Where I Live/Where I Love ~ near The Phallus Palace.

[Deborah Jovan Reed]

It had been a wonderful first Thanksgiving - the first with anyone on my mother's side of the family - but when it came time to head back to Winston-Salem I hadn't the slightest notion what intersect to take or ramp to get off of and what's when I saw it, just over the horizon, the beacon to all those lost - THE PHALLUS PALACE - and I knew if I continued in that direction I would find my way home.

Ten Years 'living' in Winston-Salem - but for the first eight I lived in my own community of Salem Academy & College. Over two hundred and fifty years old it reminded me of the short time I was ever happy in life - living in Havelock, NC - and I cried, first out of fear of being in a new place alone; then, whenever I had to leave my new home.

You wake up in the morning, wash your face and teeth in your basin before dressing (whether semi-formal or in your jim jams) and head out down the walkway, carefully because the bricks are uneven just slightly enough to... cause discomfort at the wrong angle; towards The Rat (formally known as 'The Refectory'), which can cause you discomfort to the rest of you body when parents/important guests aren't around, to enjoy anywhere from one minute to one hour with friends before classes.

Ignoring classes, the view is fantastic with little garden-like brooks, fountains with water lilies and koi, a trellis covered in lavender which leads you to the RG House where our guests reside; but, the most magnificent: The May Dell, Salem's amphitheater, where all the seniors rise accepting their sheepskins (no offense to PETA members) the non-masochists appreciating the fact it is over.

Salem College started out as an one room school for girls - back when Old Salem was Salem and the woman wore caps with different colored ribbons to tell the men of the tribe if they were eligible - it flourished, outlasting the Boy's School for over a hundred fifty-two hundred years and, while it isn't gender bias, is a source of empowerment for all who pass through its walls.

Hikikomori through a lifetime of abuse, one short year at Salem College gave me liberty and justification that I existed and a right to continue -- so wherever I find myself living in the city of Winston-Salem all I have to do is look for The Phallus Palace, see its glowing tip, and I know my home is not much further away.

[Deborah Jovan Reed]

Most colleges I think are 'out of place' with their own rules and whatnot but for those who chose to live there it's better than 'the outside world'.

[jkdavies]

Thank you Deborah, you describe a place to belong in, with it's own rules and customs it seems slightly "out of time" to me? And the wonderful use of the modern "Phallus Palace" to navigate by, great!