Captain of My Soul

In 2007, I was a young and naive college sophomore. My main concern was being selected to join a prestigious black sorority. Although I was initially apprehensive due to rumors of hazing and pledging, I soon embraced those rumors, wholeheartedly believing that being hazed would make me appreciate membership even more. I was selected with a group of nine other girls, under the assumption that after pre-pledging for a few weeks in the spring of 2008, we would pledge in the fall. Yet, after twenty weeks of pre-pledging--buying food for sorority members, cleaning their houses, attending countless late night "study sessions"--I was no closer to being a member of the sorority. Instead of attending a pinning ceremony in the fall of 2008, I found myself in a hearing against the sorority, relaying exactly what had happened over those twenty weeks.[Captain of My Soul was first published July 24, 2009]