college Archives ⋆ Shawn Collins' Blog

Fandango: A Road Trip to New Orleans After College

August 26, 2026 by Shawn Collins

I graduated from the University of Maryland in May 1993 with a BA in Communications. My job prospects were pretty limited, since I didn’t have a car and was living at my Dad’s house in the suburbs. I needed a job I could walk or bike to, and the first one that said yes was Comfort Suites in Laurel, MD.

I got a job working at the front desk for $5.50 an hour. Five years in college, and the best I could do was $1.25 an hour more than minimum wage. However, the job did have a nice perk: an employee discount at select hotels around the country.

Before I left that job for more exciting opportunities ($7.00 an hour as an Assistant Manager at Blockbuster Video), I reached out to my recently graduated fraternity brothers, Chris and Joe, about a road trip to New Orleans for New Year’s Eve.

I looked into using my employee discount in New Orleans, and there was a Comfort Inn where we could get a discounted room for $19 per night. I booked it for five nights (December 28, 1993, to January 2, 1994), and our plan was set.

By Christmas, our group had grown to six people. A couple of guys from another frat and someone brought their girlfriend. I’d finally gotten my driver’s license, car insurance, and a used 1992 Ford Escort LX with about 12,000 miles on it for $500 down. My “new” car was going on our road trip.

In addition to the McJobs I was working at those days, I was also waiting for concert tickets and selling them while working for “Ticket Ricky.” I reached out to him, and he was willing to have me take a bunch of Sugar Bowl tickets on the trip to sell on consignment. That was perfect, as it would fund my trip.

The Road Trip

On the day we were leaving, I packed my things and went to the local AAA office to get a TripTik, a flipbook with the map for our 1,100-or-so-mile drive from Annapolis, MD, to New Orleans, LA.

I had a few hours to burn before driving over to pick the guys up, so I tucked into the couch to watch the movie Fandango. The movie was about five college buddies from the University of Texas going on one last road trip before entering the real world.

The movie was set in 1971, when characters our age were worried about having to go to Vietnam. Our uncertain future wasn’t quite as perilous, but still scary.

Our drive down to New Orleans was a good time with a rotation of a few cassettes and lots of laughs.

When we rolled up to the Comfort Inn on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans, I realized why I had gotten such an amazing deal. It was in a pretty sketchy area, and the hotel was in rough shape. But we didn’t care; we had a place to stay that would be about $20 each for five nights, so that was awesome.

The second car arrived shortly after us, and the six of us settled into the hotel room with a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door for the rest of our trip, so the hotel wouldn’t realize we had so many people jammed in there.

Nearly Drunknapped to Mississippi

The bunch of us had Hurricanes and Turbodog beer day and night, as well as lots of Cherry Bombs, which were maraschino cherries in Everclear. I think they were $1 for five.

As we bar-hopped on New Year’s Eve, in that era before cell phones, we all eventually lost each other. I ended up with a group from the University of Southern Mississippi, and we became fast friends.

From what I recall, it was a lot of fun, and as midnight approached, I was chatting with a woman with an adorable Mississippi accent. We ended up kissing as the clock struck 12, and I was smitten.

She asked if I’d like to hop in their car back to Hattiesburg, MS, and I was really close to joining them. Fortunately, I had a moment of clarity and realized I had my car keys, so if I disappeared across state lines, no one could take my car and rescue me from over one-hundred miles away.

My last kiss of 1993 and first of 1994 was not meant to be anything else. Oh well, I still had lots of Sugar Bowl tickets to sell.

Sugar Bowl Tickets, Dr. Pepper, and Robbery

The Sugar Bowl tickets were moving nicely. It was a big matchup with the #8 Florida Gators facing the #3 West Virginia Mountaineers. I was feeling really good, aside from my hangover, as I sold tickets for more money than expected and was dreaming of a tidy profit from the ticket sales.

There were still like twenty tickets left on the afternoon of January 1, 1994, as I sold them a few blocks from the Superdome near Tulane University School of Medicine.

A couple of guys pulled up to a stoplight and asked how much I was selling the tickets for, and I walked over to show them what I had. In a flash, the guy in the passenger seat swiped the tickets from my hand, and the driver floored it.

I chased after these thieves in vain, and in one last attempt to stop them, I hurled my bottle of Dr. Pepper at the back of their truck.

All of that money just drove away from me. I was going to end up negative from this trip after I worked out how much I’d have to pay out of pocket for the stolen tickets. I heard some guy on the sidewalk laughing and looked over.

He said, “That was a waste of a perfectly good Dr. Pepper.”

It sure was. Now I was out many hundreds of dollars in tickets, as well as my drink. Those monsters.

By the time the game came along, we bought some cheap tickets to get in and salvaged the night. Actually, it was an awesome night. We got to see our first college bowl game with Florida beating down West Virginia 41-7 as we sipped Mint Juleps.

The Long Journey Home

After the game, we continued our partying on Bourbon Street for one last night before driving home in the morning.

Over time, people in our group gradually headed back to the hotel room to get a little sleep. I forget what time I made it back, but I was the second-to-last one to get there.

By morning, we were still missing one person. We were trying to figure out what to do as check-out time approached, and we got the cars packed up. Just then, the missing guy wandered up, and he was still drunk out of his mind.

He had a great time partying until the last minute, which meant he wasn’t going to be sharing the driving duties anytime soon.

The journey home in my car was not fun, with all of us heading back to work the next day. I think we may have gotten home after midnight, or at least it felt like it. Back to reality and my life of underemployment. But things would get better a year later when I moved to New York City.

Still, I loved a line from Kevin Costner’s character, Gardner Barnes, in Fandango… “There’s nothing wrong with going nowhere, son. It’s a privilege of youth.”

Spring Break 1993 – 1,200 Mile Road Trip to Key West

August 12, 2026 by Shawn Collins

I was in college for 10 semesters and a summer session, but I only managed to go on a Spring Break trip for my very last year (I spent my first Spring Break doing community service). As soon as classes ended, six or seven of us piled into “Big Joe’s” station wagon to head on 95 South for about 24 hours.

We were all tight on cash, so flying was never an option. So, our way there was by car, and we packed as many people and their bags in as possible for the 1,200-plus-mile journey from College Park, MD, to Key West, FL.

Most of the drive is a blur at this point, but I do remember everyone being pretty psyched about stopping at South of the Border, which was near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Otherwise, the driving highlight was Big Joe sticking his hand out the window at each state line and shouting, “First one to Virginia,” “First one to North Carolina,” etc. But, as we waited at a stoplight before entering Florida, one of the guys with us jumped out of the car and ran to the Florida state line and announced, “First one to Florida.”

Big Joe was pissed, and we all laughed in our delirium. We actually thought we were fairly close to Key West at that point. Little did we know that we were still over 500 miles away.

When we arrived, we found our home for the next week, one of the cheap, two-story tourist motels. I think there were 8 or so people staying in the room, so we decided to make it first-come, first-served each night for the two beds. Everyone else got a spot on the floor.

Our first move after dumping our bags in the room was to go out and rent scooters. To this day, I don’t know how none of us got into an accident, because we were young and stupid and driving drunk all over the island for a week. The rest of the spring breakers were, too.

After a night or two on the floor, I decided that I would stay out as late as I could each night, and then migrate from the floor to a bed as the bed guys woke up. And I’d sleep in some version of comfort until the afternoon.

My late-night tradition after the bars was to stop by a gas station for a box of fried chicken and a 40 of malt liquor. I don’t remember the brand, but it was whichever was cheapest. I’d take my feast to the Southernmost Point and enjoy it before going for one more lap around the island.

After a day or two of driving the scooter around, I realized I needed some sunglasses to protect my eyes from bugs and dirt. I went to a store and bought a pair of Ray-Bans on my credit card. This may be hard to believe, but I still have those Ray-Bans. I think they are my oldest possession.

They came in handy that week, and I still use them, though I don’t wear sunglasses very often.

I don’t remember ever being on the small Key West beaches during the trip, but we’d wheel in coolers to the motel pool and spend a ton of daylight time floating around and enjoying cheap beer.

At night, we’d go to the bars I’d heard about from older Pi Kappa Alpha brothers or in Jimmy Buffett songs. The one I was most excited to visit was Capt. Tony’s.

Unfortunately, my stop at that bar was brief, because when I went to the men’s room and saw the long lines, I copied some other guys and tried using the sink. The bouncers didn’t like that, and I ended up getting tossed.

The drive back to college at the end of Spring break wasn’t nearly as fun as the drive to Key West. All I had in front of me at this point was a couple more months of classes, exams, and then graduation.

It was a really fun week, and I wish I had the funds to go on more than one Spring Break, but I’ll always have this one. I haven’t been back to Key West since 1993, but I do want to go back there soon.

My next time in Key West, I plan to have a bed for every night, and if I do any driving, it would maybe be from Miami. Otherwise, I am flying the whole way.

Four Important Lessons Learned Outside of the College Classroom

May 6, 2026 by Shawn Collins

All these years, I thought I graduated with a 2.7. That is a lousy GPA as it is, but I was stunned when I came across my college transcript and saw that I had a cumulative GPA of 2.412 on 126 credits.

My semester GPA ranged from 1.0 as a first-semester freshman and fraternity pledge to 2.846 midway through my academic career.

I have my diploma from the University of Maryland, and I walked at the graduation ceremony, so I definitely graduated. But I may have to change my college on LinkedIn to the School of Hard Knocks, given my grades.

But really, it didn’t matter in the end. I was never asked for a copy of my transcript by a prospective employer, and the things I learned in my five years of college classes were largely obsolete by the time I started working with dot coms in the late ‘90s.

While my grades were average, I did learn a lot as an undergrad, though most of it came outside the classroom.

It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know

For most of college, I worked at Campus Recreation Services as a supervisor. While I’d like to say I got promoted after one semester based on merit, it was really because my boss at the time was in the Greek system and he hooked me up as a fellow Greek.

It was an early lesson on the importance of networking.

You Catch More Flies with Honey Than with Vinegar

Our fraternity house would receive many pages of infractions from the city manager after each inspection, which was a major strain on our finances and resources.

One semester, I tried buttering up the city manager by telling him how much our fraternity respected him and how it would be an honor to have him draw the winner for a booze raffle.

After that, our inspections were easier.

To Lead, You Must First Learn to Follow

For most of my time at the University of Maryland, I held various offices and leadership positions within the fraternity, the Greek System, and the university.

I started out running for positions with fewer responsibilities and worked my way up to President of our fraternity chapter. Along the way, I won some elections and lost some, but the key was observing people’s leadership styles and methods.

As a follower first, I developed empathy, humility, and reliability, as well as an understanding of the importance of empowering and recognizing others.

Persistence is the Secret of Success

As a kid, I was always looking for a side hustle, whether it was peddling candy door-to-door, shoveling snow, or selling zines and pictures by mail.

This mindset continued in college when I found out that a newspaper called the Greek Insider was shutting down. I had written for the paper and wanted to continue writing, so I started a new newspaper, the Greek Times.

In addition to being a writing outlet, it was a way for me to make money, since I wasn’t earning enough from my campus job to cover tuition and other expenses.

One problem was that I didn’t know how to put out a newspaper. I taught myself to use a Mac so I could write and print the content, then paste it on a board for the newspaper printing company.

Using a computer seems basic now, but before the Greek Times, I wrote my schoolwork on a non-electric typewriter. The need for higher-quality text and photos forced me to go to the campus computer lab and learn how to use a computer.

Organizing a volunteer staff, writing a lot of content, taking pictures, selling ads, dealing with the printer and their pricing and deadlines, and then distributing all of the papers. This was all on me, and the paper wasn’t happening without all of this.

It was a lot to balance with school, work, being a sorority busboy to earn my meals, and trying to have a social life. It was all worth it because I thrived on learning new skills and on the whole process, from ideas to stacks of freshly printed newspapers.

“I stumbled on the secret of success, and that is persistence… You don’t have to be educated, you don’t have to be talented, you don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to be lucky. It’s available for anyone.

I’m convinced most people don’t fail; they simply stop trying. If persistence is the key to success, how does one be persistent?

I believe, from my experience, the answer to that you must love the process. You must love what you’re doing. Not the success, not the reward, not the bonus, the trophy. None of that stuff.

Just the process. If you love what you do, you have a chance to be successful at it. I think everyone needs to do what they love, or find a way to love what you’re doing.

If you focus on the process, you achieve the goals more often.”

– Jim Bouton, Author of “Ball Four,” Pitcher for the New York Yankees

The classroom was my least favorite place in college. The life lessons in the fraternity were the most valuable, and it was that fraternity house and the people inside of it that I really missed when it all came to an end.

Congrats to all of you who graduated with various accolades and distinctions. But our diplomas were printed on the same paper, and C’s get degrees, too.

Originally published at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.

My Most Compromising Gen X Photo

April 8, 2026 by Shawn Collins

I don’t think I had a camera in college. If I did, it was rarely used, because I didn’t have the money to get film processed. So, most of the pictures I have from those five years are the fraternity and sorority event photos.

I have a whole photo album of these types of pictures, but just a handful of non-event snapshots from 1988-93.

Gen Xers like to reminisce about not having cameras around all the time when we were growing up, so we wouldn’t have embarrassing images or even ones that could be a liability in our personal lives.

And yes, it’s a good thing those pictures don’t exist, because we were getting naked a lot in college. I can remember at least half a dozen times when I was in public without clothes on during my college days.

While I was pledging, we were nude a few times, including when we took a bonding photo of my pledge class on and around the University of Maryland Testudo statue (our Terrapin mascot) in front of McKeldin Library. While we posed, some brothers disappeared with our clothes, so we had to make our way across campus completely naked – 30 or so naked guys sprinting in the cold.

And another time, we did a “Love Run” at the Sigma Kappa (?K) sorority. Again, my pledge class ran around naked, but this time in a house full of sorority girls. Brothers stole our clothes as we made our way through the sorority, and we had to run home naked.

As a brother, I ended up getting lavaliered twice and pinned once to girlfriends, and each time I’d be grabbed off the street by pledges and tied naked to the anchor in front of the Delta Gamma (??) sorority. Then the girlfriend would have to come and untie me.

There are no photos of any of these events, as far as I know, but another time, when I was in my birthday suit, I was captured on film, and I didn’t find out until months later.

I was elected President of Pi Kappa Alpha (?KA) at the University of Maryland for the fall 1992 semester. We had a tradition where pledges would kidnap the new president, get them very drunk, and deliver them back to their room many hours later.

After lots and lots of drinks, I guess I passed out along the way. That’s when the pledges “smurfed” me. I think this must have gotten the name in the past because passed-out guys were painted blue. But when I was in college, “smurfing” meant someone was passed out and had stuff written all over them in marker.

Anyhow, I guess I needed to pee after getting back to the fraternity house, so I wandered into the bathroom and dropped my boxers, since I couldn’t stand up straight. Someone snapped a picture and gave it to me months later, when they developed their film. I don’t even remember who took the photo.

Late that night/morning, naked, covered in marker, and having a couple of scraped knees, my phone rang. Some townies had parked in our house parking lot, and we had a tow company that would come by and give a heads up that they were towing cars parked illegally.

I went out to see the tow truck driver, still oblivious to the ink on my body and face, and the driver laughed and asked what the hell I was up to. I looked in his sideview mirror, and my head pounded as I squinted at my messed-up reflection.

It took many showers to get all of the marker off my skin. I think I skipped class the next day, due to my jacked-up appearance and torturous hangover. But I got a cool picture out of it.

Originally published at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.

I Graduated from College 30 Years Ago Today

May 20, 2023 by Shawn Collins

I dreaded graduating college. After a rough start where I got a 1.0 GPA and landed on academic probation, I straightened things out. It took five years and one summer session (a Spanish class in a room with no A/C in the hot Maryland summer), but I finished what I started on May 20, 1993.

The graduation ceremonies were pretty uneventful. I was just waiting for it to be over and get on with things. I had to look back to see that Dr. Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Distinguished Professor emeritus of classics at Howard University, was the commencement speaker.

My mind was focused more on what the hell I was going to do. I neglected to get an internship and didn’t really have any marketable skills, even though I thought my activities and offices in school merited a two-page resume.

I left campus with no job and no idea what I was going to do with my Communications degree.

It all really hit me when I gave from graduating senior speech at my Pi Kappa Alpha Graduation Party. I was overwhelmed by the future as I double-fisted cheap champagne and babbled some words about all of the memories at the frat.

When I packed my things, I moved home with my dad for a while. I was sending out resumes like crazy to all sorts of jobs and hundreds of fraternity alumni in the area. I got rejected from all of them, but I did get some cool rejection letters from U.S. Senators and congressmen who were in my fraternity.

As I kept sending out applications and resumes, I pounded the pavement in my hometown, and most stores didn’t want me because I was overqualified. I finally ended up at the front desk of the Comfort Suites in Laurel, MD for $5.50/hour. It was crappy shift work, but it was something. After a few months, I became an Assistant Manager at the local Blockbuster for $7.00/hour.

The low point was when an old high school friend stopped in and said they thought I went to college.

Later in 1993, I got an administrative job at the University of Maryland for less than $9.00/hour with no benefits. I stayed there until moving up to New York City and getting a start in magazine publishing at a few stops. Finally, I had some meager benefits and could start chipping away at credit card debt, student loans, car payments, etc.

All along, I was optimistic that I was going to find my place. I’d hoped I could work as a writer, but my total take was $100 for one article at the defunct New York Press.

I was 27 and still didn’t have any direction. And then, one day, I was looking at the classifieds and saw a job with a start-up that needed a marketing person for their new affiliate program. I was curious about it but had never taken a marketing class. My entire knowledge was that I’d joined the Amazon affiliate program earlier in 1997 to try and make some extra money.

I dazzled the guy hiring for the position by dropping some buzzwords I’d remembered from Amazon, and I got the job. At 27, I got the first job that I enjoyed, and I found the industry I’d work in for decades.

While in the industry, I wrote lots of columns and books for money, so I got to be a writer after all.

So, if you’re a recent graduate or still looking for the right spot way later in life, don’t freak out. The path to success, contentment, and happiness isn’t straight and may not make sense, but you can get there.

I got some of my favorite advice when former New York Yankees pitcher, author, and entrepreneur, Jim Bouton, gave the keynote speech at Affiliate Summit in 2006.

“I stumbled on the secret of success, and that is persistence… you don’t have to be educated, you don’t have to be talented, you don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to be lucky. It’s available for anyone.

I’m convinced most people don’t fail, they simply stop trying. If persistence is the key to success, how does one be persistent?

I believe, from my experience, the answer to that you must love the process. You must love what you’re doing. Not the success, not the reward, not the bonus, the trophy. None of that stuff.

Just the process. If you love what you do, you have a chance to be successful at it. I think everyone needs to do what they love, or find a way to love what you’re doing.

If you focus on the process, you achieve the goals more often.”

I was really scared in 1993 and for many years after. But just like with my rough start in college, I eventually came out on the other side after I found love for the process of my work.

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