Tonight, as the Class of 2000 takes its turns around the bonfire on the Green, they will be thinking many things, but the least of their worries will be where they are.
But after the parties have discharged their last disoriented stragglers, and the bonfire is reduced a few smoldering beams, each Dartmouth student, faculty member and alumnus will have created a personal memory of this year's Homecoming.
For the members of the class of 2000, it will be their first, and probably their most powerful, Homecoming experience. Other students will add their memories from this year to Homecoming experiences from years past. Still others, the returning alumni, will relive their days as Dartmouth students, watching freshmen circle the flames.
It is this combination of memories that makes Dartmouth Homecoming what it is: a tradition that unites past, present, and future. Traditions keep us constant in the face of time. They give us constant homes while the world keeps moving.
The mobs of alumni that return for the festive weekend represent the celebration's past. Many of them remember Dartmouth Homecomings that occurred before the College's current students were born. Others are coming back home to Dartmouth for the first time, perhaps feeling oddly out of place as alumni rather than students.
The present lies in the masses of upperclassmen watching the freshmen complete their initiation rites.
And those freshmen represent the future of the College. They are just beginning to find a home here at Dartmouth.
It is the circle of flames, the burning tower of light that brings it all together. Just as the Class of 2000 spent the last two days building the fire, it will soon build their history, and their home at Dartmouth.
By the time the freshmen stand together as a class tomorrow at the football game, a subtle change will have taken place. They will no longer be visitors. They will be at home.
