Chips hits the SAC for a slice of life

It's no secret that at Blair the lunch bell signals the start of hundreds of off-the-wall conversations. On the week of Feb 24, Chips reporter Meg Cassedy-Blum overheard some unusual and hilarious dialogue.

Dancing duos

I'm kind of like the ring leader," sophomore Tim Perrin says, looking around at the ever-increasing number of people gathered around the table. "We used to be like an institution when I was in ninth grade—everybody knew where the Haitian table was at."

The girls sit on one side of the table and the boys on the other; Perrin glances at the girls. "All they talk about is dance," he says, just as one girl screams, "WE HAVE A DANCE THAT DAY!"

He stands up, trying to get the girls' attention. "Hey!" he says loudly. No one looks up. "Hey! Hey, hey, HEY!"
"Aaah!" one of the girls interrupts, waving her hands angrily at Perrin.

"Ohhhhh, she shut you down," his friend screams. "She said QUIET!" he continues, standing up for emphasis. He turns to the boy on his left: "Man, did you see that?"

Freshman Vainthe Julien stands up. "Yo, watch this, watch this," he says, aiming his trash at the big yellow receptacle a level down in the SAC. "Uh-oh! Shoot, shoot!" his friends say, goading him on. The trash sails about a foot to the right of the can. Julien sits down dejectedly, the bell rings, and everyone gets up.

Reminiscent rambling

Sitting rather far apart between the lockers across from the media center, 17 people eat lunch during 5A. In the middle, juniors Jaya Kannan and Nick Conway argue. "He's Russian," Kannan insists, indicating Conway. Conway shakes his head. "I'm not Russian," he counters.

Kannan is adamant. "He is Russian," she says, turning away.

In another conversation now, Kannan is suddenly concerned. "I can't do it Thursday!" she shouts. "I'm leading the bloody group on Thursday." Bloody? "We're British here," she explains matter-of-factly.

Focused again on the "bloody group," a term that turns out to pertain to music, she soon finds the answer: "The eight of us—we could be the octave! Oh, behold the symbolism!" she laughs.

Feuding friends

Sophomore Idara Aquaowo is nestled on the floor behind room 100, and she is screaming. "BACK OFF! AAAAH!" She switches to Spanish for effect. "SIENTATE AHORA," she shouts. Her friends all stand up and walk away.

Minutes later, Aquaowo's friends are back, and the competition for attention is on. "LAAAAA, YOU SUCK," sophomore Rebecca Horgan explodes.

Aquaowo is quick to interrupt. "Everybody! I'm going to China this summer." No one hears her; she tries again. "I SAID, EVERYBODY, I'm going to China this summer. You guys aren't listening!" Her voice has risen to a squeak. She grabs Horgan by the hair. Protesting loudly, Horgan struggles violently out of Aquaowo's grasp.

"You know what?" Aquaowo remarks ecstatically. "Make love, not war." She dissolves into laughter and then moves to sit with another friend. The lunch quickly deteriorates into a rowdy game of Miss Mary Mack.

Superhero speculation

The lunchroom table is bursting with energy; today's topic of discussion is superheroes. "Jackie Chan is GOOFY!" someone shouts. Freshman Sonny Mao is personally offended. "He's Chinese!" he says, gesticulating wildly. "And I'm Chinese, so watch yourself!"

The rest of the table, however, isn't listening. Freshman Benjamin Abdelrahman is busy describing a superhero's powers: "Venom got on top of a building," he says. "I know everything." His friend suddenly bursts into laughter. "Stop spitting on me!" he cries.

Across the table, freshman Onye Agu is insisting that one superhero is definitely not as powerful as some may think. "He could be banished to hell," he argues. He pauses and then starts up again. "He could be banished to hell," he continues, reiterating his point several more times.

"Yo," Mao suddenly speaks up. "You know who beat everybody? Mufasa. Mufasa. He beat everybody up in this joint." He is quick to protest when someone points out that Mufasa lost his kingdom. "It's not his fault!" Mao exclaims. "It's Simba's fault." Without another word, Mao wanders away from the table.