I can distinctly remember the first time I ever watched "Gilmore Girls," and to say that it was a life-altering experience for me would be the understatement of the century. Looking back on that fateful first encounter, I can distinctly envision my 13-year-old self sitting in the middle of my couch, surrounded by a sea of blankets and pillows, staring at my television and being mesmerized by the magic that was the fictional town of Stars Hollow. I kept thinking to myself—how can a fictional town possibly be so quaint and perfect? How could a girl like Rory Gilmore—a girl not that much older than myself—have her whole life figured out when I still haven't decided what I want to eat for lunch in a few hours? It all seemed so crazy to me, but intriguingly so.
I still ponder those questions I asked myself every once in a while, and I am still blown away by the way that Amy Sherman-Palladino managed to create the world of "Gilmore Girls" so flawlessly. After watching the show for the first time, I was hooked.
I had only seen one episode, but I knew that I wanted and needed to experience the rest of the brilliance.
When I was 13 years old, Netflix was still in the phase where their capabilities only included sending you physical copies of movies to your home every week or two, so I had no choice but to venture to the library nearest me and hunt for priceless DVD copies of the show that had become my new obsession.
After successfully finding seasons one through three in box-set form at the library, I was finally able to explore my fascinations with the show. After really getting into the plots and sub-plots of the show, I came to discover that the most intriguing part of the show's storyline to me was that Rory (one of the series' two main protagonists) wrote for her college newspaper. I had never heard of something like that before.
For some reason, the discovery that colleges had newspapers that let students write for them was an incredibly novel concept to me. If Rory Gilmore, main character of my favorite television series in the whole entire universe, could write for her college's newspaper, I could certainly write for mine when I got to college!
Fast forward six years, and I am now one of the first members of Cleveland State University's chapter of the Odyssey. When I found out they were bringing me on to the team, the first thing I thought of was "Gilmore Girls" and how much my 13-year-old self would want to high-five me for being just like Rory Gilmore.
So, I may not live in Stars Hollow, Connecticut, or have overbearing billionaires for grandparents, but I do get to go to a pretty cool university that grants me such amazing opportunities as being able to write for an online platform and allowing me to help myself quench a thirst for writing that "Gilmore Girls" sparked in me.
