Crazy Weather!!!!

This past Sunday, the weather here in Knoxville, Tennessee was somewhere around 60 degrees. I know it's February, but I wore flip-flops because it felt great outside! And because I want it to be summer. The next day... it snowed!!! I wore multiple layers, and I still could not get warm! The past several days have been really cold, mainly because of the wind. Every county around here have been closed since noon on Monday. Even Knox County schools were closed. But of course, not UT.

There is a story about the reason why the university does not close classes if there is no real need to. I learned of this on Tuesday, so I've been thinking about it all week. In the '60s or '70s, they closed because of snow. The students went down to what we call "The Strip" where there are a few bars and eateries. Legal drinking age was 18 then, so obviously the students had a little to drink on their day off. A few of them started throwing snowballs at the cars driving by. One was actually ice, and it hit the window of a van and cracked it. The man driving got out of the van and started shooting at the group that threw the ice ball. One person was killed, two or three more injured. The group then went after him and beat him severely; almost killed him.

Since this happened over 40 years ago, the university has only closed twice: once for the ice storm in the '90s, and another time a couple of years ago for a really bad snow storm. I understand the fact they are scared of what could happen if they close classes, but that just makes students try to make it to class because of sttendance or tests or presentations when there is ice on the roads surrounding the city. It's still dangerous, and if other schools close... then it makes sense to cancel classes.