Hallowgreens: When should it be ???

Recently some people have been tryna decide when Hallowgreens should be.  This is a difficult event/party to plan.  Even though ResLife/SMCM dictates when Hallowgreens is, every year people try to establish the date of the event via facebook events. 

People just don't understand that it literally gets decided during the summer by ResLife.  Any RA can confirm this.  When you get your RA duty schedule, it shows when Hallowgreens is.  ResLife, Public Safety, etc. all select this date so that they can plan accordingly to have enough staff on hand to handle the shitshow.

But people still don't understand this.

"DJ" Darren Leu in his prime

ANYWAYS this year, according to what I saw on facebook, someone made the event for October 27th.  This is the date the school chose for the event, and the date that makes the most sense.  Since it's in October.  Some people, like "DJ" Darren Leu believed that that it should be on November 3rd.

From my understanding, the logic was this.  Some 100~ students who compete in Fall Division III (the last division) sports have to play sports on Sunday October 28th.  So, they cannot get blackout drunk at Hallowgreens because it would impede their performance the next day.

1.  Hallowgreens is still legitimately fun and much more memorable completely sober
2.  Having played on a 'club sports' team (SMUT) we played every game hungover.  And we even won a trophy.

The point is, trying to change the date because a small minority cannot 'participate' is dumb.  It is as dumb as Paul Prazinski (I do not know how to spell that Pollack name) in 2010 (maybe 2009???) trying to push back the date of Hallowgreens because he and his 'bio' class would miss it due to a field trip.  Everyone told him that he was being stupid, and the date remained the same.

All in all, this resulted in a bunch of dumbasses (read: kids that are kinda clever and make me laugh a lot) making a new Hallowgreens event.  On December 29th.   https://www.facebook.com/events/157002124439597/

This sort of controversy will occur again in another two years.  One of the biggest issues at SMCM is the lack of 'institutional memory'.  It is the issue of 'remembering' what happened in past years.  Past efforts, past initiatives, past downfalls.  It happens at any college, and is incredibly hard to combat.  But it is something that both students and faculty/staff/administrators need to be mindful of.  The issue of the 'real date' of Hallowgreens are just minor example of the larger issue of a lack of institutional memory at St. Mary's.

Hawktoberfest Weekend

Hawktoberfest/Family Weekend is only a month away!  And I think they have a new logo for the event that combines the two 'events' well~

Very nice logo!  Simple and effective.  What happened to 'HAWKTOBER' though???  That is what it was called in 2009 and 2010...guess they changed it last year???  Hawktoberfest has a kinda 'Oktoberfest' font going on, whereas Family Weekend is more straight laced.  Which makes sense via one event is focused on drinking and watching soccer, whereas the other is focused on family events.

Speaking of which, I wonder what will the 'Hospitality Tent' be like this year???

Can u spot me ???

This is one of the best aspects of Hawktoberfest via it involves hanging out with yer fellow alumni/students/faculty [one year my Dad spent half an hour talking to my academic adviser and I found it kinda uncomfortable but also really funny and great.  One of those "St. Mary's" moments that you hear so much about, via a small school] and drinking a few beers.  In past years I believe the beer was free, and then the next year you had to buy a cup for the beer, and then the year after that you got a single free beer.  But looking at the verbiage for this year's event it would appear that all the beer will just be sold, via it says

 Faculty members will be serving as bartenders!  Food and beverages available for sale.

 Kinda unfortunate but also kinda w/e via I have a job so I don't really care as much.  Also for the registration of the event there is usually a section at the end where you can choose to donate some money BUT THIS WAS MISSING.  Maybe my memory is just incorrect and they never tried to ask for donations during Hawktoberfest registartion (but I kinda doubt that).  Could this be due to the Rich Edgar firing a few months ago, which caused many alumni to say that they would no longer donate?

Maybe the plan is to not push the issue of donations until alumni actually arrive and have had a few beers.  Most people are probably going to forget about the whole Rich Edgar thing by then, and actually being at St. Mary's will remind them of how great/cool/chill/etc. it is.  So IDK just a 'tinfoil hat' theory of mine~

Dude in the C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS hoodie talked to my 4ever~

Also this lecture by Cohen looks really great.  It combines his love of sports history with his love of politics

• "The Manly Sport of American Politics: How Our Entertainment Created Our Elections." Ken Cohen, History.  Goodpaster Hall 117

This mini-class will explore the relationship between sports and electoral politics in American History. From calling elections "races" to considering the "dark horse" to "punting" on an issue, Americans have come to talk about politics as if it was a sport. What does this mean, and why does it matter? You'll walk away from this course with a unique perspective on American politics, just in time for the 2012 elections.

So IDK maybe I will see yall at that lecture???  It's before the hospitality tent which is good planning.

Walking to Campus

Stole this photo from the St. Mary's fbook page, via theft.  It comes from the photo archive, the year 1986.  Most of yall reading this probably weren't even alive then. 

I absolutely love that bike shirt.  Rainbow bikes.  I need that shirt.

-Tommy Seahawk

Great Room Hell

August 23rd is the start of orientation for the class of 2016 which means 500 freshies and their various parental units are currently on campus moving in etc. What this roughly translates to is great room hell via you guys have NO idea what you're doing. As much as we will grow to love you, we maybe hate you the first few times we encounter you in the great room because we are hungry college students and you, yes you, are standing in the way of food. Below please find a list of great room etiquette aka how to not be hated

• Yes, you do use your student ID to swipe in. Just hand it to them. Say thank you. It's that easy.
• Yes, you can use it to swipe in parents/sibs/friends/so's or slutever.
• Don't make the aforementioned people pay for their own food via money. It is so much easier to just swipe them in and you are a freshman with a freshman meal plan. You will never use all of your blocks anyway.
• Please don't stand at the front of the line and have a big conversation with the whole family. Do that before. Oh my god.
• Have your ID out and know how many swipes you need
• If you are waiting for someone either wait outside of the great room area entirely or by the cubbies because if you stand in the middle of the food area I hate you.
• Boxes exist. You can take food out of the great room with them. They are nice. Ask for one when you swipe in.
• You can go back as many times as you want. 
• Big T makes the best crepes 
• Yeah that means you can get more than one huge chocolately crepe
• You're welcome
• Spiced chai is the bomb
• Just be a big kid and put your dirty dishes where they're supposed to go. If you leave them at the table i hate you AND you're an asshole.
• ALWAYS go to midnight breakfast
• At the end of the semester upperclassmen WILL try to mug you for blocks. If you are smart you can receive payment in form of beer which is super nice.

I think that is all you need to know for now. Feel free to add things I forgot in the comments for the education of first years.

-Natty Ho (da intern~)

Tuition

J. Frank Raley Jr. Passes Away

J. passed away recently.  Yall may best know him as the dude whose portrait is hanging in the Great Room (added in...2010???).  Also according to The Bay Net the Great Room is named after him (did u kno this???)

But more importantly without this 'bro' St. Mary's would be a much different place.  He was really instrumental in transforming SMCM into a 4-year institution. 

So thx Raley for helping to establish the St. Mary's we all <3 br="br">

Mold UPDATE

According to a source, someone whose townhouse has mold, some FRENCH-CANADIANS came in to inspect the house.

Excuse me?  French-Canadians?  In AMERICA?  Why is St. Mary's outsourcing jobs to French Canadians?

Can we even trust French-Canadians?  Are they French, or are they Canadian?  What is this dual citizenship nonsense.  PICK ONE, AND PICK AMERICA.

PANIC: Episode 3: Return of the Mold

Guess who's back, back again
Mold's back, tell a friend
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back?

via that Eminem song

Really miss circa 2k10 when 'mold' was a new thing.  Mold reports were 'unconfirmed' and it was really difficult to get anyone to do anything about it.  But these days they announce mold before school has even started!  Email below~

Each fall we thoroughly prepare and inspect the residences for occupancy, including checking for the presence of mold.  It is not uncommon to find isolated incidents of what could be mold given our damp climate.  This year we have found what appears to be possible mold in some of the townhouses.  Housekeeping staff, Facilities staff, and Residence Life staff went through every unit on Friday and Saturday and we have minor occurrences, mostly on bathroom walls and some linen closets, in some units.  A few areas have spots of suspected mold on some of the upholstered furniture and/or carpet.

We do not want to alarm residents.  However, we know that everyone on campus is quite sensitive to mold issues so we want to be open and transparent when we find it.  It is important to note that this situation is unlike what we experienced last year in CD & PG where we encountered systemic mold outbreaks that were pervasive in each building.

We found one townhouse unit (Morsell 3) where conditions require the early arrival student to be temporarily relocated elsewhere on campus while the carpet and all upholstered furniture and mattresses are replaced.  We found five other units that require some level of carpet cleaning and nine units where some upholstered furniture will be cleaned next week, before classes begin. This work will be done following standard EPA guidelines by a professional carpet and upholstery cleaning firm.

Housekeeping staff are completing spot-cleaning in other units in the bathrooms, kitchens, and linen closets following our normal mold-removal protocols.  This work will be completed by Monday evening. These types of issues can recur during the semester.  We ask the residents to report any suspected mold growth to the Residence Life staff or Physical Plant(240-895-4287) as soon as it is seen.

As always, the safety of our students is our highest priority. We are closely monitoring this situation and will keep you apprised as needed.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Joanne Goldwater (jagoldwater@smcm.edu or240-895-4207), Derek Thornton (assistant VP of Campus Operations at dkthornton@smcm.edu or 240-895-4287), or Chip Jackson (ccjackson@smcm.edu or 240-895-4412).

Email is not entirely correct, via some students that were supposed to move into Homer (information based on a trusted source) two three days ago were forced to move elsewhere.  But that wasn't included in the email.  Not a big deal really. 

Actually not a lot to say really.  Mold sucks etc.  Did yall like the title of this post, it was a Star Wars reference.  So that was 'cool'.

Also I have hired an intern for the coming year!  The intern will be putting up flyers and blogging at the intern's leisure. 

-Tommy Seahawk

Beautiful Shot of the 'Hidden' Grave

Found this on the 'internet' recently.  I don't remember the source, via stealing content~

Really stunning, the reflection of the sunset in the marble (idk some sort of fancy rock at least) of the grave.  An English major could probably write something poetic about this, like, the sunset represents the end of the day, the death of the day, and with each passing day we grow closer to our own eventual ends (the grave)~

Hidden grave is one of my favorite stops on the '7 Wonders Tour' via it's one huge troll.  The first time you go on the tour/hear about it you are wondering 'how are we gonna find a grave that is "hidden"' and then you quickly realize the grave itself just says 'Hidden'.  Beautiful.  Something we should all aspire to, to be a troll even in death.

YOLO

Welp...time for me to withdraw from ~college~.  Won't be seeing yall this fall...gonna miss u all

Stay golden~