Three time a week, on Monday, Thursday and Friday, the entire community comes together for the essence of Proctor: assembly. This riotous confab features all of the spontaneity, humor and business that typifies the school. At 10:20, after 30 minutes together, we spill out into cold air and scatter to the next class.
That's not entirely true. We scatter, but we usually have a few minutes to score some fruit, chips, peanut butter and crackers at the Wise Center.
The lure of the Wise appears to be powerful. It becomes a parade.
Where are we going? Well.... we enter through glass doors on the east side of Maxwell Savage, and have a choice.
The fruit and snacks are offered at the food service in the community center, and many kids settle in the comfortable confines of the Wise. But I'm interested in the crowd that chooses to hang out in the lobby. It's an unattractive space, featuring Eisenhower-era tile walls, stained carpets and soundproof ceiling tiles. There's even a pillar.
Somewhere, Chuck's Corner is referred to as "blog noire," which I like...... Maybe because I wrote it. But this is true blog noire: exploring the decadent world of The Lobby.
I'm not clear as to why students congregate here. Is it the crackers-ground-into-carpet decor? The 1958 plate glass windows?
Whatever it is... something works.
Whatever the reason, the lobby is ground zero for student action.
Forget about the minutes following assembly. The lobby is always populated. Always. Kids poring over computers are a constant.
Someday, when our dreams come true, this space will be the front door to a new, three-story facility that will marry administrative offices with student common space. We can only pray that it attracts students as it does now, as a seedy, poorly lit locker room.
