A chilling tale of a week turned icy

By Jennifer Richler

As winter vacation came to a close, I'm sure many of you were less than thrilled about starting a new semester. Now that you're back, I'm guessing that having blue book "parties" and waking up for 9 a.m. classes isn't measuring up to the hours of sleep and TV watching that many of you enjoyed over the past few weeks. I, on the other hand, am overjoyed to return to Yale. While I am not some sort of masochist who enjoys trekking up Science Hill, anything is better than what I endured over the last week of winter break.

I spent my winter vacation at home in Montreal, site of the ice storm that plunged much of the city into complete darkness for a week. You probably heard about it if you opened a newspaper or turned on the news; I realize, however, that many of you took a break from both of these things.

Allow me to paint a picture for the uninformed. Last Tuesday morning, I woke up with no electricity. The rain that had fallen the night before had frozen on trees, weighing them down. Many of them fell, and power lines came down with them. "No big deal," I thought as I drove to a friend's house that was still blessed with electricity. "This should be over in a few hours."

How wrong I was. The power failure stretched from 24 hours to a few days to an entire week, and conditions only got worse. As the weather warmed up, the ice began to melt, bringing down even more trees and power lines. Montreal began to resemble Bosnia. Streets had to be barricaded because they were littered with fallen trees. People would park their cars on the street and return to find them crushed by fallen trees. Live wires lay all over the darkened streets, making it life-threatening to drive. The water soon became contaminated. Montreal was declared to be in a "state of emergency" and the Canadian army was brought in for assistance. Yes, there is an army in Canada, and let me tell you, if they're actually doing something, the situation must be pretty bleak.

Everyone I knew had lost power, so there was essentially nowhere to go. Shelters had been set up for those seeking refuge from the cold and dark, but after seeing what they looked like on the news (in the few hours that I did have electricity) I agreed with my friend when she said, "I would rather die in the cold than stay at a shelter."

As my plane landed at Bradley Airport, I stared out the window and saw sunlight and grass, two things whose existence I had nearly forgotten. As my taxi entered New Haven, I felt as if I were arriving in some sort of paradise. (I know, you never thought you'd see the words "New Haven" and "paradise" in the same sentence.) I reunited with my roommates, who were already complaining about the cold weather in New Haven. I just laughed--as far as I was concerned, I could have been in Mexico.

So if any of you are feeling down about starting a new semester, just comfort yourself by saying, "At least I'm not in an ice storm." Try using this line whenever you're feeling annoyed or stressed about school. Say it as you climb up Science Hill. Say it to yourself as you climb out of bed for an early class.

I realize that for many of you, this sentence will provide little comfort. For you, then, I suggest holding an Electricity Appreciation Day. Close that econ textbook and turn on the TV, play some Sega, or go to see a movie. One suggestion: skip The Ice Storm. After reading this article, you know enough about it already.

Jennifer Richler is a freshman in Berkeley.

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