12/3/21
the guy in the castle last tuesday night
I was enchanted to meet you.
Ocean blue eyes looking in mine,
and you said,
“You know I haven’t seen you around before.”
But you still don’t know
What I never said.
I should’ve asked you questions.
I thought I saw you at the bus stop —
I didn’t though.
Free rent living in my mind.
Stay beautiful xoxo
Anything from waxing poetic about a cute girl at the library, expressing horniness over a sports player, or complimenting a killer outfit is curated on Instagram in brightly-colored squares. Anonymous declarations of true love and requests to hook up from the denizens of Arcadia University now fill my timeline several days a week, and if I somehow happen to miss a post, I’m reminded of it by one of the several missed connections addicts on campus.
Interesting and strange and wholesome and all-consuming, the Instagram account Arcadia Missed Connections (@arcadiamissedconnections) has been on the minds of Arcadia students and faculty alike since its inception in November 2021. It’s simple: students anonymously submit a “missed connection” (a personal ad made after two people meet and have a notable connection but for whatever reason, do not exchange contact information), and it’s posted for all to see.
2/22/22
My wife is the girl
smoking in her car
outside of knight hall
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be the subject of one of these posts – not for the romantic aspect, as I’m very happily partnered – but there’s something exciting and poetic about someone taking the time to write about someone else in such a privately public way- one lonely heart reaching out to the void, just to say “I’m here, and I see you.”
Despite being such a small, tight-knit campus, it’s still really hard to feel seen at times. At best, Arcadia students sprawl across the green, soaking in the sun, and at worst, students are accompanied only by the occasional squirrel as they make their way across campus.
I felt the most connection going into my freshman year in 2019. The transfer orientation the summer before school started was a painless affair, save for the icebreaker activities. I slipped out, wanting absolutely nothing to do with social interaction, and another transfer student followed, leaning against the Commons with a cigarette. I don’t remember her name, nor do I remember what we talked about, but what I do remember is the little bit of space we occupied, all to ourselves before never seeing each other again.
9/14/22
to the girl who works at the library,
your eyes are crispy winter winds.
COVID certainly didn’t help with making connections. While most of us have unmasked to see each other once more, the lockdown period had a profound effect on students. We were all plucked from what were supposed to be the greatest years of our lives – I, from my spring semester of freshman year, when I was just starting to get my shit together – and deposited back two years later, older and not-so-much-wiser.
Now, in the spring semester of 2023, things seem normal on the outside, with the abandonment of Zoom and the continuation of in-person events and activities. But the remnants of COVID and its restrictions remain clear as day. I can’t speak for anyone else, but as soon as students were allowed back to campus, gone were my days of carefree wandering around until 6 AM, talking to random people, and sneaking around campus. My world went from having so many friends across campus to only interacting with a few. After all of that, who has the time – and more importantly, the energy – to stop and smell the roses, to really have a notable connection with someone?
12/13/21
to the girl who almost hit me with her car in the parking lot
you nearly killed me but you’re a pretty blonde
so I’ll let it slide.
Enter Arcadia Missed Connections, creating community on campus with the age-old concept of personal ads. While missed connections have been around for as long as newspapers, they may seem more well-known to us due to Craigslist’s Missed Connections section, implemented in September 2000. In an interview with the New York Times, Craigslist Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster explained that he started the Missed Connections section after noticing many posts in the site’s personal ads section seeking a second meeting with their chance encounter. “Missed Connections give people that second chance…They represent persistence in the face of long odds, which definitely adds to their artistic appeal.”
The same could be said for Arcadia’s missed connections, though they’re more about having fun than finding your one true love. Through Instagram DMs, the anonymous owner of Arcadia Missed Connections, who inherited the account from the founder last year, told me, “i’m all for people being bold but i understand how scary it is to confess feelings or even just say you find someone attractive…although it doesn’t always make a wonderful romantic connection, it’s a fun way to confess your crush and get it off your chest in a way. and if it makes an actual connection, that’s even better!!“
2/7/22
Shoveling squad is real ones.
I dig them and their neon.
They told me they’d heard of people dating due to a missed connections post, but that’s not necessarily what inspires the account to keep going; even with such a small campus, I’d imagine the chances of a true love story blossoming from a missed connections post are low – so why do people do it? Arcadia Missed Connections explained, “i truly think the fun of it all keeps missed connections going even when people don’t connect with the person they sent one in about…it brings the arcadia community together as a fun thing that people look forward to everyday! i always hear 'has missed connections posted yet?' or 'did you see today's missed connection?‘”
4/29/22
to the Landman Library:
you don’t need to be cleaned,
you dirty little concrete slab 😉
Something that makes Arcadia Missed Connections stand apart from its counterpart is that it invites the campus community to view and comment on these anonymous confessions. The lonely hearts of Arcadia are peering into each other’s wistful thoughts and feelings. “I see you,” says those who submit connections, and the ones who look at them say back, “I see you, too.” Whether it be a lighthearted joke about the Landman Library or a hopeless romantic in love with their roommate, Arcadia students commiserate, relate, and connect with the campus community as a whole. “i think some people treat amc like a fun little game, which i’m all for!! as long as everyone’s having fun i’m happy,” Arcadia Missed Connections said of the page’s continued engagement, “i have fun running it and that’s because of all the fun i see everyone else have as they react to submissions and send them in!! i hope that this page continues to be a source of happiness, fun, hilarity, etc for my fellow students at arcadia.”
Maybe if Arcadia had missed connections during my transfer orientation, I could’ve found the girl I snuck away from icebreakers with. Or not— maybe it wouldn’t matter either way. The beauty of Arcadia Missed Connections isn’t the connections themselves, but the sharing of such fleeting and beautifully human moments that let Arcadia students say: “I’m here, and I see you.”
Featured image by Freepik
