Moon Club is relatively new at UConn. Students across years, majors, and interests gather on the Great Lawn to celebrate each full moon. It’s known for Instagram memes and accusations of being a cult, but for students it seems to be about community — and lunacy.
At November’s Blood Moon meeting, on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, I meet UConn Joker; someone playing the accordion; a person dressed as Jesus; a guy with a decorated skull staff; and students chanting, dancing in circles, and doing cartwheels. “I find a strong sense of kinship with the moon and, you know, it’s just a really, really cool celestial object,” Vladimir Klyukin ’26 (ACES), known here as “Staff Guy,” told me.
Recent transfer students Amethyst Van Antwerp ’25 (ED, CLAS), Riley Smith ’25 (CLAS), Tyler Conroy ’24 (CLAS), and Hannah Renzoni ’26 (CAHNR) say they came out of curiosity, but seem like converts. “You can just be comfortable here, there’s no judgment,” says Smith.
