Scrolling through some Facebook memories recently, Brother Mike Hoskins came across this post from 2009 following the wedding of Mario Macandog and Anna Marie Barnes. Here it is, as written by Brother Hoskins and posted online so many years ago.
The essence of purity. It’s something we measure by a child’s innocence. That natural beauty of a state’s inland lakes or magical Fall colors. Or even the pure fun of friends reuniting for a September wedding.
So was the case on Sept. 19. Pure Michigan magic transcended time and formed again on the campus of Oakland University. When two people — Mario and Anna Marie — joined together in the company of close friends and family to celebrate their everything.
Together, the couple lit up the church and campus just as they’ve always done: rich in flavor and fun, unique in ritual and tradition. They made it their own, simply making it as natural as Games on the Grass. We all hung up our regular lives, locked up, and headed off to do something we truly love. A sign that we’re spending time with those who mean so much and truly deserve it, stepping into the playground of pure happiness.
There was dancing. The movement to the music and changing states of soberness mirrored the dancing trees in a brisk Fall wind, just as the changing hues of the evolving seasons evolve on the dancefloor of Michigan’s landscape. That nature of trees reminds us that there are bigger things in life than just us, but our roots run deep and we can grow together in a Land of Golden Grizzlies and Pioneers.
Like the golden sunrises appearing over Lake St. Clair each morning, a rainbow of colors could be found in the spray paint provided by a man once known as Meat. A band of Brothers journeyed to a familiar spot where Pup + Friends painted the sacred rock once more.
Just like the old days of Sigma Pi, when young and old were just that — young, and not so old. We avoided the controversial coastline of Beer Lake, leaving those memories in the past so only to bring a headshake and chuckle rather than a new emergency room visit.
We laughed and loved in a place upstairs, not far from where we all first met and learned who we were. And who we might become. A campus hub, an Oakland Center that centered our lives.
Now redone, there’s no more office or ping pong tables or Knights of the L downstairs. So much of what we knew back then has moved on, even though 100 years has not passed in our heart and minds.
Still, the OC continues to capture our attention and once again it gave way to a memorable evening where we could find a new center for a new age. All in the spirit of celebrating Mario and Anna Marie.
But nothing gold can stay, and just as the Fall season fades too quickly and the leaves fall from the trees, the night came to an abrupt end as the Bar of Mysterious Mixtures was replaced with a water jug. And oh, the potential of water.
We found ourselves and made due, capitalizing on the energy from a state staying afloat in turbulent economic waters. We wished for Fridays and managed to find refuge there, even when the rest of the night and week had come to a close. We continued on and shared in a night of Macondog Magic, in the company of friends. Of family. Of Brothers.
Collectively, we all showed our Progress, and its distinctive mark in each of our lives. We Believed once more. And we always will. That is the power of Pure Michigan, Macandog-style. It’s the power of Sigma Pi Brotherhood.
Your trip begins here. And ours continues.
#PureSigmaPi
