Sunday, August 21, 2005
Hanging out with Rainy T
Insomnia hit me like a terrible metaphor tonight.
I stared at the ceiling and listened to the party across the hall for about 20 minutes, then I got up. I couldn't really join them, they've never been my crowd, and Tristan was asleep so I couldn't shake it off w/some TV (even though it's Saturday Night and I'm missing Adult Swim!). So I walked.
20 minutes later I was watching a hummingbird eat out of our massive pile of newly planted flowers. I watched him for a while, until a group of girls from the Hughes Street Party walked by and looked at me like I was an idiot or a creep. Nothing like having people go to the other end of the street to avoid you.
Anyway, I left the hummingbird before someone called Racer Patrol on me ("There's, like, this creepy guy, and he's just standing there..."). I walked on up to the farthest corner of campus, looped around the President's House, and started heading back down. The whole time the racket from Hughes street was echoing across the silent campus.
Cutting across the quad, I ignored the Shoe Tree and landed at Rainy T's feet. Rainy T's our founder, and because someone back in the day said every college has to have a bronze statue of their founder, he stands there handing a diploma to the quad. The way he's standing makes him both a seat and backrest, with his cane to your left and the diploma dangling to the right. I sat there, looking across the misty quad and up at the fairy-ringed moon, and wondered what old Rainy T would think of MSU today. The noise from down the street still reached over. For a school that's a 60/40 majority female, it always seems like there's a lot of loud guys here. Maybe it's the party factor.
Rainy looks like a religious man. He has little glasses, a comb-over, and a patient look to him. He reminds me of the elders I've seen at other churches. The patience hasn't always been there, the lines of it being earned are plain.
Rainy T looks like the kind of guy that would have had patience for a lot of people. Leaning back on his bronze loafers, I wish I was a little more like him there. He's handing the diploma to some kid who's flown through in 3 years (and 2 summers), but under those Harry-Potter glasses he's saying "I hope you're ready for this." He knows. He's got his robes and his hat and his lines across his arms. The little hoods hang off the back in layers. He's earned his medieval hoop-la. And he'll help you earn yours.
But hopefully you'll be walking away with a little more than just some piece of paper. Hopefully an Education will follow. ¶ 0 comments
I stared at the ceiling and listened to the party across the hall for about 20 minutes, then I got up. I couldn't really join them, they've never been my crowd, and Tristan was asleep so I couldn't shake it off w/some TV (even though it's Saturday Night and I'm missing Adult Swim!). So I walked.
20 minutes later I was watching a hummingbird eat out of our massive pile of newly planted flowers. I watched him for a while, until a group of girls from the Hughes Street Party walked by and looked at me like I was an idiot or a creep. Nothing like having people go to the other end of the street to avoid you.
Anyway, I left the hummingbird before someone called Racer Patrol on me ("There's, like, this creepy guy, and he's just standing there..."). I walked on up to the farthest corner of campus, looped around the President's House, and started heading back down. The whole time the racket from Hughes street was echoing across the silent campus.
Cutting across the quad, I ignored the Shoe Tree and landed at Rainy T's feet. Rainy T's our founder, and because someone back in the day said every college has to have a bronze statue of their founder, he stands there handing a diploma to the quad. The way he's standing makes him both a seat and backrest, with his cane to your left and the diploma dangling to the right. I sat there, looking across the misty quad and up at the fairy-ringed moon, and wondered what old Rainy T would think of MSU today. The noise from down the street still reached over. For a school that's a 60/40 majority female, it always seems like there's a lot of loud guys here. Maybe it's the party factor.
Rainy looks like a religious man. He has little glasses, a comb-over, and a patient look to him. He reminds me of the elders I've seen at other churches. The patience hasn't always been there, the lines of it being earned are plain.
Rainy T looks like the kind of guy that would have had patience for a lot of people. Leaning back on his bronze loafers, I wish I was a little more like him there. He's handing the diploma to some kid who's flown through in 3 years (and 2 summers), but under those Harry-Potter glasses he's saying "I hope you're ready for this." He knows. He's got his robes and his hat and his lines across his arms. The little hoods hang off the back in layers. He's earned his medieval hoop-la. And he'll help you earn yours.
But hopefully you'll be walking away with a little more than just some piece of paper. Hopefully an Education will follow. ¶ 0 comments
