Thursday, October 12, 2006

minding my p's and q's

Campus is swarming with federal marshalls today. There's a huge federal judges symposium happening and, according to Eagle Eye Goldberg, whenever federal judges appear anywhere as a group, they are guarded by federal marshalls. That seems weird to me, but what do I know? They're lingering in the halls like thugs and their tiny little badges give me the sense that they're prone to overcompensate. I wonder what it would take to get "taken down" outside my class? What wrong series of words would I have to say? What threatening gesture?

And why am I even contemplating a fray with the federal marshalls? They're not even that cute, it's not like I'd be thrilled to be tackled by them. The presence of the marshalls seems to indicate the possibility for danger. That possibility, though in reality very slim, becomes palpable around the marshalls who are hyper-alert and poised for action. I walked swiftly from the bathroom to my class a few minutes ago, and I could feel their attention on me like laser beams. All that potential in the air wants to crystallize into a random action. It's like the spirit of the violence or the conflict is swirling in the air around the marshalls, waiting to possess me. Or the energy of the potential violence is like potential energy, the energy of the heavy boulder poised at the top of the hill, straining against gravity not to begin rolling. Just the presence of the marshalls seems to create the energy, like the presence of the boulder at the top of the hill creates the pull to roll.

For today, I will not roll down the hill or around on the floor with the marshalls. I will just notice all the energy and move on.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Creepy. It was weird as shit working around the state capitol when Bush was the governor and running for president. Nothing stymies your smoke break conversations like a bunch of secret service guys lurking around trying to look inconspicuous.

10:03 PM  

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