• Home
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • News Tips/Press Releases
  • Advertising
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Racial Epithets vs Political Disagreement

    Racial Epithets vs Political Disagreement

    Drake Theatre Department Presents Online Musical

    Drake Theatre Department Presents Online Musical

    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Valparaiso hands Drake Men’s Basketball first loss of the season

    Valparaiso hands Drake Men’s Basketball first loss of the season

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor
    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Hockey Fights Cancer

    Making the Best of 2021

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life
    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    A Conversation with Indira Sheumaker

    A Conversation with Indira Sheumaker

    Indira Sheumaker announces her run for city council

    Indira Sheumaker announces her run for city council

    “Be Unstoppable” Career Fair Offers Networking for Students

    “Be Unstoppable” Career Fair Offers Networking for Students

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition
    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Drake professors define their teaching experiences

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Bulldogs football completes 9th winning season in 10 years

    You can be the force to finally change Drake’s culture

    Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    First-year uses photo talent to market Drake’s campus

    Spanish class spotlights important Latinas

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Racial Epithets vs Political Disagreement

    Racial Epithets vs Political Disagreement

    Drake Theatre Department Presents Online Musical

    Drake Theatre Department Presents Online Musical

    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Valparaiso hands Drake Men’s Basketball first loss of the season

    Valparaiso hands Drake Men’s Basketball first loss of the season

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor
    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Hockey Fights Cancer

    Making the Best of 2021

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life
    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    A Conversation with Indira Sheumaker

    A Conversation with Indira Sheumaker

    Indira Sheumaker announces her run for city council

    Indira Sheumaker announces her run for city council

    “Be Unstoppable” Career Fair Offers Networking for Students

    “Be Unstoppable” Career Fair Offers Networking for Students

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition
    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Drake professors define their teaching experiences

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Bulldogs football completes 9th winning season in 10 years

    You can be the force to finally change Drake’s culture

    Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    First-year uses photo talent to market Drake’s campus

    Spanish class spotlights important Latinas

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Relive. Remember. Relays.

byMATT NELSON
April 14, 2011
in Opinion
0 0
2

I’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but the images created during street painting aren’t really pictures. They’re more like scattered and silly feelings.

Not even the professors can stand in their way. They feel it coming too — when the politics students look longingly through Meredith’s tinted windows to the bleached sidewalk below, or when young pharmacy professionals rush through a chemistry lab to run along the painted street. And while instructors might snap their fingers or say sharp words, they can’t really be mad about what their pupils are thinking — maybe because they are thinking about it themselves.

Student leaders sketch the squares for hours while the anticipation grows. First-year students eye the growing crowd as they walk to class. They’ve been hearing about this event since September, and even before that. They’ve heard the eagerness in a veteran painter’s voice when he tries to explain what it’s like and can’t quite capture it because he’s already forgotten his audience, lost again among the vibrant colors. During street painting, Drake’s colors expand far beyond blue and white.

Something comes over you when you step on the squares. I always feel like I’ve found something I didn’t know I’d lost. It doesn’t take long to get caught up in the mess, and even less time to become part of it.

It’s a freedom to run around the backyard as much as you want, screaming and yelling as loud as you want while elders watch from afar, smiling because they remember what it was like. It’s being a child without being a child, a perfect balance of responsibility and recklessness.

Rumors of a “streaker” inevitably surface. Although people will laugh about it, they keep darting their eyes, not entirely sure it won’t happen.

Personal boundaries vanish. Handprints appear on butts, bellies and boobs and nobody seems to care — why would they? There is no malicious intent.

The upperclassmen see people they don’t see often, and they run to each other in laughing groups, slapping wet hands that leave visible marks of green, black and yellow. Their mark stays with every person they meet, and the underclassmen might well wear it  many times during their remaining Drake years.

First-year students stick out. They’re the ones with thick layers of painted hair that won’t come out for weeks and sleeveless clothing they’ll regret wearing when they unintentionally rip the hair off their arms in the showers near Olmsted or the cold Herriott hose.

The resident assistants sit by the residence hall doors and watch like hawks, keeping a vigilant post against the colorful collegian that intends to slip through their clutches. The painters think they’re jealous of the fun, but that isn’t the case. Just like everybody else, they’ve got a job to do if Relays is to be successful — and they do it well.

Then, it’s a mad rush to the showers for the hot water that doesn’t last long. People really start screaming, pushing and shoving, but it’s still all part of the fun. Blue, red and pink flecks adorn the shower stalls of a countless number of homes lining the side streets that stretch away from Drake, portions of paint that didn’t have quite enough time to dry before their shivering hosts leapt fully clothed into their baths.

The aftermath of street painting fades quickly. Broken sandals are thrown away. Lost keys and cell phones are brought to Olmsted. The trampled grass returns to a normal shade of green.

Street painting is a wonderful madness. Despite the chaos, somehow the street always gets painted. It’s beautiful, in a way, and one of the best representations of Drake. Our student body isn’t perfect. We often struggle with our schedules, make bad decisions and fall down on our faces. Yet the squares always look magnificent, year after year after year.

The trunks of the trees are still speckled with yellow, gold and brilliant, unnatural indigo. Maybe the squares beneath the new layer of paint are still there, in some way.

Street painting. Relive it. Walk among the squares and breathe in. Look at the marks on the tree trunks, read each and every square.

Remember it.  Go back to a time when you wiped a brush across another person’s face. Think about how they affected your life. Smile at how easy it all seems now.

Relay it. Pass the brush. Leave a swatch of paint where it won’t wash away.

Tags: Relays

MATT NELSON

Next Post

Bulldogs pick up two walk-off wins to sweep twin bill

Comments 2

  1. drake student says:
    10 years ago

    This is great.

  2. drake student says:
    10 years ago

    This is great and truly encapsulates the “feeling” of Relays that only Drake students get, only Alumni can remember and cherish and what no outsider will truly ever understand. This should be printed on the front page of the Relays issue…. think about it.

Twitter Feeds

The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

hot cocoa in the superior cup tonight https://t.co/zxbBJvfh94
View on Twitter
timesdelphic photo
3
56
The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

Attached is The Times-Delphic statement on the recent BSC budget reduction proposal.
This statement was signed off by all other BSC organizations. https://t.co/2zQdLtphOI
View on Twitter
timesdelphic photo
28
91

Recommended

Edgerton’s latest production a gift to thrill seekers

5 years ago

South Asian Student Association travels to St. Louis for show

6 years ago

Popular News

  • Snapchat Streaks: fostering friendships or forcing communication?

    Snapchat Streaks: fostering friendships or forcing communication?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gladwell’s “Outliers” reveals the many factors of success

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Several students test positive for COVID-19 in Goodwin-Kirk Residence Hall

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake ranks among Ivy Leagues on Economist list

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake Declines to Share Covid Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Student Perspectives on BLM Protests

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The rise and fall of Motown Records

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Don’t eat the rich: Argument against Occupy Wall Street ideas

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake Greek Life Prepares for Recruitment During Covid

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Connect with us

  • About
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Privacy Policy
  • Virtual Edition
  • Advertising

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
  • Relays Edition
    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist