I arrived well before the event’s advertised start time of 7:00 PM and claimed a seat in an empty row. Some groups of people had congregated near the front and back of the room, but the middle was isolated in its relative desolateness. My row remained empty (aside from myself) for some time, until someone eventually took a seat at the opposite end of the row to my right. I never made eye contact with this person and I only viewed them through my peripheral vision. Consequently, I had no idea who this person was. A student? A professor? I will never know. Before I could contemplate this further, the event began. 

As the event was introduced by one of the speakers, I began to notice a clicking noise. The sound of the camera behind me repeated in an irregular pattern. A click, then nothing, then two clicks, then nothing.

While the subsequent speakers discussed how their work related to the main topic of “Ethics of Repair”, my concentration broke momentarily when I noticed President Harring taking a seat in the row directly in front of me, but my gaze quickly returned to the presentation.

Still, the clicks of the camera persisted, and at times this continued to test my focus. After some time, I noticed that the irregular pattern of clicking would quicken if the current speaker was in a position that seemed authentic or if the entire scene appeared to be rather photogenic.

Once the event concluded, I noticed the various blue marks on my hands that had no doubt appeared due to subconscious fidgeting with my uncapped blue pen, which I had purchased specifically for its liberal inflow. Despite my initial annoyance, I simply placed the cap on the pen, closed my notebook, and returned to my dorm shortly before 8:30.