Last weekend, while I was gone in New York, Autumn came to Arkansas. All of a sudden, leaves of all shapes and sizes are scattered on the sidewalks. Carved pumpkins sit on front porches, and my friends are all hard at work on Halloween costumes. I swear the wind smells like hot chocolate and campfires.

The Hendrix campus is always beautiful, but this weekend was particularly glorious. After a rainy week, the ground had finally dried out, and half the student body was laying around outside on blankets. The leaves were yellow and drifting slowly down from the trees. And at least a dozen Conwegians, young and old, had gathered to walk around the campus and pose for photos. I sat outside on the steps of the Mills Building, reading about boosterism in the American West in the nineteenth century. But mostly I just people-watched.

A middle-aged woman was pushing her mother around in a wheelchair, to get her some fresh air and let her enjoy the view. A senior who lives off campus walked her dachshund near the library. A group of young children ran around the Pecan Court in the center of campus, jumping up and down and screaming as the famed Hendrix squirrels ran along the branches above them. It was a refreshing change from the homogeneity that often dominates college campuses, which are rarely home to children, pets, or elderly people.

I am appreciating this Fall in a way that most people stop doing after age six. October in Conway is a foreign concept to me at this point, having lived in other countries for the past two fall semesters. I learned how to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night and Dia de los Muertos, but I forgot how to conceive of a costume for Halloween. So I've been asking friends for ideas. Trista Greider, the internships coordinator, suggested I go as a Twister board. Several friends have offered me costumes they bought before coming up with better ideas. My options include a German beer-maid and an organ-harvesting doctor. Tough choice. Friday night is Ghost Roast, the raucous annual Halloween party, so my planning time is quite limited -- and further curtailed by the essay I have due on Friday, discussing the role of the Incas' agricultural system in the fall of their civilization. That's not the kind of fall I want to be thinking about right now.