Sublimity…

For those of you who haven’t heard about it on the National news, Queen’s had quite a homecoming this year. Unlike some of my hard-core friends, I didn’t make it down for Homecoming Ritual on Friday (although I wasn’t really doing anything at work – see previous post – it was my last day on the job and I figured that I should be there to finish it off properly). I’ve got to admit that I’ve only been to ritual twice in my 4 year stint as a Queen’s Engineering student – noteworthy giving my level of involvement in EngSoc – and while I did enjoy myself, I quickly realized it wasn’t really my scene, so I’m not sad about missing it. I got to hear most of the good stories from the afternoon after the fact anyway, so that’s all I really wanted. I came down on Friday evening, and showed up at Sam’s place having arranged to stay there (big thanks to Sam, Matt, Ernie and Chris for letting me take over your couch so often lately – it’s starting to feel like my home in Kingston!) and found Sam napping after a ‘rough’ afternoon at Ritual. This was my first reminder of what Homecoming is like…

Friday night I caught up with a bunch of the other Geo ’05 kids who were back in town for Homecoming, and we had a little party at Brenda’s house – right on Aberdeen St. It was great to see everyone again, but since we’re only a small group and have so far been pretty good at keeping in touch and getting together (Canada Day for example), it didn’t seem as special because I felt like I’d just seen everyone. Plus, being back in Kingston with everyone in September was pretty much the same as how things have gone for the past 3 years. It was nice just hanging out with everyone and catching up as they recovered from Ritual, and then later on we decided to go out and see what was happening on Aberdeen.

A bit of history for those non-Queen’s people. Aberdeen is a 2-block long street right in the heart of the student housing area just behind campus (known as “The Ghetto”) and for the past four years, has been the venue for a massive, wild street party on the Saturday of Homecoming. Last year there was a keg party at nearly every house on the street, and by 11PM the whole street was packed to the point that you couldn’t even bring your elbows up without hitting someone (reports said there were over 4,000 people on the street). Most people get absolutely hammered, and it turns into quite a scene. The next morning, Aberdeen is completely covered in a carpet of broken glass several centimeters thick, lawns are trampled to mud, nearby alleys reek of urine and vomit, and the Kingston Police Commissioner has a desk full of complaints about rowdy drunk students causing trouble all around the area. Last year, the University and Police tried to crack down and prevent the party from happening – officers were out patrolling the street in force by noon, but by 10PM there were just too many students around wanting to have a wild party that the cops had to retreat and just let it happen. As a result of the event and ensuing backlash from the community, this year there was a new, stronger commitment from the Police and University that the Aberdeen Party would not happen. All the stops were pulled, radio and newspaper ads detailing the consequences of having an Aberdeen Party, the promise of a larger, stricter police presence, and a free concert was organized in hopes of drawing people away to other places. There was a lot of tension and suspense in the air, students and community members wondering what was going to happen – some hoping desperately that the party would go on, while others were firmly of the opposite mind. It had all built up into a polarized, charged situation speeding towards what seemed like a possible civil war.

When we went out to walk the street on Friday night – the night before the climax – the wheels had started turning. There were moderate sized parties at many of the houses on Aberdeen, with people on the porches and lawns, and walking up and down the sidewalks and the middle of the road between parties – basically typical Aberdeen in September. The big difference though was the police presence – or more like omni-presence, they were everywhere! On the two (small) blocks that make up Aberdeen St., there must have been at least 30 officers, and more on connecting streets. And not only were they there, but they were making their presence known, ordering people to get off the road, and best of all – off the sidewalks. As we walked around, we ran into several friends and when we stopped to talk, without fail, an officer would come over and tell us to either get off the sidewalk and onto private property, or move along. As they pointed out, they’re called “Side-walks” and not “Side-Stops” for a reason. All in all, it made for an unpleasant environment, and though people complained, they usually complied eventually with the officers so there wasn’t any trouble.

Connor (who had joined our party) had gotten into one of his crazy moods, and had decided that he wanted to try and diffuse some of the tension, and that the best way to do that would be to go around and talk to all the police officers and try to become friends with them. So while we were wandering around, he would occasionally run off (sometimes alone, sometimes dragging one or two of us along), introduce himself to an officer, and try to strike up a conversation. Without exception, he was stonewalled, getting responses like “Nice to meet you Mr. Langford”, or “Glad to see you don’t want any trouble”, but nothing else. Getting desperate, he decided that more needed to be done, and so changed his goal to making at least one police officer laugh. This proved even harder than the previous, and the harder he tried, the less the responded – and some even started warning him not to bother them. However, the whole affair was certainly making us laugh (away from the officers), and wandering up and down the street just checking out the scene was neat. However, as the went on, the group started to disintegrate, and by midnight, everyone was scattered and though no one else was showing any signs of getting tired, I was, so I said goodnight and started back to Sam’s house.

On the way back, I passed Brenda’s where Lesley was standing out front. When she saw me, she asked if I would help her take Bridgette’s barbecue back to her house, just around the block. Given that it was just going to be sitting out on Aberdeen otherwise, I agreed, and though everyone told us not to bother (belligerently saying that since Cortney had borrowed it, she should return it, but she had disappeared much earlier). I grabbed the front, and Lesley took the back, and we started wheeling the thing right down the middle of Aberdeen. It was actually quite fun, we got lots of funny looks, and many more comments, and just for kicks (and to play along) I started calling out “Hot dogs, hamburgers” etc. (it would have been hilarious if we’d actually had any, I’m sure we could have made a killing at it too!). However, the police didn’t seem so amused, and though they never came over to talk to us, they all gave us evil stares as we passed. Given that it was Lesley and I (two of the more honest people of our group) and we were basically being good samaritans, it was funny to met with such suspicion, shows what the situation was like that night. After a few minutes we reached what Lesley though was Bridgette’s house, but she wasn’t sure so went around back to check. Meanwhile, I pulled the barbecue off the road and onto the sidewalk and waited. That’s when one of the officers finally decided to come over and see what was going on. The conversation went something like:

With that the officer walked away, and I was left to shake my head and silently laugh at the absurdity of the conversation. I couldn’t decide which was worse, the immediate accusation of stealing, or the demand to move the barbecue off the sidewalk immediately, no if’s and’s or but’s. If the police were going to act this way with honest citizens the night before the big showdown, I couldn’t imagine what the next night was going to be like. And while I am normally a law abiding citizen, the moving the barbecue bit was just plain stupid, so I left it right where it was. A minute later, Lesley came back and said it was the right house, and while we moved the barbecue to the back and chained it up to the fence, I told her about my encounter. She was just as amazed as I, and we both laughed. Mission accomplished, I said goodnight and continued on my way to Sam’s, this time making it back without interruption, and though no one else was home, I flopped right onto the couch and went to sleep.

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