If you stay alive long enough, you see much.
I have stayed alive, and I have seen a great deal. I saw Longwood go coeducational after 137 years of women only. I saw the three or four attic rooms on Buffalo Street, which could be rented by students, blossom into four off-campus housing communities. I saw the Great Longwood Fire of 2001 burn down our oldest buildings, and I saw these buildings rise again from the ashes. I saw a dangerous automobile street in the center of campus transformed into lovely Brock Commons. I saw a college become a university. I now see every day in my classroom my new students, who are often the daughters and sons of my former students from the olden days!
I also have seen what was once a new little sprout, Longwood magazine, Vol. I No. I, fall 1999, grow into the wonderful publication it is today. Thirty-two pages, 21 photographs and five articles in that first issue in 1999 have become 52 pages, 102 photographs and 17 articles in the fall issue of 2013. Circulation has increased from 25,000 in 1999 to 38,000 today.
I think this growth is remarkable and reflects so very nicely the evolution of our community of scholars.
My business is archaeology, and I recall how the Indians of South America thousands of years ago used sacred mirrors made out of obsidian, volcanic glass, to signal important events from one mountaintop to another. Truly, our Longwood magazine is our magic mirror, reflecting the most wondrous achievements of the community of scholars resident at this place for 175 years. May the editor and staff continue in this good work.
Dr. James William Jordan
Professor of Anthropology and Chief Faculty Marshal
Longwood University