Reading Assigned for Evaluation/Review Unit

I completely agree 100% with the essay defending Dawson's Creek. While the show was never a favorite of my own, I believe that too many parents and advocacy groups try to shelter their children from things that go on everyday in the world. I believe that this does nothing to protect their children it only makes life more difficult when they go out on their own and are completely naive to what is going on in the world. Obviously teens having sex is a big deal but it's going on nonetheless and ignoring the facts will not make it go away nor will it make your children abstain from doing so themselves.

While I didn't find the topic of the story by Rachel Forrest all that interesting, I did find the writing quite good and very informative. It was also nice to know that there are still many restaurants out there that make all of their food on the premises.

Potter Power was a bit much for me. While I respected the author's point of view I think he was a bit crass and over-zealous with his criticizing.

Reading Blog Assigned for Group Projects

While I was moved by the account of the Hijacking of United 175 I found that the report was in more of an informative form than that of an essay. The writing was very choppy, not very descriptive and straight to the point. Such writing is suitable in this context.

The Science of Screams essay was very boring to me and should have included more about the actual roller coasters themselves than just talking about laws of gravity and physics that most people learned in the 4th grade.

The Greatest Generation was very moving to me and gave me a little more insight about what my great grandparents had to endure in their time. It gave accurate accounts of how FDR attempted to help the country out of of it's depression with his New Deal and yet still reported on the human side of things and did not just focus on the economical and political aspects of The Great Depression. I too believe that generation was,without a doubt, the strongest or country has ever seen.

In Meet Joe Blog you'll read about how blogging has changed the face of our news media today. If a newspaper or channel buries a story then bloggers will work even harder to dig it up. While I understand and respect how blogging has changed and will continue to change the world, I myself am not a fan. I have never enjoyed reading someones blog. If I wanted to bypass news and hear the political or personal rantings of someone I do know or care to know then I would just watch Fox News. It's ironic that I have such feeling of animosity towards blogging since that is, in fact, what I am doing at this very moment, but I'll have you know that if this were not for a grade there is no way in hell I would participate. Maybe that is rash. I know some people believe that those who do not like blogging are just backwards and ignoring the progress of society. If I were 55+ years old I may consider that to be true, however I am 20 and blogging is simply an activity of my generation that I would rather not be a part of.

Homeless on Campus really got me thinking. There are many students that cannot afford tuition much less to live in a dorm or in an apartment. For the most part,universities do little or nothing about this. Tuition is outrageous in part because the schools use so much of their funding on athletic or extra-curricular programs. If more of this money would go to lowering the costs of tuition, housing, and on campus food many students today would be at least a little better off.

Campus Outreach

I've recently started going to Campus Outreach with my boyfriend upon his request. It's a bit different for me since the people that lead the weekly event are obviously protestant (not that I am opposed) and I am Catholic. I enjoy how nice everyone there is though. For the most part, they seem to be very accepting of all that come in with spiritual views that differ from theirs. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it though. The religion thing has always been a very touchy topic for me. I'm not quite sure what I do believe but I know what what it is that I don't believe. At campus outreach they firmly stick to abstaining from sex before marriage and living a life free of alcohol. I know that "thou shalt not commit adultery" is pretty straight forward, but no alcohol? Where in the Bible is there anything about alcohol being a sin.Of course drinking to get drunk is obviously a sin just as is doing anything in excess, however I do not believe that have a beer or a few glasses of wine is morally wrong. I'm not sure where I stand on this nor am I sure what I will teach my children about the fact. It's just something to think about I suppose.

Multi-Cultural Event

So I went to a multi-cultural event a few weeks ago (I can't for the life of me remember what it was called) and it was great. There were speakers there from Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Korea, India and many other places. Of course there was food there from each of those countries and then some. When the speakers got up to talk and show their videos I was really amazed at how attentive everyone at the event was. I grew up in a very small town here in Tennessee and I know that had an event like that been held there the few people that showed up would have made fun of these speakers relentlessly. While I have always been quite accepting of people who are of different ethnic background than myself, but growing up in a small town I certainly saw my share of those that were not. I was very proud to be a part of a school that makes others feel so welcome when there are so many in the world that do not. The event was very educational. I learned a lot about those countries and their people and ways of life. I learned about the stereotypes that are placed upon certain individuals and how these stereotypes affect their lives and their outlook on American people.

famILY or FaMiLy?

The holidays are supposed to be a happy time when you enjoy being with your family, right? Well this is certainly not so if you are Marley Ratliff. I recently came across a bumper sticker on Facebook that simply stated: famILY or FaMiLy? For me it is definitely the latter. I've always had serious issues family wise but the biggest problem lies with my step-dad. He and my mom married 17 years ago when I was 3 and he and I have constantly battled ever since. He hates me. And I'm not simply saying that in the 13 year old girl "my life sucks" kind of way. While he may not say it aloud his actions certainly convey such feelings of animosity towards not only myself, but my elder sister as well. Now, as if growing up with a verbally abusive step-father who made me cry almost daily wasn't enough punishment, he continues to hurt me now that I have moved out on my own. My mother has always refused to stand up for me or my sister, who now is married and has 3 children of her own but still gets treated as if she is a worthless piece of shit by the lovely Brian. I cannot even begin to convey how hurt I am that for the past 17 years my mom has selfishly sat by and watched her husband treat me so badly. I understand that in a conventional situation your spouse should always come first, but when you marry and have children from previous relationships, what is best for them should remain your foremost concern. I have pointed this out to her and she firmly stands by the fact that she does take up for me, but I don't see it. I also believe that if she stood up for me as much as she said she did he wouldn't have treated me so badly for so long. This week the fight was about taxes, a touchy subject for most to begin with. I filed my taxes this past April on my own for the first time. Beforehand, I made it very clear to my parents that I was doing so and that they should not claim me as a dependent. I also asked for their help several times and never received any so as the time to turn them in drew nearer I decided to just do it myself and pray I had gotten it right. Recently they received a letter in the mail saying that they may be audited because they should not have filed me as their dependent. My mother called to tell me and I told her that I would do what I could to help fix it if there had some way on my end to correct it. Now I realize that I was rather sarcastic about it and brushed it off but, finals are nearing and I am beyond stressed about all the medical issues I have had lately and the fact that I cannot seem to feel better for more than a day or so, not to mention that I'm broke and have several things that I need money for and I am also not near my parents so talking about all of this over the phone makes it much more painful and stressful than it should be. I know that's no excuse for being mean to my mother, but I was nonetheless I admit that I was wrong. Finally the whole thing escalated into my asshole step-dad calling and ripping me a new one and basically saying that my problems were not as large as theirs and that he would rather see me suffer than suffer himself, among other, more hurtful, things. I have still received no apology for the way I was treated. Even after the huge fight (which I played down quite a bit) I did what I could to get them out of this jam and have given them a sure fire way to fix everything. He won't apologize though, which I have come to expect because he believes he is never wrong. My mother has said nothing about it to me and is trying to pretend that nothing ever happened, as she always does. I believe this hurts me more than the fight or the fact that he has not apologized. I find that in recent years I am very short with my mother and have little tolerance for many things that she may say or do that annoy me. I can't help but wonder if this is partly because of all of my feelings of anger about many, many things that happened in the past. I would very much like some closure, but I'll never get it because our family policy is not to talk about it and it will all go away. This has never and will never work for me, nor does it truly work for anyone else. I love my mother very much but I am extremely sad, especially lately, because I am beginning to realize that I will never have the relationship that I would like to have with her. I am at my wits end and have decided that, at this point in my life there is no more that I can do to help our relationship and that the key lies in her hands. My only hope is that she will one day use it.