Once upon a time we told stories around campfires — tall tales and epic battles, fables, myths, odysseys. There was a time when our families gathered at the dinner table and we all told about our day, when our parents told us bedtime stories and filled car rides and quiet evenings with family sagas and the recollections of shared memories, of younger days, the good ol’ days, going to war, or life on the farm. Wherever people gather — front porch, backyard, bar — people tell stories.
As Notre Dame students we told each other stories and created others as we went along. We swapped ghost stories late at night, traded tales of romance and red faces in darkened dormitory rooms, and told and retold our favorites over pizza and beer. We told each other about things that moved us, scared us, made us laugh, changed our lives completely, made us closer, made us who we are.
We don’t get together as much anymore. A lot of stories go unheard. And while it’s impossible to replicate those college days, we thought it might be good to gather ’round again and do a little storytelling. So here are some stories, some once-in-a-lifetime experiences we thought deserved a wider audience. So check out the winter 2002-03 contents page for a list of the stories that appeared in our print issue and for web extra stories.
We hope the stories do what stories are meant to do — take you away for a while, put you in a different place, then bring you home at least a little different.
The Editors