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GQ Clemson/Kappa Sig "Goat" article explained
I think this review from Newsweek answers some questions raised here in a previous thread.
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Living to Tell the Tale
first-time author with harrowing memoirs
Newsweek
Feb. 16 issue - According to the oxford English Dictionary, "hazing" means "a species of brutal horseplay practiced on freshmen at some American colleges." For once the OED has been outdone. From now on the defini-tion should simply read: see Brad Land's memoir, "Goat." Land transferred to Clemson University in 1996 as a junior and pledged the Kappa Sigma fraternity. There he was subjected to the usual degrading initiation rituals—run the gauntlet, drink until you vomit, act like a slave, repeat for weeks. "Goat" might have been just a well-written version of a story that we've heard too many times. But Land arrived at Clemson with a past that put the hazing in the context it deserves.
A year before he went to Clemson, he gave a ride to two men who beat him half to death and then stole his car. The thieves, whom Land came to think of as "the smile" and "the breath," beat him for no reason other than sadistic pleasure. Long after his physical wounds healed he remained an emotional wreck, and joining "brothers" in a fraternity looked like the path back to manhood: he needed them in order to feel normal. "I keep telling myself that I... will like them eventually." But at night he dreamed of faceless tormentors, and as the hazing went on he began to connect the dots: "I know... it was the smile and the breath I was dreaming about. Or brothers. Whichever." One of the car thieves was caught and got 75 years in jail. The other man got away. So did Land's frat brothers. Until now. This is a superb memoir. As payback, it's even better.
—Malcolm Jones
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