A Dose of Reality

With commencement this weekend, families are arriving, parties are starting, and visitors are wandering the campus. I can only hope that none of them visits any of the campus lakes. Should they do so, the reality may be a shock. Unlike the shiny brochures, webpages, and videos, the Domain is at times more like a dump than a beloved preserve.

Irony abounds within feet of a dorm and at the edge of a pond.

Ironies Abound

According to the University of the South: Sewanee's Guide for Living in Community: Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, "Ecce Quam Bonum (EQB) is the University motto and describes our highest aspiration for community, lived out in expectations for our students. 'Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live in unity!' -- Psalm 133:1.' "

Note the operative words community and aspiration.

There's a reason why campus tours do not venture out to the on-campus lakes: garbage (i.e., liquor bottles, beer and soda cans, abandoned bicycles, take-out cartons, books and paper, used condoms and wrappers, underwear, . . .). 

Dragonflies don't care, even if I do.

Not every trail is naturally pristine

but even twisted metal panels stuck in a "stream" look beautiful in the right light along the Village Trail.

Underbelly

Why are we all so attracted to the seamy things in life?

We are and I bet you know it.

Just watch the evening news, or read tweets, or scan Facebook, or tune-in a reality show on TV.

Me, I'd rather this kind of icky news: the garbage area at Shenanigans. It might not smell so great, but it sure looks good.

All Because of a Book

Because I can't put out the garbage till early Tuesday morning, about an hour before the truck crew arrives (think raccoons; it's not a pretty picture), I waddled out, grabbed a can, rolled it back to the steps, prepping for tomorrow.

Then I saw the snail.

Elizabeth Tova Bailey's The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating leapt to mind.

I knew I couldn't put my garbage in the can. What would happen to the snail, whose life is spent in a tiny universe (hers lived in a terrarium), so I dragged it back to the trees, grabbed another, rolled it to the steps, and went inside, foot-fore but happy.

When I finish the book I'm reading now, I know what I will re-read next.

At Lake Cheston, Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Reckon the folks who made this

and left these behind

say they love the outdoors?

Just 44 Steps

one way between beach bench and garbage can (see red arrow).

Five beer cans, three bottle rocket packages, eight bottle rocket sticks and three trips for a total of 308 steps there and back.

I know the number because I counted as I cleared someone else's junk before two young girls and their parents came to swim.

Sometimes I pick up the trash, but I confess that even I don't remove everything. Yesterday, for example, I left the used condom in place at the edge of the parking lot.

Happily, the Odonates don't seem to mind (even if I do).