乐播传媒

From Naima: So last weekend the campus was flooded with parents and younger siblings checking out the 乐播传媒 scene. My parents couldn鈥檛 make the trip from Chicago this year, so Parents Weekend meant a few other things for me.

1) Big Tips. Working at the聽, is always dope, but the tips are generally sparse. When parents are in town, they tip well. Maybe it鈥檚 because they鈥檙e used to tipping in the real world, where one might discard their change into a tip cup. Or maybe it鈥檚 that the Ronj employees are wearing dirty clothes or no shoes and these lovely parents are trying to help us out during this economic crisis. Whatever the reason, the same tip cup that is usually home to spare dimes and nickels was overflowing with dollar bills.

2) A Cappella. Every Friday night of Parent鈥檚 Weekend, all of the a cappella groups on campus put on a massive show at Lewiston鈥檚 middle school. It鈥檚 literally steps from campus and holds over 500 people. This year, the聽, the group I am in performed songs from Gnarles Barkley, Jackson 5, and Sufjan Stevens. Other groups performed songs from acts like Flight of the Concords and Ray Charles. Here鈥檚 a picture of my group on stage. *excuse the fuzziness*

3) Harvest Fest. This doesn鈥檛 always coincide with Parent鈥檚 Weekend, but it did this year. It鈥檚 basically a 鈥渉ippie fest鈥� of sorts. Think girls with hair dressed in flowers, flowing dresses, lots of food, hemp sweatshirts on sale, devil sticks, tie-dye, and a vast musical green and grassy knoll. Not so bad if the parents stayed home.

4) Free Meals. This is a perk of having your own parents come up as well, but generally, us 鈥渙rphans鈥� (as we are so affectionately called) end up tagging along to a meal. It鈥檚 also just a great opportunity to get to know some of your good friends鈥� parents. Sometimes it鈥檚 hard to really understand someone you鈥檝e spent nearly every day with unless you have a good idea of where they鈥檙e coming from.

5) Sporting Events. Almost every sports team in season has a home game on Parent鈥檚 Weekend. So if you want to show off the athletic program to your parents, then you can head over to the聽turf, football field, soccer field, or rugby field聽and something is bound to be going on. This year, a bunch of my parent-less friends and I watched our field hockey team beat Conn College. It was fun, and it was a good opportunity to see a few good friends of ours play some hockey. Also, it was gorgeous out so it just nice to sit out in the Maine sun.

6) Catching Up On Work. I won鈥檛 tell whether I actually did this or not, but I definitely thought about it. Since my mid-terms are kind of spread between last week and the week after break, I thought I could dedicate some mind power to preparing for tests, essays, and take-home exams. Especially since many of my friends were busy with their parents off in Portland or just down the street, I planned on getting loads of work done. That said, I was up until the wee hours finishing papers this week. Oh well. Parents weekend without parents? Success.

Peace and then some,

Naima