Friday Confessional: I Go Back to Spring Cocktail

This morning, as I surveyed my desk and muttered under my breath about how I really can't handle the little house imps that must come in here and mess up my stuff at night, my eyes lit upon a forgotten relic of the past: a cd book.

If you're old enough to remember when Zack Morris coined the phrase, "tv time-out", you know what I'm talking about: the soft-covered Case Logic case, usually black, which, when unzipped, reveals a treasure trove of 80-minute windows into the Millenial's teenaged soul.

Yes, that would be Bewitched and DMB. No shame in my game.

My coworkers have been disturbingly not disturbed as they wander in here to find me, head bent over a manuscript with pink pen in hand, lip syncing and chair dancing to such classics as India.Ari's "Not Your Average Girl" and Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On". My reaction has typically been just to look up mid-lip-synced-lyric ("That'cho chiiiiiiick?"), find out what they want as quickly as possible and then send them on their way.

I'm just now getting to the cds with no labels, so I'll be sure to take note of what songs are on them so that I can report back in a later post. In the meantime, one cd that WAS labeled was my Kappa Delta Bids Day Mix compilation from the semester I joined my sorority, which includes the following sweet jams:

1. The Cheers Theme
2. Baby One More Time
3. Baby Got Back
4. I Wanna Be a Supermodel
5. In the Club
6. Stacey's Mom
7. Like a Virgin
8. Barbie Girl
9. Sugar, Sugar
10. Give A Little Bit
11. Breakaway
12. That's What Friends Are For
13. To Make You Feel My Love
14. The Rose

Obviously, this cd brought back a ton of memories, particularly of my pledge period. My pledge class was sort of unique, in that the semester I went through recruitment ("rush" in Sweet Valley-speak), my sorority was almost at total -- which is a PC way of saying that they were so popular that they only had room to take a few new members. Total is like a salary cap on a sports team's budget; Greek Life comes up with a finite number of girls allowed in each sorority, so that the houses are all on even footing and have a fair shot at attracting new members.

As it happened, I completely ignored the advice they give you at Recruitment Orientation and went into the entire process knowing exactly which house I wanted to join (note to any collegiate readers out there: do as I say, not as I do. I later became a Rho Psi who wasn't allowed to walk out the front door non-biased recruitment group leader and really, it's best to keep an open mind when going through the first round of house tours). I also knew they only had five slots, and that as a second semester sophomore, it was kind of do-or-die as far as my Greek life aspirations went. Thankfully, after two weeks of meticulously planned outfits, heat-styled hair and incessant self-promotion, I received my coveted white rose along with an embossed green and white bid card. I was in!

How they let me in with that hair is another question....YIKES!

Because my pledge class was so small, we were nicknamed the "Fab Five" by our VP of New Member Ed ("Pledgemaster" via Animal House). Over our six week pledge period of fun group activities and social events, we went from being five virtual strangers to pretty good friends. This bonding experience culminated, of course, in our pledge retreat, during which we were charged with writing a "Pledge Song" to be performed at the Spring Cocktail. On our Bids Day (a big party they throw for you after you get your bid), all the older classes had performed their songs, many of which were featured on today's mix cd -- Stacey's Mom (aptly retitled, "KD Girls have got it goin' on...."), Like a Virgin ("Like a KD... pledged for the very first time!") and Barbie Girl ("I'm a KD girl, in a KD world...).

With creativity like that, we obviously had a lot to live up to.

Riffing on our rep as the "Fab 5", we initially wrote an EPICALLY horrible version of the Jackson 5's "ABC" -- we knew it was terrible, but we wanted to get down to the business of watching "My Best Friend's Wedding," so we said the heck with it and performed it at breakfast the next morning anyway. The look on the ten sisters' faces when we did the "big reveal" at the end of our retreat was priceless. Horror mixed with revulsion mixed with "omg wtf did we do?!" is a pretty accurate description.

Because we're mean, the five of us decided to let the girls who had been present at the retreat continue to think that we were super proud of our song and couldn't wait to perform it at cocktail. Looking from the inside out, I can only imagine what they told the rest of the house when we got back to school -- probably that they had made the worst mistake in KD history and the entire sisterhood was doomed. Meanwhile, we met a few times in the dorms and completely re-wrote the entire thing, from scratch.

And so, it was to everyone's great surprise and delight that, mid-way through our inaugural Spring Fling cocktail, my four newly-initiated sisters and I clutched our microphones, giggled incessantly,  hit the lights, cued the dj, and busted out THIS sweet jam:

"If you wanna be a KD

You gotta start as a pledge

Wear that pin forever

The fun it never ends!

If you wanna be a KD

Your time you'll have to give

Meetings go forever but that's the way it is."

Glammed up and ready for my debut

Obviously, the highlight was the finale, which included us screaming, "CHEER IT OUT LOUD, WE'RE KAPPA DELTA PROUD" as we jumped up and down like chihuahuas on speed, high-fiving each other and hyping the crowd.

Obviously, we were a huge hit. Because if you know any sorority girls? You know one thing.

They LOVE to cheer.

Have a good weekend, everyone! And a special shout out to my East Coasters -- stay safe!

Friday Confessional: I Am a.....

Howdy, friends! Last weekday of the Lenten Vegetarian Challenge -- I have mixed emotions on this one, but have no fear; I'll be doing a whole VegChallenge recap next week, most likely on Tuesday. I might also have a fun guest post, so stay tuned!

Ok, let's cut to the chase. It's Friday. On Fridays, we wear pink confess our deepest, darkest, most embarrassing thoughts, obsessions and musings. 

Inevitably, given my About Me and About the Experiment pages, one of the questions I get asked the most via email is, "What sorority were you in?".


So, without further ado, I do hereby confess:

I AM A K! 

 

I am a K! (I am a K!)

I am a K! (I am a K!)

I am a K-A-P-P-A-DE-L-T-A (DE-L-T-A!)!

I am a K-A-P-P-A-DE-L-T-A in my heart,

And I will L-O-V-E KD F-O-R-E-V-E-R,

I am a K!

Phew! Am I glad THAT'S over!!

I was totally a little bit hesitant to divulge my Panhellenic affiliation here on the blog -- mostly because I like to keep it real, and I am a firm believer that once one becomes a member of a sorority, those letters really are for life. Anything that she says or does reflects back on that organization, regardless of whether she wants them to or not. I had some good times in college, and I had my share of troubles too. I would hate to have anyone take things I write here out of context and use them as a basis for judgment, either on my house or on me.

But then, I realized, those years, that house, and those girls all contributed IMMENSELY to the person that I have become. And I'm 200% not ashamed of that, both with respect to the fact that yes, I was in a sorority, and yes, I AM ME. I'm proud of both of those facts, and wouldn't trade either for the world.

I'm third from the left -- Homecoming 2007

When I came home from school after pledging in Spring 2005, wearing the obligatory black hoodie with green-and-silver letters the size of dinner plates emblazoned across my chest, I don't know what I was expecting. Excitement? Congratulations? A little bit of curiosity and some questions, even?

I can tell you what I was NOT expecting: the barrage of insults, chorus of stereotypes and litany of sneers that came from some so-called "friends" and even some family members. Even post-grad, there were people who took a look at my resume and asked if I was sure I wanted to list KD in my activities and leadership positions. If I had a dime for every time I heard, "But you're just not the type who would be in a sorority!", I'd be blogging full-time without any sponsors or book deals, because I'd be one rich bitch. 

Anyone who has gotten "that look" from peers/coworkers/employers knows what I'm talking about; stereotypes are usually born from some sliver of truth, but it never ceases to amaze me how people think Animal House is the definitive standard for Greek life -- that's like saying that since I lived in New Jersey for a summer, I got my GTL on in the Smush Room with the cast of Jersey Shore or because I'm Irish-American, my life must be modeled after The Boondock Saints. In the words of my favorite animated LSD lizard,** "Yeah, right. Yeaaaaaaah, right. Get real."

So to all those people who have given me the, "you're just so not the sorority type!" line, I say:

Really? I'm "not the type" who would:

• Spend hours licking envelopes for St. Jude's?
• Mentor Girl Scouts on body image, peer pressure and general coming-of-age biz-nass?
• Give up a huge chunk of my free time to become the Panhel Academics Chair?
• As such, institute a Greek-wide GPA initiative and mentoring program which, by the way, did NOT win me any popularity contests? (Please, I dare you to be the person who puts a house on academic probation, aka no social events. I dare you).
• Sit up for countless hours with a friend who was going through a tough time? 
• Spend my "coast" semester of senior year executing the largest student-run philanthropic event on campus and generating over $6500 for Prevent Child Abuse America?
• Graduate Phi Beta Kappa, at the top of my major class, to boot?
• Be able to make small talk with virtually ANYONE for ten minutes, regardless of whether we have anything in common?
• Advocate for other women to "be themselves," and tell anyone who has an issue with it to go to hell?

Honestly, if you don't think I'm THAT type, then it turns out you don't know me very well at all.

There's obviously a bigger story here -- why did I decide to Go Greek in the first place; how did I wind up sporting olive green and pearl white; was it totally weird sharing a dorm room with my best friend, who had pledged another house (she went AXO; our room looked like Christmas had exploded year-round with all the green, white and red) -- and I'll eventually write about that. But that's another post for another day.

And thus, I leave you, clapping, snapping and ditto-ing away:

Re-mem-mem,

Re-mem-me-member

Kappa Delta, good friends forever

Laughing, singing, doing whatever,

We like best, always together

Fun and laughs, good times with sisters,

Cruises, dances, parties and misters

Being together, you and I,

Hope we never say goodbye...

In AOT,

Caitie

**Warning: that video is most certainly NSFW. Just a heads up.