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TAU EPSILON PHI
Delta Chapter - Cornell University
 I attended Cornell University
from 1975-1979. The highlight of my tenure was my membership at my fraternity, Delta
Chapter of Tau Epsilon Phi.
Unlike most students, I did not rush a fraternity my freshman year, but
instead deferred that process until I was a sophomore. During my sophomore year, I
took my small, but critical, Regents Scholarship check and, instead of putting it toward
my tuition, bought a guitar at an Ithaca music shop. It was a Yamaha FG-160 acoustic
six-string. I began (some say I never progressed beyond that point) to learn to
play, and began writing songs. Although most of what I wrote were serious ballads, I
soon found that the more popular numbers were parodies of commercial songs with lyrics I
re-wrote to fit the occasion.
Two events highlighted my senior year. First, I succeeded
in obtaining The Ultimate Fraternity Room (or so it was
to that point perceived). Then, I chose as the subject of my term project for an
English seminar a profile of our fraternity's beloved, fatherly cook, Mr. Frank Seider,
whom we particularly appreciated after surviving his culinary predecessors. I wrote
a long essay and took lots of photographs. The last night of the semester, we
honored Frank at dinner. I showed slides of the pictures I had taken, annotating
them with excerpts from my essay. At the end, my junior year roommate Ricky
Rosenberg and I sang a song of thanks I had written about Frank. (I recorded the
performance on a low-end tape recorder, which can be heard by pressing the button below.)
FRANK SEIDER - Copyright © 1979 Lawrence Savell -
Play MP3
There's a guy whose name is Frank
From our stomachs, him we thank
Frank Seider
Ooh-wah-ooh
Frank Seider.
He's the best cook we had at TEP
The guy before him was inept
Frank Seider
Ooh-wah-ooh
Frank Seider.
His pot pies are the best
He can handle a chicken breast
His stew is such a dish
He can make us eat the fish
He's O.K.
Now the year is at an end
And it's time for junk food again
Frank Seider
Ooh-wah-ooh
Frank Seider.
So we say goodbye for now
We miss him like someone does a brow*
Frank Seider
Ooh-wah-ooh
Frank Seider.
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*An unfortunate reference to a member of the TEP Brotherhood who unfortunately lacked a
portion of his eyebrow (in contrast to my own, which unfortunately merge above my nose).
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