ROCK STARS

The girl's hands and face look wind-chafed and dry in front of University and Harris, the last remnants of tasteful campus architecture. Her pale blues eyes are as pale as the pale blue sky. She says nothing, mechanically dishing out multicolored pieces of paper that will be discarded once the recipient rounds the Rock, out of sight from the shivering student activist. The flier's life and cause lasts a matter of seconds, and it dies amongst old coffee cups and gum wrappers.

Before, the girl took offense to the unspoken apathy, the rude, nonverbal "get out of my way" looks from skate punks and Mavi-clad packs of Lodgies. She's now desensitized to the droids who, as they walk past, pretend she and the cause are just invisible.

"There's just no time to care, man," announces an anonymous male comm. studies major with a minor in English. "How should I put it to you, man: I'd rather drink and smoke than give a fuck. And I probably have some work to do."

Former valedictorians and student council presidents, the future luminaries of local Amnesty chapters, they work tirelessly to make others care because so many simply don't. Why, she's done so much for her institutions and no one seems to notice – she'll just try harder until she's heard, even if that means spending a second night at the Rock.

Whilst she clutches her beliefs, shouting before a painted relic which symbolizes days and nights of steadfast activism, one often wonders if anyone else ever really cares, if everyday students are simply too self-involved to listen to others.

This Rock Star's specified cause - maybe it's May Day or Islamic Fundamentalism, sassy Environmentalism or Gourmet Cooking Club - garners little support and takes on a life of its own. Something so specific ultimately transforms into something so broad, so general, the cause's meaning melting in a cauldron of meaninglessness.

The little lamb is active about activism, about making somebody else care, care just the littlest bit about something. "So few actually give a fuck," she says. "I'm hear to sprinkle a little sunshine and make a light-spun world of difference. And if I can change someone's life, just someone, then I've done my job a 'ittle bit bettah. Flower?"

- David Bartholow

At 2/8/03 7:41 AM,

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