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.