Seton Hall University - Galleon Yearbook (South Orange, NJ)

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!] nrking space is harder than earning an A thick ice and maneuvering on Maplewood-South Orange side streets seeing only through a 2 inch round hole scraped into a frozen sleet-covered windshield are the more stressful yet typical com- muting experiences. But there are the nice times, also. Having a snowball fight with the snow you clean off your car, watching the white billowy clouds halo the hill before you and seeing a dramatic arch form over a street as snow drifts down on the branches stretching over and across the roadway are the more ap- preciable and memorable com- muting experiences. But let’s not forget the tolls which cost some commuters up to $5.00 and more a week and the cursed price of gasoline which rose from about $1.00 to $1.30 during the course of this year. The cost of travelling is becom- ing a high one causing a majority of commuters to work at least part- time while taking a full-time credit load. This certainly adds stress to one’s life, especially when a class runs late and you only have 15 minutes to get to a job which is a half hour away. That’s when the route with the least lights, least traf- fic and least police officers is taken. (Somehow, the commuter always makes it, just as the starting time clicks into the time clock.) Yes, the commuter is a hearty, ex- perienced soul. Like the Helen Reddy lyric which says, “Yes, I am wise, but it’s wisdom born of pain,” the commuter’s wisdom comes from walking from the last parking space in the last row next to the gym to the Humanities building in the pouring rain (undoubtedly mixed with hail) — without an umbrella. • 21

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As stu dents search for that one empty spot, the reserved lot for Faculty, Staff, and Administrators is half empty. Commuting Can Be A Real Hassle Bumper To Bumpei For commuters, finding a p i F Jk L or the commuter Wednes- days are great! Many commuters have that day off, and as a result commuters who do have class can easily find a space on campus prac- tically all morning. Since the peak parking hours (between 10 a.m. and noon) make getting a space on campus frustrating at best and impossible at worst, Wednesdays are a welcomed relief to the person dependent on a motor vehicle. By the time a semester passes, most motorists know the Wednesday phenomena and others like it. “I have different routes I take to school depending on the time of day I go to school,” confided one junior Communications major. “I now know which roads are the most con- gested at what times of day. It comes from experience.” And experience is what the com- muter has plenty of. Driving through torrential rain which causes one to hydro-plane rather than drive on the parkway, crawl- ing at a snail’s pace on speed- reduced Route 280 because of inch- 20

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Commuter Day Relief for the Travel Weary ulation, though she did stop short of inciting mass riots. Still, one must wonder how she moves that way. The next break that the band took changed the life of at least eight stu- dents who volunteered to be a part of the X-rated Hypnotist’s act. Charles Lamont, a Las Vegas en- tertainer, held several hundred stu- dents in his power. Most of what the volunteers did while under La- mont’s power is not printable, but nevertheless unforgettable. The day was a great success and was carried off smoothly by the Commuter Council. John Del Russo, a member of the council who has worked on all of the previous Com- muter Days thought this was the best, as did the majority of students who attended the annual affair. . Popcorn and pizza were served along with the beer, all without ex- tra cost to the price-wary student. The free food and beer were not, however, the highlight of the after- noon. The entertainment was the real highpoint. Music was supplied by Central Jersey who had people tapping their feet, pounding the tables and singing along. Bruce Springsteen, Jethro Tull, The Cars, Cheap Trick, The Knack as well as others were all represented in renditions that either equaled or surpassed the originals. During the band’s first break, the student body was entertained by the non-student body of belly dan- cer Linda Gugler. She attracted some attention from the male pop- How do you spell relief? If you were in the Galleon Room on Sep- tember 20, you would spdll it: C-o- m-m-u-t-e-r D-a-y. Just when commuters wondered if there really was a parking god, and the semester started to drag, the Commuter Council came through. Travel-weary commuters started to fill the Galleon Room at 10 a.m. in anticipation of the day’s events. Though these lost souls were suffer- ing from “parking lag,” they did have enough strength left to begin a chant of “Beer! Beer!” at just about 11 a.m. In response, Paul Mlad- jenovic, special events chairman of the Commuter Council, started a near-stampede with the serving of the first keg of beer. Charles Lamont, an x-rated hypnotist from Las Vegas, entertained during the Commuter Day activities. 22