{"id":410,"date":"2016-05-05T17:34:46","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/mosaic\/?p=410"},"modified":"2016-05-05T17:34:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:34:46","slug":"blacktop-entrophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/mosaic\/2016\/05\/05\/blacktop-entrophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Blacktop Entropy"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Cyrus Picou Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the eighteen years I\u2019ve traversed the open road, I\u2019ve always noticed how the blacktop roads seems to have a smoother quality than their concrete brethren. The transition from the rough concrete to the smooth blacktop is joyous. As I lie here on the asphalt, listening to the whimpers of a weenie dog limping back to its house and feeling the subtle burn of the cool air, one thought fills my head. Has the blacktop always been this rough? <\/p>\n

That night started out like any other. I was working on my homework, trying with every ounce of willpower not to put it off until later. My cousin Josh opened my door and invited me to go on a bike ride with him and my brother Shane, which was the equivalent of throwing my homework into a bottomless abyss. <\/p>\n

We followed our normal routine but, unlike the past few nights, the air was unusually comfortable. This didn\u2019t occupy our thoughts for very long, however, as Josh and I noticed that Shane, who usually led our little pack, was falling behind. Then, as we rode in the adjacent neighborhood, a weenie dog chased us as far as its shock collar would allow. <\/p>\n

As Josh and I rode on, we noticed Shane was no longer behind us. We\u2019d left him in the dust. With nothing else to do, Josh decided to see how fast we could go. I felt the hellish burn in my legs as I pedaled as fast as I could. We were fast, and I was about to be furious. As I checked my speedometer and discovered we were going 26 miles per hour, that little weenie dog, this time collarless, ran into the road right in front of me. Before I could even think what would become of the poor dog that I just ran over, my face was burning from sliding on the rough blacktop road.<\/p>\n

As I lay there, it occurred to me that this blacktop wasn\u2019t like all the others. This blacktop wasn\u2019t smooth. Of all the blacktops that I could be lying on, it had to be this one, rough and jagged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cyrus Picou Jr. For the eighteen years I\u2019ve traversed the open road, I\u2019ve always noticed how the blacktop roads seems to have a smoother quality than their concrete brethren. The transition from the rough concrete to the smooth blacktop is joyous. As I lie here on the asphalt, listening to the whimpers of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nicholls"],"yoast_head":"\nBlacktop Entropy - Mosaic Literary Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/mosaic\/2016\/05\/05\/blacktop-entrophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blacktop Entropy - Mosaic Literary Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Cyrus Picou Jr. For the eighteen years I\u2019ve traversed the open road, I\u2019ve always noticed how the blacktop roads seems to have a smoother quality than their concrete brethren. 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