Awkward House

Awkward Photo Saturday: real estate edition.

Log cabin with dead palm trees, large rocks, and fake topiaries.

The Great Hall

Letitia Pate Evans Hall, circa 1950

Much of Agnes Scott College's culture revolves around our dining hall. Agnes Scott's small, quirky student body is required to buy a meal plan, so Evans Hall is an intrinsically comical place for people-watching.

Tonight in the dining hall I saw my favorite professor eating dinner by himself. I said hello and we chatted for a few minutes. He was sitting at a small square table with one tray full of salad, ham, and potatoes and another tray full of dessert and a soft pretzel. It was adorable.

There's always a group of girls huddled around the scanning station, standing and eating.  The group changes depending who is currently scanning people into the dining area. If it's a group of Juniors or Seniors, they say "hey," smile, and scan. Polite and efficient. If it's a group of Sophomores, they grin, tell you what's for dinner, scan your card, and say "You're so very welcome!" Enthusiastic and exhausting. If it's a group of Freshmen, they avoid eye contact, scan, and look startled when you say "thank you."

No one pities the loner. People sit by themselves all the time. I sit by myself all the time. It's refreshingly normal. Introverts welcome.

Everyone gets excited when we see catering staff setting up for a fancy event somewhere on campus. The next day we will have fancy leftover pasta salad, fruit salad, salad made of leaves, and exotic cheeses. Sometimes I only go to breakfast on Saturday mornings in hopes of finding fruit leftover from a rehearsal dinner. 

The popular professor table. Every Thursday they meet at 11:40am and eat at a particular large round table at the back of the seating area. They may seem like just a friendly bunch of professors, but everyone knows they're popular and exclusive. And everyone dreams of one day being invited to sit with them. Ways professors can get invited to the table:

• Have a baby, and it better be cute. You will only be invited when your child is with you.
• Be the adviser for the winning Black Cat Trivia team. That'll earn you about two weeks.
• Look like handsome young Frankenstein and marry an Episcopalian princess.
• Don't blink, ever, and be super witty when talking about your pets. 
• Throw swanky dinner parties where guests make fun of people who think they understand Robert Frost's poetry.
• Go on sabbatical to write a literary textbook.

Holidays make people go bonkers. I now try to avoid the dining hall on holiday dinners because chicks will trample you if you are between them and chocolate covered strawberries.  Halloween? Apparently we've never seen candy before. And even though the dining hall serves cake almost every day, on Birthday-Day we act like savages attacking the enormous sheet cake. Freshman year at the Christmas party, Paige and I had to sit outside because the dining hall was too wild and packed. 

Evans is beautiful, sure. But I fail to understand why so many people book their wedding receptions here.  Do they know what goes on inside these walls? Drag shows, date raffles, capping weeks... this is no place for a formal reception.

Letitia Pate Evans Hall, circa 2009

Ten Out of Tenn

Ten incredible, somewhat-indie musicians from Nashville, Tennessee touring together. Their last stop: Atlanta. It was such a treat.

Paige, Johnnie, and I arrived over an hour before the show started. We earned our incredible view of the stage.

This crazy woman later jumped on stage to grab a set list for me. My hero.

When all ten artists came out on stage, I was so overwhelmed. Four of them were on my Bucket List of Concerts. I didn't know where to keep my eyes. I wanted to watch them all at once.

Gabe Dixon started off the show with my favorite song of his, Running On Fumes.

Tyler James on trumpet, Andrew Belle, Trent Dabbs, and Matthew Perryman Jones.

KS Rhoads and Trent Dabbs, bro-ing out.

I was most excited to hear Andrew Belle play.

...So excited that he deserves two pictures.

Butterfly Boucher rocked bass the entire time- even on her own songs.

Seth Philpott. We'd met once before, so when we chatted before the show, he (pretended that he) remembered me. I was honored.

Erin McCarley happened to be in Atlanta, so she played a surprise song. It was fantastic.

Matthew Perryman Jones and Butterfly Boucher are straight-up rock stars.

Trent Dabbs- the creator of Ten Out of Tenn.

Possibly my favorite picture of the night, all because of Mr. Dabbs' goofy jacket.

Johnnie especially took a liking to Tyler James.

Oh my goodness. Katie Herzig is incredible. Like eerily good. Like perfect.

Fantastic show. They ended the night by coming out into the crowd and singing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. We left immediately (but not before snagging a set list) because we had to dash to the Black Cat dance... and because the security guard asked us to leave after Johnnie jumped on stage. Not a big deal. Driving away, we saw the ten jamming out in the middle of the street in front of the venue. Dangerously cool.

The Awk Award

And, the Awk Award goes to... this picture!

Middle part, anklet, buck teeth.

7th grade was hard.

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.

Baby's First Photoshoot

I'm, like, a photographer! Or maybe I just have a nice camera and I'm pretending to be a photographer. Either way, here are some pictures of Steven and Rebecca from my first photoshoot!

 

I was second-shooting for my friend Ellen, who is far more legitimate than I.  But I'm learning! And I'm certainly glad Steven and Rebecca had enough faith in me to let me tag along!

I only blog about weekends.

Okay so it's awkward picture Sunday this week. Whoops. I'm sure you've already forgiven me.

Raindrops keep fallin on my hands.