Good night, sweet Bartlett…

…And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. I was going to try and hold this column off until towards the end of the year, but I kept adding to it in my head and I had to put it out now. To some, Bartlett Hall is old; to others, it's incredibly creepy. To the rest of the population, it's home. While this is my first full year not living in Bartlett, it's my home and nothing is going to change that. I don't know if it's because it's where I started out in college, because of the memories it holds or that the building has magical abilities to be awesome, but that building will always hold a special place in my heart.

The fact that Bartlett is closing after this year really makes me sad. Granted, it'll still be open and utilized as office space, but it just isn't going to be the same. So as I thought about it more and more, I wanted to write something straight from the heart. I wanted to highlight everything I loved so much about that place and that all those qualities will be subsequently missed. I'm basically approaching this as something between prose and a rambling list. I am sorry if this is redundant, but again, this is straight from my heart.

First, I am going to miss the history Bartlett has. The metamorphosis that it had to go through for more than 95 years to keep up with the times was always fascinating to me. I'm going to miss the old style Bartlett had. The Memorial Lounge is still one of the coolest places to do… well, anything (including film for videos, as we did so often). I'm going to miss a lot of the detailing of the building — that ornamental styling you just don't see these days in frames and shelving.

I'm going to miss those heavy metal purple doors. I'm going to miss those thick walls. Honestly, ask anyone who has lived in Bartlett about its soundproofing. It's astounding. I'm going to miss its quirky, out-of-date sinks. I'm going to miss the fact that the lofts were provided from day one. I'm going to miss how cool you were (both metaphorically and physically) in summer because you had A/C. I'm going to miss how the size of each room in every house differed.

I'm going to miss the legends and myths — the tales of shadowy figures moving around the halls, the doors that lock themselves, our Nerf basketball that propelled itself across the floor and the song about Morris the friendly ghost (and his love of cinnamon toast). I'm going to miss the terrifying fourth floor (sorry Adrienne). I'm going to regret the fact that I never got to see the penthouse. However, I'll miss the tales of how well it has held up all these years. I'm going to miss that creepy little door in my old room that opened up to the pipes in the walls.

I'm going to miss the intangibles. I'm going to miss how you instantly understood what "It's a Bartlett thing" meant. I'm going to miss that sense of belonging that I have never found before or since. I'm going to miss that no matter where you lived on campus, the answer was always "let's go to Bartlett" if you were with a group.

Above all, I think I am going to miss that students will no longer live there, that it won't be able to do for others what it did for me. It leaves behind quite the legacy, though. It has housed generation after generation after generation since it became the first residence hall on our campus. I think that is something to be proud of. I'm glad it isn't being torn down, but it just isn't going to be the same.

So I say, with a tear in my eye as I write this, thank you, Bartlett Hall. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the roof over my head for two years. Most importantly, thank you for being the catalyst in loving that I am a University of Northern Iowa student. I'll never forget you.