Writing Across Campus

Basilica Lawn Bench

By Nicole Cicippio

There is a scene from one of the live action Scooby-Doo movies that has stuck with me ever since I was a little kid. I know… that sounds bizarre. But hear me out. The gang (you know, Freddy, Velma, Shaggy, etc.) is in the middle of trying to solve their mystery, and comes across some photograph of “the good old days.” They reminisce, and the movie cuts to a scene of them playing frisbee a few years back. I can’t remember if they were at a park or in one of their yards, but I can vividly picture the iconic group of friends running around on the green grass on some sunny day, having a great time with their frisbee and each other. In my childhood mind, this was exactly what college was going to be like in the spring.

At this point in the semester, a sunny afternoon usually turns out to be one of two things: a Vitamin D-powered productivity boost, or a complete distraction. Today is turning out to be less than suitable for completing assignments, so instead I take a walk across campus to soak up the start of the season. Passing McMahon on my way towards the Basilica, I look at the stretch of green lawn in front of me. It’s funny how the grass was tipped in frost only a few weeks ago, and even funnier that a year ago it felt foreign to be here in time for spring (you know, with the pandemic and everything… but let's not get into that). I take a seat on the closest bench, my personal favorite of those that line the path straight across the Basilica lawn. Maybe I like the angular view it gives me of the shrine. Or maybe when I sit here, I enjoy the flashbacks of some pretty quintessential college student moments.

I think about that time my boyfriend and I made pancakes then brought them outside to eat on this bench. Or when there was a kickball game happening on the lawn, and my friend and I screamed from our spot on the bench when we thought a well-punted ball was going to hit us (don’t worry, it landed a safe few yards away). And it was certainly almost this time last year that a few friends and I decided to grab a blanket and a speaker and lay out on the Basilica lawn to enjoy the sun. Other groups of students seemed to have had the same idea, as there was a patchwork of different blankets littering the lawn, so we worked our way across the grass to claim an open space beside a tree. Harry Styles and Jack Johnson came together in our “blue skies and picnic blankets outside the basilica” Spotify playlist (very specifically titled) while we lamented forgotten sunglasses and struggled to turn pages of brought books between snippets of more capturing conversations. And I don’t think it was many days after this that I brought a football outside, coercing my friends to toss it back and forth. I suppose it couldn’t have taken too much convincing, because many days we would find ourselves repeating the same routine: free time, packed up blanket, and football. 

It isn’t as if these experiences amount to something entirely unique. Many Catholic University students spend spring afternoons out on the Basilica lawn, collecting those moments into their college memories. And there is something special about the idea of this space being so shared, yet impacting so many students individually. Part of the fun of these moments outside, really, was that I could see them reflected right around me. I still see them reflected, as the idea of putting homework aside to enjoy the promise of summer never gets old. 

And that makes for many Scooby-Doo movie moments.

March 2022