[LXA grits]

I know what you mean by those long discussions you have while driving across Arizona, NM, TX desert. One of my favorite memories as an active brother was my Spring 2001 road trip with fellow Associate Member Jeremy. We picked up one spring break and headed from Central Florida to Burbank, CA to get on the Price Is Right.

So, as we go down those long dusty roads, ideas start floating around. It's interesting to hear of your thoughts about the Associate Member ceremony being linked to the Theta Kappa Nu ritual. But when you ask if we'd all be considered a ThKN brother (since we've all taken the AM oath and received the AM pin, etc) I think it's stretching it a little bit. Yes, we did take some core ideas from a specific part of the ThKN Initiation ritual to create our "pledge ceremony"...before the 1972 creation of Associate Membership. Anyone who's had the chance to peek at the ThKN ritual can attest to its respectable ritualistic references and presentation. While we have a very nice AMCeremony...let's not forget the respect shown to ThKN due to their relinquishing of their Initiation Ritual. We can't consider ourselves brothers of ThKN, because we've never been through their Initiation Ritual...only a ceremony created out of respect for (and with great reference to) their ritual. Keep in mind, the oaths you took before you became a pledged aspirant were in promise to Lambda Chi Alpha. That is the important thing to remember. You were pledging yourself to her, not a fraternity that was absorbed in 1939. Plus, if I were a ThKN, I'd totally have to find some new bumper stickers for my car...and that would be a long eBay search.

Good thoughts tho.

P.S. We did get on the Price is Right, and Jeremy did win a dinette set for his mom. Bob Barker knows what’s up.