Hi from London, y’all! I’m writing from my flat in the Bethnal Green neighborhood with a lovely view of the London skyline from my window.
For the next month, I will be studying with twelve other students and three professors from Virginia Tech’s English department. We use London itself as our “text” to learn about its history, literature and architecture, and how they all tie together to give us the London we see and experience, and what lies below its skin. (more…)
They rise before the crack of dawn every morning while many of us still lie in bed. If you’re on campus early enough, like I usually am, you’ll hear the sound of ‘Taps’ resounding from Upper Quad as the flag is raised for the day. If you listen closely again at 5 p.m., you’ll hear a second playing of ‘Taps’ as the flag comes down. Follow the sound to the drill field about twenty minutes later and you can witness the Highty Tighties, the Corps’ regimental band, practicing their routines and Sousa marches for the next football game.
The Corps of Cadets brings a whole new tradition to Virginia Tech. Seeing more than 1,000 young men and women in uniform on a daily basis is a sight that never gets old. It started with VT’s first student William Addison Caldwell in 1872 and continues strong today. While many cadets commission and go into service after their time in the Corps, commission is not mandatory. VT is one of six senior military colleges that does not require service after graduation.
Each year, the Corps welcomes over 350 freshmen to Blacksburg in August for New Cadet Week. They become well acquainted with their companies through rigorous physical training and leadership classes in no time. Freshmen can be easily spotted by the white “rat belts” on their uniforms; upper-class cadets wear black belts.
When classes start and all the cadets are mixed in with one another, it’s hard to tell them apart. A friend from my high school went into the Corps, and for the first few months of freshman year, I didn’t recognize him under his spiffy blue and white uniform and cap. They all look the same!
Cadets learn more than what their studies and training require. Chivalry is certainly not dead in the Corps, and it shows in each and every cadet. I cannot count how many times a cadet has held a door open for me or moves to the right on the sidewalk so I can pass. Even when I meet a cadet friend for lunch to catch up, he won’t allow me to open a door for myself. How polite! I’ve even had a cadet tip his hat to me a time or two. It’s so refreshing to see chivalry exhibited so often from so many Southern gentlemen in uniform.
In the midst of all the training, classes and lessons, freshman cadets do get some chances for fun. Each company has a turn to paint the strip of concrete outside Lane Hall known as the “rat path.” It’s a secret, overnight mission assigned by the company’s cadre that aims to build company unity and show Corps pride. Some rat path artwork is truly artistic, and sometimes it’s more humorous. No matter what design is painted, it always gives me something nice to look at as I trek across Upper Quad for my classes in Shanks Hall.
One of the most recognized traditions at VT for cadets and civilians alike is the Class Ring and the formal Ring Dance. Since 1911, each class has designed its own ring, which is premiered in the fall of the class’s junior year. The dance, held since 1934, comes in the spring. Junior cadets stand in the shape of the class numerals—2014 at this year’s dance0—and exchange rings with their dates. At this point, civilian attendees exchange rings with their dates, too, symbolizing the transition from junior to senior for all. The night is capped off with a fireworks display on the drill field.
The year finishes with Pass in Review, in which command is passed down to new leaders and graduating cadets are recognized for their accomplishments. Freshmen “turn” and replace their white “last damn rat belts” with fancy black upperclassman belts. The Pass in Review ceremony is held on the drill field, and every year hundreds of students and locals come to watch.
After attending VT for three years, I’m always thrown off when I visit other colleges and don’t see cadets everywhere. The Corps tradition at VT is a special experience, even for a civilian like me.
Kate Robertson is a features writer for Pretty Southern, and a rising senior at Virginia Tech studying communication and English. Originally form Atlanta, Kate plans to graduate in 2014 to launch a professional career in writing and public relations. Follow her on Twitter @kate3robertson.
In what’s affectionately become known as the “Wedding Wetting”, bride Patricia Andrews, groom Frank Fearon, and their wedding party of 27 attendants (13 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen) took a plunge into Lake Lanier on Sautrday, May 18, after the dock breaks under the weight of the entire 29-person wedding party. “Thankfully this was after the ceremony!” writes videographer Aaron Chewning. He and his sister, Callie Chewning Murray of The Not Wedding and Achor & Eden photography were on hand to document the occasion. “Luckily the entire group had a sense of humor about the accident,” the team wrote in their YouTube post. “Everyone got dried off and the reception went on to be one of the best celebrations to date. Only minor injuries and a lot of wet iPhone 5’s. A fractured humorous, was the only thing not humorous about this.”
Watch the “Wedding Wetting” here. We wish Mr. & Mrs. Frank Fearon the best of luck, and much grace, in their future endeavors!
It’s official. The Peach Pass Press announced via email on Sunday, May 19, that the toll on Georgia 400 will be ending the weekend before Thanksgiving this fall. From the e-mail:
“In July 2012, Gov. Nathan Deal announced that the state would pay off its bond debt and end tolls on GA 400 by December 2013. The ending date for GA 400 tolls has been set for Thursday, Nov. 21, weather permitting. This date was selected to lessen the impact on Thanksgiving holiday travel. In the case of inclement weather, the ending date will be moved to Nov. 22 or 23. Plans for the demolition of the toll booths and other aspects of the project are still being finalized. However, preliminary plans call for all GA 400 traffic to shift into three general purpose lanes where motorists currently use the electronic tolling lanes. Construction activities will likely begin in October 2013 to make preparations for the traffic shift in November.
“Once traffic is shifted, there is no heavy demolition work expected to take place during the winter holidays. Toll booth demolition is expected to be completed between January 2014 and the following May. Once the cash booths and the structure overhead are removed, traffic will shift over so that the rest of the toll plaza can be taken down. Once that happens, traffic will shift back over and remain there permanently. Top priorities for the project are: safety, traffic maintenance and communications.
More details about the GA 400 demolition project will be available later this spring in future issues of the Peach Pass Press enewsletter, and at www.georgiatolls.com and www.PeachPass.com.”
We all know that lovely adage. When life gives you lemons make lemonade. Well, a lovely young Southern lady named JoAnn Anderson took this a step further. On a rainy day in Georgia in the summer of 2012, she captured this image of red shoes crossing the street beneath a cheery ruby umbrella. Why not turn that rain into pink lemonade via Photoshop? So that’s what she did, using a combination of Photoshop edits in Vibrance, Saturation, Shadows/Highlights, Sharpen, HDR – Photorealistic and then used pixlr-o-matic to add vintage filters to it using another combination of Effects (Hagrid) and Overlays (Rain). The result: this lovely image which we decided to share on this rainy day in May when the South is getting a dose of Blackberry Winter. To see more of Anderson’s stunning work, check out her website Sidewalk Chic, and follow her on Twitter. Here’s the full image for your rainy day viewing pleasure.
Virginia Tech’s motto is “Ut Prosim,” which is Latin for “that I may serve.” Hokie Nation lives up to this every day of every year. My favorite examples of Ut Prosim in action are our annual day of service, The Big Event, and Relay for Life. (more…)