A cool video to show your family this winter break

I always had difficulty explaining to my extended family what interested me in becoming part of a scramble band. Surely it had to be the horrendous khakis and preppy sweaters, right?

Like many college band folk, I'd joined band back in elementary school and had never been humiliated enough to leave. I even won the "Best Marcher" award at the end of my freshman year marching band season-- resulting in my aunt collapsing with laughter over Thanksgiving dinner at what a loser I must be.

Most of my family knew that I'd had the opportunity to travel to some cool places, go to a few NCAA tournaments, and have a moderately successful social life (comparative to high school) as a Penn Band member. They could see that I was happy, so they too were happy. Then came the Great Mascot Scandal of '06...

The road trip was Brown/Yale, and we'd just played a Brown team hungry for revenge over the previous year's blowout. We ended up with the W, packed up our instruments, and loaded everything on to the bus...but there were some obvious omissions, most noticeably the Quaker mascot costume. We were staying with the Yale bandos that night, so we had no choice but to leave and drive to New Haven before it got too late.

Thankfully, Athletics had held on to our older Quaker mascot costume from the previous year-- we ended up making it to the NCAA tournament that year and had the old costume at the ready. We all figured that a Brown-affiliated person had to have been behind the stealing, but no progress was made into any kind of investigation...until six months later when a few of us Board members received a strange e-mail from an obviously fake address, which linked to this video (screen shot shown above, can't figure out how to embed videos yet).

Let's just say that this was one of the more bizarre things that we had to deal with as a Board that year. Shortly after that I received an accusatory e-mail from the then President of the Brown Band, stating that we should basically look within our own organization for the source of theft (yeah, right). The e-mail (legitimately) mentioned an amendment to the Brown Band's Wikipedia entry, "The Brown Band also has a long tradition of stealing other schools' valuable items," which I found hilarious (and I KNOW WHO YOU ARE-- but your secret stays with me to the grave). The missing mascot costume was un-mysteriously and anonymously returned after Penn Athletics intervened and officially filed a claim.

Long story short, the video always provides a good deal of amusement in my family, and it's a nice example of how college kids can creatively play pranks on their rivals without having to resort to petty ad hominem attacks (although, let's face it, plenty of that goes on, too).

Baking Day

So how awesome is it that I randomly decided to spend an entire day baking and half the band shows up at my apartment? Well, maybe not quite half the band, but I will say this: bandos are great about supporting crazy get-togethers (especially when they involve free food).

Of course, I don't think any of us got the optimal amount of studying accomplished (or really any).

Here's to finals and winter break!

<3

Just a test

Test, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

Good.

Low Brass vs. Saxes

This past weekend the freshmen members of the low brass and sax sections competed head to head in a Penn Band Challenge set up by the upperclassmen of the low brass section. Amongst other things, they competed in musicianship, humor, intelligence, and Lawrence Musketfeathers.

As part of musicianship, they sang the Ruff Ryder's Anthem and learned the cheerleader's dance to "The Red & Blue." (They were all pretty terrible on that last part.) However, the saxes came out on top for Ruff Ryder's, but the low brass won the "R & B" challenge.

As for humor, each section composed a song making fun of another Ivy League school. The saxes decided to make fun of Princeton to the tune of "The Final Countdown." Here are their lyrics:














The low brass, for their part, made fun of Yale to the tune "Bulldogs!" Their lyrics are as follows:









Pretty funny stuff, ha? I thought so, too. (The saxes won.)

As for intelligence, well, they now know a lot about the low brass section. And Lawrence Musketfeathers? Well, we all know what Lawrence Musketfeathers is, so why explain it? All that matters is that everyone was a winner this weekend in the Penn Band Challenge. Except Matt Conrad. No one wins with something like that...

Retroactive "live blogging": not as cool/funny as it sounds

I promised a Loyola update, so here it goes:

(A view from the back seat of the Kooshmobile)

8:53 a.m.- Josiah and I make a stop at the 11th and Chestnut Dunkin' Donuts (can't cheer on the Quakers without caffeine).

9:03 a.m.- Koosh, Chloe and Deven pick us up at 12th and Spruce.

9:05 a.m.- Koob arrives! The radio tells us that there has been a shooting in one of Villanova's parking lots. Nobody cares.

9:06-10:45 a.m.- Deven sleeps, and Chloe learns how to spell all of our names. Smart kid (must run in the family).

10:46 a.m.- We pull into a parking lot next to Reitz (their athletic complex)...does 'Lot closed on Sunday' = free parking?

We wandered inside, got our tickets, and found a dining hall. Koosh convinces Chloe that M&Ms aren't suitable for breakfast. I drink a Gatorade (in case Miller decides to sub me in).

Something I always like to do whenever I'm on a college campus is check out the newspaper-- you can learn quite a bit in a relatively short amount of time. The front page of their paper ('The Greyhound', I believe) provided excellent game time fodder...apparently their mascot, Nicholas II (a greyhound), had just passed away. "Short-lived mascot (clap-clap-clapclapclap)?" Koosh suggested. Yes, very yes.

11:30 a.m.-ish- Noah et al. arrived. Loudly. Perfect.

12:00 p.m.- Tipoff!

12:01-2:00 p.m.- Heartache. Sloppy passing on our part and atrocious refereeing were the primary themes of the game.

A note about the student section:
Josiah and I were having a discussion about the dynamics of student sections, and we came up with an obvious conclusion: student sections will remain relatively silent unless 1) they are playing a highly-touted opponent (like #1 UNC), or 2) they are being antagonized by the opposition's student section. We were effectively the Red and Blue Crew for the day, and it wasn't until we began questioning the refs calls and supporting our guys that the 'dog pound' retaliated, albeit awfully. As the guy sitting in front of us told me, "You guys are good at co-opting cheers:

Loyola: "T-shirt (clap-clap)" (Grandieri is supposed to give a crap about this taunt? Seriously?)
Us: "We love t-shirts! (clap-clap-clapclapclap)
Loyola: -crickets-

Loyola: (game is nearly over) "Stick to reading!" (Wow, thanks for the compliment, guys)
Us: "We love reading!"
Loyola: no response

It was one of those games where you glance up at the clock with 15:00 to go in the second half and wonder what you can do to pass the time less painfully (Take Chloe to the bathroom? Make obscure historical references in chants to confuse the students? Buy another $1.00 hot dog?)

2:25 p.m.- Journey home. Slept almost the whole way back.

Next: a video that all Penn Band freshmen need to see, why high school parents make awful fans, and the semantics of fandom.

Monmouth University: Giving out HS Diplomas in School Spirit

As Dr. Kushol Gupta (PHD), writes in his blog, the Penn band travels more than any other band in the country. And last night (Saturday) we were lucky enough to travel to the great institution of higher learning that's known as Monmouth University. (Two part trivia question: which President used the mansion on the grounds of Monmouth U for his summer residence? And what musical that was filmed in 1982 was partially filmed at the same mansion? Answers at end of blog.)

The game was at Boylan Gym, without a doubt the most high school-like gym I've ever been to in my year and half with the Penn band. (Cornell's stadium is a close second) How much like high school was it? Well for one they have banners for all of the championships that any one of their teams has won; the Palestra, on the other hand, only has championship banners from men's/women's basketball and volleyball (ie the sports that play in the Palestra). Two, it only sat like 2,2000, and was in your standard, two sections of bleachers on the sides of the court. And lastly, in the lobby of the gym, there was a bulletin board of their PE requirements (not kidding).

And to be honest, their fans were at the high school level. For one, they had absolutely no presence of a student section until the second half when about a dozen or less students stood up and did a few cheers every now. Instead, adults cheered and I don't mean just clapping after baskets; they were actually cheering during the game with "De-Fense" cheers and the like. But then again, it was just like high school where the parents of the players are the ones cheering. (In fact if you look at their roster, only one of their American born players is not within easy driving range.)

But the epitome of their "high schoolness" was their band. Even though we the Penn Band had limited numbers at the game, we still had more lowbrass (they literally had none and we had a tuba, euphonium, trombone and mellophone each), clarinets, and flutes. The only thing they had more than us was drum sets (1-0). Plus with their white and black striped uniforms they look like the Juventus soccer team. And their actual playing was as bad as their instrumentation and/or uniforms. They didn't sound that impressive at all, which is kind of sad considering they actually have auditions and applications for the group. Also, they play their fight song, which sounds crappy, all the time. Proof that it sucks? It was written in 1997. All good fight songs have to be written at least before the 1950's. Come on!

Another thing that really annoyed me about their band, and in some ways this might have been our Drum Major's choice, but we never got a chance to play our fight songs when the team came out. For some reason their Pep Band always plays songs in the last 6 minutes before the game starts. I have no problem with that as long as we play our fight song when our team comes out. Now I still don't know if they demanded it or if our Drum Majoresident Becca Goldman decided to, but instead of playing fight on as the Quakers entered the court, we sung the song. (Embarassingly, however, very few bandos knew all of the lyrics to our fight song; that shouldn't be the case). The same thing happened with Cheer Penn. Now I think it's unfair if they demand us to not play the fight song since back in the Palestra or Franklin Field we never care if another team plays their fight song while their team comes out if it's at the same time that our team does. Seriously, there's always conflicting fight songs going on. And frankly, there should be. It's a musical representation of the game.

So adding up all of these factors, a high school gym, a less than enthusiastic crowd, and a second rate pep band, and what is the result? The Penn Band steals the show. Maybe it's because everyone was so into the Carolina game and enjoyed it, but for whatever reason , the band kept up a high level of intensity throughout the night. We were so good that we even got another group of minors to adore us. This time it was a group of three boys that must have been around 12-13, right at the age when you starting thinking you're the coolest thing ever. They decided it would be hilarious if every time we did "De-fense" cheers they would say "Sucks, Sucks" right when we were clapping.

But mocking the band wasn't only restricted to prepubescent idiots. Their "Student section" of 12 did a cheer of "he's a freshman" when a freshman got an and 1. But when he preceded to miss the free throw, the band cheered back with "he's a freshman." So almost immediately after the "student section" yelled back at us "bandis, bandis." It was their only creative cheer of the night. (We responded with "we- can-read").

We were so impressive that a Monmouth-associated person came up to Koob, our amazing chaperone for the night, and complemented us. According to Koob:

Yeah, some Monmouth guy in a shirt and tie came up to me at one point and was like I'm from Monmouth, so I probably shouldn't be saying this, but you guys are awesome. He was really impressed with our energy and our constant cheering. Then he asked if he could rent us out. It was pretty funny.

Plus we got a sweet shout out from Vince Curran, the color commentator for the Penn radio basketball games. Obviously I didn't hear it since I wasn't listening to the radio, but Koosh said it went something like "look at the Penn Band dupe the Monmouth player by counting down 5-4-3-2-1 with plenty of time left [on the shot clock]." Thank you Vince, and yes it actualy worked a couple of times.

All in all, although the stadium was pretty worthless, it still was a great game to go to. Especially considering the Quakers finally got a road win!
______________________________________
Starting with this game, I'm going to keep track of all the songs we play in the band. There are going to be two categories of songs. One is songs that our Drum Major calls (this will be the wide majority of songs). There will also be songs that aren't necessarily called by our official drum major, but we play them anyway. As you'll see by the end of the year this category will mostly be filled by one song, Ruff Ryders' Anthem. (18 to Stop, Drop, read link). (Note I'm excluding Penn songs since we play them all the time.)

Songs played as of the Monmouth game:
DM called:

• Land of 1,000 Dances
• Video Killed the Radio Star
• Free Bird
• Sweet Child O' Mine
• The Office theme
• Holiday
• The theme from Gummy Bears
• Hip to be Square

Unofficially called:

• Guns of Brixton
• Ruff Ryders' Anthem

________________________________________
Answers to trivia questions: Woodrow Wilson and Annie

Ivy Season Preview

This post is not about sports.  It's about the third most important/fun part of being in band (1. The sports; 2. The free stuff) going on road trips to other Ivy League schools. 

All the schools are equally worse than Penn, so they're all competing for number two, although some are more equal than others.

ON TO THE RANKINGS! (From expected to unexpected.  I'll list the tops at least two and then the bottom, if applicable.)

Best Band (Musically)

1. Harvard- They're unparalleled musically in the Ivys.  Great arrangements, great sound, sweet blazers.

2. Cornell- Not a true Ivy Band (they march, plus, it's for gym credit for many of them).  That having been said there are lots of them and if there's one thing I've learned in music it's that the more people making music the louder the music sounds and the louder music sounds, the better the music is.

3. Yale- I put them here provisionally, one more horrible performance like the one they had at Franklin Field this year and they're off the list. Though their gun formation is great!

Worst Band (Musically)

6. Princeton- I heard it was their fall break when they played Penn at Franklin Field this year, I hope that's true.

7. Dartmouth- Horrible, when we heard them this year in Hanover they sounded horrendous, really truly awful.

Best Band (Socially)

1. Cornell- They have 2 members with superfluous nipples, if that wasn't enough they're also really nice.

2. Dartmouth- At least I think those were band kids.  Maybe they weren't.  Whatever.  They were fun.

Worst Band (Socially)

7. Harvard- When we travel there we have fun, but not because of them.

Best City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

1. Boston- My personal feelings aside (I hate this city) there's usually fun stuff to do when we go here before a trip to Harvard.

2. Providence- Delicious hot dogs at Spike's and RISD, so a high number of weirdos.  Nifty!

Worst City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

5. New York- Crowded, expensive, overdone.

6. Princeton- Not crowded, expensive, eating clubs.

7. Hanover- Horrible, the closest thing they have to fast food is an organic grocery store.  There is nothing there, nothing at all.

Best City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to understand)

1. Ithaca- Great, fun, plus if you've been drinking it's very hard to walk up their large, incline hills.

2. Hanover- There's a reason Animal House was based on a Hanover fraternity.  Plus, they know what to do with paddles.

3. Princeton- This is conditional to one trip I made as a member of an a cappella group.  An absolutely shockingly wild time.

Worst City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to be depressed)

6. Providence- Eating hot dogs are the reason to go here.

7. Cambridge- Just sort of depressing.

Best Bus Trips (It's not the length baby it's how you use it.)

1. Ithaca- Only 5 hours.  Time enough for some sweet quizo or a pair of movies.

2. Hanover- 7 Hours, we always get lost, it usually snows.  Always excitingly unexpectedly horrible.

3. Princeton- Does not take very long to travel to or leave.

Not or Not (Ivy Bands in Terms of Attractiveness)

5. Harvard- Only raised because of Joe the Trumpet players love of French and tattoos, something they have in spades.

t.6 Yale

t.6 Columbia

t.6 Dartmouth

t.6 Princeton

t.6 Brown

7. Cornell- The ugliest band in America.  Sorry.

Place I've Never Been Even Though I've Been in the Band 2 and 1/2 years:

1. New Haven- I always liked Old Haven better so I have a vendetta against them.

Also, the Harvard Bowl is pretty cool, no other stadium/gymnasium compares to Franklin Field or the Palestra though.

Individualistic Sections and Required Reading

Just a couple of things tonight.

First, in response to Brain Greenberg's post from yesterday, I think it's good to know the development of the sections throughout the last 20 years or so. What's interesting, is that Brian refers to the sousaphones, trombones and "horneytones" as three separate sections. But the fact is, right now all of those comprise one section: the low brass. (You'll need a facebook account for that last hyperlink.) And like Brian implied, the low brass is now the "dominant" section.

Now before you yell at me for calling the low brass dominant, here out my explanation. First off, we are the loudest, so we theoretically dominant the music. But I'm not implying all other sections have inferior musicianship. Also, our cheering dominates during the sports games. But that doesn't mean non-low brass members don't cheer. I'm just saying we're the most ubiquitous section; it might seem we're goofing off in practice, but we're also the section that has asked the most questions, both serious and not, during rehearsals. (Of course Noah's "with repeats?" does inflate this, but it's still true.)

One thing we don't dominate is Newports consumption. That would be the trumpets. (We are a distant second.)

But the important thing here, is that all of the sections have their own role, and that role is important. Just like our songs require different instrumentations at different times, so must the band as a whole need different sectional personalities. Not everyone can be the "rowdy, party" section of the band, because then we'll just end up being like this. (Of course I'm not implying only the low brass has fun.)

Secondly, tonight I interviewed the author of Jumping Through Hoops: Why Penn Wins, a book about Quaker basketball as illustrated by the 2005-06 season. It's a really interesting read, and definitely a must for any Quaker fan. There are some references to the band throughout the book, and the author even said we're "the best band" he's ever seen. Although he followed up by saying not in quality of music, but in quality of school spirit. (At the same time he was a rambling old man, so who knows). Here's the story.

The Penn Band - A Hetero-Sectional Organization

Picking up on Mel's point about how the band changes over the years, I want to talk for a minute about sections.

Anyone who's ever watched the Penn Band perform probably sees it as a cohesive group, working together toward a common goal - the song, the halftime show, the cheers, whatever. Those within the band see it a little differently. Yes, we're all part of a larger group, but we also have affiliations that make our experience in the band, both musically and socially, slightly different. The closest non-band analogy I can think of is a group of good friends that happen to be of different religions. They hang out together and share common experiences, but in certain circumstances (holidays, Sabbath, etc.) they break off into smaller groups and share experiences that are different than the rest.

When I entered the Penn Band in 1987, the dominant section was the Trumpet section, or the Chops, as everyone called us. The Chops were one of the largest sections (Koosh can check me, but I'd guess we had 15-20 in good standing), not to mention the loudest, the most boisterous, mischievous, and enthusiastic section in the band. We accomplished what the current band calls "cheers" almost exclusively with our horns. I'm sure there was a rule about the band playing during the game, but when the Chops played something on their own, it wasn't really the band playing, it was more like fans cheering (at least that's how we rationalized it - and no one ever called us on it, so there you go). There were the generic cheers (Michigan, Mambo, Tequila), as well as cheers for specific circumstances (injury: Quincy, bad call: Mickey Mouse, great play: Superman). There were also fanfares written specifically for (and often by) the Chops (Love-15, the Chops Medley, the Random Fugue in F Major). We even had our signature song, Joshua, which still exists today, although it's reputation seems to have degraded seriously in the intervening 20 years. Back in the late '80s, the Chops would start Joshua whenever they didn't care for whatever the Drum Major called, and the rest of the band would enthusiastically join in. I have vivid memories of then-President Michael Brose complaining to then-Director Claude White that Joshua should not appear on our album, Live at Smoke's because, "This is not a Chop album!" Today, Joshua is generally met with more of a groan, even by some of the Chops themselves. Sad. Very sad.

I could go on and on about the Chops, but there were other sections with their distinctive personalities as well. The Sousaphones come to mind immediately. Back in the day, there were no fancy Sousaphone covers with professionally printed Split-P logos on them. The Sousaphones would get together before the game, agree on a word to spell, and then paint letters on octag paper and tape them to their bells. The crowd would see it as a statement/joke made by the band, when really it was just the Sousaphone section expressing themselves. The Sousaphones would also (literally) run circles around cops directing traffic when we marched in the streets of Philadelphia, usually to the enjoyment of both the surrounding spectators and the cops themselves.

Then there were the Drummers and the Trombones, who basically combined to form the, well, the rowdy/party crowd in the band. Most belonged to an organization that has existed for decades, but one I hardly hear about anymore: the PGA (Koosh's rules about keeping this blog relatively clean prohibit me from divulging that the acronym stands for). Again, the rules were different back then, but these were the folks who would put a keg of beer in the back of the bus for long road trips, use beer in their cereal instead of milk on the morning of games, and occasionally have trouble showing up on time for and/or staying conscious throughout the entire football game. These folks had their detractors, to be sure, but they definitely added a certain element of fun and spontaneity to the band that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

As the years went on, the membership and personality of these sections changed. In the early '90s, two guys named Howie and Kevin started a brand new section known as the Horney Tones (made up of people who played marching French Horns or Baritone Horns). Howie and Kevin were extremely enthusiastic bandos, arranging events like "The Penn Band Olympics" over senior week (I still have a paper plate with the words "Winner - Longest Wiffle Ball Hit" written in Red and Blue on the back), and various parties and other social activities. As the section grew more popular and visible, Claude wrote them a few fanfares, their membership grew, and they slowly became the new Chops (as defined by the late '80s).

Today's band reflects still more changes. The Trombones are clearly the new Chops (or, perhaps, the new Horny Tones?), complete with fanfares, cheers, and sectional traditions (e.g., "Bonegiving"). The flutes also seem to have their own camaraderie as well, although, as with my experience on of the late '80s/early '90s, it seems to be more inward facing and, on at least one occasion, involved a wild Saturday Night of watching Gilmore Girls DVDs (talk about change...)

I'm sure these personalities will continue to evolve over time, and alums coming back for Homecoming, Alumni Day, etc. will help it along by demonstrating some of the old ways to the young blood coming up through the ranks. The changes are sometimes discouraging, but in the aggregate, they keep the band interesting and enrich the experience for everyone involved.

Wednesday Shorts

• As Zach pointed out, there was a big game yesterday between number 1 UNC and Penn. A loud Penn crowd (and an unsurprisingly large, under informed and embarrassingly silent North Carolina contingent) and a red faced Governor at a non-Eagles game, that's how you could tell it was significant.
• Contrast that with the Penn Women's game tonight which featured the band, some screaming elementary/middle school girls and some old folks there to watch Lafayette. (It was snowing but the way the university treats womens' sports like second class citizens is remarkable.)
• Tuesday was also a day to debate whether or not spreading lies ("Duke will without a doubt win the ACC." "Carolina will lose at least 8 games this year.") after a game is funny or not. It is.
• Zach and I are trying to get on a regular schedule (with him updating Tues., Thur. and Sun. and me on Mon., Wed., Fri. and alternating Sat.) so with that in mind I encourage you to only check on my days as my posts are significantly more informative and funnier.
• Friday: A look forward to Ivy Season featuring rankings of EVERYTHING (seriously).
  

Packed Palestra + Frantic Fans= Awesome Atmosphere

Tonight was the biggest basketball game of the year: the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels @ the Palestra on ESPN2. And as with all of the biggest Quaker sporting events, the Penn band was there. While the result of the game was disappointing, that doesn't mean the game wasn't fun. In fact, for the first half of the game, the sold out Palestra was absolutely hopping (or rocking, or whatever sweet gerund you want to use).

(Even halftime was sweet. While Joe went out for his usual Newport break, a two-man "Extreme Team" made some sweet acrobatic dunks using trampolines, including one where the Quaker held two balls out and each of the guys ran, jumped, grabbed the ball in midair and dunked it while doing flips.)

This game was one of those sweet instances when I'm glad the band is involved. Yet again, as with many of the not-as-important games, the band was leading the Palestra in cheers. The most important of these cheers were in the second half. Unfortunately at this time the game got out of hand (we were outscored 57-34), but more unfortunately the Red and Blue crew severely cut back on their cheering. To be fair though, I was impressed that nearly the entire Palestra stayed for the duration.

On an aside, I wasn't too impressed by the Carolina fans. For one they didn't send any band although this isn't that shocking since no ACC bands travel for conference road games by rule. Yet at the same time there were still tons of Carolina fans, perhaps as many as 45% of the Palestra. Clearly UNC is one of the most popular (read bandwagon) teams in America. And considering the Tar Heels never come to the Philly region, it makes sense why a lot of UNC fans would come. Yet, despite the high attendance, the only chants they tried to start were some feeble attempts at "Let's go tar heels" and their go-to cheer where one group of fans yells Tar! and the other responds with Heels! This is what it's supposed to sound like. (Well at least that's with a nickname, and not the spelling of the state your team's from.)

But the highlight of the night came from a non-bando. Ed Rendell, the current governor of Pennsylvania and an avid Penn Hoops fan (class of '65) was in attendance as he is for many Penn games. At one point the head ref reversed a call a fellow official made (a tied up ball) and instead called a foul on Penn. (Worst referee ever; he might not have called a single foul on UNC the whole night.) All Penn fans booed and others did even worse things. And good ol' Gov Ed was one of them. Turning nearly red in the face he stood up and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs at the ref. If only he had a snowball.

The Penn Band's A-Changin'

so, i'm sitting at the info desk in the library, staring at the gorgeousness that is eric swanson. and of course that prompts me to write in the blog. swanson can have that effect on people. (oh, and yes - he is "in another state." at the library. go swanson.)

last night members of the low brass section got together to hang out at geezer billloth's apartment. in attendance were myself, kettler, palusci, klitzman, big stunna, ellen, and lauren. and of course bill! we just listened to music and shared stories. oh, and we played duck hunt! seriousy - duck hunt! it was awesome!

anyway, listening to all the stories everyone was telling about the band got me thinking. (yes, i'm a senior and a lot of my posts will therefore be reflective/nostalgic.) i feel like in many ways i am a bando caught between various waves. (in fact, last night at nova, i was told by klitzman/joe that we will be staying with the cornell band in the spring b/c "[my] generation" is the old one and the "new generation" doesn't want to stay with columbia.)

on one hand i am very proud to see this new wave taking over for the penn band. (for instance, seeing klitzman speak so well at election made me both proud and happy that younger students are blossoming into leadership roles.) but on the other hand it makes me sad. a lot of people don't like the cheers we did my frosh year - like u-g-l-y and and the baskeball "who's your daddy" cheer. i just hate that these cheers might die as soon as i leave.

and again, i could very much identify with bill's stories last night b/c my frosh year i hung out with a lot of geezers. but then again, the people in my section now are probably the reason i still show up to band. (i have come to the realization that if i didn't like them so much my attendance might have dropped off when i came back from abroad.) it's just really hard to feel like i have no set place in this band. i don't know. i know that i don't need a set group - honestly i love that i am a part of both. it's just strange. and i am sure that many seniors go through this. it is just strange to put it into words.

i look at the future and i know that i will always have a place to come back to. at the same time, i see some of my friends that are now alums and they are sort of bitter. i just hope that doesn't happen to me. (honestly, i won't. i'm not that type of person. not that those people are bad in any way. i'm just not like that.)

alright, i have to switch desks right now. gosh, i'm such downer when i post! although swanson is still stumbling around as i look over at him, and how can anyone be depressed knowing that?!?!?! (and yes, the greatest question i got last night was from a frosh who asked if swanson is really "like that" all the time. and of course the answer is "yes." another new thing that i absolutely love!)

ps - got a text last night from my buddy xavier at columbia. it read, "you know willow joined cumb now. she says she's totally over the penn band..." :-(