Sorority hazing: ZAS at Syracuse

[hoosier]

4/29/05 - Koren Zailckas, a 24-year-old recovered alcoholic, read from her book Smashed that tells the story of her childhood alcoholism problem last night in the University of Rhode Island Library.
At 14, Zailckas was introduced to the world of drinking, which took over a large portion of her life over the next eight years.
Zailckas said she saw drinking as "a way to relate to the opposite sex when men seemed like outer space creatures at the time."
She said it helped her bond with women also.
Zailckas attended Syracuse University where she became a member of the sorority Zeta Alpha Sigma. She told the story of her hazing at SU, during which she was subjected to drinking games, bong smoking, screwdrivers and pot brownies.
"Some high-strung pledges fainted under the interrogation," she said.
Her first task was to take a sip of beer every time Sting said the word "Roxanne," which summed up to be about "24 gulps in two minutes," Zailckas said.
"Every gulp makes my stomach flop like a sunfish," she read.
When the song ended and she had not finished her second beer, Zailckas compared the experience to not being allowed to leave the dinner table until everyone finished their peas.
Zailckas said that she was then taken to a fraternity house where she was forced to smoke marijuana, "pound screwdrivers" and eat pot brownies off of the floor.
Zailckas said hazing was more of a masochistic experience than peer pressure.
"Inside I felt like a shit head, and on the outside they [her sisters] told me I was," Zailckas said.
By the end of the night, Zailckas said she was so drunk and stoned that she "felt like a turtle without its shell, just as soft and demented."
After reading, Zailckas allowed members of the audience to ask questions regarding her alcohol abuse.