A Procession Of Lights

Twice each year we have the procession of lights, a ceremony the students traditionally partake of as they have since the first year the college held classes. Unlike many rituals, this has not ebbed over the years and is picked up easily by the first-year students.

It starts about the third day of exams, as students finish and quickly pack. Into the cars their stuff goes and, one after another, they drive out and down the street. We see the procession of tail lights heading off into the distance and we think to ourselves, “That much less noise at night.”

They, on their part, think there is no better view than seeing the Admin Building in the rear-view mirror.

Oddly enough, our delight at the silence and peace only lasts about two weeks and then we complain that it’s too quiet. All too soon we’re hoping that someone will toss an M-80 out a dorm window, or that a party will spill out onto the lane between the dorms.

And, odder still, the students will get very tired of being home after about January 2. They will be looking forward to being back at school, because they’ve become used to the freedom they don’t get at home (despite their insistence that the school ties them down), they can have girls in their room with the door shut, they can go out to bars until all hours.

But for now, line up because the Procession of Lights is forming.