Accompanied with shock and outrage expressed by nampy-pamby New Age P.C. thugs across the country, the world learned last week of a group of ambitious and driven Northbrook, Illinois high school girls who take a genuine interest in school spirit and extra-curricular activities.
The “powderpuff football” game held Sunday, May 4, took on a decidedly un-powderpuff nature when the senior girls corralled the juniors into a group and began to splatter them with mud and human feces as part of a friendly hazing tradition. How they knew it was human feces and who identified it was not available information and asking the question only brought angry scowls from Cook County officials.
All girls involved reportedly knew the game would involve a hazing of the future seniors, but crybaby juniors alleged they had no idea the level of cruelty would be so high. Apparently kids today only know about initiation what they see on family-friendly high school shows like Seventh Heaven or something. This reporter would suggest girls on their way to a future initiation view fine hazing films like Full Metal Jacket or A Few Good Men. All in all, a typical end-of-school ritual gets a few more bruises and broken bones than planned, but anyone worried about our teens being slackers who let the future of America dribble down their legs while they watch Seventh Heaven found the news of the harsh initiation quite refreshing.
But the reaction of the PTA-whipped local school board and county officials? Criminal charges have been promised for the outgoing seniors involved in the incident. One group, however, has not lost perspective on the incident: Former Glenbrook North High School alumni.
“Sure, everybody knew what happened the last week of school,” said Mitzi Burbank, class of 1993 and president of the Glenbrook North High reunion committee. “But everyone looked forward to it, like a rite of passage. Well, the juniors didn’t. But they looked forward to it when they were seniors, the year after. It was tradition, and it was just so incredibly important to the students. Well, the seniors.”
Class of 1995 Glenbrook North graduate Cindy DeSousa agreed.
“Oh, yeah, it was hell getting through it. I don’t think we had any feces involved when I went through ‘the gauntlet’… l’see, eggs, whipped cream, silly string—no, I think they missed the feces. But it sounds like a real sharp idea. Those girls really wanted to stand out from past classes!”
Other graduates, while admiring the girls’ severe hazing, aren’t admiring the incident’s severity. Like Sue Gorton, class of 1955.
“I suppose it was bad, by today’s standards,” said Gorton, “but we had real wars and bloodshed back then, too. Hell, I know three or four juniors who didn’t make it to senior year after their initiation—two went missing and one had a severe head injury that kept her in a coma until Woodstock. And we didn’t just limit it to incoming senior girls either. We would haze some of the black students as well. They didn’t go to our school, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t haze them.”
Current Glenbrook North student and Class Treasurer Taylor Wick expressed support for the hazing as well.
“It’s important to the social order to keep the hazing alive. If we don’t have traditions to mark the change from underclass to ruling class, then it all starts to fall apart. Pretty soon people wouldn’t even care what part of town you live in or what kind of clothes you’re wearing. You know what they call that? Anarchy.”