Courtney Knox

E320M Bump

TTH 2-3:30

08 April 2004

Knoxy in University Land

            Let me tell you a story of a time when I lost track of reality. It all started when I graduated high school. The summer came and boredom set in, so I went off in search of a new adventure; however, I had no idea that the greatest adventure I would participate in would be at my life’s next location: college.

The next point in my story finds me driving down highway seventy-one smoking a cheap cigar and chasing a notion. My curiosity has gotten the best of me and I am now in hot pursuit of a little white rabbit who is racing down the highway just beyond my reach. He keeps chanting something, but I am just out of earshot, so I cannot quite make out exactly what it is he is saying-- it sounds like he’s saying something about the eyes of Texas being upon me. “I’ll catch him if it’s the last thing I do,” I thought, and sped up to a comfortable seventy-four miles per hour- just within the comfort zone of speeding. I watched as the rabbit swerved recklessly down the highway, paying no attention to oncoming traffic or other drivers. He slowed down for a split second for me to get close enough to read the back of his jacket on which was embroidered the word “knowledge.” “Ah ha!” I said, “Now I’ll surely be able to catch him! It is only knowledge that I am chasing, and I know for a fact that I caught it once in high school!” Little did I know that true knowledge is not attained inside a classroom reading borrowed “Cliff’s Notes,” but rather through life experience gained outside of the classroom. Sometimes it comes when you’re driving with all your windows rolled down enjoying the way the wind feels in your hair. Sometimes it comes in small bursts of epiphany you receive when you pause in that place between being awake and asleep. Sometimes it comes during a hard time in your life, or while witnessing a beautiful sunset by the lake; but I have found that it mostly comes when you least expect it.

Needless to say, I was not expecting the rabbit hole to end after only two and a half hours. I had just finished my cigar when I found myself at a door with a sign on it that said, “The Flat.” I opened the door and found an apartment that I assumed I would be staying in while pursuing the little white rabbit named Knowledge. It was the loveliest flat I had ever seen, and it was mine. It had now become apparent that the chase was going to be a long one and that I had better get comfortable. At this time I discovered that the land I was in was named “College” and it was supposedly a place of higher education where people just like me were also in pursuit of the little white rabbit. It seemed as though he only revealed himself to certain people at certain times, and some people could be in College for four whole years without ever seeing him. Everyone was talking about it. What the rabbit looked like. What the rabbit smelled like. What the rabbit said. They all had different stories-- some met him in the library, and some met him on the south lawn. I heard other people talking about how they saw him at the Spider House and several others saying they saw him at the lake. All of their stories were so different that I couldn’t tell whether or not they were fact or fiction-- I would just have to find out first hand what the truth was. So, I decided to become acquainted with the area in which I was living in order to have a better grasp of how to more effectively pursue the rabbit so I could have a story of my own.

The first year or so was spent wandering around the College town trying to find my place. It was at this point that I realized how many different potions there are to drink in College town. I had never actually seen any myself, but I had heard about them from people I met. They told me that bottles of potion would mysteriously appear in front of you. If you encountered a potion, you had to drink it or there would be extreme consequences. After hearing this, I must admit I was a little nervous about having to drink the potion, but the apprehension disappeared the day I had my first potion experience. One beautiful September afternoon, I was walking through the dining room of the Flat when three bottles of potion magically appeared on the dining room table. No one else was around, so I knew they were meant for me. Unfortunately, the bottles of potion were not labeled, so I drank them one by one, just to see what would happen. The first bottle led me through a portal that opened down a rabbit hole into the “live music capital of the world,” so I was able to experience all kinds of music without ever leaving the city. The places where the music was played were always packed full of all different sorts of people. There were some people with red, purple and green hair, some people with art on their skin that covered most of their bodies, and some people with pieces of metal stuck in various parts of their face and ears. I found these people to be very interesting to observe and interact with. They had all different types of personalities- some strong, some simple- but they all brought their own bit of flavor to the music listening experience. This is what one of the musicians looked like. Sometimes I thought that they didn’t even really resemble people. This one kind of looks like a grasshopper:

Her name is Karen O. and she is the lead singer of a band named the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. My time spent after drinking this particular potion was probably my favorite time spent in College town the first year because it allowed me to broaden my musical horizons.

            The second bottle that I drank from the table transported me to a kayak on the lake where I discovered how to paddle for the first time in my life. Drinking this potion helped me realize that there were so many things to do outdoors in College town. The weather is absolutely perfect here, so you can do whatever you want whenever you want for the most part. I thought for sure that I would find the rabbit after drinking this potion. I would ride my bike around the Greenbelt looking for him. I would climb the rock wall at the rock gym thinking that maybe he would be squatting on the other side. I would run around the lake thinking that if I ran fast enough I would be able to catch him when he wasn’t paying attention, but my efforts were not rewarded exactly the way I thought they would be; however, these times were very rewarding because I got to see views such as this:

            The third and final potion left on the table, once ingested, introduced me to a whole new world full of friends and exciting new experiences. It was this potion that proved to be the most detrimental to my search due to the fact that it was so distracting. I met a plethora of new people and just fell in love with hanging out with them. We would spend a lot of time together in College town, but we would also leave sometimes and travel to other far off lands to see what they were like. Some of my fondest memories have been made with these new friends, but I must admit, I did somewhat forfeit the pursuit of the rabbit when I started hanging out with them. Its not as though they were not also pursuing Knowledge, but merely that they sometimes found the search to be tiring and oppressive. In all honesty, I did agree with them at times, but shortly thereafter realized that I had to persevere in the pursuit and reach my goal if I ever wanted to be truly satisfied.

It was at this point in my journey that I realized that I had gotten so far off track that I could hardly even speak the English language correctly. At that moment I knew that something had to be done fast if I ever hoped to catch the rabbit before I died. The timing of this realization was perfect because I saw the rabbit the very next day running down Twenty-first Street and up the sidewalk onto campus. I chased him up the sidewalk and into a building called Parlin. I saw him duck into a classroom, so I followed him only to realize that I had entered a parallel universe. The room was full of an array of animal-like creatures, but the rabbit was nowhere to be seen.

At the front of the class sat a Caterpillar smoking her hookah and looking very relaxed and happy. Next to her sat an excited Duchess that kept throwing pigs at people and making them laugh. Seated at the Duchess’s feet was a cat unlike any I had ever seen. It was of the Cheshire breed-- it had a grin that stretched from ear to ear and spoke with an odd accent that was foreign to my ears. I then saw a large mouse asleep in a chair in between two very loudly speaking gentlemen. I did not quite understand how this Dormouse could sleep so soundly in such conditions, but it did not seem bothered in the least by any of its surroundings. To the mouse’s right sat a March Hare that kept offering us wine that wasn’t really there, and on the mouse’s left sat a Mad Hatter that exhibited a very dry yet funny wit. The next creature I saw called itself the Mock Turtle and loved to tell stories about anything and everything. Then, Humpty Dumpty caught my eye because he was unlike any Humpty Dumpty in the history of the world. This Humpty Dumpty wore old Chuck Taylors and carried a guitar so that he could burst out into a classic rock song whenever he felt the urge. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who shared his taste in music, often joined him in song. These ladies looked quite a bit alike and could even pass for sisters. My attention to the Tweedle sisters was immediately diverted by a loud shrieking noise followed by the words, “Off with his points!” I looked to my left, and saw a rather manly looking queen waving her scepter in the air demanding the executions of the bad students’ points. Her king sat beside her and tried in vain to calm her. This immediately frightened me, but the Gryphon on my right soothed my nerves. She reassured me that the queen rarely took off points and just yelled a lot because she liked to hear the sound of her own voice. My beautiful class:

Though completely out of my element (and not used to being surrounded by so many animal-like creatures), I took my seat in the classroom that promised to lead me to the Knowledge I sought so dearly. The first thing I noticed about this experience is that the Queen immediately led us down a road that appeared to have barely been tread upon. It was a road named “Discovery” and she said that along the way, we would learn all the answers. To what questions she was referring, I was not certain, but at that point, I did not care, for curiosity had taken a hold of me. As it turned out, the road led us to a museum of College town’s history through which we went on an actual rabbit hunt. All of the creatures participated, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. At one point, the road led us to a haunted house the Queen called Littlefield. It looked like something out of a horror movie, but was surprisingly comfortable to be in. Our pursuit of Knowledge also led us through an exotic botanical garden where I found a tree named Mother. I sat with her for a while and she gently whispered to me the secrets of times past. The road of Discovery then led us to a large lake where we climbed aboard an enormous vessel, and were forced to perform for the amusement of the Queen. Apparently, in order to keep our points from being killed, we had to constantly meet her requirements and appease her tastes. Initially, this appeared to be a daunting task, but it turned out to be quite rewarding in the end. Now it seems as though I must leave the Queen and her followers to pursue the white rabbit on my own. I am hesitant to do so, but I will always take with me the lessons I learned while trekking down the road of Discovery with my class.

Word Count: 1,812

Character Key:

Caterpillar- Robin, Duchess- Belle, Cheshire Cat- Adam, Dormouse- Martin, March Hare- Khoa, Mad Hatter- Leala, Gryphon- Michelle, Mock Turtle- Francis, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum- Jess and Jesse, Humpty Dumpty- Roger, King- Rahim, Queen- Bump.