The sidewalk becomes a threshold—between class and conversation, between performance and pause. Smokers linger in the hush before reentry, clustered in quiet familiarity. They trade stories, not glances. The smoke curls upward, mixing with breath, with laughter, with the gravity of what isn’t said. These are the unsanctioned spaces of real life.
Outside the formal boundaries of lecture halls, this scene unfolds in grayscale honesty. Cigarettes glow briefly, punctuating moments of stillness. Backpacks slump against the wall, jackets held tight against the Winnipeg wind. This is a gathering of pauses, a communal exhale before returning to fluorescent light and curated thought.
