Setting the Bar

Pi Kappa Alpha will set the standard of integrity, intellect, and achievement for our members, host institutions, and the communities in which we live.

Those are some strong words.  I especially am a fan of the word "will".  Pike WILL do this.  Pike WILL do that.  Pike WILL set the standard.  This reminds me of a line from one of my favorite movies.

I'm sure you've all seen the movie Amistad at one point or another.  (or at least I hope you've seen it).  Basically, as far as backstory, a mutiny occurs in the 1800's on a Spanish ship (called the Amistad) that is carrying slaves from Africa to America.  Once the ship reaches America, a huge legal battle ensues as to where the slaves belong.  (Are they American property?  Spain's?  Should they be freed and sent back to Africa?)  

Anyway, Matthew McConaughey plays a young attorney who is trying to free the slaves and send them back to their homes.  He doesn't speak their language, so when he is visiting the slaves in prison he brings along a linguist to help translate.  McConaughey says something like "Tell them I can't do that" or something like that.......

The linguist pauses and says "They don't have a word for 'can't' in their language".

That's powerful stuff.  Imagine if the word "can't" was taken out of our vocabularies?  What if we did everything we said we would do?  Does my chapter act in this way?  Well, now it's time to examine a little closer and see how congruent Pike is with it's mission statement.

I think Pi Kappa Alpha is full of integrity and intellect.  Yeah, our GPA isn't the tops, but we are still above the non-Greek average, and as a whole we are pretty smart people.  But intellect also entails good old fashioned common sense.  And I can say Pike exercises that when we can.  We avoid getting into trouble, and making a scene, and keep our eye on the prize.  And that to me is highly intellectual.

As far as integrity goes, I think everyone can work on being a little more honest and moral.  And my chapter is not any different.  One thing that I do take pride in our organization though is how we act as gentlemen.  We definitely show respect to all people, and especially women.  We discourage talking about other Greek houses behind backs, because it's been made aware that that is detrimental to the Greek community.  And we all look good in a suit and pin haha.

Achievement?  Well that's a little harder to touch upon.  I think that's the one thing we need to work on.  Yeah we are making waves with our whole move back to 15th and what not, but as a chapter I don't think we take pride in our achievements.  And that's because we don't have a very streamlined goal in mind.  Yeah everyone wants to be Chapter of the Year, but it's not going to happen unless everyone in the group hops on the Success Express here.  So that's something that I would like to try to change in the near future.

Excuse me.  That's something I WILL change.

Step Up and Be Accountable

Hey all,

Thinking about class and our discussions last week, I realized I forgot something. A value that is very important to me is accountability. This particular value was held in high esteem by a lot of other people, and I am a little angry with myself for forgetting to include it.

Basically, accountabilty is a lot of things: following through with your commitments, being reliable, dependent, and diligent, and finally, being able to own up to mistakes. In today's society, it's all about competition and perfection, and mistakes are not allowed. And in this dog eat dog world, it takes some courage to admit that something's wrong. A prime example is Toyota. If you have been keeping up with the news for the past year or so than you would know that Toyota had to recall 72,000ish automobiles because of issues with the accelerator sticking. But instead of pitching a fit, and falling behind the competition, Toyota embraced the challenge. Repairs were made by both Toyota and dealers to affected models, and the dent in Toyota sales was significantly diminished. Also a publicity campaign was launched in order to clear the air and to retain customer loyalty. Check it out:

Another cool thing about Toyota is their philosophy. The company works around five basic, but necessary principles that obviously help shape their success. (If you couldn't tell, Toyota is a Japanese company, so some of these principles are in Japanese haha)

1.) Challenge

2.) Kaizen (improvement)

3.) Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)

4.) Respect

5.) Teamwork

All of these are exceptional values to have, and the numbers prove it. Toyota is a values-based, accountable company, and I wish only the best for them.

However, the only organization I love more than Toyota (Pi Kappa Alpha, excluded) is the good ol' USA, and as much as I gush about them, I still buy American made. Chevrolet, all the way :)

Personal Values

My values?  Ok then:

First of all, I would define "values" as things either physical (like family, and friends) or more ethereal (like faith, or morals) that have a lasting presence and impact in our lives.

I may have mentioned before, but my main values are family, my faith, and music.  My friends and my fraternity are also both very valuable to me.  On the more immaterial side of things, I value honesty, self-respect, and optimism.  Punctuality is also something that is important (and something I need to work on), that in today's society is sometimes taken for granted.  Let's see......an empathetic mindset is something I appreciate, as conversation is much more intelligent when all parties take the time to look at opposing viewpoints, and formulate a bigger picture.  

And finally...

It's been said that laughter is the best medicine, and I find that to be the case.  I feel like if you can laugh with someone, then everything else comes naturally.  It is the most effective icebreaker.  I try to crack a smile out of people when I can, because I know for a fact that if you can laugh with someone, other people gravitate toward you.  Granted, it is also important to know when laughter isn't appropriate.  So no more dead baby jokes.

Haha

"Laughter is a powerful thing.  Why, sometimes in life it's the only weapon we have!"-Roger Rabbit

Scream! Until you can scream no more!

Like I mentioned below, I am majoring in Music Education.  So twice a week I have a class called "Voice Studio".  Basically I meet with  7 or 8 other Music majors and we perform various pieces and receive constructive feedback about our performances, and perceptions of the music.  (At the end of every quarter, we have to perform for a panel of faculty in a Jury, in order to continue on to the next level of music courses).  So it's a really great class.  The professor is really great too, but I learned this week that she is also a little ignorant.

Last Thursday, a girl performed The Winter Wind (words by Shakespeare), and let's just say it was a little rough.  Our professor asked her if she was sick or something, because her voice sounded a little raspy.  "No, I'm not sick, I just cheered really loud at a football game this weekend."

Out of nowhere, our Professor asked the class if anyone had any intention of joining a Fraternity or Sorority.  I raised my hand and stated that I was already a brother in one.  Then I got "the eye".

"Huh. OK."

The teacher then went on and blatantly discouraged anyone else from joining Greek life.  As singers, apparently being involved in a Fraternity or Sorority is bad for the voice.  What!?  That's sort of a ridiculous accusation.  But then she began to elaborate on how she used to teach two girls who were Vocal Performance majors.  They both wanted to join a Sorority, and at an event, the girls were told that they had to scream their lungs out to prove that they wanted to belong to that House.  "Scream! Until you can scream no more!"  According to my professor, they screamed their desire to join, until they lost their voice.  They both developed vocal nodules (bumps on the vocal chords that never go away, and severely damage your speaking and singing voice.  They can be removed by surgery, but at great risk to the throat.  E.g. Julie Andrews).  They had to give up any potential careers and their hopes of being singers, and had to switch majors to something much more monotonous.

I was a little shocked.  Yeah, I'm sure her story was a little dramatized.  But these urban legends aren't developed out of the blue.  Some of this was more than likely based on truth.  What compels the Greek community to exhibit such behavior?  The hazing stigma is obviously still very prevalent on our campus.  That's definitely something that has to change.  It's ridiculous, unpractical, and at time just cruel.  People shouldn't have to prove to us that they belong in our respective houses.  We should have to prove to them that going Greek is the best decision they could make in their college career.

And I'm proud to say (in a clear, nodule free voice) that I am part of a brotherhood that doesn't require its new members to prove their worth by screaming until their throats bleed.

So the next time my Studio congregated, (Tuesday), I decided to wear my letters to class.  I did it partially to combat ignorance, partially out of spite towards our professor.  But mostly out of pride.  And people noticed.

What!?!? A Blog!?!?

My initial reaction to this assignment was just that.  "We have to maintain a blog!?!?"  First of all, I hate blogs.  For my job last year we had to compose a detailed report of our shift and put it into a shared blog at the end of the night. 

So blogging as a whole has a very monotonous connotation in my mind.  But I guess this is a little different.  Definitely a little more personal, and a lot more vulnerable.  Which sort of freaks me out.  And to top it all off, our first entry is kind of broad.  "Who are you?"  Well, for starters I'd like to believe that I am a little more complex and interesting than a 2 paragraph blog post....but I think I can paraphrase and just squeeze in the the need-to-know.

Hello all,

The Fam-back row is A.J, mom, dad, me, and Daniel

front row is Maddie, Evie, and Jackie

So my name is Ben Nagel.  Benjamin Eugene is the full name.  Which makes my parents obnoxious because they named me that so my initials would be "B.E.N".  So obnoxious.  *shakes his head in disbelief*  Anyway, I was born in Atlanta, almost 20 years ago, and lived there until I was 6, then did a lot of moving around from place to place until we settled here in Columbus when I was 10.  I grew up around here and once I graduated from Olentangy High School, I knew I didn't want to leave, so I decided to attend OSU.  I love Columbus, and am thankful I grew up here, but I would honestly be happy living in a lean-to outhouse, as long as my family was with me.  Family is very important to me, and the other Nagels are definitely a huge part of my life.

We are Roman Catholic, and we are a stereotypically large family.  I am the oldest of 6.  I have two brothers Daniel (18), A.J (17), Evelyn (11), Madelyn (8), and Jacquelyn (6).  There isn't enough memory space on my computer for me to go into detail about my extended family.  But let's just say I have a Big, Fat, White Family.

So why did I join a Fraternity then?  I know a lot of people join because they never had brothers, and wanted a brotherhood experience.  That is obviously not the case with me, as I grew up with the two most awesome brothers any guy could ask for.  Daniel is on track to be Valedictorian this year, with a 4.5 GPA or something like that.  He can speak fluent Spanish, and actually spent this past summer in Spain teaching students English.  And A.J is a beast at basically any sport known to man, and he was recently featured with his friends in an ESPN interview, as well as on Yahoo!'s home page.  You may have seen the infamous "Golf Basketball Shot" before.

So you know, A.J is featured throughout the video (he even mixed the music), but he's most prominent at the end......when  he's running across the roof of an elementary school.  Epic shot though.

No, I had brothers.  That's for sure.  I more or less joined a Fraternity because I was growing a little distant from my dad throughout high school.  In my sophomore year of high school, his company was bought out, and he lost his job in the recession.  We were doing fine though, because soon after, he was hired to be the new Vice President of a small company.  The catch though was that this company was based in Kentucky.  Rather than uproot our Big, Fat, White Family, he got his own place in KY.  And he was only home in Columbus on weekends, sometimes not even that often.  This was trying on everyone in the family, and we all had to make some sacrifices, especially my mom who was tasked with single-handedly shuttling around and feeding six offspring.

The situation wasn't exactly supplemental to my relationship with my dad.  You'd think that when you don't see someone for weeks on end you could never run out of things to talk about.  Not the case.  It was almost like some stranger was coming home for dinner, when in reality it was my own dad.

Granted, him and I aren't all that similar to begin with, but we always were tight-knit.  I wanted to find that relationship again, so when I got to OSU, I was determined to join a Fraternity, because it would give me and my dad something to talk about and connect over.  (He was in Phi Kappa Theta at Ohio Northern).  And my evil plan worked.  Dad and I have definitely found some common ground, and things are getting back to the way they used to be.  Now I know that's not exactly the best reason to join a Greek institution, but it definitely worked out for me in the end.  Once I became a Pike, my social career at OSU took off.  The campus shrunk in size, I had a familiar face in every class I was taking, and I was meeting so many new people.  And I have like 52 more brothers now, bringing me to a grand total of 54.  Or something like that.  I think that's kinda awesome.  Not to mention all of the service opportunities, the leadership formation (like this class for example), and we all get like a free t-shirt every week!  I've never regretted going Greek, and I am so glad to be a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Huh.  Well that's the bare necessities of "Who I Am".  So I guess the next question is "How do I want to change the world"...  My answer to this is hopefully not going to be as vague as the question itself.  Prepare for some elaboration.  I guess one thing I didn't touch on that is a major component of my life is Music.  Music has a huge, I mean HUGE presence in my life.  So huge, that it is what I am studying and hope to make a living out of.  My major is Music Education.  And therein is how I want to change the world.  I lived in a great school district that cared about the Arts, but I always heard horror stories of areas where levies didn't pass, or budgets were cut and students couldn't participate in art, theater, or music anymore.  That is something I am going to change.  I want to see Fraternities and Sororities be perceived as relevant organizations again.  But just as much, I want to see the Arts (especially music) appreciated more by society, and deemed just as practical, relevant, and educational as any math or science class.  Count on it.

Holy crap.  I just reviewed all the word vomit I threw up all over the computer screen, and I am kind of shocked.  I was not expecting to say this much, and hopefully my next posts will be a little less lengthy......because this is a little ridiculous.  But hey, I guess this whole blogging thing isn't so bad.  You just gotta do it.  Balls to the wall.  I have a sort of a life philosophy of mine, that I try to live by, which incidentally comes from one of my favorite movies of all time Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.  I will part ways this week for now, but I shall leave behind some words of wisdom from my close friend, Yoda:

"Do or do not.  There is no try."