San Jose State University Poem

*San Jose State University*

30,000 Spartans are deployed all over the combined 216 acres of San Jose State University.
And they arrive in lecture halls like the BBC, to receive their weaponry.

This is where the Spartans are briefed on how to take over the power.

In this hall, like so many around the country,
There are faces being read as they are listening.
Within the expressions of the commander and his orders to follow his lead into amicable
wars of words, each expression is met with study, not back in the dorm rooms or MLK Library,
but right here in the midst of exchanging fire.

There often is a silence in the hall save the one voice of the commander.
Some take this for boredom.
Most mistake it as boredom.

In closer inspection, you see faces anything but bored. No, they are crying for help.
Yelling inside,
“Please God, just let it be Friday!”
There are many sending messages to comrades hoping they will rescue them with replies.
There are Spartans spanning the room, looking for their next conquest. And there are those facing straight ahead…and though you would never know it, they were the ones who left before everyone else.

And there are those who pick up the slack of others to accept the challenge of the commander. They allow themselves to be armed for battles that lie ahead as they genuinely face ahead.

The uniform is casual: polo, denim, perhaps the occasional pajama wear…and of course
Spartan
&
CALI
FOR
NIA
t-shirts.

And in this army noted for such diversity and individuality,
You’ll notice a commonality spread throughout this population:

The objective remains the same, regardless of who trailed off and whose focus remained motionless.
And after each course objective has been completed, 80% of these Spartans go on to work their next assignment:

Where they are to be the
Modern Spartans of a Current
that transferred out…
As the New Power of the Silicon Valley.

From Alma Mater Vol. 3: The West
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
©2016. Original Clyde Aidoo. All rights reserved