Old Willamette U
There is a small liberal arts university in Salem Oregon named Willamette. It was the first major step in my process of breaking away from my parents and becoming my own man. While I only spent my freshman and my senior year there I look back now at Willamette with great fondness. My classes were small and personal. My professors cared deeply about what they taught and the environment was one of intellectual growth. Willamette is a little treasure built around a winding creek that flows through the campus. It is an oasis of old trees, brick buildings and Oregon history nestled in the shadow of the Oregon State Capitol. I studied history and politics. I worked for a State Senator in the capitol writing letters to consituents and researching policy. Most importantly, Willamette was a university that pushed its students to write. Somewhere in the endless term papers and essays I learned that writing was the most important skill I would ever have. In the midst of my four ye