A Brief Reverie About Penn State Critters

Though I missed the Northwest desperately and at every moment while I was earning my MA at Penn State, I had the stalwart companionship of a form of fauna I've never seen here. I often read late at night on the lovely porch of my State College rental, and many evenings had the pleasure of watching a skunk amble up to the porch, clock me there, and casually turn in another direction. The gait of the skunk cannot adequately be described to those who have not seen it: they sort of roll forward, each limb seemingly independent of the others, and something about their pace suggests that every skunk is humming along to Muzak as he or she strolls toward nowhere in particular. I miss skunks.