Spherical Flying

The frog that bites is hot, his sharp

leather skin cuts the wavering

dog in the eye. He loudly flies

to the cloud laced with light blue

and I follow him, thinking of balloons.

To kiss the cool rock is important

and tough. Why is there mud through the tamarack?

He cannot flee without wings: this is fact.

The serene frog ruined them too soon. He swooned

over the pebbles and sea glass of gold

coloring. I curve my belief that green

is boring and the purple leader is my dream.

My curiosity misses the shape of the lap

on the track. Magenta or aqua would be

a finer choice over smoldering charcoal.   


This is my "nonsense poem" for Creative Writing. Weird, huh? I had to use certain rhymes and a specific number of syllables in each line... and it wasn't supposed to make sense. But maybe it makes sense to you?

Observations of Gordon after one year (almost):

- While Lane serves chocolate, coffee, strawberry, vanilla, 1%, skinny, and whole milk, they do not carry 2% milk apparently--my milk of choice. Let's not forget about that chocolate and regular "Silk milk."
- Chicken fried steak from Lane should not be consumed unless one wants severe stomach issues.
- While I've heard some people call Chase "the hotel," we do have to lean our own bathrooms, unlike in the HUD dorms. Another note: bathrooms get dirty, and I am grateful for my mother for completing this tedious task for my first 18 years of life.
- When the fire alarm goes off at 5 AM, your roommate won't let you saunter over to the bathroom, put on a sweatshirt, and change into jeans. You must pick two--or maybe even just one if the building is actually burning (Note: take caution when cooking popcorn. Popcorn should not be in the microwave for twice its suggested cooking time).
- Even if you are convinced that your internet cord is busted and you buy a new one at the bookstore, you should probably check to see that your original cord isn't plugged into the phone outlet.
- Snow on the Quad greatly decreases travel time to class.
- Picking classes is not geared favorably toward freshmen --> first semester with 4/4 classes being core (and boring).
- Sweet potato fries are the best, but they are also quite rare.
- Tour greeting is a VERY, VERY good job.
- College is like high school but amplified and much better. I also didn't live at my high school.
- It's good to have snacks in your room such as instant oatmeal, Clif bars, baby carrots, peanut butter, and any sort of chocolate. Also, hot chocolate and apple cider are delicious too.
- Tough people go on La Vida have have stickers to prove it. These stickers are prominently displayed on Nalgene water bottles, usually.
- Losing your ID card = worst kind of punishment. Not only have you lost your ability to eat freely, but you can't get into Chase, or your locked room, and you can't easily get chapel credit.
- Rain boots are a great investment. Also, an extra umbrella is useful too.
- Chapels are usually a hit-or-miss kind of deal. You gotta pick the right ones, especially the ice cream sundae ones in Chester's (best chapel yet!)
- Hymn books are scare in the front row of the balcony (Note: if you sit here, you can put you feet up!).

Freshmen orientation 

High efficiency woes

I’m not convinced that the “free” washing machines these devices are in my best interest.  For me, there’s nothing free about risking the safety of your valuables each time you trek down the hall to stuff your dirty clothes into one of these high efficiency machines.

            At home, I waddle down the stairs to the basement, overflowing basket in hand (or arms, I guess) as I swerve for the lounging cat and my brother’s Nerf gun. Flipping the washer on and dumping in a generous amount of detergent, I heave in my inside out and crinkled clothing, stuffing in as much as I can while never admitting to my mother that yes, this probably should be two loads instead of one. I then amble up the basement stairs to collect the trail of socks and running shorts that flew out as I dodged a sleeping Fluffy. Moseying back down to the unheated laundry room, I take off the socks I’m currently wearing, intent on making this exhausting process worth it as I pop them in even though the machine is well into its second cycle.

            From my experience here at Gordon, washing my clothes must be a timed process. I have quite the aversion to the idea of someone getting to my washed and dried clothing before I do, for fear that they’ll take little care dragging my sweaters out of the dryer and dumping them on top so that there is the chance that they could slide off and hit the dirty, soiled tiles. In effort to avoid such a ghastly situation, I plan it out: 31 minutes for the wash and around forty-five minutes for the dryer (fifty to fifty-five minutes if I really crammed in the clothes). The tricky part about this process is even if you shuffle down to the laundry room when there is one minute left on the washer, this last minute always takes about three times that long, so therefore I sometimes estimate it to be longer than the proposed thirty-one.

            Now, the real predicament: when you shut the door, there’s no turning back. Once you punch in either “white,” “bright,” or “color,” that door locks and you’re out of luck if you accidently dropped those spare socks or underwear on your way down the hall. They’ll have to wait two weeks in your hamper until you brave the next washing experience. This also causes quite the anxiety attack when one realizes that maybe their ID or phone is thrown in there as well, forgotten when he or she quickly pulls off that sweatshirt in an effort to squeeze in one more possibly dirty item. From my observations, I see no “stop machine” or “emergency!” button in clear view, and as I’m squinting into the circular glass, I think of how my valuables could be spinning in there for at least thirty-one minutes.

"DOOR LOCKED"