After a half hour of deep thought wondering what I was going to write this week, I went back into the archives of my mind to remember the all posts bulletin the Iotas put on me last year for calling them out during homecoming week.
For those of you who can’t recall what I said, I feel bad for you because it isn’t being said again-at least not outside the confines of my house. What I will say about the incident, or lack thereof, is that I realized how homecoming changes in the eyes of most students as they progress toward graduation.
Seemingly after a student’s first homecoming, the only events they want to be involved in are the game itself and the club scene that night.
I still remember trying to be seen every day at almost every club during homecoming week my freshman year.
However, my intended splash into the Florida A&M University mainstream went as well as my futile attempts to get into clubs that week being I was still three weeks away from my 18th birthday.
Ever since that pointless and pitiful journey for respect, the homecoming game and the week preceding it have steadily declined in importance.
Something about running around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for the closest good-looking woman isn’t as appealing as it use to be.
But as I was preparing for another mundane homecoming week -for the second year in a row, I have two tests to study for-a mini epiphany happened to me while watching our football team getting demolished by Virginia Tech, for its homecoming no less.
No school does homecoming like FAMU.
To most, the burning question would be: Why did it take me so long to realize this?
But to me the question was: Why didn’t I appreciate what I had?
What I had was a week of incredible festivities and concerts schools around the country would love to emulate.
For as much notoriety the University of Florida receives for its Gator Growl, the largest homecoming show in the country, I doubt it could top the crunkness (yes the ‘surfer boy’ from Small Town, Fla., said crunkness) of our homecoming concert and numerous other festivities.
Maybe it was riding around the Virginia Tech campus looking for any semblance of excitement. Or maybe it was the sheer amazement of walking past the student section and seeing available seats, something that is almost blasphemous for homecoming at Bragg Memorial Stadium, but no school can have a homecoming week as great as ours.
Regardless, Virginia Tech’s dull homecoming and the school’s lack of attractive black women reaffirmed my love for homecoming week.
Even if the seating in Bragg is tighter than an extra “smedium” T-shirt, I’m not missing our homecoming game and its intoxicating nightlife for anything.
Will Brown is a junior broadcast journalism student from Rockledge. Contact him at Wwbrown19@yahoo.com