ACUI Sweet Tea

By Joshua Wilson
@jjwil325

This April I went to Association for Colleges and Unions International national conference with my work colleagues representing the  University of a Florida and found the conference to be excellent. I enjoyed the professional development, education sessions and the socials. I had not thought about it but I grew up in the college union at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It was certainly one of my favorite places to spend time for orientation, grab food, spend time with friends, and other involvement opportunities.

At ACUI I bumped into so many colleagues from my past that I certainly felt right at home. Enough so that I signed up for a Battle of the Regions contest where no one else was willing for Region 3...Slam Poetry it would be. Check out the poem I wrote in an hours time:

"Smoked filled eyes and lungs and clothes.
There was laughter and friends and university branded chairs, pull-up tents, over-filled parking lots, and it was one hell of a hot day. Damn, it was only morning.

The Greeks were on their porches and sitting on their roofs. I like to think their was sweet tea in those Red Solo Cups - Toby Keith did write a song about it. 

One bead. A thousand beads. In the south you sweat in the sun and in the shade. Not that the heat could deter the mission on this day of those southern gentlemen and sweet southern ladies.

Corn hole and beer. Barbeque and chips - and man would momma hit me on the head if I didn't mention sweet tea. In our world sweet tea is deep in our veins.

It's one of the many connections to a past that brought us all together. 

Remembrances of laughter and friendship, heartbreak, and loss. It was all for the southern good - friends, family.

That sun beat and beat, I wipe the endless sweat from my forehead. I knew from the first big hit that fall had arrived. In the stadium we ooooggghh and ahhhh in one accord. And sang and cheered and sweat. 

We lost that game and it mattered. Football matters in the south. This loss would be felt for days. But with it we are still one.

There is sweet tea in our veins." - by Joshua Wilson

I certainly didn't win the slam contest. There was not enough slam in this poem but it certainly is worth sharing with you.