It was a birthday eve to remember: dancing (with a semi-pro DJ cherub) and a brief intermission for firefighters to clear the dorms.
The event was billed as “Izzybiza and BarceLogan”—a mashup of honorees Isabelle (Izzy) Abadie of Durham, North Carolina and Logan Kreisberg’s of Stamford, Connecticut names with Ibiza and Barcelona. While those cities might be famous for parties and electronic music, nothing could compare to this.
The morning of the party was pure grassroots marketing. I spent 30 minutes creating a Canva flyer, dragging cutouts of Izzy and Logan’s faces beneath a giant yellow headline: “TONIGHT – 9:30 to 12 – GREAT ROOM – BE THERE.”
By 9 p.m., the Great Room was lit by a YouTube video looping flashing rainbow lights on the TV. Nikhil “DJ Nikhi” Daniel, who freelances as a DJ at home, set up a booth on the balcony
Realizing our JBL speaker wasn’t loud enough for a crowd of 40, cherubs took action. One team grabbed the DJ booth (a plastic folding table), and the other guided them down the stairs.
The party was back on. Leo Beirne, dressed in a flamingo patterned button-down, climbed onto the table. The cherubs bounced to the 2000s-era music. But suddenly, “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield sounded different. Were sirens usually in the background? Was that a remix?
No.
Some cherubs ran, some took their time, but everyone evacuated as the fire alarm blared.
“The party never ends!” one cherub shouted, hoisting the JBL over her head. A nearby instructor’s glare quickly confirmed: the party does, in fact, end.
Less than an hour later, after rumors spread, two inexperienced microwave users came forward. The cause of the blaze: burnt Pop-Tarts. Izzybiza and BarceLogan ended with three songs: “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Fire Burning on the Dance floor” and “This Girl Is on Fire.”
