Meet Tyler

Tyler, a smoke hut regular, is the kind of guy that will talk about absolutely anything. Whether conversation revolves around the prospect of finding a dead baby inside a trash can, sexual innuendo or beastiality, he will chime in and add a bit of interesting commentary.
Often times, people will enter the hut with ear buds or headphones connected to mp3 players. Those are the ones who stop between classes and don't want to talk -- though it isn't uncommon for a bud to drop or headphone to slide to the side in order to listen in on whatever Tyler throws out for speculation.
Of course, the topics are mainly just for entertainment purposes; however they show the power of shock value and hilarity in what is typically obscenity.
While Tyler uses his conversationalist trait in the smoke hut often, he is also able to use it away from them, away from cigarettes, and away from people he has personal relationships with. Conversationalists can bring the very essence of the smoke hut with them anywhere and can successfully engage people in small talk of any nature -- a rarity in modern characteristics.

Appropriately, in the words of the late Hunter S. Thompson, he is "too weird to live, and too rare to die."

Underground Professions

Conversation in the huts yesterday ranged from car troubles to the amount of water it would take to die from water intoxication, but one thing stood out from the rest of the jabber: professional air hockey.
Turns out, there's a United States Air hockey Association, equipped with official rules and procedures of play -- including the ability to request spectators be quiet.
Air hockey is a popular arcade game, and many kids probably dropped their allowances into one of the tables. As a professional sport, though, air hockey is much lesser-known -- which is exactly why it was a topic of conversation in the smoke hut.
For COM Week at IPFW, "Way of the Puck," a documentary that takes a look at the sport and the often-eccentric people who play it, will be screened.
What's a better place to share lesser-known information than the smoke huts? The CDC estimates that 20.6 percent of the adult population in America smokes. So, it makes sense that the topic which concerns air hockey stars that will likely never get the publicity or fame as those of other, popular sports is brought up in the environment dedicated to an often looked down upon minority.
That seems to be the overriding theme in the huts: conversation must revolve around something either little-known, off-the-wall or unspeakable in most areas.

He's Burnin' for You

Conversation happens for a variety of reasons. Whether it be bumming a cigarette or lighter, saying hello upon entry or breaking the ice because ten minutes in silence with a stranger can be nerve-racking, conversations emerge from the smoke huts not unlike bunnies continually emerge from rabbits.
Today, Micah just wanted a friend.
Micah, a native of Wolcottville, IN., moved to Fort Wayne last week to avoid pumping his paycheck into his gas tank for the 38 mile commute to IPFW every day.
“I just got a place near the bars downtown, and if anyone wants to hang out there that’d be awesome,” he said. “I don’t know anyone - seriously, it’s an open invitation.”
The lonely guy sat on the bench and chain-smoked as hutters shuffled in and out. He was in need of human interaction - which became painfully obvious when he began to recite the same stories over and over.
“I’m just trying to pay my bills and this guy comes into my work and just says he’s gonna murder me. All I said was ‘okay,’” he started.
“Fort Wayne is huge. I’m used to directions like ‘next to the corn field on the left,’ not certain intersections,” Micah continued.
He began discussing Indiana gun laws - self defense, whether or not people could be shot in the back, what permits were needed to check out hand guns, etc. Afterward, he brought up crime in Fort Wayne; coming from a small town he thought the level and intensity of crime was enormous.
“I’m just trying to pay my bills and this guy comes into my work and just says he’s gonna murder me. All I said was ‘okay,’” he started again. It was a continuous loop.
There’s no shortage of interaction in college - many people have multiple classes a day where there’s an opportunity to engage in discussion, create small talk and get to know people - though it seems to be largely academic-based chit chat until everyone goes their separate ways. The smoke huts bring people of all backgrounds together over one common interest and there are limitless possibilities to gain things outside of academia: friends.
Micah left the hut - finally - with hand shakes, names, promises to hang out and people that he may end up knowing for the rest of his life. People that he might have drudged past on the way to class without so much as eye contact stopped to talk over burning paper, and a lonely new resident doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.

Smoke Hut: The who and the what

IPFW bans smoking on campus except for in certain areas - parking lots and smoke huts. The commuter college has over 14,000 students enrolled, and many of those students who smoke end up casually conversing over their nicotine dosage between classes.
When smokers get together, the conversation usually revolves around the restrictions placed upon them, such as being limited to smoke huts or arriving on campus early enough to have the time to smoke prior to class. Though, the roughly 10 minutes it takes to burn through a cigarette can be enough to chat about the most interesting things.
This blog is going to be about those subjects and the people who bring them up. Whether it's two strangers working on flash cards together to calm their nerves pre-test, the number of times a day smoke hut regulars get asked to light a cigarette, creative ideas that get passed along or just random tidbits of information in between awkard small talk, the smoke hut happenings are now extending past the the carcinogen border and into the mind of any interested party.