by shredcruz

On Monday, April 18th, the UVM campus lost an icon. The Bus Ball, created by local artist Lars Erik-Fisk, is a sculpture that depicts a yellow school bus in the shape of a sphere. Fisk, himself a 1993 graduate from our cherished university, has loaned the Bus Ball to the University of Vermont since its installation on May 11, 2017. For nearly five years, the Bus Ball has been perched proudly on a knoll behind the Hills Agricultural Science Building on central campus. Universally loved and admired, the Bus Ball shone bright like the sun in the center of UVM’s Solar System.

However brief, the Bus Ball experienced a robust life during its time on campus. Rumor has it that the door on the sculpture was once functional, opening to an interior of benches clad in green faux-leather. However, this door did not remain functional for long, as word spread of young couples spending nights of corporeal pleasure within the confines of the Bus Ball’s spherical walls (wall? I don’t know, it’s a sphere). Tales of the Bus Ball’s love shack reputation caught on to administration, and the door has tragically been bolted shut ever since. 

Beyond rumors, the fact remains that the Bus Ball was a universally adored monument on our campus. The Bus Ball had fan accounts on Twitter (now deactivated in light of it’s removal), and the UVM club Stickit To Em even sold stickers of the Bus Ball’s likeness. 

Then on Monday, April 18th 2022, everything changed. 

“I was walking through campus, as I always do, but something wasn’t right. Then it hit me– in the place where the Bus Ball once was, was nothing. It had disappeared.” -Average UVM Student

“I heard the news through social media. I was scrolling through Twitter between classes, and the only thing people were talking about was the Bus Ball and that it was gone. I thought it was a big joke at first, I would have never imagined that this nightmare was a reality.” said Pot Smoker.

The rumor was true, the Bus Ball was gone. Confirmed not only by the Bus Ball’s absence, but also by photo evidence of Lars Fisk loading the monument into the bed of his pickup truck. Social media was abuzz, and there’s only one question on everyone’s mind– “Where did our beloved Bus Ball go?”

According to the artist himself, the University requested that the Bus Ball be removed so as to not get damaged by neighboring construction. I suppose the Bus Ball’s safety is a noble enough cause for its removal, but it doesn’t make a tough pill any easier to swallow. Still, questions remain– where is it now? Why didn’t they move it somewhere else on campus? We demand answers!

 There is a silver lining in the tragedy of it all, which is the prospect of the Bus Ball’s triumphant return. There is already a petition on change.org asking for the sculpture’s re-installation. The petition has over 700 signatures as I’m writing this article.

Dear friends, I leave you with this: appreciate what you have before it’s gone.

Categories: April 26, reflections