To The Sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma:
I must admit that the fervor which initially inspired this letter has subsided somewhat, but the sentiment continues to be relevant. For the past six months or so I have been conducting a warm spirited experiment with the residents of your house in an attempt to shrink the chasm between our houses to the size of the driveway that physically separates us. I have noticed in my three years at Wolf House that interactions between us can only be characterized as minimal if not completely nonexistent. This is contrary to my upbringing, in which even when neighbored with assault-rifle-toting drug lords, nefarious gang members, and 60-year-old, blue-haired city councilwomen we would wave to each other when passing by despite our otherwise isolated lifestyles.
On any given day I’d say I cross paths with about 10 Kappas. Prior to the onset of the experiment, these encounters went like many on this campus: with no acknowledgment and with no eye contact. Now, I understand that there are 30 of us and 60 of you, there is a lot of turnover in both houses, we don’t know each other at all, and that there is no history of interaction, but I found it quite sad that two closely situated neighbors couldn’t even give so much as a hello.
So I sought to correct this. I started waving and smiling to every Kappa I crossed paths with. I got nothing in response. Now, most of this is understandable. The majority of the time I see a Kappa is when she is walking in the kitchen door of her house, which happens to face the giant window to our dining room. As you walk in your door you face away from our window and have no reason to look in to Wolf House despite the fool waving at you. You have no good reason to look in because we’ve never given you one. And similarly with when you walk out. Your attention is directed firmly towards the sidewalk and though the waving fool is obviously in your peripheral field of vision, you have no reason to attend to an area that has no previously marked importance for you.
But then there are those times when one of you will look me dead in the eye and purposefully ignore me. Even that I can grant a benefit of the doubt as eye contact can be read either as aggression or as welcome. But then there was that one of you who stood outside your door, talking on the phone, actively refusing to acknowledge my existence. I waved, varied speed and reach, varied my position, all the while knowing I was in direct line of sight. All I received in return was avoidance. In my absolutely stubborn determination to get you to respond I continued to wave through the remainder of your phone conversation, until you ultimately got up and left. Now again, I may have misjudged your line of sight because of the stunna glasses you were wearing, but I was nonetheless left disillusioned with my quest.
There has been a lot of misunderstanding of my goals among my housemates regarding the purpose of my experiment. Some have thought I was being facetious or mocking. Others have taken me seriously but thought the goal foolish and futile. Others assumed I knew someone there. I can imagine that similar kinds of confusion and misunderstanding is on your end, as well as generally not knowing that I am even doing this, which may contribute to this noticeable lack of response. The previously illustrated encounter inspired me to write this open letter, in the hopes that some of you may read it and know that my goal is only to be neighborly. We’re all students here, we live next to each other, there is no good reason I can think of as to why we can’t greet each other if only briefly when we pass by. So I invite you, the Sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma, to not only make note of and respond to my greetings, but to initiate this spirit of neighborliness with other Wolves, and others in the neighborhood.
Now after having said all that, I would like to let you know that the outlook hasn’t been entirely grim. Most of the people who have seen me wave have returned the favor. I have even had the opportunity to hang outside the window and have brief conversation with a couple of you. I have a friend from my first year dorm that lives there and I have been happy to see on the street on a more frequent basis, and I have had the opportunity to speak to your current president. They may (or may not) be able to vouch for my not being a creep. And even if I was, my housemates are not. I think we can all benefit from a little neighborliness in our daily routine of social avoidance.
Sincerely,
Dimas Guardado, Jr.
(Waving Warmly)
