There begins on page 713 of The Annals of Psi Upsilon an article by Clayton Butterfield, Pi '11, entitled "The Heraldry of Psi Upsilon." Here we can discover that there was no heraldry until 1892, at which time the Heraldry Committee reported to the convention. In commenting on the owl which today stands above the crest of the international fraternity, as well as above that of every chapter, that committee said:
"The crest here recommended consists of an owl surmounting Roman fasces. This possibly needs no explanation, but to refresh our memories, the owl was assigned by the Greeks to Pallas Athena as an emblem of her supernal wisdom, and by the Romans of Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom. The fasces which the owl surmounts, was a term given to a bundle of elm sticks or branches bound together with leather thongs or lashes, and containing an axe with blade projecting from the side. These were carried by lectors (public officers attending Roman magistrates), and were symbols of power."
That is the story of the symbolism of the owl. The story of the owl on our cover is slightly longer. It is part of the story of the late Joseph Arthur Eugene Vinet, Epsilon Phi '11, who died in October of 1963. Here we reprint his own story of the owls from the Spring 1959 issue of the Diamond:
In visits to various chapter houses of Psi Upsilon over a period of years, I had noticed that Psi U's beloved owl was not on display in some houses, and in many was a decrepit-looking stuffed bird who did not do justice to the fraternity or the chapter. Mounted owls in various shapes, sizes, and colors bore mute testimony to a lack of interest in the physical representation of our "ancient owl."
But it wasn't until 1958 that I thought I might be able to do something about designating an owl worthy of Psi U's great traditions.
I had completed fairly successful training in landscape painting and charcoal portraiture in retirement in Florida. Suddenly I thought that painting and drawing might be an excellent springboard to an attempt at sculpture.
With encouragement from a few Psi U Brothers in whom I confided my ambition, I set to work to try my hand at becoming a sculptor. I wanted to design a permanent owl for grand old Psi Upsilon!
Brother Ed Peattie, editor of the Diamond, obtained for me a book on how to carve animals--especially birds and fish--written by Brother John L. Lacey, Delta Delta '25.
The face of a screech owl with its "horns" appealed to me the most, but it is quite a small bird, too small for what I had in mind, and I didn't like the way the claws showed up. It became evident that as a symbolic figure my work would have to be a composite of several owls.
In looking over books of sculpture I saw that beginners sometimes used soap blocks. While visiting my sister in Montreal during the summer months I obtained a piece of castile soap about six inches high. After making a few sketches to study the type of base and how the bird should stand, I proceeded with a small potato peeling knife found in a kitchen drawer. The result was not only my first owl, but my first sculpture of any kind. This first try spurred me on to a real attempt!
When I went to West Palm Beach, Florida, for the winter, I sought the counsel of Miss Helen W. Burgess, dean of the Norton School of Art. She suggested able coaching by the eminent sculptor and artist, Oliver O'Connor Barrett.
I started on the owl with all the enthusiasm of a school boy. Originally I had expected to work with clay, but after looking at the small model made of soap, Mr. Barrett, who knew of my engineering background and acquaintance with perspective, suggested that I carve the owl of soapstone. By doing so, the original could remain as a permanent art object.
Countess Reventlow, a most competent student in the class I attended at the Norton School of Art, provided a suitable piece of soapstone which she had decided not to use. It was six inches by six inches by twenty inches high.
Soapstone, although heavy as any other stone, is very soft and is carved with the same tools that are used for wood. With carving you cannot put back what you take off. One cut too much and you may have spoiled your entire "masterpiece." So I worked slowly and exerted the utmost patience for three hours, three mornings a week, for twelve weeks to achieve the final result. Although the sculpture is definitely my own work I would be remiss if I did not credit the excellent guidance of Mr. Barrett for what I have been told qualifies as a good piece of art.
My dream has become a reality. It required a bit of natural aptitude and a good bit of work but it was a lot of fun. If the owl serves the purpose intended, no one will experience greater joy than this belated would-be sculptor!
Tu-whit, Tu-whoo! O ancient owl of fair Psi U., Thy jewel bright The rampant lion wears tonight And true to thee Will ever be, Old owl of Psi U.
many thanks to all who contributed: Tom Bruner, Chris Farris, Dave "The Sink" Garrity, Alex Hofelich, Andy Shelley, John W. Stembel, Ben "Bono" Swafford, and Pete Thomas. Cats:
Ozzy the Cat is lauded as the coolest cat around. Has been accused of murdering many innocent squirrels. Cuddly indoors, but don't even expect a glance when he's outside. His name comes from a movie quote and not Ozzy Osbourne as many may expect: "I don't think so, Osbourne."
In the summer of 1978, brother J.C. White's sister gave a kitten to take to the new 334 10th Street house. Taco was originally named Theresa Wanda Alice Thompson, but the little sisters didn't want any competition, so Taco was renamed after some old obscure saying relating women and tacos. Henceforth, Theresa Wanda Alice Thompson was known to all as Taco, except Vinnie Parente who kept calling the beautiful calico cat Theresa. Taco's life at GOPU was not idyllic. Brother s Joe DiNunno, Mark DiNunno, Allen Massey, and Rob Davis (among many others) being her chief tormentors. Rob was fond of waking up the normally tennis ball obsessed Sam (the dog) just to chase her. In 1979 in room 201's closet, Taco begat three kittens - Frito, Burrito, and Enchilada. Enchilada died shortly after birth. Frito and Burrito went to Home Park neighbors. One time there was a kitten in the house (nicknamed Shitty Kitty). Taco was not happy. It was believed, but not confirmed by the CDC, that the shitting by SK (specifically the turds in brother Bennett White's bed) were actually done by Taco. After repeatedly detoxifying his sheets, blankets, and mattress, Bennett posted the following message (at cat's eye level) on the door to 202: "BEWARE! Bennett the Cat Smasher Lives Here! All cats found in this room will be thrown out the window! The window will not be bothered to be opened!" With the onset of lofts, especially in 202, when it was occupied by Elvis Higgins, John "Rocco" Stembel, Carl Anderson, and later Ryan Woodward, Taco finally found a safe haven in the house. Even this was not always safe. One time John Stembel was heading out to go camping, and climbed the ladder halfway to grab his sleeping bag from the loft. Unbeknownst to him, Taco was sleeping on the bag. He gave the bag a great pull, only to feel ten claws digging into his chest as an airborne Taco plummeted to the ground. That's the last time she slept on his sleeping bag. In 1986, Elvis and Rocco (and later Carl) moved to 1254 State Street. They took Taco with them. She was quite happy being out of the house, but between her tenure as owner of Psi U and Ozzy's, the mice got really bad which began the Mouse Olympics, as the brothers had to take matters into their own hands. She moved with them to another Home Park house, with Elvis and Jean to Florida, and back to Atlanta in 1992. Unfortunately, our beloved and beleaguered Taco died in March of 1994 at the age of 16. Although quite aloof to most, she was a pretty great cat to those who bothered to get to know her.
We all learned just how trusting and volatile cats are when Lucas was seeing how close Tigger would come to an open flame. He came a little too close and set himself on fire. Lucas is now accused of having a thing against cats, and Tigger has a complex. Brian "Trigger" Hill has been accused of trying to duct tape the cat and Duncan Brennan has put shaving cream in its fur that didn't come out completely for about three months. Severely traumatized at Psi U. Waffle was trying to train him as a dog. He learned how to sit, come when called, and respond to whistling and the snapping of fingers. Unfortunately, Tigger bought the farm so he could chase those squirrels in the sky on December 12, 1994, when he was struck by a moving vehicle. Dogs:
Allie, the dog that ate 202. Allie had an intense fondness for Joel's rope sandals (and any other footwear that seemed generally unloved and chewed on them sometimes before you had taken them off). This dog was so hard core that he ate carpet padding and drank tidybowl. He was a wild sled dog that attacked Tom Bruner once when he was being one man luged by Dave Garrity. Allie caused many brothers to contemplate creating the game of tethermutt: a spike in the yellow line of Tenth street with a ten foot rope and a dog on the other end, wait for rush hour and watch the excitement.
Bear was a big dog. Big.Brothers regularly walked him around campus as a chick magnet. He worked. Women loved him. Pizza delivery boys didn't.
Saber had a traumatic puppyhood (at Psi U, poor thing) There was a almost ritualistic thing called Saber stuffing which generally started with, "Do you want some peanut butter?" The dog was hog-tied when he tried to herd Dave Garrity by biting his ankles. Generally had a traumatic life while at Psi U.
Brother Chuck Roan brought his dog Samantha from his home in Vidalia to the house in 1980 just after Rush week ended. Sam was collie and setter, mostly black with beautiful red trim. She was extremely fast and lucky. At least twice we witnessed her chasing a squirrel across Tenth Street, narrowly missing getting hit. Sam was probably GOPU's only "campus dog." Many days she would follow a brother to class, then wander campus, following other brothers, squirrels, and tennis balls. One time she even caught Chuck's scent and walked into his ROTC squad meeting. Chuck was #2 man in the squad, up on the stage. Sam walked in, Chuck froze and tried to disappear, and finally Sam saw her master. Big tail wag, and up on stage she went. Chuck's higher-ups were not happy. When Chuck graduated in 1982 (or '83) and left GOPU for the Army (and some time in Korea, too), he took Sam to his mom's house in Vidalia.
In the summer of 1985, Elvis and John "Rocco" Stembel acquired from a friend of brother John Statham, a black lab and English setter mix, which they named Moonshadow for the Cat Steven's song on the radio as they returned from Powder Springs. Elvis and Rocco started calling her Moon for short. Luckily, Rocco talked to his sister who heard "Moonshadow" and said, "Great, you can call her Shadow." Eventually Moonshadow was totally dropped, and Shadow or Dogo was used. He was an energetic, dumb lab. He was taken to Nuke Field to play daily. Shadow was said to have worn one of those dorfy cones for a long time around the house after being neutered. He tried repeatedly to jump through closed windows and has been known to chase people in wheelchairs. Fred apologized for Shadow chasing the man in the wheelchair and aptly described the dog as, "This is not a viscious dog, it is a very stupid dog. It barks. That's what it does and that's all it does." Shadow has appeared as star in a Cor Sec newsletter in "Top Ten Ways to Get Rid of Shadow." Shadow once ate the pizza dough that Ryan put on the back porch to rise and had to have his stomach pumped at the vet's because of it. He spent most of his days either on the roof outside 202 or barking at Doug Grunwald. When John and Elvis moved to 1254 State Street, they took him along where she contracted some disease in 1988. She died after two weeks on intensive care. This is one of those dogs that you either loved or hated.
Another dog you either loved or hated was Ghengis Coors who was brought by the house by Matthew "Pokey" Williams. Ghengis was a very friendly dog. Unfortunately, there were too many members at the house who decided they didn't like Ghengis. Violently opposed to having him around the house would probably be the way to describe it. Just because they thought they were allergic to him or thought he was chewing everything. Ghengis lived in Pokey's room except when Matthew "Gumby" Williams would leave him to wander and eat a very unhappy Hat Rack's Cuban sandwich (AHHHH!!!!!!) and other misc. homehold things. Finally, the pressure from the Ghengis haters club drove Pokey to take the poor dog to the pound.
Other assorted mammals:
Leon the Rat has been placed in coolness status because he'd crawl all over you and was generally just cool. He hated Ozzy the Cat and had a complex because he lived in 201 for a while, which is Ozzy's room. He just lets other people live there with him.
Ratzilla was killed in a dramatic battle, and his tale will be in a section all by itself because he was a rat of immense magnitude.
Before Ratzilla, the house was under siege by allegedly hundreds of mice. The Mouse Olympics began soon afterwards, which will be covered in the section with Ratzilla.
Oscar the Rabbit was brought to the house by Chris Henesy under the condition he would feed it. Feeding Oscar became a house job very quickly as Henesy was very seen at the house. Oscar lived in his cave under the stair well, occasionally to be let out of his cave long enough to see daylight and hop about at the bottom of the stairs. Ken "Hack Rat" Crouch took it into his hands to get the bunny to wander the house. Oscar soon learned to trust Ken (what a mistake). Oscar also learned to like Cliff (and Cliff now could fill in yes on the golden showers part of the purity test in reference to more than one incident). Oscar also was a magical bunny. He could change colors. He turned a nice green for Saint Patrick's Day (no help from a certain Chen brother) and a bright pink for Easter (no help from a certain Hat Rack). Soon, shortly after Oscar learned to hop up stairs, Oscar made his way into Cliff's room and discovered something better than his litterbox, Cliff's blanket. That night, Cliff, Alli, Katre, and Hat Rack, ate rabbit for dinner.
Fuzzy. Fuzzy came from two trips to the pet store. Both trips consisted of Alli, Hat Rack (who hadn't just finished a bottle of Black Haus for the first trip), and Olly (who wasn't completely wasted for the second trip). The first trip, everyone looked at all the cute animals and everyone resisted the temptation to bring something home. The second day, Alli broke down and bought a little light brown hamster. Cliff saw the hamster and said FUZZZY!!! Hence, the little fellow was named Fuzzy. Cliff ended up taking care of Fuzzy and in return, Fuzzy made extra sure Cliff could fill in that technicality on his purity test for golden showers. At least once a day. Fuzzy got loose a few times and Cliff and Hat went through all the rooms in the upstairs only to find him hiding a corner of a room or the hallway.
Assorted Reptiles:
Mojo T. Monitor was also know as lizard with attitude. Dave's snake's name has faded into obscurity, but it doesn't really matter, as it wouldn't come if called anyway. Wandering miscellany: Ant Farms (Ben and Kip) The Electric Catfish, Sparky (Ben Swafford) Tarantula, Herman (Brian "The Mad Man" Cummings) Buttloads of various fish Wonko (Kaz) '96 - present
Unfortunately, some of the creatures that fate has willed to put into our care pass into that pleasant realm where they can eat all day and not have to worry about anything. The Brothers follow solemn burial rites in their respect to the dead. Fish, when they are fated to do the Surface Float are given an aerial burial into the Wide Blue Yonder and onto the unfeeling surface of Tenth Street. May they rest in peace.
The Vermin of Psi U (excluding the Brothers) or Those Things That Go "Squeak" When You Step on 'Em
Brother Benjamin Swafford:
I never actually ran into the beast, but the stories haunted my sleep. It was not uncommon to hear shrieks of terror as some unsuspecting person ventured into the basement at night and turned on the lights, only to reveal the wisest, most cunning, hugest rat at Georgia Tech. Several times he had been "spotted" and "cornered" with no means of escape. Then a cry for assistance up the stairs brought forth an army of bloodthirsty hunters armed with the most terrifying weapon seen by a rodent...Brooms!! I was on one of those hunts; someone had cornered the beast in the area around the furnace. We waited, and when he failed to appear, we went in for him. And guess what? No Ratzilla! His trickery made fools of us all. This went on for ages...
The Death of Ratzilla
The Mouse Olympics
The Mouse Olympics occurred when Psi U fell under siege from allegedly hundreds of mice. This led the Brothers to take drastic measures and bring into existence the Mouse Olympics and its many events. Pete Thomas was given a secondary nickname "Mouse Exterminator" for his prowess in the "Chasing mice with two liter bottles" (or alternately, "Mouse Splat") and the "Trap Paper onto Tenth Street Frisbee Toss" (or alternately "10th St Mouse Discus") events. In honor of Pete, the Psi U News tag line the next week was "Psi U News: covers Psi U like mice cover Tenth Street." Dave Garrity tried to catch up to Pete in the "Mouse Splat" event but using his own signature weapon: a pipe wrench. Andy Shelley won the "Mouse Flambˇ" event with his exceptional performance. Andy was upset about losing flour and many other perishable foods to a certain mouse who was unfortunate enough to be caught red handed in the flour container. Andy poured some JD in the container, took it out back, and lit it. The mouse promptly jumped out and ran around in flaming circles. Andy has been quoted about the event, "That was a very cruel thing to do. But, you take your chances in life and he lost."