Roughly 10 people having a snowball fight on the UMAINE Mall. It was dusk, the sun turning the sky vibrant shades of purple, pink and orange. It made the snow glow with a warm hue. One person was walking behind all of them. I saw them reach down and pack a snowball, and could only imagine the maniacal grin on their face as I watched them wind up and hit one of their friends square in the back. I heard a scream of surprise, and they whipped around, and even though I was standing 50 feet behind them, I could see the smile on their face. I heard her yell, “You’re gonna regret that!” as she dove for the nearest snow-bank. The person who threw the initial snowball let out a joyous squeal and ran onto the Mall to hide behind a tree. The victim of the initial snowball took aim, fired, and missed. She recruited the help of her other friends. Some of them followed the initial snowball thrower and tried to chase them, while others stayed on the sidewalk and threw from there. However, it very quickly became an “every man for himself” situation, and people were dodging snowballs left and right, trying to get themselves in a position where they didn’t have the chance of someone sneaking up on them. I watched one person dive into the snow to try to hit someone behind a tree, and I laughed as they tried to army crawl their way around the tree. Another person dodged a snowball by going Matrix-style on them; bending over backwards so it wouldn’t hit them in the chest. There were maybe 5 people who were not confident in their throwing capabilities; they would scream whenever someone threw a snowball at them or even so much as looked in their direction. They were standing back, waiting for the others to pick each other off, or waiting for a moment when they would be forgotten and happily jolt someone’s memory back by sending a snowball to their back or the back of their head. The others were much more confident in their capabilities. They threw with startling accuracy and intensity, almost as if they were intending to injure their victim. They were the ones diving and somersaulting out of the way, with no fear whatsoever. They were all giggling happily, with the occasional throaty laugh as someone would take a ball to the groin, and finally they were all out of breath. The person who started the brawl got down on both knees, hunched over, waving his arms as if to tell them to stop. He was done. The victim of the initial snowball raised her arms in victory, and I could hear her screech “YES!” from inside. They all walked away, the snow melting from their pants, jackets, and hair. I could hear them laughing even after they were long gone, on the opposite side of the mall.

Obviously we will need a camera, and a tripod. Ideally a dolly would be cool, but with our resources and the environment it would prove not useful. A normal sound recorder would be good, but if we need to resort to iPhone voice memos, that would be fine as well.

• Saved: W1