So my work this summer as The Daily Texan's Photo Editor is often routine and a matter of making sure things get done correctly, I also have the opportunity to remind myself what it's like to actually shoot. Late on Thursday night a column of fire trucks and police cars blared down the Drag toward a prominent off-campus dorm. I got a call from Bryant that we should check it out, though he couldn't given his plans for the night. So Jeff McWhorter grabbed a camera and went to the scene while I waited in the office for his call to determine the seriousness of the situation. When he called Adrienne Lee, Mark Estrada and myself ran down to University Towers on 24th street to find the building surrounded by emergency personnel and hundreds of middle and high-school aged girls.
During the summer there are many non-students around campus for sports camps and other activities that I wasn't too surprised to see they aren't students of UT.
There were rumors floating around from people that someone fell from a balcony, a gas leak and even that there was a shooter using a modified cane to kill with. There was a line of girls to receive respiratory treatment at a converted bus down the street, so it was clearly something in the air.
I made my way past the police up to the second floor of a garage across the street to avoid being pushed back another block from the scene. After about 30 minutes the police line was removed and suddenly streams of girls came back toward and then into the building. I gave a call to my Managing Editor and found that the reason for the hysteria and hundreds of police, fire, and ambulance personnel was this: burnt popcorn. Yup, that's what was causing the terror. Then I found out who all these girls were- cheerleaders in Austin for camp. Hmm, it's too easy at this point, isn't it? A suggestion from a nearby bar patron for our headline was: "Cheerleaders: Continuing Stereotypes" I found that one quite amusing. Then the natural "Pop-go the Cheerleaders" was suggested, then "Anyone for Burnt Popcorn". Reading comments on our website a clever post reads: "I wonder if the same thing would have happened if the students had been from a camp for high school chess clubs." Well said.
Feel free to LOL at this point.
