Your daily dose of Vitamin A[llie]

Spring 2012 class schedule

2011-11-19T11:22:00.007-05:00

So this is my class schedule for 2012, but it requires a bit of explanation. First thing you should notice is that this schedule contains 21 credit hours, which is a death sentence. I'm not taking 21 credit hours. The next thing you should notice is that I'm waitlisted for a class, HPER-C 366,Community health. So I'm actually in 18 credit hours, and waitlisted for 3. I'm going to drop down to 15 for spring semester though. I'm not sure which classes will be the final cut though.

HPER-H 150 is children's health up to age 5.

HPER-F 317 class is a topical seminar over divorce and it's effect on children(I think.)

HPER-H 235 is obesity and health.

HPER-H 305 is womens health.

HPER-H 306 is mens health.

HPER-H 317 is a topical seminar over gender, communication, sexuality and health.

Harry Potter Marriage Proposal.

2011-11-18T19:55:00.003-05:00

This is a really awesome idea. I think it's adorable- as long as it isn't my copy of Half-Blood Prince. If it's my personal copy of the Half-Blood Prince, I'm really shitty. My paperback copies of Harry Potter are littered with notes.

It's a love hate sort of game.

2011-11-12T21:45:00.007-05:00

I find myself wishing I could blog things I can't or shouldn't. Other bloggers know what I mean, things that aren't ok for public consumption, or aren't the publics' business, or involved parties wouldn't like it if I published posts about it, or maybe it's something I just can't bring myself to tell the whole wide world about. It's usually a combination of the three though. Either way- these are things that I really wish I could blog about.

I think about these things and wonder how my little blog would be different if I didn't care and posted it anyway. I wonder if it'd make me a better blogger- or perhaps if it wouldn't help at all.

Rascism and Homophobia

2011-11-01T20:54:00.005-04:00

I was reading this article today and feel free and read it for yourself- but I'll summarize it real fast for those of you who don't want to. This local church does a production every year of what they call "a glimpse into hell." It featured scenes about homosexuality, abortion, racism, and alcohol. I think it's really interesting that they did scenes about homosexuality and racism in the same production.

“We told him he was born gay,” the demon said. “Who in their right mind would actually believe that? Now he’s gone forever, into eternal fire, with all the other perverted, twisted, sin-infested souls. We’ve got your alternative lifestyle — in hell.”

“These simpletons actually believe that they are the supreme race,” the demon said. “All these fools have done is bought into one of my biggest lies: racial hatred and
prejudice."

Racism is as bad as homophobia. If you take a stand against one, you should take a stand against the other. Racism is denying a subset of society privileges or rights based on race and what homophobes do is deny a subset of society privileges based who they sleep with. Is there a difference?

There are people that say there is a difference is that homosexuality is a choice and because it's a choice they don't deserve the same rights- but they are wrong. Believing and practicing whatever religion you choose to practice is also a choice and yet you can't be fired from your job based on who or what you pray to. In the majority of states GLBT people can be fired just because of who they find attractive. So even if homosexuality is a choice- it doesn't matter. It should be protected and it's a damn shame it isn't.

Etsy!

2011-11-01T17:30:00.001-04:00

I have an Etsy shop. Go buy my shit!

10 reasons the birth control pill doesn't suck.

2011-10-14T23:25:00.011-04:00

Read me.

I'm going to pick apart this article point by point because it's pissed me off so much.

1) Birth control raises your risk of breast cancer. Yes it does. But it doesn't double it. It raises by very little. It does significantly lower your risk for ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer though. So I suppose it's a trade off.

2) The Pill is sexist. You're right. Margaret Sanger did believe in the power of eugenics- but that isn't why the pill was created. A woman named Katherine McKormic was married to a schizophrenic and wanted to prevent pregnancy because she didn't want to pass on the disease to their potential children. She partnered up with Margaret Sanger to create the pill, and by the way, lots of things were tested without informed consent back in the day. It wasn't unsual for the times.

3) The Pill makes it harder for women to find a good partner. This is sort of true, but not for the reasons they say so. Ok. I don't know of any studies on the matter, but I've heard from more than one person that after they or their partner got off the pill they changed. They liked a different kind of guy, they liked different things in bed after they got off the pill, or they liked a different kind of food better.

4)Divorce. Uh, what? Excuse me? The study it linked to was funded and written by "Physicians for Life." I bet it's not bias at all.

5)Bad sex. This happens. Sometimes when a woman goes on the pill her sex life goes down the drain, but fortunately there is a really easy solution to this problem. Go on a different pill. This is one of those side effects you should change your birth control pill for.

6) Attacks men. Alrighty then..."Increase in confusion, violence, masturbation and homosexual behavior?" What the flying fuck does that have to do with an increase in family planning options for women? Why do gay men care about the pill?

7) Ends life. The pill does not end life. Most birth control pills will not terminate an early pregnancy. There are, I believe, some that will maybe. Progesterone only pills maybe? Not sure on that. But that is beside the point.

Let us have a refresher course on how the pill works. The pill prevents ovulation while keeping the uterine walls thin and NOT blood rich. Keeping the uterine walls thin and not rich in blood makes it really really hard for the hypothetically fertilized egg to implant- that's assuming you've missed a pill/your birth control malfunctions and you ovulate.

While I'm on the topic of this I'd suggest you google what it takes for a pregnancy to actually happen because it's kind of a miracle when it does.

8) Turns boy fish into intersex fish. Ok. so, by this I'm going to assume that they mean that artificial hormones are bad for the environment. No shit sherlock. But here is when you really need to think about how diluted excess estrogen and progesterone will be by the time it hits the toilet bowl.

9) Putting pressure on women to provide the birth control. The fact that modern american society puts more pressure on women to be protected from accidental pregnancy isn't the pills fault. It's ours. Wanna change it? Have your boyfriend pay for half your birth control(provided you're in a monogamous relationship.) If you aren't in a monogamous relationship and many people are benefiting from your birth control pill, then it's much harder to work out who pays for what- but if that's you then you're creative. You can work it out.

10)The widespread use of contraception has lead to widespread increase in abortions. Bullshit. Bullshit. Every single reputable study says that access to contraception lowers abortion rates. Every single reputable study says that access to contraception lowers unplanned pregnancy rates. Every. Single. One.

Editors Note:

I know I've defended the pill quite a lot in this blog post- and I think the pill is great for some women. However ,IMO, the best form of birth control for women is the Paraguard IUC. It's hormone free and impossible to screw up for the most part, unless your clinician fucks up putting it in.

Bank of America

2011-10-02T11:23:00.004-04:00

So unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know that Bank of America is going to start charging for debit card purchases. Yeah, it's shitty. But what's really annoying me is customers acting like they have no power in this equation. Change your bank, change your payment method. There are other banks out there and there is more than one payment method.

Do that or pay the five dollar a month fee.

Side note: Lots of banks charge for individual debit purchases. I'm pretty sure mine does, I know it did when I opened my account. I just run my card as credit. So from my understanding it's just that debit purchase fee we're all used to reformatted.

I can't wait to see how this shake out though- because it will set a precedent for all the other banks, especially nation wide ones.

Rat Cage 2.0

2011-09-29T18:56:00.005-04:00

So I've done a ton of work on my rat cage in the past month or so. I'll just upload the photos and let them speak for themselves.

You'll notice that their levels have been covered over with peel and stick vinyl flooring and I no longer use traditional small animal bedding. I use fabric with velcro sewn to one side. Their ball is held to the side of the cage with zipties and yes that is a stick across the top of the cage.

This is their box maze. It's grown from what was once this. The US Postal Service and I are indeed really good friends.

Nothing too interesting to note here except that zipties hold everything to the top of their cage and they really love chewing the zipties off.

This is the entire cage set up like it normally is.

Womanliness and toughness.

2011-09-29T16:22:00.006-04:00

"There's a rumor going around that boys are tougher than girls! Oh please! Can you carry a 8 pound baby in your stomach for 9 months and survive hours of labor? Can you cook, clean, and talk on the phone all the at the same time? Can you bleed for a week and not die? Can you walk in 5inch heels? Can you cry all night then wake the next day like everything is ok? Remember guys, WOMEN ARE ONLY HELPLESS UNTIL THEIR NAIL POLISH DRIES! Put this on your wall if your proud to be a women ♥"**

This particular repost thingy is insulting to men,and that's the goal but it's also insulting to women in a much more subtle manner. What if you're one of the women who can't carry a baby to full term- how insensitive is that. And no I can't cook clean and talk on the phone at the same time- though I can cook and talk on the phone at the same time. I suppose I do bleed for a week and not die- but that's more of a biological accident rather than perceived toughness. As for walking in 5 Inch heels...Do you really think I can walk in heels period? Like for reals. I'm not really convinced that anyone can have a horrid night and wake up like everything is ok, man or woman.

Sidenote: Just exactly how vain does the line "Women are only helpless until their nail polish dries." sound?

So does the fact that I can't do 3 out of the 5 of these things make me less tough, or less womanly or both?

**I have left any and all grammar mistakes in this as is-despite how much they make me cringe

I Stand With Planned Parenthood.

2011-09-28T21:30:00.003-04:00

I do stand with planned parenthood. I am pro-choice and I do think anti-choicers have their heads screwed on backwards. I have a facebook friend who is always linking to "news" stories from www.lifenews.com. Now you'll excuse me if I don't believe that any article that comes out of lifenews.com to be unbiased. But that's beside the point.

I stand with Planned Parenthood because they are the only abortion provider in much of the United States and they perform both a valuable and needed service in our communities.

I stand with Planned Parenthood because no cost or low cost birth control is more cost effective than unplanned baby.

I stand with Planned Parenthood because abstinence only sex ed does not work.

On a side note this article was on the front page of the New York Times today. I also happen to think this elected clergy person has her head on backwards. But this has a bigger implication that I think is very cool. This article on the front page of the New York Times sends a very strong signal that we as American people are no longer willing to let slights like this sit on the back burner. I'm sure it's happened more than this one reported case- but I feel like the message has been sent that says it isn't ok to perpetuate bigotry in the work place and that is a message I can get behind.

Dear Ms. Belforti,

It actually is your job to leave your personal business at the door when you walk into work. You can't reformat how your county issues marriage licenses because you don't want to sign the marriage license for Sue and Jane. You've been elected by your county, and part of your duties include signing marriage licenses, so either sign marriage licenses or resign. Those are really your two choices.

Love,

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-27T01:29:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite persons birthday is today!

sooo happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: call me.

Aloe Vera as Shaving Cream

2011-09-13T23:54:00.003-04:00

I love aloe vera. I always keep at least one bottle in my fridge and today I was shaving my legs in my comfy chair because I have a hot date with the treadmill tomorrow. But anyway, I had The Roommate bring up the aloe with a water bottle to ward off any razor burn and used it as shaving cream and it's seriously the best and closest shave I've ever had.

My mind has officially been blown.

9/11

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it's been ten years since 9/11? I've thought about this for a couple days now and I just don't know how to blog about this. So I guess I'll just post a question. Where were you? Where were you when it happened? Where were you when you fully understood it, if you were like me and didn't know the full weight of what had just happened?

On 9/11

2011-09-10T23:05:00.002-04:00

A thought struck me today as I was riding in the car with my roommate. A whole generation of kids don't know what 9/11 feels like and don't know what it feels like for America to not be fighting this war on terror.

It's so weird to me. I remember exactly where I was and how it broke down. I remember my Orchestra teachers' husband coming in and telling his wife they couldn't get ahold of their son. I remember being told that the pentagon and the world trade center had been hit at lunch. I remember that no one explained anything to us until my social studies teacher did, but most of all I remember how he did it. First, he drew a picture on the board to help demonstrate what happened and explained the magnitude of these buildings being targeted. Then he devoted the rest of class explaining that Islamic extremists did this, not all Muslims and that no matter what we were going to hear as it unfolded that it was really important to remember that all Middle Easterners aren't the enemy.

I think that's still important to remember. That all Muslims aren't terrorists. I think it's easy to forget.

How to Survive College 101(serious version)

2011-09-08T22:23:00.004-04:00

The school year has officially started once again(Go IU!) and as such I have been inspired to make such a post.

1. Actually go to class. I know you came to college expecting freedom, and most of your professors probably don't have an attendance policy but go to class. Don't skip class because you're tired, or because it's raining or snowing or cloudy. The day you skip will be the day the professor offers extra credit.

1. A) While you should go to class, it is also important to figure out the classes it's actually worth taking notes in, because you will have that professor who reads the textbook verbatim and as such taking notes won't actually help you pass said class.

1. B) Never get behind. It's an uphill battle to get caught back up.

2. Join a club. I know it sounds lame, but it's a really good way to meet people.

3. Dress appropriately for class and meetings with your advisor. This isn't so important for freshman and sophomores as it is for juniors and seniors. I'm not suggesting you wear suits and skirts to class, however your professors and advisors will make excellant references both before and graduation. Don't let their only image of you be in micro-minis and stretch tops or conversely in pants that sag to your knees.

4. At every single college you pay a fee called the "campus activity fee." That fee pays for entertainment on campus and for the campus gym. If you're paying for them you might as well use it.

5. Don't buy your books either a) new or b) from the bookstore on campus. Save your money and buy online or at another bookstore. Don't sell your books back to your on campus bookstore either- you'll get better money elsewhere. (Pro tip: Save all your notes/class powerpoints from a given class and sell them with your textbook to a person who has the same professor and section for a higher buyback value provided you did well in the class.)

6. Avoid 8AMs like the plague. nuff said.

7. If you're still dating your boyfriend/girlfriend from back home, do yourself a favor and break up with them now rather than waiting until thanksgiving, or maybe even new years.

8. Whatever lanyard/backpack/ keychain you received at orientation...don't carry it on campus. Save it, it's a great momento, but don't carry it around campus. You might as well walk around campus with a flashing neon sign that says " freshman" over your head.

9. Roommates suck for most people. If your RA doesn't make you sign a roommate contract, then do it anyway with your roommate.

10. Never walk alone if it can be helped. This is especially true for vagina owners.

I'm going to end with the best and worst bits of advice I got when I went to college.

The worst: "You only need ten pairs of panties."- My mother.

The Best:"Remember, no matter where you go to school murder is still illegal."-Brandon

2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's

2011-09-08T21:36:00.002-04:00

I'm doing the 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's with my family this month in honor of my grandmother Isabel. I'd encourage you to donate at this link.

So what service are you providing again?

2011-09-06T12:48:00.001-04:00

“Understanding and caring for a woman is an innate ability and I feel I can provide women with the best care they deserve!” -Local OBGYN ad.

Are you offering to get me off, or give me a papsmear? I mean I suppose I need both- but I don’t generally expect both to come from one person.

Presidential Election 2012

2011-08-13T01:32:00.004-04:00

So, I've been sort of following the 2012 election. There have been 16(I think) republican candidates anounced...and 2 democratic candidates. But what I wanted to talk about was a republican named Fred Karger. This is a direct quote from his website

“I will work hard to end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, pass the federal Employment Anti-Discrimination law (ENDA), eliminate the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), make Gay Marriage the law of the land and make finding a cure for HIV / AIDS and a vaccine to prevent HIV a new national priority."

The part I want to talk about is " make Gay Marriage the law of the land." I'm assuming that he wants a federal law that makes it recognized. Now depending what this law will do, I may or may not support it. If it undermines states rights and forces marriage equality onto states who have resisted in the past, then thanks but no thanks. That sets a kind of precedent I don't want. However it if simply acknowledges gay marriage in the states that acknowledge gay marriage and grants federal marriage perks to gay couples in those states, then I would back that 100%.

My other general thoughts on the election so far is that the GOP is spitballing and seeing what sticks. It's sort of interesting to watch Bachmans antics, not gonna lie. But it's all too soon to tell.

Friends are the family you choose

2011-08-02T21:51:00.004-04:00

They say that friends are the family you chose, if this is true, I wouldn't change a thing.

We share furniture and food.
It seems that the only things we don't share are sex toys and underwear.

If friends are the family you choose, I wouldn't change a thing.

(Please make sure you click all the links in this post!)

Change the world with Microloans!

2011-08-01T17:21:00.002-04:00

Click me to get 25 free dollars with Kiva and empower people around the world with a 25 dollar loan.

Post Secret Sundays

2011-08-01T01:12:00.001-04:00

"I am finally beginning what I was born to do"

I HATE TAMPONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-30T01:44:00.004-04:00

So, I hate tampons. Every single time I use one I get what I believe is a yeast infection. I had to use a couple this weekend- but I thought I'd share my favorite yeast infection home remedies with you all!

Yogurt. Plain yogurt with live cultures in it. Fill a tampon applicator with the yogurt and freeze it. Once frozen insert it.

Olive oil. Smear it on your vulva. It'll help sooth the itchy burny feeling.

My favorite method- boric acid. This is something you probably don't have in your medicine cabinet. I had to order it online. You fill gel capsules with it and insert them into the vagina. You'll want to put a pad in your panties for this though, it comes out as really watery discharge. This is my go to method.

Anywho! now that I've shared my knowledge I'm going to bed!

How to have a great weekend in Chicago :)

2011-07-25T18:08:00.003-04:00

Step 1: Meet a friend on the Post Secret Community. (Bonus points if you have the same name as them!)
Step 2: Talk to her for 3 years.
Step 3: Meet her in Chicago when she is there meeting up with her boyfriend.
Step 4: Get dinner at five guys and see the movie Horrible Bosses(Which is really funny, I laughed the whole time.)
Step 5: Get breakfast, get rained on, watch movies, go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and get our nails done, eat a really delicious homecooked dinner made by this guy, and go to a burlesque show at a local bar.
Step 6: Go to the beach, get lunch, spend two hours in traffic attempting to go to the planetarium, end up going to the Wicker Park Music Festival then go to dinner.
Step 7: go home :(

I had a really great weekend. :) I hope we can do it again guys.

Anti-Choice Antics.

2011-07-24T17:56:00.000-04:00

I was in Chicago this weekend!!!! I’ll blog about the finer points of my trip later. While I was in Chicago we went to the wicker park music festival. And while we were there Allie(My friends name is Allie too!!) and I saw a couple of college age guys wearing matching pro life t-shirts and handing out cards for some ministry in downtown Chicago. Allie and I went up and had a little conversation with them about their shirts and cards. While the pro life shirts and the ministry they were promoting were two separate organizations we had a very interesting conversation about abortion with them.

After explaining that the shirts and the ministry were two different organizations Allie pointed out that it would be more effective for women to wear pro life shirts because she isn’t very likely to discuss abortion with a man because pregnancy is a woman thing rather than a man thing. They kept repeating that pregnancy was a family thing. When pressed about why they were pro life they said and I quote “ Half of all babies aborted are male.”

“Pregnancy is a family thing.” This statement of there’s bothers me because it doesn’t have to be a family thing- in fact to assume that every pregnancy is a family thing is totally faulty. What if you’re raped and get pregnant? Is the resulting pregnancy a family thing? What if neither party is ready for a child? Is that still a family thing if neither party is ready for a child or the responsibility of being pregnant? Pro lifers can’t assume that pregnancy is a family thing. It’s always a woman thing, hopefully a family thing- but never a man thing(which does make me wonder why it’s mostly men who protest it publically), last time I checked men don’t carry babies to term.

“Half of all babies aborted are male.” First, I question the validity of that statement; I’d love to see the study that shows this. Second, this statement is really offensive. One of the tenants of the prolife movement is that every child is worth having- no matter what. Saying that half of all babies aborted are male is your reason for being pro life undermines that whole argument. It elevates one gender over another, which in case you missed it doesn’t sit well with most people today.

I'm going to chicago this weekend!

2011-07-20T18:00:00.002-04:00

I've been absent, I know. But I'm going to Chicago this weekend!!! I'll blog when I get back. I promise!

A little house keeping.

2011-07-18T02:46:00.003-04:00

I noticed tonight that there was this purple ad that appeared over my content and followed me as I scrolled up or down. If anyone else notices this ad please let me know. If you happen to catch what the ad is advertising, I'd love it if you wrote that down too and let me know. You can email me, or comment or catch me on IM.

I'm going to talk to my ad company if it happens a second time. I'm sorry for any annoyance the ad causes any of my readers. I'm working on it, I promise!

PostSecret Sundays

2011-07-17T13:14:00.001-04:00

"We're both broken but I think together we can help each other be whole."

Lessons from Harry Potter-Music

2011-07-16T20:08:00.002-04:00

This post may include spoilers from the Harry Potter series, so if you haven't read it yet and you want to you might want to skip this post. Though if you haven't read the books by now- you probably don't want to.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 128

It's interesting that in the Harry Potter universe music doesn't really make an appearance very often. It plays only a handful of times in the books that I can think of. In most peoples lives, teenagers especially, music plays a huge role. They do homework, work out, read, blog, clean and hang out with their friends while music plays. It is important to note that the tunes we hear more than once in the Harry Potter books are ones that promote healing and happiness, like the song that Fawkes the phoenix plays. Even in a world full magic, music can still trump spells and their side effects.

I think that for most people music is the closest thing to magic as we will experience on a regular basis. It's calms us, or pumps us up, and it reminds us that it's all going to be okay in the end.

IU Orientation!+ Where I've been recently.

2011-07-16T18:04:00.003-04:00

I went to my IU orientation yesterday. It wasn't too bad. I took Dani with me and we played hookie for a couple of sessions.

I did the math placement test and got 9 out of 26 correct(thank God for lucky guesses!), ate lunch, and got scheduled for classes and got my student ID. I'm taking a math class, The Mafia and Other Italian Mysteries, Personal health, International Health and Social Issues, and Human Sexuality. Classes start on the 29th of August. I'm excited.

I have a really excellent excuse for where I've been the past week or so. We changed our internet provider and were without internet for a couple days. But I'm back!

30 Days of me day 3

2011-07-09T06:02:00.005-04:00

Post a picture with your friends.

So I have two photos. The first is Dani and I. I love this girl to bits, enough to drive her to work at 7:30 AM even.

The second is Brandon and I. He is my very best friend on the face of the planet. He'd do anything for me short of committing murder, though he might help me bury a body. He was also the one who gave the best advice I went to college with and I quote: "Murder is illegal no matter where you go to school."

If the Church Were Christian...

2011-07-08T01:50:00.011-04:00

Affirming Our Potential Would Be More Important Than Condemning Our Brokenness. This is the title of the second chapter from the book, If The Church Were Christian by Philip Gulley

When I was a senior in high school, I spent most of my second semester busting my butt in an algebra two night class. This was my final credit for graduating with a core 40 diploma(which I didn't quite manage, but alas.) At the same time as this my church was running a confirmation class targeted for the youth group. These confirmation classes happened to fall on a night I was in math class.

By this point in my life, I knew that I wasn't going to attend the church after I left for college. Too much had happened both to and around me. It wasn't a shocker for anyone who knew the details, but apparently my pastor missed the finer points of the previous three years. She pulled me aside after church one Sunday and told me that she started the confirmation classes just for me and told me that if I was a good Christian I'd move my schedule around to make it work, rather than acknowledge that it was regrettable that I was in math class the nights these confirmation classes met.

The real kicker was that I was never expressed an interest to anyone to be confirmed in this church. I had no interest in being baptized in this church, nor becoming a member. My only interest was getting out and not coming back.

But when churches and Christians take seriously our human potential, they begin creating communities that affirm and encourage all people.-If The Church Were Christian, page 43

Too often the Bible is used to degrade the human spirit, often in an effort to save someones soul.-If The Church Were Christian, page 43

" My soul is just fine, thank you. In fact, it's never been better. "-If The Church Were Christian, page 41

Day 2 of 30 days of me

2011-07-07T23:09:00.003-04:00

Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name

The long name of my blog is "Your daily dose of Vitamin A[llie]" and the short name is Vitamin Allie.

The meaning behind this is pretty straight forward. My name is Allie and I trust you can figure out the rest.

30 days of me. Day 1

2011-07-06T22:19:00.004-04:00

30 days of me. :) "A recent picture of you and 10 interesting facts about yourself"

1. I knit pretty things.
2. I'm good at scrabble, just ask my friend Pete.
3. I have two pet rats, whom I adore.
4. My ex-boyfriend doubles as my roommate.
5. I recently started watching Community. It is the best thing on television(Thanks for the recommendation).
6. I hate my nose pierced for a while a couple years ago. I Really kind of miss it.
7. My dad wanted to name me Ruby because my older brother is named Jack. So we'd be Jack Ruby, as in the guy who killed Lee Harvey Oswald.
8. I do a lot of blogging from the bathtub.
9. I have a minor obsession with Shemar Moore and Matthew Grey Gubler. I'd do dirty dirty things to them. Yummy.
10.I have 9 reusable water bottles all different colors.

Lessons Learned From Harry Potter-Scars

2011-07-05T04:32:00.008-04:00

"Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well-give him here, Hagrid-We'd better this over with."
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Page 15( US Paperback edition)

Dumbledore one of my favorite Harry Potter Characters and the source for lots of lessons in the series. Dumbledore is right. Scars do come in handy. In the Harry Potter universe, this scar hurt when Voldemort is nearby, or feeling strong emotion. It also enabled him to "read" Voldemorts' mind on occasion.

But scars come in handy in the real world too. They remind us of when we busted up our knees as teenagers goofing off in the woods, or that one time you got drunk and woke up with your leg all cut up. They remind us what we've been through and what we've survived. And they are a reminder that we could survive it again if we had to. Other types of scars, emotional ones, tend to send up red flags. Red flags that save us from getting in too deep, or from a relationship we're better off without.

Rat photos pt 2.

2011-07-05T04:20:00.002-04:00

If anyone cares to see more photos of my pretty rats. Click here. I'll keep adding photos to it. So bookmark it if you're interested :)

New Hat Take II

2011-07-05T00:12:00.003-04:00

I finished this hat today. I followed this pattern. Sort of. I modified it a bit. The ribbed edge can be folded up so it's extra warm, or worn flat. I knit closer to 10 inches before starting decreases. Then I followed the decrease pattern according to the original pattern.

Pretty Rats + New hat!

2011-07-04T23:00:00.006-04:00

Ok. So. I know it's a lot of pictures. But They're just so cute. There is also a picture of my new winter hat posted. It's all the rage to make winter hats in the middle of summer.

Dearest Dani

2011-07-04T08:10:00.001-04:00

Dearest Dani.

Waking up at 7:30 to drive you to work is an act of love I'd do for very few people. I love you. :)

Love,
Me.

PostSecret Sundays

2011-07-03T13:33:00.002-04:00

"I am Beautiful" and on the back of that one it says "Even here."

"I feel more beautiful without make up than I do with it." on the back it says "I feel like I have to wear it."

The one about make up is the one from this weeks set. The other one is from some set from forever ago. They're connected enough that I'm blogging them together.

NaBloPoMo July and rats!

2011-07-02T17:48:00.004-04:00

I'm attempting NaBloPoMo this month. We'll see. But todays post is cute rats. OK. I know I posed a bunch. I couldn't resist. They're just so freaking cute. The brown one is Ella and the black one is Margo. Every time the flash went off Ella jumped back a step, but Margo didn't seem to be bothered about it.

Ok. I'm leaving now. Dinner and a movie with Dani!

The Church and Women

2011-07-01T14:22:00.002-04:00

Women get used to being relegated to certain roles. We might not like it and hopefully we fight it. But we get used to it. Lots of churches are even worse about this than other facets of life. And it all starts with the bible. The old testament is full of verses that subjugate women. Exodus chapters 20 and 21 are arguably the most misogynistic chapters in the bible. Go read them for yourself if you don't believe me. The new testament doesn't make things much better for women. We're still subservient and our purpose in life is to make babies and take care of the household.

Despite all that, there is one part of the new testament that really gets under my skin because it isn't blatent misogyny. The virgin birth. First of all it makes no sense. It's one of the parts of the bible that has gotten lost in translation so to speak. Unsurprisingly, churches use this to build up this grand image of Jesus, rather than acknowledge that Mary is a co-creator with both a sexual and genetic contributions to Christ. Because this isn't blatent in your face bigotry, it's easy not notice it, or think much of it. That is what makes it so scary.

What really amazes me is that it's 2011 and there aren't more of us standing up and asking why women aren't ordained pastors in some churches- or why there are families that raise their children to be housewives or otherwise have lots of children.

2011-06-30T20:13:00.002-04:00

For the record- Diesel is cheaper than gas right now in btown. Gotta love it!

Disney Princesses

2011-06-30T01:18:00.002-04:00

When I was little, I wasn't into the whole princess thing. I'd've much rather played in the dirt and shoot guns(And I did!) Disney princesses are typically young,beautiful, friendly, caring, and courteous. And generally speaking they don't have any desire to be anything besides a housewife with babies(Yes, I know that there are exceptions to this in the Disney princess line. However, the most popular Disney princesses aren't the ones had drive and initiative to go against the grain.)

Disney princesses don't do anything for the name of womankind. It sets up a story in which the princess or "heroine", as I've heard them called, is almost always eventually saved from tragedy by her prince. Last time I checked, there isn't a prince waiting around the corner to "save" me. I don't think I need saving either. I love that I have people in my life who would be willing to save me-however I'm not that girl who needs saving. I would have hated to have been one of those girls who realized as she grew up that life wasn't a Disney movie.

So in closing I'm going to quote a friend.

"I hope you're not a Disney princess... They always end up needing saving, and I like to think you're more kick-ass than that"

Better than English

2011-06-28T22:09:00.004-04:00

So I found this awesome blog. It's called Better Than English. I've stolen my favorite words from it to share with you. :)

-Pochemuchka(Russian)-A person asking "why?" all the time. (This is for you, Pete!)
-Le Mot Juste(French)- The right word at exactly the right time.
-Cafuné(Portuguese)-To repeatedly run your fingers through someones hair. Usually done in a soft and affectionate manner. (Love this!!!)
-Baraka(Arabic)-A gift of spiritual energy that can be transferred to others.
-Dona(Yamana, Chile)-To take lice from a person's head and squash them between one's teeth. (This one is really really gross!)
-Rasliubit(Russian)-To fall out of love.
-La petite mort(French)-Literally,"The Little Death"; a metaphor for orgasm.
-Wabi(Japanese)-A flawed detail that creates an elegant whole

And my very favorite...

Backpheinfengesicht(German)-"A face badly in need of a fist."

On pet rats.

2011-06-28T18:07:00.002-04:00

Think what you want about rats as pets- but Ella just ate a scary as hell flying creepy crawly. I think that's pretty awesome.

If I could be any animal in the world I'd be a panda.

2011-06-28T16:03:00.003-04:00

The title more or less says it all. I think pandas are very cool. But I'd be a panda for a couple of reasons.

A) they're endangered- so there would be people looking out for the safety of me and my babies. B) They're only fertile once a year for two or three days. So to me that means that I'd only be a bleedy, crampy, clumsy mess once a year. Yes please!!! They're also pregnant for less time than humans- but they have more babies. So maybe it evens out.
C) They bamboo. Need I say more!

Is modesty a virtue?

2011-06-26T12:41:00.003-04:00

Modesty

The quality or state of being unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities

- with typical modesty he insisted on sharing the credit with others

The quality of being relatively moderate, limited, or small in amount, rate, or level

- the modesty of his political aspirations

Behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency

- modesty forbade her to undress in front of so many people

I spend a lot of time making fun of modesty. particularly how the Church does modesty. In my opinion, when the church preaches modestly it tends to be unequal. In my expierance,women bear all the responsibility for not causing men to stumble as far as modesty goes. In youth group, it was always our(young womens') responsibility to cover up our chests and bottoms so boys didn't get hard seeing us in our swimwear(because clearly, they only get wood at appropriate times anyway.) God forbid that happen, because surely the young women in question would have gotten a lecture about how they are a stumbling block( If I didn't know better, I might think this is a blog post about how the Church hates women. But it isn't- that is a different blog post. I swear!)

But there is more to modesty than just how you dress. Take,for example, the girl who walks into class 15 minutes late, wearing what is clearly her boyfriends' wrinkled button down with hickeys all around her neck. She has managed to communicate without a single word exactly what she spent this morning doing and why she's late. She might not be showing any cleavage, nor too much leg. But no one is in doubt in anyone's mind about what she has been doing in recent history. Is that immodest?

But is modesty a virtue? 3 out of the 4 guys I asked said it was without hesitation. The 4th guy said that it's a good idea most of the time.

PostSecret Sundays

2011-06-26T12:06:00.006-04:00

"I learned more about how to be a good person from these books(Harry Potter books) than I ever did from a religious text"

I think it's far easier to learn from books that are easy read and interesting as opposed to lots of religious texts.

"Dear interviewer,
I'll be whomever you want me to be. Just please Hire me."

When I first read this one I thought that "damn straight." But I wouldn't. I can't pretend to think that gay people are bound for hell, or that abortion is something that should be fought at all costs. I also can't nod along with most religious doctrine. So I can't be whomever you want, but that's a good thing. It means I have personality and spark and can't accept some things as truth- and I think that's a good thing.

For Good-Wicked

2011-06-25T12:20:00.005-04:00

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

I believe this is true and whether or not our lives cross paths again I genuinely wish you the best. I teetered on the edge of ending our conversation with "love you", but didn't want to make it more awkward. But now you know I suppose.

I am flattered that I've been a highlight of your year,but I pray that you find a better highlight than me. Also, please know that you didn't disappoint me. I get it. I promise. Don't feel guilty about it. I only hope that after you figure out your end of things we can exchange friendly emails.

OK. I'm done. That's all the word vomit I have about this.

Mitch Daniels.

2011-06-25T00:51:00.003-04:00

For those of you that aren't Hoosiers, Mitch Daniels is the Governor of Indiana. He is one of those charming Republicans- We know how much I love them.

This lovely man has done lots of charming things. He's "reformed" education so that teachers get paid based on how well their students test. He's building more charter schools- those have clearly proven to do better than public schools. In Indiana, 95 percent of the state has no access to an abortion clinic. I'm lucky to live in one that does. Mitch Daniels took it upon himself to defund all of those places. Defunding Planned Parenthood has done so much more than just make it harder to get an abortion. He reformed the property taxes. So libraries(read: my mothers work place) and schools lost money, because clearly those places are just overflowing with money to start. He also supported the ban on marriage equality here. This man is clearly a credit to our fine state.

He was going to run for president- but he decided against it for the sake of his family. Thank God for that. It would have been really hard for me to vote against him. Anyway. This rant all started with the fact that NY has passed a marriage quality act!!! Go them! Now Indiana needs to get with the program. Perhaps the next Governor will get with it. Le Sigh.

I miss the old times

2011-06-23T13:19:00.003-04:00

I miss sitting around that perpetual bonfire and laughing before you two dated things went to hell. I miss how we could sit in silence and not have it be awkward silence. Sometimes when I find myself at my moms house I wonder how much of a miracle it would take for us to go back to that. I remember how shitty mom was when I came home at 4AM that one night from your house(like there was just one.) It was so worth it though. You and BJ made my last semester at tucker worth every second. I wonder if you'd still bust balls for me if I asked you to. I wonder if both of you still read this.

I saw change coming. I knew it'd happen. I kind of thought that even back then, we might survive and still be talking now. I guess I was wrong. Even though I can't remember when we last talked,I hope you're both doing OK though.

"Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words..."

2011-06-23T13:03:00.006-04:00

Dear you,

I read your journal yesterday. I didn't know how else to tell you this. I'm so sorry kiddo. I had no idea. Take care of yourself.

Love,

Me.

PS: If you read this, let me know somehow?

walls

2011-06-22T01:57:00.003-04:00

"Despite the walls you build, I'm here. You don't have to be on your own."

We all have walls that separate parts of our lives. For lots of people it's like their plates- their foods don't touch. Aspects of their lives are separate and independent from other aspects. I'm no exception, in fact I may be worse than lots of other people about this. I don't really know.

I do know that you have those walls built up to protect yourself and I understand that. I promise not to go knocking down those walls without a good reason. I also promise that if you chose to let me to those aspects that are the most heavily protected that I'll keep your trust and I'd hope you'd keep mine.

Post Secret Sundays

2011-06-19T22:54:00.002-04:00

"We all need saving sometimes."

It's true kids. We do all need saving sometimes. Whatever you need saving from- please don't be afraid to reach out.

I have new shoes!!!!!

2011-06-19T21:39:00.001-04:00

I have new shoes. and I also have new PJ pants with the pac man ghosts on them and they say "Eat Me"

Wheeeee!

Staying Safe

2011-06-18T23:32:00.004-04:00

With Lauren Spierer missing from B-town for two weeks with no solid leads there is a lot of talk about staying safe on a college campus. I freely admit that when I'm not looking forward to orientation because there is going to be way more emphasis on staying safe than there used to be. Despite how most of us have heard this lecture 1001 times it doesn't hurt to tell it again, because there is always someone who hasn't heard it. So in the spirit of that here is my list of how to stay safe in college.

-Get pepper spray if it's legal in your state/allowed on your college campus.
-Get a "rape whistle."
-Find good friends who are willing to walk to your dorm/your car/ your apartment or wait with you at the bus stop.
-Your college campus probably has a escort service through campus PD, use them. Seriously, I know it feels stupid having them walk you 3 blocks to your dorm- but use them.
-When you go party, don't leave your friends. You go together, you leave together. No exceptions. (And please have a designated driver!)
-Most importantly, follow your gut. There are essentially two kinds of guys in the world- the safe kind and the unsafe kind. And you'll probably know which kind you're talking to within in the first five minutes.
-Save campus PD's number in your phone as well as the campus counseling office phone number. Both are good numbers to have easy access to.
-Lastly, don't miss out on college because you're afraid. It is what you make it- and if you make it a great four(or five) years of your life then it will be.

No matter how Lauren Spierers' story ends, this conversation will be had a hundred fold among college students, their parents, and college administrations. I only hope that the conversations are productive.

Casual Sex.

2011-06-17T00:08:00.004-04:00

I had a recent conversation with a friend he said that it was easier to for women to get laid(read:casual sex) than men. I can walk through Walmart and proposition men to sleep with me, and most would probably say yes on the merit that I have identifiable breasts. While I agree with that statement, I disagree that it is easier to get laid because I'm a woman. Techically speaking, it is easier for me to get laid than a man just as long as I'm not picky about who I sleep with. But I'm talking about more than that.

As a woman, I pay a different price for getting laid than a man. I'm not talking about just financial costs, though there is a tendency in western society for women to bear all the costs for preventing pregnancy(PS: Guys, you should really split the cost of your girlfriends birth control if you're both reaping benefits. But that is really another blog post all together) A womans' sexual history is far more likely to be used against her. And god forbid a woman who was into kink, or any other non-mainstream sexuality, be raped. That fact would get paraded about the courtroom 1001 different ways.

At the end of the day it isn't fair for either sex. Men have to stand out and women have to hope they blend in just enough without becoming a wallflower. I wish had a solution that was doable for this problem. But I don't.

Dani was on the news!

2011-06-08T09:21:00.005-04:00

click me!! See that girl. She eats my food alot.

Click me if the first link didn't work.(though I can't promise this one will work for non-Americans either.)

Back to the serious note about all this. Lauren has been missing for 5 days now. If you're in the Bloomington area there are searches three times a day at 11, 2, and 5:30. If you aren't in the Bloomington area pray, or keep Lauren and her family in your thoughts. Do whatever you do.

Find Lauren

Dear Lauren.

2011-06-07T00:12:00.003-04:00

A local woman is missing. Click here for more information. I knew I wanted to blog about this- but I didn't know what I wanted to say. Without further ado

Dear Lauren,

I don't know you. I just hope you come home safe. We're looking for you, lots of us. We're praying for you to hold on and we're hopeful. So please hold on. My thoughts are with your family right now. I can't even imagine.

Love,
Me.

FIber Festival!

2011-06-05T15:37:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I went to the Hoosier Hills FiberArts Festival. I met my mom in Franklin, Indiana for the festival. 44 East between Martinsville and Franklin is such a pretty stretch of road. But to the fun stuff the goodies I got there. This first picture is the yarn I got there, 1200 yards of hand dyed silk. So so pretty. That was really the only yarn I bought there.

Mom and I ate lunch at The Willard in downtown Franklin. Now if you aren't from the midwest you might not understand just how delicious the next picture was. It was the best tenderloin I've ever had. Oh my gosh. The very best. Yummy.

Dani and I are fun.

2011-06-02T22:56:00.003-04:00

More Ella and Margo

2011-06-02T12:55:00.003-04:00

Ella and Margo might become the worlds most photographed rats.

They get along just swimmingly. Ella has become loads more adventurous since I brought Margo home. home. She can scale down my back and slide down my pants to get to the floor. She has also learned to shimmy down the table her cage sits on. Ella is way more comfortable just to sit on my shoulder and hang out though. Ella will run up your pants if she gets the chance. Lemme tell you- It feels weird having a rat crawl up your pants. Margo loves to run around my bed, and my desk and my bookshelf. She loves climbing the bars of her cage. She's learning to scale down people and things to get to the floor.

Margo loves to climb the cage

Free Mary Kay make up!

2011-06-02T12:50:00.004-04:00

So my advertisers gave me the gift of free Mary Kay make up. I don't wear make up all that often, but today I am. So I thought I'd take some photos for ya'll. The first picture is a picture is me :D The second photo is me with the free Mary Kay. :)

I'm really loving this make-up. But I don't love it so much I'll refill it when It runs out.

You know who you are.

2011-05-29T00:56:00.004-04:00

To Whom This Concerns,

I was once head over heels in love with you. Ending things with you was the hardest thing I've ever done. I settle into bed at night, and think how nice it would be to crawl into the big bed and just cuddle. But I know, if I did, it would be like we're back together again. And the next break up would be unfathomably ugly, and we wouldn't be able to walk away friends if we wanted to. Even now, I'm not 100% confident we'll be friends at the end of this. I think, if we can manage it, we'll be friends for life though.

I don't know what you're thinking anymore, or if you'll even read this. I don't know if I want you to read this. I know you want me back, and I'm sorry I don't want you back.

Love,
Me

Scary Weather.

2011-05-26T16:14:00.007-04:00

My area of the state had some intense weather last night. I'll post a picture to give you an idea of what I mean. That was taken from a dorm at IU. Yesterday we had 6 or 7 tornado sirens go off in town, and about the 8th siren I was thinking that the weather should make up its' mind. And it did. Rain started pouring in my window and power went out. For the first time ever during a storm, I hauled ass to a safe location.

I ended up sleeping at Danis' apartment so I could charge my cell phone after noticing damage to the roof on an adjacent apartment complex. This is a photo of damage to my apartment complex after the storm. This building is two buildings down from my apartment building. My apartment isn't damaged. We're lucky. That entire building has been moved to other empty apartments. From what I've heard, a tornado touched down around sam's club( 1.5 blocks from my apartment) and went the other direction.

So we're lucky. Times like this remind me that there is something out there keeping watch over us. I don't claim to know what it is- but something is out there. I know that.

Aerials of the damage to my apartment start at 2:17 of More Bloomington aerials.

I have reached the final level of Collegedom.

2011-05-24T01:19:00.002-04:00

I am going home on June 9th for a few days and I fully intended on not doing laundry until then(surprise mom!). But I'm running out of clean socks and underwear. I was thinking about my options today. I figured I have 3.

Drop 10 bucks on more socks and underwear. For this option to work, you have to think of socks and underwear as an investment. You can never have too many.
Drop 25 bucks on gas to go home before June 9th and do free laundry. This option also yields free food.
Drop 25 bucks on laundry at the laundromat. This option yields clean laundry and the feeling of independence.

But then it was brought up that I do indeed have a 4th option, I can just wash my socks and underwear. But this option is also more complex than it first seems. I must sort my laundry for that to work. I also must get cash out for this option to work. I spent my last 7 bucks in cash at goodwill today.

But what I'll end up doing doesn't really matter. The point is this thought process must be one of the last steps of Collegedom. Is there any hope for me?

New additions to my life!

2011-05-23T22:42:00.003-04:00

I have some new ladies in my life. The are pet rats. Their names are Margo and Ella. Margo is the black and white rat is smaller than Ella. Ella is the larger, brown and white rat. They like to canoodle. I happen to like them both quite a lot.

An update.

2011-05-23T19:54:00.001-04:00

I've been putting off posting this. But I feel like my blog readers should know that the boy and I are no longer together. We broke up about a month ago. And that's all I really wanted to say....so... Have a good night.

The truth about cosmo.

2011-05-14T19:36:00.001-04:00

So freaking true.

Some shoutouts.

2011-05-11T12:11:00.003-04:00

I've got to give some shout outs to some people who have been really great to me the past couple weeks.

Dani-For offering me your couch and for helping me make the best decision for me.
Pete-For helping me run through my feelings, and listening to me ramble.
Brandon- For not being judgmental or shooting me down. For listening.
Allie-For being there. It means so much to me.

Thank you so much for what you guys have done for me the past couple of weeks.

Untitled.

2011-04-10T23:39:00.000-04:00

To Grandparents.To shopping trips. To Lincoln logs. To grilled cheese. To playing gin. To white zinfandel. To Thanksgiving Dinner. To Christmas Cookies and Pies. To gardening. To my lucky Bamboo plant named Isabel( I’d grow something more complicated than that, but I’d probably kill it.) To words of wisdom. To cooking.

I will probably never be the gardener or the cook that my Grandma Isabel was. That’ll be hard to beat. Maybe one day I’ll be the card player she once was. But perhaps I should just shoot for being the kind of person she was. I think I can do that. I’ll be as good a grandparent as she was because she showed me what it means to be a good grandparent. Grandpa Pete said that his grandkids didn’t owe him anything; we just had to pay it forward to the next generation. I’ll never forget the lessons of fair play and love I learned from my grandparents. I’ll always remember how grandma and grandpa loved each other.

While I don’t know what lies beyond this life, I do know that Pete and Isabel doing a dance that will last for all of eternity and they’re probably overjoyed to be with each other again.

How to not ask a girl out.

2011-03-27T13:40:00.003-04:00

Before I started dating The Boy, I was a member at an online dating site. Every now and then I check that profile. I got this message today.

"hey whats up im jack im 23 24 next week lol but anyway u are verry cute and i would love to get to know you u can txt me if you want 5555553436*"

*Names and phone numbers have been changed.

There are so many things wrong with this message. Ever hear of periods, or apostrophes, or using full words, or spelling correctly. Then I went to his online profile. The info section of his profile featured a picture of his truck, and the words "my truck." I'm all about loving your car and thinking it shits unicorns, cause lord knows I think my car shits unicorns- But if the most interesting thing about you is that you drive a big ass truck on ramped up tires, then the first date must be dreadfully dull.

If your first communication with someone you hope to date is on the internet, do your target a favor and attempt to woo her with your grammar and spelling skills. Here is a revised version of what he should have sent.

" Hey, what's up? I'm Jack. I'm 23, and I turn 24 next week. But anyway you are very cute and I would love to get to know you. You can text me if you want at (555)555-3436.*"

My Creation

2011-03-24T20:22:00.002-04:00

I just want to show you my newest knitted creation. It's what it looks like. It's a big circular blanket. It's about 8-9 feet wide and I just love it. It isn't totally finished- but I'll post photos when it is totally finished.

Sexy

2011-03-10T00:53:00.005-05:00

I read this facebook comment about the newest episode of Glee.

Watched a few minutes of last night's Glee, only the second time I have seen it. What a disgusting, morally deprived piece of propaganda. It made me sick, and I already was feeling sick. Slap some autotuned songs together with pretty people and gloss over the terrible message. It made virginity look like something to be lost at any cost. I wonder if anyone on the show even knows what love is? Cancel this show ASAP.

I didn't find anything wrong with it. A lot of people seem to think being a virgin somehow makes them special. And it does... in the same way that everyone else who's ever been a virgin is special. So you really aren't all that special at all. But that's a different blog post. What this post is really about is sex education, or the lack of sex education in America. According to this article women born from 1950-1978, 91% of women had premarital sex. That hasn't changed. So when preachers and youth workers say that everyone isn't doing it, it being sex, they're lying, at least in part. More than 9 out of 10 Americans have premarital sex.

I felt that Glee was spot on with the fact that abstinence only sex doesn't work, because it doesn't. According to this study, Abstinence only sex ed doesn't change age of first intercourse or the prevalence of premarital sex in teenagers. The average age of first interview according to the study was 14.9 years old. I admit that seems really young to me. Abstinence only sex ed also doesn't change how many people teenagers sleep with.

There are some really scary stats in this study I want to bring to your attention. 50 % of teens in a sex class think that condoms usually prevent pregnancy, 34% think that condoms usually prevent HIV and 30% think that condoms prevent Chlamydia and Gonorrhea(which just so happen to be the most prevalent STDs out there.) 16% of teens aren't sure if birth control pills prevent HIV and 19% aren't sure if they prevent Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. These scare me- because it says that sex ed isn't teaching what it should be. That condoms do work and teens should use them every time.

I'm not suggesting you tell your 6 year old that when they have sex with strangers that they risk getting AIDS, or the clap. I'm talking about age appropriate sex ed. For really young children sex ed should include proper terminology- pet names are often to vague to be helpful. Between the ages of 7 and 12, kids should know about periods and puberty and all that jazz because at this point it is effecting them- at least the girls. From the age of 13 on, there needs to be full disclosure I think. Puberty is full force- kids will be kids. I don't think it's fair to expect kids to fight biology to the extent many Christian groups expect them too.

I think that the worst thing you can possibly tell your child is that they're too young to know and understand something. If your child can formulate the words to ask you anything about sex, they deserve an answer more complete than,"ask me when you're older."

Pajama Jeans Make me Cringe

2011-03-03T11:17:00.003-05:00

These make me cringe. I live in jeans, sweatpants and hoodies. It's true, in fact I'll probably do my grocery shopping today in my trusty Walmart sweatpants. But I never want to combine my jeans and my sweatpants. If your jeans are hard to get on, and leave red marks on your skin then you really need to get better jeans, rather than sweats that look like illfitted pajamas.

Survey!

2011-02-28T13:41:00.002-05:00

I’m totally stealing this meme from AmazingGreis.

1. Do you have any scars? If so, pick one and explain how you got it.

I've got a scar on my knuckle from 10th grade shop class and a scar on my knee from snorkeling in Hawaii when I was 11

2. What is your favorite place?

A few years ago I would have said summer camp, But now my own apartment is my favorite place. God, that's lame.

3. Do you snore, grind your teeth, or talk in your sleep?

When I was at VU, I slept walked for a semester, and I have been known to talk in my sleep. I snore if I'm sick.

4. What type of music do you listen to?

Right now, I'm on a P!nk and Glee music kick- Cause they totally have so much in common.

5. What time were you born?

I think I was born at 7something am.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

To get my car back and go back to Btown.

7. What do you miss?

I miss my big king size bed. It's really weird to a) sleep alone and b) sleep in a twin sized bed at this point.

8. What is/are your most prized possession(s)?

My laptop, but that might come to be replaced with my new electric mixer with time

9. How tall are you?

5’4?

10. Do you get claustrophobic?

No.

11. Do you get scared in the dark?

No.

12. Who was the last person to make you cry?

I honestly don't know

13. What’s your worst fear?

Death of a loved one.

14. What kind of hair/eye color do you like on people who you’re attracted to?

Dark hair, light eyes. That said my boyfriend has blond hair.

15. What is your favorite color?

Purple

16. Do you like coffee or energy drinks?

Nah.

17. What is your favorite pizza topping?

Black Olives, chicken, ham, pepperoni, feta cheese

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Alfredo Pizza- that's in my fridge in my apartment

19. Have you ever eaten a goldfish?

No, not the kind that swims around. I like the crackers though.

20. What is your favorite clothing brand?

My favorite brand for jeans is Delias. Beyond that I'm not too loyal to any one brand.

21. Do you have a pet?

I have a dog, Gerrard, at home.

You're beautful.

2011-02-28T02:19:00.001-05:00

Hey you. Yeah you. You're beautiful and worthwhile. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

Tampon Fibers

2011-02-21T01:04:00.003-05:00

There was a video posted recently by a menstrual cup company, Lunette that brought attention to the fibers left behind by conventional tampons.

The company took three different tampon brands and 3 wine glasses filled with water and dipped the tampons into the wine glasses and pulled them back out and focused on the fibers left behind by the tampon.

I admit, the video gives me the heeby jeebies, but what it fails to bring home is the question, do those fibers do any harm, or is Lunette just scaremongering people into buy menstrual cups. There are women who claim that fibers from tampons have traveled up their vagina, through their cervix and into their uterus and cause problems. I find that really unlikely. I would think that, especially on your period that gravity and menstrual blood/vaginal discharge would sweep those fibers right on out of the vagina.

I would love to see Lunette add a bit of context to that video, and cite some reliable sources that say that those fibers cause problems for enough women to make a difference. You might be thinking, that every woman makes a difference and she does. But if one woman in a thousand women have tampon fibers that fuse together and travel up the cervix into the uterus- then that isn't exactly something I'd really worry about.

So in closing, Lunette should add some context, or stop scaremongering because that isn't the right way to gain menstrual cup users.

On Love

2011-02-16T02:25:00.002-05:00

"We accept the Love we think we deserve."

I've probably posted this before, but I wanted to post it again. I've recently had a very good friend tell me that he didn't think he deserve to be cared for. It truly makes me very sad that he doesn't think he deserves as much love as everyone else.

I do know though that it isn't within my power to change how he sees himself though. It's something he has to do. Though I think that he'll be stronger when he really realizes what he does deserve.

Blackbird: The African American Internet browser.

2011-02-08T16:56:00.002-05:00

I present to you Blackbird:African American Browser,community, culture, social networking,bookmarking, news and events.

And these are all the things it offers it users.

Black Search, Black News Ticker,Black bookmarks, Black videos,local business search,email manager,social network manager, and a job search tool.

Because clearly all black people are on the same social networks, read the same news, search for the same stuff, watch the same videos and bookmark the same stuff right? This also bothers me because it assumes that all "blacks" are African-American and their not. They're from the Caribbean, and Europe, and the Middle East, and Africa, of course.

As if we need more race dividers in this world.

I have the best mom in the world-in case you didn't know.

2011-01-29T02:19:00.002-05:00

I just finished watching a TV segment about a woman who had two college age sons and she helped her college age sons by waking them up for class daily, checking their grades, following their class syllabuses( probably closer than they did), emailing their professors, grocery shopping for them, doing their laundry, cleaning their dorm room and calling hourly.

So. I have the best mother in the world. But she doesn't do all that. She makes sure I can pay my bills, calls me if she hasn't heard from me in a while- you know to make sure I'm not dead. She doesn't shit a brick when I bring home 8 weeks worth of dirty laundry for a 4 day weekend. She's happy for me when I call her and tell her I am beating Alicia in Scrabble and when I tell her that I get 45 miles to the gallon in my car.

And that is really all I can ask for. I don't want much more than that.

2011 superbowl and Child rape.

2011-01-19T03:02:00.004-05:00

So I read this article and have some thoughts about it. There is also a movement I read about online to cut down on prostitution during superbowl weekend.

Some of you may remember the hoax about domestic violence and Superbowl Sunday that came about a few years ago. If you don't you can read about it on Snopes. And the article title " Why won't the 2011 Superbowl committee protect children from rape?" rings to me like fear mongering. Like the author wants to scare parents into keeping a closer watch on their children at the 2011 superbowl, and it's a little misleading to me when I first read it.

I think that the reality of events like the Superbowl is that "human trafficking" AKA prostitution will thrive on weekends of these events- and there isn't anything anyone can do about it. I do not want to hear about kids being trafficked into texas for the Superbowl- but controlling the possible influx of prostitutes isn't the 2011 Superbowl Committees problem. It's the polices' problem. The Superbowl committee can do a lot of things- but they, singlehandedly, can't stop prostitutes from turning tricks- regardless of their ages.

Abstinence Only Sex Education Sucks.

2011-01-07T13:14:00.002-05:00

Abstinence only sex ed Videos

Lesson one
Lesson two
lesson three

I'm going to comment on things I don't like from each video starting with the first lesson.

" First she passed around a rose and had each of us take off a pedal then she said that the rose was was someone who had sex before marriage- they lose their beauty and value."

"Then she said that having sex is like reaching into a bag of candy where some of it has been chewed and spit back into the bag- who would ever want used candy. "
Then she told us to imagine a really gross toothbrush that a lot of people have used. If you have had sex you're the toothbrush."

"The next thing was, the speaker gave me a sign that said virgin then she had everyone spit into a cup, then she passed me the cup and asked me to drink from the cup. The speaker then said that drinking the spit from the cup was like loosing your virginity."

Every single one of these instances piss me off, and they've all been used in classrooms to teach children about sex. These examples all put sex on this pedestal it doesn't deserve. What someone does or doesn't do in bed does not determine their beauty or value. Someone who has had sex isn't like used candy and losing your virginity isn't quite like drinking spit from a cup. All of these examples perpetuate a shallow understanding of sex and only make it harder for common sense to be heard above this tribe.

The second video is a tale about a dragon slaying prince and a maiden who helps the prince slay the dragon. The prince then goes off a maiden who didn't have any ideas. The video culminates with the idea that too many suggestions will drive a guy away and girls should act like the second maiden and have no ideas.

This speaks to something far bigger than sex. It tells girls that you shouldn't express your ideas, and to not express yourself it says that you aren't good enough to be part of the world outside yourself-which is far worse advice than I got in school, which was just say no.

The third video talks about how most if not all abstinence only sex education ignores homosexual relationships. These programs ignore the validity of those feelings, by ignoring those feelings you lose that audience. They tune out when you talk about STDs' because they don't think their relationships matter.

"They said that living with someone without being married means that your relationship is really really messed up and not really a lifetime commitment. They say that living together before marriage is unhealthy and that everyone should get married."

Maybe this just pisses me off because it's a lot of what I feel like I've faced since moving in with The Boy. Or maybe it pisses me off because it's not true. Take your pick. My relationship isn't really messed up and it isn't unhealthy. There are far worse things than cohabitation- like AIDS- which these three episodes do nothing to fight.

Pedophiles and facebook.

2010-12-06T11:15:00.004-05:00

If you're on facebook, you've seen things like " Do not add John Doe on Facebook. He is a pedophile. Tell your children." or most recently "TOALL THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THEIR PICTURES TO CARTOONS FOR NSPCC: IT WASNT FOR NSPCC, IT WAS FOR A GROUP OF PEDOPHILES WHO SET IT UP SO THAT CHILDREN WOULD ACCEPT FRIEND REQUESTS FASTER AS IT WAS A CARTOON PICTURE. THIS WAS ON AN INTERNET FRAUD PROGRAM AND THE NEWS TONIGHT." Why it's all in caps I'm not real sure. I've seen causes on facebook that say things like. "Remove all Pedophiles from facebook."

I disagree with all of these things. Telling your kids to not add a John Doe on facebook because he's a pedophile only damages John Doe's reputation. There is no proof provided here that John Smith is actually a pedophile. About the cartoon thing, I haven't seen any proof that a group of organized pedophiles orchestrated that- I mean it isn't outside the realm of possibility. The causes to remove all pedophiles from Facebook- that is unconstitutional. Pedophiles have just as much right to join Facebook as everyone else.

There is however one solution for pedophiles adding children on facebook. Teach your children to be discriminate about who they add on Facebook and be even more discriminate how much information is on their Facebook pages.

Ten reasons not to wait.

2010-11-14T01:33:00.002-05:00

So I came across this list and it really pissed me off for about ten reasons. So Imma hit these points one by one in color text.

1. Sexual intimacy outside of marriage carries the obvious risk of pregnancy and/or
sexually transmitted diseases. No birth control method is 100% effective. There also is
no birth control method that can protect from all STDs. Lets' say you have a paragaurd IUD( the non hormonal one which have like a 99.9&(planned parenthood) rate of effectiveness, that means that of the women on paragaurd .3 women will get pregnant. Now let's pretend that you use condoms on top of the IUD. Condoms alone have like a 98% rate of effectiveness(assuming you can use them perfectly, all the time every time). So that really makes the odds of you making babies like .00001. Ok so I kinda made that up, my point is that the odds that you'd make babies using both paragaurd and a condom are astronomical. The reason I picked paragaurd for this example is because it is in my opinion the best method of birth control for women, because it's non-hormonal and lasts for 5 years. I think that using hormones when they aren't medically needed isn't very wise.

2. When they are married, a man and a woman can feel more freedom to give and
respond physically and emotionally to each other without holding back. This is
because there is deep level of trust, security and acceptance that can grow out of the
marriage relationship that is not experienced outside of it. Marriage, as we tend to know it, is really just a piece of paper. It's a government contract that says if we split up then we have to split everything 50/50. Who says you can't have that same level of trust, security, and acceptance with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or fiance?

3. When a couple crosses over into physical intimacy prematurely, they tend to
become pre-occupied with that aspect of the relationship, neglecting everything else.
They may tend to begin to see each other as sex objects, instead of a whole person.
This will have a deteriorating effect on the relationship which can carry over into
marriage, if the couple stays together that long. I concede that this does tend to happen in relationships between teenagers, but is it an all together bad thing if that happens, at least part of the time in older relationships and marriage? I mean those in the relationship set the rules for the relationship. So if the people in the relationship are OK with being sex objects from the hours of 9-11 on Friday and Saturday nights?

4. For girls and women - Men are less likely to commit to a lifelong relationship with a
woman if they are able to have sex without the commitment. According to a recent
survey, one of the main reasons men give for not committing to a relationship is that
sex is so easy to get. In other words, if they can have pleasure without responsibility,
why not go for it?This point annoys me because it is really one sided, like women can't have desire and pleasure- but it's socially acceptable for men to seek that. I think that at some point in their lives every has a relationship like that where it's cheap thrills and all physical and that's ok- as long as you grow out of it.

5. Sexual intimacy before marriage often results in either one or both partners being
deeply wounded emotionally, especially if the couple breaks off the relationship. The
sexual union was designed to be a permanent bond and it cannot be broken without
damage. This is especially true for the Christian. The joining together physically of a
man and a woman is a symbolic act of “becoming one” as described in the Bible. The
implications of this are of course very serious and not to be taken lightly. Breaking up is hard. I don't think that anyone would deny that. But if you are in a deep, serous relationship with anyone and it ends regardless of how far you went sexually- that's going to leave a wound. I agree that the implications of sex "are very serious and should not be taken lightly" mostly because I don't want STDs, or babies.

6. If a couple has had premarital sexual experience, after marriage they may have a
problem in trusting each other fully, especially if there have been other sexual
partners. Lots of people bring baggage into a marriage and lots of different kinds of baggage. Some people bring in baggage from childhood abuse, or their own parents messy, ugly divorce, or addictions, or pyschological problems. I feel like those issues make who you slept with, or didn't sleep with look really really small.
7. When the individuals in a marriage have participated in premarital sexual relations
with other people, they may tend to compare (intentionally or not) their spouses with
other partners they have had. Also, memories can interfere with enjoyment of the
relationship as “ghosts” from past relationships create barriers between the two. I firmly believe that this doesn't have to be a bad thing. I think if you routinely tell your wife that your ex was better in bed than she is- your problem is probably way bigger than you slept with people before you got married. I really believe that the more people you date, kiss, fondle, what have you- the better spouse you'll eventually be. So many young Christians get married without a clue about their own sexuality. And dating lots of people helps you really grow into that. I'm not suggesting you sleep with every person you ever date, but with every person you have romantic interaction with you learn things you like, and things you don't like in your partner.

8. Couples who live together prior to marriage are more likely to get divorced than
those who don’t (this has been strongly indicated through statistics.) So, the idea of
living together for the purpose of having a “trial marriage” apparently hurts rather
than helps the couple in the long run if they decide to actually get married. So I've seen those studies- and I don't believe them because it seems like most of them are funded by people who against cohabitation and set up the study to end up with the desired result. Those studies also say that cohabitating couples relationships aren't as strong and their married counterparts and are more likely to split up. Who would you expect to work harder to work through their issues, a couple who has to pay a blood sucking lawyer to split up, or a couple who simply has to break the lease? But that seems like kind of a moot point to me. I mean, if a couple couldn't work though argument A how could they get married? It is all part of living and learning.

9. Premarital sexual experiences can lead to feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, anger,
etc. The individual may act out these feelings through self-destructive behavior such
as substance abuse or promiscuity.Premarital sexual experiences lead to guilt, low self-esteem and anger because of the way the church handles sex. The church is too busy telling kids just say no and not busy enough telling them sex and sexual urges and normal natural part of life and that while they need to be handled appropriately , they aren't worth feeling guilty over and that there are bigger things to worry about in life- like getting into college.

10. Premarital sex cheats us out of the best that God has for us. Sex between a man
and a woman is much more than a just a physical act. It involves emotions, the spirit
and the mind as well as the body. Only in marriage can two people fully express
themselves sexually and experience all that God designed them to experience in this
area. Maybe I'm just too jaded, but is sex really the best that God has for us. Surely God more up his sleeve than just sex.

:)

2010-11-12T12:08:00.001-05:00

On Religion

2010-10-20T14:15:00.004-04:00

I was never a very good Christian. I don't really enjoy church or the company of many other Christians. In fact, I think many Christians are far too prudish to be enjoyable to be around. I can't con myself into thinking that "sin" is black and white. I can't imagine that matters of premarital sex between consensual adults are so important to God when their are children in Africa starving. I cannot justify not giving children and teens accurate information about sex, and birth control and STDs' for fear of causing kids to go out and have sex. I can't pretend to think that the way many Christians treat GLBT people is right and justifiable because The Bible says it is. So I guess this post represents coming out as someone who doesn't know whats right and wrong in the world.

Maybe the truth and the light is as simple as being a good person and the flying spaghetti monster in the sky will bless people accordingly- or maybe it will pull out a magnifying glass and set us on fire.

Sexism is alive and well.

2010-10-05T09:39:00.003-04:00

Last night I was at work I was working the ID desk and a former supervisor came in to get rubber gloves and to talk to my supervisor about something. My supervisor starts talking about my former supervisor about what I can only assume to be a running joke between them about Former Supervisors Mother. Former supervisor then asked me in total seriousness, "Do you like girls? Do you swing both ways?"

Now, not only is that totally inappropriate and not important to my job. It's offensive-because girls liking girls is offensive, because he wouldn't ask that to a boy at all. He simply wouldn't.

Girls liking girls is a fantasy, sexy, every mans dream. Boys liking boys is none of that. It's gross and for behind closed doors, that is if you ask lots of people. And it all comes back to girls being little more than sex toys for men to play with, arm candy. And until we close that loop, then we'll never be truly equal.

New school year.

2010-09-03T16:28:00.002-04:00

School has begun again. I'm finishing up an associates of pyshcology and then The Boy and I are moving to Terre Haute and I'll finish up a bachelors in something at ISU.

Skipping the boring parts, I have a few funny quotes from the first couple of weeks of class.

"It was straight, and now it's kinky" Human Biology

" Ya know, I sometimes dream about sleeping in."- world lit Prof.

I'm still working at the PE complex on campus. I don't have work study this semester so I don't know if they will keep me on as a part timer that'd be tight. But if they don't wanna keep me on as a part timer- then I'll finish up this degree and move on to the next part of life- which is rapidly approaching- Jesus Christ that is in four months.

You know you're a kid of divorce when....

2010-08-18T11:38:00.002-04:00

You know you're parents are divorced when you get calls and voice mails from both parents within ten minutes of each other both saying roughly the same thing.

6 things in honor of 600 posts.

2010-07-29T01:02:00.002-04:00

1. The single greatest moments of my life have happened in Mississippi among wreckage and disaster and chaos. I have seen grace, and healing, and love beyond measure (and I'm crying as I relive them in my head.) I hope to God that I get the chance to go back.

2. Regardless of what people think or have thought about my faith, or lack there of, I'm actually really jaded, and really have been since I was 16. I think that it probably doesn't have all the answers. But it might still be a good starting point. I have no plans to be involved with Vincennes University Campus Ministries next school year, and no real plans to find a church to attend.

3. Even though, in high school I didn't have much(read, any) school spirit and didn't give a damn then. I do now. I get pissed when people opt to bad mouth some aspects of MHS. Because contrary to popular belief you can get an excellent education at MHS and there are excellent teachers there who will bend over backwards. So don't diss MHS to me.

4. The Boys name is Steve, though most of you probably already knew that.

5. I have a love-hate relationship with one of my supervisors. She can be the worlds biggest bitch, but on the other hand she saved me a trip to the supervisors office by clocking me out after work on Tuesday. Bless her.

6. Damn. I can't think of a 6th. I'll get back to it.

PostSecret Sundays

2010-07-27T23:13:00.002-04:00

"When you drive me home we always pass the quickest route to get back to my house and go the longer way. I never tell you the shortcut because it means more time with you-even if it's just five extra minutes."

Thoughts on children

2010-07-16T12:06:00.002-04:00

I facebook stalk kids I graduated with to see how many of them have children or are married or whatnot. It amazes me how many of them have children, multiple children. Several girls I graduated with have two kids now- those girls weren't pregnant in high school. Must be something in the Grant County water supply- creating these fertile teen mothers.

I remember when one of my good friends from high school got pregnant-everyone knew she'd keep it, she wouldn't abort it, or give it up for adoption. It was her baby though and through. And from what I've seen and heard she is an amazing mother making it work. But I was just so surprised because I expected her to finish her education first.

I love kids and I can't wait to have kids of my own. But I think that people who pop out children so young are cheating themselves and their children. I think children are the adventure of a lifetime- and totally worth it, but if you have them young, they are your only adventure. There is a great long list of adventures I want to have before attempting children.

We never would have been great together......

2010-07-15T22:12:00.002-04:00

We have such a complicated history and Lord knows I love you. When you first got engaged I was hurt, hurt that we had never tried our hand at dating each other. I thought that we could have been great together.

But now I know better. We would have made terrible lovers. We were never meant to be lovers anyway. We're much better as friends.

So here is to us, for being better friends than lovers. Here is to you, for happy engagement, and an even happier marriage. Here is to me, for I know you're always a phone call away and you'd turn the world upside down to help me out if you could.

We've been blessed beyond measure. And everything has worked out according to His plan- Even it isn't always hard to see.

Buggaboo!

2010-07-06T13:50:00.002-04:00

It is my car!

She is a sundown orange, 2003, stick shift, TDi, Volkswagen New Beetle.

She is nameless right now. I like Ruffles for her. Or maybe Orange Blossom. I don't know. I'm open to suggestions.

Random factoid: The Boy and I can fit in the trunk- not together. But separately.

I love farmers markets

2010-06-30T16:04:00.003-04:00

1 zucchini, 1 cucumber, and six ears of corn! all for.....the grand total of....4.30 cents!

Christmas Knitting is Among us!

2010-06-22T00:10:00.003-04:00

Christmas knitting has officially started. Imma blog my way through the projects too! Some stuff I'm going to start this week are big stuff, sweaters for instance.

Secret Gift 1&2.
Secret Gift 3.

Secret Gift 3 scares me quite a lot. It's like 41,312,445,213,123,142,352 miles of 3 by 5 rib. Secret Gift 1&2 looks easy and fun.

Wish me luck to finish by christmas!

we apologize for the delay.....

2010-06-10T21:56:00.002-04:00

"We apologize for the delay, but all representives are busy helping other customers. Here at customer service we are commited to giving you our undivided attention. Occoasionally that commitment creates slightly longer waiting period for attention."

I'm on the phone right now with HigherOne- the bank account attached to my school ID- whoever thought of doing that is a freaking idiot- but that isn't the point.

I'm sure you are very sorry that all representives are busy. And I bet you're damn busy giving your customers your undivided attention- that is exactly why I heard this message enough times to get it typed out word for word. It occasionally creates a slightly long waiting period.....I'm not sure which descriptive word bothers me more- occasionally, or slightly.

Apartment pictures! squeee!

2010-06-10T14:04:00.003-04:00

So I have some apartment pictures to post. There will be more. Todays' room is the bedroom- where the magic happens.

The closet in the apartment is freaking huge. There is these two standard size closet rods then a third that is 5 or 6 feet long. I possess about 80% of the closet I think.

We do have matching dressers. The Boys mom brought it for me after i I moved in.

Look How far We've come....

2010-06-04T12:02:00.005-04:00

U By Kotex posted this article about how far we've come in terms of womens' reproductive health.

It pisses me off. Maybe it only pisses me off because I do reusable. Maybe it pisses me off because its a sales website.

"Before modern tampons and pads existed, they made their own out of whatever absorbent material was available to them, including cloth, sponge and grass."

Natural fibers are still the most absorbent that you can find. Remember you're first experience with pads/tampons when you learned your jeans were way better at absorbing your period that whatever you were using.

"At that time, people didn't talk about menstruation in public at all, especially to strangers. When you went to a drugstore to grab some pads, you put money into a special box on the counter without saying a word to the clerk and grabbed the box on the way out"

Ok we don't put out money in a special box anymore- but I some men and women who might wish we did. And I don't know a whole lotta people who talk about menstruation in public after say junior high. I think, that once my friends and I hit high school we got over our periods a little bit- that is we stopped talking about them every single sleepover like we had just gotten our first period again. They were only really brought up if someone needed a tampon.

"We're lucky. We have information at our fingertips - you're reading this on the Internet, aren't you? But we still have a way to go. So take the torch passed on from generations of women who helped get us here today. Talk openly about periods, vaginal health and your body. Keep asking questions and keep the torch alive."

Yes, talk openly about the fact that your vagina bleeds. But you'll probably find that you hit a wall- at least to a point. A lot of people just aren't interested. I agree that we are lucky to have all this information at our fingertips-but I think when poeple finally learn that you can pregnant on your period, or oral sex won't get you pregnant. I know some of my readers might have a duh..., moment when they read those two statements- but it is crazy how many women(and men!) don't know. Until that gap is bridged then we aren't there yet. Wherever "there" is.