A bunch of students re-enacted communism on Monday on the lawn outside the Women’s Building.

There was also a blackout on the South 40 last week, and the cause is still unknown. I’m pretty sure, however, that a drum circle took place at the Clocktower while the lights were out.

According to Facebook, 694 people want Taylor Swift to perform at Spring W.I.L.D. Others want Taylor Swift to perform only if Kanye West will show up to interrupt her. Unfortunately for all of these people, Swift has a prior engagement that evening. Still, 694?

Despite October’s miserable weather and the fact that it is now a mere two weeks before Thanksgiving, St. Louis apparently thinks it should be 70 degrees outside. Not, of course, that I mean to complain. In fact, this is the kind of absurdity that I think should continue year round.

The photographic evidence of absurdity at Dance Marathon this past weekend almost needs no description. Almost, because I would be remiss if I did not point out that Chancellor Wrighton appears to have been wearing a balloon hat. By the way, it takes a special type of dedication to spend a Saturday dancing with hundreds of your students, especially while wearing unusual headgear. Most schools wish they had a chancellor that cool. They probably also wish they had a chancellor who invented glow sticks.

Green Action organized a flash mob last week to protest the lack of discussion about alternative energy at a University-sponsored energy conference. I think the flash mob was actually a non-absurd example of student activism. What puzzles me is that these students managed to find caution tape that says “global warming crime scene.”

On a printed sign on the edge of Mudd Field, an unknown miscreant has scribbled the word “cracker” in between “Graham” and “Chapel.” While we’re on the topic of Wash. U. signs and plaques, I hope you have all noticed by now that the DUC contains both the “Winney Window” and a plaque on the fireplace that reads “Peter Great Fireplace.” Aspiring pranksters should note that this plaque is simply crying out for either punctuation or definite articles. A Russian history textbook might be a nice touch as well.

There is no shortage of strange news off campus either. According to The New York Times, there is a trash island twice the size of Texas floating around the Pacific Ocean. In fact, there may be more than one such island.

The point, if there is one, is that our world, and especially our WUrld, is full of strange and downright absurd occurrences. In that context, attempting to reenact the Gulag is not a clever, unusual tactic guaranteed to shake people out of their mundane existences. Instead, it is a silly gimmick that trivializes the very real atrocities committed under the banner of communism. In the midst of so much absurdity, perhaps serious issues deserve serious discussion instead.