In no way do I doubt that the H.D. said something like that to our S.A. crew (I'm XV as well) I remember asking about it to some of them, EVEN asked the H.D. herself, and always came out feeling like I had done something wrong by even bringing it up. Plus, it was dispersed in the rumor mill that "they" will find out all those that went out to cut or Stack and take away their scholarships. (*couBULL****gh*) I ended up making it out there with a few friends like two or three times but I missed all of cut before I got to go out my first time.

I will never forget it but I was actually abducted by Tice and Andrew at like 9:30 PM into going out to Stack. It was quite an experience as I had a Chem test the next morning and I ended up making a 101. Without question in my mind it was an act of God.

Truly, God blessed Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire and Nerd Bonfire legacy

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abducted [...] at 9:30 PM [...] out to Stack. [...] as I had a Chem test the next morning and I ended up making a 101

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and that's why you're a Leknerd. I took "Rocks for Jocks" (Geology 104) because I shuddered at the thought of Chemistry and the puke orange desks in Hell-denfels.

Flyer campaign. For some of the dorms this last year I wrote a little bit about their Bonfire history and smacked fliers onto the windows of the dorms. They get torn down quickly but a few people are bound to see them. Do it for Lechner, if you have a class with a Nerd have a chat with them. They should be out there, Bonfire needs nerds.

For accuracy sake, the middle Reasoner was Neal Reasoner, and he was a crew cheif for Puryear.

Back umpteen years ago, we pulled a lot of women from a dorm with zero Bonfire tradition. However, we were allowed to TALK about Bonfire, post flyers and have info meetings in the dorm... it's a brave new world. Guerilla flyer campaigns sound good to me! Since we, too, had to apply a different method of recruiting than the bang-on-the-doors-with-axehandles process, here are some other things that worked for us in case you can adapt them somehow. Or, y'all may already be doing most of these.

(I dunno, can you have info meetings at all, at a burger place or something? If you had them at a regular time/place, lunch every Friday or whatever, you would only have to communicate one bit of information to interested people, but they'd have lots of opportunities to come learn more.)

Going with other dorms (i.e. meeting new people) was a big deal especially for freshmen, so we publicized in advance when we were doing that. Clear information about what time you could get back to campus was important to upperclass folks already in other organizations.

We had flyers, posters and many info meetings throughout Cut, not just at the start, so they had many chances to join up. Told them sure, they could go once just to try it out. Answered tons of questions. Gave out schedules, took down phone numbers for morning wakeup calls. Invited everybody to all paint pots together. Kept up the invitations and involvement through Stack. People who came out to see centerpole arrive or sit at a perimeter fire and watch one year would come out and cut the next.

Residents who went to Cut once and liked it were our biggest asset, so I did everything I could to make sure everyone was happy, well-informed, safe, and enjoying themselves.

And OK, we did do the axehandles once, but only just the once.... the otherwise cool RD requested we not do that again.

Also, not to make this the Old Fart Family Hour or anything, but Doc is the smartest person ever, it's true, and Kip your story about Kari brought back a happy memory for me -- I once got to call a crew during Rebuild too, same situation (thanks to Ryno). There was a little good-natured smack talk but then one guy on the crew said, "She's got a senior ring on, I'm listening to her!" and off we went! (I know, shouldn't have had my ring on while handling logs, safety first)

**End of Old Fart Hour **

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Flyer campaign.

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I think you mean a "coordinated door decoration" campaign.

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I think you mean a "coordinated door decoration" campaign.

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Coordinated hang a painted sheet from your window campaign? :P

Yes, both.

Part of the falloff in Lekner's participation is my fault. I was a stupid fish from out of state on Lekner XIV's Hall COuncil and didn't know much about the Bonfire tradition (sad since I'm 4th generation (and partly explained by the most recent generation being aunts and uncles instead of parents)) so I brought in Craig Rotter to talk to everyone about Bonfire.

Absolutely one of the dumbest things I could have done. He fed everyone including me, a load of pure crap about Bonfire and why it fell. Completely misquoted the Bonfire commission report and gave us all sorts of lies about Aggie Bonfire. Unfortunately, most people didn't bother to look up what the report actually said or talk to people who actually worked on Bonfire (like I did).

As a result of this, a lot of the nerds from that year as well as SA's (of which I was one) for the next year were not as pro-Bonfire as they should have been. We also got a new HD who has a very strong bias against Bonfire, to the point that she has blindly assigned everything that was wrong with pre99 Bonfire to the current Student Bonfire. She has not bothered to investigate to see the increased safety, the lack of drinking, etc.

I've tried to encourage those nerds who have gone out to Bonfire, but a lot of the damage has already been done. I do know that this year there was an official program in Lekner where one of the current SA's older brother (who did Bonfire with Lekner V I think) came in talk about Lekner's participation in Bonfire.

I also have a pot from Bonfire 99 that was saved from the Bonfire closet (which was cleaned out when axes were determined to be weapons) and belonged to the last nerd living in Lekner who participated in On-Campus Bonfire. If I understood your description from above, this would be a chief pot (all orange). I'll be graduating in May and I'd like to see someone else who's more involved with Bonfire (maybe you Snoball?) hold on to it. So let me know. My e-mail is mthiatt38 at tamu dot edu.

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Part of the falloff in Lekner's participation is my fault.

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What falloff? Lechner XIV had exactly the same amount of Bonfire participation as XIII and XII.

[This message has been edited by leknerd2004 (edited 4/1/2006 9:52p).]

matt the lechner chief pots were orange hard hats except for one the nerd pot which looks like it was an orange pot with a black brim. could it be that one?

The pot I have is a completely Lekner orange pot, not hard hat. There is not a black brim on it.

And yeah, I know there easn't really any participation from XII and XIII but XIV was really the first year for Student Bonfire and I helped kill some of the interest in it, so I do feel a little like its my fault.

I just sent an e-mail and I would absolutely love to have and keep if not (God bless it) pass it down if it is a chief pot. Thanks alot.

BTW, I got a huge set of old Bonfire pics on a CD from one of my friends and it has old Nerd pics on it. If anyone wants any of these pictures, I can e-mail them out.

BTW, where are Lechner's last chiefs now?

snoball,

I'm always looking for Bonfire Pics of any kind.
danielandthelions@gmail.com

Thanks and Gig'Em.

Hey, Puryear_PB,

Is that you Rob?

-chuck

eenerd09: Come talk to me in 328. There are some dorm dynamics you should know about before jumping into this next year.

Coming from someone who knows next to nothing about bonfire due to the extreme taboo laid on it during my two years here, where does an old Nerd who wants to get involved with bonfire start? I'm moving off-campus next year.

BTW, the axe and machete were removed by Reslife due to the "Weapons Policy" that was enforced during Lechner XV (I think...before my time anyway). The old flag is still on display, but it would take some finagling to get it out--the current HD is extremely "by the book" and a bit anal-retentive about Risk Management. She also holds a lot of sway not only with the dorm, but with the next years SA team. Getting the new SA team to realize that they are only accountable to the Honors Office, and that Reslife doesn't have any more authority over them than any other resident would be one of the most important obstacles that needs to be tackled in restarting the Bonfire tradition in the dorm. Old Nerd support would also make a HUGE difference in the SA team's perception of things.

-K

So the flag is still displayed in the tv lounge? I'm Lekner XV so I was there when they took the axe and machete, but I had heard the flag was now gone too.

Also, if you want to get involved with Bonfire next year e-mail me at snoball_md at hotmail.com If we can get enough to have our own crew, wonderful if not, I can get you in line with whoever you need to. For the most part, there is nothing really to do from a participant aspect, other than recruit or fund-raise, till September or October.

Thanks and Gig 'Em

ttt

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Old Nerd support would also make a HUGE difference in the SA team's perception of things.

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Maybe there should be a "Lechner 17th Anniversary Reunion" this September so that the new SA team can meet some Old Nerds.

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Getting the new SA team to realize that they are only accountable to the Honors Office

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Since when are the SA's accountable to the Honors Office?!

Signed,

SA for Lekner VIII

Damn, after reading this, I didn't realize how much things changed from my days to even the years up to '99. I knew there were a lot more non regs involved, which I honestly don't have a problem with, but all this other bullcrap is just that.....

All this political correctness and dorm politics is the salt rotting the metal of the structure of Texas A&M.

Well, I am just glad there is the Off Campus Bonfire and will continue to support it.

[This message has been edited by EMc77 (edited 7/13/2006 11:26a).]

To my knowledge (and I know and keep in touch with all the folks from my two years in the dorm), adding to Keegan's list:

The yellowpot line was as follows:

91 McKenna
92 Lilly
93 Matzer
94 Dobson
95 Dore
96 Matragrano
97 Martinez
98 Sutcliffe
99 Christopherson
00 Aaron something from New Mexico

One partial chief line:

90 Reasoner
...
96 Negusse
97 Laborde
98 Green
99 Smith
00 Parks

Another partial chief line:

95 [pot was not worn]
96 Reasoner (Doc's younger brother)
97 Meisner
98 Lyles
99 Calandro
00 Owens

I was a fish in lekner X and a SA in lekner XI. And I would LOVE any nerd bonfire pictures, especially from one of the years I was out there (98 and 99):

jasondschall at yahoo.com

00 yellow pot might have been Aaron Cardon?

ttt, AND any pictures I have are back in CS, so nothing happening for a week picture-wise.

For what it is worth, i'm pretty sure that doc's line was Bell '93 and Doberenz '94. I think the other crew chef line was Hammond '93 and Swiderski '94.

ttt or else... nerd bonfire will die

You're six years late.

nerd94 is right. Doberenz was around a lot when I was there, and Swiderski was one of my "hosts" when I was a nerdling in '94

(I didn't end up staying in Swiderski's room, as he had a female fish that was.... uh... cohabitating for the evening)

[This message has been edited by Keegan99 (edited 9/7/2006 11:56p).]

Snoball, how did your pot painting party go?

If all the Leknerd pots at midnight yell is any indication, very well.



[This message has been edited by Predmid (edited 9/23/2006 12:10p).]

So is there gonne be a bona fide Nerd Crew this year?


[This message has been edited by HOGS LEW (edited 9/23/2006 3:39p).]

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If all the Leknerd pots at midnight yell is any indication, very well.

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How many were there?

At the "Pot Party" we had 8 people (I think) paint pots and had probably a total of 17 hang out with us for a while. We are planning another for this upcoming week and already have like 8 requests for pots purchased for them. Dependent on actually getting up the fish up and going at 6AM, our crew's maximum efficiency could be around 20.

I've had a lot of help recently and it really is coming together. Very exciting.