PKT25: Spring 1999
I returned to the fraternity house in January 1999 after eight months on co-op. 8 months of weight lifting had gotten me into much better shape, I had plenty of money banked and my family had just returned from a week in New York City where I saw five Broadway shows. I moved into the Oval Office, which was fitting because I was President of the house in the Spring 1999 semester.
Now that I had finished the sophomore weed out classes (at the cost of my scholarship), I was strangely much less stressed. It helped that I wasn't working. I figured being president of the house was enough, and I was flush anyway by college student standards. From the end of my co-op in mid December to the end of the spring semester in May was the longest stretch of unemployment of my adult life, just barely edging out my first semester freshman year. Since then, I don't think I've been unemployed more than a couple of days.
Outside the house, my 8 months in the gym during co-op reminded me that I needed to be working out regularly, so I took some of my co-op earnings and joined 1:2:1 Fitness. This was on campus near many of my classes and I religiously worked out three times a week through my graduation. I was also now a bonafide film snob in the making. Although I'd gone to CWRUFilm repeatedly my freshman and sophomore years, this semester marked my first appearance at the Cinematheque. I also co-hosted my first show at WRUW. Glick was still in Cleveland and his co-host was on co-op, so I did the ska hour of "Screw the Buzzard" for my first official show.
Naturally, I remember very little about official duties as president. As previously mentioned, nobody on campus had official parties that semester after a freshman pledge from another chapter died in an alcohol-related incident. I had very little to do, or at least very little that I remember doing all these years later. I did greatly enjoy running initiation and consider that a personal highlight of my time in the house.
Socially, the AZDs who hung out at our house throughout my sophomore year mostly stopped coming over my junior year. Into that gap stepped a bunch of freshman girls who were (mostly) from Sherman dorm, namely: Gina, Melanie, Susie, Joy, Rachel & Vivian. They hung out at the PhiKap house as long as I was there. I got along particularly well with Rachel & Vivian. We went to a lot of movies together and I am still friends with them today.
We started the semester with 25 brothers, and had five pledges that semester, all of them freshmen:
Alberto - Alberto was studying engineering of some kind, and ended up being my roommate for 1999-2000. I don't remember where he was from. His father didn't really speak English, which made answering our shared phone interesting. BB: Rowan.
Shawn - Shawn was a mechanical engineering major from somewhere near Toledo. BB: Neal.
Craig - Craig was a music education major. I don't recall where he was from. BB: Jackal.
Rob - Rob was a nursing major from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. His older sister Teresa was a freshman the same year I was and hung out at the house quite a bit. They were both at CWRU in large part because their father was a professor of engineering at the school. Rob was the first of three people from his family to join the fraternity. His father was inducted as an alumnus member and as far as I know is still the advisor for the house. His younger brother Marc joined a few years after I graduated. BB: Nick.
Amitai - Amitai was a music and computer science inclined (but never formally declared) student from northern Chicagoland. BB: Pat, which made him my LLB.
Three brothers graduated at the end of the semester.
Josh - Lived for a while in Cleveland post-graduation, then went back to the east coast.
Joe - Married his high school sweetheart Laura that summer in the first of three consecutive PhiKap weddings we celebrated in about 6 weeks. He went to podiatry school in Cleveland then set up shop in Erie, PA. They live there now with their daughter.
Phil - Worked as a music teacher in Florida, Chicago, Austin and Portland. Also had stints in a bunch of different bands, including Liquid Soul, before releasing his own extremely good solo album.
In addition, Andy dropped out out the fraternity somewhere. I can't recall if it was late in the prior semester or early in this semester. I'm pretty sure I was back on campus when it happened because I feel like I dealt with it as president, but certainly the 98-99 composite is the last one he appears on. He ended up in Boston after he graduated.
With five joining and four graduating or dropping, we grew slightly to 26 going into the summer.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings
EDIT: Fixed some of Amitai's details.
EDIT: Forgot when Andy left.
Addendum: Went to Jenny's house in Cincinnati for spring break, as recalled when I wrote up Summer 2000.
Now that I had finished the sophomore weed out classes (at the cost of my scholarship), I was strangely much less stressed. It helped that I wasn't working. I figured being president of the house was enough, and I was flush anyway by college student standards. From the end of my co-op in mid December to the end of the spring semester in May was the longest stretch of unemployment of my adult life, just barely edging out my first semester freshman year. Since then, I don't think I've been unemployed more than a couple of days.
Outside the house, my 8 months in the gym during co-op reminded me that I needed to be working out regularly, so I took some of my co-op earnings and joined 1:2:1 Fitness. This was on campus near many of my classes and I religiously worked out three times a week through my graduation. I was also now a bonafide film snob in the making. Although I'd gone to CWRUFilm repeatedly my freshman and sophomore years, this semester marked my first appearance at the Cinematheque. I also co-hosted my first show at WRUW. Glick was still in Cleveland and his co-host was on co-op, so I did the ska hour of "Screw the Buzzard" for my first official show.
Naturally, I remember very little about official duties as president. As previously mentioned, nobody on campus had official parties that semester after a freshman pledge from another chapter died in an alcohol-related incident. I had very little to do, or at least very little that I remember doing all these years later. I did greatly enjoy running initiation and consider that a personal highlight of my time in the house.
Socially, the AZDs who hung out at our house throughout my sophomore year mostly stopped coming over my junior year. Into that gap stepped a bunch of freshman girls who were (mostly) from Sherman dorm, namely: Gina, Melanie, Susie, Joy, Rachel & Vivian. They hung out at the PhiKap house as long as I was there. I got along particularly well with Rachel & Vivian. We went to a lot of movies together and I am still friends with them today.
We started the semester with 25 brothers, and had five pledges that semester, all of them freshmen:
Alberto - Alberto was studying engineering of some kind, and ended up being my roommate for 1999-2000. I don't remember where he was from. His father didn't really speak English, which made answering our shared phone interesting. BB: Rowan.
Shawn - Shawn was a mechanical engineering major from somewhere near Toledo. BB: Neal.
Craig - Craig was a music education major. I don't recall where he was from. BB: Jackal.
Rob - Rob was a nursing major from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. His older sister Teresa was a freshman the same year I was and hung out at the house quite a bit. They were both at CWRU in large part because their father was a professor of engineering at the school. Rob was the first of three people from his family to join the fraternity. His father was inducted as an alumnus member and as far as I know is still the advisor for the house. His younger brother Marc joined a few years after I graduated. BB: Nick.
Amitai - Amitai was a music and computer science inclined (but never formally declared) student from northern Chicagoland. BB: Pat, which made him my LLB.
Three brothers graduated at the end of the semester.
Josh - Lived for a while in Cleveland post-graduation, then went back to the east coast.
Joe - Married his high school sweetheart Laura that summer in the first of three consecutive PhiKap weddings we celebrated in about 6 weeks. He went to podiatry school in Cleveland then set up shop in Erie, PA. They live there now with their daughter.
Phil - Worked as a music teacher in Florida, Chicago, Austin and Portland. Also had stints in a bunch of different bands, including Liquid Soul, before releasing his own extremely good solo album.
In addition, Andy dropped out out the fraternity somewhere. I can't recall if it was late in the prior semester or early in this semester. I'm pretty sure I was back on campus when it happened because I feel like I dealt with it as president, but certainly the 98-99 composite is the last one he appears on. He ended up in Boston after he graduated.
With five joining and four graduating or dropping, we grew slightly to 26 going into the summer.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings
EDIT: Fixed some of Amitai's details.
EDIT: Forgot when Andy left.
Addendum: Went to Jenny's house in Cincinnati for spring break, as recalled when I wrote up Summer 2000.