Rao's Wall

The hangout.

 

This is Rao's Coffee Shop in downtown Amherst. 

It is the favorite coffee shop for tourists, although many local people go there as well, especially students. Business types, however, generally prefer Amherst Coffee located a few blocks away, alongside the Chamber of Commerce.

Alongside Raos is this area mainly occupied by skaters and bikers and teenagers who all pretty much hangout by this big reddish wooden wall.

The wall's centerpiece is this graffitied "freedom" and a broken heart

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Unfortunately when it comes to romance, the two often do come together.

The wall has the obligatory dope humor on it.

As well as drug warnings, this particular one delivered with a political twist from the past. 

A lot of it is just good ol' teenage humor.

I hope I didn't ruin anything by showing you this hangout on my blog. Sometimes teens consider something uncool once adults become aware of it. 

I can't believe the menacing clouds there were over Amherst last night around suppertime. I was quite impressed by them when I took this picture.

However, it only got worse until this scary sight was overhead.

Not surprisingly, just moments after that photo was taken a torrential downpour began! You never know about the weather in New England, which reminds me of something humorous I witnessed on the bus the other day. About five oriental students were sitting in the back of the bus talking. I was sitting nearby where I couldn't help but overhear them.

One of the students complained about how cool the weather was, especially considering how hot it had been just a few days earlier. A girl student brightened up and said, "If you do not like the weather in New England, then just to wait about ten minutes!" She was of course, in her broken English, attempting to recite the famous quote by Hartford's Mark Twain. Her companions burst into such loud, delighted laughter over this old saying that the girl beamed with pride over how well she had entertained her friends with her clever remark.

Of course they had never heard that saying before, so it was totally fresh to them, in contrast to native New Englander's who have all heard that Twainism by the time they are five years old. But their laughter made me hear the quote anew, and refreshened it for me, and I was surprised to realize that I was laughing too. 

Speaking of naked people someone sent me this snapshot they said was taken at an end of the semester party at UMass. 

Finally, the Quicksilver Messenger Service always delivered the message on time.