ISI soiree at Vanderbilt

So I got into town in Nashville and stayed on the outskirts of the city (way out in the burbs about 30 minutes south of downtown) with my friend Dustin and his fiance. They have a nice home and they are getting ready for their wedding in the summer of 2007. Dustin and I are both alums of FAU, but I only really know him since I have been at ISI, due to our conservative activism.

That night, I headed over to Vanderbilt for another ISI soiree (my 7th in the past 10 days). On Day 17 of my trip I was tired, but each of these soirees and the students I meet seem to energize me. I got on campus, parked, found the building and the Elizabeth, the editor of The Vanderbilt Torch, which is a fantastic conservative publication on the Collegiate Network. I told Elizabeth that I remember when I first started The Terrapin Times at Maryland and went to the CN's Start the Presses! Conference for new papers in the summer of 2003 - I remember meeting some other students from the Vanderbilt Torch - they were just starting out then too, a few years before Elizabeth's time at Vanderbilt.

Almost all the time, I feel like these things come full circle on me. Now, I was at Vanderbilt, meeting new students and introducing them to ALL the resources that ISI has to offer them. About 15 students came, which was pretty good for the week that final exams were getting ready to begin. They were all great students too... very excited and energized. Maybe it was because I was leaving them with so many materials and free books - it was my last stop and I told them I didn't want to bring any of this stuff back with me. They happily accepted them. One graduate student won 3 books in our "conservative trivia contest." He was already an ISI member before the soiree and as he was getting ready to go back home he told me, "I'm going home with 3 free books and all this pizza... I love this organization!"

The ISI gravy train... next stop... back to Philly.