Hall of Shame:LOS

2006.2 -- Sound System Mess-up

During the first dance of the second session, the audio kept cutting off. After about fifteen minutes of booing and people saying "This is lame," Jason Boring came with a bullhorn, which he held up to a radio. Fifteen minutes later the sound was fixed, but it would get cut for a second every few minutes. Because of the technical difficulties, the dance was extended a half hour. For about five seconds, there was mass uproar when the sound gave out at the beginning of American Pie.

2006.2 -- Dorm Break-In

About midway through the session, the doorway of the chapel at the end of Huesman Hall was left open. In the middle of the night, two foreigners (apparently drunk, maybe Swedish) went into the chapel and gained access to the dorms themselves. They entered a room that was luckily vacant, but because of what happened, one student from each dorm room had to give their key to their RA and lock their doors at night instead of bolting them. The key would be returned in the morning before breakfast. This created huge problems during sleepovers, because roommates would often be seperated, and as many as six people had to stay in one room because they got locked out.

2006.2 -- Lice Outbreak

Nine people were known to be infected with lice during session 2's final week, creating paranoia and chaos in the student population. CTY sent everyone home with a letter which included information about treating lice. Site Coordinator Karen Weeks became an expert at inspecting student and staff member's scalps for lice. Following the conclusion of the summer, at least one RA contracted head lice.

2007.2 -- Slideshow/American Pie Disaster

After playing the traditional Stairway to Heaven during the third and final dance: as usual, the students sat down to watch the slideshow. After the slideshow repeatedly malfunctioned, Residential Dean Jason Boring informed the students that the plan was to play American Pie while the staff worked on the slideshow and then try again. After many angry complaints from the students they began American Pie. Once American Pie finished the students gathered around the screen once more, and once more the slideshow failed. Jason came out once more and after apologizing multiple times said, "The only thing I can think of is to play the last minute of American Pie again." Once again after many protests the circle reformed to restart the final minute of American Pie. The result was likely the most lackluster performance of American Pie ever witnessed at CTY. This disaster almost repeated itself in 08.1, but they got the slideshow to work before the end of the first verse.

2007 -- Lack of Canon

The lack of canon in 2007 deserves a place in the Hall of Shame. They failed to play much of the canon, including Forever Young - choosing to replace these traditional songs with popular trendy songs such as Girlfriend, Umbrella, Party Like a Rockstar, and Lip Gloss. In fact, they played these popular trendy songs so much that squirrels were left wondering if "Hey There Delilah" was part of the canon.

2008.1 -- Lack of Sunken Gardens

Sunken Gardens, the site of many activities, such as Water Day and the Dorm Olympics, was under renovation this year. They were tearing out grass and installing a sprinkler system. As a result, the Gardens remained closed, which was an enormous bummer.

2008.1 -- Killing of Canon

You may ask, "Is there a better verb than kill that you might have used?" My reply is an immediate and resounding NO! At the dances, Canon, besides Stairway, Pie, It's the End of the World as we Know it, Sandstorm, and Don't Stop Believin' was almost completely unplayed and ignored.

an almost complete tally goes.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - 1
Stairway to Heaven - 3
American Pie - 3
Don't Stop Believin' - 3
Sandstorm - 3
Forever Young - 0
Dragostea Din Tei - 2
It's the End of the World as we Know it - 4 - (explained later)
Thriller - 1
Cotton Eye Joe - 1
Time Warp - 1
(Anything that isn't on this list wasn't played)

As you can see, Canon was ignored by the RA's. Though the majority of CTYers didn't uphold Canon, a few student groups rallied for Canon. Several halls listed all the Canon songs on their "song request lists," and students asked the DJs directly to play Canon songs. Despite all of this effort, the RAs were squirrels, and didn't seem to understand.

2008 -- Lack of Yearbooks

No yearbooks were given out at the end of the session, which was a huge disappointment for all the nevermores and returners. When asked, Jason Boring said "It's an issue of cost." Many students were upset that they never did receive any yearbooks of any sort. There was also speculation that it was because of offensive comments that made it into previous yearbooks, especially ones in foreign languages.

2008.1 -- Talent Show

The Talent Show was quite disappointing given that the RA's were cutting off the acts in order to squeeze in their mundane skits regarding America's Next Top Model which were insulting to Gay people, Straight people, People in between, and Epileptic people. When asked why these skits were so vital, the RA's replied, "We've practiced for a while, it's important." And they justified cutting off the MC's and certain acts as such.

2008.1 -- First Dance -- It's the End of the World As We Know It's farce.

At the first dance, It's the End of the World As We Know it was played at about 7:25, (While it was still light, and while half the halls weren't even at the dance yet.) As a result, about 30 people did the dance. As soon as the dance started, all the returners started yelling at the RA's and eventually Jason came out, and it was only salvaged when they played the song again, (although it was cut short). There was a general feeling of animosity towards the RA DJs for this.

2008.2 -- American Pie Fiascos

At the first American Pie of the session, three to five CTYers sat in the middle of the American Pie swaying circle. One of the CTYers was reportedly a former JHU CTYer. They were pulled out of the circle by a group of CTYers including Bri., Allegra/Jackie, Emma, and Lyra. However, even though they were pulled out, they still ruined the beginning part of American Pie. The unsuspecting sitters were also charged at the first chorus of American Pie (that part when everyone runs into the middle) by angry traditionalists, and got crushed under the weight of traditionalist CTYer wrath.

At the next American Pie, a sheet was thrown around during the middle of the song. While this is not a fiasco, the writer of the article remembers the sheet coming over her head and not being able to see for two or three seconds. Also, there was a large group of people[primarily squirrel boys] who ran into the circle early.

Right before the final American Pie, and after stairway? a rap song started playing. it played for about four or five seconds, but during that time, a large amount of CTYers cheered, while the traditionalists and returners Booed. This is a fiasco because people CHEERED.

Even though the playing of canon was significantly better in 08.2, these deserve to be in the Hall of SHAME.

2009.1 -- The Plague

At the beginning of the second week of CTY, people began reporting fevers and other flulike symptoms. Though these people were immediately sent home for seven days, the plague spread to over 60 (as told to second session students to office staff) students, as counted by the health office. Officially, two students had the Swine Flu. Many many more students went undercover and took contraband medications in order to avoid detection and quarantine. There were several illnesses, including H1N1, a different kind of Influenza A, and Bronchitis going around. The quarantine rooms filled up, so sick kids began to recieve roommates. Their friends were allowed to visit if the screen was closed, the well student was behind a line a yard from the window, and the sick student was wearing a medical mask. Many students vanished without so much as a goodbye. Terror reigned.

2009.2 -- The Plague

The Plague returned to second session mostly over the final weekend and week. It was reported that about 30 students were sent home in that week alone for various flulike symptoms.