Last May was a rough time for your favorite daring college journalist. My final week was being its usual insidiously inconsequential self, more a gauntlet of endurance than a survey of my gleaned knowledge in any given class. On top of the finals debacle, I was forced to say goodbye to the best nine months of my life up to that point-my freshman year at college.
Amid tearful farewells and agonizing blue-book blunders, a more pernicious evil polluted the crisp May air. Wicked falsity or concrete fact, I am unsure, but either way, an inferno of rumor threatened to engulf this campus and tear it apart.
University Square was being demolished for a new University Health Services super-complex.
I was flabbergasted. As a resident of Sellery, and soon-to-be sophomore, I couldn't believe that U. Square, and more importantly, University Square Theater, would be uprooted for a new clinic.
I won't dispute the fact that a clinic located at the heart of campus would benefit UW-Madison as a whole. But beyond that, a new clinic at a better location at the cost of the greatest movie house of all time is a price I am not willing to pay. No theater-multiplex or budget, stadium-seating or Ultrascreen-will ever take the place of University Square Theaters in my heart.
I don't frequent many establishments for their \atmosphere,"" because many establishments just don't have any. Yet the ambience of that extraordinary theater, nestled within the imposing shadows of Vilas Hall and Gordon Commons, keeps me coming back week after week, even when the only movies playing are mediocre at best.
The real beauty of University Square Theater is multi-fold. Its location can't be beat, no matter where you live on campus. At $4 a seat, the price is right. And it has perhaps the most unique feature of any theater I've ever seen: You can buy beer.
Right now, no one is too sure of the future of U. Square. Word on the street is that a funding freeze has put a halt on any pending renovations. Maybe the whole project was scrapped due to the possible backlash from students and area businesses. Either way, I'm thankful the square and the theater are still alive.
You may wonder why I've donated an entire column to a movie theater, when I could've used the space to philosophize on the dichotomy between serving Ice or light beer at a party, or why Jell-O wrestling is the best way to spend a Saturday night.
University Square Theaters represents an integral institution in my college experience. Not only is it a place where my friends and I have seen films we'll never forget, like ""The Ring"" and ""Old School,"" it's a place where we can go-whether it's a Tuesday evening after a rough day of classes or a Friday at midnight following a wild party-and take a break from the world of power lectures and midterms.
Just like Bascom Hill, Memorial Union and State Street, University Square Theaters is a part of us all. And when we're 82 and sitting in a rocking chair, reflecting on the lives we've led, it's not all the money we made or all the things we bought that we'll remember.
It'll be that time, when we went U. Square, kicked our feet up on the table, poured a beer and let the cinema magic take us away.
writePNL@yahoo.com.
