Words on the Fridge

My brain feels like the cluster of words on the fridge. Cold and long was winter term. Today is just a preview of the warm weather to come. Spring break means a week and half of no forced thinking or reading for class which I welcome. I will be leaving soon with a group of women athletes to participate in collegiate challenge (an effort to have college students volunteer with Habitat for Human as part of an alternative spring break program). It will be nice to chill before a crazy spring term.

One Last Thing

Running on 4 and half hours of sleep, I just finished an end of the term project which is my last requirement for winter term. I'm done. I have a sense of relief and achievement. I've finished out the term and I feel as if I couldn't have given anything more to my studies, I'm spent.

Most people would crawl in bed and finally enjoy sleep that I've been deprived of the last few days. But I have energy to do one last thing today... if possible I would go a couple of rounds with Colins in attempts to restore my pride with some Uno victories.

But he is a world away, guess I'll have to wait til summer.

Social Theory Past Bedtime

beau-ti-ful adj. having beauty; very pleasing to the eye, ear, mind, etc.
Staying up late studying the great thinkers of social theory over the last few centuries as much fun as that is one of the girls and I have gotten way off topic. We’ve talked about everything from songs written with political agendas to what it means to come from a small town.

The conversation leads to discussing what it is to be beautiful and does one really feel beautiful. Along with that thought, who is defining beautiful? Is it the realistic view of the individual or the impossible yet influential view of the media? We come to the conclusion that most modest people look at themselves, aren’t thrilled and don’t proclaim to the world “Oh, I’m beautiful.”

While trying to better understand George H. Mead, I come across a quote under a section; “I am what I think you think I am.” This frustrates me yet at the same time for many of us this is true. Why is it that we let society conform our own views of ourselves? Is it possible to restate the quote to be “I am what I think I am”?



(image from a RA program, taken by my sister)

Waiting for the Real World

My winter term here at school is coming to a close which means the arrival of finals. Most students can be found in states of panic or frustration as many of us try to wrap up last minute term projects and papers. At this point many students begin to vent on the frustrations of college life: cramped dorm rooms, too much assigned reading for classes, and nasty cafeteria food. We talk about how much we look forward to graduation and entering the ‘real world’ one day.

If the REAL world was represented by 100 people, 80 people would live in substandard housing. 14 would be unable to read. 50 would suffer from malnutrition. You ask how many would be in our shoes and stressed out about finals; out of 100 only 1 person would achieve a college education. Yes, only one.

Life after college and entering the ‘real world,’ will I be able to see reality the way I want or will it be a shared reality with the rest of the world? It is more comfortable and easier to live life with blinders on. But to call yourself educated and not be able to recognize what the ‘real world’ actually is, seems quite silly to me.

Breezy Saturday

"I don't know if we each have a destiny or if we're all just floatin' accidental-like on a breeze."

Left.Right.206.

Nutrition Facts. College. Jessie “03”.
Never leave a wingman behind.
STOP. Kate.
Cardinals 42.
Las Vegas. Pikes Peak. I heart JESUS.
Australia. Texas. Cubs. SIUe. Arizona.
Don’t give up the best is yet to come.
To look back and say, at least, I didn’t lead no humdrum life.
Rotate. Bearhug. Beautiful.
There is no cosmetic beauty like happiness & laughter.
LOUKAT 2.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Mischievous. Embrace life.
Adventures of Kate & Swimmer.
Trust. Dance. Choose.
Impossible is nothing.

More Than Just a Little White Bracelet

One day during my senior year of high school, two people were talking about the Iraq War. “Oh my god, my brother is there,” I thought to myself. It seemed as if I had forgot or after so many nights of worrying I had accomplished clearing the thought from my mind. In some far away country protecting my freedom my brother, the kid that had been there for everything: bubble baths, back yard fights, high school basketball games; I forgot about him.

The next day I started wearing a Nike wrist band with ‘battlegrounds’ pressed into it and every time I looked at my wrist I remembered my brother. My freshmen year of college, my brother safety returned from his second tour of Iraq. Finally, I could stop worrying. No more panicking about late night phone calls, avoiding news footage with reports of road side bombs, reading obituaries of young soldiers… I was ready to remove my wrist band.

But it occurred to me there were so many more people’s brothers fighting; their lives still at risk. It has been over three years since I first wore the wristband and I’m waiting for the day I take it off. The day were ‘battlegrounds’ are no more.