Thu June 1, 2006
Beginning the Summer of '06
What is the state of our chapter right now?
Finals are officially over. We graduated two promising young men this Spring: Blaise Exon and Jared Cooke. Both will be sorely missed, and their contributions to our fraternity were countless in number. Now, as we head into the long drudgery of the lazy summer months, we prepare ourselves for the crescendo of responsibilities and tasks we must accomplish by the Fall semester.
We moved out of the Suite, which was the single and greatest thing to happen to our chapter last year. The University worked with us to meet our expectations and demands, and the end product was a slick, shiny new 8-bedroom suite in the heart of campus: Taylor Hall. Some will be back for next semester, most won't.
We had a rough last semester. We only rushed one person, and he's now enrolled in a school in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Our numbers are low, our grades are low, and our morale is low. We need a boost. We need a fire under our asses to get us back in shape. I believe Conclave 2006 in Indianapolis is that fire.
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By Danny | Jun 1, 2006 | Permalink
Mon December 13, 2004
Christmas Dinner with the DBNs
There was so much food. So much. And the turkey, don't get me started on the turkey. It was perfect, succulent, moist, and tender. Thank God for Nichole.
All the DBNs dressed up, while most of our guys showed up in jeans and a t-shirt. Oh well.
As usual, the guys strained around the TV, while the girls got everything in the kitchen underway. For the second time in a row, our guys have been stuck with the task of cooking the turkey. A sorority (two now, actually), full of GIRLS that can COOK, wants a bunch of guys who play videogames and whose definition of cooking involves a trip to McDonald's to prepare a turkey -- the hardest and most oft-miscooked and item on the Thanksgiving table. Whatever.
In the end, we all settled down around the TV, and Justin plopped in the tape of the Christmas Dinner in 2003 last year. I think it one of the few times we actually hung out with the DBNs back then, and there was a lot of lively talking and partying around the food. It looked like a genuinely fun time. I think I even caught a glimpse of Malina and I flirting on the couch. I miss having the old house on Rossi. But all good things must end, right?
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By Danny | Dec 13, 2004 | Permalink
Fri December 10, 2004
Elections
This time last year, tensions were growing to see see who would be the next president, and who would be taking seats in the all-important E-Board. In hindsight, it wasn't pretty at all. The competition was fierce, and some people were sorely dissappointed. And then a few months into it we had to go through it all again, rebuilding after a colossal failure of a presidency; filling the position and rearranging our organization from the ground up.
With the appropriate backstory, you can tell this year's elections were loaded with memories and sour tastes. Impeaching your own president is something that no organization should ever have to go through, and I feel sorry for all the new members that had to go through the ordeal. But things start afresh every year, and the topic eventually made its way into our chapter meetings a month ago. What would happen? Who would be our figurehead? Our leader?
By Danny | Dec 10, 2004 | Permalink
Tue November 16, 2004
Initiation at U of I
It hasn't been done before, and we were a little afraid of what was going to happen. After all, as far as we've been around, we've more than managed our ritual by ourselves with no outside help (except for our chartering ceremony and initiation with our national officers). So when Jeremy Slivinski wanted all three of our Northwest chapters to come together for a regional conference and initiation, we were slightly apprehensive.
Our caravan left on Friday after school, fought through some incredibly dense and dark fog, and arrived at the WSU Eta chapter house for a little cookout. We met some of the guys, then headed back to the Alpha Phi house at U of I to get settled into our couches and meet all the guys. We even managed to play a few house-wide Halo2 matches that night. Since it was the end of their I-week, there were no girls or any consumption of alcohol by any member, so it was cool to hang out with everybody and build some brotherhood.
The next morning, us Gamma Theta boys headed out to The Breakfast Club, a small restaurant in downtown Moscow specializing in apathied waitresses and breakfast foods. We were still a little groggy at 8am, but the coffee and pancakes woke us up enough to dress into business casual and stroll to the new Commons for our first session of our Conference.
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By Danny | Nov 16, 2004 | Permalink
Sun October 17, 2004
Fall Rush 2004
Expectations. Everybody's got them. Nobody is without a dream, and without a basic core set of beliefs on what their fraternity should be. And our chapter is no different. About two thirds of our active membership made it to Conclave this year, and our chapter had the biggest turnout out of all the chapters involved this year. It made us feel great being the newest chartered chapter in the fraternity. Our hopes were set high with visions for the big fall rush, and everybody was set in making it the best year of AKL. What with only one new rush and a returning pledge(Joe Demay and Adam Janot, respectively), our previous spring rush was nothing worth noting. This was going to be the best year yet. And what did we get?
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By Danny | Oct 17, 2004 | Permalink
Wed August 11, 2004
Conclave 2004
"Ho-yeaaah"
- Quagmire, The Family Guy.
The biennial Conclave of the Fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda has just finished, held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott. And you missed out if you didn't get to go. Jeremy, Jasen, Justin, Joe, Jared, and I all went, along with our advisor and corporation board president, Tom Cuthbert. It was our first Conclave for all of us except Tom, who has been to five now.
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By Danny | Aug 11, 2004 | Permalink
Mon June 14, 2004
The Military
One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one
- Agatha Christie (1890 - 1976)
It is inevitable for a fraternity to avoid the military and its long reach into the college man's life. Ever since the first days of the inception of greek-letter societies, young men have been targeted for possible drafts, recalls, or deployments. The cataclysmic second World War all but silenced the voices of these young men, and fraternities across the country scattered to hold on to whatever resources and men were dwindling under their umbrellas. Alpha Kappa Lambda was, and is, no different. Adam Janot left today for the United States Marine Corps Reserve, scheduled to be done with training in time for the Spring semester. David "Flounder" Dickman, my younger brother, left three weeks ago for Lacklang AFB for his training. He should be back a week into this Fall semester. With the incessant "peace-keeping" operations in Iraq, and the long wait for the anticipated people's democratic rise to power there, along with the constant turmoil and unrest, the chances of being deployed are greater now than they have been since 9/11. It would be rough on the guys if it happened to one or more of us.
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By Danny | Jun 14, 2004 | Permalink
Wed June 9, 2004
Summer Classes and an Alpha Chi Barbeque
Summer time an' the livin' is easy, Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high. Oh, yo' daddy's rich, and yo' ma' is good-lookin', So hush, little baby, don' yo' cry.
- Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward
For some, summer means kicking up your feet and relaxing. For others, summer classes are in full swing. Both the five week and eight week sessions are starting their feverish schedules, and students are learning more in a day than they did in a week in regular semesters. By summer's end those of us attending class will be prepped to start the fall semester on the right foot. Meanwhile, our roster for Conclave is looking good, with confirmed attendances by Jasen Braun, Adam "Buddha" Binder, Jeremy Rasmussen, Jared Cooke, Joe DeMay, Justin Payne, and me. And Jasen has been hard at work organizing our first official summer event happening this Sunday...
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By Danny | Jun 9, 2004 | Permalink
Fri June 4, 2004
On Finding a House
The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the wall of our own homes.
- Harold B. Lee (1899 - 1973)
Finding a house right now is main priority number one. We've had meetings, we've had discussions, we've debated, argued, brainstormed, thought, and dreamed about this for a couple of months now. It's finally becoming a reality. There looks to be about six guys willing to move into a house, including David "Flounder" Dickman, Jasen Braun, Justin Payne, Jeremy Rasmussen, Blaise Exon, and myself. There must be some sacrifices, and we all understand that they must be made if we plan on making our fraternity the best it can be. In a perfect world, we would have a house right next to campus, with four bedrooms and a two car garage that we could transform into an extra room or office. We'd probably have to bunk up with one other person, but that's another sacrifice we're willing to make, however unappealing that seems. That's not all we're willing to sacrifice, though...
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By Danny | Jun 4, 2004 | Permalink
Tue June 1, 2004
The Start of Summer
No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
- James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848
Today marks the last day of registration for the 2004 Conclave in San Francisco. AKL celebrates 90 years, and that's a good long time's worth of tradition and history. This year's Conclave will be the best one yet, and will the first that most of our guys will be attending. It's set to become a classic.
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By Danny | Jun 1, 2004 | Permalink
Fri May 28, 2004
Our History Begins. Here.
"It is therefore necessary that memorable things should be committed to writing, (the witness of times, the light and the life of truth,) and not wholly committed to slippery memory which seldom yields a certain reckoning."
- Sir Edward Coke
I'm technologically-oriented. I'm also a lover of history. Controversial, maybe, but it works for me. Our history is important. Our fraternity strives to become better every day, to become men of character committed to making a differece. If we can be better that we were the previous day, no matter how small a measure it might be, we are moving in the right direction. So, I created this web log to document exactly what happens in our lives as we progress into the annals of the future, and history, of Alpha Kappa Lambda.
"Who control the past now, controls the future.
Who control the present now, controls the past."
- Rage Agains the Machine, "Testify".
