There are very few places on campus where I can be in one place but lost in four different realms. To the north I have a bright view of the “Oh so dreaded” Bayramian Hall to the east there is the iconic and always beautiful ,Oviatt Library, to the south I have Jerome Richfield Hall and to the west, in the far distance sits University Hall. The four buildings never fail to captivate me, although, I can't quite understand why. I like to think it is the fact that all four building serve different purposes and therefore the sight of them evoke different emotions.
I am not so sure I have ever seen such a large tractor looking contraptions whose only purpose is to mow the lawn. It has only been 13 minutes since I arrived and already the loud noise has begun to aggravate me. The man working the tractor has a blank facial expression and seems to be paying no attention to me although I have been observing him for five minutes now. He wears an ear-plug apparatus to block out the noise and heavy clothing. I wonder if bystanders are as annoyed with the ear-piercing sound the tractor makes, but by the looks of it, they seem as unmindful of the sound as I seem to be to the guy driving the tractor.
There is a squirrel, well actually there are several squirrels, but one in particular that continuously goes up and down the same tree. It slowly works its way down the tree then peers to its right towards the direction with the most movement, it shifts my attention to the steep walk-way between the Oviatt library lawn and the Bayramian Hall. Heads gracefully ascend and descend at a constant motion, no one seems to speed up or slow down. I continue to observe bystander’s heads slowly disappear down the hill when my train of thought is interrupted by a sudden and almost frightening outburst from behind me. A male and a female lay side by side facing the bright and blue sky above them. The male would tease the girl about something and she would giggle while he turned to her and smile. He began pulling on her check and fidgeting with her hair meanwhile she talked. There is a brief moment of silence, as she gets up walks toward a bag sitting by the tree and pulls out a phone then begins to make a phone call. The male continued to watch her but did not utter a word, the smile on his face was long gone and now he lay flat covering his face with a jacket.
For the next ten minutes I proceeded to watch students, professors, children, parents, bikers, skater, make there way to their destination. The majority had their phones out and seems to only be aware of whatever's going on in there little world. They all seemed oblivious to, I was sitting close enough to recognize and yet not a single person even gave me a glance. I've never before felt so invisible, and to be honest, I enjoyed it.
There is a squirrel, well actually there are several squirrels, but one in particular that continuously goes up and down the same tree. It slowly works its way down the tree then peers to its right towards the direction with the most movement, it shifts my attention to the steep walk-way between the Oviatt library lawn and the Bayramian Hall. Heads gracefully ascend and descend at a constant motion, no one seems to speed up or slow down. I continue to observe bystander’s heads slowly disappear down the hill when my train of thought is interrupted by a sudden and almost frightening outburst from behind me. A male and a female lay side by side facing the bright and blue sky above them. The male would tease the girl about something and she would giggle while he turned to her and smile. He began pulling on her check and fidgeting with her hair meanwhile she talked. There is a brief moment of silence, as she gets up walks toward a bag sitting by the tree and pulls out a phone then begins to make a phone call. The male continued to watch her but did not utter a word, the smile on his face was long gone and now he lay flat covering his face with a jacket.
For the next ten minutes I proceeded to watch students, professors, children, parents, bikers, skater, make there way to their destination. The majority had their phones out and seems to only be aware of whatever's going on in there little world. They all seemed oblivious to, I was sitting close enough to recognize and yet not a single person even gave me a glance. I've never before felt so invisible, and to be honest, I enjoyed it.
Avisely Solis is a CSUN freshman majoring in anthropology and minoring in psychology. She aspires to one day live in all four continets.