Black Cat

Agnes Scott College has countless bizarre traditions. This week: Black Cat. 

What is Black Cat? The short answer: some sort of equivalent to homecoming week. The long answer: this blog post.

Black Cat week begins at the stroke of midnight Sunday night. The entire school has from midnight until 2am to "decorate" campus. 

Gathering outside the student center with our decorations.

Pestle Board has the option of wearing black, pink, or nothing. Their job is to wreak havoc and scare first-years.

The tower bell rings at midnight and we rush. Each class tries to get their class color to dominate the quad.

We also have a floor of the student center to decorate. Ours didn't turn out too great.

This is the "office" for the class of 2013. This is also where I lost my lens cap.

Against all odds, I found it! Sad that the best part of my night was finding my lens cap.

At 2am, the festivities were called to a halt.

Did I mention that all this while, I had two prospective students spending the night? Woof.

Tuesday: Trivia Night. One of my favorite parts of Black Cat. We had an incredible team and a brilliant adviser.

Final score for 2011. This is the definition of domination.

Thursday is bonfire night.

First, we all gather behind the library, wear yellow, and yell things, like "We love our sisters!"

As a giant herd, we make our way from the science quad to the main quad.

First years (green) are supposed to be fully clothed. Sophomores (red) are supposed to wear underwear. Juniors (yellow) are supposed to be topless. Seniors (blue) are supposed to be totally naked. Fortunately, very few people adhere to this scandalous rule of thumb.

We are the math tutors- hear us roar. Don't you have faith in our problem solving skills?

The actual "bonfire."

The majority of people are terrifyingly drunk. Each class takes turns singing their original song, and the Dean of Students reveals "The Black Kitty." We are graded on our costumes and spirit. When Black Cat was first made a tradition, the bonfire was enormous, held in the amphitheater (which no longer exists) and "The Black Kitty" was an actual cat to be won (not just a silly stuffed animal).

Paige and I hassled Dean Lee for a picture. I think she was pleased to find some students who were far from intoxicated.

After bonfire, we have one hour to clean up the mess we made on the quad. Paige, Megan and I made a quick run to Java Monkey in order to inject ourselves with caffeine. We then participated in the infamous tradition of a midnight rehearsal for Junior Production.  We finished by 2am, which was better than any of us were expecting.

Friday is "the big day."

Field Day. Three-legged races, egg races, tug-of-war, etc.

Community picnic. Hot dogs and hamburgers and veggie burgers, oh my.

Song Comeptition. Each class writes a song for themselves and a song for their sisters.

Dance competition. You know, just endorsing the objectification of women.

Then comes Junior Production. About 25 Juniors perform in a 100% original play, which is a parody of Agnes Scott life. It counts for 21% of the Juniors' overall score. We had been rehearsing every night from 9:30-midnight, we met on weekends to make props and costumes. Needless to say, JP had thoroughly taken over my life.

I played the clueless first-year student. We were four knights in a quest to save Agnes Scott's dragon. We searched for the magical healing Great Scottie and had to overcome great obstacles. In the end, we figured out that when we all work together, we are the Great Scotties who can heal the dragon. Cheesy for sure. But awesome. JP was graded and we only lost one point, for tact. In the words of the yellow knight, "What the hell is tact?!"

I only allow myself to go to Waffle House if there's a good story to go along with it. Post-show waffles at midnight?- Great Wa-Ho story.

 Saturday is the formal Black Cat dance. This year, it was held at the Westin Hotel in Buckhead. I didn't stay long because it was pretty crazy... but I took a few pictures, just to prove to the world that I have friends.

We like giggling.

We like pumpkins.

We like math.

 And so concludes Black Cat 2011. I need to hibernate.