  Stories, as we all know, are the life of Omega Mu, and they keep alive our Omega Mu spirit each time we see each other, and there is nothing wrong with feeling nostalgic and then saying to yourself: “Did I really say and do these interesting things while living in the house; did all those events occur in the RAM. Did I really look like that during my years in The Castle?” And the beautiful thing is that these events did occur decade-through-decade. Hard to believe but true, and our binding stories were framed within the distinctive walls of The Castle. Stories, poems, biographical reflections all provide a clear, significant lens in appreciating our long history; second, they provide a broad generational spectrum of our brotherhood. That is the power of authentic storytelling. We lived these stories, day-in-and-day-out, and they endure in our memory. That is significant, and my hope is that for years to come brothers will read these stories that occurred within our historic fraternal brotherhood. To read them is to hear what was stated at our fraternal beginning: “Enjoyment, sociability, and the best interest of its members through life.” Our Omega Mu stories do not let go. It you have written stories and emailed them to me, thank you. We all found a home, a sense of belonging, within the beautiful walls of The Castle. It was liberating and uplifting to not be in a dorm room for four years at the University of Maine, and we created a collective experience that we all smile at with gratitude to this day. If you intend to write something, I thank you in advance. Your stories are important! Fraternally, Chip Chapman, 1982 Perge! Wayne Robbins Omega Mu, 1965 Fall of 1962: I was one of 20 pledges trying to make sense of all the things that were Omega Mu and brotherhood. One brother stood out to me as he was a returnee after several gap years. Doug Johns reentered as a junior at age 26, I think, as a psychology-art major. He was from New Jersey but had spent several years testing Mercury outboards in Florida. He drove to Orono in a tricked out 1954 Chevy convertible that he had put in a ’57 Chevy V-8 and a four-speed floor shift. The paint job was 17 coats of candy-apple red paint. In it he had everything he owned which was not much. To help finance his stay he became the kitchen steward and claimed the small storeroom in the basement across from the pantry closet for a store where he sold snacks, smokes and soda. Oh, yes, he had a supply of rubbers but they were not a big seller.
Since he didn’t really know any of the brothers, a fellow zobie became good friends with him. Leon even supplied matched lumber to redo the storeroom. Leon’s father had owned the big lumber company in Fort Kent. He was a jack of all trades who could carpenter, work on autos, design projects wheel and deal with the best of them. As an artist, he would draw a Fiji man in different configuration on tee shirts and sweatshirts for parties and other events for 50 cents or a dollar. He designed and built homecoming displays on the lawn like the one made from cow bones and a big paper mache Fiji man eight feet tall and a stew pot. In the spring Doug another guy and I purchased scuba-diving equipment and taught ourselves how to dive on weekends at Bar Harbor. Even with wet suits the April water was so cold we couldn’t feel the mouth pieces and hands became painful beyond endurance after just a few minutes. Because of Doug’s idea we could make money capturing marine specimens, he ended up spending the summer with my folks and me trying to scrounge a summer’s wage out of the ocean. The specimen operation did not pan out so we did everything from raking sea moss, bailing out fishing boats at the factory wharf in Sebasco, to trying to sell driftwood on route one. He finally took a job in construction and I became a painter in a factory in Bath.  The fall of 1963 brought some problems. Social pro made rushing a very difficult process. No parties in the house and many of us were too young to hit the local watering holes; we had little to offer except good food. We had a new cook that just happened to be a woman who kind of adopted us. She would make 12 loaves of bread at a time and had pot with a pound of melted butter on the back of the grill with a little paint pastry brush in it. When you painted the hot bread with the butter it would run down your fingers. We all gained a couple of pounds that first semester. Marshal Stern ran for campus mayor as Hugh Hefner and there were scantily clad bunnies scampering around the house and campus. The campaign was loads of fun, and he was an excellent mayor. Get the rabbit habit was the motto that resounded all over campus. The next year we helped Bob Harrison run as Snuffy Smith but just didn’t have the right stuff.   Charles E. Chapman Omega Mu, 1982 Symphonie Fantastique  There can be No truncation or Substitution of the Fraternal import of Jughead and Brinch, our “Admirable Scriptures of stone
On stone” in Anchoring Durability and Directness in Omega Mu Because they Were a rich, Irrepressible Fraternal chord That was Experiential, Hard-edged- Direct, mot- Ivating, cajoling, Tormenting, And, in  Spiritually liberating Because they had No issues with The niceties of Formality and Propriety within The hurly-burly of Omega Mu House life From going to Apocalypse Now  In military uniform, Detonating smoke Canisters to create Apocalypse Now in the Basement, always On the lookout For slackers not Doing their house  Jobs; giving Quarter to no one With their dense Mixture of stony  Grace of will in being Philosophically Honest and True to their Fraternal convictions In never Being passive Verbs, neutered Nouns, in the Emotional Chromaticism of Omega Mu Life without Marks B Flat or A Minor, Bringing Strength and Happiness to Our brotherhood With their Steely insights And wit in Creating hilarious, Emotional Whirlpools of Fire and tumult, Time upon  Time, with No diminishment Of fraternal spirit, That grew Kaleidoscopically Rich in raising eyes, Inducing fear and Trembling and dropping Jaws with incredulity And joy in Our life that Was never monotonous With them, and Once, in A disquieting, Forceful Confrontation, Distinct and memorable, Brinch, a singularly Distinct brother, In a spontaneous Moment, his Eyes-in- and Out of view, and His sense of Emotional Logic and Balance Impaired, played The anointing Finger of the Almighty,  When His eyes, Smoldering Not too quietly, Fastened upon Etienne with Indignity Because of his Name, a Casus Belli in Brinch’s  Bent Fraternal Mind that Night when, With An enraged Operatic Aria of Words, just Words, mind You, but Transformative,  Emotive Words that Transmuted The name Etienne and Gave birth to Spike without Any outspoken Resistance from Etienne and created A stone-set story Within our Omega Mu “Symphonie Fantastique” Brotherhood about the Night, when the stars Aligned, and received His nom de plume, Spike, a name Befitting the abiding Grace of the man today. Natural and instinctive, All three Brothers’ are Exceptional and Distinctive in unparalleled Fraternal Depth and Breadth to our Omega Mu Brotherhood today: Jughead, Brinch, and Spike,  Chip Chapman Omega Mu, 1982 Are you going with me  Our QTV Brothers Did alright In 1874, And Our first Omega Mu Brothers Did the same in 1899 In taking Hold of the plow to Begin and sustain Our Fraternal brotherhood With an attitude of Confidence and Visionary wisdom Because It is natural to want To create lasting Memories That are life- Long and life- Affirming Because We do not subscribe To a finite, Generational Conception of Brotherhood, But to expectant Hope that What started in 1874 Will continue to Grow in its Attractiveness to All those who will Follow us Because we look ahead With the same Changeless faith As the original seven in Believing that Brotherhood is a Generationally Sustained gift, Without any Punctuation, For life, And not Merely a finite Gift of our College days Alone, and We remain A fine Testament to The historic Symmetry of Commitment Of the QTV Seven and the “Immortal Six” Today One unequivocal Cadence of Fraternal excellence At the University of Maine, As we Unerringly continue To do when we All Answer in the Affirmative when asked: Are you going with me Now? Because in Our historic Fraternal succession We have never put Off into the future To do the Tangible Good That Needs to Be done right Now To assure our Fraternal Future for Another 120 years. “Are you going with me?” Alert and tireless, As we embrace And honor our Rich historic Heritage and The architectural Dignity of Our Unique Fraternal home, The Castle, Now, In order for Our unique And significant Fraternal experience To continue, the Gift that was Given to all Of us, A proud Truth. May it Continue To be so, A matchless Testament to our Perseverance and Determination in The rich, Long tradition Of Phi Gamma Delta. Chip Chapman Omega Mu, 1982 Honey Bees  An orchard- Bound semi Near Lord Byron’s Apiary Loaded with Crated Honeybees To do some Pollinating in The Civil War scented Catoctin  Mountains, caused Consideration of the Apium- Nature of An Omega Mu Brother from Brewer, Maine Because His nature is A Cross-pollination Of family and Apiary because There Is no gnashing And musing upon The hackneyed Binary trope: “To be Or not To be.”  But to Be, and Be for Each Other As one. In Changeless Commitment to That Temporal art of Honey Bees: Honey. Through the Symmetrical Enterprise of Bee and Beekeeper, In their soundless, Yet sound-full Transfiguring Actions to Beget and sustain Life with Purposeful Coherence and Dependability For their labor: Swan’s Honey  Which, In Nuanced Character, Swany Readily shows In his cheery, Supple smile And eyebright Smiling eyes That have not Submitted to the Gravity of Years. Reflecting the Earthy familial Grace of His Father and Mother, A singular, Celebratory testament To ponder As they stayed-the- Course In their serendipitous Journey with Their children and Their bees. In dignifying life In how they lived In inculcating A special Charism of vitality in their four Children To “Keep true, And never be Ashamed of Doing right. Decide what You Think is right, and Stick to it” In order to Persevere in Their singular Flight because “What is essential Is invisible to the  Eye” because “The heart has Reasons which Reason Knows nothing of.” Just as Honey bees Are honey Bees from Their quirky Navigational Bee Dance to Communicate To their  Bee brethren A spatially orienting Panoramic bee- Line vision of flight To reach pollen rich Floral offerings in Which to Linger and powder In to render  Pollen into Honey in the combed Crucible of their Hermitage Hive; their Covenantal Offering, Celebrating the Underscoring Grace of life. In how character Unfolds with individual And Communal gestating Pollen That Pollinates slowly, Broadly, Deeply a Singular and united Vision, Collective awareness, And Collective cooperation, Individual effort And Individual integrity, Collective responsibility And Collective ritual, Individual fidelity And Individual faith, And Collective Hope In the “Orchard Of Perseverance.”    Steve Swan and Chip Chapman Fraternally,
Chip Chapman, 1982 Perge!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories |
RSS Feed