This scene from The West Wing Season 4, Episode 15, “Inauguration: Over There,” was
written by the incomparable Mr. Aaron Sorkin.
Notice the snowballs.
When I was 21 years old, I visited Chicago for the first time. It was February. Until then, I had lived my entire life in southern California. I had never experienced what the rest of the country calls winter.
Some friends of mine and myself were on a charter bus. We had just attended an event and were headed back to our hotel. There was some lag time, so we decided to exit the bus and have a snowball fight. I, of course, only knew Hollywood’s version of snowballs. See above. They are perfectly round when the actors pick them up off the ground.
It did not take me long to realize this was a myth. I took the time to pat each lump of snow into a ball before casting it. Meanwhile, the pros were just grabbing snow and throwing it. I was confounded. This is not a snowball fight. This is just a snow fight.
I never got one good lick in. Instead, I returned to the bus wet and with snow in my glasses.
