By [email protected]

Dear Mr. Bellamy,

I want to commed you on your “article” on Yell Practice at Texas A&M. I am sure you are not the first person to experience Yell at Aggieland and feel the trepidation it can cause for those unfamiliar with our “rituals” – actually at A&M we call them “traditions”. I also commend you on pointing out that there were over 30,000 people in attendance who could have been doing what most other college students are doing at midnight on a Friday night.

Although we do not participate in Masonic chants and I doubt anyone was wearing white robes, I know you did see a “sea of maroon” at the game the next day. I graduated some 15 years ago, and I am amazed at the school spirit the students show by consistently showing up in our school colors. And although it wasn’t quite necessary to allude to our band as Nazi’s, I hope that you did see their appeal to Aggie fans and non-Aggie fans alike. I agree that you have probably never seen anything quite like it. I was able to see a a small group of Utah fans who were on their feet and clapping wildly for the Fighting Texas Aggie Band.

I would like to invite you to College Station to witness some of our other bizarre traditions. No doubt you have heard of Aggie Muster or Silver Taps where we commemorate those Aggies who have passed. We all show up even if we did not know anyone who has died. We also say “Howdy” to each other. (That’s just to be nice!) We do not get drunk at our football games, we “come early and stay late”, we remember our past and look hopeful to our future, and we are a family – not a cult. Now I admit, all families are a little strange and dysfunctional and the Aggies are no exception. However, I can honestly say that I would not trade my Aggie family for anything.

I am sure that you will get lots of correspondance from Aggies concerning your article. Like I said, we are a very close – and very protective – group. I hope they take like it was (or I hope it was) written. I also hope you will come back someday and take a deeper look at Texas A&M. It is really a remarkable place filled with remarkable traditions. I think you would leave then with more than a “titillation” of what being an Aggie is all about.

Gig ‘Em Aggies!

H. Virginia Ramirez ’88

P.S. Also, in Texas, Episcopalians don’t preach like that. We reserve that kind of preachin’ for the Baptists!