shiny crosses
it's back to school time. in a town with mulitple colleges/universities, that means parades of new college students flocking to the local coffee shops. they're so precious with their little haircuts and new clothes... they come in all timid and confused, trying to memorize the campus map in their heads while remembering to make an effort to appear composed and confident. and i am not s
ure if i am getting older than i feel or if i am making a real observation, but when did colleges start admitting 14 year olds? these little darlings hardly look like they should be crossing the street on their own, much less running off to the big town with the uni. they come in to the coffee house in droves. 6 or 7 at a time. i can't tell if they are actually friends or if they are going about town in their small "get to know your classmates" orientation groups. or perhaps their newly identified "campus group". they also seem to all be wearing a cross symbol of some kind around their neck. wood crosses, metal crosses, gold crosses, gemstone crosses, and my two personal favorites, the iron nail cross or the hemp cross. the former is for the lord-lover who is not fuckin' around. the latter for the proselytizer with a mission to prove that you don't have to be dull to love the lord. they probably have a little fish tattooed somewhere on their bodies too. and always long hair. you know, like jesus. i have a few different theories on the frequency with which these cross-bearers appear publicly. perhaps a grandmother or favorite aunt gave the young person a firm reminder to take jesus with her when she went off to college. my favorite and i think most likely, is that they are entering fully into the zealot phase of young adulthood when the rules and politics are pure and firm. you know, before the development of nuance and complexity. when all things point in one direction and that is the only direction. this phase usually begins with something familiar and what's more familiar than the lutheran church one has attended since baptism? if you must be something, be that something all the way, seems to be the motto of the early college days. so be a christian. and reflect that in every social exchange, every academic paper, every introduction and every piece of apparel. 
these shiny happy people are everywhere this time of year. their numbers will dwindle once the novelty of "checking out the town" wears off and once they realize that, contrary to the belief of every high school student in the country, it really is pretty helpful to study and complete homework in college. but for the time being, it's nervous youngsters ordering fruity smoothies and fumbling around for their brand new visa check card, shiny as the crosses around their necks and virgin and pristine as the cardholder is. for now.
ure if i am getting older than i feel or if i am making a real observation, but when did colleges start admitting 14 year olds? these little darlings hardly look like they should be crossing the street on their own, much less running off to the big town with the uni. they come in to the coffee house in droves. 6 or 7 at a time. i can't tell if they are actually friends or if they are going about town in their small "get to know your classmates" orientation groups. or perhaps their newly identified "campus group". they also seem to all be wearing a cross symbol of some kind around their neck. wood crosses, metal crosses, gold crosses, gemstone crosses, and my two personal favorites, the iron nail cross or the hemp cross. the former is for the lord-lover who is not fuckin' around. the latter for the proselytizer with a mission to prove that you don't have to be dull to love the lord. they probably have a little fish tattooed somewhere on their bodies too. and always long hair. you know, like jesus. i have a few different theories on the frequency with which these cross-bearers appear publicly. perhaps a grandmother or favorite aunt gave the young person a firm reminder to take jesus with her when she went off to college. my favorite and i think most likely, is that they are entering fully into the zealot phase of young adulthood when the rules and politics are pure and firm. you know, before the development of nuance and complexity. when all things point in one direction and that is the only direction. this phase usually begins with something familiar and what's more familiar than the lutheran church one has attended since baptism? if you must be something, be that something all the way, seems to be the motto of the early college days. so be a christian. and reflect that in every social exchange, every academic paper, every introduction and every piece of apparel. 
these shiny happy people are everywhere this time of year. their numbers will dwindle once the novelty of "checking out the town" wears off and once they realize that, contrary to the belief of every high school student in the country, it really is pretty helpful to study and complete homework in college. but for the time being, it's nervous youngsters ordering fruity smoothies and fumbling around for their brand new visa check card, shiny as the crosses around their necks and virgin and pristine as the cardholder is. for now.
posted by shelly at 8/28/2006 09:01:00 AM
1 Comments:
Well said. I had a church phase for about six months in 1993. Well, no. I did church for all of my high school years, but I wore the church around my neck for about six months. My cross had beads with symbolic meaning and all 76 of my friends had the same necklace. Fantastic.
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