when i was little i always said my favorite animal was a dog but that's just because i wanted one really, really bad. it's gone from dog to unicorn to polar bear to penguin to horse to well, loving all animals. yet for some reason, i see myself surrounded by owl figurines. i never thought of owls as particularly cute or appealing in the aspect of cuddling with, but for the past year i have bought so. many. owls. i have an academic owl figurine right on my desk, above me, so when i look at him he gives me a look of either satisfaction or disappointment according to how hard i've worked that day. so far i haven't received many kind looks. on the tv there is a teeny tiny wooden carving of two owls sitting together on a branch. i got it at a flea market on the north carolina/south carolina border. it was 50 cents and i consider it to be one of my most treasured finds. when i first saw it, the owls reminded me of a pair of friends sitting on the couch and watching tv, thus explaining why i chose the top of the tv for the two little owls to live upon. just a little ways over are two owl candles on top of my windowsill. one of them is my best friend's and the other is mine, who was a gift from my best friend. they look extremely similar so we claimed that they were twins. except candles aren't allowed in dorm rooms so we had to hide them over thanksgiving break. speaking of thanksgiving break, i managed to purchase yet another owl to put in my room. he's made out of pine cone and feathers. i'd say he's the most realistic looking. and sometimes realistic looking fake owls can be quite creepy. i hope for the best with the new addition to my owl family. all of the figurines i have right now are hoot owls and i'm on an endless hunt for a nice barn owl figurine. last summer i went to key west and managed to end up visiting a bird rehabilitation center. when i caught a glimpse of the barn owl i had to catch my breath - he was so beautiful! his feathers were crisp white with grey spots and his eyes were big bright and focused on my every move. honestly, i was a bit scared, but moreso in awe of his handsome features. if anyone were to raid my room, it would be clear that my favorite animal is an owl. though i still really, really want a dog, i would have to say that my favorite animal, as of today, is an owl.

home, why i love it:

1. the way the smell of it clings to your hair and your blankets

2. taking a hot shower without worrying about pissing off seven other girls

3. locking yourself in your room, because you can

4. space

5. the fridge is full. so full.

6. cleanliness, clean lines

7. washer and dryer availability, sans onecard swiping

8. the doorbell sound

9. the smile you get from mom when she sees you

10. fresh fruits and vegetables

11. the fireplace

12. the lamp on my nightstand that i've had since i was eight

13. sleeping in mmmmyyyyyy bbbbeeeeddddd

14. preparing food on an actual counter-top instead of on top of a record-player

15. "dinner's ready"

16. taking up the whole couch, in all of its wholiness

17. mom placing a blanket over you when you accidentally fall asleep

18. laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling

19. dad's bucket of salty sunflower seeds, which is never witnessed to be empty

20. warmth. in every corner.


the concept of family and home interests me. i often wonder how trivial it is what kind of family and home you can be placed in just by destiny or fate. i could be living in my neighbor's house instead of mine, or be placed in a family of royals or thieves. but we are given our family, or rather we are given to our family, and we learn to love it to the last drop. families grow larger and never stop growing. a family could be gigantic if you think about it...like the show on TLC where there are eighteen children in the Duggar family. that would equal at least eighteen grandchildren. at least. in each house there is a family and each home a box of memories. i wonder if memories made with our family would be the same if we lived in different homes. would christmas still bring back the same feelings of crackling open wrapped gifts and ooey gooey chocolate chips sticking to your thumb when you sneak a bite of the first batch of cookies out of the oven? or is the feeling more related to the emotional aspect of christmas...as to say that if you spent christmas in a different home that you actually did all of your life, the memories would still be the same? this would suggest that home is not where the heart is, but rather where the mind has been. i suppose it would differ between people, where some remember the more physical things and others reminisce in the more intangible, unseen things, like joy, or love. a cold home to one person could be a buttery warm slice of toast to another.

bottom line; houses are boxes of time and families are molded by memories so if you put them both together you're bound to get a whole lotta special shapes.

traditionally, one of the perks of turning eighteen years-old for many is the legal ability to get a tattoo. i can't believe how many of my friends actually went out and got one on or the day after their eighteenth birthday. i enjoy tattoos, and admire how they are slowly becoming a bit more culturally acceptable, by which i mean that it's not just prisoners and thugs that have them anymore. i've noted teachers, chefs, business-owners, and other people of pretty high working power who have a tattoo or two, and i think that's awesome. i definitely wouldn't want it to become too normal or integrated into the corporate world, because that would result in many people having the same exact tattoo and the standards of what is considered "professional" to drop. however, i have definitely subtly desired a tattoo since i was sixteen. i have gone through different illustration, text, and placement ideas for long hours at a time, looking through endless forums and blogs online of people who share and talk about their tattoos. miami ink and la ink have become one of my favorite tv shows, which my mom can't stand, but i enjoy seeing people get a tattoo that symbolizes a big part of their lives, especially portraits of their family members or even pets. those are my favorite. my parents have made it abundantly clear that they will indeed leave me financially abandoned and without a home to come to if i ever got one. this is the part that really puts me in a predicament...do i just decide that it's my body, not my parents', and get one despite their threats?...this would involve me feeling guilty of the wrong i would doing to them by getting a tattoo when they're the ones who have supported and provided everything for me for all these years. *sigh*...it's a tough choice.

here are some of my friends' tattoos:







those above are all of Nick's tattoos. he goes by "Nick Edge" by his close friends. he takes a lot of pride in being straight edge, which means that he does not take part in drugs, alcohol, or premiscuous sex. he has the more tattoos than anyone i know.




this is James' tattoo. he got it recently, by the same tattoo artist that Nick gets all of his done by. the artist's name is Ashley Love. she is by far the best tattoo artist locally. her work consists of really clean lines and colors; she specializes in traditional-style tattoos.




Savannah's tattoo of a Daphne and Apollo sculpture. it's a big tattoo, but it turned out looking really special. i prefer black and white tattoos more than colored ones, since the color choices can be iffy and harder to maintain.




on the left is my friend Eli, who is also my best friend's boyfriend. he's into drawing and graphic novels, so he decided to draw his own tattoo. in case you can't quite tell, it's of an octopus invading (for lack of a better word) a man's head. it's unique and i don't think anyone else around has this tattoo. again, i like the black and white better.




i'm pretty sure this is my favorite tattoo out of my friends'. my friend Brandon got this tattoo and as ode to Salvador Dali, who is hands-down one of my favorite, if not favorite artists of all time. the illustration where this elephant is from is titled "the elephants". i have a copy of it in my dorm room.


as you can see, i am vaguely surrounded by people who have really good tattoos. this is part of the reason why i am tempted to get mine so badly. all i want to get is a quote tattooed around my ankle/foot area. i am still trying to decide between these two quotes:

"et incepit fidelis sic permanet" which is latin for "as loyal as she began, so she remains". this quote really represents remembering who i am as a person and always keeping in mind where i come from. i feel that it's really important never to lose your true self for the sake of others, and this quote captures that perfectly.

the other quote is "this is a beautiful way". this quote comes from my favorite poet, e.e. cummings. the original quote is "and if feeling: that if day has to become night - this is a beautiful way" from one of his poems. this quote to me symbolizes the beauty in change. change is inevitable, and if things that seem so perfect and good in my life must change, like the day changes to night, then it should always been seen as a beautiful thing, rather than a mysterious, dark thing. i know this quote will comfort me always when i question why certain changes in my life occur.

a few various things...

1. for breakfast, i decided to be healthy and eat whole-grain waffles with lite syrup and sliced oranges. the orange though, sucked. i was expecting it to be juicy, orange, almost with a slight glimmer in the light with all the little orange juice particles showing. but the orange i took my precious time to peel and slice was pretty much the opposite. it was yellow and dry. BLUGH. i hope others out there know what sort of dry, yellow orange i speak of, because if you've never experienced the self-pity of biting into a dry orange, you have no idea of the appreciation for a succulent, summer-time orange.

2. my cable is messed up in my dorm room, and has been since move-in day. my mind has been clouded (on top of various papers, assignments, and exams) with Viva la Bam and Parental Control for what seems like forever. due to this situation, i've missed out on the shows i normally watch during my free time like cash cab, project runway, the office, and let's not forget...i totally missed every single day of the 13 days of halloween on abc family. was utterly pissed about that, but have gotten over and it and moved on to developing an even heavier concern for missing the 25 days of christmas on abc family....which if i don't see will mean that i missed out on my favorite old-fashioned christmas movies with the puppet animation like Jack Frost and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. somebody heeeelppp!!!

3. i am debating whether or not to live on campus next year. ultimately, i was set on getting my own place with my friends and having the freedom to not worry about pleasing suite-mates or sharing one bathroom with seven other girls. yet, there are things i definitely am grateful for when it comes to living in a dorm. for example, whenever i have at least an hour between classes, i can scurry back to my dorm and take a cat-nap on my comfortable futon. i don't have to worry about parking/moving my car, or spending money on gas for it (although sometimes i would do anything to just get in my car and go on a long drive). living on-campus allows me to get most things i want within a reasonable walking distance, whether it's peppermint hot chocolate from the starbucks at ram's head, toothpaste from the pit stop, or a withdrawal from my bank account in the pit. living off-campus might make this a little more difficult as i will have to get in my car and drive around looking for the closest store, not to mention if i ever wanted to come on-campus with my car, parking would be a complete nightmare. however, i'll probably be convinced enough to live off-campus because it will mean i can have my very own room and decorate it however the hell i want because no allowed candles, toasters, pets, or thumb-tacked posters is killing me slowly.

4. i have developed an immense interest in meeting new people and forming new friendships. it obviously must come from the environment i'm in, where i feel the need to meet people that i can talk to about chapel hill-related things, as my friends from back home seem to lose interest in it after ten minutes. it is indeed a refreshing feeling to start fresh with people who don't know your entire life story without even knowing you personally. i felt like high school consisted of a lot of that. this time, it's about just enjoying new friends' company and finding those who i can take comfort in when most of what i was comfortable with before i moved here has disappeared from my hands.

before i came to college, people would ask if i met my roomate yet and what she was like. well, i always giggled to myself because my roomate and i are actually best friends, and have been since the third grade. her name's allyson lucy reddy, but i've always called her ally.
here is an example of how we interact on a daily basis: yesterday we shared our final decisions about our halloween costumes. when i told her i was being a pin-up girl, she scolded me long and hard. as a woman's study major, she is starting to take feminism quite seriously, and disapproved of my decision to "objectify" myself. as if i would be the only one doing so on the 31st?! she then explained that she didn't have a desire to dress up as anything for halloween. being the spirited, bouncy one out of the two of us, i playfully threatened that i would not let her leave our dorm on halloween without dressing up. i urged her to be rosie the riveter to get back at me. needless to say, i took about 2 minutes for her scold to turn into a smile; off to the mall we went to get pieces for our costumes.
ally and i normally get along like two peas in a pod and have been virtually inseparable for ten years now. when we were young, we were very much alike. we liked the same music, tv shows, movies, clothes, and boys (this held some difficulty in middle school). as for now, we are vastly different than we used to be. we both have boyfriends (you know how that goes), we have different opinions on politics, different tastes in food (ally's vegetarian now), and a different perspective on life. she is more of a home-body, where i dream of traveling and living around the world. as for music and clothes, we still like the same ones!
as much as people frightened me with their "yikes" and "uh ohhh" when i mention to them that i am rooming with my best friend, it's been a blast so far. we are both familiar with each others habits and personalities, so everything goes very smoothly-don't get me wrong, it's certainly not always sunny in paradise. some days i cannot stand her and how much she talks to her boyfriend on the phone, when other days she can't stand my obnoxiously loud laughter while she's trying to study. the claws never stay out for long though, i promise.
i don't believe i could trade ally as a best friend or roomate for anyone else. when she's having a disastrous day and bursts through the door crying, i always jump up and bring her comfort with advice and tissues. and when it's me feeling blue, she never gives up on trying to cheer me up. here in college, where all my family and close friends are far, far away, having a best friend as a roommate is truly a gift.

first off, let me mention that fall break was too short. i wish i had a few more days at home to soak it all in...but alas, it's called reality for a reason. instead of writing out a lengthy list of all of the things i did over fall break, i'll save everyone from emitting drool and focus on one thing i did - which was finally seeing "where the wild things are". i sat down in front of the screen with an open mind about what the movie would be like. i read the book a million times as a kid and absolutely loooved it, but heard that the movie got really mixed reviews by the critics. from the beginning of the movie where max had a fit over his older sister's mean friends, i was emotionally tied to his character. he did such a great job playing the role. his voice, mischevious tantics, and wide-eyed, open mouth look was perfect. not to mention how adorable (and of course terrifying) the wolf costume looked on him. as for the wild things, they all seemed to be unique in their own way, just like in the book. alexander even reminded me of an amusing version of ramses, especially since his eyes were carolina blue. i definitely was not expecting the wild things to have such normal human voices. i figured since they were supposed to be like magical beasts, they would have a grunty or nasaly voice, so that was something i had to get used to...especially KW's voice. i did not expect her to be a girl, or to have such a youthful voice. the textures and images on the screen were all really cool, like when caroll and max are walking through the huge sandy dessert. the contrast between the wild things' man-made appearance of feathers, fur, and horns, along with the setting of a natural ocean shore was really appealing to the eye. overall, i did think the movie was actually really sad. the wild things always fought with each other, even after they had five minutes of happiness in the sleeping pile, so this part was kind of depressing for me. i can' decide if i feel that max brought them the happiness he promised to give them as king. the other thing that i'm still pretty torn up about is that the arcade fire's music never played! the trailer for the movie included their song "wake up", but itnever ever played in the movie. despite its little downfalls, "where the wild things are" is definitely worth seeing. it is a cute movie for kids and adults alike, and will even make some of you teenage boys tear up in the end. let the rumpus begin!

i think it's safe to say that no matter how many forms of communication have been and will develop over my lifetime, snail mail will remain my absolute favorite. i will always act like a little kid, jumping up and down, when i see a letter addressed from a friend in my mailbox. obviously this doesn't happen that often, so i always try to encourage (and innocently threaten) my closest friends and my family to send me things through the mail in order to keep my mail-induced happiness on a healthy level. my boyfriend wrote to me this summer from the camp where he worked, making those my first "love letters". of course, no boy could do it as well as noah in "the notebook", who wrote to his girl every single day of the year while they were apart...*sigh*...nonetheless, every time i read a letter from my realistic boyfriend this summer, glee filled my veins and i would remain in a wonderful, giddy mood until the next one arrived. my family has always traveled a lot growing up, and now that i am at school, i am no longer able to tag along and enjoy free getaways with them. as a way to make up for this, my parents have promised to started sending me postcards from their travel spots. in september i received one from my mom, who wrote from spain. i was super excited when i got it in the mail...although postcards are rather tricky because as much as they are filled with love, they contain a lack of space to update the recipient on their travels, as well as a typically amazing photo on the front that makes you even more jealous and upset that you are not with the sender. either way, it's mail, it's sent, it's special, i love it!! on another note...we all know how incredibly spectacular getting a package in the mail can be. from a small age i developed the insight that a package + my name on it = a present just for me. this rule has never upheld so well as it does now that i am in college. care packages are seriously in the running for one of the best ideas..ever. i have been fortunate enough to receive two already! one was a surprise from my next-door neighbors back home, who compiled a box of things to help me avoid swine flu! i know it might sound funny (and sort of lame) but in the box were abundant amounts of hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial foams, a sleeping mask, and most importantly..cliff bars and candy. i thought that was ridiculously nice of my neighbors to send me that, so like a good mailing citizen, i sent out a thank you card the next day. i've sent my mom and brother birthday cards so far, but i'm looking forward to writing much more! it upsets me that people (at least our age) don't use the postal system as much as they should. if more people logged off of facebook, grabbed a pen and wrote a good ol' letter or card, the united states postal service would be much better funded and the special feeling of receiving a letter or package could be passed on through our generation and all the ones to come. the blue mailboxes around campus are waiting for you...

dear autumn,

first off, you are so beautiful. your name brings the best of thoughts into my head. won't you please come soon? i feel like i have been waiting forever for you to come around. not to be a suck-up...but you are hands-down the best season out of them all. don't tell summer, but personally, i think she is totally overrated. i can't stand her heat and the way she makes my bangs stick to my forehead within three minutes of walking outside. don't get me wrong, summer days at the park can indeed be incredible, but nothing compares an autumn day in the mountains, where you leave me surrounded by leaves of burgundy, yellow, and red-orange, as well as the amazing smell of a crackling bonfire wrapping around my nose. your heavy gusts cool me off perfectly and give me long-awaited relief after september's unpredictable, boiling hot days. it might be a stretch but i'd like to just say that i think i am in love with you. speaking of it, fall love is the best. finally boys start giving up their jackets to their cold girls and offering a non-sweaty palm to hold on to! i thoroughly enjoy the fashion your weather calls for too. jeans, tights, comfy sweaters, and (non-cowboy) boots bring out the class in us dames. now, onto holidays: halloween is SUCH a fun time that you keep us teenagers waiting on the edge of our seats for. i mean who doesn't love dressing up and eating artery-clogging amounts of candy and chocolate? as cady heron says in mean girls, "halloween is the one night a year girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." i feel like this motto will work well to describe unc's female population that awaited night. on an innocent note - when it comes to family, you are very good at keeping us close. home visits in the fall mean pumpkin carving with dad and baking apple pie with mom, with smells of cinnamon swirling into all rooms under the roof. thanksgiving is obviously a terrific holiday as well. eating lots of delicious food and playing games around the fire with family (aww) has a way of making our hearts feel whole again. and even when it comes near to your end, it's never too bitter because it means that "the most wonderful time of the year" is next! see you SOON, okay?

love,
sara

it took me a total of one day to realize how crazy the squirrels are on campus. i would almost go to categorize them as "legitimately insane". it seems that every time i am in the pit talking to someone, out of the corner of my eye i catch a glimpse of cat crawling across the bricks. and when i say cat, i mean squirrel. i've never seen squirrels crawl so slow in my entire life. stealthy they are, for sure, but slow? never. once i saw a squirrel sitting on a ledge outside of the UL holding a gigantic waffle fry in its mouth. even when a lady came up to take a picture of him with her cell phone, he didn't move an inch. ...aren't squirrels usually terrified of humans? do the ones here all of a sudden want to be our friends and eat the same food we do? are they trying to be us? maybe they seriously think they are humans! i heard a story of a guy who was walking to class when a squirrel pounced on his shoulder and nuzzled his ear until the guy violently shook him off. poor guy.
all of this squirrel observation in the past week lead me to have one of the worst dreams i've had in a while. in my dream, i was asleep in my bed and could feel two squirrels crawling all over me and trying to play with me. they were gentle, and in a way it just made me giggle and feel ticklish. then i opened my eyes (in the dream) and noticed that there was blood marks all over my hands and arms. i sat up and looked around for the squirrels and all of a sudden one of them came charging at my face. it was RAVENOUS. he was foaming at the mouth, cock-eyed, and rabies-infested. before he reached my face in an attempt to tear it up, i awoke from my dream and gave a huge sigh of relief.
the squirrels on campus here are definitely special. it makes sense that their familiarity with humans comes from the fact that thousands of people walk around them every day, unlike in my neighborhood back home where they only see cars. their habits are nothing less than strange though. their close proximity to humans, their glazed-over stares, and their unpredictable climbing patterns altogether don't appeal to me. i almost wonder if they watch all the drunken students stumble back to their dorms on weekend nights and throw acorns at them. judging from my observations, they most likely do. so watch out.

"Year of the Trible Bypass" A burger filled with chinese bbq pork between two pork buns.

i have discovered over the last few years that being friends with boys has its pros and its cons. pros: no drama, no fuss, you don't have to wear cute clothes 24/7, more dirt, more fun. as for the cons, the focus of this blog will be on one: BOYS EAT TERRIBLY. i have always kept in mind a nice and trim figure for myself, but i simply cannot avoid the fact that being friends with boys has made it quite hard to give in to food temptations i've never experienced before. if you're a boy out there reading this and questioning this blame, then tell me this...why do you guys put ranch dressing on your pizza? and why does it magically seem to taste so much better than pizza without ranch dressing? and who puts bacon and extra cheese on everything? GUYS. and it tastes so freaking good! oh and steak in your burritos? ONLY YOU! but dammit, that tastes good too! combinations i would never have thought of eating have been eaten and have resided on my hips. sometimes, when i'm about to order a burger from a burger joint, i can hear my hips whisper "sara no! :( you never used to eat burgers before you met these silly boys! don't do this to us!" but like a fly i swat the thought away and get SO excited for my burger to come for NO reason because truly, I NEVER LIKED BURGERS BEFORE BOYS. so, this post shall serve as a big "thanks" to all of my guy friends back at home, as well as ones i've met here, for introducing me to the magic of barbeque chips, nachos squirted with canned cheese and microwaved, philly cheesesteaks, barbeque sandwiches, beef taquitos (good lord), and all of the rest of the female body's enemies.

furthermore, as i was eating dinner at arby's (because there's no such thing as a nice, health restaurant) a couple of weeks ago with BOYS, one of them took the liberty to show me something on his iphone that almost made me gag and i mean gag HARD (even though i genuinely was enjoying my jamocha milkshake). it was a website called "thisiswhyyourefat.com", consisting of people who post pictures and recipes not for the weak-stomached. if you're a boy, you'll probably scroll through and think "AWESOME THAT LOOKS SO GOOD!" at the "deep fried surprise" (beer-battered deep fried bacon double quarter pounder with cheese, served with double-fried french fries) or the "deep fried bacon crusted pork rinds" served with bacon mayonnaise. alright, i can't keep going on...look for yourself.

this morning i logged onto facebook and saw someone's status saying that they were "so excited to see blake mycoskie", founder of toms shoes speak tonight on campus. being the toms shoes lover that i am, i did the most silent squeal i could in the library and immediately texted all of my friends in an effort to get them to come with me. luckily enough, one of my best friends who i hadn't seen since summer made his way from UNCG to attend, so i was truly stoked. up until that point, i didn't know much about the history behinds toms shoes. my boyfriend got me a pair of black canvas ones for my last birthday after i mentioned how "cute" i thought they looked. i knew the whole "one for one" deal where when one pair of shoes is purchased, one pair is given to a child in need, but honestly, i just thought they were cool-looking and needed them. little did i know how foolish i would feel tonight after i learned the entire, amazing story behind the company. three years ago, blake was sitting in his office cubicle job when he looked around at his dreary surroundings and boldly decided he needed a break. so, he went to argentina. why argentina? well, no big deal really, he was just on THE AMAZING RACE (favorite show ever) second season and remembered how beautiful he thought argentina was. thus, he spent his self-proclaimed vacation there, where he played polo and relaxed for a few weeks. one day while sitting at a terrace in beunos aires, he overheard two girls speaking english. excitedly, he introduced himself. (this would soon easily be the best day of blake's life, without even knowing it.) the girls explained how they were volunteers who helped around the poor outskirts of buenos aires. they were currently organizing a "shoe drive", where they went around for weeks on-end getting fancy stores in the city to donate shoes to the drive. blake, the curious guy he is, tagged along that day with the girls, and saw the giant impact the volunteers made when they handed out shoes to the children who had never had a pair before. as happy as he was, he became concerned by the end of the day with the thought of who would carry on this shoe drive after the volunteers left. and voila! the rest was magic. with help from argentenian shoemakers and friends, blake transformed his idea into a humanitarian, entrepreneurial phenomenon. one LA times front-page headliner, a spread in vogue magazine, hundreds of interviews, and thousands of enthusiastic buyers later, blake is the definition of success. actually, he has re-defined success. he has proved that business is not all about making dirty, cheap deals with corporations and being an elitist C.E.O. who could care less about their product...he brings an element of passion to business. not a passion to make money, but to go out and help kids who are too helpless to do anything on their own. customers of toms shoes have helped deliver over 500,000 pairs of shoes to children in argentina, south africa, and ethiopia, as well as run-down areas in the US. these little, colorful shoes symbolize an effort to give kids the opportunity to attend school (as shoes are required by the school) and to protect them against terrible foot diseases developed all too commonly in their environment. blake describes toms shoes as his "soul mate" in the business world, and assured me that his genuine character and kind heart has started something beyond traditional business. i simply cannot get over how awesome his idea of starting toms shoes was. i am jealous, for lack of a better word, of how driven and admired he is for what he does. growing up with a dad as a business-owner, i couldn't tell you all the intuition i've gained from my dad's words of advice about the business world. with all the little ideas i have of what i want to do in future floating around hectically in my head, it was truly a treat to wind down and listen to blake mycoskie's words. he doesn't know it, but he infused more inspiration into one room than i'll probably ever witness again.

ps. buy a pair of toms shoes!

So Obama has been all over TV this week giving live speeches to the public and to congress...and you know what that means: dispute. The issue about whether his speech on education should be shown in school really caught my attention. For as long as I can remember, religion, politics, and money are three subjects you just don't use as ice-breakers. Separation of church and state is the best thing to ever happen to the South, as it has kept any sort of pressure of religious talk and tactics off of students. In my opinion, politics should be on the same level as religion in school... that is, non-existent. All over the country there were parents e-mailing principals left and right (no pun intended) expressing how they did/did not want their child to see president's address in school. I feel that there was no reason for the speech to be shown in school. Yes, it was about education, and yes, Obama simply stated things along the lines of "stay in school", "graduate on time", and "don't let your failures define you", etc. But really, do I need to hear this from him? All of the advice was obvious and bored me almost as much as if I, being 18 and licensed for over two years, had to sit in driver's education again. Every kid sitting in a school has the general idea that they are there to learn and try their best to do well with hopes of graduating at the end. So why Obama felt the need to broadcast this speech to students and even have teachers revolve their lesson plans for the day around it makes me terribly upset. Many kids now think "I want to do well in school and make good grades and be a Democrat like Obama when I grow up!" As a Libertarian, I see it as unfair that this speech was given by the flag-holder for Democratic politicians and citizens...as if to say that Republicans, Independents, and other parties don't give a damn about education. Even if the entire speech held "non-partisan and unbiased views", every TV was filled with Obama's face preaching these ideas, and with the title of the most powerful Democrat under his name, the bias and partisan efforts appear naturally. And need I remind you that Bush Sr. in 1990 tried to pull off the same type of live, broadcasted speech in schools and Democrats went haywire, refusing to let it happen! And imagine what would happen NOW if John McCain had won the presidential election and tried to present the same speech to kids...I can just see the "No Elephants in Schools" bumper stickers on Priuses now. (Obviously, innocent kids don't even realize these complex policy strategies as much as the white house does.) I just don't get how folks don't find the entire idea kind of scary. If I walked in an elementary school and saw posters with Barack Obama's picture and a caption that read "Stay in school, kids.", the first thought that would pop into my head is "Big Brother much?" and would probably rip it down. It's not that I am against Obama, and he totally is an amazing person that has indeed overcome many obstacles throughout his life to get to where he is. A dedicated and intelligent man...that has nothing to do with me. People have different desires besides following the typical school-routine in the one life they get. Is Obama saying that if a passionate sixteen year-old wanted to start working as an auto-technician his junior year in high school to support his family and forget about college it would be a terrible decision by federal standards? Try telling it to the kid. Everyone has the free will to choose whatever path they want, without the government's advice. What's next, Obama broadcasting a live speech to pre-schoolers telling them to eat their vegetables?

i have developed this theory throughout the past week. one night it hit me so hard that i sprung up from my pillow and just could not wait to write it down...my theory is that the ground and the sky are irrevocable lovers, in deep true love. the proof is within the way they complete one another, reflect each others' movements, and unarguably demonstrate the most public displays of affection.
the ground symbolizes man and men in general, as to say that the monuments and statues and blue swimming pools erected upon it are man-made and occupied by human beings like you and me. as for the sky, she is a majestic, mysterious being, keeping her most valuable endowments in constellations far, far away where no one can reach. she shares brightness and light with the ground, yet equally possesses the ability to change her moods as rapidly as hours in the day go by, transforming from peach-gold in the morning to cyan to violet to pitch black when something feels wrong within her. the ground can always feel her heavy sadness at bad times, as she soaks him with her precious tears. sometimes soft droplets, other times sharp hail.
the sky remains the dominant one in the relationship indeed, and the ground certainly doesn't mind as he works hard with vigor and strength to cultivate his roots and grow tall, sturdy trees. he builds these trees as high as he possibly can. not only to give the sky a magnificent display of emerald, lime, and pine greens for her to admire and look at throughout her busy days, but more simply in the pursuit of trying to touch her. if he does, he will be the first. let's face it, the ground's got wood for the sky, and lots of it.
the sky continuously feels flattered and shows it to the ground well when she stays clear and sunny for days, letting everyone enjoy her beautiful features...but again, like every relationship, there comes times of inevitable change. in the sky and ground's case, it is with the change of seasons, where she leaves the ground frosted and cold soon after summer's end, blowing her hard winds, and leaving him without any source of warmth. his once bountiful trees are left naked, without their sparkling leaves.
forgiveness is one of life's greatest gifts, especially when the sky and ground have it for one another. after a winter that seemed forever-long, spring arises. the ground blossoms (in a manly way of course) and sprouts new flowers from his fresh, thawing dirt...serving as his way of saying "hello again...i love you,darling sky". the sky then stabilizes herself and spreads a sincere scene of crystal sky and weightless clouds, as her form of saying "after-all, i am so grateful for you, dear ground".

I make sure my spine is straight to further strengthen my stride. City walks can be of quite great length and longer legs means shorter walks, no? Shoulders- down and apart please! Chin- up please! Heels- high and eyes- stay casted low, please! I take leaps under the boiling sun and jump crumbling sidewalks parallel to bricks jutting out like staglamite, as if the entire ground is dissipating and falling behind me with each step I take. My face sweats bullets, but I'll just say it "glistens" and no matter what, my cheeks stay flushed berrygold. It's quite the color; I can swear to you that there is no drug store blush like it.
I make sure to listen to songs that lift me out of my place in space and time and drop my swinging, jiving legs in front of a big glowing mirror, which I like to call Vanity. Everyone could use a little narcissism in my book. When I land in front of this intangible mirror, I throw my arms in the air high, high up, only to encourage me to work on them, work is always needed and improvements can always be made. Back to reality, I taste my lower lip which I stained with rich framboise just before I spritzed a most feminine scent on my left protruding collar bone, utterly killing my natural pheromones. I strive to be a lady no matter what the circumstances, you know. A small dorm with paper-thin walls is no problem for me.
As I scan fellow pedestrians' faces that march past me, I pray that no one thinks that the color on my lips is so hilariously ridiculous that they rub it off. Afterall, I made it with my own raspberries and vaseline, with my own hands. To work so hard to be a genuine broad and be laughed at for it? Why, that would simply be a nightmare! My hair, my luscious curls, are soft and clean without any sticky product this time. The twisting ends graze my bony elbows, smelling their own seduction. Tough. Imaginary lace and flowers are intertwined about my waist, indeed praising but no, no, still not enough. The flowers are roses, and they leave a thin line pink residue on my waist, almost like a scar. I guess everyone has their way of letting me know where I need my physical improvements!
A grand part of being an admirable female is remaining mysterious of course. I make sure portions of social life are served upon a white stone plate, simple, small and scattered if there. Having a limited social life does have it'\s advantages, like more time to pamper myself with relaxation and a glass of wine. Who needs the risky web of friends and significant others anywway?
...But okay, I must come out with this..I have a secret...and here it goes: I dream of being so very different! I dream of letting go of these strict rituals and habits of being a lady! I dream of things I cannot even imagine doing! I want to hold a baby's silken hand one day as it lays on my chest. Yes, I want to be a mother! But with such grave solidarity as I experience, the idea serves as just a sad fantasy. Furthermore, I dream of conquering the street outside of the door labeled "industry" with such confidence I wouldn't even know I possesed if I ever did. Click! would go the bolts as I open the door and apply for a modern office-job. Oh how splendid it would be to be productive! To work hard and break actual sweat! I simply cannot fathom it...
From now on, I will make sure to grow and begin, I'll even call it a "do-over" in my life. Now I am quite optomistic! Before long, my painted white feet will walk through your open front door and out your back one leaving you thinking "She is ultimately, a deserving Woman."