<p>Ahhh...nothing like Smith traditions to warm your heart. Let's share some!
<a href="http://www.smith.edu/news/2006-07/HouseTeas.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.smith.edu/news/2006-07/HouseTeas.php</a></p>
<p>I'll let y'all find out on your own what sock wrestling contests are about. Hey, BJM...didja notice that the article led with Hubbard, a Green Street House? Coincidence? I think not.</p>
<p>"Hubbard House boasts the best baked goods on campus,"</p>
<p>Talk about the fresh 15</p>
<p>Oh nooooooo...not the dreaded Green St. versus the quad debate. Good comeback RLT.</p>
<p>I really love the idea of ivy day and illumination night before graduation. That is a great tradition that brings the whole campus together, including many alumnae.</p>
<p>Does any house still have candlelight dinners????</p>
<p>Candlelight dinners still exist, but they're different. Candlelight dinners used to be a full-out affair, with family-style dining instead of a buffet line (I'm an '08, but my house still had dining my first year, and was pretty much only utilized by students living in the house so we maintained the tradition). Nice tableclothes, candles every Thursday.</p>
<p>Dining Services still provides candles and tableclothes (though I don't think tableclothes are available every week). The meals still resemble meat-and-potatoes in most houses, but it's a buffet line instead of candles. I usually forget it's Thursday by dinnertime (though I walked into Chapin for dessert tonight, saw candles and tableclothes, and thought it really was Thursday).</p>
<p>"The fresh 15" often refers to the two vans full of Amherst rugby students coming to the Smith parties.</p>
<p>Ouch, ouch, ouch. let's not make this that kind of thread now! I only want to speak of positive traditions for prospies and new students. ;) Anyone else?</p>
<p>How about Mountain Day. That's cool, a day off beseeched by Pres. Christ. on a beautiful fall day.</p>
<p>BJM, it's in the eye of the beholder...some view the arrival of the Amherst rugby team in a positive light.</p>
<p>But, yes, Mountain Day is a quite civilized tradition. There are always cheers and wails depending on what classes are affected. "I only had one class that day...wah!" </p>
<p>And while it's not Smith-specific, I do like their sense of timing with respect to Family Weekend...the foliage is just gorgeous. (See the photos from atop Mount Holyoke [the hill, not the college] in the Smith pics thread.)</p>
<p>For the record, I'm on TD's side when it comes to Green Street. And I can pack a mean punch if any of you Quad types get too full of yourselves.</p>
<p>I think the Smith traditions were the #2 reason for why I liked the school so much (#1, academics).</p>
<p>P.S. Although I'm very hard-pressed not to pick the Quad (I like to be social, I like parties, and a near-guaranteed single is a very alluring thought) but I think I'd end up picking Green Street. (That's one for you, MWFN.) There's something about Chapin and Tyler that I love. Hubbard and Lawrence are close behind.</p>
<p>Reason #3: at what other college are so many <em>parents</em> of students rooting for you to get in. They know something you don't...but want you to share.</p>
<p>But, yeah, the academics are pretty darned good. Unfortunately, there are so many things that I'm forbidden to talk about if I'm to preserve D's privacy. On at least one phone call, TheMom had to plead for her to stop talking about academics so much and to let us know what <em>else</em> was going on.</p>
<p>I feel as if I know several of the profs, even if I mix up which is which between Baumer and Gardner sometimes.</p>
<p>Btw, TtHT, feel free to drop in here for your nightly "Smith" fix while you wait. We'll be more than happy to oblige.</p>
<p>Good to know! (Still here, obviously...)</p>
<p>I swear I love learning about Dulles (great name) and Eisenhower but sometimes I'd rather read the posts/threads on CC. Actually, we were arguing about the Korean War and China and the US's involvement on it during history class last time and we accidentally digressed and talked about Karl Rove. Too bad the Cold War is more or less the exact repeat of the Iraq War. We just don't learn, do we? (Won't get political here, wrong forum for that.)</p>
<p>Will be doing history homework very soon.</p>
<p>I swear, I LOVE history (especially this year). I just...get off track on occasion? Err...I'm guilty of procrastination...I won't lie...but I'll get back to it.</p>
<p>TtHT: here's a classical epigram updated and which you can use in class: All roads lead to Rove.</p>
<p>As a survivor of the Cold War and at one time a minutely small cog in the military-industrial complex, I see the Cold War as a good and necessary thing, unlike-- never mind. We also won, in that the world was a better place at the end of the line, despite whatever errors we made and shortcomings we had, unlike-- never mind again. There was a genuine bi-partisan consensus that ran through the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and (partly) Johnson administrations, unlike-- never mind yet a third time.</p>
<p>See, you can tell I'm not a Smithie myself. They'd have stepped into the ring with edged weapons. I prefer the double-bladed axe or the epee-style sword with basket hilt, depending on my opponent. </p>
<p>God help you at Smith if you can't defend your opinions. And even God won't be able to help you if you don't <em>have</em> opinions.</p>
<p>I don't know. I just think the Cold War could have been avoided had the Soviet Union and the US not been so damn uncompromising -- probably one of the biggest factors. I mean, Truman was expecting 85%. What the [bleep] was he thinking? Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily pro-Stalin, he was being really stupid, thinking that the US would ever give him a $2 billion dollar loan.</p>
<p>I also have a problem with the "We must use democracy" excuse with foreign nations. It's not that I have a problem with democracy (despite it's flaws, it's lovable, to an extent), but I really do have a problem with people using that an absolute reason for invading, well, any country. Again, not communist really, but we've never really seen communism flourish in large nations -- but that's because we never had the chance to do so. Truman and Bush -- both of them -- although I dislike Bush much, much, much more than Truman -- played the democracy card to convince Americans to "do the right thing."</p>
<p>Being frank, we've barely started Eisenhower and this is my first stab at the Cold War (AMATEUR!!!) but so far, I've been less than unimpressed. I honestly don't believe that it needed to happen and that containing Communism was just...grr...bothersome. I'd get into details about it, but then I'd just start mouthing off. And just a while ago, I said that I wouldn't EVER talk about politics on CC.</p>
<p>Cough, cough...good to know people at Smith are opinionated. The kids at my school are apathetic, and that's an understatement. It's so sad.</p>
<p>TD: after reading TtHT's post, I'd say professor gardner should get cracking on a "cold war" section for Reacting To/Re-Enacting The Past. </p>
<p>Smith Traditions:</p>
<p>House Tea
Quad Riots
Session's Ghost Hunt on Halloween
Comstock House/Wilder House Contention (and subsequent pranks)
Mountain Day
Candlelight Dinners
Emerson House Midieval Banquet
Winter Banquets
Convocation
House Ghosts
Celebration
Ivy Day and Illumination Night
First Year/Senior Kidnappings
Float Night
Immorality (weekend/night/party)
Winter Weekend (we used to have a Winter Ball but it's been downgraded to house parties)
Spring Weekend</p>
<p>In addition, the HPA (house president's association) is trying to get some traditions revived or started, like Quadi Gras and Quad-stock. </p>
<p>I've probably forgotten some or are not aware of less famous house traditions, but if you're interested in one of these, I or someone else here can probably expound on them a little bit.</p>
<p>Good list, Bea. And good idea about a Cold War module for Re-enacting the Past (D loved that course!). </p>
<p>Speaking of traditions, D's house has one where about-to-graduate seniors "will" various items to their housemates. D received a couple of gifts that were so thoughtful, "just right for her" things, last year.</p>
<p>What is "float" night??</p>
<p>Float night - different houses or orgs gather at the boathouse to decorate a canoe in a pre-determined theme. There's about an hour to do so before judging begins - each house attempts to row the canoe across the pond - and there are awards for "best overall" and "most creative," etc. There's also root beer floats provided. Float night is one of my favorite nights of the year.</p>
<p>TheDad, I think every house wills things at senior banquet.</p>
<p>Commenting on Bea's post, Winter Banquet and Senior/First-Year Kidnappings are not universal across campus - I've never heard of them before.</p>
<p>I would think that the kidnappings would be . . . too un-PC. A couple of friends and I once kidnapped three friends for a surprise birthday party, thinking we were being clever, but the emotional damage we inflicted for fifteen minutes still haunts me. We never should have done it.</p>