Weaklefthand4ever

Jarts, chemistry sets (mine had mercury and both red and silver aresnic) you could buy black powder literally anywhere. We used to make pipe bombs out of PVC pipes and lead pellets from our pellet guns. I don't so much wonder how I survived as much as I wonder how everyone ELSE survived. And I won't even get started on the 80s.....

Spoken like a true CEO lol

Unfortunately, when you have a serial narcissist in charge who also happens to have toxic masculinity issues, it's just a breeding ground for all of the actions that should cause you to get your brakes beaten off you. And yet somehow, they seem to get away with it for more than people want to admit to.

I know that Robin Williams said it in An Evening at the Met but I'm pretty sure the Monty Python troop also borrowed it a few times. All of that being said, I don't think that changes can really happen at DCI until changes happen at the individual corps level. The member corps will still control the general direction that DCI takes it seems. The change, IMHO, has to start at the bottom and trickle up instead of down. The issue that I see has been stated many times by myself as well as others. The member corps that do not currently have an issue (let's not forget that there are some VERY well run organizations out there,) do not KNOW that they have an issue or have not been CAUGHT with an issue are all stuck in a "Not my monkey, not my circus" mentality. The blinders are on and why make a change if YOU don't have a problem. Let them eat cake after all..... SoA handled it horribly. Why? Because for decades they have been riding a wave trying to not get caught which seems to be a much easier thing to do than actually handling the issues. As log as people don't come forward and you foster an atmosphere of family means more than safety, this is the sort of thing that is going to happen. Like you all, I am tired, disappointed and angry. But I am also hopeful that with enough outcry, especially from parents and survivors, the corps will HAVE to at least acknowledge that there is an overall problem in the activity. It may not be in YOUR corps, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I voted for the asteroid in the last presidential election.

The "why" is always the question. When I marched, I wanted to 1) be the best performer I could be 2) make my parents proud of the investment that had made in my music education and 3) be a part of something bigger than myself. The ideas of push through, never quit, family over self....those things were part of drum corps. Luckily, nothing ever made me question those things. Apparently I got lucky.....and probably a lot of us did/do. But all it takes is one narcissist to turn that passion into something they can use to their advantage. We say we are better off these days. I would say that is true but MOSTLY because with social media, it's harder to keep things under wraps. One post can be seen by millions. So the bad players have to be more careful. There are not less of them....they're just more careful is all. My 2 cents

The whole tone of letters in these images gives me the heebies. It's pretty simple. Name names, post dates and specifics of the incidents in question. Hiding behind the "my unnamed witnesses say that it's all a lie" and then attacking someones character but not even speaking ONE WORD about the allegations at hand is simply narcissistic bull ####. They don't want to use their name because they're full of it. Making these types of character attacks and claiming inside knowledge with no proof and threats of "I'm going to send letters to all the corps" is a control tactic. This cat needs to grow some and either put up or shut up. If it's not clear yet, I DESPISE anon posters. It's kinda like the whole sheet thing on the bus with rookie talent show. If you have to put a sheet up over the cameras, one of two things is happening: 1) Something shady is about to go down Or 2) You're in GITMO....and something shady is about to go down.

It IS a slippery slope. And you aren't going to change the hearts and minds of people who think what happened was just "part of drum corps."

It always was lolololol

I am unsure of who the moderator(s) of their FB page are. But they really should follow some common sense guidelines in regards to what gets posted. I so very much hate what social media has become as of late. If you notice, it's the same 3 or 4 cats posting all of the apologist bul%/*€£. Just doing a little bit of clicking, their patterns are pretty evident in regards to how they respond to those who don't agree with them on social media. They have no facts, only deflections and name calling. I'm surprised that I didn't see the whole "snowflake" moniker used.

I agree. My point is that the loud minority is doing the vast majority of negative posting. If you take a look at other things some of those cats post on other pages, it's the same old song and dance with everything. They have their opinions and those opinions, no matter how misguided or triggering, seem to be something that they pride themselves on being well known in social media circles. How many times do we see this very same thing in political circles (and no I am going to make this political....but the pattern is pretty unmistakable.) We all know that there will ALWAYS be apologists for bad behavior. There will always be people who misplace blame. It makes me angry to see people say "You killed my drum corps!" No...lack of transparency, neglect of members and an inability or unwillingness to respond appropriately from the beginning killed a season for the corps.

True. My back has been toast for what...30 years now? My right hip comes out of socket probably 3 or 4 times a year. But when I was in it, I never gave it a second thought.

It's the minority. But the minority seems to be exceptionally vocal in this case and generally so over the top, their posts get a lot of attention. Very unfortunate.

My guess (and it's just a guess) is that the dominos have fallen one after another for Spirit in this last week. I wouldn't be surprised if any housing that they had already secured pulled the plug by mid to late week. Whatever the background story is, we won't ever hear it.

Not you!! Sorry if it came off that way. I was talking about the corps directors response to the MM in the van.