Back in the day . . .

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

But MC, reading your post reminded me of the movie "Shag" -- have you ever seen it? I love that movie.

Believe it or not, I never did see it. I remember when it was made/released. Seems like we had kind of a "maybe we should see it, but it would probably make us barf to see Hollywood's take on Myrtle Beach" so we never did. So it's worth a look?

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by honeychile

We gave gifties at Pref, and the Phi Delta Thetas did "Kiss and Carnation" on Bid Night. They gave each pledge a carnation (their flower) and a kiss to welcome them into the Greek System.

I had to read this twice to realize that the Phi Delt's were giving the carnation and kiss to female pledges and not Phi Delt pledges. ("Wait, the Phi Delt's did what????")

[Leslie Anne]

Wow….thoughts of back in the day.

Yes, honey, Rush with frills! I get a little sad that Maryland no longer has Formal Rush in the fall….all the sisters lined up outside the chapter houses wearing their matching outfits trying to out-yell each other. (We wore black, straight skirts, white blouses and black bow ties. We probably looked like flight attendants, lol, but I loved it.) The Rushees had to endure rankings from the frat boys who brought their couches out onto their lawns. They’d zero in on a particular girl and hold up big cards, 1 through 10. Rushees took flowers and inspirational hand-written letters with them after Preference. And, yes, real candles.

The main hang out for Greeks was the ‘Vous which was pretty disgusting but had been around forever. It always had at least an inch of gunk on the floor and they only served beer on tap. Very bad, watery beer. I think of the ‘Vous every time I hear “How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths (often requested by the sillier sorority girls who thought it was a great “party” song – did they ever listen to the lyrics?) Around 1986 or so, they built Sante Fe Café and that became the nicer hang out with food and mixed drinks. The front patio was the place to be seen…in your letters…drinking. The ‘Vous is now gone. Not sure about SFC.

Campus traditions: Monday night serenades by the fraternity men in their coats and ties, stealing composites and plastering them with suggestive phrases cut out of magazines, massive scavenger hunts during Greek Week. Greek Week was just the best. The talent competition was a big highlight. I remember one year the Alpha Phis and whoever they were teamed up with did a Flashdance kinda thing and everyone freaked when they had water splashing down onto all the electrical equipment. That same year I pranced around the stage dressed as Snow White with my sisters as the dwarfs. It’s a hazy memory since I needed a whole lot of alcohol beforehand to get the nerve to dance in front of a few thousand people. We came in second though.

I must have missed the add-a-bead thing. I only remember pearls; lots and lots of pearls that dangled out over turtlenecks…never got the hang of that. Dressing for going out at night was big slouchy belts, big bows in the hair, and lots of bangles. Very Madonna-esqe.

Songs that will always remind me of certain fraternities:

“Blister in the Sun” = Delta Tau Delta
“Margaritaville” = Fiji
“The Wall” = Pike
“Shout!” and “Destination Unknown” = Phi Delt

Did any other campuses do Destination Unknown parties? No one but the presidents and social chairs knew where we were going. We’d just pile into busses and end up in some bizarre place. The first song of the night would, of course, be “Destination Unknown.”

Aww. The memories.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Did any other campuses do Destination Unknown parties? No one but the presidents and social chairs knew where we were going. We’d just pile into busses and end up in some bizarre place. The first song of the night would, of course, be “Destination Unknown.”

Aww. The memories.

Phi Delt does it here..

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Songs that will always remind me of certain fraternities

Oh geez, if I get started on that one I'll take up all the bandwidth.

Although I'm pretty sure no one else has a memory connected with "Holding Out For A Hero."

[tallgreekalum]

Thanks for the memory of the 'vous! While I went to UMass, one of my best friends was a DTD at Terptown in the mid-eighties. If we were not in Georgetown at Winston's (watching the staff dance on the bar to the "the Boys are Back In Town!") or at "ChiDi" or Chinese disco, a restaurant that used to be a shag dancing mecca, we would be at the 'vous. Do you remember what the sludge that would build up on the floor? 'Vous goo. of course! "Gatoring in the goo" was a rite of passage for many a UM greek Then, next store for Little Tavern burgers (think White Castle)

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Wow….thoughts of back in the day.

Yes, honey, Rush with frills! I get a little sad that Maryland no longer has Formal Rush in the fall….all the sisters lined up outside the chapter houses wearing their matching outfits trying to out-yell each other. (We wore black, straight skirts, white blouses and black bow ties. We probably looked like flight attendants, lol, but I loved it.) The Rushees had to endure rankings from the frat boys who brought their couches out onto their lawns. They’d zero in on a particular girl and hold up big cards, 1 through 10. Rushees took flowers and inspirational hand-written letters with them after Preference. And, yes, real candles.

The main hang out for Greeks was the ‘Vous which was pretty disgusting but had been around forever. It always had at least an inch of gunk on the floor and they only served beer on tap. Very bad, watery beer. I think of the ‘Vous every time I hear “How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths (often requested by the sillier sorority girls who thought it was a great “party” song – did they ever listen to the lyrics?) Around 1986 or so, they built Sante Fe Café and that became the nicer hang out with food and mixed drinks. The front patio was the place to be seen…in your letters…drinking. The ‘Vous is now gone. Not sure about SFC.

Campus traditions: Monday night serenades by the fraternity men in their coats and ties, stealing composites and plastering them with suggestive phrases cut out of magazines, massive scavenger hunts during Greek Week. Greek Week was just the best. The talent competition was a big highlight. I remember one year the Alpha Phis and whoever they were teamed up with did a Flashdance kinda thing and everyone freaked when they had water splashing down onto all the electrical equipment. That same year I pranced around the stage dressed as Snow White with my sisters as the dwarfs. It’s a hazy memory since I needed a whole lot of alcohol beforehand to get the nerve to dance in front of a few thousand people. We came in second though.

I must have missed the add-a-bead thing. I only remember pearls; lots and lots of pearls that dangled out over turtlenecks…never got the hang of that. Dressing for going out at night was big slouchy belts, big bows in the hair, and lots of bangles. Very Madonna-esqe.

Songs that will always remind me of certain fraternities:

“Blister in the Sun” = Delta Tau Delta
“Margaritaville” = Fiji
“The Wall” = Pike
“Shout!” and “Destination Unknown” = Phi Delt

Did any other campuses do Destination Unknown parties? No one but the presidents and social chairs knew where we were going. We’d just pile into busses and end up in some bizarre place. The first song of the night would, of course, be “Destination Unknown.”

Aww. The memories.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

OH - how could I forget.

In the vein of "oh, how could I forget": Madras.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Okay all you "oldsters" - what activities, traditions, clothing rules, etc., did you have back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and you were an active?

.

Well I was in school during the change-over from big hair to grunge. So we:

Used real candles during candle passes and pref (the idea of "turning off" a candle still seems odd to me)

We recieved flowers during pref that you kept (but my first year as an active was the first year we had to take the flowers back before they left)

"Bucks" were the shoe of choice for all "sorority girls"- my GDI friends used to say they could tell if someone was greek if they had on bucks; also popular were the cloth book bags with letters sewn onto them

Lots of flannel. Big hair was reserved for formal and dressy occasions, but it was still around. Flannel was the choice for everyday.

Our pledge classes still had "names"- mine was the Zeta class. Meaning we were the sixth pledge class since our chartering. They aren't allowed to do this anymore. We even had pledge class group pictures taken every year on bid day.

Pawpurs was also known as Pampers, the bar where "baby greeks" (Freshman and Sophmores) hung out. Once you were legal, you moved on to the Fab Four- The Junction, The Pub, The CI, and The Crystal. Pawpurs was a great place to befriend greeks in other orgs.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

- . . . the location is now home to the San Marcos WIC program. There's a joke there somewhere . . .

I forgot to mention that Family Planning is now located below the parking lot of the aforementioned Roost (which is nowcalled Hamburger Bill's or something of that nature).

Then again, Family Planning used to be next to the State Store so I guess it's a pattern.

Oh, that's another one. $2.50 Pill packs, ladies. You can all go cry now...

[nittanyalum]

I have to co-sign most of the above, a lot of this brings back tons of memories (some fuzzier than I'd like to admit, too much time has passed!).

But MC, reading your post reminded me of the movie "Shag" -- have you ever seen it? I love that movie.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

I pledged in the fall of 1970 ...

we had

flowers we got to keep at pref - we went to 3 prefs so by 3rd pref the sisters knew by what flowers you were carrying which 2 prefs (or just 1 pref) you had been to.

our pledge class was Iota and we had pledge class outfits ... awful polyester tunics and pants (yuch!!!)

we wore formal gowns for preference and had actual themes and skits and made name tags for rushees for each party in line with the theme which they got to keep.

as pledges we carried a notebook which had a page for each active. we had to schedule interviews with each active and each week we had to get 5 signatures from actives. we also had to organize and fund a dance for the pledges and actives prior to being initiated. we didn't get initiated until we had grades -- we lost a pledge when she decided over Christmas break she didn't really want to be in a sorority.

candles were real and we never had a problem with anyone getting burned.

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by AZ-AlphaXi

I pledged in the fall of 1970 ...

we had

flowers we got to keep at pref - we went to 3 prefs so by 3rd pref the sisters knew by what flowers you were carrying which 2 prefs (or just 1 pref) you had been to.

our pledge class was Iota and we had pledge class outfits ... awful polyester tunics and pants (yuch!!!)

we wore formal gowns for preference and had actual themes and skits and made name tags for rushees for each party in line with the theme which they got to keep.

as pledges we carried a notebook which had a page for each active. we had to schedule interviews with each active and each week we had to get 5 signatures from actives. we also had to organize and fund a dance for the pledges and actives prior to being initiated. we didn't get initiated until we had grades -- we lost a pledge when she decided over Christmas break she didn't really want to be in a sorority.

candles were real and we never had a problem with anyone getting burned.

1992 minus the tunics. Our pref/greek sing gown was rather classy for the time though. It was a black velvet top with red satin bottom with a big red bow in the back.

[srmom]

Twisted bead necklaces were really big - until cheap knock-offs appeared.

Oh, I had those - malachite, lapis, etc. Those were really popular at SMU.

Also the humongous tulip rings in emerald, ruby and sapphire.

I keep those in my jewelry box - if I had a daughter, and if she wanted to wear tacky 80's jewelry, I'd give them to her!

Anybody wear Cullinanne(sp) outfits? I really liked them, along with the ever present Laura Ashley dresses. I still have a few in an upstairs closet - never know when they might come back haha

[srmom]

Also, we used real candles for candlelights, white with wine and silver blue ribbon tied around them. I still have mine (24 years later), proudly displayed in my kitchen in a hurricane shade.

[Cutie_Hootie]

Every Monday was badge attire--every fraternity boy wore khaki slacks, shirt, tie, and navy blazer. The girls all wore skirts or dresses, preferably plaid skirts. (My favorite not-as-dressy outfit was a plaid skirt with a denim shirt (untucked!) and my beautiful fisherman sweater, all from Abercrombie and Fitch. Egads!) We always dressed up for classes, and only wore jeans on Tuesdays or Thursdays when most people had labs. We always wore letters on those days. Most people had plaid letters. Every self-respecting sorority girl had a tote bag with her letters embroidered on that too, and carried it to class daily. We always wore a gold herringbone necklace with another necklace with our lavalier hanging on it (the necklaces came out the front of our turtlenecks, which was not a good look for me!). We wore our own letters until we were lavaliered by our boyfriend, then pinned, then engaged. We had beautiful white candles for our candlelight, wrapped in both red and yellow ribbon with a white carnation as well as his fraternity colors mixed in.

We were the first year that didn't get presents at Pref, and everyone felt sorry for us. (it was never a big deal to any of us though) We definitely had full frills rush other than the gifts though. It was awesome to walk into each house every day and see it totally transformed.

Like so many others, we paint-penned everything that couldn't run away from us...even stupid stuff like hangers, clothespins, lighters (for those forbidden candles in your room of course). We had paintpenned candles for big/little revelation, and of course we had real candles for everything!

Nothing was better than serenades--we loved going from house to house to introduce our new pledges, invite them to our Fall party Chi-Oahu (to the tune of Copacabana by Berry Manilow) or drum up excitement for Formal. And fraternity serenades were the end all be all. We all crowded into our front entry and stairwell to see who would get flowers, who were the new pledges, and most importantly, what song they sang and who they sang it to. The pledge serenade was most important because we were then invited to join in a pledge dance with one of the fraternities. And the other big serenade time was for Homecoming, where the entire campus would turn out on the Quad to hear the chapters sing.

Pledging was an adventure--quizzes every week, plenty of pranks--especially scavanger hunts, stealing composites and other things from the fraternities, and bonding with your pledge sisters. And we had to wear skirts every week, regardless of weather (we had formal rush in January). I remember one time when we had six inches of snow on the ground and a killer windchill, and our pledge trainer just said, "I won't tell you not to do it, but in my opinion, a Chi Omega does not wear pants with her badge." None of us did wear them after hearing that!

The entire campus had a curfew. All the dorms were single sex, and all dorms and fraternity/sorority houses closed at midnight during the week and two on the weekends. It was always a shock to walk into the bathroom (of the dorm) at about 4 am and see feet facing the WRONG way.

Our campus was dry, but for some reason no one would say anything if you had a cup in your hand or a backpack on your back. So on Fridays and Saturdays, you'd see a lot of people with overloaded backpacks taking off down to the fraternities. A guess a lot of studying was going on...It was always fun to be spoiled by the fraternity pledges. They picked you up and brought you down to the house, walked you back to your room, even drove us to and from the bars. Of course, they waited on you hand and foot in the house. And our favorite song was American Pie, where we would change the words to "white carnation" from "pink carnation", so it became a screaming war between us and Phi Mus. We also loved Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, where we would scream ChiOOOOOOChiOOOOOOO during various parts...wow, we were cheesy!

Ahh, the good old days (I'm rather shocked by how much my campus culture has changed in just a decade!!)