 "Photo: Kim Espinosa")
The air was tense Friday afternoon as a group of about 40 gripped foam swords and waited for the traffic light in front of the West Mall to turn red.
The light suddenly changed and screams erupted, as the group, divided in two by The Drag, met with waving swords in the middle of Guadalupe Street.
Architecture graduate students Patrick Winn and Josh Conrad envisioned this scene when they decided to create Foam Sword Fridays.
The hour-long event was created to metaphorically respond to some "intense issues," such as the privatization for corporate war profiteers, that Winn and Conrad discussed in the "Housing America" class they took this semester, Winn said.
Passersby were quickly told to grab a sword, wait for the traffic light to change and attack.
"Our response to these issues is not to lead some kind of protest or add to the flyer face-shoving for some kind of awareness movement," Winn said. "It is simply to try and add a little happiness to another's day, or at least a smile."
Winn and Conrad both said the purpose of the event was up for interpretation.
"It could also be a response to this routine of waking up, going to school and going home," Winn said. "We wanted to create something that would change that up a bit."
Architecture professor Steven Moore grabbed a sword and joined the group, which included some of his current students.
"This is a hard time in the semester," Moore said. "This is just a fabulous way for them to scream and let out their anxiety."
Moore said he knew he would be victimized more than others.
"I know I was selected from the crowd," Moore said, laughing. "But now I'm going back to my office to relax."
A crowd quickly formed as students and professors stopped to watch the battles.
"I didn't expect this," said architecture graduate student Kevin Johnson as he and a friend watched from the street. "But this is hilarious - I mean, why not?"
Conrad and Winn said the event was so popular, they received requests to make Foam Sword Fridays a weekly event.
"But we're going to have to pool money for some better swords," Winn said, looking at the remaining half of a sword he held in his hand.
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