To the Lighthouse

Samantha Spady died in the Sigma Pi house. Pastor Reza Zadeh is planning its resurrection.

A A A Comments By Jared Jacang Maher Thursday, Mar 10 2005

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"Or it could've become another fraternity," Hamilton counters.

The room is now slated to become a prayer alcove and will include a memorial wall devoted to photographs of Spady, as well as some of her drawings and paintings. A shrine to Sam Spady, now elevated to Patron Saint of Responsible Drinking.

Anthony Camera

House cleaning: The former Sigma Pi house will become the Lighthouse.

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Outside, students are mingling around a tent that contains food and water, including donated Chipotle burritos. Zadeh looks at the house and the people gathered there, and thinks about tragedy, metaphor and redemption. The great narratives of God -- they all can be found everywhere.

"This is just another representation," Zadeh says. "If you look around the world, like with the tsunami: Horrible, horrible thing that happened, but look at the wonderful things that have come out of it. People just pouring their money into there, and help. This is the exact same thing, the exact same analogy of taking something right now -- right now when it represents death and tragedy, and turning that into something that now represents life. That's what I believe the Bible is, and that's why this is a direct representation of what we believe.

He points at the students. "But it just shows right here whether they're Christians or not. They want to help out in the community," he says. "I think that's what this shows."

Between the dumpster and the house, a guy wearing blue oversized Dickies is talking to a bunch of girls wearing jeans and glittery lip gloss. They're all eating burritos, careful not to spill the sauce on their Lighthouse T-shirts. One of his friends just got initiated, and his frat brothers are hard drinkers. "I was blasted last night, dude," the guy says through a mouthful of rice and beans. "But I was all good till I took those last shots."