Thursday, October 28, 2004
 

Sartre Was Right

. . . but we all knew that already.

We all know No Exit, right? Three people trapped together in the same room in hell for all eternity, with the famous line "Hell is-- other people!"

Well, I already believed that (duh), but it came to pass today:

I got locked in the classroom with my students.

(pauses for gasping)

I have this one snarky chick who gets up halfway through class every time and goes to the bathroom. When she did so today, the doorknob fell off in her hand.

Uh-oh.

Several people try to reattach the knob, try to pry the door open, all to no avail.

Yeah, we're stuck. And we're not on the first floor.

My students immediately commence acting like seventh graders and go beserk. I give up on crowd control and just sit down on the desk. Some people bang on the door. Some yell out the windows. An astonishing number of people ignore the people yelling for someone to come open the door and just walk on by. A girl in the class gets on her cell phone-- not to ask someone for help but to inform her boyfriend of the circumstances. Finally, a stoned-looking dude wanders up and opens the door.

So, hell is INDEED other people, or, more specifically, a room full of undergraduates.

Elvisette philosophized at 12:37 AM