Quiet Campus

Not much happening at UMass these days. 

This bulletin board is usually a riot of messages and this hallway in the building called the Integrative Learning Center (whatever that means) is normally mobbed with students. 

 The Blue Wall is open. 

But customers are few.

Same with the campus store. 

Yet,  down by the campus pond, a band was playing classical music at the foot of the UMass Minuteman statue, happily reminding us that the spirit of UMass is not dead, but only slumbering.  

Meanwhile, there was no slumbering among the lively Trump supporters stretching out as far as the eye could see by the rotary in Chicopee last weekend. 

Attendee Pete Sygnatore wrote this account of his experience on Facebook:

Some observations from standing there waving at cars for hours:

The response was OVERWHELMINGLY positive. MUCH more positive than I expected. Granted we were in very patriotic locations, Chicopee and Agawam are homes to patriots but even given that, the response was truly overwhelmingly positive. I would say that approximately 75% to 80% of the motorists honked, yelled, gave us thumbs-up etc.

The response was positive across ages, races and genders. In Chicopee, black and Hispanic people, men, women, older and younger were 80% positive.

I noticed that the owners of American cars were much more apt to respond positively followed by owners of Asian cars. Least positive response came from owners of German cars, i.e. Volkswagens and Audi’s.

I did see one Tesla and two idiots crammed into one of those Smart cars. Their responses were, not surprisingly, thumbs down.

Owners of pickup trucks gave an almost 100% positive response. Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge trucks more than Toyota trucks. Commercial truck drivers were nearly 100% because they are working folk. Out earning their living.

Mail carriers in their mail trucks and police officers were 100% positive. Of course, the military men and women coming out of Westover in uniform were 100% positive.

Jeep owners gave a 95% positive response. I could tell when I saw a Jeep coming, that we would get a horn honk.

If the drivers and passengers of the car were all wearing masks, the response was, not surprisingly, negative. If you’re stupid enough to wear a mask inside your car, especially if you’re all alone in your car, then you are most likely to be a Biden supporter.

There were also Trump rallies in Agawam, Monson, Belchertown and even Holyoke! Of course they can rally all they want, but there is still no chance that President Trump will win in cobalt blue Massachusetts. However, the unusually high energy among Trump supporters this year suggests that the President will surpass the one million votes he received from the Massachusetts electorate in 2016. 

In the midst of all the political uproar, take time to visit places of peace, such as Amherst's Puffer's Pond. .