Congratulations to the Men of APhiA. I hope that you all have a great time at your centennial celebration.

Although I wasn't the Brother with the shortest distance to travel (some lucky Bros happened to live ONE BLOCK from the host hotel!)...I figure I will be the first to post my comments.

This was my first national gathering of any sort. I became a member while a poor college student, and spent nearly three years in various jobs that prevented me from doing a whole lot of travel. So it was great that my first convention could be here in DC. That way I could afford registration and save a whole lot of money that I could use toward buying para, LOL.

I really, truly enjoyed everything, from the convention bag to the "Club Alpha" parties....I met so many brothers from the internet, including Professor from GC, GoldenSquare from MegaGreek, MrBiig from GFA/SG, and others, including WarGames06 who I already knew. I also met FinerWoman10A91, FeeFee, and even more GC ladies! And let's not talk about allllll the bros from Facebook and Myspace that I met! Bananas! (pun intended)

I also met H. Patrick Swygert, president of Howard University (not an Alpha) before our final plenary session and Vic Carter (frat) who is an anchor in Baltimore. I saw the new Supreme Basileus of AKA and other dignitaries from other orgs at our public program.

Most inspiring moment....Brothers Lionel Richie and Edward Brooke gripping each other at the public forum. :)

Best tangible from the convention: The Centennial Book of Essays and Letters: Excerpts from the Brotherhood of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Brothers.... GET THIS BOOK. Over 700 pages of KNOWLEDGE.

Best moment: Gamma Mu and Beta Alpha having a step off in the hotel lobby. I was standing there like "Is this about the be the Greek 'You Got Served?'" And it was....but it was great!

Best intangible thing.... realizing that so many of my favorite people in the world are Alphas. They're not my ONLY favorite people....but at about day three, I was running into people that I had forgotten were Alphas. I was like dang, they frat too.....no wonder I like them so much!

Even the Homosexuality in Black Fraternities Discussion at the HU Bookstore went well. I didn't even have to use my AK. (LOL) (PS, FeeFee I gotta fill you in on some backstory...watch out for the PM)

At any rate....YES there are pictures. Hold your horses. I will post a link to my site as soon as I crop and resize them. Honestly, that will not happen today, LOL. I gotta book to finish editing!

Fraternally,
Mr. Matter-of-Factly
6-M/\-Sp03

Whoa!

Man it has been a while since I've posted on this forum, but after attending the centennial joint here in D.C., I had to come back and say how much fun I had.

What a convention!!!! I have been to about 7 or 8 Alpha Conventions, and I have attended National or Regional conventions for all of the NPHC orgs. except for the Iotas, and I have never seen anything like this. D.C. was on FIRE!!!

So much HISTORY! No, not just Alpha History, but BLACK History!!! So many parties. To walk through the Hotel Lobby at 4:00am and to still see Thousands of folks just hanging out was crazy. To see a bunch of SG Rhos come down from B-More and Party Walk all night long was nice. To see the group of Zeta's walk in with their blue & white shirts and chill with some of the bruhs was cool. To meet many Delta's who came down from Boston and New York was also cool...and you know the AKA's were deep. We saw one Que there...and he looked pissed (LOL).

The crazy thing was that there was SOOOOOOOOOO much going on (all over D.C.) that I ALWAYS felt like no matter what I was doing, I was missing out on sooo much.:mad: :D In any event, all went well and I am even more proud to be an Alpha today than ever (and that is saying a lot). 06!

"Inquisitive" #2
another DEUCE on the Loose!

Was he lost?:D

LOL!

I saw two Ques at the McDonald's by Howard....same morning as our final plenary and cookout.... maybe they were looking for the one that Inquisitive06 found. ;)

Naw.....it's just that "Little Rock Arkansas" is soooo far away.......and hard to find!:D j/k.

But in all seriousness, this QUE was leaning up against the wall and just 'taking in' all of the Black & Gold festivities. He stood there for a LONG TIME. He did look pissed. He really did. Actually, he looked like he had seen a Ghost! Shocked! You know 'THAT' look; ....when you have "heard" (negatively speaking) about a certain group of people....but never SEEN them (in large numbers) in action yourself......so you just go by what you have "heard".....and then, all of a sudden, you are in their mist.....trapped in the belly of the beast, and then you are like.......WTF???? How could THIS be? That is the look that he had.

Honestly, if anyone was there (Alpha or not), how could you not be impressed? Seriously. It really was a good convention and historical for all of us.

That being said, he (and all other greeks were welcomed). After all, I have been to one of their conclaves and most other orgs. conventions. I've always enjoyed myself.....and was usually greeted with love.....as I am quick to put some Black & Gold on.;)

Actually, he was there withhis AKA girlfirend on his arm when I saw him inthe vendors area.

Anyway, I had a great time at the convention in DC. I met the Past General Presidents, Andrew Young and I got to meet Lou Gossett Jr at the Symposium. I have not been active in ALpha for a while so this was a great way to begin my reclamation in the Fraternity.

The stepwhow was off the chain. I havent been to a stepshow in about ten years and some things were different, but the shows have remained good and fraternal. I was glad to see some of my caucasion frat brahs stepping as well.

The Black and Gold Banquet was great. I am inthe military and I pledged at a military chapter and so it was good to fraternize with my military brothers.

This convention has definantly rejuvenated my desire to serve my fraternity. I cant wait to get involved. I want to woek with the undergrad chapter of the school I graduated from. and I also cant wait until my state and region conventions

What a Fabulous Event!
 

Rashid, it was great meeting you! This was a tremendous milestone in black history indeed! I have never had so many Alpha men try to talk to me at the same time! LOL!!!!! And you know our booth had the southern belles and coolest sister Greeks selling Jewels- The Story of the Founding of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. How fly were they with the www.jewels1906.com t-shirts!
Being a publicist is hard work:cool: ...but somebody's gotta do it!

Speaking of Jewels....
 

Here is a picture of Darrius Gourdine speaking about and signing copies of Jewels. I especially enjoyed when he talked about who his Alpha hero is: Mal Goode, first African American journalist on network TV!

http://oldgoldsoul.com/gallery/data/...8/jewels05.jpg




And here is one of me and Dr. Parks right after our Homosexuality in Black Fraternities discussion:

http://oldgoldsoul.com/gallery/data/...fratdisc03.jpg


More photos to come! Bear with me!

Is Dr. Parks from the Univ. of Kentucky?

Howard undergrad, kentucky for the phd, currently at cornell for law school.

I remember him. He used to kick it with a soror of mine when they both lived here. again small world

Yes -it is a small word I recently found out that someone from my church is on this board! and moderator of this forum!

Here an Alpha, there an Alpha, everywhere I went there was an Alpha.... I didn't even make it to the convention hotel but nevermind cause the convention was all over the city all week long!! It was truly a blessing to meet so many young, educated men from all over the country who treated this Rhoyal lady with the highest level of respect.

I enjoyed celebrating 100 years of your brotherhood with you and I wish you all many more.

Outstanding
 

I was worn out by DC. I had been in the city a week prior to the Alpha convention attending the NAACP convention. I had car problems and the heat almost killed me. Nontheless, I was energized by the start of convention. The forums were excellent and the fellowship of the brotherhood compared to no other.

There were so many people that I did not have opportunity to meet many folk from GC. I did meet frater Senusret.