6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008
STUDENT LIFE
A 2003 road trip results in formation of Mountain Dewds
'Alternative way of doing college' for students expands to include two houses and 21 members
BY CALEB SOMMERVILLE
csommerville@kansan.com
The Mountain Dewds live at 1115 Tennessee. They started the house five years ago as "promoters of awesomeness and all things that are awesome."
Rachel Anne Seymour/KANSAN
HISTORY OF THE DEWDS
Kieran McBride, Lawrence senior, knew it was destiny when he found an 11th Street signpost in his backyard. He was considering moving into the Mountain Dewd house and knew after he found the sign that he was meant to live there. Four years later, he has one more year at the University and can't imagine living anywhere else.
In 2003, 10 friends came back from a road trip and decided they wanted to live together. They found a house at 1115 Tennessee St. and named themselves the "Mountain Dewds." The founders were Christian men who wanted to set an example for their community.
McBride said the house just started as a bunch of guys who wanted to live together, but has since morphed into an "alternative way of doing college."
The house now has 14 members in what they call the "Big Green House"
The Dews recently added a second house. Seven other Dewds live in the yellow house, next door at 1121 Tennessee St.
The two houses are known collectively as "Dewdville."
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DEWD
Jordan Guth, Plano, Texas junior and a Dewd, said that a lot of Christians tend to "go over the top," and the Dewds wanted to be different.
"We want to show people that we're like everybody else, that we're cool, that we're normal, that we do fun things, and that you can have fun without going overboard," Guth said.
The title and purpose of the house, Guth said, had several meanings. But it doesn't have anything to do with the drink Mountain Dew.
"We want to be a house up on a hill," Guth said. "We want to be held to a higher standard."
The house actually received a cease-and-desist letter from Pepsico a few years ago after a Pepsico rep saw a photo in the The University
Daily Kansan, in which the Dewds were wearing modified Mountain Dew shirts. The Dewds wrote back
events throughout the year, including a Halloween party that boasted around 450 people two years ago.
@ KANSAN.COM Extended Dewd photo gallery
"We always just blow that up," Guth said.
explaining that they were not giving Mountain Dew a bad name. The Dewds were allowed to keep the name but can't use any Pepsico logos.
The Dewd's signature event is Keith Day, the third Friday in April.
Keith Wilson was one of the founders, but was hardly ever in the house because of school work. The rest of the Dewds decided to throw
PARTYING AS A DEWD
The Dewd house hosts several
him a party to show him they still cared about him.
Guth said the party was originally supposed to be
large, but not huge. It's now the biggest celebration the Dewds have in the spring.
At last year's Keith Day, the Dewds had everything from bobbing for Keith (pictures of Wilson on apples), cups, balloons, T-shirts and even a Keith kissing booth.
McBride loves living at the Dewa house and participating in all the activities.
"We really don't know why people want to come here, we just do stupid, ridiculous stuff". McBride said.
He thinks that certain lifestyles can be more destructive than others, but the Dewd house is all about being unique, different and constructive. McBride also said that the Dewds didn't look down on anyone else if they did things differently. He just wants to make the alternative that much better.
Caleb Sommerville/KANSAN
"If we're gonna do it different, we're gonna do it awesome," McBride said. "We're gonna jump our bikes into a lake while the ramp's on fire."
Nathan Hickey, Lawrence sophomore, watches another Mountain Dewd resident play video games. The chairs and sofas behind him are the Dewd's "stadium seating," constructed by the residents themselves.
The Mountain Dews were driving past a McDonald's when the employees were putting in new signs and asked if they could have the old one. The Dewds have many random items contributed by residents throughout their house.
BE A CHAMPION.
The Dewd house is full of random objects, like the 11th Street sign that McBride found, a long sled, a Kansas City Star vending machine and even an old McDonald's drive-thru sign.
"AWESOMENESS" AS A DEWD
McBride is proud of the things that happen in the Dewd house. He said that people have had life-changing things happen because of the house. Lifelong friends have been made, and spouses have been met.
way in the Dewd house. A Quik-Trip sign in the yellow house was obtained the same way.
"It affects people's lives in a real positive way," McBride said.
The "relics," as McBride calls them, are brought to the house and left there after people move out. They obtained the McDonald's sign when a few Dewds were driving past McDonald's while the employees were replacing the signs. The Dewds asked if they could have the old one, and it now adorns a hall-
Men join the Mountain Dewds mainly by being recruited via word-of-mouth.
The Mountain Dewd house crest, designed by former Dewd Chris Jones, sums up what the Dewds are about. The crest reads "Semper Awesomis."
We don't appreciate laziness. In fact, we can't stand it. The Kansan Advertising Staff is now hiring for the summer & fall semesters. We're looking to hire the most driven students at KU for positions in advertising sales or design Be a part of the best college advertising staff in the nation $ ^{*} $ , where the result of your hard work is success in the real world.
Caleb Sommerville/KANSAN
"We're promoters of awesomeness and all things that are awesome." Guth said. "We're just a group of guys living together that love the
Greg Southern, INC.
The Mountain Dewds pride themselves as being a "house on a hill" and promoting a different way to do college.
Lord, but love awesome things."
INTERNATIONAL Shiite militiamen ordered off Iraq streets on Sunday
- Edited by Daniel Reyes
BAGHDAD — In a possible
turning point in the recent upsurge in violence, Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Shiite militiamen off the streets Sunday but called on the government to stop its raids against his followers.
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The government welcomed the move, which followed intense negotiations by Shiite officials, including two lawmakers who reportedly traveled to Iran to ask religious authorities there to intervene.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose offensive that began Tuesday in the oil-rich southern city in Basra sparked the crisis, called al-Sadr's statement "a step in the right direction."
But fighting continued in the Basra area after the announcement. Seven people also were killed when a mortar struck a residential district in Baghdad's Karradah district, and witnesses reported clashes in the Shula area in a northern section of the capital.
North Korea threatens to attack South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened South Korea with destruction Sunday after Seoul's top military officer said his country would consider attacking the communist nation if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack.
The statement from North Korea's official news agency marked the third straight day of bellicose rhetoric from the North, which is angry over the harsher line the South's conservative new president has taken against the country since assuming office last month.
"Our military will not sit idle; until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike," said an unidentified KCNA military commentator. "Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, if our advanced pre-emptive strike once begins."
Associated Press