ESPN has 30 for 30. Lawrence is going with 47 for 44(ish).

So it doesn’t have the symmetry of the title to ESPN’s signature documentary series, but that’s what you get with a prime number like 47.

On our application for admission this year, we posed a devilishly simple short answer prompt:

Why Lawrence? It’s a short question seeking a short answer. 47 well-chosen words—give or take a few—should work.

The answers we received were, as you might expect, fun to read. (And for quite a few applicants, we could tell they were fun to write.) On the Lawrence Facebook page, we’re going to post a bunch of the short answers (not all of them 47 words) over the next 44 days leading up to the May 1 National Candidates Reply Date. We’ll ask the authors permission to use them, but we’ll protect their anonymity. We hope you enjoy their work as much as we have.

We’ll start with one here:

If a scholar lacks for fun
Send him off to Appleton.
Bio, music, Russian Lit.
In Lawrence I have found my fit.
Lawrence lacks not for its fundin’
Evidence? Just see Bjorklunden!
Oh, let me be a racing cox
For Lawrence crew out on the Fox.
Offering just what I need,
Veritas est Lux, indeed.
Burma Shave.
Seriously. This applicant closed with “Burma Shave.” If you’re unsure why that’s awesome, check out the collection of Burma Shave roadside ads from the 1920s and on.

 

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