Well I'm off work, but wifey ain't, thus the dilemma of my everday. I get off at 4:45, she gets off at 5:00. We played some rousing games of Uno last night, I mostly lost... mostly. We're psyhced about going to the Crabbs for New Years and the possiblity of Obscene Gene coming to Chattanooga for the weekend is exciting, Gene is my brother Pete somewhat of a local celebrity for those who knew him in his infamous Covenant days. The RA of catacombs that said, "Its too hard to turn my friends in for smoking, I'll just join them." He made a good three week run at trying to be a responsible RA, that's been the catacombian record of sorts for shortest time alloted to being the administrations enforcer. Roe almost made it a semester, though mostly because of his love of J. Jones, mostly. I tried really hard when I was an RA for the first semester. I tried to be the guys guy and plan cool events and be a leader and enforce discipline but I realized that in the end thats not what the guys wanted. So i too resorted to just being one of the guys. Its easier sometimes to lead the guys around you when you're one of them and not necessarily an outsider, which is what the evil empire of student development would have its RAs be. Evil Narcs on every hall keeping people in line and punishing those who get out of line, with the exception of rich kids, soccer players, and basketball players, they're intitled to free reign morally, academically, sexually, and physically. Covenant's track record speaks for itself, I don't have to back that up, and any covenant student who denies that is ignorant to the truth.
But enough of my complaining its time to go home.
Party on, Garth.
Posted by: Wayne at December 31, 2003 01:08 AMYou didn't meantion my terrific Catacombs RA track record. What a pity.
Posted by: mesh at December 31, 2003 10:26 AMright on, holton. except for failing to mention mesh. although he did refrain from smoking the day he found out he got the damn job.
Posted by: dp at January 1, 2004 03:56 AMMy fault Mesh, you truly are in my top five of Catacombian RAs. Though Pete still tops the list. I like Mesh's apathetic attitude towards discipline. Like the time I saw a few of Mesh's boys coming out the woods with guitars on their backs most likely wreaking of certain substances. Though Roe tops that with leading his guys across campus serenading the students of Covenant with guitars....an no clothes.
Posted by: holton at January 1, 2004 08:34 PMAlthough I have heard of Pete only by legend, he has long ranked among the select group of my Covenant heroes. The only other one I can think of right now is Don Graham, whose "If you have better things to do than listen to me read the beautiful gospel story, just leave and quit making me feel self-righteous" speech established a precedent which I found very habit-forming. I do think, though, that a successful RA is very much a product of chance - it's not Mesh's fault that on smoking expeditions etc. he had only one passenger. I also believe that any tribute to exceptional RAs should include recognition for folks such as DP, who have in some ways been the most inspiring leaders by using example rather than precept: the unknown soldiers of the war against the administration's desire for a soulless college. My own solution to the kind of favoritism you discuss, Holton, is to have a graduated contract system modelled on the Presidential Scholarship, which would exempt a student from discipline for a new set of behaviours every time his grade climbed. Although this would take some of the excitement and camraderie out of formerly illicit adventures, it would really boost the academic performance of the Covenant body as a whole, and since only asexual dorks would be likely to make it into the anarchic 3.95-4.00 GPA bracket, a certain level of order would be preserved.
Posted by: Holton's Canadian Love Child at January 4, 2004 05:25 PMMen throughout history need Mythology to aggrandize their own dimmly flickering significance in this dark world and I am no different. Thank you for retelling the Catacombs stories and retelling them in a much-more-exciting fasion than is actually historical. There are a lot of people whose stories need to written down:ala- Natty,Cross- Dresser,PhilD,Amoyamouso,Bennett,Spike,Nickish,Hummel,Thegoodman,Scotty, YoungTimmothy, it goes on.
Posted by: Obscene Gene at January 14, 2004 05:39 PM