11/11/11: A CORDUROY MANIFESTO

Happy Veteran’s Day, happy Friday, and happy 11/11/11—the 93rd anniversary of Armistice Day, the 124th anniversary of the Haymarket Affair executions, and 37th birthday of Leonardo DiCaprio (whoo!). Not that there’s any want of Wesleyan celebrations marking the visually stimulating numerical occasion: there’s the Brighter Dawns rave, which invites you to cast a wish at 11:11:11, plus Desperate Measures’ 11.11.11 improv show, plus a wild 11.11.11 Josh Smith & the Concert G’s reunion show also marking Josh Smith ’11’s 11th birthday (okay, not quite), and goodness knows what other sorts of voodoo debauchery will be taking place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh year. So, yeah. Add to that a weekend already involving Awesomefest, 8th Day of the Week (with freaking Teebs), Brazil at the Film Series, Spirits and Sinners and Ghanian drumming concerts, and an ungodly occupation of the Shapiro Writing Center that will go to any lengths necessary to produce a magazine in the amount of time it would take you to listen the Flaming Lips’ 24 hour song twice—well, this weekend should make up for all those hours you spent fumbling with a flashlight and waiting for the heat to go back on.

But before you dress up to play tonight, the Wesleyan Organization of Corduroy Kids and Appreciators (WOCKA) urges you to consider one final 11/11/11 occasion: Corduroy Appreciation Day. The holiday, which marks the fact that 111111 totally resembles the fabric stripes, may be celebrated anywhere by all who deck out in corduroy, “the fabric of intellectuals, poets, Woody Allen.” But the indisputable center of the movement is in Manhattan, where the Corduroy Appreciation Society is throwing a party that’s been in the works since 2005. They’re looking for a supposed “Corduroy Messiah,” too—and they’re not kidding around:

The event will feature prizes for Exemplary Uses of Corduroy, and all attendees must be sporting at least three items made of the blessed fabric. Organizers are also hoping to find a Corduroy Messiah, a child who turns eleven years old on 11/11/11 and whose parents will allow him or her to be worshipped by strangers. And the party ends–of course–at 11:11 PM.

If you have any leads on a potential Corduroy Messiah, do contact the society. (“We liken it to finding the Dalai Lama,” explains the club’s organizer.) The party, “which features an 11-person chorus and a fashion show,” is being held at the Desmond Tutu Center on 10th Ave (yeah, whoops). But if you’re stuck on campus on such a fateful night, don’t fret. Wear at least three corduroy items. Look upward at 11:11. Think about the stripes.

More gifts coming at 11:11 or thereabouts. In the meantime, InTheCac offers 11 Things To Do on 11/11/11.

[NY Daily News, Racked, Corduroy Appreciation Club]