-^-for posterity-^-

tonight was the national song night competition.

the students filed onto the stage in classes emotionlessly. they formed five tight rows. they looked out onto the crowd with stoic faces. they looked like an old photo or a group of mannequins. the lighting was strange on the stage. it seemed to light the first row’s faces from the bottom up and each other row was caught in a strange kaleidoscope of shadows.

a person on the front right would bark three sharp commands only one of which i could understand. the group stood up straight, lifted their heads and began to sing. the shadows lit them from below.

the songs were void of flow but passionate. they didn’t seem to have any rhythm at all. somehow the students retained unity. their voices eerily moved together. everything was strange because the breaks in the songs were odd. i’m sure it all made perfect sense to them but the unity, the passion and the lack of any noticeable rhythm was different to me.

the singing stopped and they filed off stage. the next group took their place. they sang with the same passion and fervor and the lights and the shadows continued to play tricks on their faces.

my mcc representatives are here to visit me and we all drove back together in the university car. we talked about the singing and the uniformity and i felt wonderful because everyone was a mennonite and we were all the same in some way and the car ride felt like we were going to church somewhere on a bright, spring, sunday morning and that we were going to open up the blue hymnal and start singing something and it was going to be perfect and everyone was going to sing in a different direction but the ingredients were going to mix together perfectly and all end up like a beautiful angle food cake; light and fluffy and heavenly.

i started to sing something and someone started to sing an alto part and we sang the song for a bit and then sat. the road was bumpy but i didn’t notice. we drove through campus and a rat ran along a fence. i could barely make it out in the moonlight but didn’t tell anyone. i was in a car heading up a windy, pennsylvanian road and it was sunny outside. i smiled.