The Tripod

(Author's note: I will write this in fragments because my recollection of this weekend is fragmentary at best. Do not misinterpret this as a sad or un-tasteful reference to the consumption of alcohol; it is not. My brain's synapses were intact, but the weekend had this weird feeling of overstimulation, which makes my recollection of it something like trying to remember everything I did when I went to Six Flags when I was in middle school. You know, the typical kaleidoscope-recollection of too much fun.)

1. Definition for those who do not know or for those who have forgotten

Spring Weekend: The end of a week in spring; specifically: A weekend in mid-April when Trinity students do what they do every weekend with the crucial exception that they do these things outdoors, during the day, and with an occasional football toss or comically uncoordinated softball game. It culminates in a concert. Things get kind of messy. The connotation of "messy" may vary, depending on its referent.

2. Quad use (I.e., "The Quad" - not the demi-quads, such as LSC or that one in front of High Rise.)

Two things become apparent on Spring weekend with respect to quad use. One thing is just kind-of weird and funny (a.); the other thing is pretty frustrating and odd and reflects poorly on Trinity's administration and students (b.).

(a.). For some reason, students prefer the side of the quad furthest from the Chapel. Two rows of trees separate the two sides of the quad - one side is next to the chapel and the other is closest to Cook, the building that runs perpendicular to Jarvis. Only a missed Frisbee/football permits crossing over to the chapel-side.

The chapel-side fear reminded me of a game I played when I was younger, wherein I scattered pillows on my living room floor and decided that the floor had become lava, causing me to deftly maneuver myself from pillow to pillow. It was nice that everyone decided to "stick together" on one side of the quad.

That students avoided the side of the quad loomed over by God-almighty is probably coincidental but funny in its own Spring-Weekend way.

(b.). By the weekend's end, it looked like Hartford's waste disposal had accidentally emptied its load on the quad.

This means that Trinity students are too engulfed by the flames of Spring Weekend hedonism to take a moment to throw away their can/Solo cup after consuming its contents. I am sure that Trinity's administration readily acknowledges this as the one-and-only reason for the quad's transition into a trash receptacle. What confuses me is why Trinity's administration did not place recycling bins on the Quad. According to Spring Weekend veterans, this mess is a recurrent theme. Instead of pointing out - every year - that we are lazy-littering-bums, the administration may want to encourage recycling. Just a thought. However, the administration does not really seem to care too much about recycling. The only outcome of this mess was an e-mail telling us we could no longer drink in public, instead of one telling us we had wasted recyclable materials and contributed to the destruction of our planet.

3. Possibly sappy but pretty true assertion.

Among other things that I prefer not to publically announce, Spring Weekend showed me something about Trinity that we sometimes forget but should always try to remember: We are a community of diverse but also very similar people, bonded together by a common urge to occasionally let ourselves get a little shameless and ridiculous. Certain embarrassingly hypocritical, or profoundly innocent people,­ tend to dismiss "partying" as a legitimate manifestation of a college community. But when I hear people bonding over how great or insane or unhealthy or disastrous their Spring Weekend was, I have to smile. Turns out we all experience the same fears and anticipatory worries that incite such absurd behavior. This is not a bad thing.

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