a perfect world part II

Last prompt of the quarter and I messed it up, sweet. I didn't realize hitting enter would submit it :-/ mah bad.

A perfect world I was always taught didn't exist. But I would come back and say that a perfect world starts with a brand new union ;-) Seriously though, it is almost time for class and so I am in a little bit of a time crunch..

A perfect world will  never exist. If we beat ourselves up trying to figure it out, we will never move forward. So instead - an improved world starts with a brand new union. A large goal I have is to really utilize the new union to our benefit. Students and freshman next year will be going in an out of the union all the time. If we are there hosting events or just doing "things" our name will be out there. If Julie Knox is hosting service events in the great hall - people will see it!

In an improved world the Greeks would play a role of what we ACTUALLY stand for. We stand for service, diversity and ritual. We do not stand for having to be acknowledged (cough Greek Awards cough), hazing, or poor brotherhood. In an improved world the Greeks would live their Rituals everyday. We would become the people we are supposed to strive to be like. 

Maybe in an improved world our rituals wouldn't be kept private. Maybe we would want the world to see the values we are supposed to up hold every single day... 

a perfect world...

Greeks v. Lindsay Lohan

MILKAA - WAHHH?

So I waited a little to write this blog about our dilemma in the fraternal movement. Which turned out to be somewhat of a good thing because I saw this link this morning and it made me think of us...

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/lindsay-lohan-suing-e-trade-for-milkaholic-parody/37130?nc

Watch the commercial, under the (watch the video here) link on the site, its really funny! But at the same time, don't be offended that this reminds me of us and our struggles! 

Time and time again Lindsay Lohan has what we like to call "f-ed up". Throughout her life, my life, our lives, we have watched her struggle. We have seen her make poor decisions that have really skewed America's view of her. Now, I am a huge Britney Spears fan - think what you will but you can't change it. Lindsay to me is on a different playing field. At least Britney tries to make things right (sometimes). 

When this e-trade commercial came out, I thought it was really funny. Apparently Lindsay didn't because she is currently filing a law suit against them.

The Greek people all over the nation are always making poor decisions and "f-ing up". Whenever something negative happens it is all over the news and never escapes us. Whether its hazing, drinking, deaths, or just partying, the people of this nation see us this way. The difference between us and Lindsay is we do things to better ourselves. The purpose of our organization is to make us better people and make this world a better place. Even if Lindsay donated millions of dollars to New Orleans, she would still be looked at the same way by the people in this country. She would still be perceived as star who couldn't figure out her life. Even if we raised millions of dollars to send to Haiti relief, we are still looked at as college students who haze to death or destruction and pay for our friends. 

The disturbing part is - we know WHY this is. We know why we are looked at this way even though I can honestly say that I know a ton of Greeks on this campus that dedicate more of their time to service than to partying and socializing. So what is holding us back from changing? Not necessarily you and I changing, but the way people see us changing. Its the actions we have already taken. What if Lindsay tried to redeem herself? How long would it take? The commercial portrayed babies believing that Lindsay was an holic of some kind... drugs, alcohol, milk, whatever. 

Even if all of the students at Ohio State were for this change. If all the Greeks here did everything within our power to help change the way people view us, how long would it take for other schools to catch on? We have an opportunity here! Opportunity for change, something that people wait their whole lives for. We have the raw materials to make it happen. We have the drive, the education, the experience. Now what we have to do is put it together and make it work. Make it become that thing we are striving for it to become. I said a lot of "it" in the previous two sentences. What is "it"? Is "it" us, is it the perception others have of us, it is changing to truly and individually live our rituals everyday, what is it? You tell me.. 

Our final project in essence is to make something perfect, something that we all will hold in the highest regard. We can make those changes here with help from the rest of our community. We don't want to be like Lindsay Lohan and fail to represent ourselves in the highest regard. We want to be the Greeks of the nation and allow everyone to see us in a positive light. 

Recruitment Anonymous

If someone would be kind of enough to find me a Recruitment Anonymous meeting that would be fantastic...

I had to do an assignment on my moods for my psych 331 class. The high numbers were when I was feeling "happy" and the lower the numbers went the "sadder" I was getting. This is a little blurb:

...My other high numbers were due to my position in my sorority chapter and on the PanHellenic Council (the association that encompasses 16 sororities on campus and hundreds more nationally). I am the outgoing Vice President of Recruitment for my sorority and I am currently the VP of Recruitment and Retention for PanHell. There are many positions under the VP of Recruitment that make up the recruitment team. One of my first tasks is to interview women and fill those spots. While I was interviewing the women from all different sororities on campus I was really enjoying myself. I love to meet new people and I especially love recruitment. I feel as if this position is an unpaid full time job but I enjoy it so much that I would never give it up.... It is important to take pleasure in life and so the activities I enjoy are the things I like to take part in. I love to exercise and be healthy and I absolutely love to be a part of Greek Life. These are things I do everyday that make me happy, they don’t allow my mood level to drop too low to a point where I don’t want to be...

A few days later Julie asked us to write up a little something about what we learned at AFLV and this is how I responded: 

What was learned at AFLV

• I learned the most from the people I went with. The four councils being together and forming strong friendships in a short period of time gave me hope. It made me believe that what happened to us at that conference could happen to our community. If our exec boards can do it, why can’t everybody else? A cohesive bond is something our community needs.
• I learned that there a lot of things Ohio State can improve upon. We have the numbers and the potential to make our Greek Life as strong as it is at other Big Ten schools. It was pretty obvious that Erin attended the same conference a year before. She really took a lot away from the conference and put it all into action here. Some examples of this are: having the same “catchy” logo for a year, true quota system, etc. What I took away was a little different. Erin made really great steps toward a better recruitment but what I took away was strengthening us before recruiting the members we want. We need to make our community stronger to attract the men and women our way.
• I also learned a great deal from a speaker I went to. It was a lecture about leading with ethics. I actually have been emailing with him (not creepy I swear) and he signed his latest email to me, “With the best of success, remember we do not need luck.” And he is right, we absolutely don’t. Some things are left to chance but for the most part, we are responsible for making the outcome we want. Our boards are responsible for the changes PHA and the entire community will make within these 52 weeks and even after.

As we can see, I cannot stop thinking about recruitment, PHA, our exec boards, and just plain Greek Life. 

SAVE ME!! but I made really cool buttons today at the source for PHA. You guys should make them too!

I can transform ya...

No I am not strolling to Chris Brown as I write this! I'm saving that for Friday...

I briefly touched upon this in a response to Jackie's post the other day but I would like to reiterate. Not to be blunt but sorority recruitment has the tendency to be fake. Recruitment round tables have the tendency to be boring and women tend to only look out for their own chapter. One of my goals is to improve these issues and lay down the ground work for friendships between the chapters. At the most recent table I asked the women to tell me what they expected from me. I also asked them to come up with ideas to make our time together more enjoyable. I told them about how PHA is re-working our meetings to bring out the meaning behind what our community does and told them how their options were never ending. They all smiled and looked at me kind of funny. Then I stood there with my arms wide open and said, "Anyone?"... No answer. I clearly took them by surprise so I took another approach. I explained to them they are the leaders of their chapter. As the leaders of a chapter it is essential to exemplify leadership qualities and prove that our "Greek system" (sorry Tyler) is a community, not just a bunch of different chapters. The breaking down of barriers starts here, with the Recruitment Chairs. With the women who are responsible for recruiting quality women into their chapters, into our community. 

Personally, what can my chapter change? My chapter can start out by initiating conversations, friendships, and events with men and women of other chapters, and not just social and drinking events might I add. We have many strengths as a chapter, its not all bad things of course. In 3 winter pledge classes Alpha Epsilon Phi went from 40 women to 100 women. I was a member of the first of the three classes and it has been remarkable watching this change. I think an advantage we have is that we still have that "small house feel". I know every single woman in my chapter by name, nick name, hometown, major and so on. But now that we are a large chapter we will have to work on the sisterhood that comes with it. 

Panhellenic - oh Panhellenic. I could not be happier to be in this position. It has given me opportunities that I would never have dreamt of having. We have great strength as an association. We just added two more chapters to our 14 and I think we are improving now more than ever. The Sorority Women Redefined campaign has been a phenomenal addition for us. It is so beneficial in breaking down the stereotypes that all the women of PHA are the exact same "cookie-cuter sorority girl". Our efforts to join all 4 councils is also improving - especially within these 52 weeks of us becoming friends and learning together. Anyone who is a part of PHA whether its delegates, officers, or the executive members, we are always trying to improve. I think as a council we need to improve the communication. But before that can be improved, we all need to be FRIENDS. I can't understand sometimes why this word is so frightening. Why can't a member of sorority ABC tell a member of XZY their secrets of recruitment? The purpose of recruitment is to allow new women into our community right? Oh wait no... to some people its chapter based only. I am going to respond, "not cool."

As a community we stand for great things. As we have said again and again, the Greek Community offers things that other organizations do not. First, we are lifetime brothers and sisters. Ten even twenty years from now, we will all still be considered members of our organizations. Organizations that stand for brother/sisterhood, diversity, rituals, service, philanthropy (there is a difference!), and so on. We are so fortunate to be a part of this. I am unaware of another type of organization that can all go out and raise money for AIDs awareness, then dress up in all the same clothing running down 15th to make it to the O before 2 am, and then all get to go home to the same house and at the end of the night still call each other a brother, or a sister. This is all well and good and WE know what WE stand for, but do others? Does an outsider's perspective match ours? No, most likely the two opinions are completely different. Our community needs to work on our reputation. But before we can change that, we need to work on ourselves. As a community we need to carry out what we promise to carry out. We need to be cohesive and bond with each other to make others feel our love. 

Jeff Pelletier said this the other day during one of our meetings and it really stuck with me so I would like to leave it with all of you. "Are our Rituals a secret because we are scared for others to find out what we are supposed to be living up to?"

AFLV

This e-mail was received at 5:45 am Tuesday morning:

Hey!

Just checking; erin told you to keep all of your documents right? and minutes? (for AFLV award:)
julie 

Yep, its true. I woke up Tuesday morning - a snow day might I add - to an e-mail from Julie about AFLV, because we are always prepared. 

AFLV was so much more than I expected. I read Julie and Amanda's blogs and they made me LOL, literally. I made strong connections with a lot of the people who attended the conference which was an important aspect of going. But what really meant the most to me was getting to know everyone from Ohio State on a much deeper level. The people I met there and the connections I made are all well and good. I'm sure they will come in handy one day and I will look back always remember where I met them. But the students I went to the conference with are the most important to me. Getting to know everybody from the bus ride, to the hotel rooms, to eating meals, was where the real fun was. Everyone can learn a lot from seminars and from people who are there to teach. Its the people who are there to learn that teach the most.

 

Maggie and Tyler - it was awesome and if I could do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. 

Everyone else - you guys are awesome and I wouldn't want to road trip with anybody else.

Although I am a vegetarian and haven't eaten meat in two years, I would LOVE to hit up McDonalds any day of the week with you guys. In fact I would even LOVE to watch everyone eat chicken for every meal for an entire weekend again, while of course Ashley and I eat soggy pasta. 

You guys are the best and I will say this once and probably never ever again - I am looking forward to a class that takes place on a Friday afternoon at 4:00pm. Don't tell anyone outside of the blog I admitted to liking a class that takes place on a Friday!

Be Ready To Stroll!!!

Strive to Live

I keep learning more and more about myself, my council, and my community as this class continues. I would like to start this blog with a short story from my sorority's elections last Monday evening. Before we began my president, Jodi asked us to raise our right hand. She then asked us to repeat everything she said. What we repeated was an oath that whatever was said in that room, stayed there. The way our elections work is whoever is elected for the President position or a Vice President position goes into another room while the other candidates are speaking. All of the candidates for one position will sit in another room together while the rest of the chapter speaks about who is the best woman for the position. I wouldn't say that "terrible" things are said about the women of our chapter, but things are said that one wouldn't necessarily want to hear about herself. 

The oath we took was to promise that nothing we said would get back to the candidates. The following Tuesday our New Member Educator called a woman to ask her if she wanted to take a little this quarter. This particular woman responded via text message, "Do not call me, I know what you said about me during elections when I was running for the Vice President of Operations. For the good of this sorority I will be civil with you, but do not call me." The New Member Educator ran into my room and read me this text, I was appalled. What does she even consider "for the good of this sorority" if she prefaced that statement by proving she broke an oath taken the night before?

What good is an oath if one doesn't live up to it? This individual also took an oath to the national sorority of Alpha Epsilon Phi, if she took this oath as lightly as the last, who am I to boost about the good my sorority has done? We pride ourselves on sisterhood, philanthropy, and ritual. It was proven to me that Tuesday night that not everyone will take the oath as seriously as others. How do we fix this problem? I think the answer lies in our class we take every Friday at 4:00 pm. How do we show people how important this oath is? How can we prove to others how important this oath is to us? How can we break down these stereotypes? Lastly, how can we change the world?

An oath to me is something I take very seriously. As said in class, we read everything in a contract before we sign it. This is on a similar level. As a new member you learn what it is to be in an organization such as the ones we are a part of. You have time to think hard about the situations that lead you to where you are and you have time to think about what will keep moving you forward. Breaking promises is not something that will keep one moving in a positive direction. 

This leads me into my values schpeel (Yiddish word that refers to the story or the scoop, you must excuse me). Something I truly value is trust and integrity. I uphold these by carrying out what I promise to do. If I make a promise or an oath, it sticks with me forever. Whether its to the sorority as a whole in the very beginning or just during elections that takes place every year. 

Some other things I strongly value are my friends and family. These people are the single most important things in my life, without them, I have no idea where I would be. A family to me are my brothers, parents, and dogs back home in New York. My family also consists of my sisters that I live or have lived with. My family also includes my three best friends from home that are studying abroad in Europe, with out me might I add. My friends are everyone around me (well I like to think everyone, but in reality probably not). The men and women that keep me going, that I trust and hope that they trust me in return. I value the relationship aspect I have with all of these people. 

One of the reasons I joined a sorority is because I have three boys at home, I have never had a sister even though I've wanted one for most of my life. If an immediate family that you were raised with is based upon values such as trust and love, so should a sorority filled with sisters. If a sister goes against the values WE hold or an oath WE took, then who is the WE?

As far as PHA goes, a women from Alpha Epsilon Phi may not realize she is a sister with a woman from Kappa Delta, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, or a Tri Delta but we are trying to change that as an executive board. We may not have the same secret Ritual but I believe it is safe to say that we have all similar rituals and standards. As a board we went over our values together. As a board we learned that the difference between our organization and all others is that we took a lifetime oath. Now as a board we are teaching our delegates, and hopefully the delegates teach their chapters. Paying it Forward?! 

We have the raw materials to show everyone how interconnected we are. Now all we have to do is use them to make us a stronger, more achieved organization. Tying it together with the last statement of our creed "strive to live". What does this mean? As a board we all had some sort of an idea, with help from Tyler of course but we were able to answer it. We then gave the question out to the delegates. They answered in such a way that it showed us that our raw materials were paying off, the product of this is going to be so worth it. Striving to live is something that everyone should think about - what does it mean to you?