Communication Advances

It is no secret that the way humans communicate today is almost completely different from the way humans communicated ten years ago.  We are beginning the transition from face-to-face communication to virtual communication.  Advances in technology have made communication much more convenient than it has been in the past.  Need to talk to a friend? Shoot them a text. Want to make a business deal with a client? Set up an online videoconference.  Need a new dress for formal? Order it online.  While the latest and greatest has made life a lot easier, our newfound reliance on technology is causing mankind to forget the way we are meant to communicate- in person, not behind a screen. 

Computers have allowed for the most dramatic communication changes. In contrast to the past, all communication is archived nowadays.  We are now able to type everything and store our files in a more sophisticated and organized manner.

The Internet has strengthened the power of the computer and revolutionized the way we communicate.  Virtually every type of communication can be done over the Internet without directly communicating with others.  We can:

·      Send mail over the Internet in the form of an email- no more handwritten letters

·      Shop on the internet- no need to go to the store

·      Business can be done on the internet- no need to go into an office

·      Keep in touch with old friends using social media sites- no need to meet up

While the simplicity of the Internet has solved a lot of logistical problems and saved people money and time, there are a few major drawbacks.  It is more difficult to undo any communication done over the Internet.  Once something is published online, it is almost impossible to completely permanently remove it.  This has cost people jobs and college acceptances.  Also, the Internet is encouraging a sedentary lifestyle since there are few reasons to leave the house anymore.  The Internet is not always a safe place to exchange important information, so when it comes to banking and other places where private information is shared, one must be cautious.

            

Cell phones allow people immediate and direct communication.  Cell phone capabilities not only include now; they also include Internet surfing, emailing, gaming, photography, and video chatting.  These technology have worked wonders for allowing people to easily keep in touch from anywhere in the world.  However, communication through cell phones may be artificial.  Studies have shown that people who communicate with their cell phones through text messaging will say things to others that they would not normally say in person.  This loss of communication integrity is scary and has resulted in fewer social skills, especially in younger generations who have grown up using this technology.

            

While these may not necessarily be changes for the better, we must accept the direction communication is heading in and adapt.  Online communication etiquette has formed over time, so being up-to-date with is important.  There are ways to construct “professional” emails and certain online practices that are frowned upon.  Staying in the loop on proper online exchanges will absolutely contribute to success in the business world and the personal world.  Even though the communication world is changing, I encourage people to continue fostering relationships with others in person.  Face-to-face exchanges are more personal and are important for maintaining social skills as we move into a virtual world.

Chi O Loves Dubya

SMU made history yesterday with the grand opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on campus.  Witnessing the excitement of the opening first hand as a student was one of my most valued experiences thus far in college.  I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of most of the opening events.  

My Thursday began at 8:00 A.M.  Two of my friends and I were up much earlier than usual and ready to watch the ceremony.  Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the actual ceremony unlike all of our other friends.  All of the Hunt Scholars and President Scholars were able to attend and bring a friend, and since Chi O has about 20 scholars, a huge number of us got to go.  Not wanting to completely feel excluded from history, we viewed the ceremony in McFarland Auditorium with a plethora of other students.  It was a lot of fun to sit with our peers (instead of watching it from the TV at the house, which would have been depressing) and watch the event, and we even got a program from the real thing.

After our early morning and with the knowledge that we would later be boulevarding for the first time since football season, we decided to turn in for a nice power nap.  Because traffic made it impossible for people who live off campus to drive to school, one of my friends decided to sleep on the floor of my miniscule pit floor.  Needless to say, my nap was cut short when my roommate(s) returned to the room from the actual ceremony.  Since I was so jealous that they got to attend, the last thing I wanted to hear was them talk about how great it was (kidding, kind of).

When 4:00 rolled around, we began getting ready for the Block Party to celebrate the opening.  My friends and I donned our most patriotic boulevarding gear, and headed out to the intramural fields for the celebration.  There were thousands of people gathered to eat at the various food trucks, enjoy the live entertainment, and most of all, welcome the George W. Bush Library to campus.  

Once it started to get dark, the entire crowd was instructed to go to the library.  In a heard like fashion, the thousands of people made their way to the outside of the library where we waited for the man of honor to present himself. To make up for missing the actual event in the morning of that day, my friend and I squeezed our way to the front of the crowd.  With one of the best views in the place, we watched the army choir perform patiently ultimately anticipating the arrival of George W. Bush, the man himself.  With a speech that was short and cordial, Bush thanked us for joining him for the special day, and declared that he was ready for bed. 

The event was ended with a spectacular fireworks presentation that rivaled a Disneyland show.  Overall, Thursday was one of the most special days of my life, and I will always cherish the memories from that day.

XO Love and Mine,

Kat

Sorority Myths Debunked

There are several myths and negative stereotypes surrounding sororities.  I recently attended a public forum where SMU students could express concerns about anything on campus.  One girl went to the microphone and began talking about her negative impression of Panhellenic Greek life.  She said that the stories that she had heard about sororities were always negative and reflected poorly on SMU in general.  She also talked about how they were exclusive organizations that worried only about finding friends to go to parties with.  She prefaced her spiel by saying, “I do not know anything about Panhellenic sororities first hand, I have just heard stories.”  This especially frustrated me.

 I felt that it was very ignorant and unfair for that girl to pass judgment off on an entire community of over 1,200 girls at SMU.  Each and every girl is unique and has a different reason for joining a Greek group.  While there are some girls who join a sorority for the sole purpose of finding friends to party with, a majority of girls do not. 

Aside from building friendships and close bonds, sororities are extremely involved with their philanthropies, value scholarship, and are prominent volunteers to the community.  The relationships formed through sororities last a lifetime, and the lessons learned from being Greek are invaluable and applicable to almost every aspect of life.

Granted, one sorority girl’s poor decisions heavily affect the entire community.  If one girl decides to use drugs, sleep around, or openly drink underage, people outside our community automatically associate all Panhellenic women with that girl.  Of course, it is unfair for people to put those assumptions onto all members, but it will continue to happen for as long as people continue to make mistakes.  The only way to fix this problem is for all Greek women to hold themselves to a higher standard for the sake of other Panhellenic members and make smart choices.  In the end, they will be benefiting themselves and all of their Greek friends.

It is sad that we as a Panhellenic community even feel the need to defend ourselves.  Our organizations have so much to offer and positively affect the SMU community in several ways.  Greek women are heavily represented in several in campus government, sports teams, and extracurricular activities.  There are several honors students, Hilltop Scholars, and Presidential Scholars.  In my opinion, Greek life breeds leaders. 

Next time, before a non-Greek SMU student assumes negative things about the sororities on campus, I hope that they remember all of the positive aspects these organizations possess. As a member who joined for the right reasons, I can assure those who have doubts that there is much more to a sorority than the social aspects. 

XO Love and Mine,

Kat 

April Fools Day

This week was busy at the SMU Chi O house.  Our National Consultant was in town to check up on the chapter and make sure everything was in ship shape. Since I am on the Executive Board, I was in several meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and this morning.  I learned a lot of handy tips to make my chapter announcements more interesting and engaging, and also about marketing the SMU chapter more effectively to the community, faculty, other sororities, PNMs, and our sisters.

While a majority of the week was spent dealing with more serious matters and attempting to impress the National Consultant, we allowed ourselves one day of fun: April Fools Day, which was on Monday.  Around the Chi O house, you are never safe from a good humored prank.  April fools day or not, there is a core group of girls who are repeat offenders to committing pranks.

My friend Katherine and I have been in a "prank war" with my suite mate Mary.  We are constantly taking turns doing something mischievous to the other. Mary has filled my water bottles with mouth wash, contaminated my Diet Coke bottle with vinegar (it ACTUALLY tasted rancid...), and hidden baby dolls in my room.  To clarify why she has baby dolls in the first place and to maybe make her seem less weird, my friend Kate dressed up as Angelina Jolie for a date dash and brought several baby dolls with her as a part of her costume.  The babies were just sitting in her closet (creepy), so we decided to put them to good use.

In return to Mary's jabs, Katherine and I have put the dolls in her backpack so when she gets to class she has to take it out in front of everyone, strapped them into her car, and put strange liquids in her water bottle.  We decided that we needed to do something on April Fools to redeem ourselves, since we had less pranks done than her.

Of course, we wanted to mess with more people than Mary.  In the Chi O house kitchen, we label food that we buy for ourselves at the grocery store and put them in the cabinet.  We labeled several cans of cat food with Kate's name and put them in the cabinet as our first prank.  All day we overheard people saying things like, "Kate is the one feeding the ferrel cats..."  We also bought a sparkling laxative drink and labeled it with our friend Meredith's name.  She did not notice it all day, but others did..

Katherine and I struggled thinking of a good enough prank to do to Mary all day.  It needed to be bigger than anything else we did before.  After Mary heard about the things we did to other people, she began to get nervous about what we were going to do to her.  Once we realized that she was looking out for something, we kept telling her things to make her more nervous.  She spent all day expecting something to happen, but nothing ever did.  It was a lame prank on our part, but we figured it was better than nothing.

XO Love and Mine,

Kat

Live and Let Live

One requirement of Panhellenic is that 80% of each chapter must attend a mandatory speaker once a semester.  Hundreds of Panhellenic women and some IFC men pile into McFarlin Auditorium, sign in in order to gain attendance points for their chapters, and distractedly listen to the speaker presenting. 

As Panhellenic Delegate for Chi O, it is my job to make sure that the chapter is aware of the speaker.   I had to make sure that everyone turned in excuses to Panhellenic on time if they were going to be unable to attend.  This is a more difficult task than one would expect.  Even after the excuses deadline I received a flood of “I have too much homework” emails and text messages (too much homework is not even a valid excuse according to Panhellenic) that I had to reject.  I obviously do not enjoy forcing my sisters to attend an event that they do not want to go to, but the speakers normally are more interesting than expected.

This semesters speaker was Marc Elliott with a presentation called “What Makes you Tic?”.  When Elliott first appears on stage, he seems like a normal, intelligent, attractive young man.  I have to be honest, I thought he was going to be just another boring speaker who tries to beat some sort of good moral message into our minds.

My assumptions, however, were soon proved incorrect.  Elliott has a very severe case of Tourette’s, which makes him have outbursts of foul language and constantly chomp down extremely hard on his teeth several times in the middle of his speech.  Through several self-control classes in New York, Elliott has incredibly learned to control his tics.  If he had never disclosed his illness to the audience, it would have gone unnoticed by the audience.

Link to video à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOfeW9qsNV8

The message that he relayed was very powerful, and he uniquely fed the audience the lesson by presenting stories so that no one even realized that they were learning.  The core lesson of his speech was “live and let live”.  As a man suffering from an embarrassing disorder for his whole life, he says that he realizes the importance of being mindful that you never know what someone else is going through.  Elliott says that you cannot make assumptions about others, and that you should mind your own business. 

Because of his personal stories, this message really got through to me and a lot of others I talked to after the speech.  It is true that there are many people extenuating circumstances people have that are not easily seen.  I will remember to try not to judge others, or assume I know about their lives.

XO Love and Mine,

Kat

Spring Break 2013

The events in my life generally always relate back to Chi O, and spring break 2013 was no exception.  Five of my closest friends (all Chi O’s) came home with me to California where we explored the Santa Cruz Mountains and then relaxed in sleepy Carmel. 

Even though I live in California and have seen these places dozens of times, they never get old!   I brought my friends to my top five favorite spots, which are as follows:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Course
• Not to golf at, of course (college budget).  I love to sit and enjoy the sunny weather and view from the golf club restaurant, so naturally I needed to take my friends.  There is a $7 charge to get onto 17 Mile Drive but the cash is validated if you buy food from the restaurant.  In order to save money (and for the love of food), we ate lunch on the outdoor patio and soaked in the sun and the atmosphere.  
2. Big Sur
• Big Sur is arguably the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life.  The best of both world are combined when the vibrant green hills meet the perfect turquoise ocean.  My friends and I all love to be outdoors, so our hike from the top of a steep hill to the ocean was absolutely breathtaking.  It was a spectacular place to take my guests, especially the ones who had never been to California.  I won some of my southern friends over to the west coast with this spot.
3. Alice's Restaurant
• Alice's is my all time favorite place to eat when I come home.  Nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains on Skyline, its log cabin feel is homey and rugged feeling.  After taking my friends on a hike, we stopped over to this motorcycle pit stop for a lunch in the mountains. My outdoorsy friends ate it up.
4. Carmel Beach
• I love the white sand beach at Carmel.  My friends and I gladly tanned (even though it was REALLY chilly), boogie boarded, and surfed.  One of my favorite thing was teaching two of my friends how to surf in the icy cold Pacific.  By the end of the day, both of them could say that they successfully stood up on the board and surfed.  I'm not too good at surfing myself, but I was proud to say I successfully taught my friends! 
5. Stanford
• One night of the trip, we ventured to Stanford to visit some friends at the campus.  I love taking people to Stanford because it is such a beautiful campus.  Since it was finals week, we were able to experience the true Stanford studying experience (they have weird traditions at Stanford...).  I think that everyone was glad to be able to visit the Palo Alto area.

Even though we did not take the typical college Spring Break trip, it was one of the most enjoyable vacations I've ever taken. Also, as far as I'm concerned, the fact that we did not want to kill one another at the end of our 10 day trip is a testament to our friendship!

XO Love and Mine,

Kat

Top 5 Moments of Chi Omega

1. Bid Day
• Bid day was one of the greatest days because I was finally able to represent Chi O in that Cardinal and Straw!  I remember waiting in a Hughes-Trigg ballroom for the Rho Gammas to hand out the bid cards, hoping that nothing went wrong and that I would be running to Chi O in a few short moments.  We were handed our sealed envelopes with our sorority fate inside, and on the count of three, the whole room ripped their envelopes to shreds, eager to see what was inside.  When I saw that I was officially a Chi Omega, I was beyond excited.  I sprinted as fast as I could to my new home in my red Tom's (appropriately unplanned).  Celebrating on the lawn of the house was so much fun, and I remember feeling so blessed and special to have been accepted into such an awesome sisterhood!   
2. Big/Little (I get my big)
• The anticipation to find out my big during big/little week 2012 was killing me!  While I loved all of the older girls that I had met, I had my sights set on one girl to be my big.  I especially looked up to her, and we got along so well that it seemed to me that it was meant to be!  After a week of receiving a plethora of gifts and food, it was time for the big/little reveal night where I would finally get to know who was the one spoiling me all week!  We walked into a Maggiano's ballroom where each older girl was standing with her Chi O family in their matching family jerseys.  We made our way over to our name cards, and we were told to rip the wrapped gift open on the count of three.  Inside was a wrapped photo of us and our bigs, along with our very own family jersey.  I was beyond thrilled to see that I got the girl I wanted! We celebrated all night and even got to ride a mechanical bull.
3. Big/Little (I get my little)
• Getting my littles was one of the most fun and rewarding processes.  Although it took a lot of work, money, and preparation, the end result was so worth it!  I spent the whole week crafting and buying presents for each of them and spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to make it seem as if they were not twins so the surprise would not be spoiled.  Seeing the genuine gratification for everything I had done for them along with their joy that I was their big made me so happy!  I am so grateful to have two extra special little ones.
4. Mixer Season 2012
• Mixer season 2012 was some of the best bonding I had with my pledge class.  It was so much fun to get to meet people from all fraternities and to go out with all of my new sisters.  Since I pledged Chi O without knowing a single other person in my grade that went Chi O too,  I was so glad that I got an opportunity to meet the other girls in a social and casual setting.  Some of my best friends now are those that I got to know from going out to mixers!
5. Living in the House
• I know this technically is not a moment, but it is certainly one of my favorite parts about Chi O!  Living in the house has helped me get to know people of all ages who I might not have gotten to know well otherwise.  It is so much fun living in a house with 37 of my closest friends.  It is awesome being right in the center of everything that goes on in Chi O.  I love being able to eat all meals and hang out all the time with my sisters.  One thing that I especially appreciate about the house is the new friendships it has brought to me.  I am now best friends with my roommate and suite mate, and I don't know how close we would be if we never lived together.  I also get to live with my cousin who is graduating this year.   Being able to spend her last year living under the same roof has been incredible!

XO love and mine,

Kat