<p>I went to Princeton this weekend to see my daughter dance. I was so struck by the way in which it's the same place I went to school and the way in which it is nothing like it used to be.</p>
<p>The first night was her dance performance. A more diverse company you can't imagine. African American, Asian, Hawaiian, girls from Australia, from the US, from everywhere. Kids in the audience screaming out the names of the performers, sometimes risque comments about the girls, sometimes just calls of encouragement. Not the Princeton I knew. Fun as hell.</p>
<p>The next morning was tailgate parties where alumni come down for the Yale Princeton football game. Muddy fields with young alumni and students holding beer glasses and listening to music blasted out of car stereo speakers. Boys on the car roof who looked like they were straight out of Gossip Girl. That is the Princeton I knew.</p>
<p>Next day, crew races on Carnegie Lake. Beautiful fall day, gold leaves, blue sky, banners, rowers. I suppose this will be Princeton forever.</p>
<p>And the most brilliant talented kids. One of the girls in the troupe choreographed and danced in a routine that could have been a dance in an NBA game halftime. But she's a mechanical engineer....said she might like to work in the music video business though.</p>
<p>Honestly it gives me hope for the future.</p>
<p>I thought students didn't hold beer glasses in the open anymore.
Congratulations on being an alumni mom!!!</p>
<p>Things are a little different at tailgate.</p>
<p>Alu,</p>
<p>I am a lurker in the Princeton forum as my D is thinking about applying to Princeton as a reach school (she's only a soph in HS so we still have time).</p>
<p>I LOVE your description of the weekend...The best of the old and the new.</p>
<p>"Next day, crew races on Carnegie Lake. Beautiful fall day, gold leaves, blue sky, banners, rowers. I suppose this will be Princeton forever."</p>
<p>That scene sounds sooo idyllic, especially for us Texans!</p>
<p>We're hoping to visit in late May/early June (right when school gets out).</p>
<p>Curiousmom - good luck and best wishes. </p>
<p>The other thing I remembered from the weekend was a new acapella group that performed with D's dance group - the Soul Princes. They sang a version of Stevie Wonder's Love's in Need of Love Today that gave me goosebumps.</p>
<p>My roommates at Princeton were both Texans. I just saw them a couple of weeks ago in Houston. </p>
<p>If I go to another Reunion some day I will write that up too. Now Reunions, that's Princeton....</p>
<p>"The other thing I remembered from the weekend was a new acapella group that performed with D's dance group - the Soul Princes. They sang a version of Stevie Wonder's Love's in Need of Love Today that gave me goosebumps."</p>
<p>Wow! I can only imagine...</p>
<p>And thanks for your good wishes!</p>
<p>That was a beautiful description.</p>
<p>It made me like Princeton a bit moree. =)</p>