Last Friday marked National Sit With a Stranger Day, a holiday created in 2020 to encourage people to make new connections with others, even if they’ve never met. The following vignettes are stories from people who spent their Saturday on Syracuse University’s campus. From volunteers to a new fiancé, SU was chock full of strangers to sit with, learn from and talk to this weekend. And, through these conversations with The Daily Orange, may be a little less than strangers now.

The Tailgaters

Under an orange tent stationed next to Carnegie Library, Tim Teeter and Bob Sullivan got ready for Saturday’s football game. The pair have been tailgating games for over a decade, joined by their wives, Debbie and Lisa, and other friends. A cooler of breakfast sandwiches — with the choice of sausage, egg and cheese and ham, egg and cheese — as well as Teeter’s famous chicken dip rounded out the early morning tailgate spread.

The Teeters and Sullivans hold season tickets for SU football. They make the drive to home games from Utica with their SU-themed cups and orange paraphernalia always in tow. Throughout their time as tailgaters, the Teeters, Sullivans and their friends have experimented with different dishes from grilled goods to brisket and low country boils. Their game day menu is always different, Bob said.

For the Teeters and Sullivans, the atmosphere of the Dome and energy of the crowd are the best part of SU games. Though Bob and Tim didn’t graduate from SU, their love for local college football is enough to keep bringing them back season after season.

“I think I’ve had season tickets for 12 years now,” Bob said. “We tailgate together for the season tickets, so we’ll be together. And then some other friends will come and join us, so we might have 15 or 20 here.”

The Cook

While the tailgaters enjoyed their home cooked goodies, Fred Flagg was parked in front of Link Hall preparing to cook hot dogs and hamburgers for the pre-game crowd. Flagg is a cook, but also does assorted odd jobs, specifically at the Limp Lizard Barbecue food truck. Four hours before the game, Flagg cleaned and prepped the flat grill and cooking space. He said he arrives early to prepare for the inevitable rush of fans about an hour before the game starts.

Flagg was preparing Limp Lizard’s walking tacos, one of the truck’s specialties. The dish includes taco meat, lettuce, tomato and cheese all tossed inside a bag of Doritos. In the four hours between the truck’s arrival and the beginning of the game, Flagg said he expected to stock up on any supplies and ready the space for customers.

Though he’s worked at Limp Lizard for only a year, Flagg has been in the restaurant industry for over 40. He said the biggest difference between working in a food truck and working in a restaurant is that people ordering from the truck don’t have time to wait. Flagg said staying focused and knowing what he’s doing make him successful while on the job.

“I’m almost 60 now, I’ve been doing this since I was 17. So you learn something in that time,” Flagg said. “It’s fun. As long as you know what you’re doing, you stay focused, get some people out and keep them happy.”

The Volunteer

Anyone passing by the Dome Saturday could hear the delicate, persistent sound of the Salvation Army’s bells. Kiana Williams, who works for the organization through the Booth House teen shelter, said the Salvation Army was volunteering at SU as part of a food drive for food insecurity in central New York.

In the six years that Williams has been with the organization, she said that SU has been generous to the Salvation Army’s causes. Williams herself is in the process of becoming a social work student at Falk College, and said she was glad the organization and school have maintained a partnership for donations, especially since the pandemic has impacted poverty rates locally, she said.

“So many people are struggling, especially after COVID. A lot more families have been pushed into poverty, so it’s more needed now than ever,” Williams said. “We get donation calls from Syracuse alum or former Syracuse students all the time … so I’m actually expecting this to be a really good turnout for our shelter.”

Even though Williams was working on the Quad for Salvation Army, she also said she, as a lifelong Syracuse resident, was excited to see if SU will continue their momentum throughout the football season. Between the work as a volunteer and as a fan, Williams said she was expecting a good donation yield for the Salvation Army, and for the football team to go 3-0.

The Football Family

The Jackson family drove up to Syracuse from Pittsburgh at 4 a.m. for the game. Derrick Jackson, whose son, Courtney, is a wide receiver for SU’s football team, has attended almost all of Courtney’s games this season. For the Purdue game, Courtney’s siblings Chan, Bray and Blake tagged along.

Despite feeling tired from the drive, the family said they were excited to watch the game, and to catch up and wish Courtney well afterwards. Derrick said the family would have to leave soon after the game to drive back to Pittsburgh — Blake and Bray, who also play football, had a game the next day.

The Jacksons are planning on coming to the rest of the games this season, though they jokingly hoped for more games that start later in the day. The family often goes to the locker room to see Jackson after the game.

“We hang out with (Courtney) a little bit, you know, give him our well wishes and then we jump back on the road,” Derrick said. “Right now, this is all about having fun.”

The Proposal

Elsewhere on campus, a white wedding altar decorated in faux flowers and tulle flanked the Kissing Bench outside of the Hall of Languages. A red carpet led up to the bench, where Donato Fraioli was preparing to propose to his girlfriend.

Fraioli has been with his girlfriend since they met seven years ago when they were both SU students. The couple kissed on the bench during their time at the school, and Fraioli, who has a video of their kiss, planned his proposal idea around that.

“I’ve got actually a little video of us kissing on this bench seven years ago,” Fraioli said. “She’s gonna see it on an iPad, I’m gonna have a random person bring it over to her, and then hopefully she’ll just, you know, walk up.”

With help from his brother, Fraioli was able to surprise his girlfriend, first with the video and then by leading her to the decorated Kissing Bench to recreate the moment. After seven years together, Fraioli said that Saturday was finally “the day” to propose. The weather and timing worked out perfectly, he said,

When the time came for Fraioli to pop the question, Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” wafted over the scene. She said yes.

Reporting for this article was contributed by Emily Steinberger.

Published on September 18, 2022 at 11:22 pm