Ask a Dilettante

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante.

What's the deal with daylight savings changing dates? Did the farmers stage a protest or something?

It's a popular misconception that daylight saving time is something that only benefits people who work outside. But think about little league baseball games - the lights that blind those poor little outfielders who are trying to catch pop-ups cost money to light. Also, in theory, people who are given an hour more daylight at the end of the day spend more time outside doing things instead of inside, on the couch, burning electricity. The good thing about this time change (unless you're the IT guy at work) is that it reminds us that we need to conserve energy.

It's my senior of high school. I was going to try to pledge a sorority when I got to college, but with the trouble the Delta Zetas are in right now I'm not sure I should. Have sororities outlived their relevance?

Sweetie, your concern is understandable. The Delta Zetas you mentioned are in the national spotlight because, at a rural university in Indiana, they kicked two-thirds of their members out of the sorority house in the middle of the school year (and a week prior to finals). The members who were kicked out included ALL of the overweight girls and ALL of the minority girls. How fat girls or minorities ended up in a sorority escapes me. Guess those DZ (rhymes with "dizzy") gals must have been desperate for recruits. You see, in a sorority you want a membership that is thin and pretty when they're upside down doing keg stands. You need girls with the proper social graces when they're puking up trash can punch and diet pills at the end of the night. Similarities are key - no one wants to be confronted with different cultures when in college. There's enough pressure to learn as is.

Okay, tongue now removed from cheek. Sororities (and fraternities) have lasted for decades because of two things - tradition (it's what my mother did) and exclusivity (we're better than you are). If sororities are forced to let in everyone who's interested, the exclusivity is gone. Why would you pay dues and wear matching outfits for that? If you're all about the volunteer activities, there are plenty of other groups on campus that can fulfill that need.

So are sororities losing their relevance? Probably. Let them die a slow, peroxide-soaked, tripping on TrimSpa death and go find some other friends.

Photo: flickr user Zizzybaloobah.