Sharing Is Caring

While I am a firm believer of the idea that “sharing is caring,” I cannot stand it when people take advantage of my generosity. I tend to offer other students a pen when they forget to bring theirs to class, but when I realize that they fail to return the object of my kind gesture, I become very aggravated. Each month I make extra trips to CVS to restock my pens - which I know will eventually end up in the book-bags of several SMU students.

In my residence hall, my next-door neighbor tends to think that what’s mine is also hers. I will literally see her walking around campus clothed in my attire. It’s not even so much the fact that she doesn’t ask to borrow my things that bothers me, but the fact that she completely fails to return my belongings that irritates me. Because she uses my things without asking, I can only wonder what is missing from my closet and drawers. This neighbor is a dear friend of mine, so any sort of intervention to collect my belongings is not an option. While I have the patience to wait until the end of the semester to get my belongings back, I just wish that people were more conscientious of how their failure to return other’s items is not only a nuisance but also a form of disrespect.

Birth Control is Out of Control

The number of girls that I have met at SMU who use a form of contraception has continued to astound me. Out of the ten girls in my hall, seven of them take a birth control pill each morning before their classes. Five of these Freshmen girls have already been sexually active at SMU, whereas the other two take the pill because they were sexually active in high school. As for the remaining three, they have chosen the route of abstinence. The aspect of this scenario that makes me cringe is the fact that all seven of these ten girls have not told their parents about their decision to use birth control.

Although I believe it’s smart to take advantage of contraceptive methods if you choose to be sexually active, I’m having trouble pinpointing a time in one’s life when it is appropriate to participate in intercourse. It’s almost as if an overwhelming number of Freshmen girls have distorted college into their sweet escape from parental supervision and have made regrettable decisions as a result.

I can’t even begin to imagine what their mothers would think of their daughters if they knew that they were sexually active. I mean, come on! We are at college to get an education - not to have intercourse on the weekends and weekdays we go out.

Not so Giddy About Giddy-Up

SMU’s nighttime shuttle service, referred to by students as “Giddy-Up,” is a key component to the safety of the SMU campus. While I have used this complimentary service on numerous occasions, I will not hesitate to say that Giddy-Up has really disappointed me.

Giddy-Up is scheduled to begin at seven o’clock P.M. and shut down at three o’clock A.M. every day of the week. Yet last month when I called at 9:00, 9:15, and then at 9:30 P.M. only to receive five rings and a voicemail from Giddyy-Up’s supervisor, I began to grow very frustrated. There was no good reason for Giddy-Up to not answer their phone during peak business hours.

I decided that I would indeed walk alone across the dark and chilly campus to get to the Student Learning Center. I then saw two Giddy-Up drivers parked next to each other on a grassy patch of lawn just laughing with each other as they chatted. I thought to myself: “They’re getting paid for this?” What if I had been calling over and over again for that half hour because I was legitimately endangered?

The fact of the matter is that it wasn’t comforting to witness the one service that I have been told to depend on as a safety precaution leisurely lounge around. They acted as if they had nothing better to do. If this had happened on one occasion I would have thought nothing of it. But because I have experienced the same dilemma several times since the first incident, I’m beginning to think that our campus isn’t as safe as the students perceive it to be.

Is it Time to Rush Rush?

Although the majority of SMU’s Freshman class anxiously awaits Rush Week, there is no doubt that most of us are nervous wrecks regarding the matter. But I mean come on, when we are constantly warned that sorority girls are spying on us, there’s no question that we’re going to get a little nervous.

That’s when I ask myself: “Do I really want to be a part of the Greek System?” Technically speaking, we’re all supposed to just “be ourselves” until we are asked to join a House. But let’s be realistic, that’s not all it takes to be able to join a sorority.

Spur of the moment coffee meet-ups occur at least a couple times a week. Senior, Junior, and Sophomore girls will ask for your number and text you as if they’ve known you their whole life. Oh, and when they invite you to their sorority’s ice cream social or cook-out, you really can’t say no.

It’s as if every day is a phony cycle of smiles and bubbly encounters. No one can truly tell who is being genuine and who is putting on an act just for the purpose of recruitment. Maybe it’s time that SMU designated the Rush process to take place at the beginning on the school year. Until then, expect the spurious social interactions to continue for months on end.

Persuasive Paper Topic

I plan to write about the idea of making school uniforms mandatory. If this were so in elementary schools and high schools, parents would save money, academic performance would increase, students' socio-economic standings would not be apparent, gang-violence would decrease, and it would be just that much easier to get ready for school in the morning! This is a great topic because there are a number of comparisons to be made between the schools that do and do not require uniforms. I wore a school uniform starting in the fourth grade and wore it until my high school graduation. I am therefore able to relate to those who have and have not worn uniforms because I have experienced both circumstances. When writing about this topic I would be persuading parents of elementary and high school students. As I read about making uniforms mandatory at public schools I was shocked by the statistic I found that stated that since Long Beach Unified School District implemented a system-wide mandatory uniform policy, assaults decreased by 85 percent. The label below discusses some of the common disputes between requiring a uniform and it lists incredible statistics similar to the one I have just shared with you.

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Making Writing Exciting!

Professor Jill Walker of the University of Bergen describes blogging as an excellent tool for using writing to reflect and learn. After creating my own blog and writing a few blog posts, I have found that I couldn’t agree more. The efforts that are required to create just one post are more involved than one might anticipate. Even choosing a topic and a stance is a reflective task in and of itself. Additionally, finding a way to present the subject matter in an appealing way to other bloggers requires the special attention and thoughtfulness of the writer.

I’ll admit that I was perplexed when my English Professor, Carolyn Channell, announced that our English class would be doing a fair amount of online blogging throughout the semester. For the past decade I had been taught to construct essays in the repetitive five paragraph format, and after perfecting my abilities to affectively write in this structure I found myself being told to forget it all! Although I loathed this standard essay format, I mastered it because I was taught that it would be essential for my success in college level writing courses. This didn’t happen to be the case, thus, my initial perplexity can be better understood.

While blogging has created an environment for quiet learning and reflection, it has also taught me to embrace my writing. I no longer feel bored or restrained by obsolete formatting requirements. In fact, I eagerly await each homework prompt that indicates it is time to add additional posts to our blogs. When it comes to writing you’ll want to make it exciting. So create a blog! The possibilities are limitless.

Mandatory Vaccinations? No way.

About two weeks ago I received an email from my thirty-eight year old sister. The subject-line read: “How’s this for an update?!” I was immediately drawn in. Although we email each other at least a couple times each month, it’s rare for either of us to give our emails a subject. – But her first sentence explained it all.

I'm pretty sure my house has burned down. I narrowly escaped and just ran through smoke and flames overtaking the mountain. When I left, the fire was probably one hundred feet wide, with strong winds blowing in the direction of my house. It spread that one hundred feet in the minutes from when I noticed the fire until I had thrown my belongings together, which literally took about 2 or 3 minutes. If you don't hear from me for a while, it’s because I forgot to snatch my computer cord. I'm now writing from an Internet cafe, still shaken, drenched in sweat, and smelling like a chimney. But at least I’m safe now!

I found myself staring wide-eyed at my computer screen at the conclusion of this email. First I was scared, but then I grew angry. None of this should have happened. My sister Kim decided to move to Ecuador around the same time that I departed for college. It was the middle of August 2009 and with the recent outbreak of the swine flu and mandatory swine flu vaccinations, she had finally decided that enough was enough. As a successful nutritionist who specializes in the holistic wonders of Colon cleansing and fasting, Kim simply grew disgusted by the ways of the United States’ medical establishments.

While more evidence grew for the flu shots doing harm and having inconclusive results, medical establishments secured the shot’s usage by making them mandatory. Kim kept reiterating that most viruses mutate quickly on their own, so getting antiviral shots will only lead to widespread resistance and create a loss of whatever benefit they are presumed to give. But of course when something is deemed mandatory, individuals are left without a choice. This scheme was making medical establishments billions of dollars in revenue. As a result of these measures, my sister simply refused to allow the U.S.’s medical facilities to take advantage of her. Her solution? Leaving the country.

While I understand that Kim takes health issues very seriously, it frustrated me to see a country practically forcing people to give in or get out. I told her it was a dangerous and extreme decision to depart to Ecuador, but she would counter that she was in fact escaping from what was really dangerous and extreme. After hearing about her house almost burning down, I was left to wonder what other freaky scenarios she was experiencing in a foreign country. Like I said, none of this should have ever happened.

It is my wish that someday health care decisions can be made on an individual basis by each citizen of the United States. Until then, I will continue to look down upon the uncanny ways of the United States’ field of medicine.