What! I Don't Need No Stinking Sorority!--An NPHC Membership Journey

[tld221]

Originally Posted by SISTERGREEK

^^You know, I wish I did. Writing this has made me remember things that I haven't thought about in a long time. I wonder what those guys look like now?

The summer before my senior year, I begin to systematically research the organizations: all of them, even the ones that I did not have a particularly favorable impression of. I knew I still had an opportunity to pledge because for some reason, at that point, organizations were taking lines every year, rather than every two years. What I learned about all of them was that they were so much more than the other college organizations that I was involved with. They were about “LIFETIME COMMITMENT” and “SERVICE.” Somehow, in all of my observation of these organizations on my campus, these two facts--particularly the service element--were lost on me. (Which means that all of our organizations could stand to do a better job of promoting our service dimension at the college level. I tell you, four years at an HBCU and I really did not see that aspect of these organizations being displayed on campus. In fact, what I did see was that people who were doing service in order to join these organizations quickly disappeared from the service projects after crossing. However, I don’t know if that was because they were now focusing on their organizations particular service endeavors or not. We have to do better with this. ) All of these organizations were doing positive things in the community and impacting the community in distinctive ways.

As I continued to research, Thundercats and Boy Meets World fell by the wayside. Nothing about these organizations, from their respective foundings to their then current initiatives, resonated particularly strongly with me. Though I had a good impression of BMW from campus, I was not moved to seek membership in this organization, though I now understood why my friend had. The history and programming of Thundercats, while also significant, did not really inspire me; it really reaffirmed my campus impressions that this was not the organization for me.

So that left X-Men and Punky Brewster. Both had very different things going for them. I had such strong, positive impressions of the X-Men on my campus and of course Punky Brewster had something very unique about its founding that was not easily dismissed. However, the founding and the vision of the X-Men seemed to me quite auspicious, and the programming was admirable and in line with my own philosophies about service and the women that were members of this organization were ones that I considered role models and whom I would want to one day call sorors (This is funny because when I initially became aware of greek life, this is the last organization that I thought I would identify so strongly with, and if you have read these posts closely, you will understand why). Ultimately, the unique elements of the founding of Punky Brewster was not enough to outshine the legacy of X-Men and the representation of the organization that I saw on my campus.

But still, I wasn’t quite decided. I knew that if I was to pledge, I wanted only X-Men. It was X-Men or nothing at all. However, I was not sure whether I really truly wanted to pledge(I tend to overthink things; I am trying to be better about that). Of course, by the time I made up my mind, the process for that year’s line had already begun; so the undergrad ship had sailed for me and I had to turn my mind to pursuing graduate membership.


Dunh, Dunh, Dunnnnnnnh......Will SISTERGREEK achieve her goal of membership in X-Men? (Well, obviously, I do.) Who are the mysterious X-Men? Who is the mysterious SISTERGREEK? (She only has a few posts, and yet she seems so well acquainted with this board.) Tune in for the cliffhanging ending of "I Don't Need No Stinking Sorority." Coming soon....

thanks for the spoiler! LOL

now, who exactly are you, sistergreek? hmm... :scratches temple:

[sigtau305]

Cool thread so far. keep it coming.

[rho4life]

argh.............what happens.........

[SISTERGREEK]

Fast forward several years: Graduate membership pursuit is A Serious Matter! Unlike undergrad, where you might potentially run across members of any given organization on any given day, once you are out in the great wide world it is hard to make genuine contact with members; especially since most members do not generally identify themselves as such, at least not in the ways that undergrads do with nalia and such.

I had quite a few false starts in my pursuit of X-Men. There were times when I thought that I was on the right track and really close to my goal, only to end up back at square one. As I pursued membership with X-Men, my excitement about that prospect motivated my grandmother, who is an X-Men, to reactivate with her chapter (I had not known that she was a member until my junior year in college). I also learned so much more about X-Men as well as the entire Divine Nine. I read all of the histories that I could get my hands on, as well as books about greek life (I even came across a dissertation written about greek life). All of my additional research only confirmed what I already knew, X-Men was the only organization for me and was worth the effort of my pursuit.

Also, in the mean time, I lived my life. I went to graduate school, I continue to serve the community, I continued to be active in other organizations. I alternately felt discouraged, pessimistic, excited, and hopeful throughout my pursuit. I even wrote poetry.

[Little32]

Finally, at long last, on January 7th of this year, I, Little32, reached my goal and was initiated into:

ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SORORITY, INNNNNNCORPORATED.

I guess there are a lot of morals to my tale; however, being an literature professor, I will let you discern them for yourself. Also, I hope that you have enjoyed my story; I have appreciated the opportunity to share. I really have enjoyed these threads, particularly the NPHC threads because of the kind of insight they offer into what it means to pursue membership.

[1908Revelations]

See Soror you had me thinking the other way around....I thought I had it figured out, but I didn't. Good story!

ETA...now everybody is gonna have a sockpuppet to tell thier story.

[Little32]

Yeah, I wanted to use the nom de plume to keep people guessing. If I had written it as me, there wouldn't have been much suspense to the story; of course, I need all the help that I can get with building suspense. I am glad you enjoyed.

[Senusret I]

Yayyyyyyyy! Great story!

[tld221]

how bout THAT for a twist! gret job sistergreek!

[Little32]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Yayyyyyyyy! Great story!

Thanks! That is a great compliment coming from you.

Thanks to you too tld221, as the inspiration for my sharing my story.

[CrimsonTide4]

Originally Posted by Little32

Yeah, I wanted to use the nom de plume to keep people guessing. If I had written it as me, there wouldn't have been much suspense to the story; of course, I need all the help that I can get with building suspense. I am glad you enjoyed.

I kind of figured it was someone already on GC and I thank you for the nom de plume because had you written it under your regular name, I would have known the end result.

This was a great story, very well written! Thanks for sharing your journey!!

[Little32]

Thanks, I am glad that you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing it.

[mulattogyrl]

That was really, really good!

[Still BLUTANG]

great story. thanks for sharing!

[Little32]

Thanks folks.