My Secchi Disk

The last days at the Onion are certainly sweet. Yesterday one could say I got little "work" done, as I ran into people one after the other: called them in off the street, off their bicycles, on the way to their classes, buses, and haircuts. But we shouldn't underestimate the importance of these meetings, these bumping-intos.

Today, for example, I was just finishing up an email to a friend about getting another friend involved in S.C.O.P.E. (Student Committee on Public Engagement), when he popped around the corner from the old non-smoking side and I could tell him about it in person. I only know the second friend is interested in S.C.O.P.E. because I ran into him here yesterday and we were talking about it. Although this might not be considered "work" in the academic sense, it's certainly public work: it's how change happens, it's how people learn, and it's tons of fun! I ran into Darrell today (here, of course), and he was telling me that in Portsmouth, NH they have tours of all the pubs where many of the important plans for the revolution were hatched. Do all revolutions start in coffee houses and pubs? How can we get people out to coffee shops earlier, when they're 12, 13?

I'm still slightly disturbed that the Onion is moving (a whole half-block away)... afraid that the community will disolve. But I've come around from being so pissed at the change that I thought I would transfer to the Hard Times, to realizing that if I did that I would become part of the disolution. (Plus, I've been assured that the seating will be comfortable at the new place, not one of those businesses that tries to get you out the door as soon as possible.) Here's hoping we can make the new place all this one is. And maybe start a few revolutions there.