A New Post, A New Look
So you may notice something different about my blog. Yeah, it's different. I've set a new theme for my blog since it's been the same since I started it last year; I thought it would be best to give it a new look. Anyway, I'm not here to post about how amazing my blog looks. I'm actually here to tell you about Homecoming 2008: Red, White & U. Ball State's Homecoming happened a few weeks ago, but I'm just now finding time to tell you about it.
As I said above, the theme for this year was "Red, White & U." I believe this was the theme for multiple reasons. I think the general idea was that because it is an election year, they played off a theme of "Red, White and Blue." HOWEVER, I think it's nice and convenient that our school colors are red and white. So in my eyes, the theme was a nice double entendre. Nonetheless, on with the blog. For University Singers, homecoming week is always a busy week for us as we take the week seriously. Just to get an idea, University Singers has won the overall homecoming award (the Ashley Award) six of the past eight years. Being in charge of it this year, I felt the pressure to keep that tradition alive. We unfortunately didn't win overall this year, even though our participation was higher than usual and our category wins were multiple. Monday night was Opening day activities. As this was also Talent Search tech night, a lot of our people were unable to make it because of the tech rehearsal running late. In the end, our teams were defeated in the first round of each category; not the best start to our homecoming week! Monday night concluded with a huge bonfire on LaFollette field. Tuesday night, we started picking up steam. We had 4 acts competing in the annual Talent Search in Emens Auditorium. From what I remember, the crowd was just over 1,100 people, the largest crowd in several years for this. I was in two groups: Insomnia, a band led by University Singers alum Adam Hendrickson, and we performed Bohemian Rhapsody where I played the tenor saxophone; and Cardinal 5, my a cappella group, and we performed the jazz chart Fever. Kyle Affolder, the piano player for University Singers, won his category of instrumental with his rendition of a piece titled "All of Me," which included some arm banging and even some head banging on the piano.
Wednesday was a down night as we had rehearsal. But the events for that night were Touch the Tower, where teams of two gathered around Schafer Tower and had to perform certain acts with arms linked and one partner's hand always touching the tower. This was a new event for this year and I really wish I could have experienced it. The other event for the night was Music on McKinley, where bands come and play for the enjoyment of the spectators. Now comes the biggest event of homecoming week, Air Jam. Once again, Emens sold out for this event. Air Jam is a lip-sync contest where groups strut their stuff on stage. Our group had an amazing performance and you can see it here. After the performances, Homecoming Royalty was announced...and our king candidate, Trevor Junga, won! I believe this is the first time in homecoming history that a University Singers member won, so there was much excitement in the crowd from us. Friday consists of what we call Bed Races. For Bed Races, teams of 4 pushers and 1 rider take on other teams while racing down Riverside Avenue on dorm beds. This year, the University Singers guy's team AND the University Singers girl's team dominated the competition, taking first in their categories. We even did it while dressed for school spirit! And of course, what is homecoming week without a parade and a football game. Both of these were on Saturday. For University Singers, our day started at 5:30am. Yeah, BEFORE dawn. It was early. But we moved our float to the parade site and ended up winning best float for our category for the second year in a row! My puppy Copper even joined in the parade fun. I unfortunately didn't go to the game as I had literally pulled an all-nighter getting the float ready for the parade. Needless to say, I could barely keep my eyes open by the time the parade was over.
Overall, it was a very successful week. I am, however, glad it is over. It's amazing how stressful such a week can be! I'm going to conclude this post with several various pics so you can get an idea of the events I mentioned above. I hope you enjoy them!
