Word: toilet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Such is the case with "toilet ball," the sport my friends and I recently invented on the grassy lawn of Quincy House. During a trip to the superintendent's office, we discovered that a roll of toilet paper--when punted with a flick of the ankle--has surprising loft and travels far. Wrap the roll in masking tape to prevent the paper from unravelling, and voila--you have a genuine toilet ball, good for about 50 minutes of play before it totally falls apart. Advantages of toilet ball over conventional projectiles: It's soft to catch and can't possibly...
...spent the better part of an afternoon kicking the toilet ball around, executing breath-taking catches and dazzling spectators with our prowess. You might think that it would be embarrassing to be seen kicking a roll of toilet paper in public. You're probably right. It's a waste of time that could be spent doing productive things, like writing a paper or searching for a job. But in the gathering twilight, it's a beautiful sight--the graceful kick, the white toilet ball sailing into the air, the arching catch. I honestly don't remember the last time...
William Butler Yeats famously wrote that "The fascination of what's difficult/Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent/Spontaneous joy and natural content/Out of my heart." Winning a Hoopes Prize or landing a killer job is difficult, hence in part its fascination. Toilet ball, by comparison, is easy. There is no minor league of toilet ball, no farm team where you struggle for years before you make the big time. There are no screaming fans either. When you walk on to the playing field for the first time, you're the equal of every toilet ball player that...
...truth is that there is none. The corporate mergers of the 21st century are certainly not going to be won on the toilet ball fields of Harvard. Neither law nor medical schools are particularly interested in students who have spent four years kicking around bathroom tissue. It looks silly on a resume and might even get you Ad Boarded...
...like it. How often does one hear that said at Harvard? All too rarely. Most often, any explanation for why a person does X or Y is couched in terms of normatives: "Well, because I should" or "Because it's important." But we can make no such excuses here. Toilet ball is easy and nonprestigious, but we love it all the same. The only reason to play is because you find some reward in doing so. There's no test at the end of the semester. Do as much of the reading as you feel like doing...