sorority rush
SMU in dallas.
The password to log on to the internet where we were set up is “jesusislord,” and I would think this might be offensive or sacrilegious, but i am told that is not. i suppose i should have a better sense of humor about religion.
the events that stuck out most was going to a hare krishna meeting and just before that crashing a sorority recruiting cookie bash. how do these connect and why did they both give me hope?
now there’s a large building, on the bottom floor this sorority is rushing (is that the right terminology?) and trying to get new members. they have free cookies so you know i’m there. it was an extremely large group and their voices echoed all the way up to the room a few flights up where the hare krishna meeting was taking place.
if there are two things i live for in this world they are fucking with gender conformity and free cookies. i suppose the longer i think about it there are probably more than two, but these are pretty high on the list.
i was joking with micah and aaron that i should go downstairs and ask if i could join their sorority and upon being told no, launch into a huge discussion about gender division and perception. micah offered to videotape it since we could see the gathering from peering over the circular balcony, so i took the elevator down and walked up to one of the main tables on the outside.
“uhhh can i come in and take a look?” i asked one of the sorority reps manning the info table.
“sure!” they said cheerfully.
huh. this somehow did not turn out as i thought it would. i guess it’s a good thing that sometimes you want a fight and there’s no need.
so i walk in and i’m surrounded by a sea of female bodied college students. i get a few odd looks here and there, but other than that i was able to just be there.
never in my life did i think i would be in dallas at a methodist college at a sorority rush event, but you know, there i was.
i walked through the packed crowd, went around from one side to the next, politely excusing mysefl as i brushed up against them. i grabbed a couple cookies from various displays, looked around. i was accepted, and that was that. no one pushed me away, no one said, “what are YOU doing here?”
maybe if i’d had a few conversations this story would have more depth or perspective. maybe it would have made people think, but maybe just being there was enough.
again i’m struck with this idea of where we do and do not belong.
maybe that’s why i end up going to the same places all the time. once i find a place where i feel like i belong sometimes it’s hard to question where else i might go.
there’s an idea of being safe and feeling accepted, but again who is to say where my body should be? where do i belong? where does anyone belong?
next up: the hare krishna meeting and how it’s all connected.
