Introduction

I have been on many adventures with my two best friends, Lionel and Timmy. You have probably heard of at least one of our great quests involving a girl with ruby red slippers, a yellow brick road, and a powerful wizard. That's right. We are the greatest trio there ever was. I suppose you know us as the Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow, but the truth is that we were once just average college students: Lionel, the lion, Timmy the tin man, and me- Crowder, the scarecrow.

Our story, our true story, started at the University of Oz. Lionel and Timmy were my freshman year roommates. During that school year, all of our lives changed for both the better and the worse one night at a house party. These are not only my stories to tell you. Lionel and Timmy will be stopping in to tell their accounts of our crazy first year of college. For now, I will start at the beginning when the three of us met. I remember it like it was yesterday…

It was the evening before college move-in. I was so incredibly nervous. Not only was I one of the very few scarecrows to attend the University of Oz, but I was the first pre-med scarecrow in school history. Scarecrows haven’t always been known for their intelligence, but I worked so hard and was determined to be successful in the coming school year.

Most importantly though, I was excited to meet my roommates. Not excited, ecstatic. Growing up an only child was nice, but it could get boring sometimes. On top of that, being a scarecrow didn't exactly make people come running to be my friend. My whole existence was about scaring people away. The idea of having two people to hang out with all of the time was simply thrilling.

When I arrived at my dorm room in the Emerald Hall with all of my belongings in one giant suitcase, I was completely unprepared for what I saw. My two roommates, Timmy, a tin man, and Lionel, a lion, were each sitting on their own bed in complete silence. There was no laughing, no camaraderie, nothing. In fact, they barely even looked up when I shouted “Hey guys!” as I walked in.

I knew that it was going to be my mission for the three of us to become friends that year. Little did I know that this mission would lead to one party that would change all of our lives forever.

If angst and secondhand embarrassment do not bother you, continue reading to hear my and my friends’ accounts of how we came to be the characters that the world knows us as today.

Image information:

• Lionel: The Cowardly Lion from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. Web source: Wikimedia Commons.
• Timmy: The Tin Man Woodman from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. Web source: Wikipedia.
• Crowder: The Scarecrow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Illustration by W.W. Denslow. Web source: Wikimedia Commons.