Burn Baby Burn

Random: The students at Texas A&M University just love their bonfires. Remember the fire that killed 12 people in 1999? Apparently it's a big tradition, and isn't it funny and strange how attached university students are to traditions like these? I wonder where they get that attachment. When I was in college, I scoffed at tradition, almost on principle. I thought that a healthy contempt for tradition was what defined a college student. I guess I was some kind of freak.

Anyway, those Aggies are determined to have their bonfire, so whatever. What's noteworthy about this is the way the AP story about it is written. According to this article (first seen in the Billings Gazette real paper edition, but found online at CNN):

Several thousand current and former students gathered in a darkened field about 10 minutes east of College Station for the lighting. "Burn bonfire burn" was a familiar refrain—shouted by student leaders who lit the pile with torches and flares and individuals in the crowd.

Wow. This fire is so important that student leaders had to sacrifice individuals in the crowd in order to light it! Now that's what I call a fire!

Posted November 29, 2002 10:02 AM | life generally