A bid for power

Last week was Rush Week at my school, which is hilarious enough in itself, but that's not what I'd like to talk about today.

I'd like to talk about Bid Day.

This is the cumulative event of Rush Week, in which the new people actually get to know the house they've become a part of. I laugh everytime someone just uses the term "Bid Day" because it always makes me think of The Price Is Right. I just picture Bob Barker up on the CBS stage saying "The contestant who bids the closest to the actual price without going over will get to pay for her new group of friends!"

But even that mental image does not compare with the theatrics of Bid Day. Let me see if I can give you a rundown of the events. From what I understand, the girls read a list at some point during the Sunday after Rush Week that tells them what house has given them a "bid". ("I'd like to bid $375 on that freshman, Bob." Sorry, but I can't get that out of my head.)

Then all the new sorority girls head up to the second floor of our student union for some kind of orientation. While they're up there, the current batch of sorority girls gather around the main entrance. And they're all in costume. You might not notice it, because some just go with the black dress, but each sorority has a dress code. My favorite is the sailor outfit worn by the DG house. (They have an aquatic theme that they really stick to all year. I respect that.) Once they're all there, the real fun begins.

They start singing.

I'm not joking about this. Each house has cute little songs and cheers that they sing while they're waiting. Some are original, some more chants than songs, and at least one (I swear) was to the tune of "Boom Boom, Ain't It Great to be Crazy?" So they're singing, more to each other than to the girls upstairs, and waving their signs and whatnot. Every so often, a girl will peek through the upstairs window at the cheering throng. That is the throng's cue to go crazy. And if you've never heard that many girls screaming at such a high pitch, then you've probably never been with me when I walk in public. Hi-yo!

So eventually the new girls get to come down and much hugging and screaming ensues. Then everybody crams into the few cars they have (I saw about a dozen girls in the back of a pickup) and they drive to Greek Street, honking and probably singing all the way.

I watched the whole thing this past Sunday, which, in retrospect, probably creeped the girls out quite a bit. Sorry, ladies. It's just how I operate. I just think it's the best show on campus - the costumes, the songs, the choreography. It's like a Broadway musical, only with more shattered dreams in its wake.

I don't know what the frat guys do on Bid Day, but I assume it's much the same, only with even more latent homoeroticism.