Friday Flyers

Wow. I'm not sure if what I was doing here was an exercise in locating and photographing some metal structures or an exercise in trying to see how far my un-exercised tendons will go. 17,000 acres means nothing until you actually try to traverse it, especially if you're not really sure what you're looking for. Allow me to elaborate.
So Miss Charlsie had us do these "Fun Friday" activities two weeks ago about some of the Clemson traditions here on campus. One of these was the "Friday Flyers," a project proposed by John Acorn, former chair of the arts department. What are they? They are six eight-foot-long aluminum paper airplanes scattered across campus as if thrown from the Hendrix Student Center. The idea? According to Acorn, "the random placement of these six forms symbolizes the importance of diversity and chance, innovation and human perseverance. The release of a paper airplane and its subsequent course parallels academia and the function of sending out the seeds of an idea for others to discover and explore."
So my job was to find them. Well. Easier said than done.
The first was easy. It hangs from the ceiling of Hendrix quite conspicuously:

Since I really didn't know where to go from there, I headed upstairs in Hendrix to the computers available on the second floor. I located a map of the Friday Flyers and went from there. As promised by the map, the second flyer is located diagonally across Perimeter Road from Hendrix on the hill:

So. Two down. Four to go. The next flyer was rather difficult, as it wasn't located where the map had promised. Instead of being on the Newman Hall side of the Poole and Agriculture Building, it is located on the Lehotsky Hall side, among thick monkey grass underneath a willow tree. Of the six, this one is in the most aesthetically-pleasing spot:

Halfway! On to the library. This one is interestingly positioned: apparently it was front-heavy when it left Hendrix:

Not too bad. Four down with relative ease. And I even knew exactly where the next one was! The first few Saturdays after arriving here at Clemson almost eight weeks ago, I would walk around campus and try to get familiar with the layout. I noticed a strange structure on the North Green by the Brooks Center on one of these journeys, but paid it no attention. It wasn't until we talked about the flyers on "Fun Friday" two weeks ago that it occurred to me that that is indeed what this thing is:

Well. Now this is where it gets fun. I had seen on the map back on the computer in Hendrix that the final flyer was located far out on the outskirts of campus near Perimeter Road and the commuter parking lots. What I did not know was how many commuter parking lots there are, or how many hills among them. Or trees. Trees that could potentially hide a flyer. Or anything else, for that matter. And the day was growing warm. And my legs are not used to this hill country. After walking around and around, going first too far and ending up by the stadium, then coming back and re-tracing my steps, all the while looking among the shrubbery and bushes, I was getting pretty frustrated. This blasted piece of junk was nowhere to be found. Only parking lots and a ton of cars. Finally I came back and crossed Williamson Road and was heading back up the hill when I saw it. Quite a welcome sight, if an elusive one. In case some poor Clemson student has to do what I did today and while searching the internet for help comes across this blog, hopefully I can make it a little easier for him: from the intersection of Perimeter Road and Williamson Road, walk up the sidewalk to the east. After a minute or so you will see the flyer on the hill to the north (your left). So here it is:

Well that was fun. As in, tiring and exhausting. Frustrating and irritating. But hey! Fall break is right around the corner. And the Tigers are 6-0. And the weather is beautiful. And I'm hungry. Shalom.