Mardi Gras is almost here, and this year the City of Hathian and Columtreal University have selected Sunday February 11th as the day of the celebration, moving from the traditional ‘Fat Tuesday’ to make the most of Super Bowl weekend and get as many people as possible to party! Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Columtreal University is steeped in lore and legends from students of the past. Fraternities and sororities long since dissolved still have an impact on today’s students who try to live up to the misdemeanours and wild antics of their Looter predecessors! (And as a fairly decent liberal arts college, some even manage to get good GPA as well!)
The guy in the pictures which were taken in CU in 1977 is David ‘Woody’ Wooderson. He was a frat boy legend, infamous for coming up with all sorts of crazy party ideas. In fact, it’s said he was the first person ever to throw a Star Wars themed party, just a month after A New Hope came out. People say he got an old shaggy rug at a garage sale, cut some eyeholes and armholes out, and hey presto, makeshift Chewbacca costume!
Mardi Gras was a favourite occasion for Woody’s frat but previous years had been relatively tame for Mardi Gras on campus. What to do to make the 1977 Mardi Gras celebrations even wilder? well, first stop was sourcing some quality weed. Then some kegs, some whiskey bottles, and plenty of beads. But how to bring it the next top tier level?
Consulting and brain storming with his other frat bros led to the comment “Dude, this Mardi Gras shit would be happening if there were titties!” It was originally dismissed as an unlikely prospect, but Woody had a cunning plan.
Enter Darla Marks, head of the ERA sorority on campus, a passionate feminist and bookstore clerk in her spare time from her studies on women’s literature. She had struck up an unlikely friendship with Woody though. Normally their nights out with start out with angry exchanges, Darla telling Woody that he was a “misogynistic dinosaur” and Woody responding with “Just chill Darla“. However they were able to handle tequila shots better than anyone else on campus and were well known as the drinking buddies who could drink anyone under the table.
So, on one fateful night in early 1977, with the bicentennial posters being taken down in CU, Woody and Darla started talking Mardi Gras plans. After way too much shots were drunk, Darla agreed that liberating women’s breasts at Mardi Gras was the best way to show solidarity with sisters throughout Hathian. And so the great CU Looter tradition of topless Mardi Gras celebrations began!
Or so the story goes. Your humble reporter heard all this from some old dude at Lou’s. Least he had the pictures of the students.
Where are they now, you ask? David ‘Woody’ Wooderson became the first person to open a marijuana store when it was legalized in Nevada and rides motorbikes in his spare time. He has 5 children and visits them all over the USA.
Darla Marks is the owner of the Women and Women First book store in Portland, Oregon.
So this Sunday, Feb 11th, come support the time honored tradition of topless Mardi Gras parties on the CU football field. Remember, do it for Darla and Woody!
((Article & images by Keyate Marshall, editing by Daiyu))
