A fond farewell

This is my final column for the DP. Before I started writing, when I would do something weird, people assumed that it was psychological. Now they assume there's nothing wrong with me -- and that I'm going to write a column about it. This is an awesome alibi to have in general. But they're usually right -- about the column-writing, at least.

I started writing for the DP without ever having written anything, other than school assignments and some bizarre junior high poetry. I did write an Oscar acceptance speech in fourth grade, for best original screenplay, so I guess I had some idea that I liked to write. But I never wrote a screenplay to follow that up, so the acceptance speech was a moot point.

I didn't write again for fun until a year and a half ago. I didn't even start college at Penn. I transferred to Penn after following a guy to another school, which, as everyone will tell you, is an extremely terrible idea. I don't think anyone thought it was a good idea, aside from me. My parents thought it was awful, and that I was ruining my life. Naturally, I disagreed.

It took me a while to realize that everyone else was right, and when I did, I transferred to Penn. Best decision I've ever made in my life. Aside from being much closer to Cherry Hill, Penn is just fantastic for so many reasons. I love playing trumpet in the Penn Band. I love the people I've met and all of the traditions and opportunities here. And I really love writing this column.

After writing about my Dad's non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, more than 100 people e-mailed me to get into the bone marrow database. That made me so happy -- I was literally floating the entire day. And if I do nothing else at Penn, I feel like that column would be the one thing I'm the most proud of during my three years. here I also liked eating free food for a week and inviting Amy Gutmann to sleep over with me and hiding hidden messages and -- hell -- I've loved all of them.

But I'm really looking forward to getting my anonymity back for my final semester. If you have any desire at all to become a professional writer -- or you just like to write -- apply to be a columnist for the spring. You don't need any experience. I can't even describe properly what writing my column has meant to me, but I know that it's turned me into a writer -- and it was hilariously fun, even the weeks with three other papers due and Penn Band road trips and existential crises. Coming up with topics is not easy, but it really gets you thinking differently about everything going on around you. And there's really no better feeling that watching people read your writing and laugh.

I'm really grateful for having this space for the past year-and-a-half. I know I want to write in some capacity after college because of this column and because of working for the DP. I don't know what I'm doing in May, but no matter where I'm working or studying, I will write -- hopefully for an audience larger than my immediate family.

Lastly, I really want to thank you all for reading "Perpendicular Harmony" for the past 18 months. Your letters and words of encouragement have been so meaningful, and I'm happy that so many alumni love Penn so much that you still read the DP on a regular basis. I'm sure that's not true everywhere.

You stay classy, Penn. Or write a column. You can't have it both ways, but then again -- would you really want to?

Melody Joy Kramer is a senior English major from Cherry Hill, N.J. Perpendicular Harmony appears on Wednesdays.

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