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On face value, nothing huge just happened here. It likely wouldn’t be clear that any words were even exchanged between us. Why do I feel so darn giddy and fulfilled, then? I wonder to myself.
That we’re doing this right now doesn’t make any sense and—by all definitions—is absurd. Yet we’re suspending disbelief, leaning into the bizarre and trying to lift a limo.
Sure, playing a one-woman game of Taboo isn’t going to instantly change any outward objective reality or metaphysically erase the items on my Google Calendar, but truly, truly, something began to change.
This fear of being the odd one out, by simply existing as a normal human in the world, can perpetuate our instinct to hide our blunders.
Note taken, caretaking doesn’t have to look like traditional instances of letting someone go before you in traffic. Holding open the door to absurd musical numbers can do just the trick.
I don’t mean that we should pretend not to know anything about this campus and act surprised every time we encounter it. But in a very real way, this campus remains a total mystery to us.
I’m watching this scene unfold below me, muttering oh my, caretaking in action, and one of my first thoughts is—I wonder where I might see something like this at Duke.