Issue date: 5/17/02 Section: Features

Media Credit: Tanya Corbin/Local Gab

Two Mondays ago, late night snack cravings led three fellow seniors (Michael Wright, Ger'Shun Avilez and Daniel Liu) and myself to the Conway Wal-Mart on Harkrider. It looked as if it would be a regular pick up–chips, doughnuts and Dr. Pepper. Two of us approached checkout number 9, and ventured to the Icee machine to complete our purchase. As I turned to leave, none other than Jared Leto of My So-Called Life "Jordan Cattalano" fame rolled by with his shopping cart. I immediately approached another girl, who looked as if she was wondering the same thing, "Was that in fact, Jared Leto?" We were sure it was. I quickly walked to where the rest of my party was waiting and told them the good news. "Who is Jared Leto?" was all I got! Preposterous! Only the guy who's been in tons of movies, and currently dates Cameron Diaz! But why was Jordan…Jared in Wal-Mart on a Monday night?

I convinced my party that it was him and that we should wait in the car, in the fire lane until he walked out and take a picture of him, from the camera I had in my car for such an emergency as this. At the risk of looking like a silly groupie, I had Ger'Shun lean out of the window to catch him as he walked out. Thoughts of crazy paparazzi assisting in the death of the late Lady Diana sprang to my head and I decided to go into to Wal-Mart to take the picture. Before I went in, I called everyone in my cell phone book that would possibly know who he was, and that was still awake. My fellow seniors and friends were living it up at Pint Night at the Flying Saucer and didn't answer their phones; I then called Kerri Maxwell, who encouraged me to get a picture and talk to him. At that moment, the same girl from the checkout line emerged from inside the store. She went to her car, grabbed her camera and walked back toward the store. I ran up to her, asked if she saw him, and she said that she had gotten an autograph on a receipt, and that he said he would pose for a picture. A receipt? How trashy. He did however agree to a picture.

As we waited in the alcove with the arcade games and ads for community events, my clever friends attempted to blend in with the pinball machine and the kiddie horse. Thanks for parking my Blazer, by the way. In my haste, I had left it running in the fire lane. He roamed around the store once more and finally checked out. As he walked toward the exit, I relaxed and let the girl ask him to pose for a picture. He agreed and asked us to go outside. We followed and stood by the entrance taking pictures and asking questions about why he was there, what he was doing and the like. He explained that his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, was opening for Puddle of Mudd at UCA the next day and he had gotten hungry and decided to WALK TO WAL*MART FROM THE ADJACENT MOTEL 6! Jared, Jared. No one is going to believe I saw you if I say you're staying at the Motel 6. We engaged in small talk about where we went to school, how long we had left, what we were doing that night, etc… As I began to walk away, he asked the other girl if she could take him back to his motel. When she said no, he looked at me; I responded that my truck was full and I had a paper to work on. I bid them good night and headed back to Dickinson. Yes, my truck was full and as you can see, he looked a little skanky. I then rushed to the truck where the rest of the gang was waiting. I immediately redialed everyone and left messages, thinking of the great story I could share with everyone the next day on campus.

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