It's about time I posted some of this black & white junk from Athens I've had hibernating on my backup hard drive.  All of these were taken with a point-and-shoot camera, I think these pictures help illustrate just how bonkers life in Athens is.  I've got hundreds more of these, they just aren't scanned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My drummer & his groupies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good-nite from Athens!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good lord! :D

These people have futures?

At the Gypsy Cafe.

Our future lies with our youth.  But, you know, it doesn't look that different than 35 years ago at OSU.  Only the clothing has changed to protect the innocent.

 

I just realized looking at this photo again that the grill is missing a leg and is leaning on the brick wall. 

 

I agree Calvin, obviously the partying gets out of hand, but people who are socially comfortable have a huge advantage in business aside from the connections they make directly in school.  Many people from "top" schools are pretty awkward, probably moreso than at state schools.   

I wanna party at OU. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Ass. Sounds like a great philosophy to live by :)

I don't know anyone at OU--my room mate does. If he knows somewhere where we could crash and if he can drive, I'll go.

 

Is it all weekend or just saturday?

Makes me proud to be an alum of Case Western Reserve University.

 

Nice contrast with the B&W pictures though - interesting.

These people have futures?

 

All in all though, born into money = money in the future. This school is all about networking and throwing some of the biggest parties in the nation. Very few people here are "academics" by any stretch of the word. The mantra of OU, which made it on the cover of our newspapers today, and was created by me for Palmerfest 2008 is "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Ass."

 

And we see why the future of our country is in doubt.  Schools like OU exemplify why capitalism is more nepotism than anything (and can be incredibly inefficient...these douche bags will be bosses of people FAR more intelligent than them some day).  I'm with JeffreyT in being even more proud now that I went to Case.

 

One day you might grow up and realize what a tool everyone in those pictures looks like.

wow... the OU bashing.  I went to school at OU.  I probably even passed out in a field with a beer bong.  Honestly I think that those pictures could be taken at any university in the country, and you are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.  And I very much value the education I received there.  Please watch the "generalizations" of OU alum.

The high school social ladder never really changes in America...good looks, money, and good social skills are more important than anything else. We're a shallow nation.

 

I agree to some extent...but I still maintain that connections (and most of the time, family connections) are the most important aspect to getting a great position.  I have had my fair share of bosses with absolutely no personal skills.  Also, some of the people I have known that are completely devoid of social skills weren't actually that smart, they just tried to APPEAR that way (one of them even flunked out of school).  There are people from all walks of life and levels of intelligence with and without social skills.

 

I also maintain that integrity will greatly hold you back in the business world, which also shows the shallowness of our nation.

And we see why the future of our country is in doubt.  Schools like OU exemplify why capitalism is more nepotism than anything (and can be incredibly inefficient...these douche bags will be bosses of people FAR more intelligent than them some day)

 

certainly. Your boss in most sizable companies is far more likely to have been the president of a fraternity than anything else. People with mediocre intellect/grades but much better social and organizational skills (throwing big parties in college and avoiding getting kicked out of school) usually win out. The high school social ladder never really changes in America...good looks, money, and good social skills are more important than anything else. We're a shallow nation.

 

I know a lot of questionable alumns from OU who I don't think deserve their high positiions by any means. You might like some of the work by Warren Buffet. He basically assaults the big business-fraternity engine in America. He'd absolutely abhor something like the Business School at OU (basically all drunks and sluts, but not much different from the rest of campus). Buffet is one of the wealthiest people in America. He's certainly the wealthiest man to ever come out of Omaha...

 

Warren Buffet is my role model. Smart as hell, self made billionaire, but drives an old beat up Buick and lives in a shack. That's admirable.

>integrity

 

That's the key word.  It starts at the top...some companies care about their employees, others are run by jerks.  I've definitely been witness to those kinds of guys who never studied and did the most coke in school getting great jobs when they got out.  Then they were allowed to show up late and hungover to these jobs for a few years because the boss was living vicariously through them, rooting for their escapades.   

 

[...]

 

It's interesting for me now having some distance from these photos (and there are hundreds more of them) thinking about which ones I think are good and which aren't so good.  Especially since the ones that achieved what I was "going for" at the time aren't the ones that I like so much now.  I actually like a lot of the cheaper, more precarious ones.  I like the sense that civility is being held together by a thread and it's all the doing of the participants, not some outside force.  I like the sense that the partying has its own logic and systems that draw all their value from their unsustainability.   

 

I think this one is especially sleazy (although it's not overall a great photo)...it was in the back kitchen of 8 Palmer or 10 Palmer in October of 2003.  I was in the habit of intentionally keeping people's heads out of the frame at that time, trying to pare it down to the most insinuation possible with the least specific information.  Also since I was using a point-and-shoot camera I had to basically center everything or else things would be out of focus, which affected the look.

 

 

 

Seems ridiculous to me.

wow... the OU bashing.  I went to school at OU.  I probably even passed out in a field with a beer bong.  Honestly I think that those pictures could be taken at any university in the country, and you are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.  And I very much value the education I received there.  Please watch the "generalizations" of OU alum.

 

I didn't intend to bash OU or OU alums, but rather just saying that I'm glad that I didn't go to a school like that.  It wouldn't have been for me, and my concern is that too many of those students never get out of that mentality.  I can point to a number of people from HS who went there and are still in that lifestyle, which I don't think is healthy for them.  Just my thoughts.