Interview from the one and only New Member Educator
New member educator…aka pledge master…aka keeper of the freshman for the first three months of school:
Me: So how you do you feel about no longer being the pledge master
Dana: I feel good about it, I feel great about it.
Me: Are you sad at all?
Dana: Sad? I dunno if sad is the right word. I’m definitely happy that I no longer have this responsibility any more- it was a a very taxing job, as you know, and its nice to not have it on my plate anymore.
Me: So, does that mean you regret taking on this position?
Dana: Not at all…I’m actually really happy that I was pledge master- I got to know all of the freshmen, and I’m definitely the only junior who can say that. It’s also just nice to know that they love me- whenever they’re parents or friends come to visit, they always introduce me to them..which is cute and nice to know that they don’t hate me even though I had to make them do annoying stuff for the first three months of school.
Me: How do you think the next pledge master will do with the girls next year?
Dana: I think Shelby has a good handle on things- she’s definitly more responsible then I am and will probably get stuff done in time, unlike me, but the freshmen probably won’t be as scared of her as they were of me…so that could be a bad thing
Me: You’ll have to teach her how to be scary then.
Well there you have it folks, an inside look on transitions from an outgoing e-board member.
Transitions
There comes a time in everyones life where they must go through a transition. Whether it be going from high school to college, being apart from home for your first time at summer camp, or your transition into independence the day you receive your drivers license. Whatever it is, we’ve all been there, you all know what I’m talking about.
Transitions seem to always overcome with me with a bittersweet feeling- a feeling mixed with anxiety and excitement, butterflies in my stomach and sweat in the palms of my hand. However, this feeling is one that I experience when I feel particularly emotional about the transition that I am embarking on.
This is why it came as a shock to me that I was filled with this overwhelmingly, bittersweet emotion at my sorority’s official “Executive Board Transitions,” held last night. The old executive board, comprised of me and 11 other juniors of my closest friends, welcomed in the sophomore pledgeclass of ’09-’10 executive board members who had been slated to their positions last week. Each outgoing e-board member spoke to their incoming sophomore position-holder, handing over binders with information and telling them about the specifics of what their new job entails.
At the end, my 11 friends and I spoke freely in a circle with all 24 girls- We passed on wisdom and advice, and any general knowledge we felt we wanted to share about what it means to be on e-board and to be the one’s in charge of the sorority. The overall message was something along the lines of: “trust each other and respect each other, you guys are a team and the future of this house depends on that.”
While I expected to walk out of that room feeling free and thrilled that I had one less obligation on my plate, I truly did feel sad. While the experience of being on e-board for my sorority often presented me with annoying commitments, a large time-investment, and being forced to care about things that I sometimes didn’t, I truly felt both accomplished for being one of the leaders of my house for the past year, and sad that I wasn’t any longer.
The Follow-Up
Okay, so I’m literally Michigan’s biggest fan- I love everything about this school and I couldn’t be happier going to school here. But visiting another school really gives you a whole new perspective on life. I had such a fun weekend at Wisconsin, and it was great to compare and contrast two schools that are both very similar and very different in many ways.
There are two things I liked about Wisconsin that really stood out to me. The first is that Madison is a lot more of a city than Ann Arbor is. So everything is built upwards into a smaller circumference, where as here, things are a lot more spread out. They therefore, a) are in a 3 minute walking distance to anything and everything, and b) have a million more options of bars, clubs, restaurants, etc.
The other main thing I loved about the school is that Greek life is a lot less prevalent there. Yes, there a plenty of people in sororities and fraternities, but there are also a LOT of people that aren’t and it doesn’t make or break anything. I think it just creates a lot less division and cattiness and is a quality about the school that I really loved.
…Don’t worry though, my heart will forever remain here in A Squared
Michigan Does Wisconsin
The football game this weekend is at Wisconsin. I literally don’t know ONE person from Michigan that isn’t going there for the weekend. Despite the fact that I don’t have a single friend at Wisconsin, I too am making the six hour trek to Madison. I’m staying with my best friend’s best friend, who lives in an apartment with three other girls. In total this weekend, there are FIFTEEN people staying at the same apartment. Sheesh!
I’ve never been to Wisco or any other Big Ten school. I have no idea what to expect and I’m SO excited to see what their school is like. I can’t wait to compare their Greek life, football games, bars and restaurants to ours…who knows what the weekend will bring! Expect a blog about it when I come back!
Issues At Hand
Greek life at Michigan is a great thing. In a school as big as this one, Greek life serves as an outlet into a smaller community. Had it not been for my sorority, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be nearly as involved in school, the clubs, and my leadership position as I am.
However, this is not to say that being in Greek life doesn’t present problems. All the crap I b*tch and moan about in this blog are there, but beyond that, there are larger issues at hand. Sometimes I genuinely feel that I miss out on certain aspects of this school because I’m in Greek life. Granted I’m not exactly sure what it is that I’m missing out on, but my sorority and Greek life in general provides me with SO many oppurtunities, that its hard to find time to get involved in anything else.
I’ll never regret my decision of being in a sorority here- without it, I wouldn’t have my friends, community, and overall college experience that I love so much. But I think I will always wonder, and probably never know, what is else is out there at Michigan…
Match Made in Heaven
My deranged house mom was set up on a blind date by my even more deranged cook. I am scared to see what these results will bring.
What’s out there
So in trying to find other blogs that resemble or have similar topics to mine, I came across something very interesting. This blog, called sororityparents.com, is written by a mother who’s daughter currently goes to college and is in Greek life at her university. When I clicked on this blog, I figured, how much could a parent accurately know about her daughter’s life and experience as a sorority sister? However, to my surprise, her daughter’s life in the Greek world sounded a lot like mine, and more importantly, this mom knew what was up.
There is one post on her blog where she talks about the costume parties that her daughter attends on a weekend basis. She explains how she is continuously adding money into her daughter’s bank account, only to find out that much of this money is used towards her daughter’s costumes.
So if my mom found out EXACTLY what I spend my weekly budget on, she’d probably cut me off right then and there…
This girl, on the other hand, clearly tells her mom EVERYTHING, which I guess you can do, when your mom is totally cool with it. Instead of flipping that her daughter’s wasting money on costumes, she feels “good” about it. She says that these parties bring all Greek members together, creating a community that works together and protects each other. I’m not sure if that parts toootally true, but the mom DID know that we girls invest in every color of the American Apparel basics, dressing and revamping them with “ribbon, glitter, freathers, and assorted accessories,” to make as many costumes as we can out of them.
I must say, I’m pretty impressed with this “cool” mom.
Weather Pledge
For the first time ever, the pledge master of our sorority house (who happens to be one of my nearest and dearest friends) decided to implement a “weather pledge” in our house. She selected one of the freshman who volunteered for this position and explained the requirements for this job: “The weather pledge must send an email to the entire sorority with the following information, every day: the current weather and forecast for the day (by 9 am on weekdays and 11 am on weekends), the high and low for the day, a clothing recommendation (wear a jacket today, wear boots today), and finally, what they’re wearing (I’m bringing my umbrella today).
So everyday, I wake up with an email on my phone that looks like this:
Current: 35 and partly cloudy
Afternoon: 43 and partly cloudy
Evening: 42 and mostly sunny
High: 46
Low: 32
I suggest wearing a longer, warmer pant with a warmer, closed toe shoe along with a shirt under some sort of sweatshirt and a fleece or jacket of that type with a scarf of some sort.
What I’ll be wearing: grey hardtails, a white v-neck, an american apparel v-neck, my north face fleece and my uggs.
I just DON’T understand the weird detail at the bottom of these emails that I get every day?!?!?! Why the hell do I need to know the COLOR and BRAND of this girls outfit???? What could possibly be going through her mind that makes her think this is valuable information to a single person other than herself?
I’ll never know
Peace, love, and blogging!
Usually, I have no qualms with bashing Greek life and my sorority, and hence this blog, but today, I’m gonna write about something I like in my sorority! For some reason, and I’m not sure when or how this tradition started, when someone in the house writes and email, we ALWAYS sign it with a “peace, love, and ______” The fill in the blank is sometimes related to the email and sometimes completely irrelevant. When an email ends in a good, funny one, it really makes my day:
Peace, love and nudity is acceptable at the ugli on Halloween.
Peace, love, and hangovers suck
Peace, love, and if you are in the library and heard a loud scream its because Anna found a table on the third floor.
Peace, love, and Rachel stop playing annoying music in the kitchen
Peace, love, and i hate waiting lists more than snow stained uggs
Peace, love, and queso
Peace, love, and gooo blueee
peace, love, im going to fail my math exam tonighttt 😦
peace, love and frizzy hair =/
Hope you enjoyed!
Peace, love, and blogging
Mischief/Cabbage/Devils Night
Some of you may have read the title of this post and not have a CLUE as to what I’m referring to. However, some of you, PROBABLY those from New Jersey, know exactly what I’m talking about.
Last night at dinner (the night before Halloween), my two friends who went to high school together asked us what we should do for Mischief Night. Everyone looked at each other, extremely confused and then all asked at the same exact time: “What the HELL is Mischief Night?” The two of them, who grew up together in New Jersey, were completely dumbfounded at the fact that this concept was not a worldly renowned holiday that everyone is aware of. “You know…Mischief Night? Some people call it Cabbage or Devils Night?”
Still no repsonse.
“All the teenagers run around town egging and toiletpapering everyone’s houses and destroying anything they can without the police catching them? It’s AWESOME.”
Still nothing.
So Hillary, who’s FREAKING out that know one knows what she’s talking about, gets up on her chair in the middle of dinner and screams: HELLOOOO I HAVE AN ANNOUNCMENT. RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU’VE HEARD OF MISCHEIF NIGHT.
About five people raise their hand…low and behold, ALL are from New Jersey!
WOWEE! Who knew that New Jersey is filled with freaks that like to vandalize things on the night before Halloween. Not I!
Ha! All the pictures that come up when I type Mischief Night into Googlimages are from New Jersey!
Sorority Life 101 