[SISTERGREEK]

At this point, all four organizations were on campus. X-Men had crossed a line the year before and their numbers began to rival those of Thundercats. By this time, many of my friends had crossed into the various organizations on campus. Also, many of my friends had tried and failed to gain membership in different organizations (including one series of unfortunate events that put an end to what I thought was a really strong friendship). By that time, I was beginning to be able to distinguish between the organizations based on the women that I knew who became a part of them.

I knew one woman quite well who joined Boy Meets World. She was a year behind me, and her coming out was entirely unexpected; I never even knew she was interested in a sorority. She was studious and in my major. We were also in an organization together. I liked her a lot because she was kind, steady, and reliable. She was my first real impression of the kind of women that Boy Meets World attracted, and it was an overwhelmingly positive one. I was really happy for her when I found out that she had crossed.

I knew several women who had joined the Thundercats. These women were smart, campus leaders, and quite visible socially as well. But there was something about the women who became Thundercats. They completely changed. Many of them seemed to carry themselves as though they were the ish (and not in the good way, in the bad way) now that they were members of their organization. It seemed that for many of them, their organization made them. This was not the case for all of them. There were several women that crossed whom I continued to good friends with. These women were intelligent and friendly, women that I greatly respected on campus. Also, a few women that I knew and really respected wanted to be Thundercats but were denied membership. But it did not sit well with me that most of the Thundercats seemed to be of the former variety. My impression of Thundercats at this point was not very good.

I also knew several women that had crossed into X-Men. Like the women of Thundercats, these women were smart (one was the valedictorian the year that I graduated), campus leaders, and very much socially prominent. Many of the women who became X-Men were actually women that had lived in my freshman dorm. However, unlike the Thundercats, I did not see any manifestations of a newfound superiority complex in the X-Men. They were the same women that they had been before they crossed, I just saw them less frequently now. Of course, there was that one X-Men that skipped out on her duties for an organization that I was president of (though that did not happen until senior year), but her linesister was right there to pick up her slack, which I respected.

And last, but not least, there was Punky Brewster. I still had not come into contact with any Punky Brewsters. I did not know, personally, any women that had crossed. I would see them occasionally on campus, but never had a really in-depth conversation with one. But for some reason, I didn't quite discount Punky Brewster, maybe because of the colors. (I really like that combination).

The really important thing that happened my junior year was that I begin
to reevaluate the sorority thing. Seeing women that I knew and respected joining each of these organizations made me give it a second glance. I begin to wonder what drew them to these organizations; there must be something more to it then I saw. I decided that I would spend the summer researching the organizations before make a final decision of whether to pursue membership or not.

To be continued....