The South and Me

I have been born and raised in the same house in the South for my entire life. I am from Raleigh, which is a big city and is not as southern as rural towns. My mom's whole side of the family lives in North Carolina, and have been living in the South for as long as they can remember. My dad, on the other hand, is from Pennsylvania, but my brother, my sister, and I were all brought up very southern from my mom's influence. My grandparents on my mom's side live in a very small town called Ramseur, where there they live on a road with just a few houses, a lot of pastures, some chicken houses, and a couple other relatives. My grandpa also owns cows. With this influence growing up, we easily picked up on the southern lifestyle and found our southern accents. Our family also owns a lake house on a lake in the middle of nowhere called Badin Lake. It is technically my grandparents, so my mom went there when she was younger and now our whole family goes there very often. The surrounding towns include Denton, Richfield, Salisbury, and Albemarle, which are all very small towns with a strong sense of southern heritage. By going so often, we have numerous friends from this area and have really experienced small town life at our home away from home. While I do not have a strong accent like my mom has, I still believe that I am very southern from the way I was raised and influences that surround me.

Response to Confederates in the Attic

I found Confederates in the Attic to be incredibly interesting. I am familiar with Salisbury because it is very close to my family's lake house. We have made multiple trips there for dinners and movies. Salisbury, and many surrounding towns, are very southern and seem to be stuck in the past. You see Confederate flags everywhere and very few African Americans. It did not really surprise me when I read this chapter about the Confederate groups, but the extent to which they devote their lives to the cause astonished me. I thought it was interesting that people seemed to treat Confederacy as a religion and almost pushed Christianity aside, which is usually strongly associated with the South. Also, racism was clearly shown to still be very prevalent in their lives. For example, Tarlton said that Walt "hates all minorities the same." This shows that even though we try to say that racism has ended and everyone is equal, there are still a significant number of whites who do not believe it and have their beliefs stuck in the past. Another thing that caught my attention was during the Children of the Confederacy meeting, when Violet asked her son if there was anything he hated more than Yankees. His response showed extreme hatred and fear of Yankees and really showed how these people were raising their children with the same closed minds that they possess.

Even though I'm sure this article was based on true facts that he discovered, Horwitz seems to select certain sayings and actions in order to persuade the reader to believe a certain way. He makes it seem like these people are crazy and emphasizes things that most people disagree with.

Observation 3

For my third observation of fraternities, I interviewed a few brothers that were members of different fraternities. I asked them the following questions in order to understand what they thought about philanthropy events that they participate in:

1. What fraternity are you a member of?
2. What philanthropic events has your fraternity participated in this year?
3. Do you participate in these events because you want to help others, or do you just do it because you are required to?
4. What other reasons do fraternities have for doing philanthropy?
5. At major philanthropic events, do you notice the different fraternities clustering together and acting like they would at normal social events?
6. Do you actively engage in the event you are participating in usually or just go through the motions?

Here are two very good responses that I received:

Eric Chamblee
1. Kappa Sigma
2. Cookouts and Fundraising for Military Wives Campaign
3. Though I would rather engage in a different philanthropy, I still recognize the importance of the one that we support and am happy to do it for that reason. However, it also is required.
4. Reasons for philanthropy include competition with other Greek societies to see who can raise the most money, to pair up with a couple of other fraternities or sororities in order to meet new people and develop long term relationships with said organizations, great way to improve your reputation in the eyes of your national chapter, and the chicks dig it. Also is a good resume booster and a way to obtain community service.
5. Normally during philanthropic events fraternities/sororities are encouraged to "mix and mingle" by their executive committees with the other societies with which they are paired in order to instill a feeling of cooperation, movement toward a greater good, and to get to know others in the greek community at the university.
6. Generally most everyone who volunteers their time actively engage in the event as you wouldn't want one fraternity saying they ran the show or a sorority viewing you (in terms of a group) as lazy, unsupportive, or uncaring. It goes back to the image and competition factors mentioned earlier.

Chris Pilley
1. Theta Chi
2. St. Jude's hospital visits, Duke Childrens' Hospital Radio-a-thon, and we will do a Bowling event for St. Jude's next month.
3. The fact that our chapter requires philanthropic events just gives me and others a pathway to help others. Originally I didn't have time to help out people but being involved gives me a sense of accomplishment and making a difference and having a good time are what we strive for. Also, being active in the community is the image and the ideal that we want to perpetuate as a Fraternity.
4. Fraternities usually do this to meet requirements set by their IFC and national requirements. Each chapter usually surpasses these requirements in order to look better abroad and to compete fraternally with other Greek organizations at their schools. Also, it is a great opportunity to network with businesses and to get involved in the community.
5. Usually philanthropic events are held by one fraternity or sorority and it is common practice for other Greek communities to show support and come out. All of the fraternities usually go out of their way to welcome their guests of the event and generally do hang out together to socialize.
6. When I go to events I go to have fun and to meet new people/show off my letters. You only get to be known in the Greek community by these events so being the most interesting, the most well mannered, or the best means your name gets out there. Most brothers only go to events that they want to go to so they all actively participate too.

The fraternities all seemed to have two or three major philanthropy events that they are involved in. The brothers all agreed that they originally became involved because it was required, but they also realize the importance of the events they are a part of and like to help others. Other reasons that fraternities are involved in these events include a competition with the other fraternities on campus, to boost their reputation, and to network with other fraternities and sororities along with businesses to create new relationships. Also, they seemed to overall be encourage to mingle with the other fraternities and sororities at events, even though they would rather stick together so that they were more comfortable. Finally, competition and image seemed to drive their active participation in events, and they also were able to choose the events that they actually wanted to attend.

Observation 2

For my second observation, I watched a philanthropy event put on by the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. They had a giant blow-up rainbow ball in and around the pit and were walking around getting everyone to sign it to help the Rape Crisis Center with rape victims. Most of the group of brothers that were doing this at the time were actively involved in finding people that walked by to sign the ball. There were the clear leaders that were yelling out to people and persuading them to sign the ball, and then there were also brothers that were quieter that just helped hand out markers. It seemed as though most of the brothers really cared about getting a lot of signatures for the rape victims; however, there were a couple that seemed completely uninterested and were just there because they were supposed to be. These brothers talked amongst themselves and only called out to their friends that came by. This partially proves my hypothesis to be true because they did not seem to care that they were working for a good cause. They only wanted to hang out with their friends, like they would at any other social event. It also partially disproves my hypothesis because multiple brothers were really trying hard to get signatures and were eager to share what their project was all about.

Microculture Observation

My hypothesis about fraternity life is now focused on discovering whether philanthropic activities are just another social event or if they actually have an individual desire to help others. To test this, I attended a party thrown by one of the fraternities and observed how the brothers acted at this clearly social event. Even with numerous other guests at their fraternity house, they still seemed to cluster together in small groups. No matter where they traveled through the house or what groups of other people they were talking to, there was always at least one other brother with each one. The fact that they stick together even when there are so many other people around them, especially girls, shows how close they have become through their brotherhood. The guys were also divided by pledge classes for the most part; even though they were clearly friends with the rest of the fraternity, the bond shown with their pledge brothers seemed much stronger. They all clearly acted like the hosts of the party as well; they walked around and talked to all the different people, distributed drinks, acted as the DJ, and led any other activities that took place. In addition, a main goal of many of the brothers seemed to be to meet as many "hot" girls as possible. I could see them conversing to each other about multiple girls that they wanted to talk to.

Hypothesis Update

I plan to observe Greek life at UNC in order to learn more about their societal norms and values. I am interested in studying this microculture because I have numerous friends involved in it, yet I am not. In particular, fraternities are a major aspect of student life. Despite being a member of a fraternity, many other students come in contact with this community through social events and parties on the weekends. I would like to more clearly understand the behaviors and traditions that they are so actively involved in. Before observing these fraternities, I already know a little about them because both of my siblings were involved in fraternities and sororities in the past. I know that each fraternity has a certain amount of philanthropy that they take part in every year. Also, they meet once a week at chapter meetings in order to discuss upcoming events and other aspects. There seems to always be something planned for the members to participate in, and it keeps them very busy. These activities serve to create a bond between the members of each fraternity that is hard to understand if not directly involved.
Following my observations, I would like to know more about their sense of community and the activities that they take part in to build this unity. I believe there will be a lot more to their society than most people realize on the surface. Many people think they know a lot about fraternities just from hearsay, but most of these thoughts are usually inaccurate. Studying fraternity life at UNC is of great interest to the larger UNC community because so many students are actively involved in fraternities. It is a very important part of each of these student’s lives, and it is essential to understand such a major aspect of student life here in Chapel Hill. This could more accurately show what fraternity life entails without all the stereotypes that are often associated with these communities. Some of these stereotypes include that they party very often, they wear a certain type of preppy clothing including khaki pants and polo shirts, and they only hang out with each other. My hypothesis is that fraternity brothers have a deep sense of friendship with each other beyond the stereotypical social aspects, and there are many activities that allow this bond to occur.

Feeder 2.2

I plan to observe Greek life at UNC in order to learn more about their societal norms and values. I am interested in studying this microculture because I have numerous friends involved in it, yet I am not. I would like to more clearly understand the behaviors and traditions that they are so actively involved in. Before observing the Greeks, I already know a little about them because both of my siblings were involved in fraternities and sororities in the past. I know that each fraternity and sorority has a certain amount of philanthropy that they take part in every year. Also, they meet once a week at chapter meetings in order to discuss upcoming events and other aspects. There seems to always be something planned for the members to participate it, and it keeps them very busy.

Following my observations, I would like to know more about their sense of community and the activities that they take part in to build this unity. I believe there will be a lot more to their society than most people realize on the surface. Many people think they know a lot about Greek life just from hearsay, but most of these thoughts are usually inaccurate. Studying Greek life at UNC is of great interest to the UNC community because so many students are actively involved in a fraternity or sorority. It is a very important part of each of these student’s lives, and it is very important to understand such a major aspect of student life here in Chapel Hill. This could more accurately show what Greek life is all about without all the stereotypes that are often associated with these communities.