Morgan Schneider/Collegian
“Billy and the Magic Swingset” performed to a full house-party celebrating National Emo Day.
Yesterday Hillsdale’s campus was looking a bit moodier than normal. For those waiting to expose their inner emo selves, National Emo Day provided the perfect opportunity.
“This is a national holiday—National Emo Day,” said junior Blake Smith, one of the chief promoters of the celebration.
Smith and some friends wandered around Curtiss Memorial Dining Hall on Monday, giving what they called “live infomercials” to get the word out about Emo Day. The majority of participants were members of Phi Mu Alpha men’s music honorary and their friends. Last year, Smith estimated, about 15 to 20 people participated, but he expected a much larger count this year.
Of course, there are always questions sparked by the creative holiday. What exactly does it mean to be emo? (Good question.) How does one dress emo? (Very carefully.) Do you have to be depressed to be emo? (No, but you probably should be unhappy or apathetic.)
“Emo stands for ‘emotional hardcore,’” Smith said. “It is both a style of music and a way of life.”
Smith said typical emo guys wear tighter clothing, have piercings and tattoos, wear bandannas and darker colors and have “generally unhappy dispositions.” Your average emo girl looks a lot like Avril Lavigne, which is ironic because to be truly emo, you need to hate Avril, Smith declared.
“For girls, it’s honestly more of a poser thing,” he said.
Also, to properly celebrate National Emo Day, Smith and his friends threw an emo party, much to the delight of Hillsdale’s emo-for-a-day crowd. The party, held off campus, was packed.
Emo dress was the only requisite for entry, and the revelers packed in to hear the performances. Some expressive artists parked themselves in front of the crowd, explaining their sad love stories (like how their girlfriend had left them a note on Valentine’s Day saying she ran away with Jude Law to London). Others read emotional poetry from Hillsdale’s literary magazine, The Tower Light. Still others played acoustic sets to a sitting crowd, while some chose to express their angst in electric sets, complete with crowd surfing and mosh pits.
Freshman Jack Shannon said he was inspired by the moving performances at the party.
“It’s really emotional,” Shannon said. “It’s tough for me to talk about. My girlfriend broke up with me the other day, and I’m gonna write a song about it. And I’m going to write a song about this party.”