Against BSD
Bermuda Shorts Day: a celebration for the masses? More like a celebration for deluded, post-teen, first-year partiers — those who would rather drink their calories than eat them.
For those who have never experienced BSD, consider yourself lucky. Imagine 10,000 rambunctious students partying in one area. Imagine a quarter of those people throwing up by the time BSD comes to a close. Imagine losing your friends in the crowd of crazed individuals.
The exploits of those 10,000 people have scared off the other two thirds of the student body who refuse to show up for a day of debauchery and drinking.
Are the rest of us too nerdy, unsocial and insular to show up to school that day? Do we really consider ourselves “intellectual chic?”
We want to join in on the celebrations too! But getting drunk in the beer gardens on the last day of classes does not exactly spark voracious appeal. Since when did drinking become a critical element of having a good time?
BSD has become a traditional endeavour, a hallmark of University of Calgary’s student life. The SU describe it as a “legendary end-of-year party.” Sadly, we are not alone in our hedonistic pursuits. Every university in Canada holds a similar stunt, often with more impressive venues.
The SU has tried to appeal to other students through the BSD Day of Service, encouraging students to participate in volunteer activities around the greater Calgary community. I think we should be the first campus in Canada to step up our game even further and diversify the types of activities that happen during BSD.
After all, exams are just beginning. Not everyone likes to spend the greater part of their week hung over. And for you first years, who believe you possess the right to loosen up and chug down buckets of beer, remember you have at least three more years to go. Save some partying strength for the years to come.
Salimah Kassamali
Gauntlet Features Editor
For BSD
Two score and thirteen years ago, a young man named Alan Arthur wrote “wear shorts tomorrow” on a classroom chalkboard. These are the humble beginnings of our now famed Bermuda Shorts Day.
Thousands of University of Calgary students submit to shoddy judgment and celebrate being done lectures on the last day of classes while attempting to consume enough tent beer to forget that they still have finals.
In the midst of the hoopla there will be some intellectuals that distance themselves from the event with claims that BSD is no more than bread and circuses for the hapless masses. They will likely spend the day discussing how Valentine’s Day has been co-opted by Hallmark and how New Years Eve is always a disappointment. They’re artists.
Let’s get one thing straight. As a U of C student you aren’t required to drink your weight in domestic swill and get run over by an engineering student riding a couch on wheels.
BSD is the epitome of ‘to each their own.’ It’s an opportunity to celebrate your successes and forget your failures if just for that day. It’s a good time to hug that friend who lent you their notes or high-five that classmate who took the lion’s share of the work in your group project.
Take a moment to think of the general public who catch a glimpse of our festivities and bask in a sepia-filtered image of their dearly departed youth before continuing to trudge through their humdrum day. Have a good time for those miserable bastards, if nothing else.
Don’t get bogged down by the horror stories of the past. Celebrate in whatever way pleases you. With or without booze, make sure you get loose. You deserve it.
Do you know what the University of Alberta does to celebrate the end of the year? Me neither.
Tendayi Moyo
Gauntlet News Assistant