Trees and Chi Omega

This is the Christmas Tree that lives at Chi Omega! Chi Omega is my home, albeit only for 14 more days. As my time in Montana winds down quickly, I'm starting to see myth and realize the little things are more important than I think. 

I know a lot of people have a lot of stigmas towards greek life and sororities. We're portrayed in media as vapid women that care about alcohol and sex and have no intellectual value; TV shows such as Greek and every other show/movie based at any college send this message to people across our culture.

I joined Chi Omega is August of 2012 and have never made a better decision in my life. These women, these 76 women, have bettered, served, and grown me as a human being. The assignment we had earlier in the class, to hug a tree, was something I laughed at as I asked one of my sisters to take a picture of me hugging a tree. However, what it led to was about 4 of us running around downtown Bozeman hugging and climbing trees (and getting yelled at by a homeowner for trespassing, oops). Yes, quite a few of us have danced with Dionysus on a couple different occasions, however, not a single one of us has ever danced alone.

Chi Omega is greek by nature. Made up of two of the twenty four letters that make up the greek alphabet, Chi and Omega hold special meaning to those who have initiated into the sisterhood of Chi Omega. Sisterhood and family is a huge theme throughout all of greek mythology, and it would be a lie to say that our sisterhood is anything but true. Sororities and fraternities started with students that wanted to meet secretly for discussion and debate that was not deemed appropriate by their administrations. Today, sororities and fraternities are groups of individuals who place value in scholarship, high standards of personnel, friendship, community service, campus involvement, and career development. 

One of our symbols is an owl, and though I cannot tell you why, I can expand on some knowledge that interested me from the first day of class. Hades, who's lover is our beloved Persephone, was quite the fan of the owl. It was one of his favorite creatures. Moreover, Persephone, his consort, is part of our tradition and history (moreso in the way of her and Demeter rather than her love story with Hades). Chi Omega is rooted in greek mythology. Owls, carnations, skull and crossbones, Demeter and Persephone. Our seal is characterized by Demeter in the middle surrounded by 5 uneven scallops.

If you look hard enough, if you can get past the stereotypical sorority woman, then you can see that we are rooted in Greek mythology farther back than you can imagine. 

Presentations, Day 3

Statements/snippets from speeches that caught my attention today:

• Scars tell stories and teach lessons that we'll never forget
• I completely agree because there's a huge scar on my right knee that reminds me to never ride a razor scooter down a very steep hill and slam on the brakes, because you WILL go flipping over the handlebars and skid down the pavement on your knee
• What is more significant than history or culture?
• If I begin to understand something, I'm definitely wrong
• Interest is the most essential part of mythologies
• Scars are tattoos, only with better series
• Pain is temporary, yet lives forever because pain is symbolic of a story and stories never die
• To live a life of myth is to live the life of a God
• Our similarities are more prevalent than our differences
• Our destination is the same as our point of origin
• I'm seldom wrong
• Dr. Sexson is the arch nemesis of Google
• A legend is only a legend because of the story
• Success is realizing how unimportant you are and how important others are
• Trees symbolize the natural world
• "Please don't forget."

I think the worst part of this class is that it's forced me to understand that classes like Lit 285 with Dr. Sexson are the classes that make us who we are. Too often are classes about memorization and recognition of factual intelligence and the newest "discovery", but this class is about finding yourself in myth, and at least for me, losing a lot of what I prided myself in. The idea of leaving this class knowing that classes like these only come around once or twice is very sad to internalize.

Presentations, Day 2

I came to class today about ten minutes late because I had been out photographing our beautiful, snow-dusted campus with a couple friends of mine. I walked in, and Connor was giving his presentation and was talking about how we, as a class, as a family, have shown and shared our scars with each other. Too often, do people think that scars represent weakness, that showing that you've been hurt is a sign of inferiority. Scars are something to be proud of, to show and tell to people about your experiences, the things and moments that have made you who you are.
Siri talked next, following by Jean and Sarah and concluding with Ian. I jotted down notes for each of these speakers, hoping to gain insight to who they were, but upon getting home, I realized that I hadn't written down the speakers of each quote. So now, as I lay in my room trying to discern the different people that are the authors of my page of my notes from today, I am realizing that it doesn't matter who said what, because even if we haven't all said it, we've all meant it.
Here are some things I heard today:

• Beauty is found in the ordinary. 
• We find myths everywhere
• Breaking Bad is based off of some guy named Heisenburg.
• Sarah wrote a badass poem with a wonderfully intricate rhyme scheme.
• Bastille Day is important to someone.
• Home is the transformation we all seek.
• Hope, Perseverance, and Strength.
• Stories have the magical ability to weave the past and the future into the present.
• Romance is the appearance of pirates.
• Our own lifetimes and stories are neither more or less than those before us or after us.
• We remember the stories that make us who we are.
• We have, against all odds, lived happily ever after. We do, against all odds, live happily ever after. We will continue to, against all odds, live happily every after.

Air Quotations

As the semester comes to a close, I'm starting to realize that this blog is looking a little malnourished.
Between now and December 3rd, I'm going to be doing all of the "suggested" posts that Dr. Sexson has told us to do.

Last Friday, I went to Seven Sushi with my "friend" Griffin. We waited in line for "half an hour", according to the hostess, and finally were seated. Our waiter was friendly and personable but seemed a little too... "helpful". Griffin and I ordered sushi; his order was the "Jawdropper"roll and a salmon roll, and mine was the "Playboy" roll and a California roll. We talked for the 45 minutes it took for our sushi to come and we covered a lot of different topics. I told him while we were on our way there that I was going to be using air quotations at dinner and he laughed it off, not thinking I was serious. However, we were eating and talking about our "relationship" and how much we "loved" each other and whatnot, and he was starting to get freaked out at my uncanny ability to make him question every thing that I was saying. We started talking about how I was leaving to go back to Georgia for law school in December, but it didn't take long for him to be very confused about what I was saying. I told him I was "leaving" for "good" in December for "law school" and that I didn't know how the distance was going to affect us. I told him that "change" was good and that maybe 2,000 miles would be "enlightening" for us.
At this point, Griffin was having a heart attack.
I told him to try out using air quotations on random words and he obliged.
Soon enough, we were having a full on conversation with air quotations being used left and right, and the people surrounding us and the waiter was very, very concerned as to what we were doing.
He approached us, asking why we were using quotations in the middle of the restaurant, and waited "patiently" for an answer.
Griffin replied perfectly, "We're using "air quotations" to say things without the full impact and to change the meaning to be in the ears of the listener."
The waited, looking befuddled and getting impatient, asked us why we would do that.
I replied, "Someone once told me that using air quotations would distort the meaning, and the results could be quite funny"
The waiter, unpleased, finally asked, "Well, what is the meaning?!"
And Griffin, right on cue, said "What do you mean, "meaning"? "
He left us with our sushi, we laughed for a while, and when the bill came, our total was around $38 and Griffin wanted to leave one last remark on the bill to really bring the point full circle.
He left a tip of $7, except it looked like this:

Sub-Total: $38
Tip: "$7.00"
Total: "$45"

Displaced Myth

Three years ago:

A headline hit newsstands across the nation.

"Illinois: Family of three, brutally murdered, trace of murderer nowhere to be found."

A couple weeks later, the people got their first, and last, glimpse of closure.

The murderer had been found, a young woman named Linda. Young, beautiful, and intelligent, Linda was the poster child for success, yet she had committed such an unnatural crime that even her family knew she was going to be convicted. However, she was acquitted. After months and months of trials, evidence compilation, witnesses and a seemingly strong prosecution, the jury decided her to be "not guilty". Linda walked free.

Now:

Graduation has just passed for University of Chicago's Law School. 2 lawyers, Aaron and Eliza, new residents in the Chicago Bar Association, are looking for cases to study and analyze while preparing for their first case. Tracing cases and leads back through the years, Eliza stumbles on the case of Linda from 2010. Eliza and Aaron went over the case for days and days, taking it apart piece by piece, reexamining every single piece of evidence used, watching all of the court recordings, reading the transcript from all of the trials. Just as it seemed everyone should have been three years ago, Eliza and Aaron were overwhelmed with evidence pointing to guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for Linda. Nervous but determined, Eliza and Aaron approached the judge of the case, asking for more information. The judge told them very seriously and very adamantly that they needed to shut down their research and stay away from the case. The judge was impressed with their determination to find justice and expressed that their traits of determination would prove to be admirable as lawyers, but this was a case that needed to be put to rest.

The 2 lawyers tried to put the case to rest and move on with their lives, but it seemed as if Linda was haunting them. Within weeks of the initial meeting with the judge, Linda started reappearing on TV and in the media, as if taunting them to give the case another look. So, in secret, Eliza picked back up on the trial. Soon enough, she found the information that backed her acquittal- Linda was the judge's illegitimate daughter. An affair years and years ago led the judge to have Linda, but Linda had been a secret to the public since her birth. Eliza, taken aback by this information and the corruptness of what had happened in Linda's trial, went straight to Aaron. Aaron resisted at first, saying that the judge had warned them to stay away from this case and that he didn't want to lose his license to practice law, but after days of nagging and watching how panicked Eliza was, Aaron decided to look at the case again. He realized the same thing Eliza did, and they decided to approach the judge.

The judge, realizing what these new lawyers had done, was outraged. "I gave you everything you could've wanted as a new lawyer- access to the most publicized cases of the 20th century and even the most high-profile cases of today, and all I asked was for you to stay away from one single case, and you couldn't do that", the judge declared. Though Eliza and Aaron pleaded with the judge to understand, and told the judge that they knew the truth about Linda, the judge was infuriated and showed no budging. The case stayed closed and no one ever found out about Linda's lineage, however Aaron and Eliza permanently lost their licenses to practice law.