"Mr.", the 8th picture down has me and my then girlfriend on the far left. I want it. Please email to opie34705 at yahoo dot com .
Bonfire still owes you for all the postage and packaging you put on your credit card between 2002 and 2004. Thanks.
As for the organization for 2002, it is a pretty neat story.
The class of 2003 was the last class to build Bonfire on campus and, because of Bowen´s moratorium, would probably be the last to do so for quite some time. Soon after the announcement, a few groups materialized, including one called Keep The Fire Burning, who organized an unofficial fire in 2000 and had their "recognized" student organization (Bonfire coalition for Students) serve as security for a fire outside of Houston in 2001. Meanwhile, the Northside dorms were collaborating and Halton(?) Hall managed to get their act together to build and burn a Bonfire in 2002. They caught some flack from Craig Rotter (of FCR fame), but the survivors and others joined with concerned Southsiders to create Unity Project LLC.
Luke Cheatham, Mac Lampton, K&Y, Hutch, Sarah(s), a bunch of awesome people, The Greens, Greys, Browns, and Yellows finally got together with a paintball field and some rednecks to let Bonfire happen. Parking was a nightmare, everyone was afraid of liability, and burn was cathartic.
The burning cross that Crocker alluded to was only brought to the spotlight by some drunk woman who had to be carted off by security and only stood for 30 minutes. Solid 2x6 crossbeams arranged in cardinal directions was the only way to support a plywood outhouse full of porn; of which the only flamable parts were from Penthouse and out of some guy´s dad´s barn. Just imagine flaming porn raining down on thousands of Aggies (and their families) as the outhouse disintegrates in front of everyone (and the CNN cameras) into a 360 degree burning cross soon after the Jasper KKK dragging death. All we could do was lead yells from the top of a gooseneck trailer made into a stage to distract the crowd and give a photo op to the Associated Press.
Thank God for Luke. If he and Sarah aren´t living well, we all should pass around a pot and send them on a vacation. They made Bonfire happen that year and set the stage for Off Campus Bonfire.
The next year, Unity Project (aka Unified Projects LLC) morphed into Aggie Student Bonfire that changed to Student Bonfire (that got confused with some group who got recognized as an official student organization called Bonfire Coalition for Students) that got a 501c3 status and still builds to this day. Thousands of trees and a new conference later, the fire still burns and I am proud to have been there and been a part of it all.
FCR.
SSBS.
Burn it to clear the way for next year.
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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.
