Ah, the spirit of adventure!  I have found myself in the good company of great writers yet again who are unafraid to go exploring.  This time it’s with a group in my Writing and Communities class, out on a mission to go into at least one building we’ve never been in before. We had a great time wandering around the quirky art community of Richards Hall, and now we are in the Computer Engineering and Science building.

Specifically, the June and Paul Schorr III Center for Computer Science and Engineering.  A quick Google search reveals one potential reason why this place is so posh: it is touted as a prime rental space for pre-game parties.

The group and I all feel like invaders, to be sure, but the protective group structure of the writing marathon makes us brave.  I’ve passed this building at least 100 times on my way to and from the parking garage, but this is the first time I’ve come inside.

One of the students says, “I think you’re teaching in the wrong department.  Check out their break room.”  It stands in sharp contrast to another student’s writing marathon investigation and report of the sad and dingy kitchenette and its refrigerator in Andrews Hall.  None of us are bold enough to open the fridge here in the Schorr Center, but I doubt there is any “Orange Drink” in there.  A gluten-free burrito wouldn’t surprise me, though.

It’s definitely another world here.  We settle in to write at the comfiest study chairs I have ever experienced in my life.  Leather.  With cup holders.  And sleek swivel tray tables.  Five of them are all arranged in a row like deck chairs on a cruise ship overlooking the students schlepping by on the sidewalk below.  This is how the other half lives.