mystuff711

Oh Thank Heaven...

It is Thursday night, 12 a.m. You are working on a paper due tomorrow-- a paper you should've started a long time ago. Well, you planned to start it a long time ago, like 7 o'clock, but you forgot that you had an Amnesty meeting at 7:30, and then when you got back Tom Cronin was reading bedtime stories in the main lounge with a fire in the fireplace and everything. You couldn't miss that. And then there was a dance party in the section lounge, and a great discussion in the triple about Immanuel Kant and the Categorical Imperative and you needed to be there because you're supposed to present on Kant on Monday and you haven't read it yet and probably won't. And then you realize that if everyone in the world were doing what you're doing, they'd all be flunking out of college and the world would be a mess. When you finally get back to your room to write that paper you remember that you loaned your book to Feather, who lives on the third floor, and even though you haven't read the book it might be nice to have for quotes or something.   So you go up to the third floor and you see Megan who just got back from a Tae Kwan Do trip to Boise and so you ask her abut her trip and sit down in the hallway and talk for a while(maybe an hour) until you see Feather in her pajamas brushing her teeth and you remember why you came up there and run to catch her before she goes to bed. And so now it's midnight and you're back in your room and your paper has your name and the teacher's name and the date on it (that's how far you got before you realized you didn't have the book) except that it's the wrong date because now it's officially tomorrow and the paper's due today in 10 hours. You sit down to write and jump back up in ten minutes because all that writing has made you hungry. You head down to Alex and Joel's room because Joel is in that class and so must be working on that paper, too. Besides, it's Thursday night and almost everyone is still up.

"Hey Joel, wanna make a Sev-run?"
Joel looks up from the glowing computer screen with a smile and says "Yeah! Hang on a sec, I'll grab Dave. He's down in the study room." So once Joel has grabbed Dave and Dave has grabbed Maria and Maria has gotten her jacket and her roommate, you head off to the 711 across the street. It is a beautiful cold night and you wonder if it will snow and you are glad you are in Walla Walla where it snows and not back at home where it only rains all the time. You jump and yell on the little bridge that crosses Mill Creek and probably wake the people in the Community Service house, but of course you don't think about that. You run across the street and make an old Torino honk at you, even though he missed you by a mile. Some teenage punks standing under the green-red-white sign asks you to buy cigarettes for him, and you tell them that it's past their bedtime and they should go home to their parents. And you think about going home to your parents, but you are having too much fun to be homesick.
In the 711 you buy three bottles of Mountain Dew and a package of Ho Ho's and a Hershey Bar and some gummy worms and a carton of Swisher Sweet cigars and a Slurpee. Everyone buys a Slurpee and you whiz the machine, just like Pauly Shore in Encino Man, but the 711 guy just smiles at you. He's probably younger than you and you feel sorry for him because he has to work this crappy late night shift and so you don't tease him very much. You dare Joel to buy a 711 hot dog but he is too weak. When everyone has bought everything, you head back to your room laughing and drinking and eating and you jump on the bridge and yell again. You are finally ready to write that paper.   Oh Thank heaven for 711.

**
SevRun: the instant study break, the only social option left after 12 am, and a great reason to procrastinate. Because 711 was open all night, we could take off at any time, catch some fresh air, a nice little walk, some time with friends, and loads and loads of caffeine. It was close enough that you could justify the trip, but far enough away it actually felt like you were taking a break from studying, as opposed to going to the pop machine. It even had a nice title - "let's make a sev-run" fit in with all our other college lingo and reminded us of that we were in college now and so we spoke a different language. It was a central part of my Freshman experience, which in turn is the cornerstone for my College Experience.
In the middle of spring semester 1997, while almost no one was looking, the Powers That Be sold 711 to different Powers That Be, and our treasured 711 became Apex Food Mart. The change occurred over a Spring Break, and I�m guessing they planned it that way to keep students from setting up some kind of protest. I got wind of the change from an insider the final night before I went home for Spring Break, and after much useless yelling, quickly put together a final Sevrun. It was late on a crystal clear night, we had the usual people and a few along for sentimentality's sake. I bought a Slurpee and some Ho-Ho's and another Mountain Dew--all things that would be there when 711 was gone, but not the same. Someone got out a camera and we had our picture taken in front of the door with the red-green-white sign on it and the locks they never used because they were open twenty-four hours.   As we walked back, I thought, "That's it? That's all I can do?" I felt helpless and a little depressed, hemmed in by my schedule and the stupid Powers That Be.   When we got back from spring break, the great big 711 was replaced with a cheesy Apex sign, and there was no trace that the place had ever been a 711.   Our store died silently and without protest.

I don't like Apex.   To begin with, there' s no easy verbiage you can attach to that cursed name.    Making an "Ape-run" sounds like something you would do in Home Economics class. (don�t get it? Say it out loud. �Ape-run�.)   I've tried all kinds of alternatives - Flex the Pex, Rape the Ape, none of it works. It just ends up being (nasal pinched voice here:) "let's go to the convenience store across the street and buy something that will keep us awake and wired for a few more hours."   But worse than that, the Powers That Be have decided to close Apex Food Mart at 11 pm. Why anyone would make a... flex the... (sigh) GO TO THE CONVENIENCE STORE ACROSS THE STREET before 11 pm is beyond me. Why would you need a caffeine fix before 11 pm?   Now, if you need a late-night caffeine fix, you have to plan ahead and buy the Mountain Dew beforehand, and if you're going to do all that planning, you might as well just write the stupid paper. The whole cycle is ruined because Apex killed 711.
I miss the 711. That little store was a vital part of my freshman experience. And it was a good experience; I've been trying to get back to it ever since. Last year I applied to be an RA and told the Powers That Be that I'd love to be an RA in a first-year hall. They put me in Douglas and I accepted it with grace and a smile. This year I applied again, and I told them I'd love to be in a freshman hall. Then I told them I wouldn't take any job outside of a freshman hall. I find out next Thursday if I get to be a freshman again.
When I was a sophomore, I stayed up late, but not as often as I did when I was a freshman. One early morning studying for a test in a class I hadn't attend in two weeks, I got hungry. The Apex, of course, was closed, so my only option was Bourgeois Safeway. I was hungry enough, so I made the trek. There is no bridge to jump on on the way to Safeway, only three or four streets to get run over on. I bought a Surge and a loaf of Jalapeno focacia bread from the Safeway bakery. I went back to the library and studied some more, then fell asleep, despite the Surge. I had the worst dreams I've ever had in my life. They don't sell jalapeno focacia bread at 711, and now I see why. I never realized it, but 711 was looking out for my health and well-being as well. Thank you, 711.

I don't know what it would be like to be a freshman without 711. Do today's freshman go to bed at 11 like they're supposed to? Do they write their papers three days in advance? Are they horrified by the prospect of watching a sunset without getting up early? Do they think drinking caffeine is a sin and Ho Ho's will clog your arteries?   It could be that the freshman experience, as I will always remember and revere it, is dead and gone forever. Perhaps it was an era that passed away with the 711 one a spring afternoon.
So long, 711. I will always remember you and the wonderful times you gave me.