A year gone by....

I'm coming to terms with the fact that my freshman year is coming to an end. It seems like only yesterday I was running around campus with a map trying to find my classes, trying to get settled in and blend into a culture that is in so many ways opposite to mine. Orientation week was overwhelming and it was more than once that I wondered if I had done the right thing by coming here. However, as the semester progressed, I got to know people, got involved, got into a routine, found a job and settled down. In a couple of weeks I couldn't imagine not living on campus or rushing to classes and struggling to meet deadlines.

I have met so many great people and a few not so great people. I learned to find my way around and judge people better. I have had classes that I hated and classes that I loved, professors that I would rather not have had and professors that I wish I could have all my classes with, classes that taught me things I never thought I would find useful and classes that I rushed to pick and later found to be an absolute bore. There are things I have come to love on my campus and things I am not so fond of, but wouldn't really want to change. There have always been moments of "what if", but they have gotten further apart as I have learned to find my way.

Something I have absolutely come to love about college is the random moments that can occur, like having a revealing, in depth conversation with people you happen to have breakfast with one day, or meeting someone on the way to somewhere and just cancelling your plans and watching the sunset while pigging on ice cream. I have done things I never thought I would do, seen things I never thought I would see, heard things I never thought I would hear and learned from it all. I recall how overjoyed I was when I managed to go through my first week, and I have the same feeling now that I am approaching the end of my first year.

Looking back on it all, if there is anything I have learned in the year gone by, it is that I have a lot more to learn and I am very much looking forward to it....

Oh Imus!

Finally, Don Imus was fired. I'm sure people like Al Sharpton are happy about it and people like Bill Maher believe that free speech has been compromised. I honestly do not understand what the issue is. Obviously, it was an insulting remark that Imus made, and he did apologize. OK, apology accepted, lets move on with our lives. But no, we cannot do that because this is not his first offense and this comment is just too much for those poor innocent college girls to take, therefore, Imus needs to be fired.

Seriously! Those girls are in college and I'm sure they are being called things just as bad all the time. Ive heard people on my campus being called horrible stuff that no one should be called, but somehow, that doesn't seem to bother anyone. Just to be clear, I am not defending Imus here. Its just that I see a very clear double standard exposed by this incident that no one seems to be talking about. Boys address others as "dawgs" all the time. Personally, I would be insulted if anyone addressed me like that. However, I seem to be the only one that seems to be bothered. Some of the songs that I have heard "stars" sing are deplorable! They refer to girls as "bitches" and "whores" and worse things than that. In fact, these songs have the "n word" constantly repeated in their lyrics. How is that OK?

Apparently it is because as someone told me "they are artists and they are expressing themselves." Really? what was Imus doing then? Another argument I have heard made often is: "don't listen to it if you find it offensive". Why then can we not turn of Imus when we don't like what he says?

Herein lies the double standard I see. Everyday I hear black people listen to despicable music that talks about girls just as Imus did. In fact, blacks are the ones singing the songs! They dance to it and think it is the coolest thing. This to me is self degradation defined. However, when someone else calls you something you call yourself everyday, it becomes an issue. Why is that? Why don't we all avoid using these words? Why don't we fire all these singers who make money out of putting us down? Most of all though, why do we enjoy it?

Something I read long ago comes to mind: "If you put a low price on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise it."

"Exponential Times"

Really dont know how far this is true, but it put things in perspective and gets you thinking:

Not her job, but some one's got to do it!

The Speaker of the house is in Syria and there is a huge deal being made about it. The charge is that it is not her job to engage in diplomacy and that Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism. The Dems shot back that various members of the house have been travelling to the country, including ranking members of the Republican party and that it is no big deal.

I don't think the Speaker of the house should be in Syria - at least not on an official visit. I believe that she shouldn't have met with the Syrian President regardless of her opinion on the matter cause it is the policy of the United States not to engage with Syria. Setting the policy is the job of the American President and Pelosi's actions undermine that policy, however shitty and counter productive it is. That being said, I firmly believe that reaching out to Syria is the key to addressing American gripes and since Condi isn't doing it, some one's got to do it!