Red Lights and The Great Escape

En route to a basketball game at the Palestra, one of the Penn Band members boldly walked into the street (a red light), with traffic oncoming. After I freaked out, the student jokingly told me about how she doesn't usually care about silly things like traffic lights while she's at Band!

This got me thinkin' (a dangerous past time, I know). At a place like Penn, you're immersed in a 24/7 occupation workaholic lifestyle. For its members, The Penn Band is a Happy Place - a great escape from real life. We don a uniform and assume a different persona and enter a different world - we have fun and act in ways we normally do not.

What's interesting about this phenomenon is what people are willing to do while in this happy place. For example, the sport fans among the band membership will swear and gesticulate like a pirate (sadly, I'm as guilty of this as the next person!). Band members will paint their entire bodies in the name of school spirit. But remove the uniforms, and they are suprisingly reserved.

What's my point? Well, when our Happy Place and Common Sense begin to diverge, I would argue that the whole point of making our Great Escape is defeated. Collegiate pranks are such an example - shenanigans such as theft, kidnapping of mascots, and destruction of property that wouldn't normally occur outside the context of the college campus. Another example is what I mention above with swearing pirates.

I guess in the end, it's important to keep one foot firmly planted in Common Sense, most especially when you're in your Happy Place - otherwise you'll get hit by a car!

take it easy - KG