The Archi - November 2011 - Alpha Rho Chi

36
Alpha Rho Chi
through the Years
•
Anthemios 1985
Anthemios 1985
Stoked for Fun
by Kendall Kirkpatrick, Anthemios Alumnus
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
For the luau, Anthemios
actives hauled in six tons
of sand and a hot tub, built
a waterfall over the front
door, roasted a pig, and
contained it all inside a
bamboo fence.
Let me begin with a
quote from one of the
most iconic 80s trilogies,
Back to the Future:
Dr. Emmett Brown: “1.21
gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts?
Great Scott!”
Marty McFly: “What
– What the hell is a gigawatt?”
About the same time
those words were streaming
from the silver screen,
I was moving into the chapter house as a “new I.” Back
then, I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who
knew what a giga-anything was. We were still trying to
wrap our minds around “mega-byte.” Yes, things were
much different back then. Back before cell phones.
Back before laptops, email, Facebook, Blu-Ray, Blackberry,
and Outlook. Back before Viagra. How did we
ever survive? Don your wayfarers, climb into my DeLorean,
and charge up the flux capacitor. We’re going
back to 1985!
During our brief trip, you’ll want to reacquaint yourself
with some of the lingo commonly overheard in the
hallowed halls of 1108 South First Street:
Awesome = Cool
Bogus = Unfair
Gag Me with a Spoon = Dislike
Gnarly = Very Good
Grody = Really Gross
Radical = Immensely Attractive
Psych = “Gotcha”
Stoked = Ready
Vroooom! Screeeech! Here we are.
Back at the chapter house in 1985. Can somebody
cut the grass? It looks like a hayfield out here.
Not long into the school year I remember participating
in one of those late-night hallway “solve the world’s
problems” conferences, strategizing how to attract
more folks to pledge the house. Alumni brothers Mike
Anderson and Tim Flock told us of a time when they
used to block off the street and have a multi-house
block party and rush students to pledge. Really? We
had a party with the rival D-Chi’s and AGR’s? Yep,
and Anthemios hosted their party as the appropriately
named Archi All-Nighter. And by the way… all of
the photos of “proof” are probably still in the house
library.
“Awesome! Let’s do that,” we agreed, and sprang
into motion. Although we were going it alone, without
the neighborhood, and on a shoestring budget, soon
the campus was plastered with hundreds of flyers and
we were rolling up the grody wool carpet in the lounge.
What was that smell? The retro house stereo was ready
to rock and garbage cans held kegs of Old Milwaukee
on ice. Of course the actives always had a private keg
of something better. We were stoked for fun.
Soon the house was packed with kids and other folks
dancing to songs like “Jungle Love” and “Mony Mony.”
Down in the dining room, below the “dance floor,”
the ceiling was flexing up and down so much I thought
Why join Alpha Rho Chi?
Alpha Rho Chi is a national, coed, professional-social fraternity for
architecture and the allied arts.
APX is about academic excellence, leadership, lifelong friendships, mentoring,
networking, professionalism, scholarships & awards.
Discover what Alpha Rho Chi has to offer you! Contact your local chapter
or the national fraternity through our web site at www.alpharhochi.org.
The Archi
November 2011