FOOTBALL

We’re getting close to the end of the year! It’s hard to believe that we only have one more week of classes left. I’m both excited & sad. I miss home & my friends at home & some of the perks that come with living at home. But I’m also going to miss my friends that I have made at college. I definitely won’t miss the work, but unfortunately I’m going to have to take summer classes. And it’s going to be my in my most hated subject – math. For 2 semesters this year I have neglected to take a math class because I hate math so much & I hated the empo even more. But now I’m 2 semesters behind in math so I’m going to catch up over the summer. And the sad part is that I wasn’t taking a hard math, it was just 1016. So anyways, I’m excited for summer!

I’m also running out of topics to blog about. After 2 semesters of this blogging thing, I think I’m done. I don’t know how people do this for a living or all the time. So this week’s blog is going to be about FOOTBALL. This week I went to the spring game & it reminded me of how much I absolutely love football. I want to get married during football season so I can honeymoon at a Dallas Cowboys football game! I’m pretty sure my husband is going to love me. Unless he’s a redskins or eagles fan, but I wouldn’t marry one of those idiots anyways! I’m also excited for Hokie football come August. I have bought season tickets & a bunch of my friends made a group so we’ll all be together! And watching my Hokies win games is the best way to spend a Saturday!

Stumble

Almost done with school!!! As much as I love Blacksburg & Virginia Tech, I can’t wait to be home & go to the beach almost every day. Even though I still need to find a job because I’m pretty sure my parents won’t support me during the summer. I can’t wait for summer & to be home. Also, I can’t wait for football next year! I just bought my tickets which were $85 but well worth it! I’m sure I can see some of them back to freshman & make my money back. Anyways, I’m going to be sitting with my friends & watching my Hokies play football. That sounds like the perfect thing to me! Can’t wait!

So this week’s blog is going to be about all the cool sites I find on stumble. If you have never used this thing then you def should. It finds all these cool & new websites for you based on your interests. I waste SO much time on this thing. I thought I would share some of my procrastination with you J. So go to stumbleupon.com

1. http://www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/flyGuy.swf

a. This is a game where you use your arrow keys to make this man keep flying higher & higher. There are random sky objects out flying around & if you get hit by one you get smacked back down. It was actually super entertaining! Eventually you make it to space & if you can get back that you land on a beach & the game is over.

2. http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/growing_fresh_air_with_8_powerful_plants/

a. I thought this website was kinda cool because I’m an environmentalist & I am all about planting new things & refreshing the air. For the big event this weekend I worked with the Environmental Coalition & got to plant trees. I love planting things even though I’m pretty sure I have a black thumb. Anyways, whenever I get my own apartment I’m pretty sure I’m going to try this.

3. http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html

a. I thought this was a really cool idea! Each year they take a facial photo of themselves (not some corny staged photo) & it was really cool to see how each of them has grown over the years! This is another thing I want to do with my family. It was amazing to look at how each person changed each year. Especially the parents. It’s weird for people our age to think about our parents when they were young. Really, really weird actually.

4. http://topcultured.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/What-Should-I-Eat-Candy.jpg

a. This one tells you which candy you should eat based on your preferences! This is seriously really cool. I used to love these little things when they had them in magazines. Some of the questions are a little weird but I got a crunch bar which is one of my favorite types of candy!

So if you want to waste time or do some distracted homework, use Stumble!!!

Confederate History Month

As you may or may not know, our idiot of a governor has declared April Confederate History Month. When he originally issued the proclamation he left out any mention of slavery because he didn’t feel that it was significant enough to mention. If you know me or are my facebook friend, you know this pissed me off! I already have a DEEP disliking for this governor. I really don’t trust this man & the fact that so many people voted for him makes my stomach churn. Everything that he has done in office is atrocious. But back to the subject at hand, as a black citizen of Virginia, this is so offensive! I’m having trouble finding words to express my anger. First of all, the world confederate is offensive. I’m not going to lie, if I see a confederate flag outside of somebody’s house, I’m not going in! I assume that they are racist and probably wouldn’t want me in their house anyways. So to celebrate that blows my mind. The other side says the confederacy is part of Virginia’s heritage. Yes, but it’s an ugly part of our heritage that should not be celebrate. It’s purely ridiculous. People say that the south went to war save their economy, that’s true. But do you know what their economy is based on? SLAVES. People say that they went to war to save their lifestyle. You know what a major part of their lifestyle was? SLAVES. These people went to war (against their own country, which I will get to later), to fight for the right to OWN other people. This is what we should celebrate? And then the governor said he did this to celebrate our “shared” history. No, no, no, his history and my history are completely different. My ancestors were owned and degraded by his ancestors. That is not a shared history. And for him to even hint at that notion is extremely hurtful. Another thing, these people were terrorists. Some of their arguments that they used are the same arguments that terrorists in other countries use. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about honoring the soldiers that gave their lives but in that case, why not call it “Civil War History Month.” As I said before, the term confederate is something that sparks a lot of emotion & fear in any African American person. And I have a hard time imagining that a man as educated as the governor could not find another word to use. It makes no sense to me! This seriously pissed me off for a couple days. This also sparked a debate on my facebook, but it was a debate that was divided along racial lines. For example, my white friend said “Recognition of history is good, without it, it is doomed to repeat itself.” Another white friend said “Why does it have a negative connotation? That was the name of the seceding group. Just because it something is affiliated with the confederacy doesn't mean it is the KKK or black-person-hating.” Neither of these are valid points. One of my black friends said “Netime i see a confederate flag i assume dat craker is racist, fuck condfederate month day week watver hell he wants to do i swear i hate white people with power.” This is not well written but I tend to agree. Another argument was one comparing it to Black History Month. THAT ARGUMENT IS BULLSHIT. The reason for black history month is because it wasn’t taught in school before the month was created. Living, 5 minutes away from Jefferson Davis Middle, I’m going to tell you that we get plenty of confederate history in school. We don’t need to celebrate treason & racist practices anymore then we do. We are constantly bombarded in our history books & schools with them trying to gloss over the civil war. It’s pure crap & I wish somebody would call these out on it. Don’t pretend that the civil war was not fought over slavery, because it was. These people wanted to continue their lifestyle, which would not have been possible without exploiting another group of people. This is just unfortunate to me because the governor hasn’t done anything for Virginia except be divisive. First he took away protection for homosexuals and now he is celebrating Virginia’s racist past. It makes me cringe to think of what he’s going to do next. Shame on anyone who voted for this guy. You know what, that’s gotta go in caps. SHAME ON ANYONE WHO VOTED FOR THIS IDIOT. And the fact that people agree with his racist, sexist, classist, discriminating policies makes me beyond angry. He has made Virginia the laughingstock of the nation. I turned on my TV and commentators on MSNBC, ABC, CNN, even Fox news were making fun of this guy. It’s just ridiculous. I truly, truly dread the next 3.5 years of living under this guy. I detest any man who wants to discriminate against any race, gender, sexuality, disability, or anything else. It is repulsive & this guy should be ashamed of himself. I don’t know how he sleeps at night. CREIGH DEEDS, I WISH YOU WERE MY GOVERNOR. The fact that this man has power sickens me. Sorry that this is so long guys but this is just a hot button issue & it really pissed me off. I haven’t been this mad in a long time.

PS-Sorry that I'm not done yet but living in a state that celebrates this kind of scares me. Read the comic in the pic, it expresses my sentiments exactly

Easter Break

So the thing I am most excited about this week is SODA. I did this thing called the 40 days of where I only drank water for 40 days to raise awareness about the global water crisis. This was incredibly hard for me because I drink 2-3 cans of soda a day plus at least one cup of juice. It was so hard for me to stick to this but I did it! And I’m proud of me for that. I’ve learned that I definitely need to cut back on the amount of soda I drink because I think that borders on unhealthy. So from now on I will commit to at least try to drink less soda. But I don’t know how that’s going to work out because at exactly midnight today I grabbed a 24 fl oz bottle of ginger ale & downed it in like 15 minutes. It has 264 grams of sugar in it but I don’t know if that’s a lot?

Anywhos, I had a really good weekend because I went home! I had so much fun at home plus it was a nice weekend so everything was just perfect. I got home Friday night at 8 & got to hang out with one of my best friends from high school. We went to Plaza Azteca (best Mexican restaurant EVER!), and then just hung out for a little while afterwards. Now Saturday was the fun day, besides having an allergy attack. I woke up & went to the new Peninsula Town Center, which is now the big thing to do in Hampton. It’s a new outdoor mall that just opened while we were on spring break. It’s really nice & fancy, plus it was a good weekend to walk around. Then I went to one of the beaches in Hampton. It was such a good day for that! I had fun just laying out on a towel by myself & relaxing. It was fun for me to do these things by myself because most of the time I’m doing stuff with other people so I definitely enjoyed my Lauren time. I got to sit out at the beach on my towel, read my women’s studies book, and people watch. Sounds like the perfect afternoon to me! After I left the beach I went back home & had my family birthday party (I’ve been celebrating for like 5 days). My mom got me a delicious red velevet & cake batter ice cream cake. It was sooooo good. I wanted to bring it back but I don’t think it’d survive the almost 6 freaking hour bus ride! Uh, but it was fun seeing my family! Then Sunday was Easter Sunday & that was fun because I got to go to my church back home. I try to go to church here but white people just worship differently then black people. It felt good to be back in a lively atmosphere to praise God, not just some sermon with Christian Rock. And after an Easter dinner at Wendy’s (my family didn’t want to cook & an 8 piece at KFC is $20, outrageous!), I hopped on the bus & rode the bus 5.5 hours back to tech & to the real world. BUT, on the bright side, there’s only like 5 weeks left!

Violence Against Women

I literally have nothing to talk about this week. This has been a particularly uneventful week for me. Not much got me riled up this week nor did anything remotely exciting happen. Oh wait, what am I talking about. MY BIRTHDAY IS ON WEDNESDAY. MY BIRTHDAY IS ON WEDNESDAY. MY BIRTHDAY IS ON WEDNESDAY. If you can’t tell, I’m super excited about it. I love holidays & birthdays. I can’t wait until I’m older to wear those “tacky” Christmas sweaters. I actually think they’re really cool but because I’m in college, I’ll at least wait until I’m a mom to start wearing them. Anyways, I love to celebrate everything! Life is just so short & full of bad things that I like to celebrate the good, such as the day that I was born.
So I don’t have any plans for my actual birthday except maybe going out to eat. So the actual birthday may not be that special. But that weekend I’m going home to Hampton & spending Easter weekend with my friends & family there. On Saturday, one of my friends is planning me a party! It won’t be that big of a celebration because my very best friends are away at school but it’ll still be fun! Eek! I can’t wait! So you guy’s, don’t forget, Wednesday March 31st is my birthday! I expect posts on my facebook wall & happy birthday’s in class. Okay, so that only took up 250 words, 250 more to go.
Something that touched my heart this week was the “Take Back the Night Rally.” It was incredibly sad but uplifting at the same time. This was all about stopping violence against women. The first part was the sit down portion where there were different women speaking about how to get involved and then there were personal stories. It was hard to imagine that these women had been through these things. I would consider these things to be tragedies but most people don’t even know that they’re going on. Now, I’m not much of a crying person but these women’s stories got to me. They were just so incredibly brave to come up & speak in front of a room packed with people. One of the most touching was when Morgan Harrington’s mother came up to talk about the loss of her daughter. This was the saddest part of the whole night. I cannot even imagine how hard it must be to lose a child to violence. She talked about how some people had tried to blame Morgan for her abduction and later death because of what she was wearing. Her message was that it doesn’t matter what she was wearing or what she was doing. Her mom even said that she helped pick her outfit out before the concert. There is no justification for inflicting pain on a woman simply because of their gender. She finished up by reading a poem that she had written or her daughter. The next part of involved lighting candles and walking around campus shouting chants. This part made me feel powerful! Like because of what I was doing, something was going to change. This just makes me want to continue being active in my community. I want change.

Spring turned Healthcare

This week in Blacksburg was absolutely gorgeous! I literally did no work Thursday through Saturday and I spent most of my time lying out in the quad. Almost as soon as the sun went up, my friends & I were doing something outside. And we didn’t go in until the sun went down. One day there was even a DJ out there. There was a little drama because some loser complained about the noise. LAME. It happened on a Friday afternoon at like 4 so nobody had any right to complain about noise. Plus, we’re in college so get over it. But besides that, it was amazing! Luckily, I didn’t have that much work to do so I could afford to give up the time. But even if I didn’t, I would’ve done it anyways! These days really make me crave for summer days on the beach. I live really close to a lot of beaches so that’s most of what I do all summer. Beach + friends – work = perfect summer! One thing that I have noticed about the slightest hint of warm weather is that white people go crazy! No offense to y’all but it was not warm enough for bikinis or shorts. It is still mid-march.
Okay, I just read on CNN that the healthcare bill passed. I am legit excited! This is absolutely wonderful! Like, this is a great day for our country. I can’t even put together a coherent sentence. Obama has CHANGED the health care system. He’s made even more history. I AM SO PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN RIGHT NOW. (This was a big controversy when Michelle Obama said it but I completely understood what she meant. Being an African American woman, you’re not often considered being part of mainstream America. You’re more proud to be black then you are to be an American. Partly because you haven’t been respected in your country for hundreds of years).
Now I’m reading all these facebook statuses about it. It’s so polarized right now. Some of my friends are for it, and some against it. One even joined a group called “I hate it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is president.” Between reading this and people’s statuses I’m really starting to get upset. I’m going to type in all caps because I’m that angry. And yes, I’m actually yelling at my computer screen right now.
PEOPLE WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE NATIONAL DEBT BUT OBAMA DID NOT CREATE THE NATIONAL DEBT. BUSH WAS HANDED A SURPLUS A MERE 9 YEARS AGO! AND NOW WE’RE TRILLIONS IN DEBT. BUT THESE IDIOTS ARE QUICK TO FORGIVE BUSH FOR SPENDING ON BILLIONS ON HELPING OTHER COUNTRIES (NOT BECAUSE HE LEGIT CARED ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY, BUT BECAUSE THEY HAD OIL MONEY)! AS SOON AS OBAMA DOES SOMETHING TO HELP STRUGGLING AMERICANS, HES THE DEVIL! I SIMPLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS LOGIC! PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE THEY CANT GET THE COVERAGE THEY NEED. WE ARE THE ONLY DEVELOPED COUNTRY TO NOT HAVE A NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM! YET WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE A LEADER. WE CANNOT KEEP UP WITH OTHER NATIONS WHO ARE CHANGING IF WE DON’T CHANGE! WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH COVERING PEOPLE WHO CANNOT AFFORD IT? WHAT IS WRONG MAKING SURE THAT INSURANCE COMPANIES DON’T CHEAT YOU OUT OF MONEY?
NOW PEOPLE ARE SAYING THIS IS SOCIALISM. WHETHER IT IS OR NOT, SOCIALISM IS NOT SO BAD. I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE ARE SO UPSET ABOUT IT. THE RIGHT WING MAKES IT SEEM LIKE A DISEASE. WHERE IN ACTUALITY, SOCIALIST COUNTRIES LIKE SWEDEN ARE A LOT BETTER OFF THAN AMERICA IS. I’M NOT A FAN OF IT BUT IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.
I’m not done venting but I figured you guys probably quit reading midway through the caps. Point being, I’m so glad health care passed. This is what change looks like. I’m just so excited right now! I’m glad when I wake up every morning and Barack Obama is president.

RIP Spring Break 2010

I WANT TO BE BACK ON SPRING BREAK! I WANT TO BE BACK ON SPRING BREAK! I WANT TO BE BACK ON SPRING BREAK. But unfortunately, on Sunday night I had to come back to Blacksburg & the real world. There’s no more waking up at 3 in the afternoon because you didn’t go to bed until 5 in the morning (I’m pretty sure my sleep schedule is pretty crazy right about now). Now I’m back to a world filled with tests & quizzes & gross stuff like that. So I’ll use this blog to remember my Spring Break. RIP Spring Break 2010.
So I get back to Hampton & there is the most wonderful weather ever. There is no snow on the ground or anything that even reminds you that it’s still winter. I was debating on whether or not to bring home a heavy jacket or not, I definitely did not need it. I even saw people walking around in shorts; it felt so great to be home. I was so excited to be able to wear a cute outfit and not have it ruined by some huge winter jacket.
The most exciting part of my break was having a new mall open up in my city. It is literally 5 minutes away & has the cutest stores ever! It makes you forget that you’re in Hampton when you’re there. It so beautiful! It’s a fake short pump. Anyways, my friends & I woke up at 5 am on Thursday (the grand opening) to stand in line at H&M to receive a free gift card. They were the little scratch off ones that are totally randomized. We were the first people in line! I ended up winning a $200 gift card to the new H&M. I got so many new summer clothes; I cannot wait to be able to wear them. Then on Friday, we did the same thing for Forever 21, but I only got a $20 gift card. It definitely wasn’t worth it that time. But it was $20 that I didn’t have before so it’s ok. I love free clothes & I got a lot of them this break!
Something I learned over break is about something called “lean” that my friends were doing. It’s where you mix Robetussin (not a store brand), Sprite (not Sierra Mist), & Jolly Ranchers together. Supposedly it gets you just as messed up as alcohol but it’s completely legal! I didn’t try it because I don’t even like to take medicine when I’m sick so this was definitely not the thing for me. And you have to mix exactly the right proportions or else it’s going to be gross. But my friends were acting crazy after they drank it so I’m just going to assume it works. The Jolly Ranchers are just for flavor because otherwise it’s carbonated medicine.
I had a great spring break & I can’t wait to go home for the summertime. It was so cool seeing my friends again and just doing crazy, off the wall stuff with them. Going to clubs & parties, hanging out until late in the morning, and learning about lean - makes for a good break!

Body Image

Well the topic for this week is body image. This semester I’m taking an intro to Women’s Studies class and it is very interesting. Although the reading takes forever, I do find some of the readings very interesting! Some of these things I had never, ever thought about.
So let’s face it, everybody has some issue with their body, girl or boy. Some boys may want to be bigger while girls probably aim to be smaller. Anybody who says that they don’t have any issue with their body is lying (in my opinion). Don’t get me wrong, there are some very, very arrogant people out there. But even the most arrogant have some issues with themselves. I blame this obsession with looks on a culture that is almost completely dominated by white males. These few men are indirectly making decisions about our bodies. They decide who is “pretty” and “acceptable” by deciding who they’re going to put in magazines, commercials, movies, & television ads. And since there is a lack of people of color in mainstream society’s media, people of color are forced to subscribe to the same stereotypes. I know this for a fact because when I was a kid I used to want to be white. That was all I had seen on television and that’s what I thought was right. It goes back to the old phrase “white is right.” I didn’t appreciate my own culture because I had never seen it outside of my family & friends. I thought that since my life didn’t mirror what I saw on television, that it was somehow wrong. But as I grew older, I found out that wasn’t true. I LOVE BEING BLACK. I love my culture, I love the language, I love the pride, I love the people, I love the food, I love the body shapes, and I love everything in the world about being African American. But I’m sure many other people out there spend a lot of time wanting to be like the women they see in magazines.
I’m not going to lie; there are things about my body that I wish I could change. But it’s comforting to know that not everybody is perfect. Even Beyonce (who looks SO good!) is probably insecure about one thing (I have no idea why though). Some women go to the extreme to look like models, even though “only about 5% of the female population in our society weighs the average fashion model’s weight given her height.” These women turn to eating disorders or plastic surgery. One big example of plastic surgery that’s all over the tabloids now is Heidi Montag. She went through all of this plastic surgery to change her face & her cup size. In my opinion, she looks way worse than she did before. I just do not support these extreme measures to fix something like looks. I think these things do more harm to your body then they do good. They carry major risks. Eating disorders along with plastic surgery can kill you!
So what can we do to fix it? We as a society need to stop judging people by the way they look, but I know that’s not going to happen. What we can do is demand that the media relay images of what real women look like, not just 5% of the population. This lets people know that the way they look is fine. It will teach them to love themselves! That’s the saddest part that some people don’t love who they are. “There's more to life than being really, really, really good looking”
Good night!

Stuff Black People Don't Like

So I feel really out of the loop with everything that’s going on in my classes. I have been feeling really bad lately. I think I have tonsillitis (according to a friend who shone a flashlight in my throat & inspected my tonsils). Luckily, I have an appointment at Schiffert for tomorrow morning so they can diagnose what’s really wrong with me. But I’m worried about the medicine that they give me because it’s really hard for me to swallow pills. I sike myself out so much that I just won’t do it. So I’m sorry my blogs really, really off topic this week. It’s about stuff black people don’t like (http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/).
This site is hilarious! And so true! I can tell you that this site is not lying because I have been black for almost 19 years so take my word for it. There really is a lot of stuff out there that most black people just don’t like. This blog is kind of a play on Stuff White People like, & just like that one, it’s hilarious. Except this blog has a lot more thought put into it. Okay so here are some of my favorites:
• “Tiger Woods fall from grace”-This was a real shame for us black folks. Tiger had transcended into a world that was typically only for white people. You don’t see many black people playing golf in the hood. He was even beating white people at their own game! And it’s true, most of the positive images that other cultures have of black people do come from the world of sports. He was like the door that was inviting black people in to play golf. That door has just been slammed in our faces. Now his image is smeared by this scandal and he has become just another black, professional athlete.
• “Waiting nearly 100 years for a black Disney princess”- SO TRUE! Almost every Disney princess has been white, with the exception of Jasmine & Pocahontas. It was almost like saying that this level of wealth & beauty was not available to black people. Like the only thing that we could look up to was becoming white. This movie was seriously lacking though. The biggest mistake was that they spent over half the movie as frogs so you couldn’t really see their African loveliness. But other than that the movie was great & I was so excited about having a black Disney princess! It was a long time coming. I wish they would’ve had her when I was a kid so I could’ve dressed up as her for Halloween instead of someone that I could never be.
• “Small butts”-It’s a wonder with the types of food that black people eat (fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, beans) that any of us have small butts. While white people value women with a small figure, most people value a woman with some meat on her bones. This article says that it goes back to slave days because slave owners wanted “a big black man with a big black woman to have a big black kid with.” Well no matter the reason for it, it’s true. Being too skinny is not a good thing in the black community. Every time I went to my grandma’s house she would try to feed me so much food because she thought no good black man wants to be with some skinny girl. It makes him think she wants to be white.
So these were just 3 of my favorites. You should definitely check out the blog & read more! Night!

Bottled Water

Okay so along with being a crazy liberal democrat, I am also a crazy liberal democrat environmentalist. And this semester I’m taking a class on water issues called Urban Public Issues. So this week my blog is about bottled water – the biggest scam in the history of the United States & the world.
Bottled water has become a trend in the United States & around the world today. People buy more bottled water then they buy beer or milk, which is absolutely stunning. Why are people paying so much money for something that they can get out of the tap water for free? The bottled water industry is 60 BILLION dollar industry globally each year. Instead of spending the money that they spend on bottled water, they can save that & buy a $10 Nalgene & refill anywhere that they want. Even in the midst of an economic crisis, people still seem to think that bottled water is a necessity, when it is actually something that you don’t need.
Last semester (& this semester too), I was part of a campaign called “Think Outside the Bottle.” Our mission was for people to understand the global water crisis & the ill effects that bottled water has on our society & humanity. Our big project for the challenge was a taste test. We set up tables outside of D2 & Owens & had little Dixie cups filled with tap water from Pritchard, Dasani, & Hokie Water. We asked people who walked by if they could tell the difference between the three. Surprisingly, most people though Dasani tasted the worst & could not tell the difference between the local tap & Hokie water. And every time I see someone wasting their money buying Hokie water, I get frustrated because they do not know the consequences of what they’re buying.
I think the reason that people have this obsession with bottled water is because it shows status. In today’s world, bottled water has become a luxury & less of a necessity. Yes, I know that we all need water to survive, but the water coming from your tap will satisfy this need. In fact, your tap water is something that is highly regulated. Bottled water on the other hand, is not. It’s regulated by the FDA so it is only monitored if it crosses state lines. People also are more on the run then they have been in the past. They eat a lot of meals in the car & bottled water is easy to grab. But your Nalgene is just as easy to grab. People try to nullify the fact that bottled water is bad for the environment by saying that they recycle the bottles. And that’s great because only 10% of bottled water is actually recycled. But they need to cut off the problem at its source and just stop buying water.
A lot of people think that caring for the environment doesn’t involved them or it doesn’t matter. But it does; earth is the only planet that we have to live on so we need to take care of it. The mistakes that we are taking today will affect humanity for years to come.

Interracial Couples

Well, Valentine’s day is officially a week away & normally I’m all about holidays (I can’t wait to be old so I can wear Christmas sweaters without looking like an idiot, I don’t think they’re tacky at all), but this time I am not so excited. This is the 1st Valentine’s Day where I am not with my significant other, Dylan. My boyfriend is 5 hours away from me! This upcoming weekend is going to be absolutely horrible. Everybody is going to be out with their boyfriend/girlfriend to be sitting alone in my dorm. Blaaaaaaah! I plan on sitting alone, eating a lot, & watching romantic comedies online all weekend. On a higher note, Dylan & I are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day when I go home for spring break. We’re going to get a hotel room in a fancy hotel & have a romantic night together. I ordered a shirt online that says I <3 Dylan & he’s going to send me a card that he made himself so at least I can open up something on Valentine’s day. He knows how important holidays are to me & it’s really cool that he would spend time making me a card.
Anyways, this blog is about interracial relationships. As I’m guessing you guys have noticed, I am black. Dylan, on the other hand, is white. And he’s very white. He has blonde hair, green eyes, & thin lips. In other words, he would’ve passed Hitler’s standards. This has never really created a problem between the two of us but it has created a problem between other people. I remember this one time where we went through the drive-thru at Arby’s & the guy had given us the food. And he said “is that your girl?” as he handed us the food. Then he called his friend over & said that is his girl. Dylan & I were both like WTF was that all about? We’ve come to the conclusion that the guy had never seen a black girl & a white guy together before. And I know it’s fairly uncommon. I looked it up online & found out that there are only 117,000 married couples with a white husband & a black wife! As opposed to 50 million married white couples & 4 million married black couples. I wonder why this is. I think it’s because lighter skin has always been a symbol of beauty. Even in the black community, lighter skinned people are often considered prettier then darker skinned people. Of course I don’t think this because I am darker skinned. Another issue that has come up between us is his family. Most of his families think that white people should only be with white people. They would be shocked if they knew that Dylan was dating a black girl. And even in his immediate family, I think his mom has an issue with me being black as well. She has never said it but I think that’s one of the main reasons she doesn’t like me (she actually hates me more so then not liking me). But & it’s just hard for me to imagine that in this day & age somebody would say they don’t like me without even seeing me. But it is what it is and hope that one day it’ll change for the better. It just baffles be that even with a black president & a black Miss America. I think we’re changing for the better though.

Babies & Republicans

Ok. So first off let me just say I am baby obsessed. I cannot wait to be a mom & every time I see a little kid out, my heart just about melts! And recently, I was wasting time on the internet & I found the best website ever! Its www.myfirstfail.com! Go there right now. Stop reading my blog & go to this website. All of the babies here are adorable! I even made my guy friends look at the babies. I already know that I’m going to be the type of parent who puts their baby in embarrassing situations like this. I spent an hour going through most of the pictures on this site. Just wanted to tell you guys about this amazing site. Anyways, on to what this blog is really about.
I am a hardcore, very liberal democrat. This week’s blog may be a little boring because it’s about politics but there are just some things that I would like to get off my chest. Everybody knows about the situation in Haiti. Well one day I was flipping through the channels & I stopped on fox news just to see what republicans are up to (there’s no way in hell that fox news is unbiased by the way) and the things I saw & heard made me want to throw up in my mouth). They were absolutely disgusting. Some republicans want to not donate any money to Haiti because “we need to get our home situation right first.” They must’ve forgotten about the TWO WARS that we’re fighting unnecessarily. I think that they don’t want to help out the poor people of Haiti because there’s no money in Haiti. The United States as a country has a personal stake in the 2 countries in the Middle East while we have no stake in Haiti. But that doesn’t mean we can just leave them be. Well over 100,000 people DIED in Haiti. They’re buried beneath the rubble & most of their bodies will never be recovered. People are starving & dying in the streets & their families just have to leave their bodies there because they have nowhere to put it. This is just a horrible, horrible situation. And for republicans to even suggest that we don’t help out is mind-blowing. I am really angry about this! I can understand needing to take care of the home front first, but you need to spread that logic around evenly. Being a superpower means that we have to help smaller countries out. And yes, Haiti was very poor before the earthquake, but I just cannot comprehend why that means we shouldn’t help them. I think that is one of the most selfish things ever! I hope Obama sends them all of the money they need. I know people in America are struggling, but people in Haiti need it way more than the poorest person in America.
Another thing the Republicans did that pissed me off happened at the Supreme Court. They basically said that corporations can donate as much money as they want to political campaigns. Why does this matter? Because this basically squashes out the voice of regular people like us. This is not what democracy is about! I’m a freshman in college & I can see that. I don’t know about you, but I can’t compete with a big corporation. So instead of being loyal to their constituency, candidates are now going to be more loyal to big businesses. And which party is a friend of big business? Republicans. It’s obvious that this is strictly a party decision because the vote was 5-4. I thought the Bush era was over (Thank god!) but I forgot about all of the conservative judges he left on the court.
Sorry that this blog is so long guys but I am just really pissed off by republicans. Their party ideals are all screwed up. They’ve forgotten about the people. I just don’t understand their ideals about anything. ANYTHING. I think the founding fathers would be ashamed if they saw the state of the government today. Last thing, (I promise), Reagan was not a great president! He increased the size of the federal government AND the national debt.
Lauren
If any of you guys are republicans, I AM NOT SORRY!!!!

Winter Break

I was on winter break for exactly a month & I still don’t think it was long enough. It’s not that I did anything exceptionally exciting or visited anywhere cool (although I did take a tour of the White House, even though I didn’t get to see Barack or Michelle). But I just enjoyed being back in Hampton with my old friends & lying in bed until 2 or 3 pm. It was really nice to see all of these people. I got to see some of my BEST friends & we had an amazing time together. We watched movies, went clubbing, & got piercings/tattoos. Any normal thing that a college student on break does. Some parts of my break were great but some parts of it were a great big letdown.
One of the best parts of the break was buying 2 fish! Although 2 of them died within a week, 2 of them are still alive & swimming! I hope they’re not dead when I come home for spring break. My mom is supposed to be taking care of them but I have a feeling that she might forget about them. She didn’t kill me in 18 years so hopefully she’ll be able to take care of 2 fish. It was very special to me because the first time I went, I went with a very close guy friend of mine. And then the 2nd time around I went with one of my best friends in the world.
Christmas really wasn’t all that great for me. All I got was money. Nobody really put any thought into the gifts that they gave me. On Christmas morning I didn’t have the chance to run downstairs and unwrap anything. It was very disappointing for me. And it’s not the fact that I didn’t get what I wanted, it’s that nobody cared enough to actually think my gift through. I also feel like I missed out on some of the Christmas experience by not being able to open any presents. I guess I’ll have to wait until the last day of March to open up any gifts.
There were so many funny moments that my friends & I had over break. One of my favorites is when we went to ODU to go to a party. We were at the house of a friend of a friend in Norfolk (which is a scary neighborhood to begin with) and as soon as we walk through the door these guys start fighting! Then, one of the guys goes upstairs & gets a SHOT GUN. A real, legit shot gun & he puts bullets in it & everything! This was definitely scary for 3 girls from sheltered Hampton. We were all genuinely scared when it happened but afterwards it’s hilarious! Who carries a shot gun, anymore???
But anyways, I’m at 500 words so I’m going to quit writing now. Good night!