What has GC taught you?

[UGAalum94]

I'm cooling off a little, and I wonder: is the email address something that could be faked or is it a campus email that can be traced to a user?

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I'm cooling off a little, and I wonder: is the email address something that could be faked or is it a campus email that can be traced to a user?

I'd be inclined to believe that except that there's been more incriminating evidence to implicate said user.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by centaur532

I'd be inclined to believe that except that there's been more incriminating evidence to implicate said user.

So, a person in real life would be convinced that the person accused actually did what she's accused of here?

Maybe I'm being childish taking it so seriously, but I'd hate to think that a group would unknowingly give a bid to person who had such little regard for ritual in general. While I can understand a PNM wanting to know all about MS, going to the lengths that this person has gone would indicate a pretty serious character flaw.

[cuteASAbug]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

So, a person in real life would be convinced that the person accused actually did what she's accused of here?

Maybe I'm being childish taking it so seriously, but I'd hate to think that a group would unknowingly give a bid to person who had such little regard for ritual in general. While I can understand a PNM wanting to know all about MS, going to the lengths that this person has gone would indicate a pretty serious character flaw.

My question is- how would they know? 9 pnm's out of 10 would not walk into a recruitment party and go "hey, I want to be an Alpha Gamma Delta because I already have your ritual and I think it's beautiful."

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

My question is- how would they know? 9 pnm's out of 10 would not walk into a recruitment party and go "hey, I want to be an Alpha Gamma Delta because I already have your ritual and I think it's beautiful."

I have no idea of what they actually saw and whether they retained it, but I get the feeling that the people who brought this up have some proof they could share with the chapters.

Not that they use the procedure for stuff like this, but I can remember once seeing a list of members who had been expelled or people who were forever prohibited from being initiated on one of the national NPHC sites. At the time, I was kind of blown away by the idea of having such a public list of shame.

Do you ever have these flashes of recognition of how NPHC does some stuff better than NPC? I'm having one of those flashes of recognition. Get caught soliciting ritual on the internet with some pretty good proof it was you, get banned from initiation at any of our chapters.

It's just a dream, but it's kind of a nice one.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

Do you ever have these flashes of recognition of how NPHC does some stuff better than NPC?

Very much so.

[ZTAngel]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

My question is- how would they know? 9 pnm's out of 10 would not walk into a recruitment party and go "hey, I want to be an Alpha Gamma Delta because I already have your ritual and I think it's beautiful."

If her name is in the email address, it's very easy to figure out. I'm sure the GC alum are more than willing to let their chapter know about this at the school where she's rushing.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

If her name is in the email address, it's very easy to figure out. I'm sure the GC alum are more than willing to let their chapter know about this at the school where she's rushing.

The only thing that worries me about this, and I'm not really that worried about it, is the possibility that maybe someone else from here or her old campus who didn't like her created an email profile with her name. Granted that sounds pretty crazy and elaborate, but so does getting other people's ritual before you rush. It's just a question of who the crazy person is: the name in the email address or a different person who created it.

Perhaps we should start a GC mysteries thread.

[carnation]

I can think of at least twice that people have posted awful threads in another person's name trying to ruin that person's recruitment.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

My question is- how would they know? 9 pnm's out of 10 would not walk into a recruitment party and go "hey, I want to be an Alpha Gamma Delta because I already have your ritual and I think it's beautiful."

I think that knowing the ritual of the GLO that you pledged prior to initiation would spoil the meaning of the whole ceremony for you - part of the fun of initiation is finally having everything revealed to you.

As far as knowing the rituals for other GLOs...I suppose I'd be lying if I didn't say that I had a mild curiosity about stuff. However, despite that mild curiosity I wouldn't actually try to find anything out b/c its none of my business. I extend the same courtesy to other groups' ritual as I would want extended to my own.

I suppose on some level it disturbs me a little that there are people out there trading rituals, but its one of those things that we just have to let go b/c we'll never be able to stop it. In the long run, our ritual is more than just what's written on paper...its the actual feeling and experience you get from being in the room with your sisters and hearing the words spoken by them, etc. I've seen written copies of our ritual (legitimately, b/c I used to have a role in my chapter's initiation ceremony ), and I can honestly say that reading it on paper pales in comparison to actually being there for a real live ceremony. Knowing some of the secrets doesn't give you the full experience.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by susan314

I think that knowing the ritual of the GLO that you pledged prior to initiation would spoil the meaning of the whole ceremony for you - part of the fun of initiation is finally having everything revealed to you.

As far as knowing the rituals for other GLOs...I suppose I'd be lying if I didn't say that I had a mild curiosity about stuff. However, despite that mild curiosity I wouldn't actually try to find anything out b/c its none of my business. I extend the same courtesy to other groups' ritual as I would want extended to my own.

I suppose on some level it disturbs me a little that there are people out there trading rituals, but its one of those things that we just have to let go b/c we'll never be able to stop it. In the long run, our ritual is more than just what's written on paper...its the actual feeling and experience you get from being in the room with your sisters and hearing the words spoken by them, etc. I've seen written copies of our ritual (legitimately, b/c I used to have a role in my chapter's initiation ceremony ), and I can honestly say that reading it on paper pales in comparison to actually being there for a real live ceremony. Knowing some of the secrets doesn't give you the full experience.

Exactly. I know that there are people out there trading my, and other people's rituals, but you can kind of just shrug it off. It doesn't mean anything to them and they're not any closer to being my sister because of it.

I think there are some people who legitimately are interested in rituals for more academic reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hand mine out to them. (Not that I exactly keep one around either).

I suspect we're all nosy and curious, I am, but that doesn't mean you can't be mature about it. (And this sounds like the opposite of maturity to me)

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I think there are some people who legitimately are interested in rituals for more academic reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hand mine out to them. (Not that I exactly keep one around either).

I hadn't thought too much about this until yesterday when this story broke on GreekChat and someone mentioned the idea or more "legitimate" ritual collectors in a pm, but it really would be interesting historically and symbolically to examine founding principles and social influences and aspirations in terms of representations in ritual.

What did the founders choose, out of what tradition did they think they picked it, (like AOPi's rejection of having a coat of arms as Medieval and some groups avoiding the term sorority as Latin not Greek, etc.), what contemporary (to the founding) vision of womanhood, manhood, or friendship do the symbols align with? etc. There might be Ph.d in there somewhere for someone who doesn't care about oaths they've taken and secrecy.

I don't mean to go all Da Vinci Code on your butts, but symbols and their significance is pretty interesting generally.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by susan314

I think that knowing the ritual of the GLO that you pledged prior to initiation would spoil the meaning of the whole ceremony for you - part of the fun of initiation is finally having everything revealed to you.

As far as knowing the rituals for other GLOs...I suppose I'd be lying if I didn't say that I had a mild curiosity about stuff. However, despite that mild curiosity I wouldn't actually try to find anything out b/c its none of my business. I extend the same courtesy to other groups' ritual as I would want extended to my own.

I suppose on some level it disturbs me a little that there are people out there trading rituals, but its one of those things that we just have to let go b/c we'll never be able to stop it. In the long run, our ritual is more than just what's written on paper...its the actual feeling and experience you get from being in the room with your sisters and hearing the words spoken by them, etc. I've seen written copies of our ritual (legitimately, b/c I used to have a role in my chapter's initiation ceremony ), and I can honestly say that reading it on paper pales in comparison to actually being there for a real live ceremony. Knowing some of the secrets doesn't give you the full experience.

You're right on so many counts. But it does bother me a little that we might have active plans in place about pins on E-bay, but nothing for ritual that I know of. I think part of what may bug me the most is that I think that while we all learn ritual as member, members don't even usually get a written copy as far as I know, so we're talking about someone with some authority being pretty casual about information members are instructed to hold dearly.

And I'm emphatically not asking anyone to explain, but it's the skulls as symbols that alway trigger my curiosity. Roses, pearls, and squirrels, while absolutely lovely and dear to my heart, just don't have the mystic impact of a skull on your badge or crest.

ETA: I feel obligated to note, I'm not goth or emo.

[KSUViolet06]

Whoa. How did I miss this? My goodness.

I wouldn't be happy if someone had a copy of my ritual. But I'd take comfort in the fact that just reading it doesn't mean you "know" it (most of it cannot be understood by reading anyway). It has to be experienced for anyone to ever truly understand it.