Wednesday, December 14, 2016

End of semester drawl

Somewhere between a good cup of coffee and a cramped place in the Mabee Library on Washburn campus, Lisa Herdman toted an array of papers along with a laptop.

Friends waited inside the library, conveniently watching her from the windows. Herdman was walking like a deer with two broken legs - a snowman, round and cold and teetering - and in a bout of fate, her coffee levitated out of her hand and spilled to the ground in a caffeinated, ineffective explosion.

She was used to mild disasters, however. Adjusting the laptop strap she effectively dipped down in an unknown dance to pick the cup up. Then her paper, eight pages and marked up, ready for corrections, landed as a porous paper boat into the dark coffee.

In a matter of moments, seven hours were lost. A wounded deer - Herdman, herself - waited for consolation. The friends approached her gently, soft-eyed and ready to help in pack formation.

Herdman groaned in agony, but, attuned to healing due to assignments afflicted on her, she slopped the paper into her hands and nursed it in some napkins.

As an English major, and as a wild college student, you must learn to adapt. The rewriting and peeling apart of the pages is necessary for evolution. A digital age must save us all. Learn to order coffee after you've settled at your desk. The future is near.



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