While everyone else was gearing up for the homecoming parade, I was worrying about how I would get to my car. You see, I get out of my last class at 2:45, and because of the parking pass I could afford this semester for the first time since I’d started back to WKU, I have to park at Campbell Lane.

At 2:42, I was putting my things in my bag a little early. At 2:43, I was biting my lip, trying to think of the quickest stop to get to. At 2:44, my hand was on my drink. At 2:45, my professor dismissed us, and unlike other days in that class, I was out of there as fast as I could get and running down the Hill toward the Valley. I am not an athletic person, so running wasn’t something I usually do. I managed to get to the stop at the Valley just as the White line was pulling up for its last pick-up until 6 p.m.

Now, I don’t begrudge the university for the parade. Far from it. But for an event that didn’t start until 5, why did they have to close down the buses at 3? And why did they have to close down both Red and White? Red doesn’t even use State Street or Big Red Way, yet it was ending service at 3 just like White.

Two hours to prepare for a parade is a little extensive, too. I’ve been in plenty of parades in my lifetime, having been in marching band back in high school. I think the earliest we were ever at a starting location for a parade was an hour prior to time to head out. And these were some pretty major parades: the Golden Armor Parade in Radcliff, which is a solid two miles in length (or was when we marched). The Heartland Festival parade in Elizabethtown. I think our band director even signed us up one year for the Pegasus Parade up in Louisville.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Elizabethtown senior Courtney McDowell