One of my favorite Ben Mulherin stories happened on the Concrete Lawn at the University of Melbourne during Ben’s first year. Our Student Life group was gathered on some benches to eat, chat and play four-square during our weekly lunch meeting. And nearby, another group started to congregate in large numbers.
They were the Socialist Alternative guys, and they were unhappy about a lot of things. They were upset with the USA, George W. Bush, and Israel, amongst other topics. Soon after they commenced ranting and raving over a loudspeaker, the Liberal Party group came to “peaceably” protest by waving Liberal banners and Israeli flags.
Things started to get kind of violent then. People were shouting at each other, and the Socialists were grabbing Israeli flags and tearing them in two, while one of their leaders was screaming into the loudspeaker. As you can imagine, this protest rally sort of overshadowed our low-key gathering and ultimately caused us to shut down our ultra-competitive game of four-square. And so, we all just stood watching the chaos unfold.
The shouting continued louder and louder, especially through the loudspeaker. And then, it all stopped suddenly. The microphone went dead, and the Socialists started scrambling through the maze of people to find the power point to which the public address system
was connected.
About this time, Ben arrived from class. He had a little impish grin on his face. “Did they figure out what happened?” he asked in regard to the confusion infront of us.
“No,” I replied. “I guess they’ve lost their power or something.”
“Or someone just unplugged it,” he said grinning, as he threw down his backpack.
[Editor's note: For those who recall a similar episode, yes Ben loved Strictly Ballroom. If you haven't seen it you must.]
Monday, April 11, 2011
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