A Week to Remember: Homecoming 2011

I have to say that my first Howard Homecoming was pretty great. My best friend, Marquishon, came up here to experience the weekend with me. My favorite part of the whole weekend would have to be Yardfest and the R&B show. I was amazed by how much fun everyone was having. There was a sense of unity that was overwhelming. It was just really cool to see the alumni and other people come out to support Howard University. It was very encouraging and I can not wait until next year.

Howard Homecoming 2011

Homecoming was such a lesson this year. Nothing went as planned and my guest from back home had such high expectations. Thursday we got to the club so late that we only got to dance for an hour. Friday we missed the R&B show and ended up chilling in our dorm and on the yard. Saturday, we went to the step show and looked for a house party but all of the house parties got shut down. Although, nothing turned out right and it was so hard to try to do anything. I realized that you can still have fun even when things don't go right. Next year I am going to try to attend all of the event and not have a guest. I felt pressure to try and show her around and do things, but some days I didn't feel like partying. All in all, i learned that homecoming is what you make it, and you have to plan but not over plan.

Parker Gilkesson

@02660576

Group 19

#GHOE

This weekend I traveled down to Greensboro, North Carolina to go to NC A&T's homecoming. My twin brother goes to A&T and my parent and Maternal grandparents went there also. I broke the tradition by coming to Howard, however, I still wanted to go and spend sometime with my family in North Carolina. I took my best friend London. We drove down with my God Parents and stayed at my Grandmothers house. I've been going to NC A&T's homecomings all my life, so I knew what to expect. Friday night is the step show and then saturday is the game and concert. We all went to the step show friday night. The Ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated won the step show for the women and the Gentleman of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated won the the step show for the men. Saturday night was the concert and the headliner was Rick Ross. Due to health issues he wasn't able to come. Although I've been to this homecoming so many times, it seemed so different this year, now that I go to Howard. I've never been to a Howard homecoming but I can't wait to see what its all about. #GHOE is A&T's big phrase this year. It means greatest homecoming on earth. I have a big feeling that Howard's homecoming will top theirs.

Midnight Madness Mayhem(Free Write)

On October 15th, Midnight Madness was the talk on Howard University's campus. Everyone attended the HU vs. Georgetown game with intentions of going to Midnight Madness later on that evening. My friends and I were amped and ready for the night ahead of us. I personally had heard many stories about Midnight Madness; especially the story about the students bum rushing the security guards in order to get into the event. Well something similar happened yesterday. Many texts were sent out to HU students saying if you want to get in and get a good seat then you must arrive promptly at 9pm. Some students took that into consideration and others listened and simply arrived on time. But for the ones, like me and many other students, who arrived around 10:45pm, were faced with a dilemma. The security guards were not letting anyone else into Midnight Madness and as a result of this there were fights, yelling, and chaos everywhere. Many were hit by police and others were trampled. There was one police officer in particular that was out of line. He hit my friend and was involved in another fight with two females. He was crazy and completely out of line! As a result of this Midnight Madness Mayhem, the event ended early and everyone was asked to leave. In the end, the night was full of craziness and was NOT a success.

Alexis Nicole Thrasher

@02661188

Group 19

Statistics

This weeks lecture was awesome!!! It was crazy because I did believe a few of the negative stereotypes against black people. When Dr. Fenwick showed us the facts about what was actually going on in our community, I was somewhat shocked but also extremely happy! Hearing that many black men actually have high standardized test scores was enlightening. Education has always been stressed to me and my twin brother, so it was great to see that its not just my family. I would really like to know why black males aren't in college but they have high test scores. I also was surprised to know that the rate of crack cocaine is higher in whites than in blacks. all of the statistics she stated were completely opposite of what the media and the world had portrayed to us. I was so pleased with the turn out of all of the questions. She was a really great speaker and I enjoyed how she went about her lecture. At the end of the lecture I made it a necessity to speak with her. Her presence was really warm and she was really easy to talk to. I would love to do some type of research with her.


Parker Gilkesson
@02660576
Group 19

Miss Evers' Boys

Miss Evers' Boys was based on the true story of the Tuskegee Experiment and the men involved. Miss Eunice Evers was a nurse that was directly responsible for the care of several African American men in Macon County, Alabama. These men had "bad blood" or syphilis. At the time there was no cure for syphilis and these men  did not receive effective treatment for the sake of the government's research on the effects of syphilis. This play gave insight on the actual live of these men as they suffered through this debilitating disease. I really enjoyed this play. I did not know very much about what happened during the Tuskegee experiment and I felt that this was a very honest view of what happened and how the men were mistreated. It was very enlightening and gave a very personal view of  this disease and its true implications before there was an effective treatment. It also detailed a very important view on how it effected the overall black community and how they viewed medicine. In my opinion, some of the black communities' apprehension against medicine came from the results of this experiment.

The Importance of Questioning Statistics

Dr. Leslie Fenwick spoke to our clss this week about stereotypes in the educational system and how to overcome them. Stereotypes have the potential to change people's attitudes about their ability to succeed. For example, if an African American male falls for the stereotype that they do not perform well on standardized tests, they will likely believe that they won't do well and may not even put forth effort to try to do well on the test. It is important for us as future leaders to debunk the stereotypes that we hear and see on a regular basis. We can not simply ignore the stereotypes and not do anything about them. Dr. Fenwick emphasized the importance of being able to look beyond the stereotypes and even go as far as proving them to be untrue. If we see statistics we should always find out where they are comng from so that we do not overgeneralize what the data is saying. I personally think that stereotyoes that shed a negative light on the African AMerican race as a whole are usual overgenralized from the data that was given. It is not fair to assume that all African Americans do not perform well academically in comparison to theri counterparts of other races. There is always something more than race that effects how well someone performs. The most important thing I learned from Dr. Fenwick was to always question the status quo and to never simply accept the statistics or what you heard somone say. It is always more valuable to do your own research and establish your own opinions and feelings.