Thursday, September 16, 2010

Up To Speed

Ok, friends and fam, here’s what’s going on in life RIGHT NOW.
My sis turns 18 tomorrow… omg I feel old! :)

I LOVE Pandora. Wow… all you have to do is give a song a “thumb’s up” and it plays more like it, and it’s wonderful. Sigh of contentment.

I’m now the president of my dorm, which also makes me a part of the SGA, so this weekend I’ll be going on a little retreat with all the SGA members. It should be fun, but I don’t get to go to church with my usual church fam, and I won’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked with my friend’s family, because Saturday is Family Day and her family is coming up to see her. But I know that God works everything for His good, which means my good too, so it will work out.

Classes are quite exciting. We’re starting to work on our midterm projects, which is completely crazy to me, because most of my college friends at home haven’t even started school yet! How can I be working on things for the middle of the semester when they haven’t even had their beginning????

It looks like I’ll be studying abroad in the summer, which will be amazing if my BFF and I are in Europe at the same time (!!!!!!!!!!!!) but will be a bit of a bummer if I don’t get to come home at all… I really don’t want to miss another year of Family Camp, and I don’t want to miss my sis’s high school graduation. Still praying about this…

My adviser asked me to think about not doing a double-concentration. I’m a business major, and there are 4 concentrations one can choose from: accounting, economics, marketing, and management. I was planning on concentrating on marketing and management, which basically means I need 3 “more” classes than I would need for a single concentration. I’m trying to work it so I can do both and still study abroad and still get my degree in the next 3 semesters. Still praying about this too….

I need to sweep my floor. My roomie and I joke about our responsibilities and stuff, but we usually sweep the floor, take out the garbage and recycling, and generally polish up the room on Fridays. That would be tomorrow. I think I may get started early on this! :)

I misssssssssss to pieces my BFF!!!! You know who you are, Lola, and if I could hug you right this second, I definitely would, for approximately the next 5000000000 seconds!!!! Just sayin’.

I really think a goldfish would be an awesome addition to college life. It’s the only “animal” we’re allowed to have in the residence halls, and I’m totally considering it {in a half serious, half crazy way}. The only issue would be asking my roomie to feed the fishy on the weekends, since I’m usually off-campus Friday through Sunday. We’ll see. I’m not going to spend $45 on a stupid fish. But if I can work a deal, and lord knows I can deal, then maybe I’ll get one. I will keep you posted on this, and will include pictures if necessary. :)

Sisters, when you read this, and I know at least one of you will, please tell Mom that I miss her pasta. Her noodles and sauce and bread are soooooo much better than the mass-produced glob of pasta and soupy/gravy “sauce.”

I wear a pedometer now, because of my PE class. Coach said that we should be walking an average of 10,000 steps a day, and that if she ever sees us getting on or off an elevator, we’ll be in trouble. Take the stairs! I like wearing a pedometer, because I can check my progress throughout the day and see if I’m on track or if I need to walk around the dorm room a few laps. :)

Saturday night, my roomie and friend and I are going to have a movie night. We discovered that the library loans movies, and we figured this was the most amazing thing ever and why not take advantage of it??? So far we’ve got our choices “narrowed down” to Les Miserables, Return to Me, or one of the BCC’s Chronicles of Narnia. Yes, we are random. Yes, these were my ideas. Yes, the choices are dependent on what we find in the library! Yes, there will be popcorn. :D

That’s all I can think of right now. I hope this gives you a taste of what life has been like, and I hope that your life is just as full and fun as mine is. Blessings!











Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Outraged

I’m reading the book Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, and it just plain pissing me off! All it has talked about in the first four chapters is how oppressed certain people groups are, and how the whole system of society is oppressive and dominating one group over all the others. AUGH!!!

This bothers me, first of all because it assumes a victim mentality, secondly because of its grouping of homosexuals with those who cannot change their life, and thirdly because even as the book says issues aren't issues until they’re issues, they are MAKING issues the issue!!!!!! The inconsistency is killing me.

Yes, I can understand that there are some people who have not been raised to show kindness to everyone, but at the same time there are people who make themselves feel oppressed. It so frustrates me that people agree with what this book preaches. I’m angered by all this perceived oppression and by the idea of privilege.

I am truly at a loss for words; all my emotions and passions and convictions have taken the place of coherent thought right now. I’ll try to be more verbose and thorough another time. Right now it is all I can do to simply finish the reading.

Please leave your comments and thoughts- I’m really looking for some Kingdom perspective here! Thank you!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What I’m Up Against

Yesterday in Writing class, we played a game, if you can call it that. The class is focused on diversity in the college and the country, and the teacher explained that in order to understand other cultural groups, we must first be able to identify our own. So the students stood in a line across one side of the room, and the teacher read some statements, one at a time. If the statement applied to us, we were to walk across the room and face the rest of the class still at the original line. Clear as mud? So here we go.

“If you or any of your friends have ever been victims of sexual harassment or violence.”

“If anyone in your family has ever made a derogatory statement about another racial or ethnic group.”

“If religion is important to you.”

“If you have ever had derogatory statements made about you because of your gender.”

The list went on, and I was surprised at how many people responded to so many of the statements. There was a girl who went forward for almost all of the statements about derogatory remarks because of race, income, gender, religion, etc.

One of the last statements was “You believe a woman should have the right to choose.” What this has to do with diversity is beyond me, but my class doesn't seem to be too diverse on this issue. I was the only person who did not move to walk across the room. The rest of the class stood and looked at me, and in between heads I could see the professor looking at me, too. I held her gaze. It seemed that she held the silence for an extended time, but I don’t think she did it intentionally. Maybe she did. I don’t know. But then she said “thank you” and the rest of the class came back to stand with me.

The professor’s very last statement was “You felt uncomfortable answering any of these questions.” I am glad to say that I didn't cross the room for that, either. I was totally comfortable being the only one who wasn't pro-choice, and being one of a few declaring that religion is important to me. I am fine that people know my high school wasn't very racially diverse. I don’t really care what my classmates find out about me through this “game” because they’re going to get the same views when they speak to me.

Please pray for wisdom and discernment for me, and pray that I am an accurate representation of Christ and Truth. Thank you.