Thoughts on Forgiveness

Today I'm going to toss in a little change of pace, seeing as my first trip is a month away and I still don't have a great deal of updates quite yet.

‎"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." -- Mahatma Gandhi

I find that it is difficult for many people to genuinely forgive people. Individuals all around are so bitter and jaded that they walk around like the living dead of emotions. When somebody betrays you or they hurt you substantially, as much as we would like to believe that it isn't true, the next person who comes along suffers. Person C is not responsible for what Person A did to Person B... so don't punish them. Until you can forgive and move on from A, don't even bother with C.

I'm working on it.

Little Trips

So in the Spring semester I am going to try take short trips to places with a small amount of chapters which are not too widely distributed throughout the state. Thanks to Spirit Air $9 Club, it won't kill my budget to take these trips.

Georgia would be a perfect candidate for one of these 4-day weekend trips. There are five chapters there: Gamma Nu at Emory, Gamma Omega at the GA Institute of Technology, Delta Alpha at the University of GA, Delta Beta at GA State University, and Epsilon Alpha at Kennesaw State. Most of these chapters are in the Atlanta Area except Delta Alpha, which is in Athens. All in all I am pretty sure I can make that trip and not spend an obscene amount of money.

Perhaps an avenue I can explore is identifying the places where there are few chapters to qualify as a weekend trip. One state which falls under this category is Arizona, which have two chapters: Beta Iota chapter in AZ state university in Phoenix and Epsilon Kappa in the University of AZ in Tuscon.

New Mexico has Gamma Kappa chapter in Albuquerque.

West Virginia has Delta Lambda in the University of West Virginia in Morgantown.

Delaware had Delta Pi chapter in Newark, although I think I can save that for a longer trip because the states in that area are significantly smaller, so I can probably take a Greyhound or road trip with people.

Tennessee has three chapters: Gamma Beta in Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Gamma Gamma at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. I'm not quite sure if I would be able to visit all three chapters in the four-ish days I can get there... So either this can be a weekend trip or something for the summer.

Vermont has a brand new chapter in Burlington, Epsilon Zeta.

Virginia has two chapters: Gamma Alpha in University of VA in Charlottesville and Delta Epsilon in George Mason U in Fairfax.

And, as previously mentioned, Wisconsin has one chapter in Madison which would work out for a weekend.

I think that the only issue I might have about these chapters would be that since these would be the only chapters in the state, there is the possibility of them being defunct. I already encountered that with a chapter in Michigan. It's really sad when you hear about chapters not being active. I suppose that this is why Greeks need to support one another because if they don't, who will? And if no one does, your organization dies out.

With that said, I'm really excited about my trip to Detroit. I've already communicated with some sisters and a brother. It's going to be pretty amazing because I want to taste of what it's like to be a Lambda Lady in the state of Michigan. I'm definitely looking forward to this trip! Stay tuned!

A Bit of Planning

After doing my research I was able to create a pretty organized and comprehensive itinerary for myself for my big trip. However, I found a bit of a bump in the road in the form of the states of Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Because these states are right in the middle, getting there while on the way to other states would prove difficult.

Thankfully, these three states aren't like California or New Jersey which have more than ten chapters spread out throughout the span of the entire state. In Michigan we have Beta Omicron in the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Beta Pi in Eastern Michigan University (which I, unfortunately, was just informed is defunct), and Beta Omega in Wayne State University. I figure I can knock these out in one short trip. I have managed to make my Fall schedule in such a way that I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off. With that being said, there is a week in September in which the university is closed on a Monday. I figure that I can get a cheap flight (via Spirit $9 Club!) to Detroit from Friday until Tuesday.

Hopefully, more opportunities like these will pop up so I can get to Wisconsin, which only has one chapter! Phew! Gamma Mu chapter in the University of Wisconsin in Madison. That can be knocked out in a weekend. Amazing!

Illinois is going to be the biggest challenge of these three states, hands down. There are eight chapters in the state of Illinois. The good thing is that five of them are in the Chicago area, but the bad thing is that the other three are three hours away or more. I'm either going to have to find people who love road tripping or hope that sisters from the far-away ones will be in the area. Who knows! I think Chicago will warrant a full week or maybe a week and a half. Illinois has Beta Phi at the University of IL at Urbana-Champaign, Beta Chi at Eastern IL University in Charleston, Beta Psi in Northwestern in Chicago, Delta Mu in Western IL University in Macomb, Delta Nu in Loyola University in Chicago, Epsilon Beta in the University of Chicago, Epsilon Gamma in the University of IL at Chicago (Est. Fall 2009!), and Epsilon Delta in DePaul University in Chicago (Est. Fall 2009!).

I'm going to make it my goal to knock out Michigan and Wisconsin by the end of the Fall semester. I'll have more details to come. Get excited because I am!

The First Entry

There are many things in life which are considered difficult. One of those difficult things is starting something. It is also, indeed, even more difficult to start something when it's the first of its kind. A fine example of this is right in front of you! This! My very first entry!

Jokes aside, I am starting this in the hopes that I will be able to commit to this blog and consistently update it with entries about the travels I plan to pursue. I am, however, getting very ahead of myself. I should back track a bit before I give away my purposes.

Going back to talking about when something is the first of its kind, I am proud to say that I am part of an organization which is the first of its kind. In the early 1970s, the United States experienced a massive wave of immigration from Latin American and Caribbean countries. The Northeastern region and Southwestern region of the United States, in particular, had a great amount of these Latino immigrants residing within their cities.

Also occurring during this time period, there was an increase in the amount of women who were enrolled in institutions of higher education. Sadly, many of these women and Latinos (and Latina women, go figure!) were met with hostility which made pursuing an education and working for that American dream all the more difficult. Kean University (back then Kean College) in Union, New Jersey was one of the first institutions of higher education with a bilingual program. In this institution, history was made. Seventeen ladies were joined by a vision aimed at empowering the Latino community and the "Universal Woman," who represents all women, not just Latinas. What started as a support group blossomed into what became the FIRST nationally recognized Latina Sorority in the United States.

That's right. You caught me. I'm a sister Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Incorporated.

Since becoming a member of the collegiate Greek community, my life has changed substantially and it has been bittersweet. There were moments of laughter and moments of tears, moments of frustration and moments of bliss. I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

With that said, allow me to introduce you to the purpose of this blog. Currently there are 108 undergraduate chapters throughout the United States. These chapters span over 22 states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Jo, why are you giving us an lesson about your sorority? I'm not! I have a point, I promise!

The purpose behind all of this is that not too long ago, I started formulating an idea in my head. Would it be possible for one person to visit every undergraduate chapter in the country? *gasp*

Granted, not all chapters are still active. I realize I will have to do a great amount of research (which I have been). I want to begin my journey in a very "chick movie" kind of way. I'll start in May right after my graduation and hopefully manage to finish by July or August. I more or less already have somewhat of a plan mapped out in my mind. It still has a great deal of fine-tuning to be done.

From now until the end of my journey I plan to chronicle this "Latin Greek Odyssey" on this very blog site. Until May, I will document my planning procedures and my visits to the chapters within my home state of Florida and the chapters in New Jersey, which I plan to visit in December. Once the real journey has begun, I will write about the people and things I encounter and post photos and videos. I'll try to visit para stores and interview people/other Greeks I encounter about different topics ranging from the Greek experience, life/contemporary issues, or even random things.


Well here it is! My FIRST entry. Hope I've sparked your interest. Enjoy!