We are on the quarter system, which means that, for another week, our campus is lovely and empty (if we don't count the staff lurking resentfully in their offices). BEAUTIFULLY EMPTY! I love campus when it's empty. I can stroll from one end to another without hearing students cussing up an eff-word storm about how they didn't study at all. I can trip for no reason, and no witness is there to hide their laugh. I can photocopy things without anyone (else) jamming the machine.And then the students start to creep back. First the residence hall staff show up, and they, too, seem to think they own the campus. Then the student senate/government/association people trickle back. They, too, lay claim over campus, prancing about like they own the joint. And then a few earnest freshmen show up with vans loaded with parents on a mission to ensure their bubble-wrapped safety.
Then the faculty. Oh, the faculty! They drag back, complaining about how summer was not long enough. Did I mention the resentful staff grinding their teeth about how they never even got a summer? But the faculty filter back, slamming office doors, comparing summer stories, and then I know it's over.
And the thing I miss most about summer is not sleeping in, or the fact that I stayed up late researching esoteric texts found only in 8-point-font PDFs in a lonely library. What I miss most is the blessed empty campus that reflected the very empty state of my brain.
PS. I forgot to say how much I hate the cars. The cars returning to campus and the drivers who choose not to follow any form of rules. They, too, should be included above.
ReplyDeleteDitto. The first day of class I'm always swearing at all the cars in MY parking spaces.
DeleteThe place is usually empty on the weekends as well....I remember once taking a class in American Black history at a community college I'll call Park College. This class began late in the Summer micro semester and so by the time the last week of class began, everybody else was taking their finals. It was odd leaving the classroom to meet a completely lightless and dead campus. Because of this, the professor moved the final an hour earlier, so we could be done and it would be dusk and not early night.
ReplyDeleteIf you really want to see empty, hang around on the day Fall semester ends; nobody is on campus by 4pm....people have to deal with Christmas, or leaving town to go to their family's Christmas. To make it even more despondent, play "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues or Gyorgi Ligeti's "Atmospheres."
Since ours is a residential Christian campus, it's always full of prayer groups and weirdos with guitars singing on weekends (troubadours for Jesus?). It's very different from state schools I've taught at in the past and I don't like that students like to hang out on campus. What's wrong with them???
DeleteI am TOTALLY setting the emptiness to "Fairytale of New York" from now on! My emptiness filled with sound (I love the idea). Are you sure you don't want me to add the sound of a bayonet striking or something? :o)