Who Here Has a Good Joke About Pin-up Girls? August 29, 2007
Posted by Pepper in Kappa Kappa Psi, Letters & Pins.add a comment
Yeah, I would say that the question is less “do we have to wear our pins”, because really around here most of us don’t require it, right? The question is more like, “don’t we WANT to wear our pins?”
And if not, how come?
I agree with Turf, Jenni, and Balco that negative reinforcement sucks. The random checks sound neat, though. You don’t get punished if you forget, but you get rewarded if you remember. Of course, isn’t the point to want to wear it, not to want to get candy or whatever?
Trying to remember if anyone ever said anything to me that made me go all gooshy inside over my pin. Or if I just always wanted to wear it because it so pretty. ;)
Wearing Pins… very perplexing… August 29, 2007
Posted by balcoholic in Kappa Kappa Psi, Letters & Pins.1 comment so far
I’m sorry to say that I don’t think I have an answer to the wearing pins ordeal. I agree with Jennai Ell in that, you shouldn’t have to wear your pin and I’m pondering the same question of “Why do we wear our pins?”
When I was active, I wore my active pin everyday, all day (exepting the swimming, sleeping, sex, etc). I felt pride to wear my pin; to show that I earned it. That, and I always remember this story that was told to me by one of the alpha brothers of my chapter….
I believe he was in an airport on his way somewhere (correct me if I’m wrong, those who know the story) and he saw a line of military officers (of some sort) none of whom he knew. All of the sudden, one of the officers broke rank, came over and shook his hand (and it wasn’t just a regular shake). Perplexed by the officer breaking rank and coming over to him he was confused as to how he knew that they were brothers and realized that he was wearing his active pin.
I think that for me, I always wore mine in hopes that I would meet someone from somewhere else and have an instant bond with them. You can’t wear letters everyday (well, you can, but you know, that costs a lot to have that many shirts) and I was afraid that I’d miss out on an awesome meeting if I didn’t wear my pin.
Between that and having pride in showing I was an active member, I wanted to wear my pin. Maybe we can encourage in other ways than just positive reinforcement?
When to wear pins August 29, 2007
Posted by Jennai Ell in Kappa Kappa Psi, Letters & Pins.add a comment
What a question…I mean, it’s so hard to answer that!
Some chapters don’t ever wear them except to the dressiest of events, because CofAs are supposed to be more formal than, say, recognition bars (nevermind the crown pearl badges, which are more formal still).
Some chapters wear their active pins to EVERYTHING (anyone remember the “S’s” that were the definite times NOT wear your pin? Suds, Sleeping, Sex, Swimming…I’m forgetting at least one…)
That’s a fairly strict standard! And what happens to you if (God forbid!) the back comes off and you lose your pin? Are you punished until the new one arrives? Or do you have to beg the chapter to loan you one until it gets there? draw it on your forehead?
In a lot of ways, I prefer the shirts, keychains, hats, etc for informal occasions. Much easier for band members to see and recognize, compared to an itty bitty pin (or even the newer, bigger, color pins – that are not the CofA, but I cannot recall what they’re officially called, and am currently too lazy to look up the national jewelry site and find out, since I’m not a great fan of those pins)
I personally don’t like the negative reinforcement idea for pins, but I hail from a chapter that wasn’t particularly caught up on them. People in the various bands knew who was in KKPsi and who wasn’t – and we usually didn’t NEED our letters or other paraphenalia to prove it.
I think maybe therein lies the solution for your family member…it could be as simple as a “KK – PSSSIIII!” after a rehearsal, or name tags for brothers during things like band camp, or matching chapter shirts at the last rehearsal before a performance – something that shows solidarity of purpose.
After all, what, exactly, are they wearing the pins FOR?
That, I think, needs to be the *real* question. The pins are a symbol of who and what we are. But in the grand scheme of things, we shouldn’t *need* to wear them to know that.
Regarding old pins (and please forgive my mild tangent) – the OLDEST life pins actually had your life # stamped into them. I vaguely recall hearing that at one point, CofAs might have been the same way, but I’ve never seen one that was old enough, to check for myself
A Story and a Question about Pins August 29, 2007
Posted by Turf Herder in Chapter Issues, Kappa Kappa Psi, Letters & Pins.add a comment
The other day, I had a flash from the past. My very first Little Brother came to see me, bringing a bunch of stuff she’d borrowed years before. We hadn’t seen one another in some time; in fact, since we last spoke, she’d gotten married. We caught up, and then she gave me one more thing – a tiny gold CofA.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Remember when we put through D’s class?” she responded. “I had forgotten my pin – the family pin – at home, so I borrowed one from someone without a Little so I’d have one to give to D. I ended up just paying for it. Well, I finally found my pin, the one you’d given me. Since I’m alumni, and I’m not really involved with anything anymore, I thought I’d give it back.”
I looked down at the little pin blankly. Then it hit me: this was my pin, the one that had been carefully affixed to my chest in front of scores of Brothers back when I finally became worthy of that name myself. This was the first pin of my Family Tree. This was the pin that had been intended to pass down through my Family line, a tangible symbol of that bond-within-a-bond and of our chapter’s past. It had gone AWOL so long before that I’d forgotten it had ever existed.
After my Little left, I twiddled the pin between my fingers, marveling at the way pins had changed over the past several years. My recently-purchased pin (because I lose them like a drunk freshman loses inhibitions) was easily twice as thick as my old pin, a little smaller in diameter, and yet not really any heavier. The markings on the new pin were much more distinct than those on the old pin, and the color was diff… wait. The $8 pins are made of fake-o metal and gold-plated, right? So why would they soften with age? Could my old CofA be one of the 10K pins?
Over the next few days I thought about what I should do with the pin. My Family Tree has forked; there are at least three of my descendents active in the chapter today. Who would receive the pin? If I followed Little #1’s line, I’d come to a dead end pretty quickly – all my descendents still existing come from Little #2’s line, but it has since branched in three directions. I still haven’t figured it out, so for now the pin is biding its time over my heart, a little reminder of where I came from in this fraternity.
Recently, a descendent of my family – and the chapter VP – came to me and asked about pins. Like me, she has always felt that this symbol was an important part of being a Brother, and that wearing them should be automatic for people in the chapter – a given. Instead, she saw that only a handful of people ever wore their pins outside of ritual, and that they usually only wore them to meetings. As the school year kicks off, she was wondering if there was any way she could “incentivize” people to wear their pins more regularly.
I asked if the chapter already did anything. Apparently, on their final MEP test, there’s a question – worth 10 points – that reads “Are you wearing your pin?” Actives and prospectives all take that test, and have to have a high score to pass. Other than that, there was no real program, motivation, or reminder to wear the pins and/or Letters with pride.
The chapter does have an attendance policy, and we discussed the (distasteful) possibility of tagging on a penalty for attending meetings without pins or Letters. We also talked about “random pin checks” at band rehearsals, where the VP would pick names out of a hat, see if they were wearing a pin, and, if so, give them some kind of a prize. (Hooray positive reinforcement!)
Do youse guys have any other ideas? Any words of motivation that she could pass along to the chapter that might light a fire of WEAR MY PIN inside her fellow Brothers?
