College Life

That Travis Manion and Brendan Looney ended up side by side should surprise no one. Loved ones had always been struck by the similarities between the Naval Academy roommates — both family men, both rugged athletes, both warriors who yearned to reach the heart of action. Now, they needed to be together again. It was the only bit of comfort Amy Looney could fathom as she watched white-gloved soldiers carry her husband's casket from the back of an airplane at Dover Air Force Base last September.

Brother's keeper An orphaned Parkville teen is torn between raising his little brother and fully experiencing college Modern Life

Of the many lessons Tahj Holden learned during his time at Maryland, perhaps the most applicable one in his post-college life has been this: Always have a contingency plan. Holden, an integral member of Maryland's 2002 national championship team, finished his college career in 2003 and immediately began preparations for what he assumed would be a lengthy professional basketball career. But nearly a year later, injuries prematurely derailed those overseas hoop dreams.

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- It is a Saturday afternoon in early November, and a man, a deliberate and rational man, sits at his kitchen table and writes a letter. The words come easily, the transcription of thoughts honed for weeks. "You don't know me, but I work for the Port Authority, and, like you, I live in Garden City. I didn't know your wife, but I saw her on the train ... "There is a strange sense of connection I feel ... and I can't escape that." There had been so much more to say, it seemed, several weeks earlier, on the day the deaths of strangers had overwhelmed him, and, unexpectedly, her death in particular.

Far from his South Carolina home, Gary Moody sat glassy-eyed and tremble-lipped amid the din of the Naval Academy dining hall as upperclassmen pummeled him for answers eluding him: You got a 1500 on your SAT but can't remember our names or what's for dinner?"

Sure, it's rude. Sure, it's crude. Sure, it's lewd (although not so much on commercial TV).It's also a riot.Bluto, Flounder, Pinto and the gang are all there in "National Lampoon's Animal House" (8 p.m.-10: 30 p.m., TNT), easily the funniest film about college life ever unleashed on American audiences.Everybody has their favorite moments: the horse in the dean's office, Bluto's impersonation of a pimple, the visit to the women's college, the bar, the supermarket, the parade. Rarely has so much anarchy made it into one film, and never has National Lampoon come close to scaling the heights it reached with this 1978 movie.

Some 700 mourners filled the pews Friday for a funeral Mass for 19-year-old Elizabeth Conway Nass, who died after being "at the wrong place at the wrong time," Monsignor John A. Dietzenbach said, referring to this week's tragic train derailment in Ellicott City. Ms. Nass, who died along with her friend, Rose Louese Mayr, was remembered at the Church of the Resurrection as a fun-loving, spirited woman who was studying at James Madison University in Virginia to be a special-education teacher.

When Luke Fisher of Westminster graduated from high school five years ago, he had doubts that he could excel at a four-year school. He turned down an offer to attend Towson University and opted instead for Carroll Community College. Fisher would become editor of the campus newspaper and a peer mentor for first-year college students. He is set to graduate this spring with an associate's degree, and plans now to pursue his bachelor's degree. He's found a couple of area schools - including the University of Maryland and Hood College - that appear particularly eager to have him. "Their transfer advisers went above and beyond trying to get me to visit their campuses," said Fisher.

Baltimore produced a handful of national dynasties in the second half of the 20th century. Johnny Unitas and the Colts spread the popularity of pro football in the late 1950s. From 1969 to 1971, the Orioles had the Best Damned Team in Baseball. Just ask Earl Weaver. Johns Hopkins University won six NCAA lacrosse titles from 1978 to 1987. A step down on the educational ladder but top rung with basketball fans was another institution: Dunbar High School hoops. The Poets and their followers will gather tomorrow at the school's gym on the corner of Orleans and Central for a series of old-timers games, an event that quickly sold out. The draws include the crew from the 1982-83 season that has long been acclaimed as, if not the best high school team ever, then certainly on that debate's short list.

Towson State University knows how to appeal to the touch-tone generation -- registration by phone.Starting next month, Towson students can register for the spring semester by phone, making Towson State one of the first Maryland colleges to offer touch-tone registration, said Kathy Williams, a Towson State spokeswoman.The system works like this: Students are given a phone-in time to register. By dialing a number, students are connected to an automated voice system that guides callers through the registration process.