The APOcrypha

Volume 81, Issue 8

Fall 1994 ExecComm

President  Kate Curtis  628-5384 kcurtis
SVP  Barbara Manganis x5-7408  autumn
MVP  Dave Cho  497-2189 dcctdw
AVP  Gilbert Leung  x5-7241  gleung

Treasurer Henning Colsman-

Freyberger  x5-7659  henning
Fellowship  Rachel Caileff  x5-7414  rcaileff
APOcEd  bert Dvornik  576-2773 bert
ASC  Cathy Coury  734-9211 cmcoury
PubDir  Charley Hamilton x5-8941  chashmlt

Historian Richard Barbalace 497-2189 rjbarbal Chair, Advisory Comm. Joe Kuchta

Brotherhood Expectations

Attend at least 6 service projects, including 2 on-campus and 2 off-campus Attend at least 2 fellowship events, including one of the major ones Attend at least 5 Chapter Meetings and 1 ExecComm Learn, teach, or practice a chapter skill Hold a leadership position within the chapter (e.g. PC, sub-PC, hold office) Attend the Pledge Term Review Meeting Attend ceremonies

Pledge Requirements

Attend at least 6 service projects, including 2 on-campus and 2 off-campus Attend at least 2 fellowship events, including one of the major ones Attend at least 2 Chapter Meetings and 1 ExecComm Attend at least two-thirds of scheduled Pledge Meetings Learn or teach a chapter skill Get a Big Brother within two weeks of pledging PC or sub-PC a service project or fellowship event Attend the Pledge Feedback Meeting

The APOcrypha

Volume 81, Issue 8 Saturday, December 10, 1994

of the time, at the end there is nothing to do. Just punt the problem sets, not a problem if you are a frosh— however, upperclasmen should consider the effects on their GPA. Take 8.022, 7.012, 18.023, 24.00. 18.023 has no problem sets. The last 7.012 pset was due on Dec 1. The last 8.022 set was due Dec 7. The last paper for 24.00 was due Dec 4. This is the secret for having nothing due in the week before finals…

Well, I am finished spewing, and I felt that Neophyting went well and thank you for not barging into The Tech.

Christopher

P.S. Pledge article note: I understand there was a discussion of the word “icshe”. It is Cherokee for “crap”.

Maria’s Pledge Article

[This got eaten by my mailbox, but I bravely rescued it… –bert]

My name is Maria Pritykin. I got it a long time ago, I’d suppose some time on February 22nd, 1976.

I’ve decided to be a part of APO on the reg day when Jeffrey was asking people to come help out with the Book Exchange. I really wanted to.

Well, now a little bit about myself and my hobbies. I’ve liked to draw and paint since I remember myself. With some help from different people, I started getting involved in mathematics. Well, I declared my major: 18 (applied), but I’m still interested in art-related courses. My plans for the future: become a better person. No, this is not meant as a cliché, but as a goal that is hard to reach. Some things that worry me are what I can do to reduce stress in my life because too much of it resulted in just too many problems. Well, back to my plans. I’d like to do what I plan to and plan reasonably. I’ll start with “sleep.”

Outgoing Officer Articles

President

I’m taking the opportunity of our computer system here at ceci failing miserably to write my report. Lukcily my athena connection is still coming through loud and clear.

As president, I can announce quite authoratively that the term happened and the chapter is still alive (and kicking?) We had leadership development (remember barbara’s advice on how to pc a project ?), we had fellowship (remember the candles at chapter weekend II ?), we had service (I still remeber trying to paint up on that roof …), we had wonderful pledges … what more could you ask for ?

Leadership development was helped along by presentations at chapter meetings on ’How to PC a day project’ and ’How to Food PC a project’. More imaginative titles and even different subject matter could easily be thought of for next term. I also tried to instill in the officers a sense of concern for the well being of their PCs - that PCs have to have enough knowledge, experience and training to be able do a good job and need the opportunity to get all of them. Looking to the future, the leadership workshop hosted jointly with BU looks all set for February 11th (mark you calendars NOW) and has generated a lot of enthusiasm already among brothers who want to attend. Possibly, we may then have more ideas about how to design our own leadership development session which could be run more often and at shorter notice.

Inter chapter relations, which while not overtly present, are still being fostered, particularly with the chapter at BU. They will probably take a long time to forget that I gave them 30 service pins, instead of 30 pledge pins, but then it’s taken me all term to live down the embarassment too :) More recently I was at BU’s initiation ceremony (which, funny enough, is almost exactly the same as ours ...) and we went for dinner/ice-cream afterwards. I had a good time, maybe I can convince other brothers to come with me next time. Of course we did schedule joint execcomm to clash with their ceremony, and their semi-formal conflicts with ours; but if we ever get our schedules out of sync ? While I remember, they have invited us to help out at the Cub Scout Decathlon again which they think is on

2 Anyway, since its Christmas I’m sending in my favorite Christmas story. Its all about me and my friend Ed, who was APO president and my apartment mate back in our WPI days. Since we had 5 APO brothers in the apartment, we had agreed to host the annual APO Holiday party.

Ed and I were sitting around our apartment late one night noticing that we hadn’t decorated our apartment for Christmas. We also noticed that we had no money for Christmas decorations, and even if we had money we didn’t have much time to shop that week (most of our free time ocurred between the hours of midnight and 8 am, when few malls are open) and even if we had time we both hated shopping.

So this is what we did.

We got a stack of index cards and a box of magic markers. Ed wrote “Wreath” on one of the index cards and hung it on the outside door of our apartment. I wrote “Candle” on an index card and stuck it in the window. This happy exchange continued and the rest of our apartment mates got in on the act until our apartment was decorated with “Mistletoe,” “Bowl of candy canes,” “Cardboard cut out of Santa Claus,” “Mistletoe,” “Christmas tree,” “Mistletoe,” “String of popcorn” hanging from the tree, “More mistletoe,” several “Ornaments” also hanging from the tree, “Mistletoe Mistletoe Mistletoe”, “Fireplace,” “Good grief, more mistletoe!” and of course, “Ed’s stocking” and “Kevin’s stocking” which were hanging on the wall above the fireplace. (Ed at that time was dating a charming young lady named Linda, who is now his wife, but the rest of the residents of that apartment were pretty desperate dudes, as the above list implies.) I was also able to locate a brick, so I wrote “Fruitcake” on it and stuck it on the kitchen table. We also wrote “Broken ornament” on an index card, ripped it in half and placed it on the floor under the tree.

The party was very successful. A good time was had by all. Everyone got to make a stocking to put over the fireplace, and it you wanted to give someone a present, you just wrote it into their stocking. Someone gave me a queen of spades. If you play hearts you understand how nasty this was. I also received “A lump of coal,” “A boot to the head” and “A pound of salt.” (Bear in mind, my nickname in the chapter was Slug.)

Suggestions For Next MVP

• Start rush early. Poster like a maniac.

• You can never give prospectives too much information. Trust me.

• Kiss your life goodbye between the start of rush and the pledge ceremony. Read: get help, and lots of it. (Presidents should note that they will want to focus a tremendous amount of their energy on this.)

• Personal (i.e., one-on-one) contact with pledges is vastly preferable to group meetings. However, no one has time for this.

• Being a MVP is not hard. It’s just work. And you have to be a good rolemodel. Everything else can be done with assistance or can be delegated away.

One question I’ve been asking myself at various points during the term is: am I being a good MVP? I don’t know what the answer is. I’ve come to realize that I treat being MVP a lot like being Fellowship Chair – it’s an incredibly nebulous job. Maybe it’s not nebulous; maybe I just don’t grasp what’s necessary. But I find that being MVP is made up of three roles: administrivia, lecturing, and imparting “spirit of APO” to the pledges. The first is routine. The second is difficult to do and not either bore or annoy the pledges. The third is just flat-out impossible to describe How To Do.

It’s also a little scary to realize that the pledge program is Your Department, because as many people feel (myself included), in many ways, the pledge program is the most important facet of the chapter. Reason: no service program for a term results in lack of precedence. However, lack of pledges means a generation gap, which is unfillable. But this is largely irrelevant for me – but highly relevant for Emily. So don’t forget; if the MVP says “jump”, do what she says.

That’s all for now.

dave Outgoing MVP Fall 1994

6 what I’m saying is that I don’t feel mature enough to be on staff.

But for next term, I’ll be around MIT, being involved in Ballroom Dance Team and (cough) hopefully other things as well. :) I have no clue what i’ll be doing in 2 years, but working in Boston for the next year seems a reasonable guess.

dave

Cookie Offer

Some of you may have noticed that the only part of the office which really rivals the messiness of Dave’s desk is the one covered with ancient photographs of various molds and fungi. As historian, I’ve determined that these no longer recognizable specimens are still of historical interest and need to be better preserved. And I really want to leave a clean desk.

So, I am hereby announcing the 1995 First and Hopefully Last Annual IAP Cleanup of Ancient Photographs. This will take place the weekend before IAP starts (January 6-9). Since I have no clue who in the world most of the people in the photographs are, I need the help of other ancient molds and… er, I mean, the help of the Alumni and other more senior members of the Chapter. So, if you will be in the area just before IAP starts, watch your email (I’ll send to apo-news@mit.edu) and the office bulletin board for times I’ll be going through cool pictures of the Chapter’s past.

This should be a really cool fellowship thing, and since I will not be hosed, I will very likely make some yummy chocolate chip cookies.

+ Richard Historian and Cookie-Baker

Random Babbling from Gilbert

I really doubt if many people know why I am hosed this term. Let me use the opportunity to explain: I am going out with too many girls: Dina (Dynamic Systems, 6.241), Ana (Analysis, Complex, 18.04), Stocky (Stochastic Processes Detection and Estimation, shipment was delivered to our door. *sigh* Our company rep, Mike (we’re on a first-name basis, we’re old friends, y’know), knows what the problem is and tells me “no problem” and “don’t pay” and “I’ve taken care of it”, yet each month a new statement with more accrued finance charges arrives, giving me another occasion to talk with my pal Mike.

I was really hoping that CPPC (Chapter Program Planning Conference) at Chapter Weekend II was going to be used talking about our financial future, but I was outvoted by the rest of the people at ExecComm who wanted to do a fellowship event and feel good, something admirable as well. Now that we’re feeling good, we can now start thinking about how to guarantee financial survival of the chapter in the future? Therefore, it is planned to get a bunch of interested people together during IAP to mindmeld/brainstorm and make proposals for plans for the future. I see this as being essential to be done soon, i.e. before Registration Day as we know it doesn’t exist anymore.

Pay your debts and I will be grateful!

Henning Colsman-Freyberger

Fellowship Chair

Well, the term is nearly over and we’ve elected new officers to supply fresh energy and ideas to the chapter leadership. It’s time for those of us who were officers this term to step down and let our successors have their shot at changing the way the chapter does things. All the outgoing officers were asked to write outgoing officer reports, so here goes.

I think this term went fairly well from a fellowship point of view. We had all three of the usual major events as well as some study breaks. There weren’t any major disasters and I think everyone had a good time. I didn’t have a master plan when I was elected, I just wanted to make sure there were a reasonable number of study breaks, including past favorites and new ideas. I’m pleased that the bubblewrap study break went over really well. And the people who were at that study break learned that rollerblading over bubblewrap is cool.

10 going through the books (in minute detail, of course :)) and soliciting advice. We might also form a committee this term if there’s enough interest.

But that’s all a little ways off in the future. Right now, (or a little while ago, depending on when you happen to get to this article,) you all get to discuss and vote on the proposed budget for next term. So… here it is!

Mold Report IV

Greetings dear APOers, most of whom I haven’t seen since the days of UMOC (this being my fault, of course). Hopefully you’re neither too stressed nor too sleepless, but no, I have not yet managed to repress the anguishing memories of end-of-term hecticness (hecticity?) and therefore I do know that non-stress and sleepfulness are not to be found upon/within/among/whatever- other-preposition-you-like you and that thus this is truly a holiday wish very strangely disguised as a finals wish. (And if you understood that sentence, congratulations, because I doubt that I did.)

Anyway, I guess this could be categorized as a “rest-of-you” report that Barbara requested. I predict/promise much randomness, as otherwise it would not be Characteristic Of An Article By Me. Here I go…

Welcome to the world, my new cousin Kevin! (He was born in Houston, over the Thanksgiving holidays.) :)

I saw Star Trek: Generations the night before it premiered (one of those sneak preview thingies). Believe it or not, it was only the second Trek movie I’ve ever seen, and the first (Star Trek IV) I only saw a week before that. A friend of mine rented it for us to watch after a conversation in which she exclaimed (with an appropriate amount of incrdulity, of course), “You graduated from MIT and you’ve NEVER seen a Star Trek movie???????” Heck, I’ve never seen an entire episode of the old Trek. Really! I suppose some/a fanatic few/a frighteningly large number of you think I must be some kind of heathen, but I did enjoy both movies very much, so I can’t be totally hopeless, right? :) munication about projects and to set up better interaction between the SVP and the Fellowship Chair. Wheee!!!!!!

YiLFS and FINALS<sigh>,

Charley

Fellowship Rambling #1

Hi! I’m Karen. Some of you may not know me very well although I’ve been a brother since Spring 1993 (I pledged Fall 1992, my first term at MIT.) I was historian Fall 1993 and have been around in a general sort of way, kinda. Well, SOME people see me. :o)

As fellowship chair next term, I hope WE (as a chapter) can accomplish a number of things as far as fellowship is concerned. But the following list is what I plan to do. I will:

1. Be sure all major Fellowship events like Semi-Formal Formal, Steak Fry, and I-banquet occur as smoothly as possible. (Be kind and volunteer for PCships NOW! Volunteer early, and often.) :oD

2. Make sure study breaks occur throughout the term so brothers can relax a little (punt a little, etc.) and get to know other brothers better. (Sign up to PC these too! Be creative and design your very own.)

3. Encourage brothers who haven’t been as active in the past to come to events once in a while. APO isn’t just a service organization; it’s a service fraterity, and it’s important to let everybody know they are welcome to come to a project even if it is only once in a while. Once you’re a brother, brotherhood is unconditional.

4. I’d like to make the APO office a center for fellowship when there isn’t any organized fellowship stuff. The office is a good place to eat lunch, take a short nap, do a little homework, relax ON-campus, etc. Some brothers already take full advantage of the office, but it would be great to get more brothers using the office. You can even leave things in the office instead of having to go home and pick something up (providing you put

14 Inactivity

We don’t demand that brothers be active every term; that would be insane considering the sheer effort that academics take. If they’ve been inactive last term, do we tend to assume that they won’t be around this term? Do they still feel welcome around the chapter? In short, is there any factor involved besides academics (over which the chapter has no control). I wonder these things sometimes. (Anyone have some answers, or think the matter is worth talking over?)

Planning

Planning ahead really is useful. To make plans, we have to have goals, ideas, aspirations; otherwise all we do is, at best, maintain the status quo. I’m going to hold a CPPC (chapter program planning conference) in the spring term, at which people in the chapter discuss the direction the chapter is heading and come up with course corrections. It will mostly be useful for next year; if you have any neat ideas for this term, let execcomm or other relevant persons know during IAP if possible. For example, maybe you think it would be keen to invent another big traditional project.. that’s something to talk to the SVP about ideally before the term starts.

Leadership!

It’s nearly midnight and the article will turn into a pumpkin if I don’t mail it soon (hi Barbara) (hi Bridget! -ed). So I’ll just put in a plug for the Leadership Development Workshop, Feb.11. If you don’t consider yourself an old and clueful person, you may well benefit from going (and it’s fun too.) There’ll probably be a size limit so be warned.

One final word. This is your chapter. You, all of us together, make it work. Thanks for trusting me at the wheel, and don’t be afraid to tell us your thoughts and ideas.

YiLFS, Bridget

SVP

Hi, I’m the new SVP elect. My master plan is to unite the world as a single great chapter of APO. My backup plan is to improve com-Congratulations to all the new brothers and new officers! Congratulations to all the outgoing officers who made it through this term! Congratulations to anyone who’s becoming mold soon! Congratulations to my sister Jamy who recently made Texas All-State Orchestra! Con-gra-tu-LA-tions, Pro-FES-sor HIG-gins… (And congratulations to anyone who knows where I got that; it’s stuck in my head right now.)

I played three hours of volleyball last Saturday. I actually served six points overhand on a men’s net! Unfortunately, I had game point twice and choked (squawked, too) both times, but I’m getting the hang of the overhand serve. It’s that whole-hand-contact, snap-wrist, elbow-first “throw like a guy” thing. (If you want to know, Just Ask.) It really works!

Okay, last thing. (Whew.) You might see me at I-Banquet. If you do:

Questions NOT to ask me (you’ll risk sounding like my parents):

1. How is the job search going?

2. Are you going to grad school next fall?

3. What have you been doing with all your free time?

4. How’s the money situation?

Questions I will happily answer:

1. Do you have any good books to recommend?

2. How do I buy/join Technique?

3. How do you like your apartment and housemates?

4. Who’s/How’s/Where’s Bob? :)

And that’s all, folks… have a restful break and a very merry IAP!

YiLFS, Amy

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Treasurer

It seems somewhat strange to be writing an outgoing officer’s report at this point of the term, but I guess that’s just the feeling the Treasurer has every term. As the responsibility extends until December 31, the end of the fiscal period, and I started with day-to-day stuff end of August, it is hard to give a report that seems somewhat of a final report.

First of all, thank you Kevin for keeping the books up to date while I was gone during the summer, for helping me get acquainted with the job and being available for questions I had.

What has been accomplished (so far)?

• Well, we still have money. That’s always a good thing to hear (or read).

• The Book Exchange account was seperated from the rest of the accounts so that a seperate signature list could be maintained. Furthermore, it is just a good idea to have it seperate from the funds the chapter owns proper.

• As the last of the copied debt list sheets was used up without further copies being made, it became necessary to make up a new form. The latter features an entry for email address (potentially easier to track someone down with in this day and age of “good times”) and is not hand-drawn, but rather was created using a spreadsheet program and looks quite spiffy, if I may say so myself. It resides in the logical space for it in the APO locker:

/mit/apo/Officers/Treasurer/Forms/debtlist forms.ps

Presented as an example of some of the things that the treasurer sometimes has to deal with is the following ongoing battle, which I mainly included for the amusement value: a billing battle with Carter Rice Dowd, the company that supplies us with drop-poster paper, with the first rounds having been won by their computer, which claims we owe them half a G for an order we never made. The fact that our account name is “MIT, Alpha Phi Omega” makes it the first entry on the list of MIT accounts. It seems it is the default used by a certain salesman. And in that spirit, last week another 6.342), Maggie (Macroeconomics, 14.02), Melody (Music Composition, 21.M351), Toby (Tau Beta Pi), April (APO), and Klavia (Piano). Some of these ladies can only be pleased by Matlab scripts rather than flowers or love letters. Some likes sensitive touches and agile fingers… In any case, I am dumping Ana and Stocky because the former is too boring and the latter thinks that I’m too stupid (I’ll chase after her again next term because I like challenging things. Playing hard-to-get, huh? :)) I would suggest to everyone not to get too ambitious and go out with lots of guys and girls. Stick to 5 or 6 and that’s should be enough to get you by the term without feeling lonely.

Of course, being a random babbling, it wouldn’t just end it this soon. I have announcements to make. I’m earnestly arranging the weddings (concerts) with both Melody and Klavia (boy, how stressful!). (multiple weddings are ok. Just make sure that they don’t conflict with each other.) You are all invited:

Time  Place  Concert  Comment

Thu 12/15, 2pm Killian Hall Compositions from 21.M351 (solos and duets)

Our new brother Grant is one of the performers!

Sat 12/17, 3pm Killian Hall Piano recital by students of Marek Zebrowski I’ll be playing a Debussy prelude and first movement of a Mozart sonata

While I would love to have your presence, I do want to warn you that the former has mostly atonal music. Take this as you will…

Gilbert

Just a Thought (or a few)

I plan to become inactive next term for various reasons (One is that I would like to concentrate my energy on other, maybe new, things as my MIT life might be coming to an end.) I just have some com-

22 rewarding positions I have held in APO. I really liked the job, and future SVPs looking for help should look me up.

YiLFS, Barbara

MVP

Well. The term is almost over. The pledge term is over, now that voting has started. And here I am, staring at a screen, trying to figure out what to write. Well, here’s my final ExecComm report (Fall 1994 Overview):

What Went Right

• Getting a big brother network up and running was good.

• Trying to get a minimal number of pledge ceremonies was good.

• Rewriting the pledge manual was a big win.

• Giving the manual to the pledges in stages was good.

• Insisting on a pledge service project AND a pledge fellowship event was also good.

• Having a BB meeting at the very beginning of the term was good.

What Went Wrong

• Not enough fellowship events – no one knows anyone else.

• Not finding anyone to help me be in personal contact was bad. Not having time to do it myself was bad.

What Is Ambivalent

• Leaving “the spirit of APO” up to the brothers is chancy. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t.

• Pledge meetings. I couldn’t think of anything good to have in them that would be commonly appealing. I think not having them in the office might be a good idea.

Ah yes, life was always fun at WPI. I really enjoyed being the among the chapter’s favorite whipping posts for verbal abuse. Those were the good old days.

Hrm. Come to think of it, these new days really aren’t all that different…

Henning’s Random Ramblings “Good Times” 1+1=11

Last column I asked the following:

Who is the highest, who the lowest-paid governor? (Which states?)

Two people sent in a guess to trivia@mit.edu. Gilbert Leung (gratuitous mention #1) was first to send something and suggested California and Nebraska. Pete Wilson made $120,000 this year, but he’s still “only” the fourth-highest net gubernatiorial grosser. The Lincoln office is not quite the lowest-paid gubernatiorial office with $65 K. Surpassing it in lower pay are only Bill Clinton’s former office ($60,000) and Marc Racicot’s Montanan office, the lowest-yielding one, which pays $55,502 yearly. The latter was identified by Jeff Bigler (gratutious mention #2), who also correctly determined the highest-paid governor to come from my home state New York, Mario Cuomo and his $130,000 salary.

Kevin Dahm (gm #3) answered with a simple, to-the-point “Who cares? They all get paid too damn much. Or am I getting them mixed up with professional athletes?” Well, trust Kevin to bring baseball into a discussion. :) I guess every one should decide for themselves whom they derive more utility from, Roger Clemens or Governor Weld…

For the record, the seven remaining seven gratuitous mentions: Ping, Kate, Rachel, Gilbert (he sent two things, thus mentioned again), Alexis, Alexis and Alexis (that’s how I interpret “me, me, mention me” :) And also how I get to ten mentions.).

During IAP, I am running a few activities of which two might be of interest to some of you: Eighties Movie Nights (Activity #142) and NY Movie Nights (#154), running Tuesday and Thursday nights

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The Editor Takes A Leap Out Of Office

No, I’m not jumping from the APO office. I’m leaving the office whose duties I’m currently discharging. (I still love that word. It reminds me of nice, romantic things. Like capacitors.) It’s over, I guess. Wrap this up a bit, photocopy, distribute and it’s all Barbara’s. Sniff. I’ll miss it, but you haven’t gotten rid of me yet…

This is, by very very far =), the thickest APOcrypha this term. Maybe Barbara’s better at making you submit then I am. In any case, the fact she’s starting to sign mail with “APOcrypha Dominatrix” isn’t the only reason why I think the APOc is headed for an interesting term...

bert

Incoming Editorial Comments

Watch out! It’s an APOc! =)

I won’t take up pages and pages spewing about how wonderful it to be the editor of the apocrypha. “Why not,” you ask? Because everyone was wonderful and submitted lots and lots of articles, so this edition of the APOcrypha is more than 30 pages long! yay! Thanks to everyone, particularly Gilbert, Henning, Bridget, Karen, Dave, and Chris, who each wrote more than one article, even though Dave gets 200 pushups for turning his in a day late.

That being said, I want to encourage everyone to SUBMIT! to the APOcrypha, as soon as all your finals are over and you have time. Write an article! It doesn’t matter that the next edition of the apocrypha is many weeks away. I am serious about this; since you have time now and during IAP, write a bunch of articles on random things about the chapter, random things about yourself, or just random things in general. Then, when you are hosed with thirty-two problem sets due yesterday and I come begging and pleading for an article, you will have one ready. Better yet, send in the article as soon as you write it, and specify that the next time I even think about trying to bug you for an article, I should just include it and save my bits…

And who knows, if there is enough interest, I may produce a Christmas edition of the apocrypha. Not likely, but possible. =)

Barbara

Avi’s article

In response to bert’s requests for brothers to write articles about themselves, perhaps it is alos appropriate for alumni to do the same— even if I might seem to even predate mold…

I pledged APO twenty-seven years ago. I was first introduced to AX at a summer rush held at Mike Bromberg’s for incoming freshmen. The chapter did a good job of entertaining us and answering our questions, doing a very soft-sell on APO. I picked up some literature before getting a ride home with Al Stiehl.

At MIT, Bob Boyd stopped by my room at Baker to see if I was going to the open rush, as I had expressed interest that summer. I responed that I was ineligible to join APO, having never been in Scouting. Bob revealed to me that the chapter had a liberal interpretation of that factor. The president, Al Brenstein, had never been a Scout. AX felt that joining APO, which was nationally affiliated to BSA, made you able to belong to APO. A circuitous logic! Anyway, during my term as a pledge, MVP Ron Rosen attended a constitutional convention in Norman, OK, and led a successful effort to change the pledging requirement to following Scout ideals instead of being a member. When I became a Brother, I met the letter of the by-laws, not just the intent.

The members of the James A. Lovell Pledge Class didn’t write APOcrypha articles, but we did list a paragraph of interests. Bern (Thor) Krafsig included Peanuts in his list. The capital P caught my attention. Somehow, the friendship that developed still runs strong, as it has with other members of the pledge class and the chapter. I also remember the pledge quiz. The first question was to name the founder of APO. I knew his first name was Frank and the last started with an H. Going to Inquisition (the formal interview held back then), I was sure that I would be a continuing pledge. For some reason, the chapter took me in on my weak pledge performance.

Over my four years as an undergraduate, APO was the most important factor in my life. I was very active in the service program, held a few offices, developed strong, lasting friendships, and perhaps learned more from and about APO than in my classes. Some said I may have earned my degree in VII, but I really majored in APO.

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