I went to the Homecoming events to hiss, but something was amiss. I sat for a while to ponder this, then I realized, it was President Humphries that I missed.
There were no Hennessy-tinged lisps. No spirited strikes coming from lips. Although there was a slight crisp in the October air, my beloved Humphries was not there.
For the past three years I have held my memories of him dear. But now I wish he was here.
Enough of the rhyming; let’s get to the point. This homecoming was seriously lacking something. It seems as though Homecoming 2K4 could have used a few drunken words from FAMU’s eighth president.
So I looked to President Fred Gainous to get some school spirit. Although Gainous has finally gotten his delivery of the Rattler Omen together for convocation, it seems kind of awkward coming from him considering that his days at FAMU are numbered.
And speaking of convocation, where was the Homecoming crowd? This was the first Homecoming Convocation I’ve attended in which there were still seats in the gym.
However, that was not the case for the Greek Step Show. People didn’t seem to mind sweating it out in the hot gym and sitting on the dirty floor to see their favorite fraternity or sorority step.
But I digress.
Moving on to the Homecoming Football Game, I expected that to be the most live Homecoming event. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The football game is supposed to be the culmination of the most highly anticipated week at FAMU. But it was a mediocre ending to a less than stellar week of events, further leading me to wonder: Where is all the Rattler Pride we are known for?
Yes, wearing orange and green and buying T-shirts shows your support of FAMU, but clearly that is not enough.
Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm for homecoming was due to the fact that FAMU has experienced some hard times over the last year. But as the song says, “We fall down, but we get up.” It’s time we get up from this place of apparent self-pitying and reclaim our school spirit.
If FAMU is to survive and thrive through these mounting challenges, then we have to keep our spirits high. We can’t give the impression that we still have not caught our balance.
Trouble doesn’t last always and even when the dark clouds gather on the horizon and hope seems bleak, the Florida A&M University Rattlers will, and must, strike, strike and strike again.
Alexia R. Robinson is a senior magazine production student from Jacksonville. She is copy desk chief for The Famuan. Contact her at copyeditors@hotmail.com.