Has anyone noticed the bee party on campus? The swarming to our sushi boxed from Cox and Styrofoams full of concoctions from that new salad bar thing. Sitting on the fat chalked steps or leaning against the thicker quad trees, I notice how many of us are displaced by the stripes of black and yellow that linger too long on our chopsticks. It doesn’t matter how well you know that not moving might make them abandon their sushi-contaminating malice, chances are you won’t stay put.
If you have been staying outside long enough, bees and all, you might have noticed the hay bales that were so puzzling before the Homecoming advertisements popped up. Now, with the straw and gingham and burgundy red Emory t-shirts, you either know about Homecoming or you’re still wondering what I’m talking about. More “Still Undefeated” Emory football tees might explain why you wouldn’t know or care, but the fried Oreos and chili chili chili might have brought you around to the SPC side.
A blood drive followed by a female comedian and a concert on McDonough with a DJ your mom has never heard of and a disconcerting quantity of EMS volunteers standing by, I suppose we stay true to our dichotomous reputation this week. Slightly Stoopid, still slightly sloshed at tomorrow’s field day events, there will be lots of Emory love. During this Homecoming week, the fourth of my Emory career, I will wonder one more time whether when I am graduated and gone, I will be returning to celebrate the spirit of Emory with members of my graduating class that I have never met, JWag, professors who will surely remain (if they survive departmental cuts,) and the bands of my youth… who will they have for us?
This week Fall has officially fallen, calendrically, as I’d hoped, and we’re beginning to bundle again against the brisk morning air that burns off into what’s left of a summer sun for afternoons napping on the quad. Maybe I’m like the bees, how I linger anywhere outside while the sun still setting shines. Bothering people, hoping they’ll want to play, bouncing around to soak up what’s left of this Emory kickoff glow. My midterm period has started, has yours? Are you one of those library-goers stuck studying since day one? Maybe you’re getting used to college, still? Maybe you have an honors thesis to write and you are doing significantly less than you think you should be in the academic category. It seems we each bumble along at our own pace this week, buzzing like the bees, snacking, tasting. Lingering. Partying, enjoying… Happy Homecoming.
– By Chloe Olewitz
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
