Three Bottles of Boosh
On Sunday, June 25th, 2006, a memorably stormy day that had everyone inside for awhile due to lightning, Liz Gildea went around the quads during a rainless moment and bottled boosh from each one. The bottles were sealed with packing tape and duct tape, and they were all labeled playfully as if they were variations of an alcoholic beverage. (Though she declined to be an official part of the project, Liz's friend Melanie Ouellette was a great help in the entire process.)
Labels
The labels read as follows (1st line: name of quad, 2nd line: name of "beverage," 3rd line: slogan):
The Statue Quad Brewery presents:
B. DUKE'S ORIGINAL BOOSH
B. Duke says, "It's not a TIP party 'til someone brings the Boosh!"
The Circle Quad Brewery presents:
BIRCH'S BOOSH
"When John Birch steps in Boosh, he doesn't get Boosh-y. The Boosh gets John Birch."
The Giles Quad Brewery presents:
"OH, BOOSH!"
Nothing fake about it!
On June 30th, the last night of term, Liz presented the boosh to the 3rd-year during her 4th-year speech. Evan is to pass the boosh on to a 3rd-year during his fourth year, and so shall the cycle go. ...Hopefully, anyway. This tradition isn't even quite a tradition yet, seeing as the boosh has only undergone one passing of hands.
In 2007, the Boosh was passed on John Tuite, so now it is a tradition.
Explanations of each "flavor":
1. B. Duke's Original Boosh (in a Gatorade bottle) comes from the quad furthest into the campus - the one bearing the Benjamin Duke statue. The slogan contains a play on the word "boosh" (sounds like "booze"), and it implies that the Keeper of the Boosh at any given time should bring at least one bottle to dances/after-parties/any TIP activity that includes music and dancing. Of course, B. Duke never said such a thing, nor did anyone hallucinate him saying it; but seeing as he is the most prominent nonliving character at TIP, it seemed fitting to derive the slogan from him. This flavor contains a clover flower, because this particular quad is covered in them. The label was written in blue, the traditional Quadfest color of 4th-years.
2. Birch's Boosh (in a Diet Dr. Pepper bottle) comes from the middle quad, located between the Union and Lilly Library, and between the other two quads. It was named after the RLC (Residential Life Coordinator), John Birch, because just as Liz was about to finish filling the bottle, he came and told Liz and Melanie to go inside. It is due to John Birch's interruption that the boosh was topped off with water from the Alspaugh 2nd-floor girls' bathroom (first sink on the left), as well as some of Liz's own spit. This flavor also contains two pre-boosh ingredients: rainwater drippings from the Alspaugh bench (this is called "essence of bench"), and contact solution from a bottle found beneath the same bench. The label was written in red, the traditional Quadfest color of 3rd-years.
3. "Oh, Boosh!" (in a water bottle) comes from the first quad one encounters when entering the campus. It is probably the quad with the least activity to happen upon it. The name is a reference to the Oh Sam! joke from a few years earlier. Liz was not at TIP when the joke first arose, and she was in her second year at Davidson when the joke was used in a Quadfest cheer; and in fact, the joke had completely fallen out of use by the Year of the Boosh. However, Liz decided to relate the name of this flavor to Sam Prevatt, the OSC (On-Site Coordinator), for a sort of linearly contrived reason: the Giles quad was adjacent to Giles dorm... which served as the administrative center for this summer... meaning it was where Sam's office was located... and Sam was Liz's favorite staff member. The label was written in green, the traditional Quadfest color of 2nd-years.
Keepers of the Boosh: 2006: Liz Gildea 2007: Evan Welbur 2008: John Tuite
Note: Whoever receives the boosh should incite fellow TIPsters to sing rounds of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Boosh on the Wall" as often as possible.