Author: Joey Wilkerson

The Off the Beaten Path Holiday Buying List for the College Gentleman

Posted on December 12, 2014April 7, 2015 by Joey Wilkerson

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I thought I would break my normal stream of consciousness to bring all of the girlfriends, mothers, aunties and sisters out there a little yule tide help in searching for a special something for their favorite male undergrad (or heck… grad student as well!).

Dave Brubeck Quartet– Jazz Goes To College

While the current generation may be stuck on Young Thug and Iggy, jazz was the controversial genre of your parent’s day; so much so that in 1954, universities across the country initially refused to let Dave and his quartet perform on their campuses. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and Brubeck embarked on a four month tour, playing at 90 universities and junior colleges across the country. While Wolverines should enjoy this pressing (five of the seven songs are from the University of Michigan show) this album is certainly an intro course for students looking for a little something more than what the radio is offering.

Tweed Football from The Lodge Goods

Dorm football: a male, freshman sport played by bored first years in the dormitory hallway. Usually proceeded by the phrase “What’s the worst that could happen?”. Often followed by an impromptu trip to the emergency room and write ups of all participants. While wrapping a football in Harris Tweed won’t necessarily make taking a spiral to the face feel any better, at least it looks cool.

The Hunt Duffle Back from Hershel Co

Because you promised yourself you’d hit the campus gym on a regular basis in the new year. Because you promised your parents you would visit more next semester. Because mentally, you’re already on spring break. And because carrying your clothes in a backpack or a black trash bag isn’t sexy.

Hunter Original iPhone case

Recently, my overpriced Lifeproof Case proved that despite its name, it actually was susceptible to life. So the wife and I took a trip to the Apple Store in search of a new case to protect my fragile iPhone 5S. Our sells associate laid out a few options similar to my previous case, but my eyes couldn’t see past this hunter green case by Hunter Original (yes, the same Hunter Original that makes your rain boots). As I held what would be my new case, my wife remarked “Chose your case wisely. Its not always about fashion” to which I would respond “Dear wife. It is ALWAYS about fashion.”

Duckboots by LL Bean or Sperry if you want them by the 25th

Marketed as the “original antidote to wet feet”, this boot is a multi-faceted piece of any man’s wardrobe. Whether marching through January snow on your way to your 9:00 class or sloshing through April rain puddles on your way to finals, these classic boots will keep those feet warm and dry from hustling on campus to hunting in the marsh. The only problem is that the LL Bean version of these boots are SO popular, they are currently on back order to about March. Sprerry however, makes a version that is just as tactical, fashionable and more available.

Gentlemen Only Intense by Givenchy

A man’s scent is like his calling card. I’ll never forget my first bottle of cologne; a bottle of Curve purchased with my meager McDonald’s paycheck in high school. As you mature, so does your palette. Soon you’ll have your clean, fresh and sometimes fruity scents for the spring and summer while you look to musky, woodsy scents for the fall and winter. Gentlemen Only Intense is the older brother of the original Gentlemen Only that will deliver masculine elegance right from your neck to your girlfriend’s nose.

Archer Season 5

If you’re not watching Archer by now, all I can say is that you are missing some of the best television around. The Simpsons and Family Guy may have lost their bite a long time ago, but this spy comedy keeps its teeth sharp. Season 6 premieres in January so what better way to spend your holiday break by binge watching the world’s most inept spy agency become the world’s most inept drug cartel.

Colligate needlepoint belt from Smathers and Branson

We are about nine months away from the next college football season which of course means, we’re about the length of a full term pregnancy from the next tailgate. In a sea of hoodies and fitted baseball caps, a needlepoint belt featuring your school’s logo is a discrete yet unique way to show your pride. Pair it with a tucked in Oxford and a gameday hat, and your ready for all of the barbecuing, co-ed flirting and carrying on the tailgate has to offer. Smather’s and Branson offers all conference belts for the ACC and SEC as well as a good listing of individual schools as well.

Fall Fashion For Fellas – The Knit Tie

Posted on November 19, 2014November 19, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

Though it had only been a total of five months, the length from July to November seemed like an eternity. All of the calorie counting, the five mile jogs, the back breaking bootcamp classes; all instrumental in your loss of 40 pounds. Not only did you shed the weight of a 15 foot canoe, you also lost one full inch on your neckline meaning you could finally accomplish the singular fashion goal you’ve pursued for the past year; you could wear a bowtie.

When your neckline was 18 and a half inches, your neck itself was a tad too big for the prep staple and the bow you created by following the How To Tie a Tie app on your iPhone was too small. Now however, you had more than enough slack to obtain the look you were going for. Your giddiness would soon evaporate though, when you attended your chapter’s formal meeting and realized that about 90% of the room had adopted the bowtie as their primary neck wear. You see, bowties used to be a novelty; something that drew eyes when you walked into the room. With preppiness now in vogue however, the bow is as common as the boat shoe.

Continuing the search for your neck’s individuality, you uncovered something interesting on The Tie Bar. Silk, yet not smooth and sleek but knitted and full of character. Not sharp and pointed at the end but squared and unique. Although Jake, the chapter historian may not “get” it, James Dean, Sean Connery and The Beatles sure did as all of these esteemed gentlemen have donned the knit tie. And while the knit tie isn’t something commonly seen in the 2014 quad, knits have their collegiate roots as they were all the craze on Ivy League campuses in the 1960’s; so much so that student athletes at Harvard had unique knit ties to distinguish which team they belonged to.

Think of it as a more fashionable lettermen’s jacket. The knit tie is a utility player on your fashion team. Just as it’s a conversational addition to a causal oxford, cardigan and jean combination, it is also at home with a black suit (Example: Bond. James Bond). The fratty masses may keep the bow tie; the knit is just vintage enough, just Ivy enough, just different enough to work.

Proud Alumni

Posted on November 5, 2014November 5, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

As I stood in the dressing room at Brooks Brothers, trying on a new pair of corduroys to usher in the cold season, my phone began to ring. One glance at the prefix that appeared on my caller ID indicated the call was coming from the last school I received a degree from. Intrigued, I answered the phone to find a nervous undergrad with a shaky voice on the other line. “Hello Mr. Wilkerson. We have so many new things going on at the university. Do you have a moment to hear about them?” As I have worked this very job myself, I knew exactly where this call was headed. So as the student spoke of new buildings to be erected and fresh classes being offered, I primed my credit card for the eventual donation. While I’m annoyed by most people who solicit me for money (friends, wife, panhandlers), I felt a sense of honor by giving to my second alma mater, like my ten dollars solidified my standing a successful alumnus.

Typically, when one reminisces about their undergrad years, its about the social aspects of their time at their institution. Tales of nights of debauchery at the frat house or the trials of dorm life are plentiful. Memories of exes past are the fabric from which coffee house chats are woven. The memories of the actual academic experience, however, are what weigh heaviest when determining the level of involvement one will seek as an alumni.

Did your professors display a passion for their field and by extension, your success in said field? Were the classes you took intellectually challenging and did they craft you into a better thinker? As a student, were you treated as a treasure rather than a burden? Did your school positively change your life and enlighten your future? For myself, the answer to all of these queries was an astounding yes. While my undergrad university supplied many hours of unparalleled entertainment, it was my grad school that gave me the tools needed to excel in my true adult life. It was the power of that particular degree that delivered me into a career filled with numerous opportunities for advancement and growth. So while I still wear my undergrad colors proudly, it is my grad school that I owe my career to.

In case of emergency, press the button.

Posted on October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

One question that I’m regularly asked by high school seniors seeking my guidance in the college search is about campus safety. Just how safe is campus? Are the security guards armed? Wasn’t someone stabbed on campus last week? All valid questions as the state of campus security seems to be the 10 ton elephant sitting on the brain of many students deciding where to spend their next four years. The safety concerns don’t end with the undergrad set however. My grad school best friend not only got accepted into a PhD program, but gained admittance to her top school. To sweeten the pot, said school was offering her full financial assistance; a pretty sweet deal until you hear the story about the student that was recently hit in the face with a brick and robbed while in the quad. Despite the amazing opportunity, my friend chose her safety first and declined the offer.

While I recall the typical car break-ins in my younger days, it seems as if the crimes of today are of a much more violent variety. This year, my campus has seen at least one strong armed robbery, the aforementioned stabbing, a hand full of armed robberies with various arsenal and at least robbing at gunpoint which resulted in the robber being shot as his would be victim drew his own weapon and shot first. Perhaps this is all a part of attending a school deep in a metropolitan area. Still, with finals, pledge semester and a dwindling meal plan, students already have enough on their plates without having to worry about being accosted on the way to the library.

Staying safe on campus isn’t necessarily a difficult task. As a matter of fact, our parents have been preparing us with little annoying tidbits to prevent our abduction while on the way to the Student U since we were knee high to a grasshopper. Does the phrase “Stranger Danger” sound familiar? Just as we were warned to be on the lookout for middle aged men dressed as clowns in sliding door vans, offering candy as kids, keeping an eye out for strange characters on your way to your car after your late class is equally helpful. Remember back when you were told that “police officers are your friends and they want to help you?” Well they still do, except now they’re called “campus security” and the type of help they are offering comes in the form of an around the clock, free escort service. Lastly, who could forget the all of those grade school field trips spent with your accountabiibuddy? In 3rd grade you kept each other from getting lost in the museum, but in junior year they could very well make a would be aggressor on the way back from a party think twice.

Fall Fashion For Fellas – The Hoodie

Posted on October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

You remember the moment you laid eyes on as if it were yesterday. You had just received your acceptance letter in the mail, concluding one of the most anxious two to six weeks in your young existence. Elated and beaming with pride, your mother drove you to the college bookstore, furnished you with her credit card, and told you to “pick a few things out”. Alongside the baseball cap with the school’s initials embroidered in Old English and the overpriced binders with the official university seal on the front, you chose this item as well, thus beginning one of your most valuable relationships. To your classmates and teachers it was a just hooded sweatshirt but to you, it was a dauntless declaration of your upcoming future. Once you made it to campus, you were rarely seen without it. You wore it when you assisted in tearing down the goalpost after the “upset of the century”. It was on your back the night you first snuck into the campus bar. It kept you warm as you rode on the back of a wagon at your first sorority hayride. While you relished in its casual side, the effortless way it complemented your jeans and sneakers, you also found it had a fashionable side as well on the day you paired it with an oxford, rep tie and chinos. Through years of dinnertime pizza runs to the student union, tailgates and autumns watching the leaves cascade in the quad, it was a utility player in your wardrobe; always ready for service in a moment’s notice. As you now live your business casual life, listening to Vampire Weekend in your cubicle while daydreaming about a short time that was so long ago, you can’t help but wonder; which girlfriend’s dorm room did you leave it in.

Dear Pledge – Candidate – New Guy

Posted on September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

I hope this letter finds you well. At this point, your rush week should be a distant memory. Hopefully you signed a bid at your dream house and are starting to get settled in. By the way, did you have a good time at Pref Night? How nifty was it to have a party thrown in your honor even if one of the older brothers had to find a date for you at the last second. Don’t worry though; by spring formal you should be more acquainted with the fairer sex on campus and thus, capable of securing your own date.

At any rate, as you read this letter through blurry eyes, I just wanted to talk to you for a spell about the upcoming weeks. You see young sire, you are entering into the exciting time called the pledge period. Now I understand if that term sounds foreign to you as I am aware that many forward thinking fraternities now refer to this period as “candidacy”. However, make no mistake; despite the terminology, its all the same concept. Your goal is to prove to the elder members that you are worthy to become a full brother and carry on the tradition of the chapter through initiation.

So lets get the ugliness out of the way early. You have probably heard a good deal about the dreaded “H word”. There is a reason that many houses have gotten away from using the term “pledge”all together; because it is usually associated with the practice of hazing. And while hazing today is far less severe than it was in say your father’s day, there are still a few knucklehead chapters who insist on sustaining these barbaric rituals. You may be asking yourself, “Why do guys subject themselves to this type of embarrassment and ridicule?”In many cases, people let their desire to initiate blind them from commonsense. Don’t let this be you my friend! If asked to do anything you’re not comfortable with or that may cause you harm, walk! No organization is worth losing a limb or worse, your life. Well, maybe the Illuminati, but the hooded figure in the corner just said that the Illuminati doesn’t even exist, so…..

How about we switch gears and talk about what you SHOULD be doing during this period. For me, my pledge period was similar to the College 101 class the university forced me to take. It was a crash introduction course to the chapter and the fraternity as a whole. It is your pledge/candidate/new member educator’s job to teach you the crucial points of the fraternity. These lessons include, but are not limited, to the fraternity motto, history, key members, Greek alphabet, songs, chants and symbols. Your learning initiatives also need to extend to learning about your future brothers as well. Take the time to learn their names, majors, dreams, aspirations and favorite fraternity moments as you’re bound to hear a bounty of epic tellings. Here’s a tip; just as you do in your normal courses, be sure to take notes as there will be quizzes and probably a final right before initiation.

I think I’ll end this particular letter here as I don’t want to ruin this fun time for you. I’ll leave you with the words that were told to be by my pledge master, Mad Dog, all those years ago:

“The main thing to remember here, is that its all about fun. You could be the best pledge in the world by knowing your history, knowing all the brothers and winning the pledge class president position. You could date a girl in each sorority. Hell, you can even literally bleed the colors of the fraternity. But if you didn’t have fun…was any of it worth it?”

Sincerely,

YOUR esteemed alumnus, JW.

P.S. Don’t get caught not wearing your pledge pin!

Burning Questions for the Student Pursuing an Advanced Degree

Posted on August 14, 2014August 18, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

Grad school is a tapestry of unique students from equally unique areas of life. While you have your students who are fresh out of the undergrad mill, you also have a large amount of older students that have taken a break between degrees. Some students are recently single while others are happily married with children. The one thing that brings us all together is our desire for an advanced degree. While I sat waiting for my most recent grad school orientation to begin, a series of frequently asked questions flashed across the projection screen. For all of the newbies out there, I figured I’d answer some of the most relevant questions here.

How does a graduate student balance time between work, classwork and research?

Now is the time to utilize all of the information you surly retained from those time management workshops from freshman year. While some students may have the luxury of only having to worry about their classes, chances are you’ll probably be juggling school with a full time job (which is probably paying your tuition in the first place). In some cases, you may have a family to throw into the fray as well. The good news in all of this is that your job and your class times are already structured for you. Therefore, the smart grad student schedules a few hours a day specifically for studying and research. Make this time a part of your daily routine and it’ll soon become second nature.

How do graduate students meet people outside their discipline or the university?

During the orientation icebreaker, I met a handful of students outside of my major. While meeting peers in different disciplines is easy at big events such as this, its a little more difficult to do on your own for one main reason; most grad schools don’t have general education classes that all students must take. Rather, all of your classes are focused on your particular major and you usually tend to end your program with the same cohort of students you started with. If socializing with peers outside of your discipline is of importance to you, pay attention to your campus email as most schools do social events (picnics, holiday parties) geared and open to all grad students. Also, if your institution has a student government that grad students are permitted to join, then become active (if time permits) as this is another prime way to mix it up

Pro tip: Explore study environments outside of your apartment or house. Just because you are working on an advanced degree doesn’t mean you can’t mingle with the undergrads in the school library. All of my reading takes place there, while my writing happens at a local irish pub

I’m a regular Hemingway!

Some graduate students are overachievers. How do you deal with not being able to over achieve at everything all at once?

These were the same students in undergrad that just “got it”from day one; they’re frustrating. The main thing to remember is that grad school is not a competition and your degree is not based on how much better than someone else you did. If there are things that you are struggling with, remember that the academic resources that your school offers its undergrads are available to you as well. There is absolutely no shame in meeting a professor during office hours or seeking the help of a tutor. At first I balked at the thought of an undergraduate student helping me at the writing center. That is until I saw my grade on my very next paper elevate after said help.

Are you able to maintain a social life outside of grad school? Should you?

Not only are you able to maintain a social life, its absolutely necessary. If it were not for those nights of cheap beers, chicken fingers and fried mushrooms at the pub behind our school, it is questionable if my school chums and I would have been able to maintain our sanity while working towards our master degrees. Find a few classmates you click with as these students can serve as your study group, drinking buddies and support system when the road gets rough.

Pro Tip: While you may be making a ton of new connections with your intellectual peers, don’t neglect your non school friends. There will be times that you’ll want to talk about anything other than school and these these friends will be more than happy to take you mind off the 45 page qualitative research paper you have due in two weeks.

What a Rush!

Posted on August 8, 2014August 8, 2014 by Joey Wilkerson

As the days of summer continue to melt away, another fall semester is on the horizon. In a few short weeks college campuses around the country, which have been ghost towns for the past two and a half months, will be bustling with life. And for many freshmen males, this will be the beginning of their fraternal journey to enduring brotherhood and networking as rush usually takes place within the first month of the semester. As you set forth on your excursion, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Do your research: During rush, fraternity guys turn into car salesmen.One phrase you’ll hear numerous times is, “We’re the absolute best on campus at….” And you can fill that blank with pretty much anything; academics, intramurals, crocheting. If you do your homework however, you can better prepare yourself for the week. General information including philanthropies and history can usually be found on national fraternity websites. Upperclassmen that have been around campus for a year or so can also be a respectable resource as they know the reputations of the various groups and can probably tell you a story or two. Also, the parties and social events that are thrown prior to rush are a great way to observe the group in its natural habitat. I remember being so disappointed in a house I once was excited about when I attended their rush party and the guys in the chapter were not friendly and just downright creepy when it came to interacting with the female party guests. Although I still didn’t know which house I would join, I knew it wouldn’t be that one.

Would I REALLY hang out with these guys?: Your fraternity brothers are the guys you’re going to spend the most time with during your tenure as an undergrad. You’ll do all types of things together from falling out of your boat at canoe regatta to camping trips you’ll find yourself horribly unprepared for. Some of these guys may even wind up standing next to you in your wedding one day. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure you are surrounding yourself with guys you actually enjoy being around. Mute the prestige of the fraternity, the awesome parties, the suburb networking and your father and older brothers urging you to “continue the family tradition” and ask yourself one simple question: “If we weren’t in the same fraternity, would I REALLY hang out with these guys?” Like putting together a puzzle, rush is all about finding the perfect fit.

There is no shame in waiting: Although fall rush is typically the main event, there is also a spring recruitment period as well. And while some people are ready to dive into Greek life immediately, some need a little more time to get acclimated to college life. There is no shame in getting your feet on the ground and waiting until the spring (or even a later year) to join. You may actually be doing a fraternity a favor by waiting as spring rush numbers tend to be low anyway.

If it’s not for you, it’s not for you: Websites like TFM usually find humor in shaming non-Greeks. Although I could write a nine part column on all of the benefits of going Greek. The truth is, it’s not for everyone. There are students that never set foot in a fraternity house and they do just as well academically and socially as the chapter president. One of my best friends aren’t Greek and we’ve enjoyed 5 years of marriage just fine.

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