We’ve got nothing better to do
Than watch Star Wars and have a couple of brews apple juices
All our friends are gonna hang out here tonight
Alright!

-apologies to Black Flag

Last week I was invited to a Star Wars party at “Jove and Donna’s.” My pals Jason and Margaret invited me. Fair enough. They were going to be viewing Star Wars Episode One: Rifftrax edition. The same DVD that I made for them as part of a Christmas card.

Everybody, except Margaret and maybe Jove, were Bucknell professors. And it seems like most of them were temporary. It was strange. These are basically transients, wandering academics, rootless and geeky.

There was “Math Jeff,” a bearded mathematics professor who last night was voiceless. A Star Wars geek, to be sure, but much more into Dr. Who. We had a short Dr. Who conversation and you could tell that he was bursting with frustration that he couldn’t join in.

There were a couple – god, I’m bad with names – someone (who actually comes into the bookstore and is a really swell guy) and Margo. Also big Star Wars fans.

Oh, and Katherine. I’m not sure, but she is probably some sort of professor in one of the sciences. Hard to tell which one. She’s leaving for California this summer. She was bubbly and random. Very random. She had seen Episode Three. And probably the original trilogy, but really didn’t get the whole Star Wars thing. She was the control for the evening, and really just made the night for me.

Not that the Rifftrax edition of Episode One wouldn’t have done that. We watched it in Jove’s basement, which is basically a Star Wars museum. He has, very literally, damn near everything. I wish I would have taken pictures. Action figures, ships, memorabilia all stirring up some wonderful childhood memories.

Usually, when it comes to Star Wars, I’m the geek. It was nice that well over half of the folks gathering in the basement could bury me in Star Wars trivia. From quotes to little tidbits from the Expanded Universe. Sure, I could hold my own, but barely.

Another oddity was that I was surrounded by Bucknell professors. Sure, the talk sometimes wandered over to academia, but would always quickly wiggle its way back to pop culture. Often by way of some bizarrely random question by Katherine. “Did you have a phone in your room when you were in middle school?”

And it wasn’t just Star Wars, we covered Degrassi, Buffy, X-files, Piers Anthony books, young adult books, Lord of the Rings and where most of us will be living next year. Everybody, being transient, are moving. Except Jove and Donna. They’re staying on (and I think they’ve been here awhile).

Everybody in the room, but me, were closely associated with Bucknell. It was a bit odd, and I seemed a little out of my league. A stranger in a strange land. Well, not that strange in a room decorated with my childhood fantasies (not exactly just childhood, mind you). But still, I spend very little time with professors. Usually just at the store.

These folks were younger. Most were younger than me. There was no pretension (I almost wrote “there as little pretension” but really, there was none at all). And I felt accepted and enjoyed myself greatly.

God, I feel like I’m writing a review. I give this party four and a half stars! The only thing that could have made it better was if my friend Jeff from WV were there. Throw in a couple of Ryans and some vegan cookies and hands down the best party ever. Wee!