Missing on campus.

Where is public space to be found?  College students (really, all of us) live in an ocean of private interaction.  We swim from one personal pool to another trying to get into one.  Those already in a pool are trying to keep “unacceptables” out.  Such pools are known as cliques or peer or affinity or identity groups where people live under the judgment of “cool,” making college either a very happy or very lonely place for us, depending on our social acceptability.  Such is the tyranny of the social that we long for someplace else to be truly ourselves.  Hidden in plain sight are opportunities for authentic speech called public events or occasions.  But who would ever have thought that a public arena serves that purpose?  If only we could find one and try it out!  They are missing on campus.