Opening Convocation

Dear Jack,

Today was Opening Convocation. I had class at 9AM and then met Caleb, Kevin, Audra, and Karen at Belk Auditorium to line up for the Senior Class procession. We had to wear coats and ties which was really inconvenient. I was rather upset to find that half the seniors did not come, and a good portion of those that did come did not wear a coat and tie. I wish people would just suck it up sometimes and go with the flow. We processed in to “Highland Cathedral” on the bagpipes. From there I sat next to Will Perry in the choir. We had to change into robes behind stage and then take our seats. Dani, who is the Honor Council chair gave a very good speech. She had been extremely worried about it. She made me proud as a friend. Dr. Griffith’s speech was too long. It did have a few good points, but left out something that sort of upset me. He mentioned how we needed to discuss diversity, and then he mentioned the organizations which helped with that. He left out Spectrum. Normally I wouldn’t say anything, except that I am now the president of it. Who’d of thought that I would end up being the president of the Gay-Straight club??? It’s amazing how things change.

After the Convocation we had choir to sight read a song... great use of our time. I then did lunch with Kevin, and two freshmen, Lewis and Daniel. I am weary as I have too many friends named Daniel, and as I’ve told you before, my last Daniel is an asshole. Lewis is a pretty cool dude. He will have some problems as he is a flamer and denies being gay. Thus he will be the victim of rumors and gossip whether he wants it or not. He’s a Methodist and has made my flat one of his places to hang out. Daniel is a vocal major who seems extremely open. He too may have some problems as he tends to be effeminate also. It hurts me that straight people who are effeminate get such a hassle when I myself who am straight acting won’t get half of what crap they get.

After lunch I came back to the flat and felt my stomach turn. I raced to the bathroom just in time to loose my lunch. I took some Pepto-Bismol and headed to my bed. Around 5:10 I came out to go to dinner with Caleb and Kevin. We ate with Dani, Mo, Audra, and William Brst. After that I hung out with Dani and Mo until around 9. I came back to my room to begin work. I got side tracked making an email list for Spectrum. Then I got into a conversation with one of my friends, Tyler Bennett. He’s someone who also tends to get flack for appearing gay. It is strange that I have so many friends that get slack for being gay when they themselves do not claim to be gay. Tyler’s pretty cool with it though, and doesn’t let the rumors hurt him. Regardless he’d get rumors cause he is open to people who are gay and has very liberal views about the issue.

Around 11 Ali Rssll invited me to her apartment for some cookies and a chat. It was nice to catch up and see how things are going with her. She is going through a similar problem with her ex-boyfriend. The biggest similarity is that we are both going through cuddle-withdrawal. Also our time is now freed up to do other things rather than be in a relationship. She is one of my sorority girl friends. This is rare as I’m not a big go and meet person with the Greek system. But she and her roommates are real cool and they’ve invited me to a little Pimms party next week.

I came back here and decided to approach Jeff Sh. online. Earlier this year Christina R. told me about her summer. She worked with Jeff at a retreat center where they sung as professionals. He was openly gay at that place. Well she wasn’t sure if he was going to be open here at PC. Yet she told some people about this summer. Well that puts him in a bad situation if he is not ready to come out here. I felt I should tell him so he can be prepared in case he becomes outed without him knowing it. He was very appreciative, and we may have a friendship come from this. He is by far not my type so nothing romantic would probably ever come, but having someone here who knows what it’s like is a big thing for me.

On a side note, DW has unblocked me. I’m going to resist the temptation of contacting him, and let him do the first move. I still do have hopes that we can work things out and be friends again. Yet I don’t want to be the only person working at this. I can’t handle that responsibility and stress right now. Well I’m going to work on my HW now.