Dragon Day


Dragon Day Runners
Architects ran through the engineering quad and in and out of bulidings screaming

Today is Dragon Day. As you probably know from my earlier posts, this is a huge tradition at Cornell. It was started back in the 1800s as a Spring Prank by the greatest Cornell prankster of them all, Willard Straight, and continues to this day as a rivalry between the Architects and Engineers. Yesterday they ran through all of the buildings decked in green paint and, althought you can’t tell because the picture is so small, skimpy clothes. However, if you look at the next picture, it’s quite clear. Yes, it was 30 degrees F outside and the freshman architects were running around in panties, bras, and boxers. But at least they were running, so that may have helped a bit. In this second picture I love the pair in the center of the shot, jumping for joy as though they were about to win a race.

more d-day runners
One of my favorite shots of them running past me

I happened to have my camera because there had been a breakfast with the ECE department heads and students and I had planned to take some pictures. I ended up not taking any pictures, athough talking with the faculty and other students was a lot of fun. I was rewarded a few hours later when I saw the people dressed in green and whipped out my camera as fast as I could to pop off some shots. I ended up with around 9 pictures, but these two were the absolute best. The others will probably go up on the server when I upgrade and get more disk space. Back to my story – I was SO happy because I wouldn’t have had my camera with me if it hadn’t been for the lunch and if I had seen them running around and hadn’t had my camera, I would have been bummed out for the rest of the day for not being able to capture the moment.

Assembling the dragon
A rare shot of the dragon being assembled

I was again surprised and very happy when I went to pick up my brother’s suitcase for Spring Break. On my way to his place I saw the dragon being built, right outside of Rand Hall. Since they usually keep it a secret, I was surprised to see it out where everyone could see. After picking up the bags I decided to ask them if I could take some pictures if I got my camera from the house. They didn’t mind at all. So now you get to see some pictures of the inner workings of the dragon.

more assembly
The back-side of the dragon

What made the assembly pictures special to me, in addition to the fact that this was my last chance to see it, is that I won’t be able to participate in Dragon Day tomorrow. So, being able to participate in this way is very satisfying.

Enjoy Dragon Day if you’re a Cornellian and on campus tomorrow. Have a safe break and come back to campus in one piece.

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