Final Portfolio: Let's start with an adventure...

That's what I think I'll call my freshman year of college. An adventure. I don't think there's really anything else I can call it to be honest. When I think back to my first day, it seemed almost like camp. A new place, a new room, a new person to share it with and a beautiful campus. My path seemed so clear at this trail head of sorts. Even when I looked at the syllabuses for my respective classes, they seemed to read like a map I'd studied before. I thought, 'I've done school before, I can do this.' But just as I thought I knew the trail I was hiking, the path I thought I would take was obscured and I had to take a new path with a much steeper incline.
    Perhaps it was the suddenness with which my work load escalated, or maybe I retained too much of my "senior-itis" from my last year of high school. Whatever it was, it hit me full force straight in the nose, and I was not prepared for it. On top of that, my very first semester in college was filled with scandal and sadness, as a legend passed and a single man shrouded my school in confusion, controversy and tragedy. The persistent media and my ever growing work load seemed insurmountable. I spent countless hours on the phone with my mom trying to figure out the big questions: "What am I doing here?" "Is college even the place for me?" "Why do I feel like this stress can't be fixed?" "What does it all mean?" and "Why the hell am I having all these existential issues?"
    Over the course of this tumultuous first semester, I kept myself sane by focusing on my music and my art whenever I was stressed, and I eventually learned to organize myself both literally in terms of the papers on my desk and the assignments on my calender and in the sense that my thoughts were so scattered that they needed to be reigned in somehow.
    Then, during second semester, I felt like I had a hold of things. I got back on the path I saw for myself in August and I was able to read the map again.

    At this point, maybe it is clear why there is a Calvin and Hobbes panel above this introduction, but let me clarify just to be sure. This is the last panel from the last strip of Calvin and Hobbes that Bill Watterson ever wrote. In my opinion, it is nothing short of genius. To me, this panel has come to represent among other things, the profundity of simplicity and the power of fewer words (ironically I think this introduction is quite a few words). Mostly though, this strip, especially the ending line, "...let's go exploring!" has served to remind me not to pass up opportunities and not to ignore possibilities. In the last of the three blog posts I've included in this portfolio, I discuss the importance of living in the moment. If there's one thing that I value over all else that I've learned this year it's that life goes too fast. Maybe that seems silly or naive coming from a 19 year old, but I really believe it. There's not time enough in life to waste dwelling on feelings of stress or jealousy or anger or any other such emotion.
   
    So without further verbiage, I thank you for visiting my page, and hope you enjoy the material I've included in this portfolio.

And finally...

This week, I would like to talk about the concept of finality. Pretty broad term right? I'm not really quite sure what I want to say about it yet, but we'll see... wherever the page takes me.

Hmm, let's talk about things ending. That seems like an ironic place to start. SO. I clearly chose to write about finality because this is the final blog post and the semester, and year, are both coming to an end. How quickly time does pass...

Things ending definitely have a lot of rhetoric behind them. Thinking about the end of school fills us with feelings of joy for the summer, yearning for the end to come to pass and stress for all the work we know has to be done before we get there. Then, over the summer, we look forward to the end of our jobs or the end of our chores so that we can hang out with friends or go to dinner with parents etc. etc.

Then, when it gets close enough to August, we begin looking forward to the end of summer. We itch to come back to State, to see all of our friends, start new classes and begin a new adventure. Then about 3 weeks into the semester we realize, "Damn, where did summer go? I want that back, I can't wait 'till next summer."

We seem to always be looking forward to the end of things don't we?

Then, come graduation time, there will be tears of joy and tears of sadness. There will be nostalgia, reminiscing and pictures with friends we know we may never see again. There will be happiness for the collective accomplishments of the class of 2015 and there will be fear for the next unfamiliar step in the staircase- because we can never be quite sure just how far up we will have to step to stand on it.

But on this day, we don't think of the fear. We don't think of the next step. We don't think of the internships and jobs we may or may not have lined up. We try not to think about the future without some of our closest friends.

On this day, we don't think about the end.

On this day, we truly live in the moment- and we are happy.

I think Henry David Thoreau hit the nail on the head, it's all about living in the moment. That is the key to happiness. If you're always worried about the next thing, you'll never appreciate what is good right now.

And almost everything that is good is only good now. Memories are nice, but they are even better (and much less necessary), if you really enjoyed yourself while it was happening.

Living in the future?

Impossible.

You will never experience anything if you are always waiting to experience something, whether it be good or bad.

Well. This surely didn't take to the page how I expected. But I'm pretty happy with it. Guess I was just living in the moment while writing it huh? (<-- see what I did there?)

Here's a final remark for my final blog post which is on finality: I am NOT saying that you should never have plans or expectations or indeed, that you should never look forward to something. Sometimes, the anticipation of an event is on of the best parts. HOWEVER, there is a difference between keeping those things in your head and focusing on them.

Example: Right now, everyone is undoubtedly looking forward to the summer for one reason or another. But if you let it control your thoughts, you will not live for now and you'll probably lose focus on school which, though we hate to admit it, is what's most important when we're not on break.

Anyway. I hope this wasn't completely incoherent and maybe it was mildly enjoyable. I wish you all a lovely end of semester and an even more lovely summer. I hope it is safe, productive, fun, ridiculous, miraculous, fantastical, emotional and all sorts of other adjectives.

But mostly, I hope you live your summer for the moment. That way, when Fall semester rolls around, you're ready to go and you're not wishing to get back what you feel like you missed.

Let's talk about something...

You know what's an interesting concept?

Individuality.

It's interesting for a couple reasons:

1. I think we can agree it's considered a virtue by some
2. It's strived for by many
3. I don't think anyone really knows what it is...

This last reason is the main point of interest to me. In past posts, I've discussed or touched on this idea of individuality, but what is it really? Let's see if we can't put a dent in the definition.

So the first thing I think about when I hear the word individuality is being your own person. For example if someone asked me how to be an individual, I would tell them: be true to yourself. Basically, don't do things that YOU (your true self) wouldn't do.

This raises a new question: How does one stay true to themselves?

This seems like it should be pretty easy to do right? Just do what you think is right. And who knows you better than you... right? This is where the tricky part comes in. Cause this is where outside influence comes in.

Can you be an individual while still responding to outside influence?

Yes.

Can you be an individual while letting yourself be ruled by outside influence?

No.

This, I believe, is the difference. You are who you are. You know it better than anyone. From the way you wear your hair to the shoes you buy, to the house you live in, the things you say, your minor movements and indeed all of your mannerisms and every aspect of your personality and every fiber of your being. That is you.


But the part of you that plays the most influence in individuality are your choices. So if this is true, it would follow that since individuality is about one's own self, then your choices (if your aim is to be an individual) must be your own.

So how do we distinguish our own choices from the ones made for us? Earlier, I said that you could respond to outside influence while still retaining individuality. So if you must make your own choices to remain an individual, then how can an individual still be affected by outside influence?

Good questions. I shall do my best to answer them.

I think that influence is inevitable. It would be absurd to think that someone could live purely on their own influence. That's just ridiculous. So, the question becomes not about rejecting all foreign influence, rather deciding for YOURSELF (<--you can tell it's important cause it's in caps) which influences are good and bad. Which ones you will choose to let influence you and who you are, and which you will not.

Make sense?

I'll give a quick example of what I mean and then wrap this up.

ex. 1: Being an individual: Johnny Smith sees an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He likes them. He thinks, wow, I would look swell in those shoes. So he saves up some money and buys them and wears them when he wants to.

ex. 2: Not being an individual: Johnny Smith seen an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He doesn't really know what to think about them. But all of his friends have this pair of shoes, and he wants to fit in. So he shells out the money for this pair of shoes that, really, he might not have wanted in the first place. Johnny wears the shoes.

I hope my thoughts on this have been clear. Questions, comments, arguments, praise, qualifications and all other sorts of response to this entry (as always) are more than welcome.

P.s. RANDOM THOUGHT: If every "J-Walker" at Penn State got a ticket over the course of one day, how much money do you think State College would rake in? (If you're commenting, please don't just respond to this, I'm really very curious about the concept of individuality and this last question I thought of literally a minute ago, thanks!)

Whaddup Social Norms

So. Last week's discussion of a strange social norm was so much fun I decided to pick another one this week, so here goes.

This week I'd like to discuss social norms related to strange ideas of personal privacy (or something along those lines, you'll see...)

First, let's talk about eye contact. The first thing I think of when I hear the words "eye contact" is a conversation. In a conversation, eye contact is important right? It tells the other person that:

1) You're not rude
2) You're actually paying attention to what they're saying
and 3) It tells them a little bit about what kind of person you are (especially in an interview setting, things like eye contact, hand shakes etc. are very important to the interviewer)

Another thing is, when someone is avoiding eye contact with me while we're talking, I either don't trust them (what they're saying) or I get self conscious that there's something wrong with my face. Do I have tomato sauce on my lip? A pimple? WHY WON'T YOU LOOK AT ME??

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is that I think it's fair to say that eye contact is something we really value in this society.

So then why are there times when eye contact seems unacceptable? Take this scenario:

You are walking down the sidewalk, maybe walking to or from class, perhaps you're listening to a good song on your iPod. It's a nice day outside, you're looking around at the trees, at the sky, at the buildings on College Ave... and then... all of a sudden, you look (for maybe no other reason than that is simply where your eye went) at a person walking in the opposite direction of you on the sidewalk... you make eye contact.

What do you do? You look away right? Maybe you look at the ground, or try to make it seem like you just happened to look at this person on your way to look at the interesting something to the left of their head, maybe you pretend you just got a text message, I don't know. But the point is, for some reason it's not acceptable to maintain eye contact with this person on the sidewalk.

Other places that eye contact is generally seen as breaking a social norm:
-Classrooms
-Hallways
-Bathrooms (Speaking of which, I'll be getting to a bathroom social norm next)

I just think these sort of unspoken "rules" are very interesting.

Okay- bathroom social norm. *DISCLAIMER* I am only talking about the dude's room. I have no idea what goes on in the ladies' bathroom. Promise.

So in the men's room, if it can at all be avoided, you do not take the urinal next to someone who is already there. Reasonable? Maybe not, but definitely justifiable. However this holds true when there are dividers and even when you move to the stalls.

Can you think of anywhere else where this same thing holds true? (the ladies can answer too now)

In my opinion, just about everywhere. In classes, you don't take the seat next to someone, you take the seat all the way over. On the bus, unless it's full, you take the seat one over from someone who is already sitting down. When eating, you tend to sit as far away from others as you can without seeming like you're trying to do so.

Isn't this weird? I think this is bizarre. I mean, what kind of privacy do you think you're protecting? Do we think it'll be awkward if we sit next to someone? Isn't that what the damn seat is there for?

It's very curious...

These kinds of things are all very curious...

Narcissism

Have you ever walked past a reflective surface like a mirror, a window or a car and looked at yourself?

If your answer was something like, "No. I have never done that."

YOU LIE!

Everyone looks at themselves when they pass by their reflections, but for whatever reason, everyone is embarrassed about it. When you walk by the surface (unless you're in a bathroom or something of the like) then you always try to sneak a peak without really looking at yourself. You kinda look out of your peripherals while continuing to walk at normal speed.

Even though everyone does it, we don't want anyone else to know when we do it. Why is that? If we're all so vain, why do we care?

Maybe it's that we don't want others to know how much we care about our appearance. Or maybe for some people, looking in the mirror is more a matter of simple interest than of vanity.

But why? I still don't understand. Why doesn't anyone ever fully stop walking and check themselves out in the mirror? Would it really be that big of a deal?

I definitely wouldn't do that myself (and I really don't know why) but I also would certainly not judge somebody who did. In fact,  I think I would silently commend them for breaking a social norm so blatantly.

I'm going to postulate a theory: I think the reason we don't want people to know we are looking at our reflection as we pass a window or mirror is simply to preserve our own modesty. We assume that if others see us stopping to look in the mirror, they will think less of us or judge us.

So what it really comes down to is self-consciousness. No one wants to be judged by others, obviously. But it's still curious. Even though you don't know the person, you still don't want them to think less of you, even though it is very likely that they will never see you again nor you them. In fact, I think especially because you don't know the person, you don't want them to judge you.

Think about this:

If you were with your friends, would you still be so sneaky about looking at your reflection? Would you even care to do so in the first place? I think not.

Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee...

I don't know about you guys, but I drink a shit ton of coffee. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm on my 3rd cup of the day. Average for me. How did it come to this though? When did I become a crazy coffee drinker?

My first cup of coffee:

I remember this so well. I was 11 years old and I wanted coffee because I thought it was cool. I don't know why I thought it was cool, but there ya go. So I asked my mom for a cup (for some reason I expected her to say no...) and she made me one. She warned me, "You might not like it."

She was right.

I hated it.

But I drank it anyway. One painful sip at a time. Seriously, every time the coffee touched my tongue, I made this ridiculous face that I'm sure looked like I'd bitten full force, no fear into the world's sourest lemon.

I didn't have coffee again until my Junior year of High School. I had so much work and I asked my dad what I could do to finish it (I knew I had to stay up late) and he suggested I try coffee again. Well I did. I went to Dunkin Donuts and I picked up a big cardboard box with a tap that was filled with coffee.

I finished it.

I may have overdone it that night, but I discovered that coffee is actually delicious. Even though it's not the best thing for our bodies. And I know that coffee isn't for everyone, but I think it's nothing short of a miracle. I think it also might have some addictive properties.

Also, decaf sucks. I don't know why anyone drinks it. It doesn't taste as good as real coffee and it doesn't keep you up.

Warmness and Music

Since it's been warm out, little music circles have been popping up all over campus. I love it. I truly believe that music brings happiness to everyone. (Seriously, have you really ever heard someone say that they DON'T like music at all? No, that's ridiculous). Even if you don't join in the jam, you have to admit that a smile creeps across your face when you walk by one of these groups.

Anyway, I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with several of these groups across campus. Most recently, I have enjoyed playing with 5 or 6 guys who meet every day at around 5 at the little alcove on campus side college right near the bus stop across the street from Dunkin' Donuts. They play a lot of folk music and were nice enough to let me join in the jam.

The best thing about these groups of musicians is that they are all (or have been so far) such nice people. All of them are so interested in what you want to play and it doesn't matter if you skip a chord or botch a note, cause we're all just having some fun in the sun.

In my last few words, I would like to encourage you to stop and listen to one of these groups. I understand that you might be going to class or whatever, but even stopping for just a second is great for the people playing. Seriously, there is nothing that makes me happier (next to actually playing) than when someone I don't know takes the time to get into what I'm playing.

Lastly, I'd like to say: JOIN IN! Even if you think you can't play or sing, you can and we'd love to have you. Even if you just dance around while the music is going.

Everyone Has One, and it's Fucking Ridiculous

Everyone has an iPhone.

Or at least it seems that way.

When I was on the bus the other day, I was texting on my own iPhone and looked up briefly to check if it was close to my stop yet. I noticed just by shear happenstance that a lot of other passengers were also texting. At first, I kinda laughed, as if to say, "Oh god, we're all so absorbed in our technology that we're texting." But then I noticed that not only were 10 of the 15 people on the bus (including myself) texting, but literally every one of those 10 people (including myself) was using an iPhone.

What kind of insanity is this??

Now, in no way am I complaining. Seriously. I love my iPhone, it's the best thing ever. It's simultaneously the most useful and unnecessary device ever created. But I took a minute and thought about something. And it made me feel like an old person because it was a thought of technological astonishment:

How is it that we've come to a point in time where it is normal for people to have the world at the touch of a finger on a glass screen in the palm of their hand?

It's really crazy when you think about it. If you'd told people in the 1800's that there was going to be something called a cell phone which would allow you to contact other people who also owned a cell phone. Even if they lived on the other side of the world. And it would take seconds. Well, they probably would have thought you were a witch or something.

In the 1950's, someone probably would have told you to go write a science fiction novel. At that time, computers took up literally entire rooms and sometimes even buildings. Then when cell phones did become common, who would have thought (besides Steve Jobs) that you would be able to own something with a touch screen?

Who the fuck is smart enough to think of and then actually invent this shit?? It's incredible! Have you ever looked at a touch screen anything and just thought about how awesome it is? How much thought went into creating it? You have the information of the world in your hand and you can see it clearly, listen to music, check the weather, make notes for yourself, cycle through different and complex windows by dragging your finger across a piece of glass and it allows you to contact people world wide in a matter of seconds.

It's crazy how often people (myself included) take these pieces of technology for granted. I'm sure you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself.

"God, this message is taking so long to send."

or

"Dammit, I don't have any service here."

Let's take it back to when people had to write letters by hand with a quill and ink and send them by boat. The person to whom they were writing the letter might be freakin' dead when it finally gets to them after a month, maybe longer. And they have no way of knowing that the boat didn't sink or the courier didn't die before delivering the message. And if the person did get the letter and wrote and sent a response, it would be easily another month at least before the initiator of the correspondence would receive the response. At which time the initiator might also be dead, or not get the letter for whatever reason etc.

I guess what I'm trying to say here (and it might sound kinda preachy, but I'm gonna attempt to follow my own advice here as well), is that we should really try to appreciate all the things we have, I don't mean just the technology. Think about the stuff you have, the people you have, the things you're good at, the things you believe in, everything. I'm not saying you should be ridiculous about it, but taking a moment to think about how much all of those things mean to you and how important or amazing they are I think is a valuable thing. To be able to recognize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't, cause I guarantee that there will always be someone who has less than you do.

Youth is FOR the young

Yesterday I was talking to an elderly man in line at CVS, when he turned to me and said:

"So what are ya up to this weekend, partyin'?"

At first I was a little taken aback because his question was so out of the blue. But then without very much thought I responded:

"Well maybe, I don't know. I'll probably study, I'm not sure what else yet."

To which the man scoffed and said:

"Sheesh, youth is wasted on the young." And he turned back forward in his spot in line. That was it. He ended the conversation. Now, it wasn't the first time I've heard that saying, in fact I've gotten a fair dosage of it in my life. Mostly from my high school choir teacher who's a Vietnam War Vet. But that's another blog post...

The point is, I'd never really considered it before, but this old guy really got in my head. It wasn't the words he used, it was the way he used them. He had such disdain for the fact that going out and partying was even the slightest possibility for my weekend plans.

I have to admit that my immediate thought was actually a little bit of shame because this old man was judging me. But then I realized that I do not even a little bit agree with the sentiment:

"Youth is wasted on the young."

Nope.

"Youth is for the young."

Youth is for screwing up and learning so that you can grow up to be old and wise. Young bodies are for playing sports and falling down. Running around for hours. Doing stupid stuff and being okay afterwards. Then when you're old, you know what's up because you've been around the block. You've gotten your fill of all the stupid stuff because you were young.

Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm old, but for now, I think I'll be at least a little reckless. I'm young. I can handle it. 

(A)musing...

As I was walking to class the other day, rockin' out to my jams blasting at full volume through my headphones, in a sudden moment of clarity, I realized that I probably looked like a total moron headbanging, air drumming and mouthing the lyrics to music that only I could hear.

Yes, I was actually doing that in public while walking to class. What can I say, it was a great song.

Anyway, I took my headphones out and looked around to see who had observed my ridiculous jamming. But in doing so, I noticed that almost everyone else who was walking next to me, behind me or around me was also wearing headphones. Now, I've definitely noticed that a lot of people wear headphones before, but that day I considered something.

What if every person in the world, whenever they listened to music through headphones, had a digital display of what they were listening to hovering above their heads?

For example, that day, at that time, the words above my head would have read:

"Ozzy Osbourne, Hellraiser, Diary of a Madman" (Artist, Song, Album).

So then, instead of actually listening to my music, I spent the rest of my walk to class finding people who were wearing headphones and trying to figure out what their displays would say. It wasn't until I decided that this was going to be my blog entry for the week that I realized that I was stereotyping people.

I was stereotyping people based on music. What kind of wacky craziness is that? But then when I thought about it, it actually made a lot of sense. Music is a highly influential factor in the lives of many people. So logic should progress such that if a certain style of music is heavily influential in ones' life, that they would (intentionally or not) begin to embody certain qualities of that music or the musicians who play it.

To use myself as an example, I didn't start wearing a bandanna until I started listening to heavier music (rock, metal, glam etc.). I thought, and still think, it looks awesome, and why do I think that? Because guys like Steven Tyler, Nikki Sixx and Keith Richards were rocking the bandanna look.

But even though it's feasible to think that you can judge the kind of music someone is listening to by the way they look, I decided it's best not to. For me, there are few truer sayings than, "You can't judge a book by its cover." Literally and figuratively, I thought I was going to hate the Lord of the Rings, but today I regard it as one of the best pieces of literature ever written. Similarly, how do I (or anyone else for that matter) know that the tiny little girl wearing a PINK jacket and Uggs isn't listening to some seriously heavy shit? And who's to say that the kid with the leather jacket, tattoos and piercings isn't listening to a Beethoven Sonata, or Taylor Swift for that matter?

What I'm getting at here, is that music is one of those awesome things that transcends everything. Race, gender, ethnicity, creed, religion and so on. It's crazy.

Who would've thought that everyone could be brought together by sounds?

I feel like that last sentence was super hippie... but still it's missing something. I'm gonna try again.

Who would've thought that everyone could be brought together by sounds... man

Too many fillers

Since talking about fillers in class, I have been quite self conscious about my personal use of them. After class that day I kept a running tally of my "likes", "sortas" "kindas" and "whatevers". The grand total of tallies was well over 50, but my tallies got pretty sloppy towards the end, so I'm not sure of the exact number.

Suffice to say, I use a lot of fillers.

But the thing is, I didn't realize the extent to which fillers rule my sentences. Like everyone else, I thought I only used them sometimes. But once I started paying attention, I noticed little ones, sneaky ones, tricky little fillers that I would have missed if I wasn't paying attention. So I even counted the ones that I caught before even saying them.

Beyond just the pain of knowing that I am such a rampant abuser of fillers in sentences, I also started to feel very foolish every time I caught myself using a filler. And then when I started feeling like a moron, I started thinking about that and would lose my train of thought from what I was previously talking about.

"Yeah, and like... um, li- oh um... sorry, what was I saying?"

Yeah, it was that bad.

After looking at the tallies I reflected on my day. I came to the conclusion that I was not even sure why using fillers made me so uncomfortable. I knew that the reason I used fillers was because of society, so why was that same society now telling me to stop?

It was all very confusing. And frustrating.

Basically, I figured it was a better idea to just ignore my usage of fillers and try to subconsciously stop using them, because purposely thinking about them will drive me absolutely nuts.

So to close, I was wondering how many times on average do you think you use fillers each day? ESTIMATE, please do not count them for real unless you're genuinely interested. It's awful. I can't stop thinking about them now. But anyway, please add with any comment, the number of times a day you think you use fillers.

Oprah and the Former Rockstar

A couple days ago, my guitar teacher turned me on to this clip. BEFORE YOU WATCH IT. Let me preface that there is not one big "Aha!" moment or punchline. Moreover, it is a series of just completely ridiculous antics.


Okay, have you watched it? Are you laughing? I wasn't the first time I saw it. I was actually pretty confused as to what the hell was going on.

So I took another watch.

Okay, NOW I'm laughing. I decided immediately that I needed to break down this video.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the awkward way in which Oprah holds Steven Tyler's hand in the beginning as they are walking towards the woods. It looks as if they are not so much holding hands, but as if Oprah is literally holding Steven Tyler from falling down. And honestly, I don't think that's too far off from the truth, judging by the amount of drugs Tyler took throughout his career with Aerosmith.

The next thing that I thought was hysterical was about a minute in. Oprah stops to admire a rock covered in moss and highly obliviously, Steven Tyler ushers her on saying, "Okay, come on". It almost sounds like he's talking to a dog.

At one point, Tyler and Oprah are standing in the middle of the woods, and it's quiet and Oprah says, "It's the stillness..." with an inflection that maybe was supposed to have a lasting impact. If there is any silent, sacred magic to being in the woods, and I am inclined to believe that there is, Oprah, Steven Tyler and that camera crew are totally ruining it.

The part that really got me though, was when they were sitting on the moss, in the middle of the woods, smelling grass and talking about NOT being on drugs.

To end the video, Oprah proclaims, with a certain amount of unwarranted grandness I might add, "I don't think God is in the music, I think He... IS the music." Wow, like we all didn't know that one was coming.

The whole time, it seems as though Oprah is trying to be on Steven Tyler's level. That is impossible. Steven Tyler does not live on Earth, he's in his own little world, man.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this little gem. Lemme know what ya think.

In Retrospect...

So to start off, I apologize for my tone in that last post. My "ranting" tone as someone pointed out seems to have clouded the message I was really trying to get across and I also seem to have offended some people.  I am sorry about that.


Let me see if I can be more clear and a little bit nicer.

I do not have a problem with the Greek system in and of itself. I am well aware that there are highly influential people who have come out of fraternities and sororities and I am also well aware of the positive things they stand for, especially, but not limited to their involvement in community service and raising money for organizations that help to cure diseases. These things are wonderful. I also know, because I have friends in frats and sororities, that you have to maintain a certain GPA to remain in good standing with the frat or sorority you are a part of. So the people in these things must be intelligent. They must be.

But it is because I know these things that I have a problem with the image they project.



When I was on my high school cross country team, my coach always reminded the team to represent our letters (our school) well and to hold the team in high regard, because we as individuals OF the team, have an effect on the ENTIRE team and by proxy our entire school.



Similarly, when I see girls and guys walking around with Greek letters, they represent not just themselves, but their own fraternity or sorority AND the Greek system as a whole. So I hope I am very clear when I say that my problem is NOT with sororities and fraternities inherently but with the manner in which their members portray them.


As someone pointed out in a comment on my previous post, not everyone in the Greek system is this way. I am not trying to say that 100% of the students in sororities and fraternities give their letters a bad name, but it is certainly enough of them that a stereotype has been created and is very well known. I would venture to say that most college have heard of the "ditsy sorority girl" and the "ultra-bro frat guy". Neither of which are particularly positive images.


Think about the riot that occurred after JoePa was canned. That created all kinds of terrible media for the ENTIRE school because of the less than 10% of students who participated in the destruction of public and university property while wearing the Penn State letters. It doesn't even take the majority of a population to cause a bad name for everyone.


So when a bunch of people wearing Greek letters are walking in front of you and not one of them holds the door, or you hold the door and not one of the says, "thank you". Or you drop a couple books and a couple people in frat or sorority sweatshirts just stares at you while they walk by without offering a helping hand. Or you've noticed that a group of girls or guys wearing letters act in a highly unpleasant manner, you tend to forget about all of the things that those Greek letters SHOULD stand for. Being in a fraternity or sorority should be a privilege, especially in a school where Greek life is so prominent. These people are all presented with incredible opportunities; most of them give up the occasional weekend to go canning for Thon, are very intelligent students and probably very interesting people...


But I would never know because of the way they represent themselves. And no, I'm not saying it's all of them, but it certainly is the majority of those I've interacted with.  So just as I'm sure some of you will now view me differently, probably negatively, because of the way I represented myself in my last post, I view Greek life differently because of the way its members have represented themselves to me.



I imagine these organizations would garner much more respect if they held themselves in a manner which bespeaks the things their organizations really stand for.
I genuinely hope something changes or occurs for me to be able to change my mind about this subject.

The Girls Next Door

Hi, I'm Jeremy Eckstein and this year I have the unfortunate displeasure of living next to a sorority dorm. That is, 3 of the 5 floors of the building are sororities. Now, before I go further into this post, I would like to say that if you are in a sorority, or you are planning to Rush: I hope that what I'm about to say does not offend you.

To start, I suppose I should explain that in order to get from my dorm to my dining hall, I can completely avoid going outside. However, instead of braving the harsh Penn State winter, I must suffer through the inane happenings, dialogues and general antics that occur in the sorority building. Suffice to say, I can't wait until it gets warm again.

At first, I didn't think it was so bad, and after a while, it was actually pretty entertaining to observe the goings on of the ladies in the building. But just a couple days ago, I heard something that nearly made me lose faith in the entire human race.

Okay, here's the story: On Monday, while I was walking to go get dinner, I got stuck in the hallway behind two sorority sisters. They were having a conversation about their respective winter breaks and this is (basically) how the conversation went, I'll try to quote as best I can:

Girl 1: (Excitedly) I was super excited to see my boyfriend over the break, even though he only came up for a couple days.
Girl 2: Oh yeah! That must have been great, what'd you guys do?
Girl 1: Oh my god, it was sooooo cute, he took me to the zoo
Girl 2: Awwww!
Girl 1: Yeah, I think my favorite animals that we saw were (get ready for this) the striped horses

...what. The what horses? Striped? You mean the ones that look like this:

Because that has a name, IT'S CALLED A ZEBRA, NOT A STRIPED FREAKING HORSE.

THIS is a striped horse:

(Note how it's not actually a real horse.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the fact that zebras exist was fairly common knowledge, especially for a college student. When I heard this, I didn't know how to react. I knew it was funny, I mean come on, a striped horse? But she was just so sincere, I didn't know whether or not to laugh. Is it possible that this girl actually doesn't know what a zebra is? I almost felt bad for her... almost.

So then I got to thinking. I started thinking about every interaction I've ever had with sorority girls, and I used those interactions to try to figure out why I hold so much resentment towards this type of person and I think I've finally come up with a conclusion. It's because they perpetuate their own stereotype, seemingly on purpose. Now, I'm not saying that 100% of sorority girls are like this, but most of 'em sure are and I can't imagine why a young woman enrolled in an institution of higher learning would want to purposely degrade her own intelligence. I honestly can't believe that these girls are stupid or ignorant enough enough to make mistakes like calling zebras "striped horses". But as far as I can tell, this seems to be the case. Furthermore, I've never encountered a more judgmental group of people (and actually this goes for hardcore Frat Brothers as well). So, to summarize, Sororities are a group of young women who want to act like total morons, flaunt their sexuality in an almost vulgar manner on weekends, and judge each other and everyone else behind closed doors. And they call each other sisters?

This brings up the ultimate question: Why would any girl want to pay to join such an organization? Surely there are better ways to spend your time and more worthwhile people to be spending it with.
But somehow, these organizations continue to gain membership, and are actually quite popular. How could that possibly be?

Well, let's see if we can't break it down.

 I would say that the number one reason that girls join a sorority is the number one reason why most people join any organization- to be a part of something. Simple as that. People like to feel like they are a part and that they matter and in a school the size of Penn State, it's easy to get lost, to be just another face in the crowd. For many girls, I imagine being in a sorority is one way to "make a big school small" so to speak.
Closely following at number two would be the party scene. It's much easier to get into frat parties if you are a Brother or Sister, so I would say that is also a leading cause in girls being attracted to sororities.
Coming in at number three would be the Greek involvement in Thon. This, in my opinion, is the best of these three reasons for joining a sorority. Fighting for a cause, especially one like Pediatric Cancer, is an excellent reason to join an organization. However, students can be involved with Thon without being involved in Greek life at all.

 So there might be other reasons, but I think these three are the biggies.

I still don't get it.

 I can't fathom why you would pay these people to pretend to be your friends while they secretly (or maybe even not so secretly) judge you based on your appearance and encourage you to demean and misrepresent your own intelligence and individuality to better fit the "sorority mold". Sororities (and fraternities for that matter) are the ultimate identity suppressor. How can you be yourself when there is an unquestionable stereotype in these groups that seems to be purposefully sustained by their own members and that they expect new recruits to uphold?

Maybe there is more to Greek life that I'm missing by not being a part of it, but at this point I feel I understand them pretty well. Suffice to say, I am not a fan.