hi! my name is apple cider, and i'll be your waitress.

well, rush is winding down once again here at wpi. tke gave out 20 bids this year. a respectable number any year, but this year the rumors around the hill were that some houses were having a really rough time with their rushes, so i'm very excited about giving out 20 this year. i feel there is a very good chance all 20 will sign on friday night as well. score one for reger as rush chair.

it's always interesting to see how rush goes and what kind of kids decide they want to join tke, and what kind of kids we want to join tke. the maturation of the sophomores as they go from rushees to rushers is also one of my favorite happenings of rush. the rush event themselves are good times. good times.

two things i don't like about rush. one is minor, the time it takes to make rush effective. it's more work than you would think, and a lot of activities suffer because of it (gf, schoolwork, sleep). the other is quite major and kind of disturbing to me. and that is during bid voting. there you see how the brothers of the house view what they think tke should be. me, if i don't have a personal problem with a rushee or don't hear too many people complain about the kid, i will give him my vote and extend him a bid. i feel the purpose of tke (to build better men) can be applied to the all star rushees as well as though that need a swift kick in the ass for a much needed attitude adjustment. i've seen some brothers that have gone on to be great leaders in the house almost not get a bid based on what some people thought the image of tke should be or how the rushee was judged.

that aspect of tke hurts me a lot, because the tke was founded on a principle of not judging people on "rank, wealth or honor." we are to see them for their "personal worth and character." i think if people kept that in mind. not just on the back burner, but on the front--right in front of their eyes all the time, tke would be an even more fantastic place than it is now.

idealistic? yes. but that's what you gotta be when you are a Defender of Love, Charity and Esteem.