Alpha Phi Alpha Pilgrimage to Ithaca!


AAMU Alum

AAMU Alum

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Story from the Cornell newspaper:
 

Congrats to my favorite fraternity and the smoothest, ICE cold cats around...GOD bless! :tup:
 
I have some pics from the Pilgrimage. I will post them as soon as I get a chance. There's a real nice photo of the memorial bench (in the shape of a "J" for the Jewels,) a photo of Alpha Chapter and the brothers marching to the memorial.
 
I ran across this on one of the Alpha Phi Alpha message boards. Below are some sentiments expressed by a young brother to other brothers of Alpha. While his words are certainly in order as it relates to us, as we stand at the threshold of a century of leadership and service to all mankind, it applies to ALL my fellow greeks...men and women. Read below:

I can tell who pledged and who didn't. First, let me define pledging. Pledging, as defined by the webster's new world dictionary is "to bind by promise or agreement." or to "give allegiance to".
Pledging isn't defined as a man's ability to take a beating.
Pledging to me is a man, who when called upon by their fraternity to lend a hand, eagerly gives two. A man who will give his last dime to his brother if that is what is necessary to keep him alive. A man who serves his community and fraternity without complaint. This is pledging.
What the goal of "pledging" prior initiation, should be is helping young men grow their abilities while under pressure. Expanding upon the natural ability to learn, retain and repeat information. Showing the initiates that they have the mental agility to overcome insurmountable odds. Unfortunately, over the years, we have lost sight of those noble goals and pledging the fraternity is less about learning and becoming a man and more about how brutal a beat down you can take. I've always said, anyone can take an ass kicking. It takes a real pledgee to work for Alpha without any reward or acknowledgement. The saying we often tell new initiates, "Now the real pledging begins" are the truest words ever spoken. In my eyes, a person who pledged is a person who is still out there working for the frat, & through the frat for the good of mankind. Long after those college glory days have swiftly passed. I see the brothers who pledged at every meeting I go to.


Fraternally,

Luqman Mahmud
Spr.89 Nu chapter,
Lincoln university, PA
Rededicated, PUL chapter, Fall'05
 
AAMU Alum said:
I have some pics from the Pilgrimage. I will post them as soon as I get a chance. There's a real nice photo of the memorial bench (in the shape of a "J" for the Jewels,) a photo of Alpha Chapter and the brothers marching to the memorial.
Click to expand...



Checkman,


I REALLY wanted to go (especially not being THAT far from Ithaca up here), but work had me down in the ATL that week.

Even though I wasn't able to participate in this one, I will be making a personal pilgrimage to Cornell sometime in the near future! :nod:
 
I didn't get there myself. We had about 12 brothers from DTL who made the trip. I almost decided at the last minute, to get a flight, and fly into Syracuse. I really hate I missed it, especially after brothers from all over the country started posting their pictures. This site has alot of photos that an Eastern Region brother (Bro. Russell Campbell) took. Check out the slideshow.


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rcamp143/album?.dir=/a970&.src=ph&.tok=phBuQAEBZPYuzA73



And here's some more pics taken by Bro. Jeff Lewis of the Western Region.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=soleassassin&gallery_id=291388
 
AAMU Alum said:
I ran across this on one of the Alpha Phi Alpha message boards. Below are some sentiments expressed by a young brother to other brothers of Alpha. While his words are certainly in order as it relates to us, as we stand at the threshold of a century of leadership and service to all mankind, it applies to ALL my fellow greeks...men and women. Read below:

I can tell who pledged and who didn't. First, let me define pledging. Pledging, as defined by the webster's new world dictionary is "to bind by promise or agreement." or to "give allegiance to".
Pledging isn't defined as a man's ability to take a beating.
Pledging to me is a man, who when called upon by their fraternity to lend a hand, eagerly gives two. A man who will give his last dime to his brother if that is what is necessary to keep him alive. A man who serves his community and fraternity without complaint. This is pledging.
What the goal of "pledging" prior initiation, should be is helping young men grow their abilities while under pressure. Expanding upon the natural ability to learn, retain and repeat information. Showing the initiates that they have the mental agility to overcome insurmountable odds. Unfortunately, over the years, we have lost sight of those noble goals and pledging the fraternity is less about learning and becoming a man and more about how brutal a beat down you can take. I've always said, anyone can take an ass kicking. It takes a real pledgee to work for Alpha without any reward or acknowledgement. The saying we often tell new initiates, "Now the real pledging begins" are the truest words ever spoken. In my eyes, a person who pledged is a person who is still out there working for the frat, & through the frat for the good of mankind. Long after those college glory days have swiftly passed. I see the brothers who pledged at every meeting I go to.


Fraternally,

Luqman Mahmud
Spr.89 Nu chapter,
Lincoln university, PA
Rededicated, PUL chapter, Fall'05
Click to expand...

:tup:

GT
 
Great article I might add. :tup:

One of my friends and former bandmate(2-Delta Xi-96, Rebirth) was @ the pilgrimage and told me that he did really appreciate of the fraternity.
 

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