MACKLEMORE, P-Day and Finals Week!

Hey everyone!

So in case you haven't already seen any posts from our other fabulous bloggers (and also because I'm STILL so obsessed that I really need an outlet to discuss it), I'm going to tell you a little bit about last weekend's happenings.

Every year, the last weekend before finals is a huge, campus-wide celebration. The weekend kicks off with our Spring Concert, followed by the school talent show the next day, and then P-Day which is always the Saturday before the last week of classes and beginning of finals. P-Day stands for "Preparation Day", and it's sort of like the last hoo-rah before the real stress starts. There's tons of free local food (including Ben and Jerry's!), inflatables (such as a bouncy house) out on the 300s field, free henna tattoos and photo booth pictures, and lots of home-made t-shirts and school spirit!

The Student Association works really hard every year to make this an unforgettably amazing weekend, and thanks to this year's fearless leaders, Eric Jaukurri and (my future housemate!) Caitlin Shea-Vantine, it has been one of my best Saint Michael's experiences to date. The reason being summed up in one word...MACKLEMORE.

That's right, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were our Spring Concert this year. How incredible is that? I still can't believe it happened--and that I was in the FRONT ROW. I'm so glad that Sheila bugged me to get on line early, because we beat the 3,000 people who attended to the front of the stage. And she got some awesome pictures because of it!

My phone died, so these pictures were taken by Sheila.

He was wearing an audience member's vest during "Thrift Shop"!

Here I am before the show with Wanz (the guy who sings in Thrift Shop), Liz and Sheila on the right. Wanz was really nice and funny, and he likes hugs!

So it was pretty much the best night ever...it was just so cool because Macklemore was obviously grateful to have such an enthusiastic crowd. He said more than once that we were his best audience in the past few shows, and I think it was really easy to tell that his music means so much to us. The Burlington area in general is pretty big into Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, especially since they came to Higher Ground this past fall.

But the thing that really made us happy to have Macklemore as our spring concert is that he definitely understood our sense of community here at SMC--and really took it to heart. Before arriving in Vermont, a few students got in contact with Macklemore's tour manager/fiancee. They told her about a student, Sam Brigham, who had just been unexpectedly diagnosed with leukemia and was upset that he'd miss the concert. Obviously he was already going through such a hard time, and Macklemore's music was helping him get through it. Macklemore was touched by Sam's story, so he went to visit him in the hospital. I don't know Sam personally, but when I heard about this story I could just imagine how much it meant to him and his friends. At Saint Mike's, everyone really supports each other, and it's obvious that this amazing group of people understood and respected that, and wanted to show their own support. Sam's story reached internet fame immediately after the concert, so Macklemore made a blog post addressing his thoughts and reasons for the importance of this visit.

I could talk about Macklemore all day, but I'll leave it at that. Just know that he's wonderful. And if you don't know any of his songs (or anything besides "Thrift Shop"), he's definitely worth getting to know. He has a lot of fun and silly stuff, but he also sends a really important message out to his listeners. "Same Love" addresses civil rights for same-sex couples and the need for hip hop to shed its common stereotypes. He also raps about sobriety, and the personal importance of staying off of drugs. His song "Starting Over" is about how he's become a role model for so many people, and his relapse left him disappointed with himself and afraid that his fans will be let down--but, as he says in the song, "If I can be an example of getting sober, then I can be an example of starting over." Writing songs about social issues, rather than perpetuating them, makes Macklemore stand out from a lot of other modern artists.

Check out a cool multimedia from the Defender about the set-up for the concert.

Okay, NOW I'm done talking about Macklemore. On to P-Day!

Well, it was pretty awesome. I took 841 photos by the end of the day. That's right. Eight-hundred-forty-one. I'm crazy. But I was also shooting P-Day for my Photojournalism final project, so I was just being thorough. And having a lot of fun.

P-Day is just one of those things where you had to be there. So, I'll let the pictures do the talking:


I took this right before the trike race, which is a tradition that kicks off every P-Day at 11AM.

During the race (after just about everyone ditched the trikes and it became full-scale running), the Student Association was splashing water on everyone!

One of the stations in the food tent was a local place called Ali Baba's. I had falafels...yum!

Students get a free P-Day bracelet, and guests can buy one for $20. This allows access to everything for the entire day!

Lauren Kilmister '15 rocks her own SMC P-Day shirt.

 

The student band Business 2 Consumer.

My friends Shawn (left) and Danny racing each other.

Lauren Mazzoleni steadies herself in the bouncy house while Lauren and Cara jump in the background.

Then there was this mind reader/sword swallower/fire eater dude. Not a big deal or anything...

The day ended with a late-night breakfast in Alliot!

So, that was P-Day! Now if you're starting to think that Saint Mike's is just one giant freak show...well, I guess you're kind of right. But we DO get our work done! After all, it takes a lot of work to have this much fun as a reward. So, our blissful weekend of madness was over by Sunday morning, when it was back to the papers, projects, and studying. The last few days of classes went pretty smoothly, and now everyone is preparing for finals. I'm off to make a(nother) website for Global Comm. But I will definitely need to get outside at some point--it's a beautiful sunny day!

Enjoy your weekend and the great weather!

Lauren