Falling into Autumn

Does college kill a person's imagination, or do my best blog ideas simply disappear when I have the time to write them?  The best blog ideas happen during lectures.  Dr. Whipple, peeking over his enormous beard, sketches away at the cytoplasm of a cell.  I frantically try to take notes.  My blue pen scribbles a mess of cell parts here and there.  It always happens that my mind wanders elsewhere during lecture. As soon as my eyes find the window, I'm gone.  My eyes journey back to my page, but my pen has strayed from taking notes.

 It finds  an empty corner and begins sketching little pictures of cells.  Happy cells, sad cells, hungry cells.  I pipe grass along the bottom of my page and sprout flowers.  My pen forms rigid tree trunks which evolve into long branches.  Leaves appear and my pen gives them a tainted autumn color.  Some of the leaves glide down to the sitting cell faces.  The hungry cell now has something to eat.

In the span of our 50 minute class, little pictures clutter the white board. According to upperclassmen, whatever Whipple puts on the board will be on the test.  But why do his ribosomes look like corn on the cob, while the cell membrane takes the form of a juicy steak. Cell Bio is just before lunch, unlike Cell lab which is right after lunch.  Lab is meticulous but fun.  At some point I hope to explore stream water under a microscope.

On my way to class everyday I walk across a laughing brook.  Gurgling water races over rocks and sweeps through seaweed   It makes the flowers dance and paints the stones orange.  The water is clear and loud.  I love hearing it splash.  A gust of wind carries a painted leaf down from the trees. The leaf mirrors its reflection in the water until the brook catches it up.  And then it's gone,  faster than a college weekend.  Fall colors are not all that visible right now.  Walking across campus you see a clearing over the countryside. But it's really the trees that catch your eyes. They are as noticeable as TU's famous bell tower.  They wave their strong branches showing off their rich dark colors. The colors have appeared so fast that it's almost like little fairies have come in the night.  With paint and brush they have decorated the trees with brilliant colors.