From Jesus to Drugs in Seven Steps

So... our students. I love 'em. I liked the students at Ye Olde University, too, but for different reasons. The Ye Olde University students were different from what I was used to. Preppy and rich. Boys wore pink Polo shirts with the collar up and girls wore prom dresses, four-inch heels, and carried purses that cost more than my entire wardrobe. The new school students are the exact opposites.

Our students are hippies. I don't even notice if students have dreads or if they are barefoot anymore... because there is a good chance they are both dreadlocked and barefoot. Where the students at Ye Olde University answered my questions with "Yes, ma'am" and "No, Ma'am," the new students answer me with "cool" or "right on."

But this week I've seen a couple of things that made me look twice. And laugh. Tuesday was the first day of the Spring quarter so the library is bustling after being empty for a week and a half. I was standing at the reference desk, chatting with some coworkers when I noticed a flurry of tie-dye over by the printer. It was a student. Male. Dreadlocked. Wearing tie-dye. But not any tie-dye, he was tie-dyed from head to ankle. He had a tie-dyed do-rag tied around his dreadlocks (I'm sure in hippie-speak it is called something other than a do-rag). Then he was wearing a baggy tie-dyed garment. I say "garment" because I don't know if it was one or two pieces, but basically, it was a baggy t-shirt thing and a skirt. He wore this over some ankle-length leggings. And past his ankles? Barefoot. He was bouncing back and forth between the computers and printer on his toes.

I watched him for a few minutes, turned to my co-worker and said, "I love our students. They're just a little bit freaky."

Then today I ventured into the bathroom on the main floor of the library. The stalls don't have a lot of graffiti, but there is some from time to time. Someone had written, "I feel empty." After that, someone wrote, "I feel emptied." Then two different people gave suggestions for a couple of campus Christian organizations, like the Newman Center. The next person wrote something along the lines of, "I've heard acid can give you real clarity." Followed by other suggestions about taking LSD: Take it when you are in a good mood or it could go wrong. Be patient, when you take it remember to wait an hour -- don't take another hit thinking it isn't working. So on and so forth.

Next to that someone wrote, "From Jesus to Drugs in seven steps. Only here."

Yep.... Only here.