The wee hours of the morning are students' greatest secret

Megan Schimpf Prescriptions

At 3 a.m., it seems like the night could go on forever.

The rest of the work-day world has gone to sleep, moonlight casts spooky shadows on everyday objects and silence gives the brain a chance to wander. Craziness is resting until classes start or businesses open. For now, it's just the night owls and the insomniacs.

Sleep can be had in the morning. The magic and peace of the night are there to seize.

Suddenly, tasks that are complicated and congested in daylight are easier and even more enjoyable. Students share the secret of grocery shopping at 2 a.m., when the air smells of fresh doughnuts, the shelves are being stocked and the shoppers are all moving at the same pace.

The late-night munchies make this the high point of the day for food deliverers. Every other car on the street - and beautifully, that's a small number - has a lighted sign hanging off one window and will double park in front of an apartment or University building. All-hours restaurants like the Fleetwood Diner and Denny's come alive. Somehow, late-night food can only be truly savored when darkness has fallen.

The low-rent advertising hours bring out creativity in television programming, which ranges from old classics to shows so awful, they're funny. Remote controls settle on the inane late at night - or possibly the quasi-educational, from an infomercial to a "hard-hitting" talk show to a documentary that would ironically put you to sleep at any other time. Reruns that were dull the first time are uproarious. Lately, live Olympic action has been infectious enough.

Not that it takes much, though. Couches have increased draw after midnight.

Thanks to the Internet and other online resources, nighttime research is the dream come true of the procrastinator and night soul alike. The Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library's expanded hours help procrastinators by making it possible to dig out the references until the early wee hours. Angell Hall is perennially a surreal epicenter of insanity in the midst of the serenity outside.

So as the real world closes it eyes, the freedom of the night begins. Darkness eliminates everything from view except what is ahead. Motivated by either the desire to sleep or the desire to finish the task at hand, nothing else matters. Study or do anything but either way, you finally get to choose.

The line between today and tomorrow blurs as clocks and watches move on and yet you remain awake, stealing hours. The date could be defined by midnight, but it could also be defined by bedtime. So, early morning or late night? Today or tomorrow? You decide. Time slips away faster after midnight than during the 10 minutes between classes on opposite ends of campus - turn around and suddenly it's 3 a.m.

Night brings a unique collection of sounds and special effects. While winter is usually hushed in a coat of snow, summer nights are a symphony of birds and bugs. Bedecked by lights, buildings melt into a skyline of color or stand alone against the darkness.

Drink caffeine if necessary, but the minds of true night people wake up when others start yawning and packing up until morning. (A night person will also have a friend who calls her a vampire because she never sleeps. Trust me.)

Almost every kid asks for the chance to stay up all night, convinced that the really exciting goings-on start after they fall asleep. But the lack of excitement is what is unusually attractive. Sure, you could go to bed, but think of the effort that would entail. Stay up. Sleep in.

Unfettered by any distractions, the mind is able to remember, conceive, create, plan and dream in realms impossible at times when the phone may ring, classes may be held or errands may get done.

During the single-digit-hour darkness, we are less inclined to think of roadblocks. Determination is fluid - the minute this becomes possible, it will certainly happen. If daylight gusto could achieve half of what seems possible at 2 a.m., imagine the possibilities.

More than any other time of the day, late-night hours are easy to own. Bedtime can be selfishly controlled unlike anything else. Alone at night, there's time to think back on what happened and ahead to what might. Finally, a chance to catch up on the e-mails you meant to write, papers you meant to sort, a select group of phone calls you meant to make, laundry you meant to do, meals you meant to eat. Thoughts you meant to think.

One of my friends once told me to always keep a pen and paper by the bed because the best ideas strike at 2 a.m. And those ideas disappear by morning.

If only night could last forever.

- Megan Schimpf can be reached over e-mail at mschimpf@umich.edu

02-19-98