The EU anthology

Rick has mentioned a couple of times that I’m looking to compile a booklet of Brothers’ stories about their Undergraduate days with the Chapter.

This is my goal: To write a comprehensive history of the Chapter’s early days paired with first-person stories spanning all 40 years of Epsilon Upsilon.

To accomplish the first part, I’m going to be contacting and interviewing our founding members. But for the second part, I’ll need the help of everyone who is willing to participate by sharing a story.

Here are some guidelines that I think will be helpful for everyone, including myself:

1. Your story should be about one event or memory. Don’t try to sum up your four years of Undergrad Delt life. Pick your favorite memory and write about it.

2. Be as descriptive and as specific as possible in recounting the memory or story you wish to share. For example: Saying it happened in April of 1977 is better than saying it happened during the spring semester of 1977. Also, be mindful that places have changed or no longer exist. Say what they were. Example: “I lived in Putnam Hall, which was a large freshman dorm at the corner of Putnam and Seventh streets.”

3. We are all entitled to our histories and we shouldn’t whitewash them, but if your story does involve recounting something that would be embarrassing or harmful today to another Brother or Brothers, please seek their permission first.

4. I’m not going to set a limit on length. It can be as long or as short as it needs to be.

5. If you aren’t a writer, that’s OK. No one expects you to be. I’ll be editing what you write in order to help you tell your story. I’ll be asking you questions and giving you feedback. Don’t sweat the small stuff: I’ll clean up misspellings and bad grammar.

6. Submission: The best way to do this will be for you to write your story in Microsoft Word and email the file to me at sselby@crain.com. Put “Delt story” in the message line.

7. And finally, deadline: I will stop accepting stories on Nov. 1.

I hope that helps explain what we are looking to do and what our expectations are for this project. I’m really looking forward to reading your stories. Please write one. Your Brothers will appreciate reading them, too.

Oh, and if you have a background in journalism or literary stuff and would like to help with the editing of all this, please let me know! I am not Hell-bent on doing this by myself.

Now for the nasty-but-necessary stuff: Your submissions will become property of the Crescent Colony of Marietta Inc., which will serve as the owner of the copyright. I reserve the right, on behalf of CCoM Inc., to reject or edit any submission for whatever reason or reasons I deem necessary.

You also agree to give us your first born child, your Social Security Number and access to all your bank accounts .... blah blah blah.

— Shawn “Just sign here” Selby ‘92

In which Shawn pretends he is Rick, episode two

Via Charley Maghes '95, I am happy to report that J.P. Clowes '93 and his wife Nina became parents of a daughter over the weekend.

Sarah Elizabeth was born on June 1, weighing 6 pounds and 12 ounces. Mom, dad and older brother and future Delt Michael are all doing well.

 
 

Congratulations, J.P.! Virtual cigars for everyone!

Shawn "Stork. The Other White Meat." Selby '92

In which Shawn pretends he is Rick

While giving updates on alumni is normally Rick's province, I recently made contact with Matt (Christman) Christman-Lees '94, so I thought I'd pass on what he's been up to.

Matt and his partner of 11 years, Ray, are living in Worthington, Ohio. Matt is a communications consultant in the IT department at Nationwide Insurance. Last June, Matt and Ray adopted two Haitian children -- Jenny, age 7, and future Delt Aaron, who just turned 4 this week. (A family photo is below.) Matt says they hope to add more children to their family soon.

Matt says he misses going to the Mountaineer in Parkersburg (hey, Undergrads, you didn't invent going there!).

Matt would love to hear from everyone. I'm passing along his email address to both Rick and Hops, so it will be added to the Alumni database soon, which you can access on the Chapter's Web site.



As you all can see, we've figured out how to post photos, so if you'd like to include photos with any updates you send to Rick, feel free to do so. We won't be able to have the photos be a part of Rick's emails, but we can add them to the blog when we post his email updates there.

Cheers!
Shawn

In which Shawn learns how to post photos

Here are some photos I took at the Spring Alumni Weekend before my camera became temporarily disabled. (Click on the photo to see the rest of the album.)

Spring Alumni Weekend 2007

Cheers!
Shawn

Dawes Memorial Library, RIP

Well, they've started tearing down the library.

Here's a link to a video story on it by WTAP. The one student interviewed is Undergraduate Delt Jeff Wojton, vice president of the Chapter. Go Jeff!

After watching the video, to which I was alerted by Sigma Sigma Sigma alumna Charla Nutter '95, I was struck by two things:

1. It was pretty upsetting to see the bulldozer crashing into the library. The library memorializes MC alumnus Charles Dawes, a former vice president of the United States. He's definitely the highest-ranking office holder this college has ever produced. Now that legacy goes unmarked. Plus, I worked at the library my first semester at Marietta and in the evenings one summer. So I got to go into all the nooks and crannies that we off limits to everyone else. :-)

2. WTAP, the Parkersburg TV station, still sucks. Really sucks. It was bad in the late 80s and early 90s. It is still bad today. A quote from the piece describes the library as "a symbol of knowledge the college departs on students year after year."

I guess I must have been there during the years the college imparted knowledge.

I hope the WTAP reporter didn't go to Marietta!

And now for something completely different ...

I have been AWOL on my blogging duties, namely formatting Rick's posts.

The day I returned to work from the Spring Alumni Weekend, we had two editors leave their jobs, and I've had to add a lot of duties temporarily to my portfolio, namely overseeing the content and production of the biggest issue of Crain's Detroit Business that we publish each year.

The last of it went to press this evening

I've been working 50-plus hours a week and taking work home on the weekend as a result. The worst of it is over.

I'm now going back through the blog and doing the appropriate clean up on Rick's most recent reports. I'll also have some housekeeping posts in the next few weeks as well.

I know Rick thinks that I have abandoned him, but I haven't.

In the imortal words of myself: "I'm baaaaacccckkkkk!"

Cheers!

Shawn

Excelsior

Our Undergraduate Brothers continue to make us proud.

I returned from the Northern Division Conference in Columbus Sunday evening, and I’m happy to report that Epsilon Upsilon received from the International Fraternity three awards for recruitment (rush), one award for academics and a Programming Award for Showcasing the Delt Spirit.

But, just as significant, every Important Delt Person I talked to had nothing but good things to say about our Undergrads.

An example of the type of good things being said about them: I sat in on a session for new Chapter Advisors and Alumni Advisory Team Members. Jim Russell, the International Fraternity’s Executive Vice President, said that Epsilon Upsilon was one of the fraternity’s "few high-functioning chapters."

Those are words of high praise from the Delt who runs Central Office.

They’ve really got their act together, and it is being noticed by the rest of the Fraternity.

All weekend long I got to enjoy the spotlight being shown on our Undergrads for more than just the five awards they picked up:

• Outgoing Chapter President Craig Sundstrom was offered, and accepted, a position as Chapter Consultant – the first Epsilon Upsilon graduate to be named a Chapter Consultant.
• Undergraduates Ashley Wollam and Sundstrom each were asked to introduce speakers at the conference.
• Our Undergraduates were active members on each of the conferences committees, including Adam Hopkins, who was the only Undergraduate on the Northern Division’s auditing committee.
• Our indefatigable Fergie chaired the auditing committee, gave a speech in support of the winning candidate for Northern Division President and spoke Sunday morning on the topic of "Power."
  

With all that stage time, this really was Epsilon Upsilon’s show.

They’ve been working hard and it is really showing.

I know some of them were hoping that this would be the year that the Chapter could again lay claim to Court of Honor and possibly even another Hugh Shield Award for Chapter Excellence.

It was not in the cards. This time.

But, unlike those of us who were Undergraduates during the Great Disappointment of 1990, they handled it with a lot more grace and dignity. They resolved to continue doing what they do well and to work on what they can do better.

In short, they handled it like men. They handled it like Delts. Our Delts.

Drop them a note telling them how proud you are of them through Chapter President Nick Aylward at naa001@marietta.edu.

Shawn "I will NOT go to Ritual at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday" Selby '92