It is by no means an isolated phenomenon--nearly everyone has a fire door at some point in their Harvard career; nearly everyone has heard someone having intimate relations through a fire door. "It's sort of striking, though," says the Quincy resident. "I mean, the regularity. I don't think any students could be that dependable."

Others have considered the flip side of this phenomenon, including one Adams House resident. "I don't know who lives on the other side of our fire door, but I can't imagine what they must think of us." He describes the conversations which go on in his room as "just basically, surprisingly crude. In class, I think that people see me as a polite, serious guy. Around my roommates, I deteriorate." He speculates that "whoever it is [on the other side of that door,] they see a side of me that the rest of the world does not. My roommates do, but that's it."

Does he ever think about censoring his exchanges? "Actually, I didn't even realize that you could hear through the door until pretty recently, when we heard them. My roommates thought everyone knew. But I didn't, and that's that. So I don't worry--I figure they'll either hate us by now, or not care at all. I'm just never going to go knocking and find out exactly who it is."

Is someone watching you? The heartwarming story

On facing sides of Holworthy and Canaday, a unique connection was established. "I wasn't even spying on them, just one day, I was sort of looking out, and [someone in the Canaday fourth floor] caught my eye, looking back. I was like, 'Wow, it's pretty weird that we live right across from each other," explains Liz L. Sarles '01. The two watchers discovered, through subsequent and conversations at Annenberg, that they knew each other through mutual friends. "We didn't know each other that well, but it was just sort of something we'd talk about." agrees the guy behind the window, Terence S. Carter '01. He says, "No, we're not dating or anything--we're just good friends." Carter explains that it's just sort of a ritual or game between the two rooms, to check out what's going on across the way. "We're close, so it doesn't matter [what they see]."

And what's this supposed to mean (wink, wink).

"She's kind of a wild one--the window looks out into their common room, so sometimes I'll see her doing some wild stuff. You know." Terence declines to get more specific about just what "wild" means:

And what does she see? "Well, I don't really watch when they're getting undressed or anything." C'mon, really? "Well, at least never when they're actually naked." Oh yeah? "Well, at least not on purpose," says Liz. "Actually, sometimes we'll look over and wonder, why the curtain is closed. What's going on in there now?"

With such an open exchange, the two rooms do consciously reserve some privacy. While maybe there's no striptease--just good wholesome hijinks--Terence con-cedes that "there is definitely some purposeful nudity."

Terence is also quick to point out that their lighthearted diversions are really nothing compared to what goes on elsewhere in the Yard. Things are easier so see, because windows are at pedestrian level, and the dorms are very close together. Terence mentions a neighbor who has a room facing Thayer and who swears that "there's this one couple who completely show off." He agrees, too, that there are some things that you just don't watch. "We were talking about this [particular room across the way], and we looked out the window, and in a room right next to that one we saw this girl just totally getting undressed, who we didn't even know. Really, that was the time to just pull down the shade."

After all, everyone has their limits.