My first Publication 1926874721_Alumni_Magazine_June_2010 | Page 21

Issue 3, June 2010
Lassie in Eastern Europe
Locked in the pound of the TV set, you were my first pet,
frontier friend, mascot of the Western empire.
How I longed to stroke your hair, shake your paw,
throw an iron stick across the ocean
for you to retrieve, a golden bough.
To have no other dogs before you was my first commandment.
Some claimed you had rabies, that Colorado
was colorless, that under capitalism every tree
became private, a dog-eat-dog’s forest.
You were well-trained, but just look
at our Laika who reached the stars –
an astronaut is worth a hundred sheriffs.
Still, I preferred your bark beckoning
through space where sound could travel freely
and thimbleweed faster than meteors;
where, though endangered, a few buffalos roamed
and criminals drafted declarations of independence.
In my imagination every collie was American.
Then, after nineteen years of seafaring, I stepped
on the shores of this island, your long-lost owner.
Here boy, here boy, I called through suburban streets,
whistling ultrasounds of love, seeking you out
in malls and mansions, under every car,
in the meat section of the supermarket.
Lassie, where art thou, son of Hollywood?
Did the bad guys finally find you,
did they tie empty tin cans to your tail?
Or did you, like Argos, grow too decrepit and old,
the dog for whom I still hold a single tear?
Martina Nikolova ‘06
From University to Real Life, with a
Dash of Depp
Martina Nikolova is from the Class of 2006. She has recently graduated the Richmond University
in London and got BA in Communications & Design.
away from pretty much everything and
our years gone by in a heartbeat -
everyone I knew. Although three months
from the first flight above the Thames
earlier I had refused to even imagine ever
to the throwing of a square black hat in
leaving my friends and memories from
the air – gone. Incredible, that quality of
ACS, on 29 August 2006 as my heartbeat
time, to be there one moment and to slip
increased dramatically, I boarded the
through your fingers the next. Clichéd
BA0891 flight. Goodbye Sofia, cheers
as it is, “seize the moment” seems to
London. Hello University!
be the phrase that best captures the
unpredictable spirit of university years.
I started off as a studious individual,
concerned with keeping up my G.P.A.
Back to the beginning.
and getting involved with life on campus.
And I thought I was living the good
The beginning of my first adventure
F
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life - hanging out with friends, delving
into campus activities, watching the rain
outside from the cozy confines of my
room. But there came a moment, two
years into my studies, when I realized
the most frustrating fact about being in
London for so long: I had actually never
taken the time to get to know the city.
So came a change of purpose; a
resolution of sorts – after all, what
better time for a turning point in life than
midway through University? I decided I
had spent enough time worrying solely
about grades and residing within the
campus grounds. I was in London and
had to take advantage of it. There I was,
leaving the ‘old me’ in the library and
heading out to the London music scene,
where the ‘new me’ would go wild as the
live music rush ran through my veins.
London had so much to offer and I was
absolutely ready to take it in.