Columns Galore

So, I'm finally getting around to posting my columns from the paper last semester.  These are in no particular order, except I did put the government and media columns in order since they go together.  Also, these do not seem to be all of my column articles, so I will have to post the rest whenever I can get them from my computer, which will probably not be this summer due to internet snafus at home.  Anywho, here are the links:

6 Reasons Not to Finish That Pesky Math Homework - websites to waste your time on


Let's Keep it Civilized - disagreeing on religion


Cheap and Easy: Halloween Edition - costume ideas you can make yourself


Gender Identity: Normal or Disorder 


Make Time for Things You Love 


Can the Government Force You to be Healthy? - graphic images on cigarette packaging

We Need a Media Invasion - solutions to the growing problem of youth smoking (goes w/ above)

How to Love the Way You Look - loving your body the way it is


Changing Gender Stereotypes - male gender stereotypes


End of a Love Affair - how I fell out of love with politics


You Have the Right to Remain... Totally Confused - religious stereotyping

In other news, I'm starting a new blog about design, which will perhaps include clothing, shoes, and the like.  I'll post the link when I've decided on a name!

Day of "Unfair"

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Please ignore the cheesy title.  I want to talk about two things today.  The first is the reason for the truly terrible title, and that is the National Day of Prayer.  First, let me premise my argument with this fact:  I am not prejudiced against any religion.  That's actually why I'm writing this.  So please keep this in mind as you read.


I was reading an article in USA Today earlier about how the reverend Franklin Graham (the famous Billy Graham's son and successor) is complaining that his invitation to speak on the National Day of Prayer at the Pentagon was revoked because some of his beliefs exclude many Christians and because he believes that Islam is "evil."  He says that if he isn't allowed to speak "it will be a slap in the face of all Christians."


This is just ridiculous.  Seriously, what kind of person do you have to be to believe that you are that important?  They're still having the prayer, and it's still going to be a Christian prayer.  So who cares if he is going to lead the prayer or not?  Aren't Christians supposed to be humble?  


Intolerance is what I can't tolerate.  I hate how some Christians go around saying that a religion other than their own is "evil."  The reality here is that no one knows what religion, if any, is the "true" religion.  No one has the right to tear down another religion based on their own.  You just can't go around saying that someone else's beliefs are wrong because you have a book that says so.  Well, guess what, Islam has a book that says Christianity is wrong!  So does the Jewish religion!  And hundreds of other religions in the world think it's wrong, too.  Just because you grew up believing something or were told about it your whole life, doesn't make it true.  You could've been born in India and been told Hinduism is right, you could've grown up in the middle east and been told that Islam is right, or Israel and been told Judaism is the only way, or Tibet and been told that Buddhism is true.  You could've grown up in England or China and heard that no religion is right. 


But, here's the kicker, if people just go on believing everything they are told, everyone will keep on believing they have the only true answer.  And people will be divided like this forever, never moving forward or searching for truth.  Do you think it is good for people to blindly follow whatever others tell them?  If your religion tells you to be prejudiced against others, maybe you will be prejudiced.  Maybe you'll commit hate crimes or kill people because of it.  Plenty of Christians were involved in lynchings in the past and the slave trade.  They said back then that it was okay because they thought the Bible told them black people were inferior.  Many Christians do the same thing now with gay people.  They justify their hatred of other human beings without for one second considering that every person deserves the right to live their lives how they choose and not be discriminated against for those choices.  


Not every Christian does this, let me make myself clear that I understand this point.  Not every Christian is hateful or prejudiced.  And I realize I just went off on a huge tangent there.  So let me get back on track.


My other point is that I don't believe that we should have a day of prayer.  The bottom line is that it's just another way for Christians to "spread their message."  It's unfair to people of other religions because they aren't included.  It's unfair to people who aren't religious or are atheist because they aren't included and it can make them very uncomfortable. No one should have to be told they are evil or that the choices they came to from personal struggle are just wrong.  Plus, it's unconstitutional.


Besides, what happened to the separation of church and state?  And why is it such a big deal for people to think politicians are religious?  I think the problem here is that people just can't seem to be able to make up their own minds and choose their own morality without some kind of rule book or something.  Why can't we just be good people and grow up and choose our own values?  Why do we need some pseudo-father to continue telling us what to do, even after we're "all grown up?"


I suppose I'm a bit disillusioned.  I just don't think you need religion to be a good person.  In fact, I think religion can actually impede the road to becoming a good person with all the little prejudices and exclusivity hidden within its message.  I guess I'm really only talking about Christianity here because I don't have the kind of experience with other religions to talk about them.  But I do know that if people would look at the evidence, they might begin to see life in a different light, which leads me to topic numero dos.


If you look at the history of religions, you will find patterns among them that are hard to explain if you think that there is only one true religion.  Many Christians will say that theirs is unique because they're so inclusive or because theirs is a message of hope while others only condemn.  I've heard this too many times to count.  It's not true.  There are themes running through religions all throughout time and space.  For example, Christians practice communion, which entails figuratively "eating" a god's body and blood.  Several other religions do this, too.  Ancient Indian tribes used to eat different parts of their defeated enemies or drink their blood so that the "power" or "strength" from those parts would be transferred to them.  And plenty of other religions spread a message of hope and rest.  It's just one of those things we're told time and again.


Also, I am surprised at how many people know little or nothing about evolution, yet still adamantly refuse to believe it.  First of all, evolution is a scientific theory - which in science means it is a tested and proven hypothesis that is now little short of fact.  It's not some "idea" that someone proposed with no evidence to back it up.  There is so much evidence it's hard to ignore.  


For example, the fossil record shows a progression of more and more complex life forms, the rock record can be radiometrically dated to prove the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, the rock record shows us that the earth's magnetic field has switched thousands of times throughout the earth's history, plate tectonics show us how the continents have formed over billions of years, fossils of the same kind found on opposite sides of the world show us that the continents were once joined (actually they joined and broke up several times over our history), some starlight that we see now would not have reached earth yet if it were only 6,000 years old, since they are so far away, homology of different mammals are evidence for common ancestors, mammals that have returned to the sea (after coming on land for the first time - look up tiktaalik) are evidence for adaptive evolution, evolution that we can see before our very eyes (like Darwin's finches and tortoises), speciation on islands that have formed in recent geological past (where species are found in no other place than those islands).  


All of these and more are great evidence for evolution.  But most people don't know about any of it and still believe that we walked with the dinosaurs (even though the crater where the asteroid landed that killed the dinosaurs has been found near the Gulf of Mexico - **edit: right off the Yucatan Peninsula**).  And let me just point out that the Bible never says that the earth has to be 6,000 years old.  Actually, some dude came up with that hundreds of years ago based on, most likely incomplete, ancestral records listed in the Bible (which also have inconsistencies to boot).  


I think the country needs a little more (or a lot more) education.  Classes in geology and evolutionary biology should probably be required.  And, as a side note, they wouldn't be "in your face, you have to believe this or else" type deals, they'd simply give you the facts and allow you to decide for yourself.  At least then no one could honestly say "show me the fossils."  If we all had the facts and looked at them and really had to just decide for ourselves, maybe there wouldn't be so much exclusion, intolerance, and hatred in the world.  No more "Holy Wars."  Maybe we could all just get along and get on with our lives.  It's your choice to believe what you want, and I respect that.  Just don't be ignorant or intolerant.  Let's all be decent people, eh?


And, just as a final note (maybe a plea to angered readers?), I do not hate anyone, or discriminate against religious people.  I may have sounded indignant, but that's just a cry against ignorance.  You may be a very well informed religious person, and for that, I applaud you.  Just get the facts straight and leave the slighting skepticism at home.  No one wants to hear any more sneers from misinformed zealots who can't take the time to "know thine enemy."  I'm just saying, open your mind to possibilities and come into it with a good heart.  Search honestly for truth and that is what will make you a good and honest person.

Pick a Job, any Job

Today I feel like I hit a wall.  I feel like I've known for a while now what I want to do with my life.  At least, I knew I wanted to do something in psychology.  Before it was counseling, then it was clinical, and now what?  Well, I've become so passionate about women's issues that I realized I need to incorporate this and other social issues into my career.  But psychology is focused mostly on the individual and I'm talking massive social change here.  Is there a way to incorporate the two?


I'm going to come back to my personal career struggle later.  I think this is a problem for a lot of young people in college.  We go through high school, putzing around, maybe trying to get good grades, but with little direction.  Suddenly, in college, we have to pick a major - out of thin air sometimes.  Then, if we want a higher degree, we have to specialize even more, which can be a nightmare if you have ill-defined interests or very general ones.  So if you have broad interests, how do you pick a specialty?  The career world, at least from my perspective, seems a lot more specialized and specific than I ever imagined before college.  


Really, I think most kids are ill-prepared for making these decisions.  It's like going from a kid with no cares, to suddenly being a full-fledged adult who has to make life-altering decisions with little help (like career decisions!) and who is responsible for those decisions and all of their actions (many of which had few consequences for them as a kid).


College is a beautiful thing.  We grow and change, open our minds up to new ideas and ways of thinking about the world.  But in the midst of the bombardment of new ideas and developing interests, we have to figure out a very narrow set of interests which we will pursue for the rest of our lives!  No pressure, though.  It drives me a bit crazy some times, honestly.


So what do I want to do?  I want to be a part of social change for the poor, for women, and for minorities.  I want to work with people in therapy.  I want to give tests, do interviews, get creative in therapy with writing, art, and a bajillion other things.  Is there any way I can put all these things together?  


Earlier I was thinking of other jobs I could do regarding my social interests - politician, sociologist, social worker, experimental psychologist, journalist, professional writer.  But I have this hesitancy to leave the field that I've come to know and have fallen in love with.  Do I really want to start over in a completely new field?  I don't think I do.  Because I really do love psychology.  And a search earlier today has given me some hope.  There's a program at BGSU for clinical-community psychology, the description of which perfectly describes me.  


I feel excited about the thought of this program, but these Ph.D. programs are ridiculously hard to get into.  What if I don't make the cut?  I'll have to keep searching for other programs that fit.  And trust my decision, and my abilities, in the end.


Songs/ albums I listened to while writing this:  Haunted by Holly Brook, Death Cab for Cutie (Plans)

Growing Up Under the Microscope

I'm going to start out with a serious subject because it's something that hit me hard today.  I was reading the campus women's issues publication, Artemis, earlier today for the first time.  There was an article on how many women who are otherwise intelligent and successful often feel like impostors.  I can certainly identify with this feeling, but that's not the big "ton of bricks" realization that hit me earlier today as I sat up in Cartwright between classes.  (And got bread crumbs all over the magazine from my lunch).  I wrote some of my thoughts down earlier, so I'll share them here:  


"Do I procrastinate so I have an excuse if I fail?  This seems a fitting explanation for my behavior over the years.  There's always been that extra pressure on me to perform - to be the smartest, highest achieving, most talented, good-at-everything, most successful, know-it-all.  


The first pressure was from my parents.  I was a smart baby, smart toddler.  I showed promise going into school.  I learned quickly and I did well.  Teachers loved me.  When I was in third grade I tested well on the CAT test (California Achievement Test) and got a ticket to the Challenge class.  In Challenge, I often felt like the favorite - she sometimes expected more of me than the other students.  Everyone saw me as a brain in my regular classes.  By fifth grade, I was getting straight A's in everything.  


I competed in spelling bees in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.  I was involved in music, playing saxophone for 7 years.  I was always on the honor roll and, in high school, the Dean's list.  I got into National Honor Society and won the Phi Beta Kappa award (highest GPA and ACT combined in the graduating class).  I was involved in everything from tutoring to Student Council to blood drives.  But I graduated #4 (with two valedictorians), but with above a 4.0 GPA (with advanced and AP courses).


There was so much to live up to.  My sisters both saw me as the smart one.  They sometimes struggled in school, but I made it look effortless.  That was my job, after all.  But I still procrastinated all throughout school.  I graduated with honors and went on to college.  I joined the honor's program there and got on the President's list (4.0) my first semester.  I maintained a 3.9 GPA and later transferred.  At Kent, I got a 4.0 my first semester here.  But I haven't been very involved since starting college.  At Johnson, I was in choir, but I have yet to join any groups at Kent.  I've been putting off getting a psych advisor and had no luck with a job or research experience yet (which I have to have to get into a Ph.D. program, which happens to be my career dream) and I've been putting off getting a transfer evaluation sheet signed.  (Which taps into other issues for other days).


I feel like a failure sometimes and it's easy to think I am not good enough.  It's easy to think I may never reach my goals or fulfill my dreams for the future.  I put off studying and papers.  I had a test this morning that I barely studied for and I knew I could have done better.  I guess if I'm not perfect, at least I have an excuse.  But if I do succeed, I must really be something right?"  


I guess a lot of things have come easily to me in life.  I barely had to try to do really well in school.  I picked up drawing and writing with little effort.  I pass exams with flying colors on little studying.  But deep down I sometimes wonder if I'm just a fraud, like the article said.  What if under all this confidence in my own intelligence and self-expression through writing, I really have no idea what I'm doing?  I realized I use procrastination as an excuse so that if I do fail, I can blame it on just not being prepared.  Then I won't have to say that maybe I just didn't understand the material.  Then I won't have to deal with the idea that maybe I don't know everything.  Maybe I'm just, sort of normal.  


Click here for the Artemis blog.

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