That’s right- I unearthed more weirdness than I could fit into one article. Thus, I am writing a sequel. You might be a member of one of these clubs. You might be one of the brave souls who wear Transformer costumes or engage in serious Medieval swordfights in the quad during lunch while the rest of the student body walks by with perplexed looks on their faces. Or you might just be the hopelessly bland, normal kid who ridicules them.

Regardless, weirdness abounds at America’s college campuses. The following five strange clubs are but a sampling:

Princeton Mime Company, Princeton University – In an age where mimes have become an object of mockery, these brave students face their cruel world in silence… and with invisible walls, windows, and props and white face paint. It is assumed that this club suffers from an inordinate amount of communication problems and injuries resulting from collisions with imaginary objects.

Ichidan Live Theatre & Cosplay, Boise State University – For the uninitiated, like myself, cosplay is a craze in which fans of Japanese anime and manga dress up as their favorite characters and come to special events to show off their elaborate costumes. Apparently, even in the spud-loving heart of the rugged West, this movement has gained a group of devotees. This particular club performs anime-inspired stage plays (in costume, of course), attends cosplay conventions, and stages cosplay game shows. Naturally, the club members all have anime-sounding code names like Graal, Venom, and Cloud. Check it out: Ichidan.com.

Society for Explosives Engineers, University of Arizona – This club sounds like a blast (get it?). This dynamite (get it?) troupe is dedicated to educating students about careers in mining, specifically mining through use of explosives. In the process, they get to blow a lot of stuff up. They are a student chapter of the International Society of Explosives Engineers. Check it out: IcsRecruiter.com.

Yellow Brand Organization, UC San Diego – Judging by their rather cryptic website, this student organization is dedicated to combating technical ineptitude in all its forms. Uh-huh…

The Shire of Grey Gargoyles of the Society for Creative Anachronism, University of Chicago – This one is much like the Quill and the Sword in my last article in that it seeks to recreate Medieval life (i.e. swords, armor, feasts, minstrels, women with long, flowing tresses and low-cut dresses), but I had to include it just for the cool name. Check it out: Grey-Gargoyles.

About the author Marcus Varner earned his BA in English from Brigham Young University with a Creative Writing emphasis. He is currently in his second year at BYU’s lauded MBA program studying Marketing. He blogs, writes fiction and screenplays, loves movies, and can’t resist playing superheroes with his kids.

Tags: bizarre, clubs, college, college life, odd, strange, student organizations, university, weird

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Choosing a School, News & Entertainment, Preparing for School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.