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Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by DrFrylock, Jul 26, 2011.

  1. DrFrylock

    DrFrylock
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    The White

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    This week there was an article on Slashdot entitled Fond Memories of Nerd Camp. The referenced article is written by someone who went to a CTY summer program sponsored by Johns Hopkins.

    I took special interest in this article because, back in the day, I was actually invited to this selfsame program (such as it was back then) and did not go. I recall my Mom asking me very seriously if I wanted to go, and I said no. I think she was thankful, because my folks did not have the thousands of dollars it would have taken to send me. I read the brochure and saw all this stuff about academic enrichment and good opportunities and blah blah.

    Even at 13, I was able to decode that into: "spend three weeks of your summer getting your ass kicked in advanced math classes all day long by hypercompetitive Asians who are not only younger than you, but who were doing calculus in the womb. Then, when you get back, retake those same classes later with everybody else."

    Reading the brochure, I did not see this as a "social" or "camp" experience, but apparently it was (and has been) that for many kids. One thing that has developed is a large and ridiculously complex set of traditions, mostly cataloged here (yes, as nerds, they catalog all their camp traditions on a wiki). Interestingly, nearly nothing the kids write about the camp there (or elsewhere) seems to have anything to do with academics, which I find surprising since they are in class or studying something like 9 hours a day, five days a week. They might do better to just cut out the classes entirely.

    I am ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED by ersatz cultures, so I decided to research this world that I came so close to being a part of. I will ramble at length about my research findings under the spoiler, but I will not belabor this for those of you who just want to get right to the FOCUS.

    My research has revealed to me that, at nerd camp, traditions are taken as seriously as nerds can take anything. The campers that really, really love this shit call themselves "traditionalists" and form their own traditionalist groups which are in charge of creating and promulgating traditions from year to year and session to session. One such group is The Alcove, which was named after an alcove where the group met in one of the dining halls. However, the hall has been remodeled several times, and the group has occasionally been required to meet near other unremarkable features of the dining hall. Other location-based groups have formed, namely "Teh (sic) Corner" (named after a particular table in the corner) and "The Booth" (named after a booth across from Teh Corner). I note with some wry amusement that I have observed this behavior (taking little mundane details of one's environment and inflating their importance greatly or taking group 'ownership' of them) in only two groups: CTY campers and prisoners.

    The camp now goes on at many sites around the U.S., and some sites are more tradition-bound than others. However, there are a few traditions that seem to be stronger than others.

    At each dance (which, according to reports, is just as awkward as you might imagine), there is a list of songs that must be played. These are the Canon, divided into the Lower Canon and the Upper Canon. Canon varies by camp site, and different sessions have different Canons. Certain songs have behaviors, dances, or callbacks associated with particular parts of them. Occasionally, songs are voted out of and into the Canon. A recent addition to one Canon was the Dr. Mario Dance, shown here as done by its proud inventor.

    American Pie, with extensive callbacks and behaviors (see here for a video example), caps off nearly every Canon, which shows that at least someone has some taste. However, Session 1 at the Skidmore site sneaks in I'll Make a Man Out Of You from Mulan afterwards for reasons that are too complex to explain to non-nerds.

    During Mandatory Fun (yes, they have this), one popular activity is having a Grass Orgy, where a large group of campers of both sexes lay on the grass, with one camper's head resting on another's stomach. On this matter, I will say only...um, yeah.

    In the early morning of the last day, the campers gather for a good-bye ritual known as Passionfruit or "The Passionfruit" which, as best I can tell, is mostly a bunch of sappy and faux-clever toasts with plastic cups of sickly-sweet fruit drinks that nobody in their right mind would consume voluntarily like Fuze.

    Anyway, all this is horrifying and interesting to me at the same time.

    My only camp experience was at sixth-grade "outdoor science camp" which was held up in the mountains for a week and was mostly harmless. At outdoor science camp, the first thing they did, practically before you even got off the bus, was start teaching everyone stupid songs and dances. I realize now that it's all a sort of weak mind-control meant to increase the rapidity of ingroup bonding.

    FOCUS: In the organizations you belong to now, or (especially) did as a kid, what role did these sorts of traditions play? What were some of your favorite? What were some of your least favorite? Did traditions and memes that seemed awesome and hilarious while you were involved in the organization seem cringeworthy afterward?
     
  2. Nettdata

    Nettdata
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    Mr. Toast

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    Wow. The only thing "nerdier" than going to nerd camp, is to not go to nerd camp, and instead study their traditions.

    But onto the focus: if you ever want to see traditions, join the military and go to a mess dinner. Especially at a military college.

    I won't get into the details, but I will say that my favourite parts were the Moose Milk (for the Canadian Air Force mess dinners), and the cabbage football.

    Cabbage football was played indoors, after clearing all furniture off to the sides of the largest room you could find. You then played full-contact football with cabbages while stripped down in your dress uniform. We generally used the purple ones. Cabbages, that is. This was never done sober, and we usually had duelling pipers on the sidelines. I've only seen a few major injuries result (a broken wrist/arm, and a couple concussions), and a couple of teeth go missing.

    And there was much rejoicing.


    My least favourite tradition is a familial one; every male in our family going back hundreds of years has the same first name. 99% of us go by our second/middle names, but there is that one fucktard here and there that goes by the first. Nothing like being at a family reunion, hearing a name called, and having 20 guys look over thinking they've been called.

    Hate that tradition. But, if I ever had a kid, I'd do the same.
     
  3. hooker

    hooker
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    Emotionally Jaded

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    Been there, done that, threw the t-shirt out because it was covered in vomit.

    They:

    • shaved off my eye brows
    • put a full jar of Vaseline in my hair (that didn't wash out for almost two weeks - which meant walking around campus with it the entire time)
    • made me flash my tits for free drinks*
    • dressed me in my jill (jock strap), knee socks, and a zebra print half top
    • forced me to drink beer that had been sitting in the sun all day
    • made me carry around a bright pink rubber dildo and beg for sex
    • decorated my face with blue and yellow warrior paint
    *just kidding - did that on my own free will

    Varsity sports teams have the best traditions.
     
  4. Juice

    Juice
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    Moderately Gender Fluid

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    My college frat had some *interesting* traditions for pledges:

    -Carry around a massive book (which was really just a painted cardboard box with weights inside) every day for a week to every class and even to the dining hall. The best part was we had to have the book, which we called "Big D", in it's own seat on the bus and in class, which started more than a few arguments with actual people who needed one.

    -The 15 pledges got locked in a room with 15 bottles of Night Train and they wouldn't let us out until all 15 bottles were finished. Then they woke us up at 4 AM to go for a mile run.

    -A spur of the moment, middle of the night trip to Boston to pickup a pizza from a specific place and then take a picture in front of Fenway with it.

    Yeah it's all nonsensical hazing, but every pledge class before and after did the same thing and if I had to go through it again, I would in a heartbeat.