Walking around campus last week, you may have been confused. Is it Turlington Plaza or a war zone? Is it the Reitz Union North Lawn or no man’s land? Humans vs. Zombies has invited students to see things in a different way. The Student Body has, for the most part, declined the invitation.
I have a more positive attitude toward the situation. As a senior, I feel above the game. Then again, I graduate in less than a month, so I feel above basically everything at this point. It doesn’t mean I actually disapprove. In fact, last week I was an innocent civilian walking through Turlington to class when I heard a voice calling, “arm yourself! Arm yourself!”
It was a girl with a Nerf gun imploring one of her fellow humans, who was casually chatting with someone at the bike racks near the overhang, to prepare against an impending zombie attack. The girl shouting was earnestly motioning with her hand for the unprotected human to take refuge with her band of bandana-wearing compatriots. They were huddled behind the brick wall, near the soda machines. The human, meanwhile, was more interested in flirting. “It’s dangerous out there, man!” the girl tried, but the one talking must have been experiencing blast injury deafness because she just kept talking.
Bad move. I’m sure she was killed a few minutes later. I just played war correspondent and copied down the exchange on my way to class. “That girl is in a great hiding spot,” I thought. I’d never thought of that gap between the overhang and the brick wall as being a great place to shoot guns from. You learn something new every day.
It’s my guess that the reason people don’t like Humans vs. Zombies is precisely because it suggests there are other ways to consider the world. Most college students hating on it are too old to play games. This is surprising to me, because play is the best way we have of being open-minded. How are we supposed to appreciate other cultures, value other religions and respect alternative gender identities if we aren’t willing to practice doing it around campus with our friends?
Have you ever paid attention to the potato on Turlington? I hear it’s a 10-ton, 30,000 year old slab of chert rock that was donated to the UF Geology Department by the Crushed Stone Corporation. I suggest you touch it. Here’s what I mean. All the random crap around campus, like the art near the new physics building, gives the impression that it’s delicate. But the Turlington potato is not going to fall over if you touch it. In fact, you can climb on it, hang from it, kiss the top of it for good luck before tests, and it won’t budge an inch.
So if you’re not going to throw socks at people or gun them down with foam darts while avoiding bystanders, open your mind and push the Turlington potato.
