Author’s Note: By the name of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony! It’s been a while, hasn’t it, friends? Allow me to dust off the cobwebs from this for a minute and be the first to personally welcome you to the Alumni Association website. It’s a bit of a relaunch project, spearheaded by our chair, Garrett Cooperman and contributed to by yours truly. If you’re a new Alumni Association member or someone that’s on the fence, allow me to welcome you to the folds and encourage you to consider becoming active in our great Chapter.
To all the veteran and returning members, welcome back home. I hope you enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoy creating it, if not more. Your continued support of not only this website but the Alumni Association is truly something to be proud of. And now, without further ado, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this thing.
Brothers,
As you may know, “lorem ipsum” is the placeholder text used to show off font styles, graphic elements, and just the overall layout of a webpage. It’s all nonsensical Latin gibberish taken from the works of Cicero. However, I take pleasure in the idea of “lorem ipsum”. My entire life has been one nonsensical event after another, and that even includes my experiences with Brotherhood. I don’t say this as a negative thing; in fact, I relish it. To have everything make sense means that you’ve got everything figured out, and I hope for many more surprises to come in an already surprise-filled tenure as a Brother.
For me, “lorem ipsum” is my magnum opus. It’s my crowning achievement in Brotherhood, to allow for the delightful, nonsensical, altogether joyous moments I’ve experienced with you all to flow from my mind to my fingers, to your eyes and into your mind. Lorem ipsum. My magnum opus begins now.
I’m sure the million dollar question is, “what the heck can we expect in the coming weeks, months, whenever?” Well, however long I’m allowed to keep this show running, I’ll be posting amusing things, serious things, probably throwing in a sales pitch here or there, and sharing some music lyrics that will be sure to have you cursing my name for putting the song into your head. But hey – isn’t that what Brotherhood is all about?
We all remember that rush of excitement and relief that came over us when our journey into Brotherhood finally came to an end – when we were finally accepted as Brothers of Mu Beta Psi. For me, the overwhelming sense was, well, exhaustion. After a long night, I just wanted to fall asleep in my brand new set of letters. There was another feeling, though. That immediate feeling of acceptance, of pride, of fraternal love is something that I couldn’t put into words when I was initiated, and I’m sure many others can’t quite express that feeling either.
Now, as the years have gone on, I’ve been able to share in the joys of others as they entered into our honored ranks. To see the faces of our newest Brothers after their own initiation is truly one of the happiest moments I have the pleasure to witness. But as life goes on, things change, not necessarily for the worst. Going to Fraternity events sometimes becomes tougher due to work, family, and other factors. It’s all a part of life, I suppose. But one thing that we never have to worry about is whether our Brothers will be there.
I joined the Alumni Association at last year’s A-Pi-Calypse convention. I immediately had a say when it came to how we wanted to vote as a Chapter, and I was honestly a bit speechless (a rarity for me) because of the experience of so many Brothers that were huddled in a mish-mash circle to debate the merits of a certain argument. But most importantly, though speechless, I felt an immediate sense of belonging. Rather than being on the outskirts of this circle looking in, I was gathered in with everyone, free to speak out if I had an opinion to voice.
I’m not trying to sell you on joining the Alumni Association. Honestly, while it’d be amazing to have you, I completely understand the merits of financial and time constraints, as I’ve experienced them myself over the past year. But what has me coming back and what has me writing this isn’t about money and it isn’t about sitting in an Intranet meeting. What has me coming back is that feeling. That wonderful, indescribable feeling that I felt as a newly initiated Brother.
Thanks for reading. While I hope this post might encourage more Brothers to step forward and become active again through Alumni Association, just having this forum to reach out to you all is exciting for me. Well, now I’m going to break the fourth wall and let you know that I had intended to finish with what you can expect over the upcoming whatever, but it looks better more toward the beginning, so this is your generic wrap up paragraph before I sign off. Just remember that as long as you’ve got your Brothers, we’re never gonna give you up. Go on, click it. I dare you.
Until next time, tune up the band, sing it loud, and be excellent to each other. See ya!
