Digiclan
The Digiclan was a group of students at Lancaster between 1994 and 1998. Some of its members had become friends in 1993, but the group did not coalesce until they and others took Digital Logic (abbreviated DIGI.LAN.2, hence the name "digiclan") in 1994. Despite being a large class (17 people), most of its members bonded quickly, driven by a love of grass orgies, a flair for computers, and a ridiculous male/female ratio. (With three girls in that class of seventeen -- only one of them single -- the competition was intense if good-natured, and would have social ramifications for years to come...) They rapidly grew to prominence on campus due to their close group bond, their tendency to appear as a group, and (in some cases) their highly visible individual personalities.
The genesis and development of Digiclan are chronicled here. As with so many things CTY, Digi was maintained and expanded outside of CTY by the development of a mailing list. This mailing list was tremendously active in the mid-1990s, though it was eventually subsumed by LLRT, particularly as the early Digis went off to college.
Digis, who were mostly concentrated along the DC/NYC axis, were able to get together for many reunions. A particularly notable one was the beach trip, whereat the digis rented a beach house in Ocean City, MD. There are pictures of many of the early digis on this page. Exciting events of the beach trip included learning to make cclan -- basically brownies with every conceivable sugary extra thrown in -- for which Kim Wallmark is to blame; estrogen-crazed female digis, jealous of the good time the males were having, buying and immediately consuming an entire gallon of Java Chip ice cream; and getting busted by the cops for an uproarious 2am pictionary game which triggered a noise complaint.
Contents
Notable Digiclan Contributions and Members
Dennis Clark
Dennis Clark started the tradition of wearing bathrobes on Thursdays in 1995. This was a reference to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as the book starts out on a Thursday and Arthur Dent is in his bathrobe. Dennis (and others around him) was known to quote: "Today must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
He also later came back to Lancaster as a TA.
Tarpy (Jessi) Miller
4 March 1980 - 2 December 1996
Along with Louis Gerbarg, Tarpy burned the original Lancaster Canon CD. She was conspicuous for her sense of humor and great smile. She committed suicide in 1996, the winter after her nomore year, which triggered a great deal of mourning among Digis. Her history is intricately connected with that of James Brown Is Dead. A memorial web site was created in her memory, but sadly it seems to be no more, although the digiclan front page is still black in her memory.
Conjunction Groups
In 1997, some squirrels began a small group called XNMPDA (Xenophobic, Narcoleptic, Multiple Personality Disorder Anonymous. The members of XNMPDA were supposedly rejected from the Digiclan because of one of its members, Adam Feldman, and a Digi, Michael Mishkin, saw each other with a degree of enmity.
The next year, first session, XNMPDA became the HCNP,D! (Hard-Core Normal People, Dammit!), originally consisting of Erin McNellis, Ella Haselswerdt, Adam Feldman, Dan (unsure of last name), and Deb "Zoot" Bedall. Then, next session (98.2), the two groups united, and formed a new generation of LLRT.
More information on the Digiclan, LLRT, and related groups can be found here. The site was initially created by Belle Saxton, and has been updated and maintained by Gabe Slamovits.
Aurora Says:
I would love to tell you a few things. For one, that link is so old! It makes me sad, like a sad kitten in the snow. I'd love to see it updated.
I'm a Digi. Was LLRT, then joined Digi when it combined. Either it's fallen apart in the past 5 years, or I've fallen out of it. Can't really tell. Most of us went to college. Some of us graduated. Some got married and/or have real jobs now. Isn't life grand?
The Supa-Happy picture for Digi linked off the main page needs a little bit of background. However, I remember that day, so I will share! That was LAN96-1, after a bright and sunny day spent in Pomm and Timmer's THEO class. We'd gotten ahold of the highly coveted hot pink lecturers' (or was it artists'?) chalk, and covers our faces with it! That, and the Pythagoras Nose colored chalk. I believe we took the opportunity to become chalk goddesses. Who can pass up a chance like that? All 5 of us were the girls in THEO, the only girls there, and we all lived in the same suite above the admin in the admin building (which I cannot remember the name of at this time.) The three girls in the middle had single rooms, the two on the ends shared a double, and life was grand.
Please, if you see this page, add more anecdotes? Think of the poor little children and kittens who will benefit!
