semiotic adj. indicative...? representative? noteworthy? I think I had a better feel for this word before I looked it up. I'm not even sure how it's best pronounced.
Rather than continuing to be puzzled by this word, I'll talk about Northwestern. Specifically, their team (Dan Shanoff's sleeper? I got a laugh out of that after reading Wonk today, NU has some work to do) and their arena. Actually, I'm done talking about their team, so let's move on to my four distinct memories of Welsh-Ryan Arena...
- Age: really young. Event: college football pre-game band show. Which band: not sure. Take-away: really loud.
- Age: 17. Event: regular season high school basketball game between Deerfield and New Trier, both elite teams at the time. Highlight, objectively speaking: A New Trier player hit a three-quarter court shot to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter. Lowlight: New Trier won. Upside: Deerfield lost.
- Age: 18. Event: my high school graduation. Support for the argument that being memorable is more worthwhile than being good: My parents still mention the girl whose graduation speech was about her ratty old gym shoes. Recessional: the song from the last scene in Star Wars. That's right. For one moment in time, I was cooler than you.
- Age: 19. Event: women's volleyball game between Illinois and Northwestern. Total attendance: not many. In practically empty gym, seat location chosen: front row, on the baseline. (No reason.)
