Harold

I didn't have a car when I showed up to St. Mary's, actually I didn't even have a license at that point. Eventually I got my license, but still being carless my junior year I found myself of legal age with a newly expired license. I didn't feel comfortable asking someone to drive me to the MVA, which was pretty far away, but moreso because of the fear of how long it could take. We had grown up seeing the horrors Patty and Selma could wreak on people... Eventually Ben took me there, but before then Harold yelled at me a lot for my expired ID (Editors note: Harold was right to yell at me). I mean it was obviously me on the ID, and I have seen plenty of people pass an ID behind themselves to the next person. So, my first impression of Harold was mixed.

But everyone liked him, and I learned to as well. Funny, kind, cheap bar tabs, everything you're looking for in a bartender. My wife and I were lucky enough to take a trip down to St. Mary's for a weekend in February of 2020. I messaged Harold and told him we'd be down, and he was kind enough to let us know he'd be working Saturday happy hour. He looked rough, really rough. I was happy to see him, but I know that for me at least it's hard to accept what your eyes are showing you. I hate knowing that everything changes and goes away eventually, whether it's the field at the Crescents or a good friend.

I'm going to miss sitting at the Door with Ben and catching Harold up on all the dumb things we had been doing. He always seemed so interested in our shenanigans, I think Harold really loved humans and our stories a lot more than most people.

I know that facebook is awful and everything but for better or worse that's the primary way I communicated with Harold, and I am going to miss all of his posts, especially the ones about bed linens and his dad.

Here are three random memories of Harold:

-harold playing clash of clans at a competitive level while bartending, and knowing that my tips would go towards that

-seeing harold in Baltimore at the alumni o's game/Pickles

-like, a lot of times when you would order your drink, I feel like he gave you a smile or a look or an eye raise that kinda said "look, everyone else in here is a drunk asshole, but right now, as you take your drink, please don't do anything to annoy me further" in the most empathetic, human way.

Raise a glass that you took home after pint night and leave some memories in the comments.

Advertising Awards

IT used to be that choosing a college was an easy process. In my experience, all it takes is an old sailor telling you "you should go to St. Mary's, they like to sail and there are lots of women there" when you're 12 yrs old. That's all it took! The advice of one old dude, early in the morning, shortly after explaining "you know, if you sniff that airplane glue, you'll get high." Old sailors and dentists LOVE telling kids how to get high, or at least they do if you have long hair.

My point is that times change, and advertising is more important than ever. Prestige TV used to be stuff like M.A.S.H., and now Prestige TV is like...whatever is coming out each week on Disney+ I guess???

But for awhile it was Mad Men, the show about advertising in the 1960s. Prestige TV at one point reflected the greatest interests of Americans: Italian-American crime, Baltimore Crime, White Baltimore Crime in Season 2, Meth, and Advertising! 

Season 4, Episode 6 premiered with the prestigious CLIO Awards, an award show for advertising. Funnily enough, the same night Mad Men would win an Emmy! On the TV show Donny Draper gets super drunk (ofc that's every episode), and then after he gets the award he gets even more drunk, this time with power! Also Pete Campbell has to grovel to get the Ken to return to the ad agency, and any scene with Pete Campbell groveling is peak Prestige TV.

SMCM recently got a taste of that sweet, sweet CLIO action, at the 36th Annual Educational Advertising Awards. It makes sense that higher ed advertising really got into the swing of things in the 1980s as the cost of a college education began to swell.

SMCM brought home the gold for their Giving Tuesday 2020 campaign (which a lot of people sat out on, myself included, via current students asking us not to donate over issues related to racism at the college) and for the dedication ceremony of the new Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland. You can watch the virtual dedication below:

I haven't watched it yet via it's an hour long, but it DOES seem pretty well done. 

The Board of Trustees seems pretty pleased with the results too!

"In acknowledging the recent awards at the May Board of Trustees meeting, Institutional Advancement Committee Chair Gail Harmon said, “This type of third-party validation says that our College’s marketing and branding are on the right track.”

Aren't we all just seeking out a lil prestigious third-party validation in this crazy, mixed up world? I love that they do awards for giveaway shirts as well

"The team also earned a Gold award in the 2020 Collegiate Advertising Awards for the design of a giveaway apparel item for newly admitted students designed by alumna Keely Houk ’17."

They buried the goddam lede!!! Am I wrong in thinking that "giveaway apparel" is like primo marketing, or is that a Web 2.0 mindset? I was always jealous of the amazing designs UMD had for their promo gear. But what do I know!

You can learn more about this Awards program with the contact info below. It looks like they are based in Georgia, which recently made it a lot harder to people to vote!

It's also not too expensive to enter it seems, I might submit the blog for judging next year.