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As a Habitat For Humanity project dangled on the brink of disaster last week, an 80s-style montage quite expectedly passed through, leaving a finished house in its wake. More importantly, though, the Brown volunteers spending the semester in Sherman, Illinois learned a valuable lesson: that words like "nerd" and "jock" are meaningless, and that all that matters is that you believe in yourself.
Of course, things did not always seems so bright for the rag-tag set of youngsters. At first, they thought the project would end in catastrophe. "Jeez, times were dark," said Poindexter Davis '13, the geeky teen volunteer. "We had all just had a big blowout. Sonia called Kelly a spoiled, fake, thinks-she's-better-than-everyone-else bitch, which made Kelly cry. Dan gave me a wedgie and smoked a cigarette. Then, to top it all off, Brad revealed himself to be a girl in disguise from the high school two towns over, at the same time confessing her feelings for Ben." Poindexter added, "In short, I was skeptical we'd ever finish in time to beat Josh and his gang at the Homecoming Carnevale. Thank God for that well-timed montage."
Once the montage hit, tasks that would have normally taken days and required back-breaking effort were accomplished with ease in the amount of time that a Prince song usually lasts. "It was all pretty spectacular," commented Kelly Smith'12, the so-called goody two-shoes of the group. "At first, I couldn't swing a hammer to save my life. Then, a mere two clips later, I was able to hammer with the best of them."
The montage also reportedly healed the rifts within the group. "I was whitewashing the facade of the house with Kelly," recounted Sonia Redding '11, the disturbed, artsy one, "when the brush got away from me and I accidentally painted her favorite neon pink sweater. Before I could apologize, she just laughed and painted my over-sized black sweatshirt in retaliation. We all had a good laugh about that."
After the montage ended, the gang shared secrets and "had a good cry," said Redding. The junior did not think that their newly founded friendships would stand up the next morning in school, but Smith insisted that that was not the case. Dan Marks '11 confided in the rest of them, opening up about how his alcoholic father flicks lit cigarettes at him. "We all realized that, underneath our stylish hats, leg-warmers, and fingerless gloves, we were all essentially the same," reflected Smith. "Oh, and it was nice that the poor people got a house, too."
The four made it to the Homecoming Carnevale in time to beat that jerk Josh and all his buddies. Marks pumped his fist emphatically in the air. The night ended with a freeze frame, which, according to recent reports, has yet to become unstuck.
