With the onset of daylight savings time, darkness sets in early these days, leaving a certain feeling of safety to be desired on campus.
As a female who has taken many evening classes in past semesters, I know the fear of darkness all too well.
I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of being alone. But combine those two forces and place them in a wide open setting with a sparse evening population and you better believe that my imagination starts to get the better of me.
The fake cemetery by the Equestrian Center doesn’t help either. Not that I think ghosts are waiting around the corner, but it adds a creepy feeling and eggs on that already-overactive imagination.
Supernatural musings aside, I am fully aware that horrible things happen to people on a daily basis, and being alone at night on a dark campus where anyone could follow you or attack you simply feels dangerous. Especially as a woman.
I try to avoid evening classes as much as possible, partially because a three-hour-long class is unappealing, but more so because I hate the uneasy feeling of walking to my car in the dark.
If I come for only that class, I can park nearby and in well-lit areas with populated paths to class, but if I happen to be at school all day and don’t get out until it’s dark, I don’t always have that option. Students must park where they can find a spot during the day, and it is not always ideal.
I like to park in the lot at the top of Art Hill so that I have to climb the stairs for exercise, but let me tell you: the stairs are dark and creepy at night.
In that scenario, I find myself hurrying at a much more rapid rate than I normally would. My senses are heightened as I look in every direction at minute intervals to check for rogue attackers. I carry my keys in such a way that they stick out in between each finger and if I have to punch someone in the face, I’m gonna do some damage.
Maybe I seem paranoid, but I’ve heard the stories. I’ve read those emails that go around about all the ways that women are attacked around their parked cars. I know there are crazy people out there, and after all, this is Los Angeles. The crazies are on street corners everywhere.
I don’t want to end up a statistic. And I hope I never have to take another evening class.
