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!