sori-tay tay. t-tay-t-tay-tay. (sorities and taylor zapora)

This is my dear friend Taylor, A.K.A. Tay Tay. She is a student at the University of Rhode Island and a member of the "sororitay-tay", SIGMA DELTA TAU.


Taylor and I met back in 2002 (?...maybe '01?)at summer camp in northern New Hampshire. We fell in love. (I wore a lot of Abercrombie back then...get over it.)

By 2006 we were on staff at this same summer camp together, and in 2007 we were living in close quarters together for 9 weeks straight.
Regardless of my skinny jeans and keds and her ΣΔT tee-shirts, our love continued to grow.

In the summer of '08, our precious time together was taken away from us. Tay Tay left for Nantucket (inevitably we knew she would always end up in such a place...refer back to my Feb. 25th entry) and I was still in hickville teaching small children how to make gimp keychains and jump off of a high-dive.












Here is Tay in Nantucket.
Here am I covered in paint.




Anyways, I am sure we all have those girls who walk around campus sporting a different article of clothing with their Greek letters on it every single day. Whether it be a tote bag, sweatpants, baby-doll tees, or flip flops, the girls seems to have an entire wardrobe of Greek life apparel and just LOVE to show it off. Tay-tay is one of those girls.

Here are some more photos of Taylor living sorority life at URI:




Here is Tay pretending to be me (indiehipster.com, as they call me at camp), and me pretending to be Tay (sororiTay Tay, T-tay tay tay tay, as we call her):

The moral of the story of Morgan and Taylor is this:

Even if you wear skinny jeans and oversized sweaters and listen to bands no one has ever heard of, it is okay to be in love with a sorority girl who loves everyone to know she's in a sorority and likes Dave Matthews...but only one.

PS - This is Taylor's current Facebook status: "ΣΔT & FIJI GREEK WEEK 09!!!!" Yet, I still love her.

skin in snow

I've never understood the kids I see walking about campus in the middle of winter in shorts, wool socks and Birkenstocks.

First of all, the socks aren't even going to help, because since there's snow on the ground you're probably gonna get wet. So either take off the socks and do the whole barefoot thing, or buy yourself some snow-appropriate shoes.

Second of all, why are you wearing shorts??! Don't say you don't get cold. Unless you're some freaky reptile-human, you get cold. And if you're cold, shorts are not more comfortable than someone who's warm with jeans on.

Two days ago it was strangely warm considering it's the middle of February in Massachusetts. And by warm I mean around 42ºF. In the grand scheme of things, this is not warm.

Anyways so I was walking around very appropriately dressed in a cute Calvin Klein winter jacket and I saw a girl I recognized from one of my classes.

She was wearing:
-camouflage cargo pants (I'm not even going to start on that)
-a flannel tied around her waist (Flannel is fine. Tied around the waist is not.)
-and a black tank top
A TANK TOP.
In February.

Seriously, girl? And the funny part was, she looked cold! She had the option to untie the flannel – that more appropriately worn could have been fairly decent looking – and put it on to warm up again, but instead she thought it would be more attractive to show off her pale wintry dry-skin arms.

I can't even fathom.

Outdoor Clothing...Really?

Alright. Let's talk about The North Face.

I hike. I camp. I ski. I'm a camp counselor.



The amount of North Face products I own is disgusting.

Am I ashamed? Absolutely.



But then I think of the kids I see around my campus.
They are completely decked out. I mean all you need to do is hit any liberal arts university to find a North Face poster child. It won't take long, I swear.

So let's go over the essential pieces of a male North Face poster child from the waist up:

1. The TKA 100 Glacier 1/4 Zip Fleece ($50)

2. The Denali Jacket ($165-185)

3. The Hot Shot Daypack ($89)

4. The GTO Audio Beanie ($45)


Okay. Numero Uno. The TKA 100 Glacier 1/4 Zip Fleece Pull Over.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with owning this. It is quite practical for lounging, walking outside in the spring or fall, or layering for a ski trip. I'm not even going to say it's not worth $50, because if you truly are one of those outdoorsy crunchy people, it is worth it. But let's add in the rest of the ensemble and then reevaluate:

Numero Dos. The Denali Jacket.
As one of the disturbing amounts of people who own this jacket, I can truthfully say I understand why people buy it. If they find it on sale, that is. The jacket is great. It keeps me warm even in the New England winter, it is perfect for fall and spring temperatures, it works excellently as a layer under a ski jacket on terribly bitter days, and is made from recycled materials. I bought mine for $65 by being thrifty and ordering a large kids size and finding even that on sale.

But $185? Really?? That is completely unnecessary. I don't give a shit if you are your university's most extreme hiker – if you are in college why are you spending $185 on that jacket? It's really not that good looking. Especially when they're all traveling in packs of 'em. Sorry boys, but when you all wear the same thing you look like a bunch of little girls trying to be twinzies. Cute.

Numero Tres. The Hot Shot Day Pack.
Hahahahaha. AAHHHHhahahhaa. I'm sorry. This is hilarious. IT SAYS "HOT SHOT" ON IT IN BIG WHITE VISIBLE-FROM-ANYWHERE LETTERS (and obviously the pack is all black to match the all black Denali jacket).
"I just want you to know that if you don't think I'm a hot shot yet, take a look at my backpack. Even North Face knows I'm hot shit."
No need to say more.

Lastly, Numero Cuatro. The GTO Audio Beanie.
Woah there boy. First of all, beanies went out of style circa 1998. And honestly they never should have been in style to begin with.

Now let's talk about the "Audio" aspect of this particular beanie. The North Face is an outdoors-men company am I right? So why are they designing hats with built in headphones? They say they are "for riders who are in tune with the mountain."

First of all, that pun is dumb.
Second of all, if a rider is "in tune" with the mountain wouldn't music distract him from the sounds of nature going on around him?
The answer is yes. It would. So this makes no sense what-so-ever.
And if you're wearing it around your campus, stop now. Please. For the love of humanity.

i don't wear skinny jeans cause my knots don't fit.

The other night I was on a school provided bus heading from one side of the city to the other. There weren't any seats left, so I stood in the front of the bus while a bunch of "ya dudes" sat in the back.
After staring at me for a good 10 minutes, one of the boys asked me if we went to high school together. We began talking about our high school and our mutual acquaintances when he asked if I was a music major.

I immediately turned on my sassy attitude and snapped "Oh, how could you tell? My skinny jeans?"
He froze, completely stunned, and replied "yes."

This experience got me thinking about the stereotypes that go around college campuses concerning skinny jeans. I asked several skinny jean supporters and non skinny jean wearers if they believe there are skinny jean stereotypes at school. Make what you will of it, but here's what they said:

Sean Desmond, a political science major who does not wear skinny jeans says,

"Most people who wear skinny jeans are pretentious music snobs. People who wear skinny jeans find the pants to be cooler and more unique than everyone else's – similar to their tastes in music."

David Martineau agrees with Desmond, even though he himself is a skinny jean wearer and an ex-music major.

"There's definitely a stereotype on college campuses that goes along with wearing skinny jeans: music nerds, and cynical and ignorant intellectuals who emanate sarcasm," says Martineau.

"Hipsters. That's definitely it. They all think they're unique, yet they are just all the same. Skinny jeans, underground dance music, sunglasses they can't see out of, and vintage clothing are all things that hipsters have in common, yet the individual thoughts are that they are being unique," says Brittany Costa, a skinny jean wearing music major.

When asked why he doesn't wear skinny jeans Desmond says straight-faced,

"I enjoy a healthy sperm count as well as fully functioning pockets. Also, if I drop something on the ground I like being able to know I can pick it up without ripping my pants or exposing myself."

Go figure.

Here we go...

I wear skinny jeans. I like baggy sweaters, ankle boots, and Ray Bans. I find contemporary art museums extremely entertaining. I am embarrassed to admit I shop at the hipster cliche, American Apparel, and am fascinated by the personal lives of Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen. I hang out with other thrift-store-aholics discussing ideas for a NikeiD high top or the newest album review published on Pitchfork Media.

Walking around my college campus, I can't help but notice the girls who flock together - each one wearing a different font of the word "PINK" across their butts. And of course, each leg of the brightly colored sweats is tucked into an Ugg boot. "Holy Shit. So cute I like want to die." BLAHHHH.

Anyways, these groups of girls, and the boys they hang out with for that matter, do exactly what my own friends do, but on the complete opposite end of the fashion spectrum. We all do it. We're like animals. We stick to our own kind. I mean there is always that one strange rabbit who becomes best friends with the deer, but for the most part we travel in packs with people similar to ourselves.

In the weeks to come I will observe the different aspects of college campus fashion (if you can even call some of the atrocities I have noticed "fashion").

I realize an analysis of "those girls" is extremely stereotypical, childish, and even hypocritical (I happen to own a Vera Bradley change purse. Whatever, it's convenient.) However, these easily mock-able articles of clothing are essential to every college campus. They are the staples that hold the greater population of college campuses together.

PINK butts stick with PINK butts.