Author needs help with legacy info

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I have to admit that I have wondered about my daughters, who are Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi legacies from their deceased grandmothers. I can easily provide the names and chapter information, but do I have to send a birth certificate and marriage licenses? Is it like joining the DAR???

But you could if the chapter needed it, so no worries. My guess is that if a chapter had any doubt, they'd find someone else from the grandmother's hometown, even if he or she wasn't a group member, who could verify the relationship.

[SWTXBelle]

The Chi Omega, if she were alive today, would be 97! That is pretty amazing - it's what you get when you marry an older man who was a "whoopsie!" when his mother was 43! She was at Rhodes College back when it was Southwest(ern? I can't remember).
Actually, the Chi Omega daughter of my mother-in-law's (younger) Chi Omega buddy from the 70s onward is still in touch with us . . .so now that I think about it, that one is covered!

[jwright25]

I know you said it was fiction, so it doesn't HAVE to be true to life. But in reality, chapters cut legacies all the time. Simply being a legacy isn't going to be feasible enough. I like the idea of someone else with the same name, but if you really want to go the legacy route, make it something more compelling - like a descendant of a founder or something.

[alrphimu]

Originally Posted by jwright25

I know you said it was fiction, so it doesn't HAVE to be true to life. But in reality, chapters cut legacies all the time. Simply being a legacy isn't going to be feasible enough. I like the idea of someone else with the same name, but if you really want to go the legacy route, make it something more compelling - like a descendant of a founder or something.

yeah...a founder's descendant. I don't really know who checks our legacies out (I'm assuming our membership director or advisor -- I know someone does...) but I just feel that if someone came through saying they were one of our founder's great(times a bajillion) grandaughter...who would question that? i mean, obviously our nationals would be on our ass every five seconds making sure we gave this girl sweet treatment...so it probably would be questioned...but still, it'd make a much better story

[UGAalum94]

So maybe a founder's great-granddaughter has the same name as your main character but doesn't want to rush because she's too emo for Greek Life, but encourages your main character to rush knowing the misrepresentation will help her? It practically writes itself.

[LPIDelta]

I was thinking the same thing--make her the descendant of a legacy and people may be SO excited, they don't even think about whether its true.

My maiden name is Locke....I always wondered if I am related to Theta founder Betty Locke Hamilton, making me a Theta legacy. (I am pretty sure I am not!) But would anyone question?? (I hope so!)

[Faith4Keep]

Originally Posted by Heather17

My maiden name is Locke....I always wondered if I am related to Theta founder Betty Locke Hamilton, making me a Theta legacy. (I am pretty sure I am not!) But would anyone question?? (I hope so!)

Haha- even if you weren't a descendant of Bettie Locke, I would be so excited that you had the same name (during recruitment) that I would be practically star struck anyway.

[SWTXBelle]

OT - Have you seen the "Betty Locke is my homegirl" shirt???LOL

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I have to admit that I have wondered about my daughters, who are Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi legacies from their deceased grandmothers. I can easily provide the names and chapter information, but do I have to send a birth certificate and marriage licenses? Is it like joining the DAR???

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

The Chi Omega, if she were alive today, would be 97! That is pretty amazing - it's what you get when you marry an older man who was a "whoopsie!" when his mother was 43! She was at Rhodes College back when it was Southwest(ern? I can't remember).
Actually, the Chi Omega daughter of my mother-in-law's (younger) Chi Omega buddy from the 70s onward is still in touch with us . . .so now that I think about it, that one is covered!

Kappa Beta Chapter of Chi Omega is at Rhodes College (formerly Southwestern). A wonderful chapter.

Just FYI, the official Chi Omega legacy policy does not include grandmothers.

[SWTXBelle]

REALLY? That's amazing to me. Well, one problem solved!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Just FYI, the official Chi Omega legacy policy does not include grandmothers.

Is this a recent policy change or has it always been this way? If that's TMI to give, just say so - it made me think of a thread I wanted to start and I don't want to hijack this one.

[alfuzzxi]

Originally Posted by Heather17

I was thinking the same thing--make her the descendant of a legacy and people may be SO excited, they don't even think about whether its true.

My maiden name is Locke....I always wondered if I am related to Theta founder Betty Locke Hamilton, making me a Theta legacy. (I am pretty sure I am not!) But would anyone question?? (I hope so!)

I think that this would def. be a realistic idea for a book. I could imagine if there was a girl on campus who had a founders last name we probably would have been all over that encouraging her to join...it be cute in the book if the girl did not want to join and the sorority was persuing her to join and the girl was doing everything to get away from them and then in the end of course she loves the sorority.

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by AlphaGamUGAAlum

So maybe a founder's great-granddaughter has the same name as your main character but doesn't want to rush because she's too emo for Greek Life, but encourages your main character to rush knowing the misrepresentation will help her? It practically writes itself.

I think that is a good story line idea, but just like the rest of the posts in this thread, in real life this girl would eventually get caught!

I was going to respond to this comment in general, but since it deals with my GLO....

My maiden name is Locke....I always wondered if I am related to Theta founder Betty Locke Hamilton, making me a Theta legacy. (I am pretty sure I am not!) But would anyone question?? (I hope so!)

I think it would be cool if a girl would be related to a founder of a GLO in real life, but again, I would think and hope that this would be checked out. I don't think anybody with the last name of a founder of any of the NPC sororities could just walk in to recruitment and say, "Hey I am related to so and so, the founder of ABC". At least I hope not!

[minDyG]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

I think that is a good story line idea, but just like the rest of the posts in this thread, in real life this girl would eventually get caught!

And I'm sure in the book she would/will eventually get caught, thus creating a plot.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by minDyG

And I'm sure in the book she would/will eventually get caught, thus creating a plot.

OMG, do you mean rising action, a climax, everything?

OP: Why do you want to write a book about something you don't know about? Surely there are things you have more experience with that would make compelling literature.

All others: The Hazing Meri Sugarman series is a great example of an author writing about something she does not know. The main character gets into the most popular house on campus because she is a legacy and is brutally hazed. You can't know how many high schoolers have asked me about whether particular scenes from these novels really happened to me or other Greeks. At least with Epsilon Zeta, Jock Young really is Greek and knows what he's writing about... even if some of it seems crazy, you know there has to be some truth in it.