A joke from my father-in-law:
A C-130 was en route to a mission when a cocky F-16 pilot flew up next to him.
The fighter jock told the C-130 pilot, “watch this!” He went into a barrel roll, followed by a steep climb, then finished with a sonic boom when he reached the speed of sound.
The F-16 pilot asked the C-130 pilot what he thought.
The C-130 pilot responded “that was impressive, but watch this.”
The C-130 droned along for about 15 minutes then the 130 pilot came back on and said, “what did you think about that?”
The 16 pilot asked, “what did you do?”
The C-130 pilot responded, “I got up, stretched my legs, went to the back, poured a cup of coffee and took a piss. Any questions?”
When I was a young lad, the (even then, obviously wildly politically incorrect) Redskins were the lords of Washington, and Joe Gibbs was their king. I graduated high school and then college, and Gibbs retired and the ‘skins faded away.
Now, Gibbs is back, and the ‘skins are in the playoffs. Gibbs, of course, is winning by being Gibbs. Having moved to LA, the land of Kobe Bryant and other dubious sports “personalities,” it’s nice to see that being a class act can still get you to the top.
Where this is all going: Today, the Washington Post has a nice write-up about Gibbs’ return.
Wired has an article up on how to do your own podcast. I see many more people having podcasts before this trend subsides down to mostly being professional radio stations using the Internet as a cheap way to distribute their shows beyond their broadcasting range. (And that’s a trend I see accelerating, if anything.)
Salon has an interesting article about a “feminist sorority” at Trinity College in Connecticut. While this isn’t the first local fraternity/sorority to break out of the mold (although I dispute there being a mold so much as there are personality types that tend to join Greek organizations more than others), it’s the first I’ve heard of that had feminism as a political ideology. (Although, come to think of it, it’d be strange if that hadn’t occured in the 1960s and 1970s somewhere, somewhen.)
But sororities in general seem to be changing — very, very slowly. “There is a movement to make these groups more progressive and relevant in the 21st century because they understand that if they don’t progress they might get wiped out,” says Alexandra Robbins, author of “Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities.” The primary obstacle: “The sense of tradition in these organizations is so strong that any movement toward change is inevitably going to encounter a backlash.” Still, Robbins recently worked as a consultant with the national leadership of one sorority whose highest-ups “were thinking about more revolutionary changes than even I suggested,” she says. “It was very encouraging. The day might not be so far away when a ‘feminist sorority’ no longer has to be just a ‘local.'” (Single-chapter fraternities and sororities that do not have national parent organizations, like Zeta, are known as “locals.”)
I wholeheartedly agree that Greek life is going to inevitably change, perhaps radically, in the future. I also think it’ll happen sooner than the above-quoted Robbins thinks. At Pi Kappa Alpha at Tech, graduating seniors are given the floor to speak about whatever they want in a beer-and-pizza-ceremony. I commented at that time that I thought the day of single-sex chapters by national policy would be gone before my brothers had sons rushing Pikes. It just doesn’t seem to be something that can indefinitely withstand the changing times.
I do think there will be fraternities (and sororities) that won’t survive. Some will get sued and refuse to change, and shut down. Others will remain sufficiently hidebound that, eventually, they will be too out of step with 21st century college students to be any sort of draw.
The ladies (and gentlemen) of the Zeta Omega Eta sorority are just a sign of things to come.
Behold, your new homepage. Play around with it a little. Click on a panel and drag it around. For your homepage convenience, there’s now an Add to Protopage button on the left hand menu of this site.
(Source.)
On a related note, Fred, Merl, Shylo, Steve: Your RSS feeds are hosed.
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