Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Welcome back, faithful reader. I remain, the Campus Wit.

With the bulk of the students gone, I have been able to reflect on the some of the worst aspects of Campustown. In the course of my average day, I walk through a good portion of it here at the University of Illinois. I go to classes. I give patronage to restaurants. I often duck down alleyways and enter random buildings in order to avoid running into people. I generally cover a lot of ground, and in my perambulations, I’ve noticed something: the pedestrians on this campus are out of control.

If you’re a religious believer with a holiday to celebrate or a non-believer with a spirit for giving, you’ve likely thought about making a charitable donation this month.

As everyone knows, there is a huge and unknown number of charities that need and deserve more money. That said (as it always is and has to be when talking about charitable giving), consider a donation to the Eastern Illinois Food Bank, regardless of what you’ve already given or plan to give to other organizations.

Backstage during a play, there is sometimes a lot of waiting, or something that looks a lot like waiting. Actors wait, reading by dim light, listening to iPods, or knitting quietly, the clicking of needles punctuating the muted sounds of conversation from the stage. The stage manager sits, idly turning pages of a script, occasionally setting off sound cues, while the director paces maniacally, ears perked like a setter, having placed all control of her show into the tenuously held hands of the actors and the audience.