So, the president stopped by UT on his trip to Texas.Let me say at the beginning: No matter what their policies, I am in favour of officeholders-- and office seekers-- visiting universities. It's a great way to get younger people interested in the political process, and might just turn the non-voting demographic into a voting demographic. Fabulous.
Plus, the closest I've ever been to getting a glimpse of any president in person was a class trip to D.C. in '92 when the presidential motorcade came by. I (and several of my fellow students) took a picture, then we were harangued for several minutes by one of the parent sponsors about how you're not allowed to point anything at the president, including a camera. Yeah, I guess that's why hordes of Secret Service agents completely failed to arrest us all. Dummy.
Anyway, I did not get a ticket to hear his speech because 1) The line formed at 10 PM on Friday to get a ticket at 8 AM Saturday, and I am so not cool with that sort of plan, and 2) It was during my class time, anyway. I did plan to join in the crowd standing outdoors, in case he came out and waved or something.
Now, the president visiting campus is cool, but also a bloody nuisance; I still don't know my way around, so I use the same route every day. Except Monday, when my route was extremely blocked off. And then I had to go between classes... Let me just say, I don't know why I brought my bike on Monday, 'cause I didn't use it much.
So, when the motorcade arrived on campus, I was among those standing near Gregory Gym, where speechifying took place. And we stood and waited, and watched the Secret Service drive cars around in a circle for a few minutes, before I gave it up and went to work on a group project.
I've since read a transcript of the speech. But before that, as I was leaving, I saw a group of students who had obviously just come from the event. One of them said, "That's a great idea, but how are we going to pay for it?"
Smart girl.
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