BY TYLE DALE, OPINIONS EDITOR
Snowpocalypse 2014: she came, she left, she may come again. Who knows? It would be nice to have a few more snow days, but I think Atlanta would like a break.
More than the days off, though, more than the pretty blankets of white covering the campus, than the snowball fights and the sledding, is just the undeniable feeling of it.
I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about snow in Georgia that just feels magical. I know, I know, I’m starting to sound like a dumb hippie theatre major who cries every time he sees “Rent,” but hear me out. When it snows here, everyone just gets, well, nicer.
I mean, look at Atlanta. Chic-Fil-A passed out free biscuits, and Chipper Jones got on his ATV to go rescue Freddie Freeman from the mayhem. People were dropping everything to help other people out. Despite the awful conditions, everyone was being really, really awesome.
Piedmont got a little bit of that too. Of course, we weren’t stranded in the middle of metro Atlanta with nowhere to go, or stuck on a school bus.
Thankfully, most of us were within walking distance of our dorms when things got frigid. But once they did, campus came to life.
Everyone was outside sledding, making snowmen, having snowball fights–whatever they could think of. People were hanging out, outside, together: a rarity in this age. I remember the moment we got the email that Wednesday’s classes were canceled. A weird, unanimous cheer erupted on campus like something out of “Braveheart.”
That’s when the real festivities began. Almost all night students were roaming campus in groups, sliding down the ice on Purcell’s driveway, hiding behind cars to ambush passerbys with snowballs, or finding any makeshift sled they could get their hands on.
But most importantly, everyone was nice to everyone. It didn’t matter what sport you played or if you were an art major, or whatever. Everyone just said “screw it, it’s snowing.” The camaraderie was remarkable.
Of course, the question most of you are asking is: “Dale, are you sure this was because of snow and not because of alcohol?”
And while, admittedly, the answer is more than likely both, you can’t deny that if it weren’t for the weather, it wouldn’t have been just like any Tuesday night: quiet and boring.
But like all good things, Snowpocalypse 2014 came to an end. By Wednesday afternoon it became all too clear that classes Thursday were happening, and just like that the magic was lost and Piedmont returned to its former state.
Thursday morning students begrudgingly woke up and went to their classes, passing by the broken sleds and Solo cups littered about, the only traces of the night Piedmont raged.
It may not have been a week-long party like Snowpocalypse 2011, but for that one night, we went pretty hard. So hats off to you Piedmont.
Thanks for making Snowpocalypse 2014 a resounding success.
And who knows, maybe we’ll get a round two before winter’s over. Let’s just hope Atlanta is spared next time.