Will Michelle Obama be Wearing Pink and Green Soon?

You may wonder why I ask...well according to The Swamp (yeah, I know...), Mrs. Obama has been extended an invitation to join Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. as an honorary member. This same honor was extended to Sen. Hillary Clinton who initially accepted, then declined the invitation, when she discovered that membership is exclusive and she wants to be able to work with all organizations in their endeavors. Cool Beans, whatever floats your boat. Now hold up, wait a minute. I love Michelle, and I'd love love love to call her soror, BUT, if you continue to read the article, Michelle (or better yet, her spokesperson) is under the impression that she will be allowed to "work with" the other Divine 9 sororities in the same capacity as a member (of each org). Uhh..no, that's not exactly how it works. BGLOs are inheritantly EXCLUSIVE, and once you are inducted, you are what you are. You can not work with other organizations as members of that org as well as another. It just doesn't work like that!

There seems to be a misunderstanding or a mistranslation of the situation, but since it has been reported that she accepted the invitation, she can not and will not be bestowed the same honor by the other NPHC sororities. Now if you read the comments below the article, many have been weighing in on whether or not Michelle should have accepted the invite into AKA. People think she should have remained neutral, at least until after her husband's seat in the white house was (is) secured. They say hasty judgement on her part, because she is further alienating herself from black women, black Greeks, etc.

I honestly don't know how I feel about the situation. She has not/will not be inducted during this week's activities during Boule'. Read this for more insight on that. The comments following this article are also pretty brutal. I don't know folks, but there is a lot of unecessary hate coming from other greeks and GDIs and I think it's kind of ridiculous. People say Michelle doesn't fit the bill, but I beg to differ. She is an intelligent, successfull woman--an attorney and political activist. She is also an outstanding role model for young women. I think she will be a wonderful addition to our list of honoraries. And even if Barack doesn't win the Presidential Election, Michelle can still inact change in her's and surrounding communities and be a wonderful viable asset to the sorority. Her husband's possible post as commander-in-chief may have inspired the decision to extend her an invitation, but at the end of the day, Michelle Obama is a great woman, regardless.

In the same vein, I think before accepting the invitation, she (or her spokesperson) should have done a little research and understood that there is no such thing as "non-exclusive" membership as an honorary member of an EXCLUSIVE sorority. As one person from a message board I frequent put it, "Cultural Competence". Maybe her spokesperson is responsible for this "mix-up" in that if the person is of another ethnicity/cultural background (because I will not ASSume that s/he is white), they may be speaking soley on non-experience and what they MAY think they know about GLOs. The spokesperson may think of AKA as the typical run-of-the-mill philanthropy/charity that anyone can be apart of, as opposed to a business boasting over 200,000 inducted EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS.

One thing is for sure, whether Michelle (or spokesperson) is confused or not, is that she should be able to work with all NPHC sororities, and BGLOs in general. Just as Greeks on college campuses should do more to UNITE for the COMMON CAUSE OF SERVICE (which is what I will be fighting to improve this year since I am Greek and henceforth a member of UAB NPHC), Greeks should allow her to assist in any endeavors she takes an interest in, regardless of her affiliation, ESPECIALLY if she becomes the First Lady. I believe that we are Greek first and foremost, and where affiliations, colors, and letters divide us--they should also unite us, because each letter is apart of a whole Greek alphabet, colors--our orgs DO NOT OWN, and affiliations should not stop us from working together for the betterment of our BLACK COMMUNITY!

In closing, to the naysayers, yeah, maybe she should have waited. But who knows for sure that she would get the chance to accept such an invitation ever again?! There was no AKA chapter at Princeton when she attended, so here's her chance, ya know. But wait...is she just accepting to be nice, does she even want to be an AKA?!!?! Maybe she does, and that's why the invite was extended to her in the first place...maybe this observation is a bit personal and unwarranted. I'm just hella curious tho...but I digress. I will keep my eyes and ears open as to what will further go down with this situation, and keep y'all posted. So yeah, Good day, mates. Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!!!

Atlanta Greek Picnic! WOOOOOW

LOL, so...as I stated a while ago, I'm a newbie to the Greek Scene (AKA, SP '08). I felt like attending the Atlanta Greek Picnic would be my first chance to associate and familiarize myself with what it's all about, what it means (socially, of course) to be a member of a BGLO.

I kind of gave updates on the progress of planning, because initially, we (my chapter) were supposed to venture to Atlanta together. That didn't pan out for more than a few reasons. I ended up going with my front/friend since Freshman year, REESE, my aunt who is a soror, my aunt Benita who is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and my mom who is a GDI (lol). We stayed with my aunt Benita's best friend Arnita who is also a soror of mine. Might I say that the house is not a house at all, but a MANSION!! Nita is an oooold friend of the family, so she made us feel right at home.

I must say that I had a blast! One thing about me, is I don't carry unecessary hate for members of other BGLOs. I have friends and associates in EVERY organization. Though many came out with the spirit of competition and hate, I just felt good being around so many different people. I FELT THE UNITY!!!

Reese and I arrived just in time to join the circle and sing the hymn with sorors, after which we were invited to feast on food sorors from other chapters (probably the host chapter, Morris Brown) had to offer. The spirit of sisterhood was definitely present. Anytime you make an effort to be sisterly to someone, ESPECIALLY your soror, that effort is usually gratified in some kind of way. But yeah...

There was a stroll-off. Phrat were making snow cones (HA!). Vendors were there in full effect. The fuckery (love this word, courtesy of the lovely Fresh, see C+D ) was minimal as far as I could tell. You already know the Ques showed up and showed out. I was told by my aunts and mom that one Que had his army fatigues ALL the way down, showing off his freshly branded ass (supposedly he was drunk, but this seems like typical behavior for a Que). Ma said you could see the front of him as well.

But you know what, I love Ques. I always said that I could see myself dating one. Most of them have awesome, down-to-earth personalities, and are really fun to chill with. Out of all the Frats, I think they keep it REAL the most...sometimes too real...LOL

After the picnic, Reese and I went to this stepshow over at Morehouse. Hardly any of the thousands that attended the picnic showed up at the show. That was to be expected, however, since this was the first year for this "Greek Unity" Stepshow. We sat with sorors from Texas and North Carolina, and had a ball, regardless of how many people were there. The Deltas took the prize, winning first place. Honorable mention goes to the Kappas that STEPPED...They get MAAAAD respect from me, because that is the first time I had ever seen Kappas actually STEP, and tho I'm new to the Greek Game, I've still been exposed to certain aspects, such as stepshows and probates. All I came say is DAMN! They did an awesome job. I'm going to put that footage up soon, hopefully!

So yeah, that pretty much sums up my weekend in Atlanta. It wasn't as WILD as it could have been, but I'm not WILD like that anyway. In the years to come, it will get better for me, I know. I didn't want to over do it my first time out. Just wanted to get my feet wet, and I must say that I accomplished that goal!! Shouts out to Iota Nu APhiA, Gamma Theta Zetas, Kappa Kappa (GUCCI), and Xi Mu SGRho!!!! UAB represented right!!!

Pics (all I took was video at the stepshow, I'll try to get that up ASAP):

** Have you ever been to the Atlanta Greek Picnic? If so, what were your experiences (Fung'ke, I'm callin you out, lady, lol)?