Brat in the Frat

[carsonshepherd]

My latest epic has a frat boy for a main character. However, never having joined a frat, I don't know much about the pledging and the rushing and the keggers. (Well... okay, I so know about keggers.)

Anyway, are there any genuine frat boys in AH land who can share their wisdom?

 

[cloudy]

My latest epic has a frat boy for a main character. However, never having joined a frat, I don't know much about the pledging and the rushing and the keggers. (Well... okay, I so know about keggers.)

Anyway, are there any genuine frat boys in AH land who can share their wisdom?

I was a Sigma Chi little sister the entire time I was in college, so I can probably help you out.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

I was a Sigma Chi little sister the entire time I was in college,

I have no idea what that means

But I'll be grateful for any help you can give me.

 

[cloudy]

Re: Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

I have no idea what that means

But I'll be grateful for any help you can give me.

Most fraternities have "little sisters" that are there sort of as an auxiliary group, but mostly just to attract pledges.

Ask away....

 

[carsonshepherd]

Just want to know about the pledging and rushing process in general. Put it in a PM to avoid boring anyone else, perhaps?

You're the best

 

[cloudy]

Just want to know about the pledging and rushing process in general. Put it in a PM to avoid boring anyone else, perhaps?

You're the best

Sure....I'll help as much as I can.

 

[Belegon]

My latest epic has a frat boy for a main character. However, never having joined a frat, I don't know much about the pledging and the rushing and the keggers. (Well... okay, I so know about keggers.)

Anyway, are there any genuine frat boys in AH land who can share their wisdom?

Carson: President of my frat back then. I can tell you some but you might be surprised how mundane some of it is....

 

[carsonshepherd]

Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

Carson: President of my frat back then.

How did I know this?

(yummy)

 

[Belegon]

Re: Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

How did I know this?

(yummy)

Just love the idea don't ya. All those guys with secrets to keep.

Anyway, I'll help. Just remember most frat boys are much more homophobic than this one, so any homo-erotic overtones have to be subtle enough or socially overlooked enough to sound genuine...

We can talk about possible things to put in your story or you can invent shit and send it to me to "edit" for authenticity.

How come I have this feeling if Carson had been my teammate in college I would have had my ass patted after every RBI or 3-pointer?

 

[MLyons]

I have a question... if Carson doesn't mind me crashing his party here.

I'm wondering how one might go about creating an authentic sounding, but entirely bogus in reality, fraternity name? I mean, how does one figure out a sequence of greek letters that hasn't been used before?

I have a story out there brewing on the far distant horizon, and it involves a somewhat unscrupulous fraternity (which in reality of course, would eventually get busted, but in the story will be taught a turn-the-tables lesson in some fashion first). I don't want to inadvertently use a fraternity name that's actually in use in the real world. Anyone have ideas as to how I might come up with a fake one that sounds authentic?

 

[Belegon]

I don't want to inadvertently use a fraternity name that's actually in use in the real world. Anyone have ideas as to how I might come up with a fake one that sounds authentic?

check it against this...

http://www.greekpages.com/org/

 

[MLyons]

Excellent! Thanks Belegon!

(And thanks Carson for letting me crash, whether you wanted to or not... )

 

[carsonshepherd]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

Just love the idea don't ya. All those guys with secrets to keep.

Anyway, I'll help. Just remember most frat boys are much more homophobic than this one, so any homo-erotic overtones have to be subtle enough or socially overlooked enough to sound genuine...

We can talk about possible things to put in your story or you can invent shit and send it to me to "edit" for authenticity.

How come I have this feeling if Carson had been my teammate in college I would have had my ass patted after every RBI or 3-pointer?

Ohhhhh yeah.

Thanks Belegon. It's not a major part of the story, just background. Might get back to you later.

Huh...What? Just drifted off thinking about ass patting for a minute there...

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

I was a Sigma Chi little sister the entire time I was in college

Why am I not surprised.

 

[cloudy]

Re: Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

Why am I not surprised.

It's funny, after I wrote that post I got the song "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" stuck in my head for hours. I haven't heard that since college, I think.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Brat in the Frat

It's funny, after I wrote that post I got the song "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" stuck in my head for hours. I haven't heard that since college, I think.

 

[impressive]

Mmmmmmmmany fond memories of frat parties!

Ah, but to carson's question. One of the frats where I attended school used "peanut races" as part of its rushing activities. Pledges had to race to roll a peanut across the floor using a sensitive part of their anatomy. (Girlfriends, if available, were often on hand to ease the rug burns once the races were complete.)

They were done in heats ... so the winner would have competed several times.

Many tried to watch through the windows.

 

[Guest]

Never had anything to do with Frats, but rumors abounded on my mid-western campus in the late '70's.

I heard rumors of trains being part of the parties (one girl, a long line of guys). Especially disturbing is someone once pointed out a peaches and cream, shy little red head in one of my classes, as being a major participant.

Hope it wasn't so.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

I've never been in a frat, but I've seen them on television. I'm sure that "Revenge of the Nerds" would provide a serious, unbiased view of fraternity life. Television wouldn't lie, would it?

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Carson,

Describing a "realistic" fraternity setting is along the lines of describing an orgasm. It can't be done "right" because it's totally dependant on the reader's experience.

At my school we had one frat that was very "snobby", the formals had girls in hoop skirts and guys in period civil war uniforms. The ATO house looked like Delta house from Animal house, I've seen better decor at rent by the hour motels. Literally, the carpets had burn marks from alcohol races. Farmhouse fraternity was more a collection of good ole boys who rented a huge mansion in town. There was also an engineering frat, where you were more likely to get a discourse on hole theory than goosed.

Basically, frats, at heart are voluntary assocciations of people and as such they run the gamut in terms of what was normal interaction.

By all means ask around, but also remember, whatever you describe, from circle jerks on a cookie with the looser having to eat it to country music and cheap beer with every guy hitting on the one or two single girls present will be the experience of diferent readers. Since the experience will varry radically, the believeability will too. Just use the magic of your words and stay internally consitant to your idea and it will be great.

God Luck,

Colly

 

[MLyons]

One of the frats where I attended school used "peanut races" as part of its rushing activities. Pledges had to race to roll a peanut across the floor using a sensitive part of their anatomy. (Girlfriends, if available, were often on hand to ease the rug burns once the races were complete.)

They were done in heats ... so the winner would have competed several times.

Many tried to watch through the windows.

Wow... that is so excellently EVIL!

 

[cloudy]

Wow... that is so excellently EVIL!

A big thing that went on when I was in school were "goat rides."

Usually, two or three pledges were taken way out in the middle of nowhere, during the night, then dumped out of the car, stripped to their underwear, and given a quarter each. They had to find their own way back to town.

Sadistic, sometimes.

 

[MLyons]

A big thing that went on when I was in school were "goat rides."

Usually, two or three pledges were taken way out in the middle of nowhere, during the night, then dumped out of the car, stripped to their underwear, and given a quarter each. They had to find their own way back to town.

Sadistic, sometimes.

Damn! Who needs fiction, anyway?

I guess I won't worry too much about going "too far" when I write my own story then!

 

[Kassiana]

FYI, the only gay Pagan I knew in college constantly complained about being at our college because at the one he went to for his undergrad degree had a frat he joined where the guys weren't picky about who they slept with, male or female.

Now, that could have been just wishful thinking or trying to get under our skins, but I throw it out there for whatever value it might have...even if it's just for a private fantasy or two.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Thanks you so much, Carson, for mentioning that song. Now I'm going to have it in my head all day.

I stopped paying attention the Greek organizations on my campus after I first heard the phrase "GDI." I try to avoid things that make me want to weep and bang my head on a wall simultaneously.

Shanglan

("GDI" = "God damned independent" = person eschewing Greek life. "Independent" makes such a depressing choice of epithet.)

(Goodness, two sets of parentheses. At any rate - I appreciate and indeed wish to clearly point out that this was a regional phenomena that one hopes in no way reflects on Greek organizations as a whole.)