I'm bringing blogging back

I think I know what you are thinking. It's something along the lines of "Hmm, I think I can handle this blogging business" to "What? This is kinda weird." And yes, it might be hard to get the hang of things but I think you will do just fine. Learn from Tyler, from me, from your classmates. I know I did.
That being said, I hope you all are super excited to dive into this class. Believe me, it will be like nothing you have ever seen before. My goal is help you realize your full potential as an influential member of our community here at Ohio State. The textbook will also be a great resource that gives insight into how leadership affects our lives. I won't restate everything that Tyler already posted but please keep an open mind about this class and what we hope to accomplish in the next ten weeks. See you in class!

The Grand Finale... or maybe not

Describe your perfect world. What role does (or should) sorority/fraternity life play in achieving your perfect world?

Let's hear John Lennon's view of a perfect world because I think he has some good insight:



Yes, it's the Glee version. =)

Anyway, my perfect world fits on somewhere in there. I want people to be content with who they are and not have to worry about how their lives might have turned out differently had they chosen to go one way or the other. In my perfect world, everyone has food, clothes, shelter, and an education. Learning is one of my favorite things to do and if only some people bothered to appreciate to learn new things, the world would be a little more peaceful and respectful. That's another thing. Respect. It can be applied to so many different areas but I feel it is an issue that needs to be dealt with. We need to not only respect each other but respect ourselves as well.

I'm big on developing/maintaining the relationships and friendships I have with others. It turns out I am what some call an Individualizer. I think that if people were in tune with those around them, and really cared about them, then they would value their relationships and work hard to keep them growing. Friendship is one of the most important things to me, although I have my faults as well. Over the years I have come to realize how much I value friendship, and if the rest of the world were to feel the same way as me, a lot of problems would be solved. We wouldn't start wars because when you care about someone, and really value who they are as an individual, you would not do anything to bring about harm.

Love. All you need is love. But I think the idea of love has been so commercialized that people have forgotten its meaning and purpose. Love should be unconditional, forgiving, understanding, and caring. We need to love each other, as one, huge, universal family. Again, you don't hurt the ones you love.

Ideally, in my perfect world there's no pain, no disease, no death. I'm not really sure if that's possible, since I'm sure the earth can support a maximum amount of people, but anything is possible in this blog! Tears that fall would be happy tears, not ones of sorrow. I would be able to read whatever I want for as long as I want and wherever I want. You remember in Beauty and the Beast, the part where he shows Belle the library? Well, I'm going to have a room in my house just like that. Huge big windows, books lined up floor to ceiling. Sheer bliss.

So let's recap: my perfect world has respect, valued friendship, love, and the absence of bad feelings/situations. I think this sums up everything pretty well, because I feel that so many more good things come out of these general ideas. My blog would never end if I listed all the details of my perfect world. I have high standards.


Now the question is: What role does (or should) sorority/fraternity life play in achieving your perfect world?

The purpose of sorority and fraternity life is to build strong people to be the leaders of tomorrow. Not only do we need leaders, but we also need people who are responsible, who uphold the values and ideas I see in my perfect world. The fraternity is the foundation upon which we mold ourselves to be respectful and responsible people. The fraternity is there to enforce the values that we would already have. It is there to build on our character we have already formed. There is always room for improvement.

To be honest, this has been one of the more difficult prompts to blog for. I think it's because I already had read some other blogs.. and I tried not to copy any of their ideas. And I guess it's because I'm not quite sure I know how I want my perfect world to be. I haven't lived enough to figure out what I absolutely love and what I don't. I'm only starting to figure out who I am on top of my values and what I hold dear to my heart. Perfection can be deceiving, for without hardships, how could we appreciate perfection, let alone recognize it?

Excuses

Excuses. They're like armpits: everyone has them and they stink. But honestly, I have a knack for making excuses to myself to feel better about not doing something I should be. Like the past couple of weeks and blogging. I kept telling myself that I need to do other work instead or that every time I would try to write something, nothing came out. Eventually, your excuses come back to bite you in the butt....

And they have for me, numerous amounts of time. Each time it happens, I say to myself "Laura, this is the last time. You have got to start holding yourself accountable for such things." Do I listen?

You're probably right, I don't. But since I have a slightly larger than normal conscience, I always feel terrible and beat myself up about it. As I write this, I've been thinking about something I learned a few years ago. I'll share it with you now:

"Excuses are tools for the incompetent, which create monuments of nothingness.
Excuses do not explain excuses.
Explanations do not explain excuses.
Those who emphasize in them are seldom good at anything else."

Now I have no idea where that came from, just that it has been passed down over the years. For awhile, reciting that in my head helped awhile. Until I learned to mute the little voice in the back of my head reminding me about it. It is just so much easier to make an excuse to rid ourselves of the responsibility we have to ourselves and to each other. We tell ourselves it's not our fault and wipe our hands of the situation. I think the same can be said about the fraternal community. For whatever reason, we find a way to blame the guilt on other people.

But... now we are all in the position to stop making excuses for ourselves. We can do something about the obstacles we face. I know it's easy and there are going to be times when we will want to, but we can't. And when things get tough, know that you have a classroom full of people who are willing to support you. No one wants to see friends struggle. I think our commitment to our values and our passion for what we stand for will serve as that crutch to lean on when we need to.

Dilemmas and Opportunities

Usually I have some idea on what to blog about for our topics each week, but this time I'm at a loss for words. I guess my troubles start with the idea of the Fraternal Movement. What is the Fraternal Movement? How does one define such a diverse community as ours? I believe the Fraternal Movement is the realization that our society is changing in such a way that the antiquated beliefs/practices of fraternities and sororities no longer benefit students and in fact hinder them. More and more research is being done on multiple aspects of fraternity life, bringing to light the positives and negatives of our community. By beginning to hold other accountable, leaders are stepping up to initiate the changes necessary to take our organizations to the next level.


With that little introduction out of the way, here's the dilemma:

How do we, as members of the fraternal community, address the issues plaguing our organizations? How do we go about initiating the change? Maggie and Tyler have said repeatedly that they think fraternal organizations are the most relevant organizations in today's society. The dilemma is proving that to current members who aren't really sure what being fraternity people means and to the outside community that fraternal organizations do much more than what is portrayed by the media. We need to show others that we live out our oath and Ritual every day. Actions speak louder than words... so if we walk the talk, I think we'll have a greater impact on others. As a community, we have become stagnant. What worked 100 years ago doesn't work anymore. It's similar to the little social experiment we did at the beginning of the quarter where not many understood their rituals or their values. That may not be how the majority of the members of this community feel but until everyone is on the same page, it will be difficult to become cohesive and unified.

And the opportunity we face?

It is quite simple: to take the building momentum toward change and run with it! We have the chance to really to roll up our sleeves and get to work restoring our community. Diversity is increasing all over and I think that if we embrace this change, we can really learn something. In my head, it's like we're at a crossroads. To the left the path that hasn't really been created and to the right we have our familiar status-quo. I say we plow through the cliched path less-traveled and establish the fraternal organizations that meet the needs of our ever-changing society. Fraternities and sororities are no longer about catering to an exclusive type/group of people. I was talking to Tyler this week and we talked about how we're at a crucial turning point in regards to MCGC and establishing a solid foundation to help our council grow. We all realize we need to do things differently, and I think that we will be able to initiate that change as long as we don't fall apart as a class come next quarter. Like our class assignment, we have the opportunity to reinvent the fraternity. It is up to us as to how far we take it.

Who we are vs. who we want to be

Introducing: Alpha Psi Lambda, Inc. - Alpha Chapter
Other than ritual stuff, I haven't spent much time thinking about my chapter. We talk about the big picture often that I kinda put my chapter on the back burner. But I do think we have a lot of strengths. The one thing that I love about my chapter is our unity. We are so extremely close to each other but it helps that we're not that big. Currently we have eight active members. What is also great is that depsite our size, we work our hardest to continue providing the same programs we've been putting on for years. I like to think of ourselves as the Little Giants (partly because I watched the movie all the time growing up). We can't compete size-wise with other chapters but we put on 3 big programs a year. I consider that a huge feat. We are all focused and know what needs to be done.

Despite our strenghths, there is always room for improvement. I think that sometimes people are so quick to jump on the bandwagon without really considering all the options befor making a decision. I get so frustrated when people just sit back and let everyone choose for them. Sometimes we get so proud that we forget that we're a part of a council, a part of a community. We stay in our own little bubble. I think we have a lot to work on in terms of branching out, and not just with regards to collaborations. A lot of the members just aren't interested in meeting new people, but I think we can learn a lot from others. We get so set on "Oh well we do things differently" but we don't bother to even consider other options. How can we grow if we just stick to the same old routine?

Featuring: Multicultural Greek Council:

Ohhhh MCGC. Our eboard meeting this week was intense. But I think we are all dedicated and passionate about our council to trudge through the tough work and take mcgc to the next level. So in a way, here are our strenghts: Theresa, Ashley, Lin, Qi, and Laura. Our dedication, our determination, and all our personal strengths combined make up mcgc's strengths. It is often said that you are only as strong as your weakest link, and after our meeting this week, I'm having a hard time finding our weak link. What I liked best was that we weren't afraid to disagree with each other. I admire how Ashley stood her ground despite the fact that she didn't feel well.

After last meeting, we realized many ways in which our council needs to change. I personally discovered that the rules hadn't been followed in a long time. And it's embarassing to admit it. I feel a lot like the incoming president of the US. They inherit everything that came from the former administration and it's up to them to deal with it the best way they can. But a huge weakness is apathy and downright lack of interest in the council across all chapters. It is incredibly frustrating when we have so many ideas but are unsure of them because we might not have support for them. I think for mcgc to reach the next level, we have got to earn the trust and support of the chapters.

Bringing up the rear: Our community:

I am so proud to be a part of the fraternity/sorority life here at Ohio State. Even though I wasn't able to attend the conference, I am not surprised at how well it went. The people I've gotten to meet are a dynamic group of people willing to go the extra mile. And outside of this class, the other people I've met are great leaders as well. So I think one of our strengths is how many leaders that are getting involved. Last year at BGLI I was fortunate enough to meet a lot of different people and I learned so much about what it means to be a leader. I think another strength is our ability to admit when something needs to be changed. It was awesome hearing about how NPHC has really come together as a council after realizing that it hadn't always been that way in the past. We're not stagnat... we're fluid and able to make changes.

But there is still work to be done. Our community is somewhat fragmented, split into 4, unequal parts. Yeah, this class in one step in the right direction, but it's up to us to maintain our relationships next quarter and beyond. We're not going to have Tyler and Maggie getting us together once a week to talk about our issues. We'll be flying the coop, taking our first baby steps. But I believe we'll continue to fly high. We also need to continue to show the rest of the campus that we havent' forgotten our values, our oaths, our Ritual. Tyler made a point about stereotypes: they exist because that's what someone saw. Our actions speak louder than our words and I think that's something we should be aware about. It doesn't matter if they're stereotypes or not, the reality is that I've heard numerous people say we only care about alcohol, drugs, and sex. It hurt more coming from my sister at home. It's like the saying, "If it walks like a ___ and acts like a ____, then it must be a ____". (I don't remember the specifics). But I think we're heading in the right direction.

"Ask me about the new Ohio Union"

I remembered to wear my shirt today, which is surprising because I've been a bit frazzled lately. Anyway, I was studying for my midterm this morning and I was asked about the new Union. Here were the top questions of the day:

1. Can I buy alcohol?
2. Can I use swipes for alcohol?
3. Why am I paying extra for this?
4. How much did the new union cost to build?
5. What can the place do for me?

People were kinda bummed when they found out that swipes weren't for alcoholic beverages (which I'm about 95% sure they aren't). But what got me thinking was how not everyone is looking at the new space as a once-in-a-lifetime event. Students are more concerned about the cost. And I guess I'm not surprised seeing as money/economy is on everyone's minds these days. I tried my best to convince my roommates that this was an awesome thing, but they weren't impressed.

Now, question 5 was the toughest one for me to answer. It should really be, "what can't the new union do for me?" Other than explaining all the offices/centers that will be housed there, I mentioned the new merchandise store (one kid was pretty excited to hear about that) and the restaurants. I talked about all the lounge space and all the different rooms people can use. And I mentioned the gigantic ball room. It's pretty big. But I realized that people aren't interested in anything unless they get something out of it. They're not willing to support this new union since they don't see what's in it for them. To be honest, I'm not sure how to respond to that. Got any advice?

I can relate this back to Greek life as a whole. If students don't see the benefits they get out of joining a fraternal organization, then they won't be as willing to find out more. And as ambassador, I've been thinking hard about how to spark that interest and market all the great benefits we provide. Once students see what we can offer them, maybe then they'll show more interest. But it needs to be a team effort, a community-wide effort. The next big thing I know that's coming up is Greek Week. I think that's a great time to show the OSU community all the benefits of going Greek such as brotherhood/sisterhood, community, and unity.

By the way, I feel kind of important wearing this shirt. Kinda weird, I know.

ready....set.....Stroll!

So clearly I was a bit excited to stroll as a group today at the end of class. At a meeting Tuesday, Evelyn and and Sam were talking about how much fun it would be to do one as a class. So while we're on the topic, I thought I'd share videos of Alpha Psi Lambda stepping/strolling in last year's program, Stepping with Knowledge. It was hosted by the women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. The gist of the program was for other orgs from the other 3 councils to pair up with an org from NPHC. They were taught a step and performed it at the program. I was paired up with the lovely ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and they helped us out a lot in teaching us a fun step. So below is our step from the program in 2 parts, and at the end we stroll out, to give you guys an idea of what a stroll is going to look like. Warning: lower the volume on the computer because the cheers/screams get loud.

Enjoy!!

Part 1:


Part 2:


ps- you all better not judge me because I look like a crazy person. Don't worry, I've learned to step better.