Campus Snapshots
The UNC chapter of NORML (Nat'l Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) stages a sit-in in the Pit, replete with couches, reggae, and hemp. 20 yards away, a middle-aged bearded man dressed in suit, tie, and Biblical righteousness is expounding upon familiar themes: fire, brimstone, damnation, Jesus' saving love. The NORMLers draw chalk arrows pointing to the bearded Bible man while he speaks. "Really likes weed." "I love T&A." *** Two doctoral students sit in their office talking about the stress of final term projects. A third comes in, and the discussion turns to the camaraderie that is developing among the first-year students. Two others return from dinner and the conversation, as if on cue, transforms itself into a 20 minute whirlwind of laughter, storytelling, getting-to-know-you-ness among strangers. The first two students leave, one rejoicing in the breakthrough. She is Part. *** Walking home at 9:30pm across a darkened, deserted academic quadrangle, strains of rock music float out of one of the stately Southern brick-and-column buildings. Or maybe, a little bit, it sounds like it's floating out of the sky. The girl walks home to the soundtrack that is only hers.
