Rush at Pitt Prior to NPC Crackdown!

[LOVEinZTA]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I The one sister made a comment that she had heard that the four of us came "as a package deal" and she could just wrap us up in a big bow - YIKES!!! We were the first four out of there.

Oh dear.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Emeralds: "Midnight at the Oasis"

::::::humming::::::::


Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Shadows painting our faces
Traces of romance in our heads...

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

::::::humming::::::::


Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Shadows painting our faces
Traces of romance in our heads...

Seriously, they had other words to that song. I've hated it ever since!

[NutBrnHair]

honeychile, keep the details coming -- Your memory is excellent!

[carnation]

[QUOTE=honeychile;1473767] The singing as we entered was intense! In the background was circus type music, and we were given tickets of two different colors. We used the first ticket "to get into the Ruby Circus", and were seated with a sister on each side. The theme was that life is a circus, it takes all sorts to make up a circus, but the best circus was comprised of women like the Rubies. They served popcorn, peanuts, rootbeer floats, and Cracker Jack, with a clown tossing the peanuts & Cracker Jack. [QUOTE]

This reminds me of an article on UTexas recruitment that was in Texas Monthly. I believe the author was at Theme Party at some house and the actresses in the circus skit were tossing bags of popcorn to favored rushees. One overshot her target and remedied it by going over and grabbing the bag from the unintended recipient and giving it to the intended one.Now this was in the sixties, y'all!

Honey, I'm ready to hear about prefs!

[honeychile]

We all had a good idea of which we wanted, but hadn't told each other at this point - we didn't want to influence each other too much (yeah, and we also discussed the pros and cons of each group over lunch practically every day!). Two memorable Chat Dates I had at this time:

a) The Saturday before Thanksgiving, while we were being hung out to dry to see which invitations we would be getting, a Garnets sister asked me to go on a double date with her & her fiance, and his friend to a football game. While I was at the game, I used the little fan's room, where three Rubies sisters corralled me. "We ARE going to see you at Pref, aren't we? We're really looking forward to it!" I asked them exactly what type of outfit to wear, and they told me good church clothes, then, "You don't have to wear your lucky pin - you don't need the extra luck!" YIPPEEEEE!!!!! It was hard to contain myself when I got back to my Garnets date!

b) On the Monday before Thanksgiving, the Garnets had a Fraternity party with one of the top fraternities on campus. Strangely, it was at this very fraternity house that the four of us from our RC group bonded. Five of the Garnet sisters had been semi-finalists for Homecoming Queen, and the one who was on the Court pulled me aside. "Are you going to pledge Garnets or not?" she asked me. I was shocked - not because of the rush violation, but because of KK asking lil ole me such a loaded question! Stunned, I said, "I guess that depends on whether or not I get a bid." KK said, "I"m going to make sure you get a bid - but I want to know if you're going to accept it." WOW!!!! I later found out that the other three were asked the same thing.

We finally got our invitations, and we accepted to:

Me:
Rubies
Garnets

Ann:
Garnets
Opals

Meg:
Diamonds
Garnets

Lisa:
Garnets
Emeralds

Lisa had been cut by the Rubies! And she had declined Emeralds! We were all beside ourselves, because we had all gone to Emeralds just as a kindness to our Rho Chi, and were seriously kicking ourselves. Surely the Greek Advisor knew what was happening! Lisa ran back to her dorm, crying.

Pref was on the Monday night after Thanksgiving, and were to be an hour and a half long. I wore a midnight blue princess-cut velvet dress that I considered my lucky dress (boy, I sound superstitious, don't I?). When my mother & I were planning my Rush Wardrobe the summer before, she selected this dress as "perfect for Pref". I had my pearl necklace & earrings on, my grandmother's wedding ring, and had navy shoes & bag - complete with a linen handkerchief, also from my grandmother's estate. Can we say that my mother was seriously priming me?

I went to Rubies first. I was the only one of our group going there now, and that depressed me. The sisters all wore long black formals, and hummed as they held lit candles, tied with ribbons in their colors. We were announced, and a wrist corsage with their flowers were put on our left wrist by a sister who then escorted us to their formal living room. A pianist played, with sterling candlebra lit, and we sat, making small talk about the value of sisterhood, until a sister brought a silver tray with the then exotic cheesecake to each of us, on exquisite china. Their china had their letters on it! Yes, I was right at home - even though this was still very much the "rich girl's sorority". Oh, our mongrams (how did they find out my middle initial?!) were in hardened chocolate, propped up against the cheesecake! At a signal, the sisters left, one by one - very smoothly, you couldn't tell until the sister who was next to you left, encouraging us to talk among ourselves. Hmmm... I knew a few of the other PNMs, but none well. We were then escorted by a sister to a darkened room, and placed into a semi-circle. The President spoke, then a sister standing behind each of us handed us her pin, which was on a stuffed mascot. I immediately had tears in my eyes - I recognized the symbolism of even holding their pin! Several others talked about the open meanings of Rubies, and we were handed a candle (tied with the colors). The candles were lit one by one, then the President announced that the light glowed onto our faces and the pins we were holding, reflecting a century of sisterhood that could be ours. We blew out our candles, handed the pins back to the sisters, who then formed two rows for us to walk through. They sang beautiful songs, and several broke ranks long enough to hug us and whisper encouragements - tears flowed freely!

Clinging to my mascot, candle, and corsage, I stumbled teary eyed to where I was meeting with my friends. Could the Garnets even begin to match that?

[AnatraAmore]

That sounds like an absolutely wonderful first Pref party... I can't wait to find out how the 2nd one went!

[Leslie Anne]

That's a very impressive Pref. I'm dying to know if the Garnets actually could match or beat it.

[AlwaysSAI]

Amazing!! Sounds beautiful!

Go Garnets! Go!

[honeychile]

Ann and Lisa had already been to the Garnets Pref, and rats that they were, wouldn't tell Meg or I anything about it! Ann had on a black satin dress with a hot pink ruffled bolero (some things you NEVER forget!), while Lisa had on a dressy grey pantsuit. I can't remember what Meg had on, but I know it was a somewhat simple dress, like mine.

Meg & I went to Garnets together. The hallway was draped in black, and little white lights twinkled in one of their symbols. Two gentlemen in tuxedos came out with a silver platter, with each of our names on a separate card. We found our card, gave it to one of the gentlemen, and were escorted one by one into the house, with the gentlemen announcing our name as we entered. The sisters were dressed in long white formals - so much tulle! - long white gloves, and pearls. They were singing softly, and as each of us were announced, a sister came off of the two lines, took our hand from our escort, and led us into the formal living room. It was completely lit by candlelight, and soft music played in the background.

Once everyone was seated and chatted a bit, we (I tend to remember this party in plural, due to Meg) were asked to "partake of the buffet". This table was in the foyer, and had appeared from nowhere! There was a beautiful floral arrangement that ran the length of the table, more sterling than I had ever seen, Jordan almonds in the sorority colors, nuts, mints, tiny petit fours in the sorority colors, and a special, personalized petit four for each of us, with our names between their flowers. The punch bowl had dry ice in it, adding to the effect, as did the HUGE mirror behind the table. There was something about seeing myself in the mirror, with all the white, the tulle, the candlelight, and my rusher for the night lightly put her hands on my shoulders and said, "This dream could be yours." She carried a glass of punch and a cup of tea for me. Yes, there were the plate of paper-thin lemons, and decorated sugar cubes for the tea!

As I sat back down in the living room, I noticed that the sorority's GREEK letters were on the sterling forks and spoons, and it had that wonderful patina of very old silver. I could hardly eat a thing, but I did my best. I tried to catch Meg's eye, but I saw that she was on the other side of the room - so I chatted with the sisters and PNMs around me. My rusher did say, "Take a look around - you could be looking at your pledge class sisters." Somehow, that sounded so wise to me - I hadn't really hadn't gotten to know this sister, but I had heard of her 4.0 GPA and awards. After the gentlemen in tuxes retrieved our plates & silver, we heard a bell tinkle, and most of the sisters floated out.

Once again, our names were called, and our sponsor sister led us to another, smaller room that was completely darkened, except for two candles. The President read a passage about sisterhood, then two others told short but emotional stories about sisterhood, then each lit a candle from the two candles. These were passed to the Sisters, and at a signal, each of the sponsors gave her PNM a candle (tied, of course, with their colors), then lit it. Then after singing a song, all of the candles were blown out in unison. We were then escorted out back into the hall, where the gentlemen in tuxes had large silver trays with a wrapped box and the sorority flower prepared for each PNM.

My sponsor also handed me a card and a penny. There was a wishing well in the corner, covered in tulle and ivy! We were asked to make a wish, which we did, as sisters seemed to gather around us. By now, I was on emotional overload, and happily hugged each sister who hugged me. They now were in the elevator hallway, singing bouncier songs as we prepared to leave.

We all got into the elevator, along with one sister. Somehow, she was pushed into the buttons, and we ended up stopping on every floor, but the laughter was cathartic. We finally hit the lobby and... ALL fifty-some of the sisters were singing and clapping in the lobby! They had run down the stairs while we were stuck in the elevator! More hugging, more crying, and we were out, headed back to meet with the others.

We were all giggling, but somber. Each of us opened our gift, and the Garnets gift was a necklace with a single pearl. My card read something like, "May this be the first of your Garnets pearls!" and a saying about sisterhood. Opals had served a buffet of appetizers, Diamonds had also worn black and served a whipped cream cake that sparkled, and Lisa wouldn't talk about Emeralds other than, "It was okay," with a smile. We were to sign our pledge cards the next morning, and some of us (!) had a lot of thinking to do! Sure, it had been six weeks, but somehow, it didn't seem long enough. We "pinky pledged" to not influence each other, and to stay friends no matter what.

[Leslie Anne]

Good gracious!!! I've never heard of such amazing Preference nights. That's phenomenal!

After that, I don't think I would have an easy time making up my mind. They both sound great.

Can't wait to hear what you decided!

[dvs-dz]

All that tulle? Now THAT'S frills!

[SoCalGirl]

OMG! I want to pledge at 1980s Pitt!!!!!

[Soliloquy]

I think I would almost be intimidated by how well put together those pref nights were.

I can only imagine how incredible it looked though. You're doing a wonderful job telling your story. I cannot wait to find out where you end up!!

Go Garnets!!

[violetpretty]

Wow. Just wow.