Five Adjectives
For those of you stuck in frigid and snowfilled places, I wish you speedy melting and resumption to life as usual. There’s no snow predicted for us (*knock wood*) in the near future. It has been pretty cold for here, in the high 30s/low 40s. This morning was especially frigid.
As I drove to work, I passed what looked like a giant, neon caterpillar of people running up Polo Road. They were all dressed pretty identically, and all had a highlighter-yellow reflective vest on as well. My first thought was that this might be ROTC cadets out for a morning run.
Some of you write me and tell me how much you like the “Five Senses” posts at the Daily Deac. Today I thought I’d try a new one. Five Adjectives.
I found myself in the Farrell Hall Living Room one afternoon and was struck by just a few things I saw or felt, and I was trying to come up with one liners or adjectives to describe what I saw. Here they are:
Shushed (but not silent.) There were a fair number of people in the Living Room when I was there, but they all spoke in relatively quiet tones. My impression was that they all had a very strong sense of what the socially-acceptable volume level in there is for personal conversation, and they all conformed beautifully to that standard. So while there was talking, it was respectful vs loud.
Sparse. Maybe only 1/2 to 1/3 of the room was full at 2:15 pm, which surprised me.
Studious. Of the students present, it looked like about 2/3 of them were in a study group or were studying on their own. Very few of the students present looked like they were just hanging out, or were purely socializing.
Sunny. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the large windows of the Living Room (facing out toward the large parking lot and in the direction of Magnolia and Dogwood residence halls). The sun came in, providing a lot of light and much-welcomed warmth.
Socially aware. While most of the students were not there to chat and hang out, when students saw someone they knew, the social graces were observed. Depending on the relationship of the students, that might be a hug, or to say ‘hey’ or give a smile or a head-nod to someone who looked in the middle of something. But people did make eye contact and wave or speak to those they knew. It made me feel good to see that people were both friendly and also sensitive to not interrupt someone who clearly was in the midst of serious work.
— by Betsy Chapman