It's All About The U

You may have clicked on this link hoping you were about to watch a clip of Miami Hurricanes highlights with Uncle Luke’s rap song “The U” blasting......not so much. “The U” I want to talk about has no ties to Nevin Shapiro (thank goodness). It has no palm trees or beaches, in fact it’s miles away from any large bodies of water. This U, is located in the rural Midwestern part of the United States (yes people live there), in a town known as: Ulysses, Kansas. Until moving to Ulysses, KS in 1999, the semester before I entered high school I hadn’t ever heard of it either, so don’t feel bad, but once you experience Ulysses, it’s impossible to forget.

Like most small towns, Ulysses has an immense amount of pride for its high school sports. In a way, the Ulysses high school shapes the image and community you will find in Ulysses, Kansas. For example, east of Ulysses you will find a giant orange cement "U" as you pull into town. Last spring, that U was painted pink by owners of the land on which the U sits(I don't know all the details as to why, but that's besides the point). You would have thought the town had been invaded by aliens, and I wasn't even there to experience the uproar firsthand. Countless facebook posts, letters to the Editor of the Newspaper, and Town meetings were held to discuss this painted U. The town was turned upside down. Why? Honestly, what does it matter, it's just cement, right?

Wrong! While Ulysses's identity is much more than just some orange cement U, that U represents more than the simple mind can imagine. It represents a town that had several thousands of it's only 6,000 population drive almost 5 hours to support their beloved Tigers in the football state championship in 2006. It represents a town that packs into a gym every Friday night in the winter, no matter what kind of record the basketball team has to cheer on their boys and girls. It represents memories, heartaches, lessons learned, friendships, but most importantly it represents a home, a community that people are proud of. It represents, that it really is, "All about the U."