Top 10 Reasons to Purchase Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
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THE TOP 10 REASONS TO PURCHASE ALMA MATER VOL. 2: THE NORTHEAST:
1. You get to learn about 100 colleges in a fun and creative way. Including Reasons 2 and 3.
2. The Ivy Leagues
3. The Party Schools
4. It is a ride through the cities and states of the Northeast that allows the reader to explore the pulse of each. Including Reasons 5-7
5. All Things New York
6. All Things Philly
7. BAHHSTON
8. It is an avant-garde series of poetry that Kirkus Reviews and Midwest Book Reviews have each featured in their magazines.
9. You get to relive, pre-live, or take a moment to appreciate the College Life currently lived.
10. Reasons 1-9 are now available for only 99 Cents
Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast can be purchased below for only 99 cents
Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest can be purchased below
Top 10 Reasons to Purchase Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
-
THE TOP 10 REASONS TO PURCHASE ALMA MATER VOL. 2: THE NORTHEAST:
1. You get to learn about 100 colleges in a fun and creative way. Including Reasons 2 and 3.
2. The Ivy Leagues
3. The Party Schools
4. It is a ride through the cities and states of the Northeast that allows the reader to explore the pulse of each. Including Reasons 5-7
5. All Things New York
6. All Things Philly
7. BAHHSTON
8. It is an avant-garde series of poetry that Kirkus Reviews and Midwest Book Reviews have each featured in their magazines.
9. You get to relive, pre-live, or take a moment to appreciate the College Life currently lived.
10. Reasons 1-9 are now available for only 99 Cents
Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast can be purchased below for only 99 cents
Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest can be purchased below
Columbia University Poem
*Columbia University*
Our Alma Mater,
Let us address thee.
At your ivy threshold, the blue academy of
New York’s finest,
We alert the presses of your honors & fill the news of your highness.
Columbia Daily Spectator, monthly fills of Blue & White, we maintain our esteemed history with the Current, and wide releases from this literary Mecca.
This is our nation’s Mecca; and like our city, we make good hosts to today’s world leaders where free speech has a forum, and we make a home for tomorrow’s world leaders, an exemplary model of United Nations in a manifold circle ensuring the say for a global community is circa yesterday. We took the route of Columbia—
New York’s #1 Subway
of
Engineering Entrepreneurs who tally into
the Silicon Alley. The leaders that give the Big Apple its starch began at Lerner Hall with the First Year March. Freshmen march on to become the song and dance of the Varsity Show,
and light the stage like College Walk before they go.
And 40 days before goodbye,
They grab a cold 40,
40s on 40 until the night becomes early.
In the days to come we walk the steps
which we’ve become fond,
the Urban Beach of sun and fun that
froze our warm bond.
Now up the Low Steps we reach our Alma Mater,
and in her crown and grown,
She’s as divine as she ever was.
You are already adorned with laurels, and glow with knowledge and golden wisdom, but we shall continue to wrap you with the world’s most Nobel Prize winners to complement your jewels on 29 Heads of State.
Sit still as we decorate you with Academy Award winners, Supreme Court Justices, and the lasting touch:
All the blended colors of
New York City;
Our Alma Mater,
Let us dress thee.
Posted in Books, College, Poetry
The College of New Jersey Poem
*The College of New Jersey*
In New Jersey,
There’s a school where
Genders come together
To make love, cupcake wars made with love,
and a habitat for all Lions in clubs like the
Alpha Zeta Gamma Chapter of
AΦΩ,
Where fellowship is found then gone to
ice-cream parlors and nights made sweeter
with Utensils for tasks
where the insiders of volunteering
get the scoop
on how to make a child smile, there goes the sweet tooth,
and Blood Drives through Ewing
to rescue our youth.
So someday—
They can share our
present stage
Of Someday—
Looking back upon
The Stage.
They say that time flies,
Lions learn that it does,
But still they look back
on
How sweet it all was.
United States Naval Academy Poem (Congratulations, Midshipmen!)
*The United States Naval Academy*
Bear the Gold Standard, boys, power through the sea!
Wear these colors told and bold and fight with dignity!
Steer onward, Navy Men, don’t give up the ship!
Lead the way in a display of force & fellowship!
Joe Navy, enter the port, pledge Blue at the stern,
Survey the field then land ashore with stripes you’ll surely earn.
Stand by the pillars, men, as you shade the Yard,
In the hue of honor, duty, with loyal regard.
Flank forward onto the guide, execute the Field Day,
Clear out the ship in General Quarters of the Army Gray!
Navy, go hot, direct to your target, Shipmen now take hold,
Hard Dive in the red zone then, men, hoist the Blue & Gold,
BEAT ARMY!
Navy, on station, Anchors Aweigh, bid Army bon voyage,
Run up the score, away with the win & sink them by barrage!
Advance and discharge, Sailors, take wind out from Army’s sails,
Charge the depths ahead, Shipmen, confirm Navy prevails!
Anchors Aweigh, my boys…Anchors Aweigh,
Midshipmen through turbulence you exit squared away!
Farewell to Annapolis, Anchors Aweigh,
Boys, toss your covers, world, jump for cover, Shipmates on the way!
Posted in Books, College, Poetry
Johns Hopkins University Poem
*Johns Hopkins University*
It was the night before Christmas,
When a dying Johns Hopkins
Bequeathed the gift of life
To our university and Johns Hopkins Hospital—
So that our residents could return this gift
To patients of America, China, Italy, and Singapore…
Ensuring hundreds of years after Johns’s last breath,
He will live on long after his death.
Who says scientists don’t believe in miracles?
Johns’s philanthropic donation transplanted hospitals
with
the heart of medical care:
The birth of cardiac surgery, the electronic defibrillator, and CPR.
Now today, like Johns, what were thought to be last breaths, have resurrected…
As Blue Jays who rise to challenges not only on the LAX field where we beat defeat
more than any program in Division I Men’s Lacrosse,
but also in medicine:
Discovering restriction enzymes leading to the spawn of genetic engineering.
Striking a bone-marrow treatment for Sickle Cell Anemia using only half-matches.
Matchmakers revamping kidney transplants through plasmapheresis, making A and B compatible.
Developing embryonic stem cells to cultivate the growth of man.
And being the first major medical school to admit—and thus celebrate
The Growth of Woman.
Through the first admission of 1893,
A mother and grandmother can hear the cry of
Their now generation announcing her admission
Into the #1 Medical School in America, with the shared dream of
Her someday working for America’s best hospital.
Where like the residents of Johns Hopkins Hospital,
She can commit to treating Alzheimer’s—
In hopes that her grandmother can remember her graduation.
Looking back at her walking the stage to join men and women who have mastered their respective
majors:
Graduates of the nation’s best nursing program, as well as one of the most esteemed schools of education.
Joining Blue Jays who sang and pranced in dance in the conservatory of the prestigious Peabody Institute,
And other Blue Jays of every color
From every major.
The Blue Jay remembers taking strolls on The Beach with friends outside Eisenhower,
And taking in Charm City’s National Aquarium
to complete the
Inner Harbor experience.
She remembers joining friends in The Nest, to watch the best Lacrosse team in the country…
And she remembers flying out of her mother’s nest,
To aid the next generation of the nation.
On this graduation day, mother and grandmother watch their Blue Jay walk
With school complete,
But she has much more work to do.
She will be a resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Where she will continue to fight for more medical achievements,
Such as the accepted treatment for Alzheimer’s.
It may be too late for her grandmother, and the victims who
Have already fallen behind,
But she can walk forward to ensure
That future generations that meet this disease
Will not succumb to the sad fallen tracks—
By continuing the pattern of Hopkins discoveries
And Progressing to
The Promise of Tomorrow.
Georgetown University Poem
*Georgetown University*
Oh Lord,
How we give praise for the Blue and Gray,
We give thanks for this school each day,
Our union has won us the right to say,
We are the faithful Hoyas of Georgetown.
Thank You for the strength to take ownership
of our school with a Hoya’s tautened grip,
Frontiers like The Corp will hone this ship,
Equipped for the land of Old Georgetown.
The Students of Georgetown have come forth,
To give thanks for day one and the days henceforth,
Capped by G’ Day on the month of fourth,
Then we bear our gowns with Your grace.
Before we depart, we take off to heights,
Adjacent the Capitol—and other great sites,
Healy, Potomac, basketball nights,
Thank you for teams that changed basketball’s pace.
Led by Ewing, we took the biggest prize,
The ’84 Champs, who made the banner rise,
We’ve had great centers take our school to highs,
And when we prayed for a guard, You gave us The Answer.
Guarded by Your Power—to greatness—we send
Stars to the next plane with Your presence—amen,
We praise these players, but You blessed these men…
As talent’s Highest enhancer.
We ask that Cura Personalis remains,
For future Generations—through our remains,
To the next life when our spirit regains,
The same force while in Hoya Blue.
We ask that contemplation is put to action,
In our government, our clubs, each faction,
In improved society, we’ll reap satisfaction,
When all the credit is due to You.
Please grant us the courage to brave rough waters,
Like our champion sailors who prey like otters,
In the flow of Your song, we pray as lauders,
Boosting Georgetown in Thy righteous name.
Georgetown welcomes all, regardless of faith,
Freshmen arrive and we give them Escape,
To find brothers and sisters—who can relate,
From different backgrounds to all in the same.
Georgetown is Union; Both Into One,
Where teams, dreams, and blue streams have won,
The grounds where Hoyas in concourse have run,
Through great rivers and back to the docks.
In Your name, Lord, we pray on behalf
of Hoyas who have chosen the Jesuit path,
Let trespassers against us—feel our wrath,
Your might & Hoya Saxa is What Rocks.
Miami University (Ohio) Poem
*Miami University*
Oxford, where the cradle of light is coached
Beneath moons of rise and quiet change,
And mallows glisten from sunshine’s range,
Is the ground where the bricks of potential are poached
By quests of teachers & students encroached.
Gathered in quarried halls like MacCracken & Langstroth
Are RedHawks in flight like Katherine Rice,
The synchronized beams on earth & ice—
Miami is our light, we are the moths.
To this historic campus we pledge our troth.
Our Oxford,
Where the Hawks land Uptown
For fine city living to lay work on the edge;
This perch holds the enduring beauty of an amaranth
With teachers cultivating our growth year round,
Let the RedHawks sing with an everlasting sound:
Oxford,
My Love & Honor: I pledge.
Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved
Attention UFC/MMA Fans: Here’s How You Get a Full UFC 187 Refund Like I Did
Last week, I posted a letter demanding a refund for UFC 187 due to the fact that Jon Jones was pulled from the main event. This letter was sent to industry insiders, MMA fans/bloggers, and even Dana White and Lorenzo Ferititta themselves. That letter can be found here: https://clydeaidoo.com/2015/05/11/how-in-the-world-has-the-ufc-not-offered-a-refund-for-ufc-187-2/
As of late Monday, I was able to successfully receive a full refund for the event in spite of the fact that the UFC did not offer refunds to the public even though they changed the main event by their choice. This post is an informational item that discloses how to attain a refund from the UFC or any similar promoter if they are not offering refunds even though it is obvious that they have to. I am once again reaching out to MMA industry insiders as well because I want them to use their voice to educate the MMA fans around the world.
Let’s begin with a timeline of events leading to the refund, shall we?
February 13th, 2015: It is announced that pound for pound king Jon Jones would defend his championship against Anthony Rumble Johnson.
March 25th, 2015: Excited to see this epic clash, I purchase my ticket to see this fight which is complemented by the most stacked card in recent memory.
April 27th, 2015: Jon Jones turns himself in to Albuquerque police after being named the lead suspect in a felony hit-and-run where a pregnant woman suffered a broken arm.
April 28, 2015: Soon after meeting with Jon Jones, UFC officials make the decision to strip Jones of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and remove him from the UFC 187 main event.
April 28, 2015: I understand the decision, but continue to check search engines to find out when the UFC will offer a refund after changing the main event.
April 30, 2015 – Tired of waiting, I write to Ticketmaster, asking them for a refund. They state that there has been no word from the promoter offering refunds, therefore, they could not help me.
May 11, 2015 – After reaching out to the UFC multiple times about providing me with a refund and receiving no reply, I post the aforementioned letter demanding a refund not only on behalf of myself, but of all consumers who paid to see Jon Jones.
May 14, 2015 – With the event now a week away, I write Ticketmaster once again. I demand a refund and tell them that if they cannot give me the refund, they need to contact the promoter and get one for me. They responded saying they would send a “request for clarification” to the promoter and get back to me. They never got back to me.
May 16th, 2015: I send yet another e-mail to Ticketmaster. This time I reminded them of the Nevada Administrative Code 467.255 which states that if there is a change in the main event, “the promoter must refund the patron’s money if the patron presents the ticket or the ticket stub at the box office before the opening contest or exhibition of the program is scheduled to begin. The box office must remain open a reasonable length of time to redeem such tickets.”
Then, during a routine check of my checking account yesterday, I discover I have an extra $400 bucks in my account. And sure enough, that is the cost of my refunded UFC 187 ticket. I have not received an e-mail from Ticketmaster or the UFC acknowledging they have given me a refund. It’s almost as if they begrudgingly gave me the refund as if to say, “There, now go the fuck away.” It feels almost like hush money. Who gives a refund and does not send an e-mail acknowledging the consumer of it? Or at least a generic, “Your issue has been resolved” e-mail? Nothing at all. I don’t know if it was Ticketmaster who didn’t want to get pulled into this any further so just decided to give me the money, or if the UFC granted it themselves after realizing that I wasn’t going away. If I had to guess, I’d say that the UFC decided to give me the refund because they knew they had no choice when the ticket vender themselves pressed them on the matter.
UFC 187 is a great, great card. Hell, I’m going to order the Pay Per View and I have every intention of enjoying every fight from the prelims all the way down to the altered main event. So for all ticket holders to this event, enjoy the show! But this post is for two people: Those who paid to see Jon Jones and just gave up, thinking they can’t get a refund, and those who need to know that as a consumer YOU DO HAVE RIGHTS, and if a main event is changed in the future, you need to follow the steps that I did: Write the ticket vender, write the UFC, if you get no response, THREATEN the UFC, and remind them that the law is on your side. Fortunately, the state of Nevada’s laws made it easier for me, but chances are, this law or similar laws will work in your favor if you find yourself in the position I did. And for those who paid to see Jones, IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO GET YOUR REFUND IF YOU WANT ONE! WRITE YOUR TICKET VENDER! REMIND THEM OF NEVADA ADMINISTRATIVE CODE 467.255, and as long as you purchased your ticket before they changed the main event, they MUST refund your money. The UFC knows that by not making this information public, not many people will ask for a refund or fight for a refund. I hope that by making THIS post public, MMA fans and sporting events consumers around the world will learn that even in the face of the daunting “Card is Subject to Change” bill, promoters cannot abuse this and we, the consumer, still have rights. And the reason why I continue to reach out to MMA sites and insiders on this matter is because I feel they have a responsibility to educate the consumer and MMA fans on matters like this for the simple fact that we all know the UFC won’t. We know that promoters won’t make this information public because they want to keep as much of the profit they can. But for those who report on MMA, I am sending this to you because the right thing to do is to use YOUR voice to educate YOUR followers and YOUR fans about matters like this. My voice may reach a few hundred if I’m lucky, but your voice can reach thousands. They say that with power comes responsibility. I say with A VOICE comes responsibility. A responsibility to do right by those who take the time to listen to that voice and support you. UFC and MMA fans CAN get a refund if the main event is changed, even if the cause of the change is the car wreck that is Jon Jones’s life.
Original Clyde Aidoo 