A homecoming choreographed by Sheldon Lee by By Jeh C. Johnson

By JEH C. JOHNSON - 08/28/05 - For the Journal-Constitution

For me and everybody else at Morehouse and Spelman, the social highlight of the school year was, without a doubt, homecoming. It was as big as Christmas. Anticipation started to bubble in September. If you didn't have every moment of the weekend filled with some social event, something was wrong with you.

The official opening of the weekend was the homecoming queen's coronation on Friday night. By my senior year, this had become an event in itself, like the Grammys. That year, the event was choreographed by a quiet and shy classmate from Brooklyn by the name of Sheldon Lee (he goes by "Spike" now). That's when we first realized he had talent.

Saturday morning was the parade. Every group and organization had an entry. Even the political science club (of which I was president) had a homecoming queen and a float in the parade. Given our "political" orientation, our queen that year was Beth Jackson, the mayor's daughter.

Saturday afternoon, everyone was dressed to the max at the football stadium. Alumni and students wore their best. Everyone looked forward to halftime.

Saturday evening was party night. My senior year, some friends and I went to excess and rented a large suite at the downtown Hilton and invited 100 people to a party there. No one showed, but we had fun getting drunk and sleeping on the floor of this gigantic, $700-a-night suite just the same.

Sunday, we dragged ourselves to church and spent the rest of the day nursing hangovers.

Somewhere in there was a football game.

— Jeh C. Johnson, a 1979 Morehouse College grad, is a former member of the Clinton Administration, serving as general counsel of the Department of the Air Force from 1998-2001. A former federal prosecutor, he's now a partner at one of the largest law firms in the country.