Pi Omega Danville Area Community College Danville, Illinois Written by Matt Frost

Who cares? Someone will care and be able to tell you who did it and all about the evil Mr. Ewing. They can probably also tell you by how many degrees they are removed from Kevin Bacon. . . but why?

"Popular Culture"

These two words combined bring to mind so many varied images.  From MTV to Citizen Kane, Bon Jovi to Burt Bacharach, the popular culture of our country touches on all these markers and so many more.  America’s popular culture, created from the cross-pollination of ideas only possible in a country such as ours, is among the most influential in the world.  When Phi Theta Kappa chose Popular Culture as its new honors topic, Pi Omega knew that defining, processing, and using the new topic in our programs would be a Herculean task to be sure.  However, it is one we embraced and did our best to use to its fullest potential.
 

Located as we are, in the heart of Illinois, one may ask what claims Pi Omega could lay to any aspects of popular culture.  The answer, my friend, is quite a lot.  Seizing our rights as members of and contributors to said culture, we used every aspect we could to try and further our goals and programs.  From our Regional Convention to our road trip to Chicago, popular culture crept its way into almost everything we did.

Pi Omega was honored to perform its duty as Regional President in October 2004 by hosting our first regional convention.  It was a lot of work, requiring much from the whole chapter, and popular culture was a big part of that.  One officer joined in the planning solely because he learned the honors topic was popular culture.  He became extremely useful in the convention planning and even led a number of breakout sessions at which his beloved popular culture starred.  Oh, and that was just the beginning.
 

A very important aspect of popular culture is music.  Pi Omega approached this aspect during their convention in a couple of ways.  First, we wanted a sock hop, complete with retro attire and hula-hoop, bubble gum blowing, and paddleball contests. We hired the area’s premier band to play.  The selections of said group, Captain Rat and the Blind Rivets, were straight out of the sixties.  Their set was instantly recognizable and the dance floor was immediately flooded.  Prominent amongst the band’s selection were a number of Beatles songs.  This mattered not only for the quality of the music, but for the second role music would play in our convention.

The next day, after everyone wiped the sleep from their eyes and reconvened at the convention site on our campus, we started with an explanation of the art exhibit surrounding us, from I Sing the Body Electric. The art from area high school students reflected major concerns troubling them and their peers. It was touching, frightening, and revealing. We also explained the giant blank graffiti wall. Eagerly waiting to reflect who these chapters and people are, it would soon be quite decorated.
 

Then the music grabbed us. A small film was shown.  Written, directed, and produced by the amazingly talented Robin Peters, the film, "Fab One: John Lennon's Revolution," is the first and only documentary on an individual member of the Beatles.  Featuring interviews from artists, such as Dave Matthews and B.B. King, talking about Lennon’s contribution to the music of the Beatles and the rest of the world, the film was a huge hit.  The following Q and A session featuring Mr. Peters was the perfect start to the rest of the day.

After the film and the first of several breakout sessions, the convention, with its theme of American Graffiti: Voices from the Heartland, provided lunch and a visit by a classic car club.  With everything from a ‘66 Corvette to a pink Cadillac, the show fit the theme perfectly and gave everyone the opportunity to marvel at the wonderful bits of Americana the cars represented.  Later that evening, the popular culture train kept on rolling with the Halloween costume contest.  Everyone from Illinois’ favorite fictional sons, the Blues brothers (all 20 of them), to Iceman and Maverick made an appearance.  Not only did they show up, though, they were all too eager to act like their characters, creating a surreal pop culture vortex where King Tut and Guinevere knocked elbows with the likes of Dirty Harry and Dustin Hoffman from Tootsie.  We also had a pumpkin-decorating contest, apple cider pressing, a play in which Mrs. Claus interviewed current pop icons to replace a missing Santa, an old-fashioned popcorn wagon, and professional storytelling around the bonfire.

Reflecting back on the convention, it is obvious that popular culture was the glue that held the event together.  We had no time to rest on our laurels, though; there were other opportunities for popular culture awaiting us.  While on a regional training trip to Chicago, VP Matt Frost joined several other chapters for a performance of a small play entitled "Shakespeare Kung Fu".  Presenting a typically cheesy kung fu plot performed only with the words of Shakespeare’s plays, the play was a huge smash.  All who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were fascinated by the new twist on two fairly common elements of popular culture.
 

Another important endeavor was presenting this year’s satellite seminar series. The seminars were held on campus and all students were invited. Some teachers got involved by offering extra credit to those in attendance. The wide range of topics covered included sports, music, love and marriage, and gender issues. Pi Omega also attended our Regional Honors Institute in July, enjoying a youth performance of Smokey Joe's Café, a baseball game, and fascinating sessions on subculture. Also, our chapter advisor, a woman equally torn between Converse All-Star hightops and Birkenstocks, was a 2004 Faculty Scholar who served as a seminar leader at the International Honors Institute in UCLA, accompanied by our chapter president.

Another hit for Pi Omega this year was a multi-chapter road trip to Chicago.  Done to fulfill requirements for Phi Theta Kappa’s "On the Road with Chris Epting" program, the trip was quite an undertaking.  VPs Frost, Albin, and Herrera left at the unholy hour of 6 AM to meet representatives from Highland College’s Nu Mu chapter. Once collected, the party headed downtown to their first stop: the empty lot that marks the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Once there, our group met with representatives from Elgin Community College’s Rho Kappa chapter and continued on to the next view sites.  After quickly visiting the spot where John Dillinger was killed, we headed to the home of the Chicago Cubs- Wrigley Field.  Later, the chapters parted ways and the Pi Omega and Nu Mu representatives hit the famous Billy Goat Tavern before leaving the Windy City.  All in all, the trip was a huge success that strengthened regional ties. It also showed the extent to which America’s popular culture rests in Illinois.

In conclusion, popular culture seemed like it would be an easy topic for most chapters to work with this year.  However, the reality was quite different.  Presenting a set of unique problems, such as its definitions and boundaries, Pi Omega successfully used it in many an endeavor.  In doing so, we have learned the true power that the shared culture of our great nation has.  It binds us together, strengthens friendships, and gives our country a personality that we can proudly call our own.