High school senior Jess Smith meets Ace of Spades, an online friend who helps her question her mask of celibacy and recognize her true asexuality. Except that their friendship begins to develop into something more.
[Featured April and May 2020 under...
Kimball Hall proved to be yet another imposing structure. It resembled Art Deco structures from the 1930s with a strange brick obelisk structure rising from its center.
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I expected to wait for Helen at the main entrance, but Eric led me down the steps towards the side one. He held open the door for me, and we walked into the lower food court. Separate stations offered a wide range of food from soups and salads to fast food burgers and wraps.
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My stomach gave another ominous rumble like a distant thunderstorm.
"They have fairly decent coffee here," Eric said, walking towards a row of black plastic coffee dispensers. "But you can order a fancier coffee if you prefer."
"No thanks," I said, scouring the prices. Seventy cents for the cheap brew. Almost two bucks for a specialty coffee. I could afford seventy cents. "I like black coffee."
"Me too."
Eric and I took our coffee to go and chatted about Die Brücke while we were waiting for Helen in front of Kimball. A bitter gust of wind bit through my coat, reminding me that winter was still whispering its last goodbyes.
I shivered and gulped the coffee, more enticed by its warmth than its flavor. "I've never had a chance to watch that movie in the original. It was intense! Poor Albert."
"It's a poignant example of the senselessness of war," Eric said. "And the foolishness of idealism, particularly of the nationalistic variety."
"Idealism in its pure form isn't to blame." I shook my head. "It can help us envision future possibilities and conceive the impossible. The problem is when it's contorted for evil."
"Perhaps," he said. "Even if we assume your premise is correct, idealism has the power to exact sudden negative change. Realism can give us a clearer picture because it's based on tangible fact."
"Right, because Machiavelli proposed such great values," I said. "It is better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both? There is no avoiding war? Politics have no relation to morals?"
