Wednesday, Oct. 1 — Here we are, six of us from The Collegian, waiting on the third floor of the USU while the ASI Senate meeting is in closed session.

These things can last quite a while, and so in the meantime, we try to keep ourselves occupied with discussion. I get the impression that people think we’re serious all the time. We are the staff of a newspaper after all.

At a glance, we might well be talking about presidential politics, or O. J. Simpson’s most recent trial, or predictions for Fresno State’s performance this weekend against the Hawaii Warriors.

But we’re not. We’re talking about “Dr. Strangelove” and about “Star Wars.” We’re talking about “The Lord of the Rings” — and not the films.

Here is an excerpt of a later portion of our conversation:

“I think when you have children, you should not have a MySpace,” says Kelly Lucus, news editor. “I just think MySpace is kinda… trivial. If you’re going to raise another life, maybe you should be a grown-up. I don’t ever plan on raising another life, so I don’t have to worry about it.”

“Yeah, children are overrated,” replies Heather Billings, Web master and multimedia editor.

“Yeah, thumbs down to babies!” shouts Kelly, enthusiastic.

I love children, and so does senior writer Ben Keller, and so we protest, so Kelly wonders aloud what I love about children.

“I think what I like about children is that I like making them laugh in public when their parents are trying to make them behave.”

“That sounds kinda creepy,” Kelly told me. The rest of the group agrees: they have looks on their faces like I’m the pied piper of Fresno State, just a pipe-song away from leading their future children toward some creepy, pedophilic demise.

They’re not the only ones staring, either. Students — some who know who we are — look on, surprised that we might be having this conversation, especially at a time like this.

But hey, you can’t be serious all the time.