For almost all of the time we have been married, Dan and I have lived our lives in 16 week segments, starting first when he was in grad school. Once Dan became a faculty member, the ebb and flow of life on a semester basis became much more acute. Some people cannot fathom why we can’t join them on vacation, say for two weeks in October. Yes, professors take time off for conferences and life and death situations, but a vacation just for the fun of it in the middle of the semester is a bit difficult to justify.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale held its graduation exercises on Saturday. All around the country, the same exact scene was taking place. Happy families were celebrating, friends were saying goodbye, and cars and truck piled high with packed belongings were heading out of town. “Carbondale businesses brace for summer” is the headline of a story on the local television station’s website.
It is now time to get ready for the next academic year. Fraternity and sorority members have a busy summer. Chapter houses get spruced up and ready for the fall. Some members attend convention and leadership events and get energized. Executive board members reflect on the 2013-14 year and strategize for the one ahead. Recruitment plans take shape. Greek Life professionals take a deep breath, recharge their batteries, and get ready for the next cycle of students. Some hopscotch to a new job and jump right into all the discovery which that entails.
Research and writing these posts come naturally to me, promoting this blog does not. My self-effacing ways go against the grain of shouting “Hey, hey read this!” Yes, sometimes I do shout, but believe me it does not come easily to me. However, I honestly think that history is an important component of fraternity and sorority membership and that makes me wave my hands a bit.
It is my hope that GLO members use these summer months to learn more about their organizations and their GLO cousins. The internet has made many out-of-print items readily available. There is no need to purchase the items (yes, print on demand publishers have usurped some of the now in public domain publications of GLOs and charge high prices for items that may be available for absolutely nothing). Some GLOs have digitized histories and magazines and have made them available to members on their organization’s website. I highly encourage anyone with a little time to kill to read through a couple of decades-old GLO magazines. Some college publications are digitized and available for free. It doesn’t even have to be your own organization’s magazine. You can get a feel of what was happening on a campus or at a particular time by reading any of them. The war-time fraternity magazines are especially poignant.
There are more than 400 posts on this blog. Some are a bit longer than 600 words, but I try to make them a quick read. Please encourage other GLO members to take a look at the archives on this site. It’s searchable and I suspect there is at least one post that would interest the most history adverse person out there. Thanks and happy reading!
My fan club and me, circa 1995. The other member of the club was playing photographer.
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© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
