in my last year there, and even now that I have graduated (2005), my perspective is so totally different.

There is something very special that happened on our floor on a weekly basis: the inevitable boredom and feeling in serious need for diversion from study. That, in itself, is no specialty at all, but what happened as a result most certainly is. We would migrate into each other's rooms and engage each other's minds and hearts, sometimes pertaining to the things we were studying, sometimes about random other musings. We would be creatively silly together, go and explore our city (and come to love the place!). We would read poetry together, go photograph the city's particular beauties, dream together, pray together, act out the crazy story we had just experienced only hours previous. These times with the girls from my floor are some of my most precious memories from my four years at Moody. So much of my personal growth came as a result of spending hours together philosophizing and wrestling with issues in life, talking on levels deeper than I ever had before.

So, why do I write these memories, you ask? This type of community and creative enjoyment of life I do not want to see lost by bringing in movies to the dorms. I love Moody so much and had an absolutely wonderful experience there. Time is one of the most valuable things we possess, espcially in the short time at Moody. I know that if watching a movie in a room had been an option, we would have watched them every weekend, simply because it is the easiest form of entertainment--but, it is not relational, it is not creative, and that was one of the best parts about Moody. We could have sat in a room together and stared at a screen whenever we wanted a break from life, but that would not have helped me explore their hearts and learn the volumes that I did from hour after hour of conversation and treasured memories. If people really need to see a movie, there are plenty of options (off campus, theater)--good. But I think that bringing them into the dorms will dilute community life and tamper with the precious, unique gathering of undergraduates in the dorms.

I know that I have a different appreciation for the rules now that I am removed and so deeply missing those times with 'my girls.' Moody is a very unique school...that's a very good thing.

Lindsay Mitchell