By Madeline Jenkins
Any Gilmore Girls fan will remember Rory’s first article for her school’s paper, The Franklin. After her editor tried to undermine her by assigning the boring subject of the school’s parking lot being repaved, Rory ended up writing the best article out of everyone. Aspiring to be a Gilmore level journalist, I’m attempting to “take a mundane and seemingly unimportant subject, like the repaving of the faculty parking lot, and turn it into a bittersweet piece on how everybody and everything eventually becomes obsolete”. It’s time to step into a 2001 Connecticut prep school newspaper, and give the people what they never wanted – pavement.
In any re-paving process, the first step is demolishment. At least, that’s the by-the-books first step. The true first step is acknowledging the pavement needs to be repaved in the first place. However… for anything to need to be repaved, it must simply first be… paved. A parking lot needs to be paved.
In writing the word “pave” so many times it’s lost all meaning and is just a jumble of four random letters circulating in my head. What is… pave? Simply put, pavement is a durable surface meant for transportation. It’s easier to move from point A to point B on a smooth, sturdy surface. Though a parking lot isn’t meant for transports, but quite the opposite.
Back to the “first step” – demolishing pavement would mean destroying the durable surface meant for transportation. Or in this case, a durable surface for in-between transport. So why would it matter? Why would it matter to demolish the pavement on which cars… sit. Where cars sit, children run and play. The home of donuts after dark and dancing in the rain. Rebellious hands printed from the very first day. That one leaf who fell in and couldn’t get out. All the regulars got used to seeing it on the way in. Oh the things that leaf saw. Pavement gone… leaf gone… all forgotten. Joyful memories, but also memories of minor accidents, early Monday mornings, and sad phone calls. Stories all torn up with the concrete and replaced with an empty storyless waiting room for cars. A waiting lot… and a fresh new beginning – a smooth new surface on which maybe, just maybe, chalk will finally be introduced to this parking lot’s story. And while the previous memories leave the site with the leaf and the handprints, let us keep in mind that while nothing is remembered forever, the rest of forever is created by everything; including the ripples from donuts after dark, dancing in the rain, early Monday mornings, and every foot step and tire track that was always destined to be destroyed.
