TXA&M07
Roll the dice....
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From the morning news:
Texas A&M Bonfire:Memories Left Behind
This year will mark the 100th anniversary of Texas A&M Bonfire and the tenth year of the tragic bonfire collapse.
Texas A&M Bonfire:Memories Left Behind
This year will mark the 100th anniversary of Texas A&M Bonfire and the tenth year of the tragic bonfire collapse.
On November 18, 1999 12 students died and dozens more were injured when the stack fell on campus.
It was an accident that shook the university and local community and its story was told around the world.
Moments after the tragedy and for days to come, hundreds gathered where the accident happened. The bonfire site actually turned into a spontaneous shrine, and collecting the items left became an on-going project for the university.
The site of the bonfire collapse also became a place of healing. Many came searching for answers or a sense of closure, and they all left part of themselves behind.
Countless items were left, including flowers, letters, and crosses. Giving became a way to cope.
"To see that happening on my own campus in my own backyard I knew what it was when I saw it," Former Texas A&M professor Sylvia Grider said.
Grider was a faculty member in the Anthropology Department and was the first to discover what had become a spontaneous shrine.
"People were bringing really significant, important artifacts and leaving them there," Grider said.
Thousands of mementos or artifacts were scattered around the site and Grider made it her mission to preserve them.
"I had been at A&M long enough to know at the gut level how important those artifacts would be, not only out there on the fence but in years to come," Grider said. "I just knew and I was willing to do whatever I could to make that project happen."
With university approval and help from her colleagues and hundreds of students, Grider oversaw the daunting and emotional task of collecting what was left behind.
Children left their favorite toy, a recent graduate dropped off a diploma, and dozens of Aggies left their most prized possesion- their Aggie Ring.
"It's just a tribute to this community and this campus that there were at least 50 to 70 Aggie Rings out there on the base of the flag pole and nobody bothered them," Grider said. "There was not a guard out there. It was just understood that for the time those rings were there that this was a sacred site, and we're not going to have anyone mess with it."
Every item that was collected, was categorized and preserved.
A decade later each of the thousands of artifacts are in the same condition as the day they were left.
"For example in this one there's simply a pot we have lots of these, boxes and boxes of these pots some of them aren't even in boxes," David Chapman with Cushing Library said.
Three hundred boxes of memories line the shelves of a warehouse on the Texas A&M campus, each under the care of the university's Cushing Library.
"You can see plastic flowers and an American flag," Chapman said.
You'll also find hundreds of rosaries and ribbons, dozens of candles and stuffed animals and huge crosses that were erected at the site are now stored for safe keeping.
It's a collection that keeps the memory of that fateful November day alive.
A project that showcases the heart of A&M and the community it calls home.
"It was a beautiful project and a beautiful thing to watch happen," Grider said.
Since it rained a few days after the bonfire collapse, some items like letters left at the site were ruined. The weather made the task of collecting the memories more difficult.
And if you were wondering, all but one of the Aggie rings left behind have been returned. The one that remains is on display at the Association of Former Students. The name on the ring had been rubbed out, so officials couldn't return it to it's rightful owner.
The items left at the bonfire site have never been on display for the public. We're told the idea has been brought up in the past, but right now there are no plans for an exhibit.
This was a great article by the reporter and I figured it was worth sharing. Sometimes, its not about wins and losses. Sometimes its bigger than football. Sometimes, its about the human spirit, and those times bring out the best in us all.
Thanks and Gig em' - TX07
Texas A&M Bonfire:Memories Left Behind
This year will mark the 100th anniversary of Texas A&M Bonfire and the tenth year of the tragic bonfire collapse.
Texas A&M Bonfire:Memories Left Behind
This year will mark the 100th anniversary of Texas A&M Bonfire and the tenth year of the tragic bonfire collapse.
On November 18, 1999 12 students died and dozens more were injured when the stack fell on campus.
It was an accident that shook the university and local community and its story was told around the world.
Moments after the tragedy and for days to come, hundreds gathered where the accident happened. The bonfire site actually turned into a spontaneous shrine, and collecting the items left became an on-going project for the university.
The site of the bonfire collapse also became a place of healing. Many came searching for answers or a sense of closure, and they all left part of themselves behind.
Countless items were left, including flowers, letters, and crosses. Giving became a way to cope.
"To see that happening on my own campus in my own backyard I knew what it was when I saw it," Former Texas A&M professor Sylvia Grider said.
Grider was a faculty member in the Anthropology Department and was the first to discover what had become a spontaneous shrine.
"People were bringing really significant, important artifacts and leaving them there," Grider said.
Thousands of mementos or artifacts were scattered around the site and Grider made it her mission to preserve them.
"I had been at A&M long enough to know at the gut level how important those artifacts would be, not only out there on the fence but in years to come," Grider said. "I just knew and I was willing to do whatever I could to make that project happen."
With university approval and help from her colleagues and hundreds of students, Grider oversaw the daunting and emotional task of collecting what was left behind.
Children left their favorite toy, a recent graduate dropped off a diploma, and dozens of Aggies left their most prized possesion- their Aggie Ring.
"It's just a tribute to this community and this campus that there were at least 50 to 70 Aggie Rings out there on the base of the flag pole and nobody bothered them," Grider said. "There was not a guard out there. It was just understood that for the time those rings were there that this was a sacred site, and we're not going to have anyone mess with it."
Every item that was collected, was categorized and preserved.
A decade later each of the thousands of artifacts are in the same condition as the day they were left.
"For example in this one there's simply a pot we have lots of these, boxes and boxes of these pots some of them aren't even in boxes," David Chapman with Cushing Library said.
Three hundred boxes of memories line the shelves of a warehouse on the Texas A&M campus, each under the care of the university's Cushing Library.
"You can see plastic flowers and an American flag," Chapman said.
You'll also find hundreds of rosaries and ribbons, dozens of candles and stuffed animals and huge crosses that were erected at the site are now stored for safe keeping.
It's a collection that keeps the memory of that fateful November day alive.
A project that showcases the heart of A&M and the community it calls home.
"It was a beautiful project and a beautiful thing to watch happen," Grider said.
Since it rained a few days after the bonfire collapse, some items like letters left at the site were ruined. The weather made the task of collecting the memories more difficult.
And if you were wondering, all but one of the Aggie rings left behind have been returned. The one that remains is on display at the Association of Former Students. The name on the ring had been rubbed out, so officials couldn't return it to it's rightful owner.
The items left at the bonfire site have never been on display for the public. We're told the idea has been brought up in the past, but right now there are no plans for an exhibit.
This was a great article by the reporter and I figured it was worth sharing. Sometimes, its not about wins and losses. Sometimes its bigger than football. Sometimes, its about the human spirit, and those times bring out the best in us all.
Thanks and Gig em' - TX07
