Milli's Retro Thread
 

Ok, since I have had so much fun reading the other retro recruitment threads, I thought I would do a retro thread regarding my recruitment (or “rush”) as it was in my day. I don’t believe I have seen any other retro threads from my particular, awkward era. I went through recruitment in 1990 at a west coast university. Big hair was still in but the 80s were done. Grunge hadn’t yet imposed the mandatory wearing of strait hair and plaid shirts on my friends and I. Recruitment still had some frills but was starting to be toned down some.

My parents had attended the same public university that I was attending but were not in the greek system. My step-mother was in a sorority at another university that had a chapter at my school; I wasn’t sure (and still don’t know) whether that made me a legacy to that sorority. I did not have any recs. So I guess I was lucky that legacy status and recs weren’t a big deal at this school.

Originally, I wasn’t planning on going through recruitment at all. However, at the end of Summer, two of my best friends from high school, who were attending another university, told me they were going through recruitment at their school, and I found out that a friend of mine from my summer job (we will call her “Jen” because there are a bazillion Jens in my age group) was going through recruitment at the same university I was attending. So, I figured I would go through recruitment too. I knew next to nothing about the greek system and, admittedly, was overly influenced by what my friends thought and were doing.

There were eleven sororities participating in recruitment, with another new sorority doing its recruitment and colonizing after the conclusion of regular recruitment. The twelve were as follows:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Phi
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Delta Zeta
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Kappa

I looked up the top twelve songs of 1990 and decided to use the songs as my code names. I was surprised to see that a few of the titles are kind of dirty, but I am sticking to the top songs idea nonetheless. The top songs of 1990 (and my code names) are as follows:

Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O’Connor)
Vogue (Madonna)
Vision of Love (Mariah Carey)
Poison (BBD)
From a Distance (Bette Midler)
Love Takes Time (Mariah Carey)
Hold On (Wilson Phillips)
Because I Love You (Stevie B)
It Must Have Been Love (Roxette)
Pump Up the Jam (Techtronic)
Rub You the Right Way (Johnny Gill)
Do Me! (BBD)

Next post, Open House.

PS: My high school graduating class voted Milli Vanilli as favorite band. Hence, my user name.

I'm excited! Go Vogue!! (My mom loves Madonna :) )

ha ha ha. This is potential comedy gold.

"I really liked the Do Mes, but they were kind of sluts."

"The Hold Ons were awesome except for the one really fat girl they kept in the kitchen."

can't wait to hear more!

I am officially old. Oh well.

Open House
 

Ok, so I showed up for my first recruitment group meeting and met my Rho Chis (recruitment counselors). One was very sweet, but she hardly spoke so she wasn’t much help. The other was very outgoing and wore anchor dangle earrings so we were all certain that she was a DG. (Duh, you can all probably guess right now that she wasn’t and was just trying to throw all of us idiots off track.) I loved the girls in my group and got to know a few pretty well since we lived in the same dorm which was a haul from the building where the recruitment groups met. (One was from my same home town; I’ll call her “Heather”. The other was from Oakland, California; I’ll call her “Amy”).

Before I do the run down on Open House parties, I have to insert this caveat: It has been almost 20 years since my recruitment, and over that time, my memory has become faded and garbled. I will do my best to recollect things correctly, but there are no guarantees that this middle-aged gal is getting it exactly right.

Open House parties at this university where short, since all eleven houses had to be attended, and water was served at each house. This was a dressier round, with most of the sorority women wearing matching dresses or skirt outfits.

Nothing Compares 2 U: I had heard that this was one of the “top houses” on campus, and the women in the house were very pretty. I was worried they would be snobby. I spent most of the time talking to only one woman but felt like we really hit it off, and I didn’t find her snobby at all. However, there was a popular girl from my high school also going through recruitment (the “It Girl”), and I became somewhat uncomfortable when the questioning turned to whether I was friends with the It Girl or lived near the It Girl. (As an aside, I wasn’t friends with the It Girl, but she was always friendly and not a big B.)
Vogue: This house had a reputation as the struggling sorority on campus. For that reason, I can’t remember anyone who didn’t try to cut this house right away. This wasn’t fair, but that was the reality of what was going on. I don’t remember very much about the party at this house.
Vision of Love: For some reason, I have a vision of these women in red dresses with wide scoop necks (almost, but not quite, Flash Dance style) that cinched in at the low waste. I recall having a pleasant time but nothing really stands out, positive or negative.
Poison: I loved this house. This house had a reputation as being strong on campus but not snobby. The women wore pretty, yellow sundresses. They were laid back and not at all what my image of sorority girls was about. (Recall I didn’t know anything about the greek system, so I was full of incorrect notions.) The physical house was really pretty but also homey. I left this house really hoping that I would get invited back.
From a Distance: This house had a reputation as being the house with the good grades. I can’t remember much about my conversation here, but I remember thinking the physical house was really cool: the sorority letters were incorporated into the house structure.
Hold On: I hadn’t heard much about this house. However, the physical house was very stately, and I have a definite recollection of this sorority’s Open House theme because it was somewhat of a turn off for me. It was a Ritz Hotel theme and the women dressed up like hotel counter clerks (white blouses, dark skirts and heels) and parked very expensive cars in the sorority’s parking lot (Jaguars, Mercedes- no joke). This was in stark contrast to the women I met with during the party who seemed really nice and not at all pretentious.
Because I Love You: This sorority’s physical house was beautiful. However, there wasn’t anything particularly memorable about the conversation other than I remember speaking briefly with a women who I knew from a competitive sport that I played in high school. I didn’t have any legitimate reason for disliking her, but I just got the feeling that we wouldn’t hit it off as friends and was worried that feeling might be mutual.
It Must Have Been Love: This was a newer sorority on campus. I recall the women wearing white sun dresses. I had a very strained conversation at this house and remember feeling that I wouldn’t be too upset if I didn’t return.
Pump Up the Jam: This was my step-mother’s sorority (though at a different school). Next to Vogue, it was probably struggling the most on campus in terms of recruiting members. The physical house was also kind of funky. Though this was one of the oldest houses on campus (dating back to the early 1900s), they must have built a new house in the 60s or 70s, and you could definitely tell. Most of the other sororities on this campus had houses that were very beautiful.
Rub You the Right Way: This was another house that had a reputation as being a "top house" on campus. The physical house was beautiful as were the sorority members. I was intimidated but recall having a nice coversation.
Do Me!: I really liked this house. The physical house was warm and inviting, as were the women I spoke with. In retrospect, I really screwed up at this house. I was very thin and would occasionally pass out if I didn’t eat properly. (I swear; I did eat well; I just needed to eat frequently to avoid this problem. I even passed out once in chemistry class.) Anyway, half-way through this party, I started getting really light-headed and was worried I was going to pass out so I asked the sorority member who was talking to me whether she had any candy or something else to eat so I could get some sugar. She looked at me like I was the strangest girl she had ever met, but she did find me some candy, and I avoided passing out in the middle of their open house party. We can all agree I was clueless. J
Love Takes Time: This is the house that was colonizing after formal recruitment. More on that later.

After Open House parties, my favorite was Poison. Heather's favorite was Rub You the Right Way. I think Amy liked Do Me! The next round was House Tours, and we were told we could attend eight parties for House Tours. I believe I marked down It Must Have Been Love, Pump Up the Jam and Vogue as the three houses I did not want to return to for House Tours.

Never trust a big butt and a smile.

LOL

The way they did the Ritz Hotel theme is BIZARRE!

I was in the 7th grade when most of those songs debuted! It is great that you remember so much.

Where is, "Smells like Teen Spirit"?

At least THIS thread makes me feel young! :) I was in sixth grade. Thanks Milli!

pssst...Benz...that was '91/'92... this was just pre-"grunge" :)

And your new sig made me laugh. I love Karen, even when I didn't like the show much the last few seasons, she always cracked me up.

Ooooooh! A colonization! Tell us more. :)