February 05, 2008
james k. polk has a posse
2/5/08
While the rest of the country voted, froze, shuddered under pummeling rain, or had their trees blown over, this was the campus of the University of North Carolina today:
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Yes, my old friends, it was that day, actually that stretch of days, in mid-winter when the heavens break open and pour forth 75 degrees of sunshine that fills up your cells with toasty goodness. These are the days you wake up and thank god you didn't go to Colby College. They are the days when your anxieties melt away, you dare to kiss that girl, when ideas for the summer are hatched. My brother Sean talks oft of Breast Liberation Day© in New York, when the gals decide it's time to forget about the sweaters and the second layer, and let it all go for a walk around the neighborhood. Today in Chapel Hill was a Breast Liberation Sneak Peek© for times ahead.
And thus Tessa and I (well, mostly Tessa) taught class as we do every year, by showing "Five Wives" and having a lively discussion. Peter Kaufman's theme this year was "fakery versus real", thus echoing NC's motto "esse quam videri" (to be, rather than to seem), which perfectly delineates the philosophical difference between UNC and dook, and thus leads to me reading the Why I Hate Dook article in front of class. It all works out, y'see.
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Even cooler? The weather was so good, we had the second part of class outside, which was always one of my favorite mitzvahs from cool professors. Class in the quad was always a haphazard affair, seeming more like a casual gathering of 19th-century landed gentry than a real class, what with the ogling of passers-by and the contemplation of twigs, but this group of students was pretty awesome and focused.
I still feel like I totally relate to the average UNC student, even though I'm separated from my last Carolina class (oddly enough, Peter Kaufman's RELI 30) by 17 years, a hundred thousand miles of exploring, existential soul-searching and fatherhood. Everyone seems the same way you and I were: smart, scattered and smothered, just like the hash browns at Waffle House. I was feeling utterly collegial again until I came upon this WXYC dance flyer stapled to a kiosk:
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Yep, the Early '90s Dance. They're finally getting around to mocking the era in which we mocked everyone else. Although it should be said that Salem and I had the first documented "Early '80s" party ever, at the Purple House in December 1991 - so they better get their nostalgia cranking, because we were much quicker back in the actual '90s.
So here I lay at the Carolina Inn, just down the street from Granville, where the UNC basketball team is settling down for slumber before the next night's humongous game. Ty Lawson, by all accounts, is one of the most laid-back dudes ever; lightning on the court, but moves at his own languid pace and soaks up his favorite cartoons during downtime. I wonder if he is propping his foot up on a pillow right now, slowly turning to look at it, and thinking, "is this the ankle upon which rests the dreams of thousands?"
Posted by Ian Williams at February 5, 2008 11:56 PMEsse quam videri was my high school's motto!
HA -- Welcome to the "lampoon my youth" club, baby.
All my previous eras (white-bread 50s, crazy 60s, stoned 70s, etc.) have been well exploited by succeeding generations. The other day my kids were watching, and hooting at, a TV show called "Best Songs of the 90s". Yeah... .back in the old days.
Welcome home! I'm wearing my "I hated Duke before hating Duke was cool" t-shirt all over Durham today. Go Heels!!!!!
Beautiful photos! They really capture the collegiate spirit.
"Early '90's dance"....oh my. Oh MY. Generation Z has arrived.
I'm sitting here at my desk on the campus of the aforementioned Colby College in Waterville, Maine, watching a most beautiful snowfall--big, white flakes that stick to the trees. It's gonna be 6-9 inches when it's over tomorrow morning. I'm going snowshoeing at lunch, and I might go pond skating after work. These are the mornings I wake up and thank God that I am at Colby College. (But sometimes 75-degrees in February is pretty nice, too.)
All the best.
I am going to be totally, utterly and completely useless today until 9pm.
I need to just start taking the day off.
Ian - please use every bit of mojo you have to will the boys to victory tonight.
is silent sam looking over your shoulder in picture number two? and more importantly, does he still fire his rifle every time a virgin walks by?
*crickets chirping*
pull 'em through tonight!
Ahhhhhhh. Wow, that picture sure brings me back. GO HEELS!
P.S. I picked Hinton James because it had a laundry room, too.
Go Heels!!!
I always loved THAT DAY.
Is anyone else nervous today? Just thinking about the game makes me feel like I've had too much caffeine. And I'm drinking decaf!
I have a question about the "Carolina frat boy" look. Do they still wear cut off khakis? Because last night I was looking at my 8 year old's khakis that he ripped badly on his bike. I told him that I'd just cut them off and make them shorts, because they're basically unrepairable. I said, "You'll look like a perfect Carolina frat boy" and then I realized that I actually have no idea if they're still wearing cut offs. Maybe that's an early 90's look, and it would be perfect at the dance! Of course, then I had to explain to Ethan what a "frat boy" is...
oh my god. i think i started to hyperventilate a bit when i saw the early 90's dance thing. jeez. i am OUTRAGED! heh.
I'm down with Breast Liberation Day©, and maybe I'm too much of a Yankee at heart, but I still can't help but think of 75 degrees in February as anything but a sign of the environmental apocalypse.
Go Heels!
THAT day (or a string of them) made me drop out of my second accounting prereq to get into Comm school. It was a 3:30 p.m. class and I had an A- going into the second test. But after a few days dreamily looking out the window at that DAY, with all the kids having fun tossing the frisbee etc, I just walked into the Dean's office and dropped that sucker. Spring Fever.
Ever since my 29th birthday (34 now), I have not had a moment where I felt 'old' in any negative sense...until I saw the sign for the Early 90s Dance. Thanks a lot. Hmph.
Unrhetorically, when did the early '90s end?
Tonite, they're ongoing. Of course, I'll miss good old WCHL and have to create my own commentary and tune in something secondarily calming (WFUV, NYC) over Dickie V's clang any day. Woody's on the satellite, but it's not always in sync and I can't TIVO (at all or on the nanosecond.) Alas.And Go (insert qualifier) Heels!!
I can tell you right now that Big Frat Court looks exactly the same as it did in 1987, and dudes are dressed EXACTLY the same. I mean, everyone's in Merrells or cross-trainers instead of wearing dirty Bucks with no socks, but it's essentially the same.
Remember the '87 game in Raleigh, when Kenny Smith was supposed to sit out with an injury? The wolfpack crowd was shocked when he took the court dressed to play, started, and I watched the Heels win in Reynolds, with a couple of other UNC freshmen holding NCSU student tickets. Damn the Early '90s Dance; I'll feel 21 years younger when I see Ty Lawson surprise us like Kenny did in '87, play, and win with class tonight.
I should have thought to add this delightful Ben Folds quote yesterday:
"Kids today
are growing up too fast,
the get nostalgic for the last 10 years
before the last 10 years have passed!"