My aunt pledged PLEDGED DST
in '68
and my mom PLEDGED AKA
in '72.
When I look at their college yearbooks, I get SO jealous, sad, and sometimes even angry because I hate that things have changed so much. In their days, being a pledgee meant being a member of a 2nd most elite, prestigious club (with the 1st being the frat/sorority itself). The movie, School Daze, doesn't come CLOSE to depicting what that "openness" was like. Passers-by were in awe of the uniformity, discipline, and comraderie of the pledgees, and even more impressed with their ability to handle their business in the classroom and in the community through the organization of their pledge clubs. But now, "candidates" (not pledgees) can't even dress alike, much less serenade publicly! We can't even get our film developed for fear that some nosy Kodak processor will call the cops if they see pics of what looks like hazing!
As a little girl, I longed to experience what my AUNT did with her duckteam--to be decked from head to toe in matching outfits (a different one each day, for whatever weather, and with appropriate accessories) designated by my Big Sisters; to immediately jump in line when I spotted my LSs across the yard after class; to delete the words "I" and "me" completely from my vocabulary; to eat in unison, and carry bricks and goody boxes, etc... All that protocol and pageantry would give me and my LSs a feeling of ONE-NESS that would endure until death. That's what I expected it to be like when I went to college. Imagine my disappoinment...
And I'm Out!