"Happy Trails to You"

The time was 4:45AM when I sent my older brother off to save the world. We had our share of differences, but now he's off to the Peace Corps to Kyrgyzstan to help out a developing city.

While sending him off, there were no slow-motion moments, in fact the TSA security guards kicked us out for sitting in the ticket-holders only area. At least we got to sneak a couple of extra minutes with him.

You know, I've been all over the globe with him. I remember the long car rides from Chicago to...Florida, Kentucky, Texas, California, New York, and every state in between. I can't get over the fact that when we were young, we got into fights in the long car rides and complained a lot of the way. It was fairly easy to get cabin fever in a family with three other brothers. Together we saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon, Ground Zero, and every tourist trap imaginable from wax museums to a town with more fudge shops than any other local business.

Because of all those infamous family road trips, we've been conditioned to sleep every time we get on a car, bus, truck, etc. as a defense mechanism to pass the time. That and we've become experts at holding it in like no other.

However, this time is different. I can't go with him to watch his back in a totally different country. After his two year commitment is up, I'll probably be in grad school, law school, etc. I can't begin to imagine how different we'll both be. But he did tell before he left, that he, "was freaked out" about how serious I got about politics while at UIC. Now I'm not a political science major, but I am glad that he saw how dedicated I became to helping others out at college, citing the current campaign I was running.

So I made a deal. While he's across the globe, helping the impoverished, I'd do my best to make the campus a better place. A lot of expectations to live up to now that I've been challenged by a member of the Peace Corps to change things. I won't let him down. It's a challenge that I gladly take on. So wherever he is right now, probably sitting in a plane bound overseas, I'd like him to know that I'm up to the challenge...and that he forgot to bring his CDs.

-Bernard Mariano
Presidential Candidate
"Take Back the Campus"