definiteLEE

Tornado awareness is a central part of every Lee student’s experience, especially for everyone this past year. If you find yourself close to graduation without living through a Cleveland twister, just pull a pastoral major move & stay an extra year! Surely a tornado will come by then.

I just love how dorm meetings go through proper tornado etiquette—grabbing your twin sized mattress and fitting it in your tiny closet of a bathroom with three other people? …Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Small, windowless places are important to be safe, but let’s just all spend extra time in the prayer room & hope we never are forced to bring our mattresses in there too.

Lee also needs to be a tad more prompt in letting students know about impeding storms. Frequently, I get the ALL-CAPS-EMERGENCY-TAKE-THIS-SERIOUSLY texts about the storms…30 minutes after it had actually passed…Take today for example, my RA texted me to take cover as everyone else was finding out the warning was over. (Maybe there’s a conspiracy to get rid of certain students, that’s another valid idea…)

Be safe during these storms! Hopefully this isn’t #springbreakapocalypse2012!

XOXO, a DefiniteLEE storm ready student (kinda)

The end is in sight! Whether your last final is tomorrow or Tuesday, you’re much closer than you may think! 

Study tip: Don’t go to the Squires library. People’ll be appearing from out of the woodwork to study there and Lord knows, you don’t want to accidentally run into that one person in your class (you know, the annoying needy one who just wants to steal your notes) because that’ll just distract you. You know it’s true. 

Do excellently on your finals and have a relaxing break! 

See you in January! 

XOXO, a definiteLEE school-exhausted student 

(And yes, I’m writing this while procrastinating writing a paper/studying. Duh.) 

What do these holidays have in common?

• Martin Luther King Jr Day.
• President’s Day/Washington’s Birthday.
• Labor Day.
• Columbus Day.
• Veterans Day.
• Thanksgiving.

To Lee University, they don’t exist!

Why, you might ask? They aren’t Jesus holidays. You see, if Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with that festivity neither does our school. Even days celebrating fruits of the Spirit like thankfulness and love (read: Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day) just don’t cut it.

 Many have complained recently about the lack of Thanksgiving spirit the last few weeks here. (Sidenote: Thanksgiving spirit? Really? What kind of songs can you even sing about gluttony?) Well, complainers, get used to it. As soon as Halloween (excuse me, All Saint’s Eve) is done, it’s jingle all the way, all day everyday.

 Thank you to MLK for all of his work in establishing racial equality, George Washington for being a standup kind of guy, our veterans for protecting our freedom on a daily basis, Columbus for seizing land that wasn’t his, and the pilgrims for being illegal immigrants: I hope other schools celebrate you the right way. 

XOXO, a student who DefiniteLEE loves Thanksgiving AND Christmas  

If you’ve ever had the privilege to live on campus, you know two things are for certain:  

• Those mandatory dorm meetings are equivalent to a level in Purgatory.
•   You’ll never, ever have enough toilet paper. Ever. 

 Lee, what is going on!? Is there some sort of miserly toilet paper supplier that decides to wipe half of the entire campus out of toilet paper?

 I live in upperclassman apartments and in this semester alone, I cannot tell you how many times we’ve run out of toilet paper, only to be told by the RA that there’s an outage across campus.

Excuse me, Res Life (or whomever is in charge of ordering toilet paper), but that should NEVER happen. We’re paying Lord knows how much money to live in a dorm and you run out of a so-called provided necessity? Um…not cool. What about poor freshman without a car? How are they supposed to get toilet paper? And why should we have to buy something that should be a part of the dorm costs?

With the inconveniences and horrible parking (another story in and of itself), it’s really as if Lee wants the student body to move off-campus. 

XOXO, a student DefiniteLEE tired of this on-campus crap. 

This semester has been stricken with forgetfulness. Maybe it’s something in the water. Every single day I get 3-4 Just ReLEEsed emails from those who have lost or misplaced something or another. Keys, jackets, jumpdrives, laptops, bikes, Bibles, iPods: the stuff getting lost is becoming more and more ridiculous. How do you even lose some of this? What were you even doing when you lost your laptop?

It’s all too easy now to procrastinate homework under the guise “I lost my notebook.” It’s the “My dog ate my homework” excuse of Lee University.

My theory is that there’s a secret black market where all these lost items are being sold. I mean, come on. North Face jackets are nice. I’d sell that.

(On a more serious note, unfortunately I cannot judge these poor irresponsible people too harshly. We all have those moments & personally, I hate the gut-wrenching feeling of misplacing something. Currently, I’ve misplaced my keys and it’s killing me.)

XOXO, a student who is DefiniteLEE aware of the irony of lost items (but still believes that black market exists.)

Without fail, two things consistently amaze me.

First, the amount of Clevelanders who go to Lee. The HOPE scholarship is a great incentive, I’m sure, but wouldn’t you get tired of living in the same town after a while? I get tired of living in the place after two weeks.

 But most of all, I’m stunned at the large amount of Lee grads who stay in Cleveland. (Honestly, a commentary on this phenomenon isn’t needed, as it is self-explanatorily confusing.)

Cleveland is a great little town and is developing at a seemingly steady rate. After all, we have two Wal-Marts (including a soon-to-open Olive Garden in the parking lot of said establishment.) We are indeed blessed. But seriously, with the easily travelable distance to Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and Atlanta, Cleveland is an ideal location for weekend visits.

But for those without cars, Cleveland is a horrible place. Everything closes at 6 pm and don’t even think about doing anything on the weekends (especially Sundays) because there is no way anything will be open.  Why?! I’m sure Cleveland shop and restaurant owners want to have a nice weekend themselves, but really.

 Cleveland, welcome to 2011. You are a college town. Act like it.

 XOXO, a student who definiteLEE just wants Farmhouse to be open 24 hours of the day (not too much to ask.) 

If you don’t like Greek clubs, cool. If you like them, cool.

Like the previous post asserts, just find your own thing. This is something I just need to stress for a second and forgive me if I sound like a peer leader (which, I actually am one & I tell all my freshman the same thing):

Please don’t join a club, choir, or organization of any sort until you are secure in your identity and have a solid support group.

For the love of all that is good and self-actualized, just don’t even try. The annoying Greek people or obnoxious choir members or (Lord help us) rude honors kids are those who don’t know who they are nor do they have a good, unconditional set of friends to keep them grounded. So when they join ____ club/choir/thing on campus, they are swept away & become a “completely different person,” as complained about frequently.

Because think about it: there is a lot more life outside of college than the four years in it. Don’t let your identity be “that girl in the sorority” or “that guy in Campus Choir” and nothing else. Clubs and involvements are meant to enrich you, not consume you. Be balanced.

XOXO, a DefiniteLEE not obsessive person

Note: If you choose to join a fight club, well, of course you wouldn’t talk about it, but the same “know thyself” rule applies too. (This is random picture night, okay?)

 Alas, dear readers, you knew this post would come. It was almost just as certain as Convocation being scheduled in the worst and most busy week of the semester. How could a blog be about things that are definitely Lee without mentioning the five male and six female Greek service clubs?

For the majority of my three years spent at Lee, the controversy surrounding Greek clubs has been needlessly high. Many—students and faculty alike—utterly loathe the Greek system, while many participate in or generally support the clubs. I’ve heard every single argument pro and con Greek clubs and to be honest, it’s kind of old. 

Because, really…what’s the point? You’re in college for four years (hopefully: that’s an entire different story, y’all) and whether or not you choose to be in a Greek Club, it’s your college experience. Don’t hate on something simply because it’s not your social preference.

For me, I chose to join the Greek system because of the accountability, friendships, and experience in general. Little did I realize that my club would aid my leadership skills, help me to grow spiritually, and teach me grace. As one of my friends Arika Trim so eloquently described it, where others just see letters on my shirt, I see a group of sisters and brothers who continue to support, challenge, and encourage me “…In the end, my letters won’t matter, but the relationships and principles established will go a long way.”

I’m not sycophantic, nevertheless. There are flaws in the Greek club system, namely a lot of pride and dissension. However, as we as a campus have seen this semester with the Koinos worship services and other endeavors, change is happening & unity is forthcoming.  It’s a great time to be a Lee student.

XOXO, a DefiniteLEE bright future for club unity

P.S. Yes, that title is an incredibly lame reference to Dr. Strangelove. I’m a dork.