Until Saturday, Tubestock remained a mystery to many of the members of the '05 class. Categorized with Homecoming weekend, Winter Carnival and Green Key, Tubestock was predicted to be a weekend of big drinking. All summer, Tubestock has been a buzzword around campus. Like children planning, constructing and bragging about their Halloween costumes, Dartmouth students worked meticulously to construct rafts for the big day. But what exactly was to be done with these rafts remained a question. Nevertheless, in true Dartmouth form, students took to the river as early as 10:00 Saturday morning preparing for the event. While some rose early to rid a disco inferno hangover with a not so continental breakfast of Boones and Bagels or Keystone Light, others escorted their respective rafts a la Rio with chests out and chins held high. By the official start to Tubestock at noon, the river had become a harbor for floating trampolines, couches, several wooden rafts and hundreds of black inner tubes. Though there were no formal races or events, as more and more students and rafts filled the river, the confusion about Tubestock vanished: it was simply a day of drinking, socializing and playing on the river. While some actually tried to walk on water, it was as if, for a few hours, the whole student body did. Saturday's five hour fiesta on the Connecticut River displayed nothing less than a modern spectacle -- "unusual, entertaining and a dramatic public display."
Just like Maximus seized control from the authoritative Roman soldiers providing a spectacle for those involved and the thousands watching in the Coliseum in the film Gladiator, Dartmouth students put on a spectacle seemingly independent of the law. Despite the small fleet of New Hampshire's Marine Patrol Bureau and the other thirty officers from the Norwich and Hanover Police departments students basically behaved as they pleased. The intention of the increased security was never to make more arrests or "stop the party" commented Steven Waldo in Thursday's "The Dartmouth" (July 17, 2003) but rather, more police officers were hired to ensure safety and to react in the event of emergency.
As I bobbed up and down, shivering in the water and absorbing the action, I couldn't help but wonder how we could get away with an event like Tubestock. I certainly wouldn't want the event to be ended for future classes -- it was an enjoyable day for nearly all in attendance and a good bonding experience for the class, but I shockingly wonder how it is permitted in the first place. It seems more like a lesson in local law enforcement gone badreal bad. Five sedans filled with eight to nine people, blatantly drunk students in the back, beer clearly being consumed on the river, naked bodies flying around, all going on uncontested. What did we pay the cops to allow this? According to the Valley News, "police reported no incidents of drunken swimmers." I was thankful that police officers were there for safety, but how can you not smile while reading that quotation? No drunken swimmers. An S&S officer commented in the paper that Tubestock is "pretty mild." Perhaps they are rallying the '06 class for a rowdier Tubestock.
Ridiculous or not, the "show must go on;" every Dartmouth student should get to enjoy a few hours in the Animal House-ish bubble and put on a spectacular show. Whether it was bruises from a flipping raft, scratches from those damn inner-tube air plugs, wounds from lily padding across the rafts, sunburn, exhaustion, de-hydration, or a hangover, Tubestock 2003 certainly made all sorts of marks. And whether you were a sober monitor, a lost fraternity dog, a camera man peeping through the bushes, an '04 who came back for round two, one who danced for the crowd, or simply one who floated on a raft, Saturday was undoubtedly spectacular. Maybe next year some of the police officers will build their own rafts, throw on a sober monitor red visor and join the party instead of smiling from the banks.
