Opinions for big SEC school

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

Once again, and again, and again, and again, there are many posts authored by myself that explain my experiences and why I think my organization and GLO's in general are both important and helfpul to their members. I absolutely have MY OWN, INDIVIDUAL experience with my organization. I share my ritual with thousands of other women, but what I learned from my chapter and the ways in which it effected my life are mine and my own. The same goes for you and all other Greeks. I absolutely do not have to think or feel exactly like every other member of my organization, nor do they have to have the same experiences and feelings as I when it comes to the letters we share.

You said what you really meant the first time. You think recruitment itself is frivolous and silly; and your sorority is "just a sorority." Your longwinded explanations are just "saves" that are making you protest too much.

You're typing to grown women (perhaps older than you?) who are well aware of our priorities in life and what it means to have a sisterhood without losing oneself. That is a given. The fact that you randomly chose to go on these rants is really amusing to say the least.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by Loyally Kappa

Smart woman.

And I'll bet you did NOT head off to college thinking that the outfits you selected for rush were the most important decisions you had made to date in your short life!

That's an understatement! I was actually lucky (or some would say unlucky) enough to have no clue that outfit selection would be any sort of thing to think/worry about. The Greeks in my family were all from small northern schools and I had no idea about anything being different in the SEC going into recruitment.

I wore homemade sundresses for round one because it was so hot and they were the best for the weather, and the only dress I bought especially for recruitment was the one I planned to wear for prefs. My sister learned from me for her later recruitment at Bama and actually PLANNED what she wore, but she still didn't feel the need to micromanage every bit of every outfit.

Sorority life is supposed to be fun, and that should start with recruitment. Worrying about every little bit of an outfit is not fun (at least, not for me).

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

You said what you really meant the first time. You think recruitment itself is frivolous and silly; and your sorority is "just a sorority." Your longwinded explanations are just "saves" that are making you protest too much.

You're typing to grown women (perhaps older than you?) who are well aware of our priorities in life and what it means to have a sisterhood without losing oneself. That is a given. The fact that you randomly chose to go on these rants is really amusing to say the least.

I did say what I meant the first time. I said:

"I very much love my organization and being in a sorority certainly shaped my college experience. I learned a LOT about how to interact with others, how to balance a million things at once, how to make rules and how to follow them, and made many friends that I will have for years to come. I love that I share a ritual with thousands of other women that I've never even met. That's pretty cool. Oh, and I had a lot of fun, too. But at the end of the day, it's just a sorority."


I also said:
I have always found the process to be frivolous and in general, silly. I genuinely use the word silly. We sit in parties in cute dresses, making small talk with our peers, and then choose our new members based on that small time together combined with the application they sent in. We watch what we say, follow a myriad of complicated and as my mom would say "nit-picky" rules, and yes, even make comments about what girls are wearing. PNM's are just as likely to judge actives on appearance as actives are to do the same to PNM's. Probably more so, since PNM's are new to the whole process and can get overwhelmed trying to remember 15 different sororities. It's easy to break them into categories. Who is hot...who is not.

Who here is going to pretend they or someone in their recruitment group DIDN'T once say "I like them but they're so (insert shallow derogatory comment here)"? Some girls are given bids because they are funny, nice, down to earth women who are kind to others. But sometimes a girl gets dropped because she dated a sister's ex boyfriend. Or because she shows a little too much cleavage. Or because her GPA is a smidge too low. Or because she did that one keg stand the first week of school. Maybe those girls are all extremely amazing people who are great listeners, selfless, and kind. Sometimes a girl gets a bid because she's best friends with an active. Or because she's extremely pretty. Or because her cousin is someone famous. Or because her mom is a very active alum. Maybe all those girls are selfish, rude, and obnoxious. Yep. Silly. And our sisters did the same thing to us the year before. It's a week long audition and both actives and PNMs are putting on a show...that may or may not reflect who they will be after recruitment is over and bids are given out. Expecting thousands of college aged women to make very mature decisions at all turns isn't realistic"

I have no idea who I am "typing to" and don't really care. It is ok for everyone here to have had different experiences with their respective organizations, put their family first, their sorority first, their career first, whatever. And having different opinions certainly does not cheapen anyone else's experience.

So, again, there is no disagreement here. There are different opinions. There is nothing wrong with my having my own opinion and there is nothing wrong with everyone else having their own.

ETA: Let's put it this way...these are things I believe/feel. If you don't agree with them, great! If you do, great! It in no way effects your own experience with your organization, your life, your feelings, etc. No one in this thread has put down GL, sororities, fraternities, etc. I get to have individual opinions and so does everyone else. That's the beauty of being human. We are ALL unique snowflakes.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

I did say what I meant the first time. I said:

Yes and you've been repeating yourself. You're looooongwinded. That's why you trip up over yourself and your love for your sorority has been outshined by the fact that it's "just a sorority."

/End Thread Hijack

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Yes and you've been repeating yourself. You're looooongwinded. That's why you trip up over yourself and your love for your sorority has been outshined by the fact that it's "just a sorority."

/End Thread Hijack

That is your opinion, and as the saying goes, you're entitled to it. I get to have mine, too. Cheers for individuality.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

That is your opinion, and as the saying goes, you're entitled to it. I get to have mine, too. Cheers for individuality.

That's as much of a newsflash as announcing that your sorority doesn't come before your family and career.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

If I start counting how many times I've repeated myself I'll end up with a number like 543950849654903.

There is no pissing match because you are responding to something that was never written in the first place. You are responding to one line of one post, and ignoring all of the others both before it and after it. It is very obvious that the line "It's just a sorority" does not mean that it is "frivolous" or "trivial".

Please frame your posts as separate musings, because while your post is eloquent and heartfelt it is in no way a response to mine. I have never once said a sorority, or a person's experience in a sorority, life, earth, etc. is silly or frivolous. I have in fact, many, many times now, said that a sorority experience is personal and have explained what mine meant to me. I have asked that that be respected. I have also explained many, many times that it was certainly not silly and I have even carefully listed the several ways in which I believe it helped me and the things I learned from being a member. You, I and every other member of a GLO has an individual experience as a member and I very firmly believe that should be respected. We are all different people with different experiences and that is ok. Instead of focusing on one line of my posts, please read all of the words that precede it.

No one in this thread has said one time that an organization itself is either silly or frivolous, nor have they implied it. No one here has attacked you or your organization. And no one here has implied that GLO's are not important to members, or that they are not useful to both members and individuals that the organizations help. Not once has anyone's experience in an organization been called "silly", "frivolous", or "trivial".

We can take this to PM if you like, I am not having this discussion with you for public viewing anymore.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by agzg

We can take this to PM if you like, I am not having this discussion with you for public viewing anymore.

Please do not.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

I have the right to ask that we do not speak via PM. I am weary from the bullying, rudeness, and will not be taking more of it. Have a nice night.

LOL. It's just following the frivolous and silly theme of recruitment.

[agzg]

LOL I'm not even going back and fixing all my typos and misspellings. Yinz know I usually don't type like that - I'll chalk it up to a crazy day.

[NUBlue&Blue]

Wow, this is just exactly like talking to my 18 year old son. My husband usually gets in the middle of it and says "knock it off, both of you". Or should we say all of you.

I rarely come here anymore and this is why. In fact I have so many people on ignore, sometimes it's hard to follow the conversation.