Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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• In the wake of the passing train, students shuffle across the rails and head for class. Photo by Robin Conover A very familiar sight from the driver ' s point of vie Photo by Robin Conover Waiting too long for the train can cause serious damage to a car ' s paint job. Photo by Robin Conover 13

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Mark Diaz and Ayshe May pass the time by humming Supercalifragilisticxpealidatious, but out of key. Photo by Ron Trevino When you attend Memphis State, your college career won ' t be om ' e ' ou Crossing Clues Sins th A t least two times a week, sometimes three, that nerve shatter- ing horn blows, signaling the on- coming train. The first noticable reaction is wholesale scramble. Instantly, everything jumps to high speed. The campus on the south side of the tracks looks like an ant farm. Cars and students are moving at a frantic pace to reach the north side of the tracks. Some make it. Some don ' t. The lucky few who make it usually do only once every two years, and only then if they are wearing a rabbit ' s foot on the third Tuesday of the month in a leap year. The other less fortunate can only hope to one day make it across the treacherous track. Well, what can be done while waiting for the train to pass? There ' s a wide variety of tasks to perform while either s itting in your car at the Southern Patterson Walker inter- section as well as sitting on the rocks in front of the tracks. Here are just a few: Sleep! (Dangerous while the car is in gear.) Study for that important basketweaving test. Scrape gum off your shoe with your ID. Eat the day-old sandwich in your backpack. Curse the train. Curse the weather. Act like you ' re enjoying the wait by appear- ing fascinated with the train itself. Throw rocks at the train. Hum an obscure melody so people will think your ' re weird and leave you alone, making the opportunity to dive under the car to the other side. Get a date for the weekend. Don ' t get a date for the weekend. Go to the infirmary. Go back home. Go to the VI. Ponder the meaning of life. Spout Shakespeare, Plato and Kafka. Sit down and sing the crossing blues. byTerrenceM. Robinson, Jr. 12

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No other possession you acquire in college will be as important, as prized or as obnoxious as the commuter student ' s license for White Knuckle Odes. The decal to look for wherever anxiety strikes! Photo by Robin Conover. Commuter students start early. Before the sun rises they begin to plot. In | their dreams an infinite series of combinations form progress and fade. It won ' t work. There is no way they can do it. They will just have to be late for class. No matter how early commuters get up, something always happens that prevents them from getting to school early enough to make the first class. Whether it ' s car problems, interstate construction, food, choosing the right tapes for the excursion or just sleeping late, it ' s a tradition for commuters to be late. Commuters have an 8:00 A.M. class. If they ' re a girl, this means she gets up an hour before the sun goes down, to perform the morning make up and wardrobe rituals. If they ' re a guy, he gets up at 7:30 A.M., and rolls out of bed. After wolfing down breakfast with the gusto of a bona fide glutton, commuters race to the driveway and bound into their cars, only to find no tapes in the tape box. It ' s now 7:15, they panic. Is it dull radio? Or their favorite tape? They start up the car and rush to their room and grab the Crue. Jumping into the car they slam the tape into the player and throw the car in reverse. They ' re on their way to school. It takes about six minutes to reach the interstate, but as the player blasts out, Red Hot, they notice that the gas gage is an inch below empty. Now anxiety creeps in, it ' s 7:30, they think they might be late. At the first gas station they veer off of the interstate. With an abrupt screeching halt, commuters skid into the station, rummage through the ashtray for change and fill the car up with 79 t. It ' s 7:40, they pump furiously. They ' re on the interstate again, just in time for construction. They panic and drive down the emergency lane, fortunately the police are at the Donut Shop. Now anxiety is a full blown nausea; the recollection of a test sets in. Their head swims with anxiety. It ' s 7:55. Commuters never make it! Finally they ' re on campus. Parking in a regular space is out of the question. Their knuckles are china white. They race down Veteran ' s, thanking God they didn ' t have to cross the train tracks. Before they stop the car, the flashers are already on. You park in a tow- away zone, of course, a toe away from the building. The test! What excuse will work! Death? Impending nuclear war? Honesty? — sure. Going out of town, yeah, that ' s the ticket. They were called by Morgan Fairchild and she wants them to be in a movie with her. It ' ll work. It has to work. They race up the stairs of the Dunn build- ing, with anxiety swarming all over them like hungry wasps, only to find the sign, Test Postponed until Wednesday tacked to the door. by Terrence H. Rcbinscn Jr. 14