Hope College and me: Six degrees of Separation

You might be familiar with the game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. There's even a book! You might even be familiar with the play which became a movie, Six Degrees of Separation.

Well, in Pittsburgh, there's only one degree, usually. We're a city with a small town feel. (For instance, I just transferred a hold on a book from our library that will go to another Allegheny County consortia library--for a woman I went to library school with.)

But, you might be asking, right about now, "SL, I have no clue WHAT you are talking about." Okay. So. Degrees of separation: there's a theory that everyone can connect themselves to everyone else by six degrees of separation.

When we lived in Poland, I got to shake Bush Sr.'s hand as well as Lech Walesa's hand. So that would put me one degree of separation between Bush Sr. and one degree of separation of separation from Lech Walesa. Since Bush Sr. is the father of Bush Jr., our current president, I am two degrees of separation from Bush Jr.

Okay. So, of all the places I've been, of all the connections I've made, the connection that has brought the most connections is Hope College, the alma mater of my grandparents (who met there and later got married) my parents (who met there and much later got married) and my brother (still single, and living in Austin).

Hope did send me my first college acceptance letter, but I decided to not attend due to many factors. I have one or two regrets: I always wanted to have a radio show, which my brother did and I'm pretty sure my dad did too. Also, Holland, Michigan is a super cool place with a ton of taquerias. (This is due to the fact that Heinz has their pickle picking operation there--a lot of Mexican migrant workers came up and stayed and so there is a large Mexican community in Holland) (Michigan!! not the Netherlands). My dad quips that the pickle pickers became pickle packers. There is no welfare system--local churches and civic organizations pick up the slack for community needs. Also, this a weekend in January, (THIS POST IS FROM 1/13/07) the college is hosted a symposium with such giants as Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God) , Donald Miller (Blue like Jazz) , and Jars of Clay (the band? I'm sure you've heard of them). Oh, and Derek Webb, formerly of Caedman's Call.

My cousin used to be the president of Western Theological Seminary, which is in Holland, Michigan, home of Hope College. He has had major correspondence with the author of Housekeeping and the more recent Pulitzer Prize Winning (and amazing--I'm reading it now) Gilead, so that would be two degrees of separation: My cousin, 1, Marilynne Robinson, 2.

Sufjan Stevens, the sweetheart of indy music, went to Hope College. I have been to the café his best friend runs, Lemonjellos. I even have a bumper sticker on my car. So that would be the café, 1, the owner of the café, 2, Sufjan Stevens, 3.

Or, I'll be at a party and start talking to someone. "Where are you from" is my opener (I find it's much more interesting that "What do you do?") and inevitably I'll meet someone who says, I went to school in Michigan. Oh really, what school? I've met at least five people from Hope College this way.

Oh, how could I forget the Beleza Seven? My brother is friends with every one of the seven Hope graduates that formed a community coffee house on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I've been there once--and it was so much fun saying to the girl behind the counter, "Do you know (my brother's name)?" "Yes..." "Well, I'm his sister, and this is his mom, and his dad." My mom even got a picture with the girl, whose name escapes me, but apparently my brother was one of her first friends at Hope College.

Other connections? Robert Schuller, the televangelist who hosts the Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral once spent a summer working for an aunt of mine. Both he and his son went to Hope.

Lynne Stewart didn't graduate from Hope, but neither did my aunt. They were, however, roommates at Hope in the early 1960s.

Um, also, for those of us who were the person of the year for 2006, we share that title with Rob Malda, creator of Slashdot, which pretty much revolutionized this thing we call the blog. Yep, he went to Hope.

This is all very fun for me, because unless you're from Pittsburgh, you've never heard of Carlow College University (where I spent my first two years of college) and unless you're from Maryland you've never heard of Washington College (my Alma mater).

I cling to the greatness of Hope College...