April 21 , 2006

Captain’s Log: Defending Doo Dah Day

By CAPT. JON MOFFETT
jrm001@marietta.edu

Disclaimer: The following views are solely those of the highly opinionated Jon Moffett and are not necessarily shared by the other staff of the Marcolian. These views are not intended to insult or offend anyone, but are merely intended to spark debate and/or discussion among the student body.

I there’s one thing that I can’t stand, it’s when people talk about things that they just don’t understand. If you read the War of the Words section from the previous issue of the Marcolian, the one about opinions toward Doo Dah Day, you may have noticed that there was one opinion that just didn’t belong. That opinion belonged to the IT department’s very own, Debbie Stodberg.

Now I don’t want this to seem like a total bash of Mrs. Stodberg, because that is not my intention. However, I will review what she had to say. In her opinion, Doo Dah Day should be renamed “Drink till you do something stupid and pass out day.” Well, why on earth would you call it that? If that’s the case, let’s rename college “Drink every weekend until you pass out, and oh, yeah…there’s class every now and then.” Fact is, Doo Dah Day does not mean that alcohol consumption increases; it just might be more noticed.

I ask the question, has Mrs. Stodberg ever really attended the festivities of Doo Dah Day, or has she simply heard the horror stories that others speak of? I personally have been to Doo Dah Day, and I must say I see things differently.

According to Stodberg’s claim, you “do things that you would NEVER do sober.” Well as I reminisce about last year’s Triple D, I seem to recall live music on a stage in Parson’s field, a Slip-n-Slide, and Kasey Drennen behind a grill providing food for the masses. And God knows, I would never be part of a cookout when I’m sober.

The fact is, just because some people make the choice to consume alcohol on DDD doesn’t mean that we all do. And guess what, I had plenty of fun. What makes DDD any different than any other weekend? On Saturday, February 11th, people at Marietta College got drunk in their rooms. On Saturday, April 29th, people are probably going to get drunk, and they may walk outside to enjoy the festivities that CUB provides. Will things get broken? Who knows, things get broken every day. Will people have fun? Of course.

The entire idea of DDD is to have fun. It’s a way to take some pressure off of students, who on any other day have to go through the rigors of class, homework, jobs, relationships, friends, parents, golf on TV, etc.

Stodberg also made the claim that “maybe it’s time to rethink/redo/renew this tradition.” Well there’s one word in that sentence that just slams the door on her argument, tradition. It’s not like the class of ‘04 got together and said, “Hey, let’s make a day so we have an excuse to get totally hammered and claim it’s to relieve stress?”

This thing has been going on for literally decades. If you want to complain about the idea to the people who started it, good luck getting a hold of them. If you want to know the real horrors of DDD, do some research on its origin and some of its greatest stats.

I’m not trying to make Mrs. Stodberg the object of my rant, but perhaps she and the rest of the DDD naysayers should rethink/review/realize that without DDD, spring times in Marietta become dull. DDD stands for something, and that something is more than just “an excuse to get drunk.”