By: Rehma Adnan, Distribution Coordinator
Midterm season is upon us, AKA the season of all-nighters. However, in my quest to have the ultimate study session (yes, I know classes just started, but I’m just built different), I find out that the W.A.C. Bennett Library is NOT open 24 hours???? How else am I supposed to lock in and get my work done? This might be the main reason why I’m going to fail all my midterms. Anyways, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I will be camped out across all those seven floors and show SFU that they do not have the right to take away our rights to study!
8:00 a.m.
OK we’re starting strong. The laptop is fully charged, a case of Red Bull by my side. Time to get my study on for the next 24 hours.
12:00 p.m.
The library’s getting kinda packed. I’ve established my fort in the corner; pillows, fuzzy blanket, and entire baguette (my preferred study snack) to gnaw on throughout the day. I’m starting to get weird looks, but I just start barking. I’m doing this for you, ungrateful students.
5:00 p.m.
I’m so hungry. That baguette was NOT enough to tide me over. I’ve spent the last hour searching the bottom of study tables for any dried gum I can chew on. So many more hours to go . . .
8:00 p.m.
I’m not proud of what I did, I don’t even want to tell you guys. Lets just say if a couple books on the third floor are missing some pages, they may have ended up in my stomach . . . at least I’m not hungry anymore. At this point, I throw camo table cloths all over my tent and steal the librarian’s glasses.
12:00 a.m.
The librarians didn’t find me. I knew stomping on her glasses was worth it! I swear I hear noises, like scratches? Could it be the ghost of politician W.A.C. Bennett himself? The scratches soon turned into water. W.A.C. — whatcha tryna tell me? Surely this library couldn’t just turn into that dam named after you . . . it must be the toilets running . . . I can’t tell if I’m hallucinating or not anymore.
3:00 a.m.
Send help. I’ve realized why this library is not open 24 hours. It’s the printers. They’re ALIVE and TALKING TO EACH OTHER. This is why I can never figure out the pay-to-print system before class in the morning, all their ink is getting wasted in their conversations with one another.
5:00 a.m.
It is so damn cold in this building. I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes aggressively pacing up and down the aisles of the bookshelves to try and get my body heat up. Maybe if I die from hypothermia, I’ll be seen as a martyr, an inspiration for protestors across the globe (and I won’t have to take another midterm ever again). I provided warmth for my body by cozying up to the heat omitting from those yapping printers’ scanners.
8:00 a.m.
Finally, other humans. The crowd of students are finally returning to the library. I’m getting some weird looks again, maybe all the printer ink covering my body from when I murdered that printer. Whatever. They don’t understand the level of activism I just committed for this entire university campus. I’ve done something that has never been done before in SFU history. 24 hours later in the W.A.C. Bennet library, I am a changemaker — a visionary. When they finally decide to extend the hours of this library, they should name it after me.
