the thing is, is
![]()
Let’s go, Redmen!
(clap-clap,
clap-clap-clap)
Let’s go, Redmen!
(clap-clap,
clap-clap-clap)
Actually... let’s not.
I grew up hearing this rallying cry, and many more, all the time. At every high-school athletic event I ever attended.
And yes, I naively (if halfheartedly) screeched those words myself in countless pep rallies and school assemblies.
I also sang the school song on hundreds of occasions:
R-R-R-E-D, M-M-M-E-N, R-E-D, M-E-N, REDMEN!
R-R-R-E-D, M-M-M-E-N, R-E-D, M-E-N, REDMEN!
R-R-R-E-D, M-M-M-E-N, R-E-D, M-E-N, REDMEN!
When the Redmen, our team, is in the game,
And the whole school is fighting to guard its name,
And the Reds yell like warriors as the team goes by,
There’s a killing in the ol’ town tonight.
When Cedar’s banners are waving in triumph o’er the hill,
And Cedar’s cohorts are cheering,
For the Reds have made their kill. (Rah! Rah!)
This day is ours, ours forever. Let victory never fade.
Then rise, rise and cheer boys,
‘Till the winning score is made.
So while I’ve been well out of earshot for a few decades, I can still hear the singing and the chants clear as day.
Because I grew up in a place called Cedar City, Utah.
Because I went to Cedar High School.
CHS. Home of the Redmen.
Yes, Redmen. A term referring not only to sports teams but the entire CHS student body. Even today, if you go to Cedar High School, you’re (somehow) a “Redmen.”
The current school handbook states:
Cedar High School students are expected to be “proud to be a Redmen!”
Proud to be what, exactly? Grammatically ridiculous?
The whole unsavory Redmen theme, if you will, is pretty baked in at Cedar High School. If you run cross-country, which I did, you’re a Runnin’ Red. If you happen to be a girl on a sports team, you are a Lady Red. If you’re on the school drill team, you’re part of Mohey Tawa – a real “Indian” term that I believe translates as “White gyrating popular girls every guy wants to date.”
Including myself back in the day. But I digress.
From time to time and with increasing frequency, CHS makes the news for being one of the last holdouts in Utah, and the country, to think a Native American mascot dreamt up by white people for a 95% white school is just peachy.
Many Cedar City residents feel that the nickname Redmen is not only acceptable but respectful… because it supposedly celebrates pride, nobility and hard work.
Mmm-hmm. Remember Mohey Tawa? In 2016 the group celebrated that pride and nobility by taking sacred dances from the local Paiute tribe and using them in halftime shows. Complete with fake wigs and feathers and moccasins.
I mean, what were they supposed to do when the drill team was literally all white?
The unfortunate Redmen slur (let’s call it what it is) still adorns the school’s marquee sign, uniforms, yearbooks, and at least one water tower above the town I still consider home.
When I was growing up, Cedar City had precisely one high school, founded in 1940. That’s how small the town was.
Of course it didn’t take long for a culturally tone-deaf student-council president to recommend the “Redmen” nickname in 1942.
Because of the abundance of “Redmen” in the area and whatnot.
Done and done. The vote was unanimous. The name stuck.
I’m curious how the local Paiutes and Navajo and Hopi felt about that.
I’m curious how they feel about it today.
I know how I felt in the ‘80s whenever I saw a white, bare-chested teenager prancing around in a loin cloth and native headdress at Friday-night games to get the crowd going. Picture that kid whooping and riding a horse onto the football field, full gallop, then sinking a spear into a bale of hay at the 50-yard line.
It weirded me out a little.
Ok, a lot.
When I tell people who don’t hail from Cedar City or Utah about all this, I get stares of disbelief and sometimes outright laughter.
I mean, it is kind of funny — only because it’s so wrong. Especially today. It would be great cultural satire on Saturday Night Live.
But the truth isn’t so funny.
Let’s go, Redmen!
Let’s go, Redmen!
Actually, I have a better idea.
Let “Redmen” go.
You’ve heard the catchy song from Disney’s Frozen.
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
It’s time to do precisely that when it comes to the whole “Redmen” thing.
I know, I know. Folks in Cedar are really attached to their offensive Redmen moniker. They’ve resisted changing it for decades.
So only a perfect, ingenious, incredible replacement will do.
Which I just happen to have.
The best part? The school won’t have to change one letter of the current mascot’s name.
Get ready.
Let’s go, Medren!
Say it out loud: Cedar High School. Home of the Medren.
Sure, at first it sounds odd, but at the same time — thanks to some fancy anagramming — it also looks and sounds comfortably familiar.
Medren doesn’t mean the same thing, however. Far from it. A quick Google search will reveal that Med-Ren is a pretty popular term. It’s a thing.
It means Medieval-Renaissance.
There are centers for Medieval and Renaissance studies. There are Medieval and Renaissance conferences.
There are Medieval-Renaissance live-action role-playing gatherings (called “larping”) every weekend in cities across the world. Here’s a pic from one in San Diego just days ago:
There’s Medieval and Renaissance music. Literature.
Oh, and a little thing called theater. Plays.
Maybe you see where I’m going with this.
Long ago, Cedar City, Utah was known for its
The Utah Shakespeare Festival.
It’s even inspired Cedar’s nickname: The Festival City.
The festival is known far and wide. It attracts visitors eager for entertainment largely about — wait for it — Medieval princes, queens and kings. Written by the greatest English author in history at the height of the Renaissance.
Medren.
It’s perfect! Just imagine this guy glaring at rival schools from atop the school marquee.
Imagine this homeboy gracing the yearbooks and the water tank. We could substitute the polar bears pulling his medieval snowmobile with prairie dogs. (Oh, wait. The locals pretty much wiped them out. Dang. But you get what I’m saying.)
And not to sell this too hard, but the replacement Medren theme will inspire some really catchy chants, cheers and jeers, a few of which I’ll share right now:
Medrens ‘bout to get medieval!
Renaissance for us! Dark ages for you!
A plague! A plague! A plague on your team!
All the world’s a stage. For us to dunk on you!
To be or not to be… scoring touchdowns!
Boo! Boo! To thine ownself be true!
Who put the eval in Medieval? We put the eval in medieval!
And much, much more. Trust me, the Medren well is deep.
In summary.
Medren, besides being creative and awesome, would be a change in the right direction not just for Cedar High School but the entire city.
Medren doesn’t ignore the reality of the CHS mascot for the last 75 years. It just lets us all move on. Remember, you don’t have to change one letter!
In all seriousness: the high school that bears the city’s name deserves a better nickname.
You, Cedar City, Utah, can be better and more creative than that.
And your Paiute and Hopi neighbors deserve better than that. You wouldn’t call one of them a Redman or “Lady Red,” would you?
Then why call anyone, or anything, that?
Utah’s Carbon High School has the Dinos. Pretty cool. UC Santa Cruz, in my state, has the Banana Slugs. Routinely topping “creative mascot” lists.
So what’ll it be, Cedar City?
My vote:
Let’s get creative.
Let’s embrace the best within ourselves.
Let’s make some news.
Let’s have some fun.
Let’s go larping.
Let’s go, Medren!
P.S. Lest we forget, Cedar: you could also one-up “Dixie” by beating your traditional high-school rival to the punch and getting rid of your offensive moniker before they do. Who said St. George is cooler and more progressive? Medrens win the rivalry… forever!
P.P.S. I’ve even rewritten the school song. I think it works pretty darn well:
When the Medren, our fair troupe, is in the game,
And the whole horde is elucidating loudly to guard its name,
And the Rens emote like thespians as the squad ambles by,
There’s a clearly-staged-but-quite-realistic killing in ye olde theatre tonight.
When Cedar’s royal crests are waving in triumph o’er the hill,
And Cedar’s armor-clad sentries are cheering,
For the Meds have made their dramatically staged kill. (Huzzah! Huzzah!)
This day is ours, ours hither and yon. Let victory never fade.
Then rise, rise and cheer princes, poets and street urchins,
’Til the winning touch-dunk-pin-down is made!