I have not really been keeping up with the status of bonfire, whether or not we will ever have one again (on campus). I have heard everything from liablility questions to outside organizations to provide oversight during construction if it ever happens again. Bonfire is something that binds all aggies. I hope for the sake of our school that the Board or whoever makes this decision, fully understands what this means to aggies.

... And until the decision is made by "the powers that be" to bring the tradition back to campus, I will be out in the woods every fall to cut with a bunch of Red Ass Aggies who chose to keep the tradition going off-campus. I personally talked to President Gates about this and he said that discussions on an on-campus will resume as soon as all of the law suits are settled. Until then, THE STUDENTS have moved Bonfire off campus.

I can say with 103% positivity that what goes on off-campus is pure Bonfire. It may be a little safer, a little differently engineered, but it is un-adulterated and in the same Aggie Spirit that an on-campus fire was. If anyone out there doesn't believe it, I will gladly let you wear my boots and swing my axe come October.

I don't have an opinion on weather a future on-campus Bonfire would be PC'd and OSHA Spec'd so much as to not reflect The Spirit. I don't know if the liability will keep students from participating in the capacity that they are participating right now (off-campus). What I do know is that I have gotten the same feeling and expierence from the last 3 off-campus Bonfires as I did in '99 when my outfit got Centerpole. If that can happen on-campus, so be it. If not, leave it as it is now and let the students burn off-campus.

Bonfire has withstood over 90 years of change. It made it through a few location changes and it will make it through this one. The one constant is Bonfire's impact on the students who build it. That keeps Bonfire going.

I'll see you at cut, and I'll see you when it burns.

[This message has been edited by opie03 (edited 2/22/2005 3:30p).]

quote:

---

Bonfire has withstood over 90 years of change.

---

What happened in 99 happened because it DIDN'T withstand 90 years of change.

My "90 years" comment was aimed at the "location" issue. You have twisted my comment out of context.

I know what happened in '99. I was there. I can never forget that, but I can rebuild it.

Bonfire did chage gradually before '99. it went from a pile of trash off campus to a 100ft wedding cake design on the polo fields to a 45 ft Bonfire off campus. nope, no change at all. the spirit, however is what hs remained unchaged other than the fact that there is a smaller number of us that experience it now. btho Bonfire!

Ah, but thanks to the efforts of those who are working on Bonfire today, new Aggies will continue to be added to the hundreds of thousands of us who have felt the Aggie Spirit through Bonfire.

I'll see you at first cut. I'll be the guy with the black pot and the red-handled tools.