Walking off the bus on an unusually warm October 31 I suddenly come to a halt. There is a massive line coming from the entrance of the local watering hole. I am forced to wait with a group of my friends at the end of the line, while about 20 people in front of us. There is an argument at the front door between a bouncer and a clown. Apparently dressing up on Halloween still doesn’t get you into your favorite bar with a fake id. While we were waiting I decided to inform my friends that they had to play leap frog with me when we got back home. After another two minutes of the clown failing miserably to deal his way into getting into our bar, my friend Chris came up with an idea of epic proportions. “Why don’t we play leapfrog here?” he said coyly. We could try to get everyone else in line to do it while we wait, and it will get us to the front of the line.

“My God!” I thought, “not since Thomas Ford has there been an idea of such magnitude!” my mind went on. Looking back on the night, libation may have affected my excitement of the idea. None the less, our group of Vampires, basketball players, and a couple police officers decided that this was an idea just crazy enough to work. We started from the back of the line and slowly convinced everyone in line to join in, some with a little more prodding than others.

One leap at a time I slowly got my way to the front of the line. About halfway through the line I noticed that the once grumbling and annoyed strangers in the crowd slowly became a sort of laughing, happy, family. Once I got to the start of the line, where my friends were already starting to show their licenses and go into the bar, I looked back and saw that the rest of the line was actually still playing leap frog. There were some onlookers, but for the most part everyone joined in on the fun and had a great time. When we all got inside and were ordering drinks, a couple of the people in line came up to us and told us that we had made their night. They stuck around for a while and proved to be fun people.

So I must recommend playing a game like leapfrog every once in a while. You never know when it could get you a better spot in line or even a new friend.

When I was first given the task of going out and playing leapfrog, I had no idea how exactly I would go about accomplishing it. I wanted to do something fun and unique! But asking some random strangers to allow me to jump over them didn’t seem like the most comfortable idea. With Halloween coming up and all the costume party goodness it entails, I thought what better and more fun way to play leapfrog was there than in costumes? So I convinced my brother and all the people at his party to get down and dirty, and really make that party hoppin!

It was a lot of fun even though some of the leaps were difficult because of the costumes. Everyone couldn’t help but laugh and get in the spirit as we all tripped and awkwardly leaped over one another. I’m sure it was a sight to see that night as vampires, witches, gangsters, and a particularly tipsy Batman fell all over each other. It really brought the whole party together and we all had a great time.

It connected all of us at the party because no one had played leapfrog since childhood and it brought a sense of nostalgia. Also I don’t think any of us had ever done so in full Halloween costume attire, so we had an entirely unique experience that we could all remember. It left me wondering how my classmates went about getting their leapfrog experiences finished. But it also left me thinking about how we all had to come up with our own individual ways, involving other people and bringing them into our leapfrog circle. In these ways, my classmates, their peers and I were all connected through our simple game. We were all small parts of something larger and that links everyone involved into a special community.

I am currently directing a play at a local high school and decided to use leap frog as a warm up exercise for my cast. To add a fun twist into it, they had to leap over one another while remaining in character. The breakdown of the characters are as follows: Mom is in her early 60's and is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, Dad is a ghost, the oldest son is a doctor in his mid 30's and married to a very emotional wife, the middle child is in his early 30's, and the youngest daughter is in her late 20's and is pregnant. Seeing the students participate in this activity, that was clearly not a day to day event was very amusing indeed. I was impressed by how well they stayed in character even though they were leaping over one another. What was very interesting to see was that I did not give them any more specific instructions other than to play leapfrog in character, they could have chosen to be silent as they played, however they engaged in conversation the entire time teasing each other just as a family would do. They all made decisions based on their characters: being a ghost dad "walked through" them (as explained to me when I asked what he was doing), the pregnant daughter walked around everyone deciding it was best not to jump around while pregnant, the emotional wife began crying when she could not make it over one of her taller cast mates and the doctor tried to organize and discuss the "best strategy" in completing this task.

Overall, I would say that our leapfrog warm-up was a success. The cast really seemed to enjoy it when we held a discussion about the activity afterwards. We talked about the idea that strange situations really bring people together and since we are working on building "family connections" among the cast, this activity was perfect. Everyone had to let their guard down and agree to be silly for the activity to work...I am sorry, I just do not think there is a way to look "cool" playing leapfrog. The cast ranges from freshman through seniors and the pure fact that they do not all know each other very well outside of rehearsal has been one of the struggles in connecting as a cast, however leapfrog really helped to break down those barriers. Playing leapfrog really helped us remember what it was like when we were children playing with our friends in the yard carefree.
The aspect that I liked most of all about leapfrog though is the imagination that the students had to use. I was asking high school students, to act like adults 10-40 years older than them, while participating in an activity that they themselves had not participated in for about 10 years. This dynamic was very interesting to watch and see how they pulled it off. All in all leapfrog was a success.

Its Halloween night and my roommates and I are getting ready to go out in our monkey costumes. Just before we’re about to leave it hits me. “Let’s play a game of leapfrog.” Monkeys playing leapfrog, ironic I know. Anyways, I understand this was not the most traditional activity to partake in on a Friday night. To say the least my roommates were very confused. Like most people they associated leapfrog as a silly childhood game. That being said, without much convincing we started to play, and were actually enjoying ourselves. They didn’t fully understand what the point of playing was but that was irrelevant. As I reflect on the moment it made me come to a realization; I have a tendency to get caught up in the emotions of everyday life in a negative manner. Rather than letting life unfold I, like many others I assume, try too hard to make things happen. Because of this we are not able to completely enjoy life and our surroundings. The best kind of created community should not be forced, just based on instincts and fate. A little monkey business never hurt anyone so take a deep breath, relax, and play some leapfrog.

As a child I can remember participating in games on the playground such as leapfrog, yet never realizing the true impact it had on me. Playing with my friends was all that mattered. Sometimes in life it takes a simple game like leapfrog to remind us what’s really important and that happiness through community can be very powerful. As we grow older it is easier to appreciate the “finer things in life.” Sure we have tests to study for, papers to write, work, laundry, etc. But the moments that we share with others while having fun balances everything out.

This Halloween night was special and it was all started by a game of leapfrog. I had a good time with some of my closest friends at Illinois State that we will be able to look back on forever. Sharing a special moment within a community is a very rewarding experience. Whether it’s changing the world, or playing a game of leapfrog always remember to enjoy yourself.

At five o’clock in the morning, I sit in the darkness of my room as the pale blue light from my computer screen mocks my inability to write. You see, I have been faced with making a decision between two very difficult, very unique options. Never in my ideas of a formal writing workshop did I ever imagine that I would be writing about things like leapfrog. More importantly, I never imagined that such a topic would be so difficult. My difficult decision is in choosing between two pictures to post—one of myself and group of friends leapfrogging in business suits at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire or a group of my friends from Arizona State University leapfrogging outside of their apartment in Phoenix. In realizing the class goal of building community, each picture offers two very different and unique perspectives.

However, both pictures are related in a way. In college, I participate in an activity called forensics (not the science). It’s basically an intercollegiate competition similar to debate, which involves performing different speeches, or interpretation of play scripts, short stories, poems, etc. Both of these pictures are of friends that I have made through the activity. Both pictures are a testament to relationships that I have built through forensics in the past year.

Recently, ISU went to a tournament at UW Eau Claire. On our lunch break, I asked a few of the people in the cafeteria from different teams if they would like to help me out with a class project. A few of them didn’t even ask what it was that they would be doing before they happily agreed to participate. As we started leapfrogging, a few of the other people from the tournament joined in. When I had chosen the picture that I had wanted, I noticed that a few of the people in the picture, I had only talked to once or twice but seemed overjoyed to help me complete a class project, and likewise, I would be willing to do the same for any of them.

The Arizona picture, however, was a little different, and seemed significantly warmer. Andy is one of my best friends through forensics, though because of the distance, I rarely get to see him through the year, so I use any excuse I can to call him. Most recently, I used leapfrogging. Andy’s two roommates also do forensics, so I asked if the three of them could leapfrog and take a picture of it (preferably in front of a palm tree or some warm looking thing). Surprisingly they agreed without very much of an explanation. In reflecting on this picture, as I had to do for my class, I realized that I had only really known Andy for about a year. However, with only the short amount of time that I have known him, after one phone call, he was still happy, even excited to help me when he and his roommates receive no direct advantage from doing so. As I said earlier, this picture is a testament to the relationships that I have built through forensics, and it makes me extremely happy to have friends from across the country that are willing to help me with a simple phone call.

The nice thing about living with nine girls is that I didn't have to go far to find people to play leap frog with me. We live in an old house, so it actually has a name, Victoria Station, hence the title of the blog. I decided to ask everyone to play on a Sunday, when the weekend was over and everyone was starting to dread the week ahead. I thought it would be a nice way for everyone to take their mind off the fact that Monday was fast approaching. We were also about to have a meeting about some serious issues that we needed to work out in the house, so I hoped that this would lighten the mood and keep spirits high during the meeting.

Unfortunately, some people were a little too burned out from the weekend, and they decided to be spectators instead of participants. Still, I managed to convince four other girls to play with me, but my roommate Jen dropped out at the last minute. It was funny because the last time my friends had all played leap frog was as children many years ago. For some reason, they thought they would just be able to remember the rules, but it didn't turn out to be quite so simple. Luckily the rules are fairly simple so people picked up on it quickly. I'm not sure if we did it quite right, because we were really close together and we didn't squat down low enough, which made it difficult to leap. Still, it turned out to be fun, and it accomplished what I had hoped. Everyone was in a better mood, and our meeting turned out to be really relaxed.

I would definitely say that my experience with leap frog brought people together. Even those who were just watching were entertained, and it was a fun activity we’ve never done together before. Aside from feeling closer to my housemates, we also were connected on a deeper level, because my classmates were also doing the activity. I turned my game of leap frog into a way to ease tension in my house. My classmates may have chosen to play just for fun. Maybe they played with many more people, or less people, and I know they played in a different setting. By participating in this activity, it connects us as a class, and through the experience, everyone that we played leap frog with is also connected, even though they may never have met. We create a community by the simple act of playing a game that we loved as children.

-Sam Paoletti

I was always playing leapfrog when I was a child and still do find it fun to jump things. This assignment was a blast for me and I was really excited to participate in it. Upon telling some of my friends about this assignment they volunteered to help me out. Instead of just playing a typical game of leapfrog, my buddies thought it would be a great idea to try to jump over each other while standing straight up. After a few wipeouts it was obvious who could and could not accomplish such a feat and I chose to use the video of the guys that could "extreme leapfrog".


I have seen many global moments such as this on the internet, but I have never participated in one, nor have I ever been apart of a blog. It was really cool to see people get excited to help me out and participate in this assignment. It was fun to see how everyone remembered the game and decided to put a spin on it by standing straight up. I have also really enjoyed participating in a blog and hope to see how other people have participated in this global moment.

At the ripe age of twenty-two, I still like to think of myself as young spirited. I have come to terms with the fact that after age twenty-one, there really is no longer any birthday to look forward to. I can already see myself slowly starting to turn into my parents. I find politics much more interesting, I am falling behind and losing touch with mainstream music, and think sixteen year olds should definitely not be driving. I have never had text messaging on my cell phone or have ever stepped foot in an Abercrombie and Fitch clothing store. However, as much as I love my parents, I cannot imagine myself being exactly like them when I am their age. They are afraid of big cities, are devout Republicans, and think nine o’clock is late. I am always trying to convince them to take a vacation or expand their horizons past a dinner and a movie being a perfect night out. I know that young spirit is still in them somewhere. Leap Frog was the perfect activity to let it out.

Granted Leap Frog is not exactly a typical game or activity most twenty-two years even play, it allows you to revert to your younger days and act silly for a little bit. When we were given the project to play Leap Frog, I knew exactly who I wanted to play with. As childish as the game is, I also thought it would be a perfect way to bond and spend time with my parents before I had to go back to school. I only see them on random weekends, so I try and spend as much time with them as I can when I am home.

When I first mentioned the idea to my parents they were a little apprehensive to participate.

“Oh, I don’t know Jon. We probably cannot even bend down that low anymore…let alone jump over someone else. Why don’t you just go to the park and find some kids to play with? They will be better at it than us.”

My mother continued to tell me that there would be no time to play because their friends were coming over and they had dinner reservations. At that moment I thought about the other students in the class and whether they were having any trouble getting people to participate as well. Who were they Leap Frogging with? Where were they leaping? How did they sway their victims to actually participate? After a little more convincing, my parents agreed to play some Leap Frog. Even better, when their friends arrived, they too agreed to play. We went into the backyard and my girlfriend volunteered to be the camerawoman. After a little directorial planning, we assumed our frog positions and began to leap. The next few minutes that followed were probably some of the funniest and most entertaining minutes I have ever experienced with my parents. See below for yourself.

As we all gathered around the camera to watch what we looked like while playing Leap Frog, it was great to see everyone laughing and having so much fun. We laughed at each other’s ability or lack thereof to leap over one another. We laughed at my mom. We simply laughed at the fact we were playing a children’s game. It was silly, but it felt good to see my parents and their friends having a great time not being adults for five minutes. According to the internet, a group of frogs is called a colony or an army. That is perfect because the goal of this project was to build a sense of community, a colony of Leap Froggers. I guess you could say that we were a giggly little colony of Leap Froggers and will most likely remember this for a long time.










I was also lucky enough to have a couple of my friends send me a picture of them playing Leap Frog as well. The first picture is in front of USC Trojan Stadium in California and the second picture is next to a sculpture of Herky the Hawkeye at the University of Iowa.

Phase I-You Want Me To Do What Now?

Leap frog is the staple of childhood games, but, alas, I cannot think of a time when I have played it. Surely, there must have been a moment when I did, seeing that it is such an innocuous part of childhood. If I had played it though, who would I have played it with? I did not have many friends, and the playmates I did have were more likely to pretend to be frogs (or even catch real ones) than play leap frog.

But now that I think on it, I did, however, have a large number of imaginary friends. This is not that unusual in childhood, though perhaps my talking for them was. Furthermore, most of them were adults from various books, television shows and movies. I remember having long conversations with people such as Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm of Jurassic Park, James Kirk of Star Trek, Cordell Walker and James Trivet of Walker, Texas Ranger. Perhaps the best way to get back into childhood would be to play a game of leap frog with these fictitious people.

How hard could this possibly be?

Phase II-Logistics, Logistics, Logistics

Rule 1- Have imaginary friends who are friendly, helpful and willing to do anything for you, even years after you’ve “grown-up”

No. Scratch that. That’s Rule 2. Rule 1 is have imaginary friends who are not pragmatic.

“You do realize we’re imaginary right?

“And the ability for you to actually touch us is nil?”

“I came back from Tahiti with that nice kid for this?”

“The ability for a real person to physically leap over a non-existent entity is impossible.”

“Yeah, and how old are you? Because I’m forty. And I haven’t done this in like thirty ye— I’m not doing this!”

“This sounds like fun!!!”

While it can be a relief to have that one enthusiastic soul, it is better to have the one enthusiastic soul whom no one wants to injure. Alas, this was not to be.

After much wheedling and cajoling my only ally was released. All right, I told them that since they were acting childish it was not to big a leap (pardon the pun) for them to play a childish game. And anyway the sooner it was done, the sooner they could go.

This brings us to Rule 3: Make sure the camera is charged. No further explanation is needed.

Phase III-Survival of the Fittest What I Learned

Childhood is a wonderful time, filled with many happy memories, and friendly imaginary friends—who at that particular moment like you. Who don’t like being interrupted when they’re in Tahiti. To be fair, some did not mind getting away from the “sugar-faced walking contagions,” and only one was actually interested in the task, but still nothing brings back the happy memories of childhood quite like a game of leap frog.

Also, hopping around with a camera is highly awkward and a bit like being in a parody of a spy movie. Just when you think it’s safe to do the secretive filming, someone else jogs by. Or a photography-oriented person wanders around snapping pictures. Or people exit their car near you.

However, it all did bring back the memories of childhood, especially those middle school years where part of you grasps to the more youthful pursuits with people no one else can see, while another part of you aspires to be those lucky people out for a walk.

I chose to do my part of the leap frog phenomenon on October 22, 2008. Let me point out that I was not having the most glorious of days. In fact, it was down right horrible. Things were not going my way, and just when I was about ready to call it a day, I came up with an ingenious plan. I decided to ask some of my floor mates on Atkin 3 to do the leap frog in our hallway.

So, I did not receive quite the reception I had been hoping for. Apparently, leap frog is not the cool thing to do when you are in college. Eventually, I had about four of my floor mates and some random guy, whose name I discovered is Alex, volunteer to experience the amazing game of leap frog.

I asked my roommate to tape the event so I could participate. I thought she had not recorded us doing the leap frog correctly, so we ended up doing it three times. Each leap was a little different, but I think the third was the best. During the first two times, I proclaimed that the random guy, aka Alex, was"big." I did not mean big as in fat, but big as in broad, however he took it as meaning fat. I felt really bad about making him feel that way, so I made it a point to apologize and clarify exactly what I had meant by saying he was big. I told him being broad is a very good thing in my opinion. I definitely appreciate guys with wide shoulders. As a side note, I also gave him a mini-Snickers bar to make up for everything.

All in all, I think my attempt at leap frog was pretty successful, and I had fun. It even made me forget about my bad day for an hour or so. I hope you enjoy Atkin 3 doing the leap frog!

Emily

Leap frog as a way to build community. It began as an assignment, but I became excited. For me, this was an opportunity to fight back at distance—to bridge the miles between me and the people I love. When I went away to college, many of my friends, whom I had known for over ten years, stayed at home on the south side of Chicago. My girlfriend of five years (at the time) went to the University of Pittsburgh. Since then, I have devoted much of my time to alleviate the negative aspects of distance by talking to people as often as possible. Still, only so much comfort can be attained without actually seeing a person often.

My main goal was to transcend the average boundaries of communication with my friends and girlfriend by all playing leap frog on the same night in our separate locations. This would be my way to feel close to everyone despite the hours of travel dividing us. That was the original plan, and I was quite enamored by it. Apparently, though, no one else was.

When I first told my girlfriend about the plan, she seemed excited and willing to play leap frog with her friends. I decided the best night would be Halloween, since everyone would assuredly be out with each other. In the days leading up to that night, I continuously reminded my girlfriend about it, hoping she would understand that it was important to me for more reasons than it being a class assignment. I did not give such warnings to my other friends, expecting it to be an easy enough thing for them to do. I called them early in the evening.

“This is gonna sound really weird, but I need you guys to do me a favor tonight. I need you to play leap frog with everyone.”

“Uhhh,” he seemed disturbed, as if I had just asked him to kiss all the boys in the room, and then, “No.”

“Why not? Come on, it’s seriously not hard. Everyone’s out with you aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but why do you need us to do this? Have Kelly do it.” I explained to him my reasons behind the whole thing and told him that Kelly was doing it as well.

“Uh, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll keep you updated.” He spoke uncomfortably to me like I was an employee asking him for an absurd raise. Not five minutes after this exchange, he texted me (avoiding real contact) that I should call two of my other friends, whom I am not nearly as close to, because they were at a costume party and would “for sure do it.” Realizing the plan would lose its philosophical glimmer if my friends felt forced to do it rather than wanting to, I gave up on garnering their support. I complained to Kelly about their apathy, and she seemed sympathetic. I would be happy sharing the experience with just her anyway, so I shrugged off the snub from my friends.

But she spurned me too. I was at a Halloween party with about fifteen people when I decided to organize the event. Despite only knowing a handful of the people there, the game was incredibly fun. We began in the narrow hallway of the apartment and found ourselves out the door, heading down the stairs by the end. There was laughter, screaming and frantic leaping, of course. Even though the party had been enjoyable before we played, it felt much more intimate afterward. People who had been sitting alone or with only a couple people for most of the night erupted in conversation with one another. I was glad that on my end, the leap frog was a smashing success.

Not so for two-thirds of my plan. Kelly later told me she had not wanted to watch a movie with her usual group of friends, electing to haunt a couple parties instead. She did not forget about the game, she most likely felt uncomfortable, just as my friends from home had. Distance never stops teaching you some things.

M. Carmody

When you want to play leap frog, “who you gonna call?” Well, I would not call Ghostbusters, but I would call my Brothers! I chose to play leap frog with my “Brothers,” my fellow members of the honors fraternity—Phi Sigma Pi. With this assignment, we were aiming to create community by bringing a group of people together. In Phi Sigma Pi, we are always striving to create community in our Brotherhood. So, I decided to combine the two. At the beginning of our Chapter, we play icebreakers. I asked the Vice President, and she thought it was a great idea to have leap frog for one of our ice breakers.

So, on October 20, the Brothers gathered in the hallway of Schroeder, where I told them about my assignment and asked for their help. Always willing to help a Brother in need, they graciously consented to play leap frog while being videotaped. It took a while to get ourselves together and to figure out exactly how we wanted to play, but finally we decided to make one long line and to just leap until we leaped over everyone. It was hilarious and so much fun! I leaped second and had a blast. Random acts of foolishness occurred, such as one of the Brothers kept trying to give wedgies to unsuspecting frogs while going on her leaping way. Others teased each other and made jokes. It was fun seeing the different ways people attempted to leap, some more successful than others. However, even if they were not too happy about the idea of leap frog, everyone ended up having fun. It brought us together. Even afterwards, the Brothers continued to tease each other about their leaping.

We are all very different people, yet we were all doing the same thing—leaping, just in our way. It will be interesting to watch everyone else’s version of leap frog. However, others may try to leap frog our way, but it would never be the exact same. The jokes, the laughter, the smiles, the randomness, none of it can be copied or replaced. It is forever in our memories as a good time with our fellow Brothers.

So, join me in watching the Phi Sigma Pi version of leap frog!