column in "Glamour" includes story by KD
 

Glamour magazine's January 2004 edition (which is out now) features a story by a KD, "Back When I Was Homeless" on page 144.

The article is about a woman who lived for two years with her three siblings and mother in the back of a Ford Econoline van. She talks about her reintroduction to society when she went to college at 17 (she says she was homeschooled through grammar & high school.)

The author (Christina Kapp) mentions her affilation on page 155:


"... I even rushed a sorority at my new school, the Univ. of Central Florida in Orlando, and proceeded to spend the next semester acting out the role of the bleached blond who laughed too loudly, drank too much, and kissed too many frat boys. I didn't confide in any of the sisters about having been homeless, and I soon realized that none of them could tell.

But although I looked and acted the part of the carefree sorority girl, my past was always with me. One day, I found a pledge sitting behind the Kappa Delta house, her cheeks smudged with mascara and tears. "Nobody invites me anywhere," she said, "and they make fun of my Levi's." Although I hugged her and told her not to cry, what I felt was not pity or outrage but a warm flush of triumph: The sisters did invite ME everywhere, and they loved MY clothes. Horrified by my own callus reaction, I dropped out of the sorority and chose another stereotype to embody: the campus intellectual..."


I can't help but thinking if she'd taken a chance on her sisters she might have found a lot of support she didn't expect.

I just read the article and was coming in here to post about it. :) She's an awesome writer! I was so excited when reading to see that she was a KD at UCF! She's currently in the process of getting her PhD at UCF. You all should be proud!

I'm not even sure if she's still a KD. The article (or at least the excerpt here) sure leads me to believe that she isn't. She's also not in our alumnae directory (the last one was from 2000). In any event, I haven't read the whole article, but it sure doesn't seem like her mention of KD was positive, or even necessary.

It wasn't positive or necessary, but my point was that the writer made her experience that way.