Join Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter

For a talk with dual-credit high school students I'm giving in a few minutes.

"SKD is a place to express yourself and be seen" – V.G.

Lots of good reasons to join Odessa College's English Honor Society, Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter. Last year, we volunteered for the Literacy Coalition, conducted a book drive for a hospital reading room, ran Poetry & Storytelling Nights, conducted writing workshops, had a number of "mini-events" where we read literature or our own original work or just made cool stuff and celebrated each other.

Oh yeah, we fundraised by flooding campus with these cute little Japanese eraser toys. And we published two issues of a literary journal and had launch parties for them.

I hope that sounds amazing to you. When I was younger, I personally wouldn't have appreciated any of that. I wanted to beat people at Street Fighter or Madden. Or get medals for something: maybe Academic Decathlon, maybe a speech contest, maybe just anything. The overriding desire was to have a trophy of some sort, to be confident you could win because you were just that good.

The thing about trophies is you can never have enough. If you win one season, you have to win the next. You have to be the GOAT or else. Competition can be healthy, but it alone can't be a serious standard of value. I, like you, am only here because there were people who didn't always want to compete but instead serve and create. It's funny how those two notions go together. We usually think of those who style themselves creators as oblivious to service. I knew a woman who was an amazingly talented artist. She filled brightly colored canvases with space-age objects that would draw you in. Her time was spent painting. When she was done painting, there was more painting. She filled rooms with paintings no one ever saw because they were never displayed anywhere else. I guess it was service of a sort? It was impossible for anyone to talk to her.

But in general, creativity and service do go together. You don't want to be the creator who shoots down someone's ideas. You want to be the encouragement which lifts everything they attempt. And that's really the deep reason to join SKD. We do lots of service and try to make things because a better world doesn't result from an uncreative process. Reading and writing are central to our approach because learning how to understand and use your voice requires continual growth. Think about the people who will often say what sounds like a right answer to shut down conversation. You know the type. You'll be wondering what causes poverty: you'll be wondering if rising housing prices, rising food prices, and healthcare expenses can create a problem no individual can overcome. If everything costs more and you're not getting paid more, how exactly are you alone supposed to fix this? And then this guy will say "get a better job" and everyone nods in agreement, as if a robust welfare state and stronger unions had nothing to do with American prosperity in the 50's and 60's. Someone can have a "mic drop" moment–everyone can agree with them, they can get you to be quiet–and they've done nothing to understand or grow their voice. For those of us in the room who are older, we know how those who said nothing but cynical, bitter things about others their whole lives have aged. It usually isn't pretty.

I'm using an example of political discourse, but no less than Ursula K. Le Guin, a titan of science fiction, speaks of how adults tried to tell her she knew nothing about dragons or space voyages or Orion when she started writing. And she had to make it clear to them that she knew her imagination. Who else would know it if she didn't? And it is just remarkable to me that we don't often connect that powerful sense of freedom–who are we to tell a child what to imagine–with growth. What other basis do you want people to build their lives on?

So that's what SKD is about. Come to the meetings, talk to someone you didn't know before. Read with us and think about what another writer is trying to offer you. Write your thoughts and let us applaud you. Think about what you want to do: what more you'd like to do at meetings, where would you like to volunteer, what you'd like to contribute to the literary journal, how you'd like to create a fundraiser that spreads joy on campus. Your voice is needed. Maybe you don't want to join SKD: I know I speak for everyone when I say find some way of getting involved. What you're really learning, I submit, is how to be present for your own voice.