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I could be studying up some Inventory Management or some Game Theory (which I really do love - if I ever find myself inclined to get a PhD, I think that would have to be a key aspect of my dissertation), but instead I will give a nice little update.
This weekend was the Phi Sigma Pi retreat. It's hard to say which was better - this year's or last year's. Last year was the first one, yet I was a big part of the organization process and a lot of things didn't go the right way (from that standpoint). This year, I was free and clear from planning but I still have insecurities about my place as an alum and there were a few things that I was disappointed in. Much of it was the same, though - s'mores, mafia, hiking, sports on the field, team-building exercises, committee discussions (how'd I end up discussing alumni???) and a big group discussion, topped off with the Lighting of the Brotherhood. That was all great, but my favorite part of the weekend was this circle thing that I believe Will called, "Who Here." The basic premise of the game was that we all stood in a circle (probably about 40 of us were there) and someone, at first just Will, would throw out a question. The example he gave was, "Who here has seen Finding Nemo?" Then, if you identified with that group, you would step into the circle. You could step as far into the circle as you wanted to - if you only identified a little bit with it, you could just take a step or two. If you identified a lot with it - say you were the president of the Finding Nemo fan club, you could step all the way into the center - whatever you wanted. The questions got a little "riskier" as Will put it - from sexuality to religion to self-injury. I thought that the true character of the game was shown when it was opened up to everyone being able to present their own questions and in doing so, choosing to reveal characteristics about themselves. Examples of questions that were given:
- "Who here is a virgin?"
- "Who here has felt discriminated against?"
- "Who here as either intentionally or unintentionally discriminated against someone else?"
- "Who here doesn't get along with their parents?"
- "Who here is happy with their appearance?"
- "Who here identifies with having a disease or disability?"
- "Who here has had alcohol poisoning?"
- "Who here has been the victim of sexual abuse?"
There were also some more light-hearted questions thrown in, such as "Who here as driven Liz Jones's car?" and "Who here likes, even just a little, SpongeBob Squarepants?" but it was the serious questions that really got to me. It made me respect and admire the people in the chapter a whole lot more, for what they went through AND for being willing to literally step forward about it - even though for some people they barely knew lots of people in the circle. I felt really close with everyone in the circle during the activity and I really hope that everyone enjoyed it. I cannot even begin to describe how much my heart grew for the chapter as a whole and for each individual member. I almost feel sorry for those people in the chapter who missed it, because I think it was that important.
All right, enough of that. One last thing before I go back to my work. I was sitting in Game Theory on Friday, desperately waiting for the end of class because I was so tired and wearing a Phi Sigma Pi shirt (this is important). Yeah, so I'm sitting there and this guy 2 rows back passes me a note, using another guy in the row behind me to get it to me, who comments, "We're passing notes in class!" It felt kinda like middle school/high school (that's actually the only time I passed notes, and almost eclusively during sophomore year) and I was ridiculously confused because I didn't know the guy the note was from at all. Anyway, the note read, "[Greetings] from an Alpha Mu alumnus!" (It actually used our fraternal word so I knew it was legitimate.) How cool is that? This guy Mark is in my program, doing an M.Eng in OR in Applied OR, which is really really cool. It's first cool because he was planning on getting in contact with our chapter anyways because he wants to be involved and he wants to help out if possible. It's also really cool because he says that all the other M.Eng's hang out together and this might be my opportunity to get to know other people in my program! So double yay! He came to part of the retreat Friday night and I hope he enjoyed meeting people from the chapter.
All right, now back to either IMing or homework/reading. :-)
- Lizzardie, at 10:26 PM
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