This is something I've been wanting to comment on for while.
When, oh when, did it become socially acceptable for men to SPIT anywhere whenever they want?! From my understanding, this behavior at one point was considered downright offensive and unacceptable. Spitting on the ground in front of someone or near someone was considered to be worth provoking a physical fight over. It was considered a challenge, like smacking them in the face with a glove. Or saying something about their momma.
Beyond that, it's just gross. I don't need to try and be side-stepping your expelled mouth cooties, and I don't need to listen to the horrifying noise you make to try and get every amount of mucus/water/parts of your brain into your mouth so you can spit. You sound like a dying animal. And I am tempted to shoot you to put you out of your (and my) misery. Really, what is so wrong with your spit that you need to projectile eject it every few moments?? If you desperately need to spit (and I'm assuming this is either because you've coughed something up, had a bug fly in your mouth, or eaten something horrifying) do it in a trashcan, in a napkin, or discreetely away from everyone else. Do not just go around spitting all over the place wherever you please!! It's gross. If you are congested, buy some Sudafed. If it doesn't help, you may have a more serious problem - outside of your excessive inability to be able to behave in public.
And just so the men don't feel shunned...ladies: stop chewing your gum with your mouth open. I'm glad your enjoying it, but I don't need to see and hear your enjoyment. You keep it up, and I'm going to start throwing crap in your gaping sticky maw. Most likely the man-spit off my shoe.
Grand Theft Auto IV dropped recently, and reminded me that there is still a massive desire for products that are incredibly racist and misogynistic. Violence aside (since I’m not one who always believes there is a direct correlation between violence in videogames and violent behavior) the game itself is problematic for other reasons. While the majority of news sources focus on the fact that the game is incredibly violent, they seem to look over the race and women-hating issues in the game. For example, all the African American characters in the game are gang-members fulfilling the angry black man gangbanger stereotype. Women are simply props in the game – they almost are all prostitutes that you are rewarded for killing after you have sex with them. There are no female leads in the game, and the black leads are all extremely negative stereotypes. All the minority characters are portrayed in a negative light (they are often the ones causing the corruption in the city). The game, consumed by mainly white middle class men, is clearly designed to promote certain beliefs or at least a certain ideology. It isn’t the violence that scares me, but that white men apparently need this “outlet” to get out their hate towards minorities and women. Why should this hate exist in the first place – and do games like this allow it to come out in a safe environment, or does it continue to promote the hate itself? Often times these companies go by the same rhetoric as insult comedians do, or insult shows – we are offending EVERYONE equally. But is it really equal? If you continue to lampoon minorities that are struggling, isn’t that different than a barb at the majority in power? And even though you are hitting on supposedly every group, does that really make it okay? And are you really hitting on every group equally? And what sort if impact do each of these insults or insinuations make for each group? Even if you shoot everyone, if you shoot someone with a BB gun and someone with a cannon, there is a difference in impact there. Do you simply poke fun at whites so you can get away with true racism? And from whom are the attacks coming from? The argument that “oh, everyone is attacked so it is okay!” is completely faulty – it is just a way to cover up and get away with being racist and misogynistic.
Going back over the comments made by Barack Obama about the working middle class, I think there is something that is being overlooked. Sure, there is a problem with him making the overarching generalization that the working class is a set of bitter, gun-toting, hate mongering bigots. I mean, plenty of rich upper class are hate-mongering. Plenty of college-educated people are hate-mongering. I think it has more to do with lack of education and exposure to other people who are different from them, or exposure to the situations going on that cause them to have negative viewpoints. But the most interesting thing is that these comments about the working class are so clung to and harped upon when the meat of the speech is ignored - that he can supposedly enact change without telling you what he is going to do! That he can make things better without causing a noticeable change in your life. "But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives." He mentions people being bitter in these towns because they haven't had jobs in a long time and the government keeps them down, but he doesn't say anything about helping them! I would be less concerned about him calling them bitter, less concerned about their supposed obsession with guns and religion, and more focused on the fact that he doesn't have any solutions for these people! Sure they may hold these negative viewpoints because they are tired of being run-down all the time, but why does that matter? Why does that need to be pointed out? What are you going to do to improve the situation now that you have recognized it? What are you going to do to try and educate them about these problems that you want them to care about? How are you going to help them so they don't need to blame others for the bad things that are happening to them? It is a very sad state of our politics today that we are more focused on who is name-calling who, and who is using the wrong words, instead of who has the best solutions and ideas. It is convenient that Obama calls for change - but in a very vague, round-about way. Who knows if the change he wants is the change I want too?
Recently Congress just voted to ban discrimination based on genetic predispositions for illnesses.
What?
So I can be predisposed to cancer and you won’t fire me but, but if I’m gay you can?! Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this bill is important. But it IS true that you are going to cost your company money paying your medical bills for your illness, when being gay harms no one and costs nothing to the company. I think it just goes to show what a grip the Fundamentalist Christians have on our country when it is so impossible to give people basic human rights. I can understand not wanting us to be involved in marriage, a institution largely considered to be religious based, but to not provide us with just basic human rights?
In addition, what if you believe that being gay is in your genes? I am then predisposed to be gay because of my genes – I mean, it may put being gay in the realm of an illness or disease, but at least then I won’t get fired or discriminated against! Some people say that if we try to line up being gay with genes that they will try to “fix” it. Well the day of gene therapy is far ahead in the future, and being gay is such a complex mix of genes and environment that it will probably never be “fixed” by gene therapy. So, maybe this can be used to the advantage of pushing forward the GLBT ERA, considering that most of the evidence leans towards there being a genetic predisposition to being gay. It seems like a double standard to me – if you are predisposed to an actual physical illness then that is okay, but if you are predisposed to be attracted to a certain gender, then that isn’t and you’re still going to be fired because of it. Are we going to pick and choose which genes are “okay” and which are “covered” by this law?!
So my sleeping schedule is all kinds of messed up. I've been going to bed at 1:30 or 2 am and then basically unable to get up until 11 am. I almost NEVER sleep in that late - usually I can't sleep much later than 10 or 10:30. But even after getting roughly 9 hours of sleep, I still am tired. My lymph nodes have felt a little swollen lately, so maybe my body is trying to fight something off.
It's nearing the end of the semester. I have a take home final to do, and a major paper left to write. I've been slowly making my way through the paper, but now progress has halted as I found out I didn't get the internship I was hoping for. So now I have to scramble to find one before the end of the month. It's getting to be that all my good news is consistently paired with or outweighed by bad.
Also, newspapers please stop calling the democratic nomination race over before it is actually over. Both candidates still have a fair chance, and I think it is a race that should be decided by...I dunno...the voting populace instead of smart-ass know-it-all political pundits who are often wrong.
But...that's just me. I've been unimpressed with Obama lately, and I don't know if he has the gumption or the ability to stand up against McCain....and I do NOT want to see McCain in office, people! I dunno if Obama can win over enough of the working class or on the fence republicans to win the overall election. So yes, for me it is more about making sure that a republican is NOT in office, as opposed to having the best possible democrat in office.
I'm not much of a TV fan. I haven't been since my sophomore year of college and I made the wise decision not to pay for cable. Since then, I've looked upon most things that come upon the TV with disdain. Personally, I'm more of an Internet and book fiend.
But, I do have to confess that my friend got me addicted to Lost when the second season came around. I borrowed his DVDs of the first season and basically had a marathon of watching them. Since then, I've been hooked - no other show has kept me this engaged! Sure, there have been other shows I have been a fan of. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena, Family Guy, Futurama, The L Word. But no show has consistently kept me interested, and very actively engaged. The L Word lost me midway through this season and I still haven't caught up on the episodes. I also like Heroes a lot, but haven't been able to figure out if/when it is coming back on air (or on the Internet, since I don't have cable), which kind of turns me off - I like to know when my shows are coming back!
But Lost is incredibly engaging for me. I love the complex character analysis, the interwinding storylines, the confusing puzzles, and the labarynth feeling to the show.
However, I do have a complaint. Stop the extreme focus on the Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle. It's getting to be tedious. We know she can't choose. We know they are pissed about it. But for serious, it's getting exhausting to watch episode after episode that seems to be focused on their dysfucntional-ness.
I will forgive you, writers, for this annoyance. But only because the Jin/Sun storyline is so good.
Sorry if you aren't a Lost fan and are totally confused by the above rant, but I just had to get that out. If you haven't gotten into Lost, I would seriously recommend you check out the first season. It's probably some of the best stuff on TV. Great acting, fantastic writing, and very excellent cinematography.
Also....all the cool kids are watching it.
My schedule, as per usual, is going into "crazy stupid ridiculous" mode.
I think for the past 6 years I have been consistently called "one busy girl".
Which I love - don't get me wrong - being busy is important to me. I like to do stuff, and I like to have a lot going on. But what I do NOT like is being overwhelmed. Something has gotta give! Oy.
Today is trying to get props for the drag show, mail some stuff out, write a paper, meet with a professor, turn in the paper, do a presentation, get home to snarf down some dinner, go to a late-night drag practice, come home and pass out. And tomorrow is work, throwing a few last minute things together, and drag show. Saturday is early morning class, and then FINALLY some time to myself to work on homework and schedule working out. Sunday is work again.
At least I am finally organizing my life - I now religiously use my Google calender to plan. If you have ADHD, or a poor memory (which I have both) but are a little tech-savvy let me recommend two things to you:
1. Start using Google Calenders. It can integrate into your gmail (which is super nice) and it's a very friendly and simple interface.
2. Download firefox and install the google calenders add-on as well as the gmail add on. The calender add-on will let you see events for the day and future days, as well as give you a quick link to your calender when you need to update. The gmail add-on will show you new emails (which really means the number of emails you just haven't dealt with yet) and also alerts you when a new one rolls in.
Used wisely, these tools can be very beneficial. I also have begun organizing my surfing activities to begin limiting them more. I have a folder of "dailies" as well as a folder for my "webcomics" and once I've clicked through them, I try to leave it at that.
Getting organized is HARD if you are not a natural at it. But with determination, it is possible. But you have to want to be organized first - nothing will follow if you don't have the drive.
When I was walking home today, I heard a sound that always takes me back to my childhood.
Instantly I am transported back into the body of a scrawny pale red-headed girl with an easy smile that seemed out of place under intense brown eyes. The sound would creep into the red brick of our suburban house, past the blue shutters on the windows, and the wood door. Sometimes it would drift around the house all together and sneak into the backyard where I may have been swinging or telling stories. Sometimes it would drift to me playing in my room or in the back of the house. At first it would cause a head tilt - a questioning of if the sound was actually there or only imagined. As it slowly grew in volume, thoughts would be confirmed. I would scramble to my feet, which were probably bare, and stuff my hands into my pockets. I would run, trying to find the first parent I could to beg for change. After the appropriate amount of quarters, dimes, and nickles were counted into my small reaching hand, I would clutch my fingers around the shining round pieces and bolt off. You never knew if it would come down our cul-de-sac, or just sit at the top of the road for a bit. Skinny legs with knobby scarred knees would pump, as I burst out of the house towards the sound. A large, colorful truck that the other kids were already streaming towards as well. Then it would be time to come to a decision - a rocket pop? A push-pop? No, today it would be a Good Humor Chip 'n' Dale Fudge Bar. I would push the coins into the hand of the vender, who would grin at me and hand me my treat. In the burning Kentucky heat, a good majority of it would be melted on my hand half-way through eating - but it didn't matter. My friends and I would sit around, faces covered with blue syrup, fudge, and a variety of other sticky residues - which would be quickly transferred to whatever clothing we were wearing. And then it was time to be off again - to bike races, sprinkler runs, or water gun fights.
Oh, summer.
Now if it was only 20 or 30 degrees warmer in Chicago....
So, for a long time I thought that the hype over non-professional emails was just that - something blown out of proportion that really wasn't as big of a problem as people were making it out to be.
But, as I have spent a lot of time applying for internships I am finding that it is not hype. It is true. People do NOT know how to write professional emails! Even people who have masters and doctoral degrees apparently do not know how to write a professional email.
If I write and ask you if you have any positions open, the appropriate response is not "nope sorry" - I'm not even kidding, I had someone with a doctoral degree give me that response. Now I'm sure this is a very, very intelligent person who wrote me this email. I mean, they wouldn't have their doctorate if they weren't smart. But...come on. You don't respond to someone like that! If I was talking to you in person, would you respond in that manner? No. That would be very rude. Appropriate response? "I'm sorry but at the current time we do not have any positions open for Master's level students. If anything changes, I will keep you in mind." Short, but polite and professional.
Now mind you, all of my emails have been very professional. I have always been careful about writing professional emails. I typically re-read my emails several times to make sure it sounds good. But occasionally, something sneaks past. I sent one out about two weeks ago that had a spelling error - instead of writing "contact hours" I wrote "content hours." Honestly, in my opinion, not that big of a mistake. I had accidentally overlooked it because I was sending out a ton of emails that day, and just wanted to get it out there. I had the person respond with an ENTIRE paragraph telling me, in essence, how stupid I was for having a spelling error and not using spell check (never mind the fact that spell check wouldn't have picked up on that sort of mistake...). That she would never hire someone who could make such an error, and that I was never going to make it very far in life - you know, because if I can't learn to spell in grad school, when am I going to?
Well. If you aren't going to learn to be professional AS a professional....you're future ain't looking so hot either honey. I responded back (in a very diplomatic and professional manner) that I was very upset that she would make such a judgment on my character and future based off a one word mistake - and that I would hope as a counselor she would be more accepting of mistakes in humans. You know, since we all make them and everything.
Now you know, if I had made several mistakes, or if I had sent a resume full of mistakes I would understand. But this was not the case. But it was interesting to see that reaction in contrast to the other emails I have gotten from professionals that were misspelled, lacked punctuation or any sentence structure, etc. I guess not all of us can be bothered to write a full sentence or use capitalization or punctuation when responding to someone in a professional capacity. But hey, at least I wasn't telling these people how they were going to fail at life because they can't use a semicolon.
So...world at large, my message is this: Be professional. All because you are on the other side of a monitor and we can't see each other doesn't mean that we aren't both real human beings with feelings and thoughts. We need to continue to VALUE communication. From talking to typing, we need to learn to be respectful - especially to those who are respectful to us. Golden rule kids....abide by it. If someone is rude to you, then maybe you have a bit more leeway to be rude back. Still not a free ticket, but slightly more understandable. But, if someone is very professional with you, you should give them the same courtesy. Oh...and this little book wouldn't hurt any of us. And for professionals there is always this one. Grammar and the ability to communicate well is not something we are born with (this I know - I've read and helped with the research!) but it is surely something that we can learn and improve upon. I'm not saying I am perfect at it by ANY means - but I always had the desire to be an English teacher....so I can't suppress this sometimes.
Anyway...be professional with people. Especially if they are offering you FREE LABOR.
Which brings me to another point - why is it so hard for me to find somewhere that wants me to intern? I'm basically saying, hey teach me a little something and I will work for you part time for FREE. FREEEEEE! I'm willing to do the same amount of work you should pay upwards $10 an hour for....FOR FREE.
Please? Anyone? Anyone?
I feel like these days you are expected to be a perpetual worker.
With employers now scouring the internet to find out every scrap of information about you, it is as if no one can have a personal life that is separate from their work life anymore. We have our cell phones that keep us connected to our work 24/7 - even when we are on vacation! We can't even put up facebook pictures of parties because there may be a potential employer that -gasp- knows that you drink Bud Light on the weekends sometimes!
I am thinking of all of this because of my photo project. If you google my email address, you will find my photo project and you will find this blog.
It is difficult because I want to have an online personal life. I want to do my photo project, I want to write my blog, and I want to post things on Facebook because that is who I am outside of my work. But I also want a professional life where I can work with clients who do not know much about me except the fact that I am there to help them. Sure, in the future when I am working in the field I can get a new email address. Or give them my Purdue alumni account. That's fine.
But what frustrates me is the fact that an employer might not hire me because I post artistic nude photos on the internet. Not pornography. Not even anything worse than PG-13. But still, even though I am ALSO an photographer and ALSO a blogger, they might not hire me. That I have to alter the entirety of how I live my life so that it is structured around my work.
That doesn't seem right. I understand that you should lead a life that is moral outside of your work because stupid, illegal, or unethical practices (like paying $3000 for a hooker) can make a company look bad. Or can be counter to what it is your are trying to achieve. For example, if I was posting racist propaganda while trying to be a multicultural counselor. If it plays counter to your working, sure that can be a problem. But...there are certain things that should be okay because it's just part of having a life and it doesn't affect your ability to do your job. Can I not be an artist AND a counselor?
I dunno. I just do not think it is fair for an employer to judge my worthiness as a counselor based on pictures I put on Facebook instead of how well I counsel.
