I didn’t grow up there, but I went to school there.

Current mood: nostalgic


I saw this list and it made me chuckle, so I had to share. My edits are in bold. Fun times in Kent, fun times...

You know you are from Kent, OH when...

- seeing a black squirrel is an everyday occurence (and they eat chicken wings from the garbage. I am almost ashamed to admit it, and disturbed that they are still online, but read more on this from one of my Opinion columns from the Kent Stater. yes, they actually allowed me to write and it was published. I even was nominated for a Hearst Journalism Award! Not for this story though. I was more fluff than substance, trust me. LoL )

- there is nothing to do downtown unless you're at least 18

- there are more tatoo/piercing parlors and bars downtown than actual shops

- you will never go more than a month into the summer without seeing 3/4 of your school's population because the entire town goes to Kent Fest.

- you won't drink water from the tap outside of the city limits because you know Kent has the best water on the planet (I don't agree with this. I am a well water girl. City water makes me gag. This is why I have a fridge with a water filter/dispenser)

-someone asks you where the rec center is and you direct them to the one on Franklin Ave. because what they're really thinking of (on the KSU campus) is more commonly known as the wellness center

- you mourned the loss of the Loft

- you have visited 'the tower' (he he he......)

- you know where half of your teachers live

- ravens are for burning (Or kangaroos)

- you're on a first-name basis with your high school principal

- you are praying for the day that Steak n Shake is actually in Kent (not really)

-Brimtucky is a real place (This is true of Rootstown folk as well)

-You are offended if someone says you're from Ravenna (So wrong, but so true!)

-You skipped a class to go to Swenson's

-FU Bob is a family friend (Actually, I insulted him in the newspaper, too. I'm not proud of that one so I am not linking to it. A careful googler could find it though. I was a freshman, what did you expect?)

-by "the beach", you mean a tiny man made patch of sand on Twin Lakes

-You know the Kent State campus better than most of the college students (I was a college student. Hello?)

-popcorn coming in 32 flavors is normal

-Katie's Korner does not involve prostitution, only ice cream (That's some serious yumminess)

-Guido's does not just deal pizza... (I only know of pizza, chicken and jo jo's. Did I miss something??)

-You have attended either a Sweetheart, Farsight, Annabel, or Starcrossed show.

-You remember when Starbucks used to be Brady's Cafe (I prefered Brady's. Cheap breakfast, open after I got off my 3rd shift job at Kinko's across the street and they didn't care if you loitered for hours gabbing)


-You can quote graffitti under the bridge at River Front Park

-you can't walk from one side of Kent's campus to the other without knowing somebody, be it a student, a teacher, a staff worker, or some random "townie". (I can't enter portage County without running into someone I know!)

-you go downtown on Sunday nights for the anti-war protest...and everyone there looks ripped straight out of 1969.

-it can be 70 degrees and sunny one day, then 30 and snowing the next and you don't think anything of it

-you know what "Moon Glo" is and no it's nothing like "Moon Shine"

-you know who "Stow Hoes" are and where "Silver Ghettos" is

-90% of your senior class went to Kent State

-you show your friends from out of town it usually ends with them saying "that was it?"

-If your own parent(s) don't work at KSU, you know at least 5 people whose parents do.

-you drive by that building on 43 and wonder what buisness will fail there next, joining the likes of Hills, Ames, and Tops. (LMAO You forgot Gold Circle and I think Big Wheel and Woolworth's, too. That building is cursed, I swear.)

-you take 15 minutes to go down Main Street because you hit EVERY RED LIGHT.

-You actually believe Silver Meadows is a ghetto.

-People on Campus think it was cool that you went to school in Kent all your life, and you think the exact opposite.

-when people say they don't know where Kent is when you tell them where you are from you reply "the city where Kent State is" and are annoyed when they then understand...you are even more annoyed when they ask you one of two questions "The place where the shootings happened in the 70's?" or "why didnt you go to Kent State?" - if you go to school out of town... (Ok, I went to school in Germany and even THEY know it as the school where there were shootings.)

-when you've almost run over Wheelchair George (always rockin the cowboy boots) while crossing the Main Street Bridge despite his rotating "handicapped" sign sticking out of his ride.

-You remember Mrs. B from the Kent Free Library.

-you remember when the Taco Bell drive thru had a PHONE!! (So gross... If only we'd had Purell back then!)

-the line at Chipotle is significantly shorter during Christmas vacation and summer (because the KSU students have gone home

-expressing yourself on large rocks is perfectly normal (I painted the rock twice in my college career. Did you get to paint a rock? Didn't think so!)