David Floyd: Family over Rivalry

I went to Auburn, Alabama, for an internship with the Alabama Plasma Internship Program (ALPIP) last summer. I studied “spatiotemporal plasma dynamics in the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment device using fast imaging”.

I got to work with cutting edge technology being used by some of the greatest minds in America. However, the defining moment of my internship did not happen while working with plasma. It happened when I got invited to help Auburn fans “paper Toomer’s Corner”.

I was looking for a church group to join in my first week at Auburn. The first name that stood out was “Auburn Christian Fellowship” (ACF). I decided to try them out and quickly made some friends. Two weeks later, I was invited to watch the Auburn baseball team play Oklahoma State for the Superregionals title.

I am not a baseball fan so much as football, but I like watching sports and hanging out with friends, so I went. I am still not much of a baseball fan, so I can’t explain what the superregionals are or the name of the championship series Auburn would “punch its ticket to” if they won.

Auburn won that night, earning a spot in let’s just say the “playoffs”. As soon as Auburn’s pitcher struck the last batter out, some of the girls started screaming in celebration. Someone even started hyperventilating. I just sat there and enjoyed the ride. As people started leaving, they mentioned “papering the corner”. They asked me if I wanted to come with them. Feeling a little spontaneous and desperate for social interaction, I agreed. I got in the unfamiliar car with no idea what I was doing. I started asking numerous questions like “What is ‘papering the corner’? and “What do you mean paper?”.

We drove down College Street through the middle of Auburn heading for the clock tower at the big entrance of the university. More and more students started accumulating in the streets as we got closer. We rolled down a window to cheer with some of the fans walking down the sidewalk with toilet paper in hand. We eventually found a place to park on the side of the street and got out of the car.

I could hear people cheering. There was a huge commotion just a block away. I started seeing streamers on the trees. My thought process: “Is this fricking toilet paper? They’re putting toilet paper in the trees?”.

They were, indeed, covering the trees (and everything else) with toilet paper. I was immediately filled with curious wonder. I asked, “So, you just throw the toilet paper into the tree?” Someone responded, “Yeah. Here.” She directed me as I awkwardly unrolled about six feet of paper. “Here goes absolutely nothing”, I thought. I pulled my arm back. I put a little extra effort into my form and hurled it over the tree. The roll fell back down through the tree creating a nice stream. One of the girls egged me on, “Hurry and grab the roll before someone else does.” I retrieved the roll and promptly threw it again. I was getting the hang of this now.

That tree was just the first. Everyone was cheering. Toilet paper was flying. I had to stick close to my friends to make sure I did not get lost. I was getting more comfortable, but they were still the only two people there I knew (or even came close to recognizing). People were chanting all of Auburn’s favorite chants. I had to take some videos. I did not want to forget any of this. My favorite chant ended with something like, “...Give em h*** you War d*** Eagle!”.

Streams of toilet paper hanging from the trees at Toomer's Corner

We stayed and papered the corner for about half an hour. As we were leaving the celebration, I was determined to get an Auburn shirt. I was going to get one anyway because that’s how I usually do souvenirs, but I decided to get one early after that. I was an Auburn fan from then on out.

I was up very late that night. I could not stop thinking about how my life had just been touched in such an amazing way. I had just had the time of my life all because my friends invited me to do so. I was raised homeschooled and most of my friends are from my church community, so I haven’t seen many events like papering the corner. I wasn’t walking down the street and randomly found all these people celebrating and decided to join them. I was invited to come watch the game and then invited to celebrate the win with them. They wanted to include me in their Auburn family tradition. Thus, by accepting their invitation, I became part of the Auburn family.

America is full of “families” like the Auburn family. The issue we all face is how to include others in our family without forcing them into it. I am thankful that papering the corner was a safe, clean event. I had been making friends for the last three weeks. When they invited me to paper the corner, I went. They didn’t make me go. I wasn’t afraid of them either, so I wasn’t afraid to go with them…and I had the time of my life. American society today is all about trying to include, accept, and love everyone. Those are three very good things for a society to do. We just need to do so without forcing it.

South Carolina fans and Auburn fans don’t usually get along great, mostly because Auburn always wins. I have always “felt” for Auburn, though, because they are always the underdog in the Iron Bowl just as USC is always the underdog in the Palmetto Bowl. That doesn’t mean I don’t get mad at Auburn when they beat South Carolina. However, I am an Auburn fan as well now and I love the Auburn students because I got to know them.

We weren’t papering the corner after Auburn beat USC in a football game. The fans weren’t rubbing it in my face. We went and celebrated something else entirely and it was awesome. We need to stop rubbing comparisons in each other’s faces and start joining in celebrations of things we agree on.

I discovered the best form of inclusion during my internship. I need to find and get to know people who are uncomfortable in whatever situation they face and offer to share my family with them. I can influence many more lives by being a friend and inviting them into my life. I will not succeed by shunning them for being different.  They may not choose to “friend me back” or participate in my life, but I’m willing to bet I make more friends in the long run. I am definitely still a South Carolina fan in the end, but I have family in Auburn now as well. Competition is fun, but family is better.

David Floyd is a junior in General Mathematics. He went to Auburn, Alabama for an Alabama Plasma Internship Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation in the summer of 2022. David is expecting to graduate in 2023 and is considering enrolling at Auburn University for graduate school. He hopes to someday work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.