During my first Homecoming float-making session my freshman year, a sorority girl told me “I’d pomp tissue paper until my hands starting bleeding.”

I didn’t realize sororities enslaved fraternities for a full week.

Yeah, “homecoming” has an entirely different meaning to Greeks on campus, and the activities that attached themselves to our Greek-style Homecoming have evolved over years of wonderful tradition on the Hill.

A lot of people think it’s dumb how we slave hours and hours over building a float made out of a trailer, chicken wire and balled up (pomped) tissue paper, but to me it’s all for the sake of tradition.

Greeks have been competing on this campus for years with floats, Big Red’s Roar and homecoming candidates — it’s just what we do. Sorry if you think it’s “stupid” or “weird.”

Our organizations’ foundations lie in tradition, and when we say sisters and brothers, we really mean it. Every brother in my fraternity is without a doubt my brother. And just like biological brothers we have our petty tiffs and whatnot. But in the end we’re always going to be brothers.

When fraternity alumni come in town for Homecoming, we get a chance to meet brothers who graduated 20 or 30 years ago, and we also get a chance to catch up with brothers who graduated just two or three years ago. The same goes for sorority sisters.

Greek life has always been tight on this campus. Yes, there have been quarrels between different Greek organizations, but we usually all come together to some degree during Homecoming because we work together in our pairings.

The pairings, especially this year, give Greek students the chance to meet other Greek students that they may not have met without Homecoming.

Speaking of Homecoming pairings, I don’t understand why so many organizations keep complaining about who they’re paired with.

Pikes and the Delts don’t have Homecoming. It was taken away from them. So be grateful that you still have the privilege of having Homecoming.

The fact that Interfraternity Council took Homecoming away from the Pikes and Delts bugs me because it’s a huge blow to the Greek Homecoming system.

Both fraternities are competitive in their own ways during Homecoming, and taking them out of the running really brings down the competition and Greek morale.

If I had the decision, I’d let them have Homecoming, but obviously that’s not my decision.

But, hopefully all organizations can participate in Homecoming next year and we can all pomp tissue paper until our little hands bleed and maybe party a little bit.