Word Count:
Journaling- 382 words
"Mother Judson, Alma Mater, we would win life’s glorious fight;
We, like thee, would live for service–like thee, send forth blessed light.”
I still cannot believe that you are gone, that no more students will enter those double parlors and join the Judson sisterhood. I turn from understanding that a women’s Baptist college in Perry County, Alabama would struggle to stay relevant in 2021, after opening in 1838; and feeling like I’ve lost my anchor, the place where I learned who I am, where I fell in love, where I made lifelong friends. I want to rage at your closing, scream obscenities, and storm into the President’s office to demand redress and that the money issues be reversed. I still wonder how a college that finished a capital campaign for 20.8 million dollars in 2018 is suddenly somehow bankrupt in 2021? I don’t understand how the Board of Governors just decided to close, even though the alumnae raised over a million in 2 weeks at the end of 2020.
I struggle with the thought of driving by campus to see a cow-gate in front of Jewett Hall, to know that the town lost a number of jobs and people who lived in Marion and were professors or otherwise employed at Judson. I found this photo to the left- a bird’s eye view of campus in the 1960s and see my dorm window, where I lived when I met Jeff, the clubhouse with swings where we had our first kiss 25 .5 years ago. I feel like my life is unraveling, how can I outlive you? How can I live when you are closed? How did the money just disappear? Will anyone be punished for this? And now, your treasures- antique furniture, the organ from the United Kingdom, your silver tea service, the paintings of each president and founder- all being quietly removed and sold, without letting the Alumnae or the Always a Judson group know so we could purchase them, so all our memories can stay together and are kept archivally safe until we are able to re-open the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame and have a memorial section for Judson and all the women who have carried the ivy chain and stood beneath the dome can gather to mourn and remember.
Supplies:
Rachel Jefferies- We are All Connected- papers and elements
https://the-lilypad.com/store/We-Are-All-Connected.html; Messy Threads 4- threads
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Messy-Threads-4.html; Pen and Ink- alpha (title) RETIRED; Messy Machine Stitches 6- stitched square frame (part of this bundle:
https://the-lilypad.com/store/June-2019-BYOC-Bundle.html); Trust the Journey: Stay Patient- elements- star scatter, sequins, butterfly postage stamp, pink flower
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Trust-The-Journey-Stay-Patient.html
Font: Georgia
